Who's Going to Control Opie?

Jim Demint, head swelled from flattery by the easily impressed media, has decided to step up and become the de facto head of the Senate republicans.  He has said that he will block any bills before the session ends unless they are on his desk 24 hours prior.

Now, I can imagine that our Jim is a slow reader, but we can be fairly certain he is too busy doing the work of the voices in his head to actually read any bills.  Apparently, this is the Demint version of holding one's breath so people won't forget you are there.

I know this is not the caliber of professional that I want in the US Senate.  But I also wonder what his "fellow" republicans are thinking about his bullying.  Are they actually afraid of Demint to the point where they won't just send him to his room?  I hesitate to say that a smack upside the head probably wouldn't hurt.

But here we all are, taking this bully seriously.  Just like they kowtowed to Joe McCarthy back in the 50's.

We need to seriously look at how dysfunctional this man is.  Other than an occasional appearance on Jon Stewart's  Thank you, South Carolina segment, Demint was pretty much a nonentity until he found his home in the Tea Party.  With a campaign bankroll that he doesn't need in South Carolina, he has been giving favors to Tea Party candidates most likely to return those favors in Congress.

His views of how government should be run are no less extreme than McCarthy's were 60 years ago.

Our overstimulated media has once again focussed on the "kingmaker" idea rather than his actual positions, which are, quite frankly, scary.  Jim Demint is a scary person.  His faux-Christian views remind one of a Salem witch-hunt, but he's not going after witches, he is going after single parents and gays.  He has learned to keep his radical views to himself and his kind, and has been able to do so by avoiding any public forum that does not cater to his extremist views.

Whether the South Carolina primary results were due to fraud or voter stupidity, it conveniently left him with no one to force him into public debates, and coffers full of gold.  Just too convenient, in my opinion.

So what do we do about Demint?  I think everyone of all parties, in every state in the country, need to listen carefully to every word he says.  Because he is NOT kidding.  He will destroy our government.  He will kill our schools, our jobs, our way of life, and do it in the name of his "God".

The media needs to pay attention to Jim Demint.  They need to wake up and tune in to what he is saying.  They need to report his candidacy in terms of what he is campaigning on, and what his actions have proved in his six years in the Senate.

If Jim Demint gets re-elected, and brings along his Tea Party followers, it will be a bad time for we the people of this state, and of this country.

If the Old Stuff Doesn't Work

I got to work today and the first thing I saw was Saturday's headline in The State.  Apparently, Nikki's ugly media blitz is beating Vincent Sheheen's not-so-nice ads.


So, I'm thinking, if the same old stuff isn't going to work, and I think it's fair to say it is not working, maybe it's time for Democratic and/or Liberal candidates to try something different.


Suppose Vincent Sheheen campaigned with other like-minded candidates?  Suppose he went on the road with Tom Clements, Green Party candidate for US Senate .  How about if they both came to Charleston and campaigned with Rob Groce, US House of Representative District 1 candidate, who is running under the auspices of the Working Families Party.


Now that they are campaigning together, they can pool some of their resources, run a real media blitz.  They can do interviews together, and explain how their philosophies and positions on the issues really do benefit the people of South Carolina.  Just think of the interest and free coverage they will have just because of the way they are running.


More important, they can focus on the issues, and the impact of their positions versus the destructive impact of the positions of their opponents.


Frankly, I'm tired of seeing ads that try to attack the character of the candidate.  I'm sure Nikki Haley is a lovely person, but her policies would devastate the people of South Carolina, except for those of us who happen to be corporations.  Her budget cuts would continue to devastate schools and libraries.  She would not support the social services that we desperately need as we try to survive the economic tsunami of the Bush/Sandford years; in fact, the ranks of the unemployed would continue to swell as she puts her campaign promises to her corporate sponsors into effect.


As for Jim Demint, I believe we voters have come to accept that he is "too big to fail".  But if our candidates -- and I don't mean Alvin Greene or Ben Frasier -- were united against Demint's hypocracies they would be heard.


And the most important thing our candidates need to do differently is to stop cowering.  I'm tired of hearing how Vincent Sheheen will work with the republicans and with big business.  If he actually stood up to these monied special interests, not only would he be newsworthy, he would get voters excited about going to the polls.


So, yes, we will probably lose, and lose big.  We have some top-notch candidates, who have thrown a lot of time and money into this, put their lives on hold for this campaign.  Isn't it time they stood together and told the voters what they could do for South Carolina?

I Hate to Brag...

Leave it to the Dems to absolutely refuse to take advantage of the opportunity to brag about doing good.  We should by now be hearing in our sleep about the insurance industry being stopped in its tracks from allowing our citizens to die in the name of the not-so-almightly dollar.  No more pre-existing condition exceptions, no more lifetime caps, family policies including young adults up to age 26.  Wow.  Yippee.

But leave it to the Dems to modestly underplay the whole health care reform thing.  The liberals feel guilty because they didn't do enough; the blue dog democrats (the make-believe dems) are afraid their constituents (the ones that already have good health care) will be angry at them for spending their hard-earned tax dollars to fund the have-nots, the corporate democrats -- you know who you are -- don't want to flaunt the bill in front of their buddies in the insurance industry.

The saddest thing of all is that our senators and representatives take their lead mostly from the president, and Obama was never as convinced as we thought he was that we need to disengage from the insurance industry.

So yes, Harry Reid is a weinie, but if Barack Obama had stood strong for health care, Reid would have been tougher (I can't believe I used the words "Reid" and "tough" in the same sentence.).

But let's give credit to Nancy Pelosi, fearless and fighting for us to the bitter end.

And when I hear her speak, I think, that's what the voters are looking for.  We want someone who believes strongly enough in what's right for us that they will fight for it, whether it is during an election season or not, whether the polls support her or not, whether it looks like her opposition is stronger than she is.

Because we are looking for someone who will stand on their principles.

Despite themselves, the Democrats passed real health care reform.  Now we need to hear that they really believe in it. 

More of the Same -- We Promise

The republicans have, for four years, pondered the problem of how to convince the electorate to vote them back into power without changing anything.  The solution they came up with was the "Pledge to America".

Just like the jocks in high school that keep looking for a way to pass a class without studying, they cribbed Newt's "Contract on America" from the 90's.

You know what our former president, the smaller Bush, said, "Fool me once, shame on you, fool me -- you can't get fooled again."  Even said it in front of a backdrop that said, "Pledge Across America".

Whether they call it a pledge, a promise, or a contract, the bottom line is these guys are going to try to fool us again.  Boehner proudly supports everything he supported four years ago, this after he and his gang went on a "listening tour" a year and a half ago, and putting up a website called "America Speaking Out" on which legalizing marijuana was one of the more popular ideas.

Well, we aren't going to get marijuana legalized, and we won't get any other new ideas.  And they are telling us they aren't going to change.

But jeez, they really mean it this time -- they took off their jackets at the pizzeria, and even when they unveiled their "Pledge".  Doesn't that count for anything?

 

Let's Be Rude

I believe Jim Demint's poor mom was so overwhelmed trying to do right by her family that she ended up, like all overworked moms, feeling guilty for neglecting her children, and when she could, spoiled them.

Because Jim Demint acts like an angry, spoiled child.  He has realized over the past year or so, that the longer he holds his breath, the more attention he gets.

His fellow republicans try, as you might imagine, to quietly get him calmed down, and end up promising him stuff to get him to behave.

And as with any bully, the more attention he gets, the more he bullies.

And we are left with Jim Demint, not holding his breath, but holding Congress hostage, and feeling mighty proud of himself.  He knows most of his "friends" don't really like him, but have to pretend that they do, because he could turn against them as well.

So he says he doesn't really like the "friends" he has, and he is going to go out and make new friends.  And they will all do what he says.

We all know that bullies are very fragile creatures.  They need to keep proving they have power by being ever bigger bullies.

What do you do with bullies?  You stand up to them, get in their face, and confront them, refuse to give in.  You face them down, make them answer for their behavior.

Or they become absurd and irrelevant, an embarrassment to themselves, and they fade away.

That is what happened to Joe McCarthy.  We may be wiser now.  It may be that we will never give Jim Demint the power to destroy lives and do damage to our Republic that Joe McCarthy had.

We'll just have to wait and see.

Meanwhile, we can get out and vote.  Even here in South Carolina we have options.

There is Alvin Greene who "won" the Democratic primary, but there is also Tom Clements, Green Party candidate, the true Democratic alternative.

What is important is to vote, and encourage family and friends, all over the country, to get out and vote.  If Demint wins, at least we can prove that there is opposition to his regime; his minions in other states are not liked or trusted, and all it will take is for we the people to get out and vote.

Time to Crash and Burn

All the talk about Jim Demint being a kingmaker makes me chuckle.  He's got loads of money, especially since his Watergate-style minions have been able to fix the primaries so that he doesn't have to run for re-election, and he's not afraid to say whatever's on his mind, and with conviction.

But the secret to his success is that he NEVER HAS TO FACE HIS OPPONENT.  From speaking on an empty Senate floor, to nasty anti-American sound-bites in front of a crazed Tea Party crowd, he has been able to pretty much have his image molded for him.  I say, "for him" because despite his advertising background, I don't think he's that swift with the pen.

I remember the good old days when Inez Tenenbaum was making him defend his faux-Christian right-wingnut positions.  I would never get tired of hearing him talk about not allowing a pregnant single woman to teach for fear she would influence our children.

But six years ago, the smaller Bush and Mark Sanford had only just begun to wreak havoc on our lives, and the dream of living high without paying taxes was very appealing to our electorate, and so he became Senator Demint.

Since then, he has made us proud by being featured on The Daily Show as South Carolina's "colorful socialist-fearing, Erkel-quoting Senator Demint".

Yes, Jim Demint is pretty darned sharp when it comes to quoting Erkel, and he can give you the plot line of nearly all of the episodes of The Andy Griffith Show, but don't think for one minute that that proves his intelligence.  When he is not reading from a speech, his sentences meander around words like "freedom" and "free-market" which tend to pop up with both irrelevance and irreverence.

I hate to say it, but Jim Demint sounds like a product of an inadequately funded education system.

He's also managed to alienate the real republicans in his party, with his megalomaniacal plan to seed the Senate with crazies who share his own psychosis, figuring that he has pretty much bought and paid for them.

But in the real world, Opie doesn't always win the fight, or get Andy's approval.  The media may be enjoying the tantalizingly creepy sound of "Jim Demint, Kingmaker", but face it,  if you take a close, more analytical look at the races, bullying his way into a state's primaries with a ton of money didn't get him all that much in terms of results.

He's bragging about republicans on the Hill asking him for favors in 2012, but I'm betting by then he'll be as much in demand as the smaller Bush was during the campaign of '08.

Defending Her Own Freedom

I don't need to hear Christine O'Donnell talk about how she experimented with witchcraft in high school anymore.  However, when Chris Matthews interviewed Bill Maher on Hardball, he put her comments in a little better perspective.

I am also not too concerned by whether or not Christine dabbled in witchcraft in high school.  I'm not concerned that she fooled around on a slab that she hadn't noticed was a satanic altar.  I'm not going to say, "All kids do it," but I have to admit that many years ago I dabbled in things not witchcraft, but which would not have made my parents proud or happy.

Teens rebel.  They sometimes get into trouble, hurt themselves and/or their futures, give their families great pain.

I allowed my daughter, as a teen, to drink in my home.  I don't believe that one magically learns to drink at 21.

If a teen experiments with sex, I think it's important for a parent or other trusted adult to be available to listen, and to help that teen get through the angst of learning about intimacy.

I don't believe that someone who was able to "experiment" with sex, witchcraft, drugs, or anything else of which she may now disapprove, has the right to dictate how other families should experience the teenage years.

That is what is wrong with the right wing proclaimers of values.  Their values may or may not be my values.  They appear to believe that their freedoms DO NOT END where I begin.

So keep in mind when you are chuckling at Christine's escapades, that when she gets to Congress, she will be as passionate about dictating your moral values as she was about "dabbling in witchcraft".

Do the Math

In 2006, Jim Rex defeated his republican opponent by 455 votes.  If we lose the post of Secretary of Education in 2010, we will be looking at the death of the public school in South Carolina.  That means the children of the wealthy continue to get the best educations, and the rest of us will face more illiteracy, higher dropout rates, lower numbers of college graduates, and lower paying jobs and unemployment for our children.

455 votes!!!

Grab all your friends and family and get out and vote.  It makes a difference!

FRANK HOLLEMAN

SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS

Christine O'Donnell Has Her Man-Pants On

Who knew a week ago what "man-pants" were?  We don't exactly know today, but it's so much fun to imagine, isn't it?

Christine O'Donnell would be almost as much fun as Sarah Palin was when she hit the national stage, except she's learned from Palin's mistakes, and her own.  She's an "English major" and as such, is proud of her use and abuse of the English language.

Take her own personal definition of feminism:

Asked if she considered herself a feminist, O'Donnell said: "Absolutely, but let me qualify that -- I consider myself an authentic feminist. Not as defined by the modern movement. And, let me clarify that a little bit more. I was an English major, so break it down: -ist means one who celebrates. As a feminist, I celebrate my femininity."

I remember my own high school English teachers being tickled when I was creative in developing arguments, even if I was wrong.  And that's how I see Christine.  Still caught up in the flattery she got in high school, and still being creative in developing arguments, even if she's wrong.

I have to admit, she's definitely more head-spinningly verbal and creative than South Carolina's Jim Demint; if I had a dollar for every time he used the word "freedom" I'd be a wealthy republican today.

And she will stay away from the tough interviews, although I think she has the "man-pants" to say whatever crazy thing she thinks about religion and sex, or, as they present themselves in her head, religionsex.  She'll just say it to her own circle of wingnuts, and when forced to speak to the general electorate, tone it down with some excuse about her being young back then, and never actually answering the question (Will we get to see her backside as reporters insist on answers, a la Jan Brewer and Sharron Angle, I wonder.).

As hilarious as they might be on the campaign trail, though, we need to keep in mind that Demint actually got elected.  Voters in this country haven't gotten any smarter or less gullible in the six years he has been attempting to run the country into the ground.  If you can't picture Christine giving a speech on the Senate floor, just think of people like Demint, and House Tea Partier Michele Bachmann.

And then round up all your friends and family, and VOTE.

The Blahs

I get exhausted hearing what "they" have to say:  the Limbaughs, the Cheneys, the whole new crop of Tea Party candidates that the wacko right wing has nominated to run the country, Sarah Palin and Jim Demint, who in my mind should be linked forever -- wouldn't they just deserve that?

I get exhausted and then I feel the need to get away.  In other words, stop learning, stop writing, and of course the next step is, stop voting.

This is where many of us are right now.  In South Carolina, where our corrupt primary system is about as likely to change as Boeing is likely to pay its fair share for the right to take advantage of our cheap labor, we face a difficult choice.

If we are republican, we are going to stand in line for as many hours as it takes to make sure the folks who are going to run our schools, libraries, roads, hospitals and fire and police departments into the ground get elected, because they've promised us they won't raise taxes.

And if we are Democrats?  Do we vote for Alvin Greene and Ben Frasier?  Or do we vote for good people with strong democratic ideals who don't have a chance to win because they are third party candidates, have no deep pockets, or friends with deep pockets, but who are taking the chance of their lifetimes to try to right the wrong that is our primary system and our broken government?

Or do we stay home?

For me, staying home is not an option.  I will stand in line with all the good ole' boys and gals, and I'll vote for Tom Clements for Senate and Rob Groce for Congress, and those good Democratic candidates that somehow slipped through the primaries into the general election.  Because it would be wrong to not cast my one little vote.

Because this year if enough of us don't exercise that right, we could lose bigger than we did during the Bush dynasty.

Rob Groce Is the One (for the 1st)

Before we get too depressed about the attacks on our sad little primary system here in South Carolina, let's look at this as an opportunity.

While around the country Jim Demint is rallying the psychotic right wing of the Republican Party to support his candidates in the name of no-taxes-for-the-wealthy and a Jesus of his own invention, we are left with a party that has been demoralized by years of increasingly audacious attacks on our primary system.

But we have a great opportunity given to us by a couple of third party candidates who decided to run so that we would have a choice.

For Senate, we have Tom Clements, running as Green Party candidate.  More about Tom at a later date,  but hear him out and you'll be relieved to know it's not really just between the too-powerful Demint and a shadow candidate.

Here in the 1st Congressional District, we were scammed into having perennial non-Democrat Ben Frazier on the ticket, against republican Tim Scott who, above all else, is endorsed by Sarah Palin.  As the other far better Palin would say, "Say no more, say no more...."

Rob Groce has chosen to run as a Working Families candidate, and has gotten some tremendous endorsements.

Rob's positions on jobs, a living wage, and the family, have yielded a rare third party endorsement from the AFL-CIO.

And who remembers (who can forget?) that hair-raising battle for the First Congressional District two years ago, against the powerful Henry Brown and his even more powerful money interests.  Linda Ketner, who fought that incredible fight, has thrown her support behind Rob.

Now, more than ever, we need to forget about labels, because here in South Carolina, this year, being a republican or a democrat doesn't mean all that much.  What we need to remember is the names:

ROB GROCE FOR CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT #1

and

TOM CLEMENTS FOR U.S. SENATE

Visit their web sites, send them money, volunteer, and don't stop talking about them. 

Kingmaker, or, Little Opie Grows Up

It's always fun to see what the media makes of our own good ole' boy Jim Demint.  It's fun to see him slugging it out with Sarah Palin to see who can be the Tea Party hero of the moment.

It's also enjoyable to hear the mutterings about Jim Demint on Capitol Hill.
 
And it's probably a good thing he doesn't have to worry about actually campaigning for himself, against someone who could actually confront him with some of his stupidity-based positions.

Like for example, "Uh, Jim, what exactly do you mean by 'Freedom'?  Because right after you talk about 'Freedom' you mention how the government should make sure gays can't get married and women can't make private choices about their own bodies.  You also don't seem to think everyone should have the 'Freedom' to go to the same quality schools, or receive the same quality of health care.  You don't even seem too concerned about whether people should have a roof over their heads.  You DO care about people having religion -- YOUR religion.

"So basically, Jim, what you're saying is that we all should have the 'Freedom' to be poor if we're poor, and have whatever religion we want as long as we follow the dictates of YOUR religion, right?  And we need to stop government spending, except for enforcing all those rules that come under the heading of 'Jim Demint's morality'?  Which, as I remember from your Senate campaign six years ago, remember, that was when you actually campaigned, had some pretty anti-American ideas about 'Freedom'."

Sadly, we won't get to hear Jim Demint debate anyone knowledgeable this year.  For our money, he has taken his show on the road, but for my money, I would say he hasn't taken it far enough.

In a Democracy Even Crazy People Get to Vote

Apparently, this is the year of the crazy vote.  And the crazy voters are out in droves, making pundit predictions for this year's primaries even more meaningless than usual.  Health services for chickens was beat out by if-voting-doesn't-work-get-out-your-guns candidate Sharon Angle.

Sarah Palin and Jim Demint are slugging it out across the country over who can back the craziest candidate.

And in Delaware yesterday, the republican winner was Christine O'Donnell, to whom I believe God has given the nod as far as being in charge of making sure we don't do the dirty deed in the shower.

All I can say is, you can't blame South Carolina anymore.  Jim Demint is just a tiny, tiny cog in the crazy-wheel of American politics.  Alvin Greene may have been bribed  by some dastardly right-wing conspirator, but at least he's got the decency to lay low.  HE knows he doesn't have much to say.

Be forewarned, Democrats.  If you laugh off this year's general election, we just may have two years of not-so-funny legislators throwing darts at the Constitution.  You know how the song goes,

"They all laughed..."

They all laughed at Reagan running for President.  And not twelve years later, we laughed again at a George W. Bush presidency.

We paid for that laughter with a lot of tears.

So GET OUT AND VOTE.

The Obama We Remember

Isn't it great to see that Barack Obama has returned to us from the hilltop?

I believe that many voters who were discouraged are going to get revved up to go out and vote in November.

I think the message from 2008 that has gotten lost in the past two years of failed attempts at compromise is that our leaders need to be unafraid of their beliefs and their promises.  Voters have shown time after time that they would, sadly, rather have candidates of disrepute (Nixon) or stupidity (Bush the smaller) that are unyielding in tone than candidates that are afraid to say what they believe, or to follow through on their convictions.

It's not too late, Democrats -- speak the truth!

 

Your Government -- Cheap

We pay whatever the airlines charge, and additional fees to for-god's-sake let our luggage come too.  We put gas in the car and then feed the kids junk food because we can't afford healthy food.

I can't understand how people can afford cell-phones and internet service and cable/satellite t.v.  What started out as the least expensive deal the satellite company had to offer turned into $70 a month.  I can't afford it, but it's become a necessity, and I sure can't understand how people can afford more than the "basic" package.

Had a repair done on your house lately?  Been to the doctor?  Bought school supplies?

Yes, we pretty much pay whatever it costs except in one area.

We insist on cheap government.  Why?  Because we can.  We can vote anyone out of office who doesn't swear by their mother that they will lower your taxes.  And everybody else's taxes as well.

Doesn't matter if you own a chalet for the winter and beach front during the summer, if you pay taxes, you are paying too much.

You made a gazillion dollars in Wall Street bonuses?  You're the CEO of a company that just laid off hundreds of workers?  No worries, we all know it wouldn't be fair for you to pay more taxes than say, a teacher or a nurse.

Which doesn't make any sense at all.   Somewhere along the line, we have decided to value the plunderer more than the educator, the financial trickster more than the factory worker, the corporation more than the service.

And what we have left is cheap government:  bad schools, too many prisons, depressed parents and children, bad roads, bad bridges, research dictated by profit and "prophets", too big to fail that can't help but fail, little or no regulation, politicians run by corporations, bad news.

Time to talk taxes.  Time to pay for good government.  Good schools, good libraries, adequate police and fire departments, research and development, regulators that regulate corporations run amock.

All we need is politicians fearless enough to admit that you get what you pay for.  And to see to it that the wealthy are not valued more than the workers.

One Hate Group at a Time

Now that 9/11 is past once again, we breathe a sigh of relief and ask ourselves, "Which group will we hate next?"

It has been a few weeks since I've heard about those dangerous illegal aliens.  I am glad that they took a break from coming across our borders to try to behead Jan Brewer.  Of course, she may be safe even now, as her head lacks value or substance.

And what about those gays in the military.  I'm concerned because one of those activist judges has actually read the constitution and figured out that firing gays in the military is unconstitutional (and just plain old doesn't make sense).  It's very possible that we now run the risk of them actually telling people that they are gay and that NOTHING WILL HAPPEN!

Yes, since we the American masses have the capacity to hate, but the attention span of a tsetse fly, we will have to wait until Fox News and the rest of the right wingnuts tell us who we should hate and fear next.  

My Unsolicited Two Cents

Since I am an America, and it is 9/11, I feel I must also tell you what I think.

I think it is past time we leave the people who lost loved ones in the attack to their grieving and mind our own damned business about what New Yorkers should do.

It was an attack on a major US financial center, not a church.  I too was fearful that  my children and I were no longer safe, and over the nine years since I am thankful that our country is well protected, and we can go about our lives with only the frisking at airports to remind us of the attack.

Sadly, we as a nation were so fearful we trusted our Commander-in-Chief, the smaller President Bush, to start a war we would not ever have supported otherwise.

We abandoned Afgan citizens when they needed us, allowing the Taliban to once again take root.  We left Iraq with thousands dead, living in neighborhoods that still lack basic needs like electricity, and in continued fear of attacks by Al Quaeda and other militant groups.

We have abandoned our own Muslim citizens as well as our  belief in individual and religious freedoms, in order to wail hysterically about our grief.

It is not our grief.  We need to stop warmongering here at home, and if we can't build on our country's ideals, and help those who have been hurt, in the attack and in fighting our wars, we need to shut the hell up.

Just Say No...Over and Over and Over

We all thought they were crazy when, after the pounding they got in the 2008 elections, the Republicans just shouted the same thing, but louder.  Repeating the dreaded "Obama--Pelosi--Reid" trilogy over and over and over again.  Accusing the Democrats of being left-wing radicals, and the more we moved right in the spirit of compromise, the more they accused us of being left-wing radicals.  Of refusing to listen to them.  Of refusing to compromise.

And, after two years of listening to the repeated lies and inconsistencies over and over and over, I see the voters hypnotically nodding their heads, right along with the discordant song Boehner and Demint are singing.

And what have the Republicans -- in one voice, over and over and over -- been telling us we want?  We want more conservative policies, meaning "cut taxes", which is about as deep as today's conservatives get.  We want the government to stop taking money away from businesses, because that's why we don't have jobs.

What's funny is that I don't even hear Democrats yelling back that it won't work because it didn't work before.  The more the republicans yell at the voters about us, the more defensive we get.

Remember when we first won in 2008, and we laughed in 2009 when the republicans accused us of not doing what they wanted?

What's also funny is that, even though the republicans have been saying in so many words that the changes they will make when they are elected is to return to the smaller Bush's fiscal policies, the polls are showing that the voters believe they will do things differently than they did the last time they were in charge of the country.

So we're in for a long election season, and I'm afraid a long two more years.  Of course, when they get elected, as long as they tell us we're happy to have them in charge, maybe it won't be so bad.  Unfortunately though, I believe they will continue to tell us it's the fault of Obama -- Pelosi --- and Reid, as we sink into the depths of our corporate-controlled despair.

Death Panel in Increments

In 2005, our Congress and our President, then the smaller Bush, decided that it was their right and responsibility to legislate that Terri Schiavo, in a vegetative state since 1998, should be kept alive through continued use of a feeding tube.  Not only did they bypass the courts, but more important, Terri's doctors, and her legal guardian, her husband.

On Sunday, five year old Kyler Van Nocker died of cancer, after not only fighting the cancer, but fighting the insurance company, HealthAmerica, for treatment.  Again, another party with an interest other than the health and well-being of the patient, steps in to dictate treatment.  For every well educated and well-armed parent or patient, there are innumerable individuals who suffer and die for lack of ability to fight this beast.

And then there is abortion.  Not the taking of a life, but the choice of a woman with her family, and with the advice of a physician.  A difficult choice that many women make because bringing a child into their lives would be wrong.  The cry of abortion as murder has been used by right wing extremists to fan the flames of hate and prevent fearful and insecure individuals from fighting for their own interests:  a living wage, better education for their children, and yes, guaranteed health care, all of which would decrease the incidence of abortion by improving the quality of life.

The screaming about "death panels" last summer was outrageous and beyond ironic, because we have the death panels already.

They are the religious fanatics who believe they have the right to step into our bedrooms and sickrooms and decide what we can and can't do when we have sex, and what we should do with a fetus that is in our bodies, and that a stem cell CAN'T be used to further research to save lives.

They are the legislators who fought against a public health care for all that would be non-partisan and even-handed, because it would cut into the profits of their corporate sponsors.  They cried about the deficit after building it, and then claimed the government would be the "death panel", when it was in fact the insurance corporation that truly determined who and when a patient would die.

And in fact they DO kill granny, and mom and dad, and even a five year old child, rather than pay for an expensive treatment or by disallowing large amounts of the cost, making health care unaffordable even with health insurance.

The "death panels" decide how much money to spend on our treatments.  Their representatives in Congress won't vote to pay a penny to keep a Terri Schiavo alive, but stand in judgment of a family trying to say good-bye to a loved one.  They won't fight for health care for all, even if it means a child will die, because it costs too much, it sets an expensive precedent, their corporate sponsors' profit margins will suffer.

The Jim Demints and John Boehners will stand against ObamaCare, because their money is on the insurance industry.  And yet they will cry out about "death panels" as though they don't know that they are the ones who have made death panels the law of the land.


If you were going to cook a frog, would you throw it in boiling water, or drop it in a pan of cold water and turn on the heat?


If you want to control people, you get them to agree that they need to give up some small freedoms.  You convince them that in fact it is other people that need to be controlled, and make laws against abortion.  You tell them how bad it would be if the government controlled their health care, that "free enterprise" is the American Way, and of course, the way of "freedom".  You control their doctors, and you allow doctors to be threatened and killed without standing against the murderers, until that treatment is no longer available.  You come up with reasons why government funded research is bad, allowing corporations to decide what gets marketed and by whom.  You cut funding for education, you cut funding for stem cell research, you cut funding for regulators to monitor the industrial research and corporations.

...and Voila! the frog is dead, and didn't even know it was happening.

Because He Cares

We Democrats can't see a gift when it smacks us upside the head.  ObamaCare!  Isn't it wonderful???  When the republicans first started throwing the word around, we all ducked.  What a bunch of idiots we are!!!  It's a beautiful word, and what we need to do with it now is own it.

We need t-shirts and bumper stickers that say:

ObamaCare

Saves Lives!

I don't know what those republican word-smiths were thinking, but I do know that we need to get on this right now!

Send a message to the DNC and the White House, and tell them you support ObamaCare!

Superhero Obama

Let's all hope that Obama has finally received the bat-signal and recognizing the desperation of his people will come to our rescue.  For two years, he has tried to stand by and get us to get along, while the criminals have continued to rape, pillage, and plunder the country.

I believe superheros are naive.  They look on, godlike, hoping that we will all work things out.  Unlike God, superheros, at the last minute, will come to the rescue.

President Obama, come out from the Bat-cave, and save us from ourselves.

What Do You Mean "We"?

I'm thinking it's pretty obvious why the economy (and by the way, we folks down here in the thick of it) is still struggling, and get fairly apoplectic when I hear Democrats talking about it in the media.

First of all, it's because the republicans have been voting no on every stimulus package that would create jobs, and any program that would cause we the consumers to have a few cents left over to spend.  And when I say republicans, I mean blue-dog small-d democrats too, you know who you are, and I can't imagine why you would call yourself a Democrat.

Second, it's because small businesses are acting like big businesses, that is, taking all the government incentives that have been handed out, and hoarding them.  You know, folks, if I'm pretty much spending every penny I have trying to make ends meet, I can't spend a dime on your business, not unless you're willing to pay me a living wage, and give me a bit of security, social or otherwise.

So, two things:

First, the Democrats need to start yelling as loud as the idiots running against them, that the economy would be better now if they'd been able to really make the changes they wanted to make in the past two years.  And you-know-why they haven't been able to do that, so if you vote more republicans into office because you're pissed at the Democrats, guess what's going to happen?  Oh, I think you-all just like to complain -- that's why you "re-elected" Bush.

Second, I would like you small business people to stop hoarding the cash you got from the government, and do a little of the risk-taking you'd like us consumers to do.  Spend some money on staff, pay them/us a living wage, and you know what?  Our favorite pastime is spending money, so as soon as we can feel it burning a hole in our pockets, we'll be flocking to your shops and throwing it at you again.

But meanwhile, if I have to choose between paying my mortgage and buying a new car/new shoes/going to a movie, you're just going to have to go count your stimulus dollars again and see if they've multiplied.  My guess is they haven't.

Where Have You Gone, Land of the Free and Home of the Brave?

I'm a little bit worried about my country.  Not for me, I'm pretty sure I'm going to make it.  I'll never have that Jaguar I wanted when I was a teen, I may not even ever own another brand new car, but I'll be all right.

I'm not even worried about the country sinking into not-so-super-power status.  Hey, it happened to the British and Roman empires, and the Brits and Italians seem happy enough.

I'm worried that we feel so entitled and, maybe because of that, so threatened.  We are angered that people might come here from Mexico and take our jobs.  Outraged that people of Moslem faith might build more Mosques than we have churches.  And words cannot express the fear we have, the conviction we have, that no matter how much we own, someone with less will end up with some of it.

Sick people without jobs might end up in the good hospitals with the better doctors because they have gotten better health insurance than us.

Children of the poor might go to the same or even better schools than our children.

They'll take our jobs, our religion, our education, our neighborhoods, our children's inheritance.

So we must build fences, pass laws, have more prisons, deport people.

And keep lowering taxes, so "they" won't be given more of what should belong to us.

What America is this?  The land of the insecure and home of the scared.

A Really Independent "Ticket"

Since we have the kind of convoluted primaries in South Carolina that pretty much allow the most corrupt to win, and we aren't going to get that changed in the near future, we can pretty much assume that each primary season, we will end up with some odd bedfellows on the Democratic ticket.  That means we need to be independent minded and be sure to learn about others running for office against those "democrats".

So far, I have come up with a truly independent list of people who will get my support:

Governor -- Vincent Sheheen

US Senate -- Tom Clements

Superintendent of Education -- Frank Holleman

US Congress (1st District) -- Rob Groce

I'll keep doing my homework, because this November's elections are critical.  A republican win will set us back to the dark years of the smaller Bush, and the gains we have fought the republicans so hard for will be lost in the blink of an eye.  

Idiots Comment on Iraq

So many of us watched the video of Richard Engel traveling out of Iraq with the last combat troops last week and thought of Vietnam.  The quiet versus the chaos, the calm versus the panic.  When you leave a war, this is the way it should be done.

The Obama administration was understated, to say the least, about this incredible moment.  No "Mission Accomplished" banners here, no strutting, no bragging.

Of course, there was no reason for bragging, anymore than there was when we witnessed the "Mission Accomplished" performance.  The war goes on, an inadequate Iraqi military trying to hold its own for a country whose leaders can't decide who's in charge.

Yet our soldiers will not be fighting in Iraq.  And that is something to feel tremendous relief over.  And, not to be too negative, we can only hope that our remaining "non-combat troops" are safe in a land that continues to be filled with strife.

At least there was comic relief.  John Boehner is thankful to the smaller President Bush.  Because if it had not been for the surge, the war he started would not be over.

John McCain, always ready with a gracious remark and a quick wit, said that if we had listened to Obama we would still be in Iraq.

"No," says Matthew Gannon in The Bostonist,
"If we had listened to President Obama, and Senator Kennedy, we wouldn't even be there."

But for the most part the republicans in Congress are laying low on the subject of Iraq, preferring to bash Obama on the usual idiotic issues, this week's being that Obama's economic team should resign.  Because the small Bush's economic team did so well.


But I think we all need to step away from the sounds of the idiots for a moment, and just be thankful that this could be the beginning of the end of our involvement in this horrible, senseless war.