June 2009 archive

Jun 17 2009

Clarence Thomas in the White House

What if Clarence Thomas were President? This prospect would horrify most “liberals,” but would the policies coming out of the White House be very different from the “change we can believe in?” A Thomas presidency would favor corporations over working people; promote government secrecy over transparency; protect torturers from prosecution; and continue endless war, thereby enriching and aggrandizing the Military-Industrial Complex.

Obama is better looking than Clarence Thomas, and he has better political instincts than Condi Rice, but he is an example of the Plutocrat Party (Democratic wing) expanding the proven tactic of the minority shield. Installation of a minority candidate into a high office immunizes that leader from most liberal criticism and clears the way for a plutocratic agenda.

Look at what Obama is DOING, not at what he PROMISED:

He is breaking the laws against torture by immunizing confessed torturers.

He is jacking up already obscene “defense” spending.

He is blocking single-payer national health care.

He is continuing the occupation of Iraq and expanding the war in Afghanistan.

He is maintaining Bush-era secrecy claims over White House information (even visitor logs).

He is refusing to allow equal rights for gays.

He is providing unlimited taxpayer funding to corrupt Wall Street firms.

This is not a man of the people; this is a man owned by the CORPORATIONS – this is the equivalent of Clarence Thomas in the White House.

Jun 17 2009

Payola and the Demise of Health Care Reform

Crossposted at BlueRage and CobaltVA.

The best solution to health care and one that has a large amount of support among the U.S. public is the simplest, the single-payer option.  Single-payer puts the insurance companies out of business, period.  No longer would health care be rationed by cost, services and treatments denied, permission to see doctors of choice denied. No longer would families be forced into bankruptcy, and no longer would the considerable cost of the 50 million uninsured be forced upon a health care system that is already stressed to the breaking point.

Read on, then contact your congress critters, state reps, relatives, friends and neighbors and tell them to raise hell for single-payer.  Grass roots is all we’ve got…

Jun 17 2009

President Obama Hits The Snooze Button

Today the Obama administration will attempt to make amends to the GLBT community by granting Federal Benefits to the partners of Federal Employees who are involved in same sex relationships. This, as far as it goes, is a good thing. The problem is it is a case of too little, too late. The mounting fervor in the GLBT community over what is, rightly, perceived as a lack of priority on this communities issues has been a bit of a wake up call for the Obama Administration. The problem is they are just rolling over and hitting the snooze button, instead of waking up.

“Originally posted at Squarestate.net”

Jun 17 2009

Open Thread

Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues

When you’re lost in the rain in Juarez

And it’s Eastertime too

And your gravity fails

And negativity don’t pull you through

Don’t put on any airs

When you’re down on Rue Morgue Avenue

They got some hungry women there

And they really make a mess outa you

Now if you see Saint Annie

Please tell her thanks a lot

I cannot move

My fingers are all in a knot

I don’t have the strength

To get up and take another shot

And my best friend, my doctor

Won’t even say what it is I’ve got

Sweet Melinda

The peasants call her the goddess of gloom

She speaks good English

And she invites you up into her room

And you’re so kind

And careful not to go to her too soon

And she takes your voice

And leaves you howling at the moon

Up on Housing Project Hill

It’s either fortune or fame

You must pick up one or the other

Though neither of them are to be what they claim

If you’re lookin’ to get silly

You better go back to from where you came

Because the cops don’t need you

And man they expect the same



Now all the authorities

They just stand around and boast

How they blackmailed the sergeant-at-arms

Into leaving his post

And picking up Angel who

Just arrived here from the coast

Who looked so fine at first

But left looking just like a ghost

I started out on burgundy

But soon hit the harder stuff

Everybody said they’d stand behind me

When the game got rough

But the joke was on me

There was nobody even there to call my bluff

I’m going back to New York City

I do believe I’ve had enough

Jun 17 2009

Iran: Be Careful What You Ask For….

So, Iran is having a ‘green’ revolution in response to the weekend’s election results.  

Jun 17 2009

One Reason I support Universal Health Care

There was a time when most Americans had no medical insurance. It was as recently as in the 1950s. You got sick: you dealt with it. You treated yourself. You lived with it.

My mother was born in 1918. She got polio in the same year as Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Her Medical provider was Shriner’s Hospital in Chicago. They tried the latest techniques to help her walk and stand. My grandmother even begged them to take the muscles from her own legs and give them to my mother so she could walk.. Modern medicine still cannot do that.

This is not to denigrate Shriner’s or any hospital, but the theory was that since one of her legs was weaker than the other, it would be a good thing to strengthen the weak one. They did this by breaking it and setting it so that the bones would thicken and strengthen. They broke both long bones in her leg. Unfortunately, the next day it was discovered that the wrong leg had been broken, So they broke the bones in her other leg and set them. The scars on her thighs resembled huge railroad tracks from all the surgeries done to get her to be able to stand.

Jun 17 2009

Open Civil War Between Iranian Elite Factions?

Crossposted from Antemedius

Roving correspondent for Asia Times and analyst for The Real News Network Pepe Escobar explains how once again US Foreign Policy and meddling is backfiring and may lead to an US/Israeli attack on Iran, in Part 2 of a two part conversation with Real News CEO Paul Jay:

Real News Network – June 17, 2009

Struggle within Iranian elite,Pt.2

Pepe Escobar: Aggressive US and Israeli policy strengthens hand of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard

Part 1 is here.

Jun 17 2009

Custer, Rape, Genocide, & Happy Meals

I’ll have a Big Mac, fries, and a medium Dr. Pepper.


Source

Custer rides again, although he’s atop a plastic motorcycle and in a McDonald’s Happy Meal box.

Jun 17 2009

Muse in the Morning

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket
Muse in the Morning

Let no man ever take into consideration

whether a thing is pleasant or unpleasant.

The love of pleasure begets grief

and the dread of pain causes fear;

he who is free from the love of pleasure

and the dread of pain knows neither grief nor fear.

–Paul Carus, Chapter XLVIII: The Dhammapda, verse 29

The Gospel of Buddha: Complied from Ancient Records

Phenomena XXIII: dreading


Sky Ensnared

Beaten Down

The world so heavy

he can’t look up

shoulders sag

under the weight

of too many last straws

back bent

from too much sorrow

leaden legs drag bloody feet

painfully forward

until collapse is imminent

Rise up?  How?

–Robyn Elaine Serven

–July 11, 2008

Jun 17 2009

My Reply To An Email From President Obama

This morning I recieved an email from the President. I have gotten these from time to time ever since I made 4 donations during his campaign.

Here is the text of the most recent:

ProgressiveTokyo —

Last year, millions of Americans came together for a great purpose.

Folks like you assembled a grassroots movement that shocked the political establishment and changed the course of our nation. When Washington insiders counted us out, we put it all on the line and changed our democracy from the bottom up. But that’s not why we did it.

The pundits told us it was impossible — that the donations working people could afford and the hours volunteers could give would never loosen the vise grip of big money and powerful special interests. We proved them wrong. But as important as that was, that’s not why we did it.

Today, spiraling health care costs are pushing our families and businesses to the brink of ruin, while millions of Americans go without the care they desperately need. Fixing this broken system will be enormously difficult. But we can succeed. The chance to make fundamental change like this in people’s daily lives — that is why we did it.

The campaign to pass real health care reform in 2009 is the biggest test of our movement since the election. Once again, victory is far from certain. Our opposition will be fierce, and they have been down this road before. To prevail, we must once more build a coast-to-coast operation ready to knock on doors, deploy volunteers, get out the facts, and show the world how real change happens in America.

And just like before, I cannot do it without your support.

So I’m asking you to remember all that you gave over the last two years to get us here — all the time, resources, and faith you invested as a down payment to earn us our place at this crossroads in history. All that you’ve done has led up to this — and whether or not our country takes the next crucial step depends on what you do right now.

Will you donate whatever you can afford to support the campaign for real health care reform in 2009?

It doesn’t matter how much you can give, as long as you give what you can. Millions of families on the brink are counting on us to do just that. I know we can deliver.

Thank you, so much, for getting us this far. And thank you for standing up once again to take us the rest of the way.

Sincerely,

President Barack Obama

Jun 17 2009

Sounds of Confusion, or Progressives are Pissed Off!

It seems that five months into the Obama presidency, the natives are getting restless.   It might be like being in prison for eight years, then after five months still not able to find a job or a home.  Frustration.  We served our time, now we want our lives back.  Five months can be an eternity, or it can be a blip in the overall scheme of things.  

I’m an avid blog reader with more time than most because I’m retired.  I read many, over twenty, on a regular basis.  All left or libertarian leaning (antiwar.com).  I try to read the comments as much as possible just to get a handle on where people are coming from.  Recently there has been much dissatisfaction on various issues confronting the Obama administration

The “issue driven” people seem to be equally pissed off, and many are voicing their frustration against Obama.  Many are outwardly stating they have given up on the “Change” mantra and the promises Obama made.  Those whose primary issue is gay rights are extremely pissed about the administrations stance on DOMA and DADT.  Those who are antiwar are extremely pissed off about the continued aggression in Afghanistan and the overall hegemony of U.S. foreign policy.  Those who want the public option for health insurance are extremely pissed about the watered down and seemingly inadequate options being proposed.  And those who want the Bush administration investigated and prosecuted for war crimes are extremely pissed about the stonewalling and lack of any progress in seeking justice.  I could go on but you should have the point.

Relative to the current discussions about the change, or lack thereof, the Obama adminstration is bringing, I haven’t gotten a handle on how the issue driven people react cross issue.  Many are far left and solidly left and support progress in multiple issues.  Many seem to be solidly leftist in their primary issue but centrist with all issues.  Many are solidly centrist on all issues.  I think that presents a problem.

What I don’t see criticized, at least not significantly, is the premise that the manner in how we are governed is inordinately influenced by corporate interests, Wall Street, the Military Industrial Complex, etc., and the lobbies and money that flows through the beltway.  It appears this is an area where most people can agree.  And that has nothing to do with Obama.  This is a system put in place decades ago and has been developed into a veritible immovable juggernaut.  

I don’t think most of us on the left are criticizing Obama personally about the seeming lack of change so far.  Most of us are seeing this as the best chance at changing the system we’ve had since JFK  and that Obama can’t because the system won’t allow it.  Many are misdirecting their frustration at Obama.  That is wrong in my opinion.  We should be directing our frustration at the Congress and Senate, who are the front line of those who are bought.  Attack the front line and stop the influence of special interests.  

That said, we should be pissed.  Not at Obama, actually I am thankful for Obama and all I want is good so I would never wish against him.  But it should be clear now that special interests control our government.  If Obama can’t do it, you have to know that.  That’s the battle in my opinion

Jun 17 2009

Congress: Call? Write? March around the Capitol? Here’s MORE choices

IS THERE SOMETHING YOUR GOVERNMENT IS DOING THAT HAS YOU TOTALLY OUTRAGED?

Is it inertia about healthcare reform?  Funding for endless needless war?  Letting criminals go unprosecuted?  Torture?  Corporate welfare?

There’s nothing wrong with sending email, paper mail, and faxes to your Congress Critters.  Nothing wrong with calling and calling again.  IF YOU HAVEN’T DONE THESE THINGS, THEN DO THEM TODAY.

And after you’ve done these, are you getting the results you want?  Or are you getting boilerplate reply letters that don’t even address your questions and concerns, or, “Thank you for calling Senator Heavybotham’s office, and have a nice day”?

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