Politics of Reason

The Real Election Results for 2009

2009-11-09T15:28:00.002-06:00

The results from last week's elections are interesting.

I know, I know, it's been a week and everything that could be said has been said on the subject. Well, I'd like to put in my two cents anyway.

First, the Virginia Governor's election always goes with the out party.

Second, no one in New Jersey liked the Governor anyway. His party didn't matter. President Obama shouldn't have invested his time or energy there.

Third, the real story is the New York -23 election. A seat the Republicans have held for over 100 years. Not only did a Democrat win, but the fringe right wing ran the moderate Republican out of town.
By the right wing trying to impose their will on voters by stifling a moderate voice, they showed their true colors. They would rather have a "pure" candidate than one who can win. Okay guys, keep it up. You are sewing your own seeds of destruction.

I live in Oklahoma, where we have two U.S. Senators who are about as far out there as you can get. An embarrassment to more of us here then they know. We also have an undistinguished congressional delegation which has the Republicans towing the party line and the one Democrat so afraid to make any sort of reasonable move he votes with the Republicans more than I suspect he wants to.

This isn't happening just in Oklahoma. Across the country, these guys are in for a real treat. If they get reelected in 2010, which most probably will, they will become so marginalized they will be in real trouble in 2012. They may have bowed to the will of the right wing fringe to get elected, but will have to start explaining why they went along with this philosophy when the voters want to know why they opposed even basic healthcare reform (things like prohibition of pre-existing conditions) and saving the economy from destruction by the previous administration that let the Wall Street guys run wild.

Rest assured that this will come back to haunt them, after all the yelling and hand wringing dies down, people will actually think about what's going on. Unfortunately, the right wing fringe is playing a sophisticated game of race baiting disguised as anti-reform and anti-progress. I'll go there in a later entry.
People catch on eventually. They are getting tired of all the vitriolic junk coming out of the Republican corner. Democrats are far from perfect, but at least as a group, they are far more reasonable.

We all want to have the elected representatives of this nation work together to move the country ahead and make life better for all of the citizens of this country. This unbridled hatred of President Obama and the Democrats is wearing very thin with more and more people.

If you don't have the guts to say you're afraid of the special interests, then get lost and let reasonable folks take over your jobs. Rush, Sarah and the rest of that bunch would be funny if so many people didn't take them so seriously.

Let's move on to something that looks like a Democracy for all, rather than a collection of highly splintered factions who refuse to even talk to each other.

Be Quiet Rush

2009-11-08T07:17:00.000-06:00

The self proclaimed head of the Republican Party – Rush Limbaugh – has made one of the more asinine statements of his entertainment career.

Rush recently told his 20 or so million listeners that the slowness in the distribution of the H1N1 vaccine is a plot by the Obama administration t create "fear, confusion and control."

The fact is the H1N1 virus doesn't grow as well or as fast as other viruses and it has taken the CDC and the producers of the vaccine longer than expected to produce the stuff and get it out to the people who need it. Sometimes things like this happen. Get used to it.

This is yet another attack on President Obama which leads the uninformed and unwilling to listen to the truth to believe that this administration wants to take over and run all aspects of the lives of all Americans. If anyone is cynical enough to believe this, they deserve to not get the shot.

Rush, if you are going to lead the Republican Party, which you seem to think you are doing, then act responsibly. This isn't a partisan issue. You should be telling your listeners that those most in need should be allowed to get it first and so on. Help, don't hurt the effort to vaccinate Americans.

I would guess that Rush, though his wealth, his drug dealer, or his political connections has already received his H1N1 vaccine shot. And he isn't in a priority group … except maybe those who are really stupid, fat or recovering addicts.

What would the advantage be to the administration to create "fear, confusion and control"? I can't see any. The only one who is trying to create those things is Rush … to keep his followers in line.

Shame on you Rush. I thought even you were better than that.

It is sad that Rush is seen by his devotees as the oracle of truth. They don't get that he's an entertainer and will say anything that will keep him on the air. For him to think he's leading the Republican Party is laughable at best. Sad and scary at worse.

If this keeps up, there isn't going to be a Republican Party as we have known it. The current vitriolic hatred of President Obama and his administration will eventually backfire. When it does, Rush and his cohorts better not have smoked all their retirement money already, since they'll need it by then.

Anyone as unprincipled as Limbaugh should be laughed at, not listened to. Even the faithful eventually see the light.

The Republican War Within

2009-11-01T10:46:00.000-06:00

Republicans are in the middle of a great transformative process. Some are calling it The Great Republican Civil War. The struggle for control of the Republican Party is epic and the stakes are very high.

If the extreme right wing of the party ultimately wins, then the party will likely decline into a wannabe which makes noise and scares off more supporters than it attracts.

If the moderates regain control, then the party will once again become a vibrant force to be reckoned with which desires to work with the opposition and move the country forward.

The right wing supporters are extremely adept at getting their message out in subtle and not so subtle ways. They know how to make lots of noise that attracts media attention, as well as making the more extreme statements that galvanize followers and repel many in the general public in very subtle ways not used in the past.

With no leadership at the top, the loud and irrational statements being made by many of the pretenders to the leadership throne are driving many away, feeling they have no place to go. They don’t really support the Democrats, but they can’t support the extreme views of their own party.

The last poll I saw said that only 19% of voters called themselves Republican. That is a sad commentary on how the Republican Party has conducted itself since losing the election in 2008. They should be rebuilding and planning a strategy to win in 2012. From what I’ve seen, there is no strategy and the plan to win is to bash President Obama on spending trillions of dollars (yes, it is scary). This was brought on by the previous Republic president and his administration. Obama is having to clean up the mess after that all-nighter and it isn’t pretty.

What the right-wingers aren’t prepared for is that by 2012, the economy will have likely improved, people will be back to work, the healthcare bill will be law in some form and will be showing people that it was the right decision and with President Obama’s (hopefully) thoughtful leadership, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan will be winding down with total withdrawal in sight.

If that scenario develops, right wing Republicans will have to defend their stonewalling of everything the President has tried to work with them on. They will then fall back on moral issues like family values (which only they seem to have a right to). With someone as public as President Obama in office, it is hard to see an immoral bone in his body. Besides, if he did cheat, Michelle would draw and quarter him on national television faster than the Roadrunner leaves the Coyote in the dust.

We saw what happens when you elect someone because he’s a “moral person”. You get a person with exemplary personal morals, but without examination of their proposed policies on real world issues, morals make little difference in the larger picture.

I would point out that the Bush Administration did nothing to help the millions of displaced persons in Darfur who were and are suffering horribly at the hands of the Sudanese dictator because they are of a different tribe than he is. They had years to deal with the situation and did nothing.

The Obama administration hasn’t done much either to this point, but with a lot on their plate, it is on the radar but not at the top of the list. I can’t make the decision on what goes at the top, since that’s the President’s job. I am hopeful this administration will address the problem and help those who cannot help themselves in Darfur.

But I digress …

It is sad that by definition, moderates and liberals stand for fair play and tolerence. The hardline right sees no problem in playing dirty at every turn to get their way.This puts moderates and liberals at a major disadvantage, since they want to give everyone a voice .. even those that disagree with them. Hardliners have no tolerance for dissent and see only their way as the right way ... which is the glue that unites them.

Moderates and liberals are going to have to seriously organize (although it is against their basic modus operandi) to beat back this right wing tide and do it sooner than later. The more truth we see in the media, the more discredited the right wing messages will become.

In politics, you have to answer the opponent's charges as quickly and effectively as possible. The Obama team has been doing that, but they must keep it up and go on the offensive to show the American people exactly who these right wing fringe people really are. You can't ignore a lot of this stuff because it is silly and innacurate. People believe much of this propaganda if it isn't countered.

That said, in the long term, if the Republicans don’t quit eating their own, they may become a footnote in history sooner than later.

The Keys To The Bank

2009-11-01T09:43:00.000-06:00

Rev. Al Sharpton noted today on ABC’S This Week that President Obama was “Handed the keys to the bank, but there was no money in the vault”. Although I have disagreed with many things the Rev. Sharpton has said in the past, this analogy hits the administration of the financial crisis situation squarely on the head.

The Republicans are already planning to attack the President and his administration in the upcoming mid-term elections for spending so much money to shore up the economy. If you really think about it, you will realize he didn’t have a choice.

The Bush crowd, beholden to the financial interests of Wall Street, adopted the Hoover policy of “hands off, the system will right itself”. Not to mention the favors and possible under the table dealings which allowed the fox into the hen house, where they still resist moving from today.

Like almost all Americans, I don’t like the government spending trillions of dollars that could be going to other, more useful things. However, the financial system was in such bad shape, the entire economy could have come crashing down in a manner not seen since the great depression. I don’t know if it was the right decision, but it was better than making no decision at all. What would you, yes you … the person reading this … have done if you had had to make the decision?

It is curious that the word and the amount of a trillion dollars has become a word and reference we are now comfortable with in normal discussion of the national economy. A year and a half ago, that number would have been almost unthinkable and would strike fear in the hearts of most sane Americans as a number too big to contemplate. To paraphrase the late Sen. Everett Dirksen (R-Ill) “A trillion here, a trillion there, pretty soon you’re talking about real money.”

In a very short time we have gotten used to the concept of trillions of dollars as an everyday measure of government spending. This is a sign of the times, I guess. However, we wouldn’t be in this position if the Republicans and the Bush administration hadn’t let the Wall Street rapists run wild. This is a fact that should be remembered when considering who to elect to lead in the mid-term elections and the General election of 2012.

I don’t want to go back to the way it was … banks having no firm foundation, people being mislead into bad personal financial situations they don’t understand, companies without credit to operate and expand and all the rest. Yes, the recovery from all this bad management is painful and will take time. It isn’t pleasant and will be agonizing in some cases. But the end result will be real and substantial and will stand on solid ground.

Americans have developed the attention span of a gnat. This is something politicians have adapted to. President Obama is trying to explain things that are very complex in short sound bites. I don’t know how much people will understand with this method of communication, but let’s hope some of them get it. All I can say is that until the Republicans can offer more reasonable stances on the issues, the public will not feel there is any middle ground and may decide to opt out of the political process for the next election cycle. Let’s hope that some thinking heads on both sides prevail and we have a truly honest discussion about where we want this country to go.

Naw, who am I kidding?

Dithering

2009-10-29T06:09:00.001-05:00

Former President Dick Cheney has recently accused President Obama of “Dithering”.

The self-absorbed Mr Cheney, believing he is always right, might stop to think about what he’s saying. If he had paused to think about committing troops to Iraq because it was in the best interests of Halliburton and his oil company CEO friends, we might not be in the mess we’re in now.

Had the Cheney administration not focused on Iraq, we would also have been able to commit many more troops to Afghanistan in the beginning and actually have a chance to wipe out, or at least disable al-Qaeda and their friends the Taliban.

It is also possible that we might not have the 5,000 or so American deaths and seemingly countless wounded (both physical and mental) resulting from his adventurism into the Middle East

The President is taking the decision on what to do next very seriously. We are not under immediate attack, or threat of attack, so thoughtful consideration and consultation should rightly be the order of the day. Throwing more troops and equipment at the problem without a plan is irresponsible. Cheney and his hand puppet W. (They would have been hit on the comedy club circuit if their actions weren’t so serious.) made immediate, off the cuff and ill thought out decisions which they thought made them look “decisive”

I would remind Mr Cheney that he had no exit strategy from Iraq and cut resources to troops in Afghanistan so severely that they had no chance of overall success. Some say that permanent occupation in Iraq was the goal anyway. Saddam was just an excuse to get back in and control Iraq’s huge oil reserves.

This brings up another point. Did we have the right to invade a sovereign nation that posed no threat to us? Especially after the conveniently manufactured WMD claims were completely discredited. Yes Saddam was a very bad guy. No one disputes this fact. However, I don’t think we have a Constitutional mandate to put leaders of foreign countries in place we like when we don’t like the current sitting leader. By Mr Cheney’s line of reasoning, we should invade Venezuela and oust President Chavez.

It is refreshing to have a President who actually considers the consequences of his actions. Endless delays in making a decision are not appropriate, but getting the facts and learning about the situation in detail are.

President Obama has said we can expect a decision in the next week or so. That seems reasonable. Considering the monetary costs, the potential cost in lives and the ramifications to U.S. policy and relations around the world, this is a 21st century approach. Mr Cheney is stuck in a time when America could dictate its will and other nations would fall in lockstep.

This is a new world Mr ex-(Vice) President. You have outworn your welcome and it is time for you to exit the stage gracefully before the big hook appears and drags you off.

President Obama knows that whatever decision he makes may not be the right one. However, at least he has a better chance of making a more correct decision than Mr Cheney would if he were still in office. Good luck Mr President.

Re-REITs

2009-10-15T06:08:00.000-05:00

Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), who I usually regard as (to put it politely) “way out there”, has actually hit on something. The former youngest-ever mayor of a major U.S. city – Cleveland (who was almost impeached for his gross mismanagement of the city government) and former Presidential candidate, has found and made public a problem with the New York financial community’s more sophisticated rapists … again.

Apparently those New York boys (and girls) are at it once more. In order to maintain their obscene bonuses, they’ve invented yet another financial instrument which steps outside the bounds of common sense.

Welcome to the world of Re-REITs. A REIT is a Real Estate Investment Trust. An investment instrument that played a major role in the financial disaster we’ve seen over the last year. Few people actually understand the inner workings of a REIT, although many invested in them. A Re-REIT is something that is likely totally incomprehensible to us mortal humans.

Kucinich has pointed out these new instruments are filled with bad real estate loans (most likely mortgages … again) that have already had problems in collections. They are also designed to step outside of the regulations intended to stop such abuses and help maintain the Wall Street guy’s homes in the Hamptons.

What little I can find on the web seems to confirm these financial land mines exist and are being sold. Kucinich seems to be on target with this one.

The Ohio Congressman has asked the SEC to look into these questionable instruments. He has been told the SEC can’t do anything, since Re-REITs aren’t regulated. A Catch-22 if there ever was one.

The Bush administration sinned by unofficially confirming to Wall Street that they would ignore existing regulations in order to allow their buddies in the New York financial community to sell those complex and ultimately worthless financial instruments. This allowed them to become very, very rich, at the expense of the rest of us. The Obama administration, which to my knowledge is not maintaining the Bush Administration policy of coziness with the people who destroyed the value of our 401(k)s, is not acting on this problem and we may just have another round of financial disaster once again. This of course, will allow the wizards of Wall Street to become even richer, while more people lose their homes and the suicide rate climbs ever higher.

The current administration needs to put ankle bracelets on these guys and make sure they behave themselves. Apparently the financial rewards for the rape and murder of the average American’s dream of a comfortable retirement and a home of their own are just too great to ignore. Maybe the technology exists to have a chip implanted in these guy’s heads that will give them a conscience (Naw .. who am I kidding? They'd find a way to defeat such a thing if it existed.).

I know President Obama and his team have a lot on their plate … Health care, two wars, and lots of other things. However, this is really important guys. I suggest you look into this pronto before we all go down the tubes.

The Wall Street rapists are peddling a giant Ponzi scheme that will make Madoff look like a rank amateur and they are going to walk away scot free if something isn’t done. I urge the administration and Congress to act on this problem pronto. Defy the lobbyists and arm twisters and stand up for the people who elected you and even those who didn’t. You owe us that much.

We don't need Yogi Berra's "daja-vu all over again".

Martin

Congress and Gitmo

2009-10-07T10:56:00.000-05:00

Congress has just passed the Defense Department budget with a proviso that Guantanamo cannot be closed.

As I explained earlier in my post of September 27, Gitmo has to be closed. For the Congress to bow to such unrealistic pressure from the far right, military and intelligence organizations is amazing. What are they afraid of … really?

I wouldn’t be surprised if the CIA and other organizations involved in Gitmo have lobbied hard to keep information suppressed that will embarrass some and put others in jail. I would guess the national security card has been played and has apparently been effective.

The objections from constituents may have some bearing on some legislators, but those are a comparatively small number and less influential than the other groups noted above. To vote for closure is an issue that can be overcome in the next election cycle. Many other issues will dominate by that time. Besides, they can blame it on the President if they have to.

Congress should show some backbone and agree with the President that Gitmo is an embarrassment and a stain on our national reputation and standing in the world community. To close Gitmo is to remove another recruiting tool for those who seek to harm this country and its citizens.

These elected officials just don’t get it. To be so short sighted is not only Pollyannaish, but to bring more potential harm to those they represent in the long term. Has Washington politics gotten so “of the moment” that no one sees ramifications appearing tomorrow for actions taken today? Probably so, I’m afraid to say.

If you support keeping Guantanamo open, I’d like to know why. Please post a reply to this blog. Do you support secret trials? Do you support torture? Do you support suspension of rights we take for granted? Do you support covering up crimes and mistreatments of prisoners which violate their basic human rights? Do you want much of the rest of the world to look at the United States and believe we are hypocrites and not trustworthy?

Of course we should put the bad guys away. No one questions this fact. In doing so, we need to operate under the laws of this country which we hold so dear. Not under former President Cheney’s vision of selective favoritism and punishment of those he and his friends just didn’t like. (This last item has been a favorite method of governing by dictators and cruel monarchs for centuries.)

You probably wouldn’t support keeping Gitmo open if those held were American citizens. Somehow, since these people are foreign nationals, it makes all this acceptable to some of our citizens. If we are to be the shining beacon of hope and light for the rest of the world, we better start making decisions that support that image or it will continue to rust until it becomes unrecognizable.

Martin

Civilian control of the military

2009-10-04T10:46:00.004-05:00

General McChrystal and his undoubtedly large force of PR people are working to undermine a basic principal of the Constitution. I'm sure he doesn't intend this, but knowingly or unknowingly, the General seems to be stepping outside the role of a United States military commander.

I am not debating the General's call for more troops. That is the information and opinion he is supposed to give his superiors. I do however, question the sophistocated campaign to pressure the President to bend to his will. This sort of thing should be discussed behind closed doors and when the decision is made, he says "Yes Sir" and carries out the order.

Civilian control of the military has worked exceedingly well for 233 years. In this day of instant and far reaching communications, anyone can try their hand at media manipulation and public opinion control.

Whether McChrystal is conciously doing this or not, he should re-think his place in the chain of command and the media. If he's not careful, he may have a forced retirement on his hands like another well known general ... Douglas McArthur.

The Right-Wing Underground

2009-09-28T11:25:00.000-05:00

The right-wing underground is at it again.

I received an email today from a well meaning friend. Attached was a music video called “President’s Day” by the group Diamond Rio. I should add, it is supposedly played during the group’s Las Vegas show because it can't be played anywhere else. I was hoping to attach it to this blog, but I’m not able to do it at this time. You can see it on YouTube at this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bExdoZhluGo

The copy attached said it was banned from some radio stations for being politically incorrect. It also says Congress is getting involved, but doesn’t say how. It continues on, telling the reader the President has said it is unfit for release because it is offensive. The song has supposedly never been released because it can’t get airplay and there is intense pressure to keep this one out of the public eye. It ends by proclaiming “This is Censorship!”

The implication once again is that the Obama administration is systematically trying to dismantle American freedoms and working to stifle dissent.

Let’s examine the statement:

As I said, it says Congress is getting involved, but no explanation of exactly what they are trying to do. Congress can’t ban a single song. Even if it tried, the President wouldn’t sign it and it flies in the face of everything this country stands for.

Supposedly, the President has called the song offensive and said it shouldn’t be released. I have no idea whether this is fact of fiction. If he has heard it and made the comments, that is opinion. Not a Presidential order.

As for radio stations not playing the song, that is their choice. It has been done before. They are required to protect the public airwaves, which is part of their license obligation. It works both ways, if you ban left leaning rock and roll you have to watch for right leaning stuff too.

I have seen the video and find it offensive personally. It attacks the President without naming him. The implication is that God is who we turn to in crisis and the current administration is bent on removing references to God and faith from all government facilities, currency and so on. Further, this country is a God fearing nation, anointed to be the leader of the world by God himself, and this is what made America great. The song implies all this will be taken away.

This attack on the President and his administration is another veiled attempt to generate anger and hate toward a man who is different from many of those depicted in the video (I saw no person of color in the video). White, fundamentalist, undereducated, self centered, unwilling to think and understand issues people are afraid of someone who isn’t like them. I don’t know if this movement is based in racial hatred, but whatever the underlying motive, it needs to stop.

People are being whipped up into a frenzy by the right wing to try to take back the White House in 2012. This isn’t the way to do it. It is dividing the country quietly, but effectively. If this doesn’t stop, we’re going to see the serious growth of Neo-Nazi and KKK-like organizations. Maybe not in name, but likely very sophisticated in their messages which feed on the fears of people who are vulnerable to their message.

The mythical America many of these people believe in is what the Regan campaign captured so effectively in the “Morning in America” ad in 1980. Smiling white people who bake apple pies, love their family, go to church and live a simple but moral life, implying that we are smiled upon by God and the country is perfect in many ways. So why change it?

The true beauty of this country is that we are able to change, innovate and recognize when we are wrong. Segregation was wrong. It took time, but we realized it was wrong and corrected it.

The bottom line of this movement is to force change to moderate or disappear, along with a President of color they think doesn’t belong in the White House. Also, these people are scared of the fact that soon, whites will not be 50% or more of the population. Do we whites have some sort of right to be an absolute majority of the population of this country?

I could go on, and will in other blog entries. For now, be aware of this almost undetectable, sneaky campaign by the right wing fringe to whip up baseless emotions in people who are otherwise generally reasonable, hard working folk.

Martin

Gitmo

2009-09-27T11:58:00.000-05:00

Robert Gates, the current Secretary of Defense, said today “it’s going to be tough” getting out of Guantanamo by the Obama Administration’s Jan 22, 2010 deadline.

This shouldn’t be a surprise. The people that fully supported Gitmo, are the ones fighting the close order. You have the imperious leader, Dick Cheney telling everyone that in so many words: “torture is good”. You also have the people who are the “Tea Party” and anti-healthcare reform vocalists who can add another label to their list … NIMBY … Not In My Back Yard. These people don’t want accused terrorists in their neighborhood, or even in this country.

The NIMBY people want to have possible terrorists locked up, but not nearby. They don’t want to know about torture, although it is good for the country they might think. They also don’t want to think about the denial of due process which has been going on since the start of this mockery of justice.

Now, let’s look at this whole situation.

First, torture is not good. Every interrogation expert on the planet will tell you that torture does not get reliable information. It just makes the victim hate the jailer that much more.

Second, locking these guys up in the continental U.S. is no worse than locking up violent gang members or serial killers. They will be under strong lock and key. If they escape, they won’t stay in the local area where they have been held. They’ll want to get as far away as possible.

Third, Gitmo has to be closed. It has come to symbolize U.S. policy hypocrisy to the rest of the world. We proclaim our freedom and fairness as a shining beacon to all the world, while denying the due process to and the torturing of prisoners in our charge. It makes anything we say to much of the world worthless.

What do we gain by not allowing the accused to go to trial? Exposure of illegal Special Ops operations? Bad judgments that could be embarrassing? Illegal or unethical bribes and other cash transactions? Who knows? If so, they SHOULD be exposed.

Of course many of those held at Gitmo are bad people. They should be tried and punished. The innocent should be determined and set free. And …. They should be tried in normal U.S. courts, not by secret tribunals which smack of Nazi justice. What’s next? Secret beheadings after secret convictions?

No matter what the previous administration said about a “War on Terror”, it isn’t. It should not be treated like a wartime condition. Giving the President war powers for a faux war was wrong.

For the supporters of Gitmo, I would ask you to get out of your monster truck, put the beer away and think about the rest of the world and our place in it. You can’t live in your cocoon forever. Not anymore. China is going to be the big economic power of the 21st century. We need to be able to get along with them and their friends. This also goes for India and possibly Russia (if they can get their act together). What happens there affects us here.

If we continue to talk out of both sides of our mouth like this, we won’t be taken seriously in the future. We won’t be the big kid on the block anymore and won’t be able to enforce our will as we have in the past. We have to wake up and realize the internet and other global communications have made this world one big mass of humanity. I certainly don’t want for us to be sent to our room and miss out on everything to come.

The only way we can play with others in the future and maintain a leadership role in the world is to talk honestly and act honestly on the issues confronting this country and the world. Closing Gitmo is a good start and will serve our purposes far into the future.

Martin

A Republican Party alternitive?

2009-09-26T15:28:00.000-05:00

Are all Republicans as nutty as the noisemakers currently in the news? I don't think so.

I'm from Oklahoma. I'm embarrassed that our senior senator, Jim Inhofe (R-OK) is representing us. This is a United States Senator who has served since 1990 and has no really significant legislation to his credit. His claim to fame is sponsoring the 2005 Highway Bill, which gave Oklahoma more money than it sends to Washington. A few million more dollars ... chicken feed when talking highway construction. Senator Inhofe has logged more visits (with guests) to the crown of the U.S. Capitol dome than any other elected official. Access to the crown is only accessible to Congressmen, Senators and their guests.

I'm hitting on Senator Inhofe a bit hard because I know a lot about him. The point is, this is a man who opposes the concept of global warming and is fighting with all his might to be the darling of the fringe right wing. He's now proposing to organize "Truth Squads" to protest at the U.N. Climate conference in Copenhagen this December.

For someone with such an undistinguished career in the Senate, Mr Inhofe is surely tilting at windmills awfully hard. Coming from an oil and gas producing state, I can understand the desire to represent those industries' interests in the Senate. However, even the oil companies recognize that global warming is a problem and are working (albeit slowly) to curb greenhouse gasses and other problem producing conditions. Why the Senator doesn't get on board and go with the flow is amazing (I guess those huge oil industry contributions have induced a form of dementia when it comes to representing the people.). Even if the global warming concept is a complete lie, does it hurt to try to help make the planet a better place?

If you want real chuckles, go to Inhofe’s official Senate page and look at his bio page. On the left side (ironic isn’t it?) you can click to learn more about things like “How to stop terrorists from being transferred from Guantanamo”, “How hundreds of scientists dispute global warming” (check their “credentials”) and other anti-everything positions he holds.

Inhofe’s web page is: http://inhofe.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=aboutsenatorinhofe.biography

Senator David Vitter (R-LA) is proposing legislation to kick families out of public housing if one family member breaks the law. So much for “compassionate conservatism”.

Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) repeatedly keeps telling right wing groups in closed sessions “We’re winning the argument” on healthcare and Obama’s attempt to socialize the national government.

These elected officials, and others like them owe it to their constituents to be more even handed. I understand the basis of the Republican Party has long been to curb the growth of government and oppose unnecessary taxes. An admirable goal. A stand that needs to be taken to balance the other side of any given argument developing in the national dialog.

The problem is, these people have gone too far. With no leadership at the top of the Republican Party, the loudest get the most attention. Rush Limbaugh and people like those I’ve listed above are leading the Republicans into an abyss they may not be able to climb out of.

The big money for Republicans comes from rich, right-wing, self-interested people who have no idea how the average person in America lives. And for that matter, don’t really care. Therefore, to get the money and the love, self anointed leaders have gravitated to the far right. Don’t get me started on the aide to Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK), a.k.a. “Dr No”, who recently said pornography was the reason for homosexuality.

Why do these guys think they have the moral high ground? Do they think Democrats, Independents and moderate Republicans don’t love their families, worry if their teenage daughter gets pregnant, think abortion is a very serious issue, and the rest? We care about all these things just as they do. To listen to them is to believe they want a theocracy of monumental proportions, and that it will solve all the nation’s problems.

Do they really want the government telling them what to do? That’s what would happen. Everyone would have to abide by what would be strict guidelines on everything from dating to how to bury your grandfather. They want to impose their version of morality on us, but don’t want to live by the code. The most recent example is the Governor of South Carolina, Mark Sanford (R) who ran off to South America and cheated on his wife. It is strange that this guy can campaign for morality, but flaunt his immorality and somehow that’s acceptable. This is what we would face in a theocracy.

Besides, what sort of morality would be acceptable? Certainly not Islamic principals (some of the most stringent on the planet). What about Hindi or Catholic or Buddhist morality and teachings? Would we all be forced to accept fundamentalist Christian values? Excellent moral values to be sure, but to impose them on others who believe differently would be a travesty and go against everything this country stands for.

These guys need to get with the program. They need to face several facts: a) They lost the election. It happens. Try again in four years; b) They have a President who is non-white, non-rich (ok, he’s made a pile from his books), smart, middle aged, has a funny name and cares about the country more than special interests; c) The majority of the people do not agree with them at this time; d) They have no real leadership and are fragmenting beyond anything anyone would have ever believed; e) They are pinning all their hopes of regaining power on false moral arguments and faux hatred of any change whatsoever. (What would they do without their Blackberries and the internet? That’s change. Do they hate that?) Change is part of life. It is part of this country.

And all the rest of course….

Now…

All of this leads to my idea that we need a new moderate party to replace the Republican Party that has been hijacked by the fringe right-wing. This new party would allow those millions of thoughtful, intelligent and decent moderate Republicans (and some Democrats) to make their voice heard and bring sanity to the political debate once again. The fact we have two major political parties is not etched in stone. Three major parties might be refreshing.

I will explore this idea in detail later.

Think about it. A reasonable alternative to the current Republican Party. Hmmmmm …..

Martin

RINOs

2009-09-23T14:38:00.000-05:00

Well, I wasn’t sure before, but apparently Republicans do eat their young ... and maybe even their old.

NPR reported today on a South Carolina Republican Rep who is facing a stiff challenge next year because he isn’t “conservative enough”, even with a 100% rating from the NRA and other impressive conservative credentials.

The thing that got my attention was a small reference to RINO – Republican In Name Only. These folks are the same people who comprise the “Tea Party” wing of the Republican Party. The citizen who was interviewed talked about going on a “RINO hunt”.

If they keep this up, they are going to turn into fine little Nazis. If you’re not White; Christian (preferably fundamentalist); Afraid of change; Born in the good 'ole "U.S. of A."; Straight; Full of “family values” that only you can display proudly (because people who are different from you couldn’t possibly have any care for family or their fellow man); and Have a religious devotion to high school football, then you’re not worthy to live here. Oh, I almost forgot .. you must also fight for the right to own an operate an AK-47 .. a gun which has no other purpose than to kill people (and maybe RINOs). The exception of course is to do the jobs people like this don’t want to do, such as: Jobs that require more than a high school education or jobs that require more than a Class C drivers license. (I think undesirables like this were classified as “Jews” and “Intellectuals” in an earlier time.)

Where’s the new moderate party to replace the Republicans as a mainstream political force in this country? Let Dick and Sarah run for the White House in 2012. That will seal the fate of the Republican Party as we have known it. I’m ready for someone to publicly say “Extremism in the defense of Liberty is no vice!” It would be funny when it is proclaimed, except we don’t have an overwhelming force like LBJ to counteract it. Obama is tough, but is he tough enough?

I’ll be handing out “Stars and Bars” flags at the back of the auditorium to give the appearance of being extremely patriotic. Be assured, this action is only to protect my family and property from the brown shirts who plan to have the torch light parade after the meeting. Don’t worry, I’ll wear a Star of David armband proudly when I’m whisked off into oblivion.

Don’t think it can happen here? Are you sure?

Martin