Tag: Obama

Jan 16 2011

On Contradiction, Or, Will Obama Lose An Argument With Himself?

There have been many unlikely things that have happened this past month or so: some of them appearing as legislation, some of them appearing in the form of Republicans who set new records for running away from the words they used to get elected-and some of them appearing in the markets, where, believe it or not, many Europeans finds themselves wishing for our economic situation right about now.

There are even improbable sports stories: our frequently hapless Seattle Seahawks, the only team to ever make the NFL Playoffs with a losing record, are today preparing to knock the Chicago Bears out of their bid to play in the Super Bowl, having crushed the defending holders of the Lombardi Trophy just last week before the 12th Man in Seattle.

But as improbable as all that is, the one thing I never thought I would see is Barack Obama getting into a political argument with himself over Social Security-and then losing the argument.

Even more improbably, it looks like there’s just about a week left for him to come to a decision…and it looks like you’re going to have to help him make up his mind.

Jan 06 2011

On Shame As A Tactic, Or, Betsie Gallardo: She Won…And So Can You!

We have been following the story of Betsie Gallardo lately, she being the woman that, due to a medical decision, was being starved to death in a Florida prison.

She has inoperable cancer, her death is imminent, and her mother was working hard to make it possible for Betsie to die at home with some dignity.

As we reported just a couple days ago, half the battle was already won, as the Florida Department of Corrections had agreed to place her in a hospital so that she could again go back on nutritional support.

On January 5th, the Florida Parole Commission voted to allow her to end her life at home-and that means you spoke out, made a difference, and achieved a complete victory for the effort.

But even as we celebrate that victory, I think we should take a moment to realize that there is a bigger lesson here: the lesson that the fights over “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT), benefits for 9/11 first responders (the Zadroga Bill), and Betsie Gallardo’s imminent release are all actually pointing us to a political strategy that works, over and over, if we are willing to understand the wisdom that’s been laid before us.

Dec 24 2010

Why Obama Could Never Be An FDR

Although they emerged into the Presidency seventy-six years apart, at first glance, the similarities are there: two cosmopolitan Presidents from large cities coming to power in the midst of widespread economic catastrophe, on the heels of deeply unpopular, corporatist RepubliCon predecessors. Surely President Obama’s tenure will be judged by some of the same historical precedents set up by FDR, right? Both needed to create jobs, move the country out of economic malaise, and rebuild a sense of American unity that had been deeply damaged on the heels of long-term conservative and corporate dominance alluded to in the term “gilded age.”  

Dec 12 2010

Obama’s Totalitarian Vision of a Censored Society

You may recall that Richard Nixon’s declared “enemy” was Daniel Ellseberg, who released “The Pentagon Papers” that finally brought to public light the lies, corruption, and futility behind the Vietnam War. Nixon was so pissed about this, that he formed his own private CIA-hit team, called “The Plumbers”, made up of CIA “Bay Of Pigs” assassins (and Kennedy assassination participants), E. Howard Hunt, Frank Sturgis, etc. to go around and ensure that any leaks were plugged up. Of course, the Daniel Ellsberg burglary, and the Watergate break in then followed, which led to Nixon’s own downfall — something today’s Congress would let pass by without a thought, in the today’s unspeakable age where: Human torture and preemptive War are good things in eyes of The United States Government (as long as we’re the ones doing it, or Israel, or the British Oligarchy, or Saudi Arabia).

Well the Pentagon Papers of today, are WikiLeaks, and guess who’s side President Obama is on?  That’s right, the same side as Richard Nixon.

Obama made a public statement to  Turkish Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan where he was quoted as:   “Expressing his regrets for the deplorable action by WikiLeaks“.

Link: Obama Lashes Out Amid Calls to Free Assange

Yeah….in Obama’s World, truth-telling is really “deplorable”, and not our criminal and corrupt Foreign Policy, our Worldwide mass-violence, and his utter waste of Trillions of dollars of American citizens money — who must instead, according to Obama, be robbed of their own Social Security lifeline in order to “keep the debt under control” — while he also hands out over $700 Billion dollars to multi-millionaires, and tells the Democratic Party: “take it or leave it”   (who’s the real treasonist here?).

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This is a tragic statement about our Country, but hardly surprising since President Obama has also happily agreed with Dick Cheney and George Bush (his Foreign Policy role models) supporting the elimination of Haebeus Corpus, elimination of our Miranda Rights, elimination of the Posse Comitatus Act, support for secret brutal CIA Renditions (i.e. the outsourcing of Human Torture), broad based Government Wiretapping and data gathering on U.S. Citizens that would make Richard Nixon blush, and the right of the executive to now kill and assassinate any U.S. Citizen without any charges or crimes ever being demonstrated … on mere suspicion alone.
This is President’s Obama worldview.

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The President also called Mexican President Felipe Calderon as well to make the same statement as well, as part of an effort to put pressure on Foreign Governments to continue to scapegoat, abuse, jail, harass, torture, or possibly assasinate the truth-teller.

Obama has also turned Attorney General Eric Holder loose to prosecute — not the War Crimes committed by criminal government officals whom we all pay the salaries of — but instead to prosecute truth-teller Julian Assange, and by using “all the tools” at his disposal (e.g.: assassination efforts underway).
This is President’s Obama worldview.

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Support of WikiLeaks may be the most constructive thing that all of us ordinary people can do now, to bring about pressure upon the ruling Elite class, and expose their genocidal and monetary crimes.

Dec 10 2010

Dump Obama: we who have nothing to lose

Battle lines are being drawn. Finally. The Obama tax cut deal was a betrayal too far. And now Dump Obama has become part of the national dialogue big time. First there were a few squeaks. Then columns by Michael Lerner Save Obama’s presidency by challenging him on the left, and Clarence Jones Time to Think the Unthinkable: A Democratic Primary Challenge To Obama’s Reelection, among others. On the New York Times front page, Matt Bai of the Times wrote a skeptical piece Murmurs of Primary Challenge to Obama (demoted from its original title Talk on the Left of a Primary Challenge), in which he tellingly concludes:

should the president’s progressive critics warm to the idea, it might not take a particularly credible primary challenge to weaken Mr. Obama’s chances for re-election. It might only take a challenge designed to do exactly that.

This was followed by the inevitable counter-attack, from the likes of Ed Kilgore and David Broder, plus any number of lesser lights, touting three points:

(1) The tax cut deal was a masterful stroke – stimulating the economy and ensuring Obama’s re-election in 2012; and

(2) No “serious” challenger would dare risk their credibility and prestige by entering the primaries, the ultimate proof being that they haven’t done so yet.

(3) A primary challenge would only serve to harm the very Democratic Party that we all hold so dear.

Dec 09 2010

On Pushing The Unwilling, Or, Laughter: A Tool Of Asymmetric Warfare?

So here it is, almost halfway through this President’s first term, and it’s starting to become abundantly clear that there is no way Obama is going to pursue the same agenda that he ran on in 2008.

In fact, as the President announces a deal that even he agrees the majority of the American people do not support, and he prepares the Nation for the news that we’re going to have to borrow money for the very tax cuts he said we couldn’t afford a few weeks ago, it’s starting to look like Obama isn’t even going to pursue the same agenda he campaigned for in October.

Now it is true that a lot of the problem here is the President’s-but it’s also fair to say that we Progressives have failed to force the President, and certain reluctant Members of Congress, to govern in a way that promotes that agenda.

That’s a real problem, and it needs a real solution; before we get done today I’ll offer a suggestion that could be not only highly effective, and a lot of fun besides, but a great chance to release your artistic muse as well.  

Dec 02 2010

On Asking And Telling, Or, 115,000 LBGT Troops? How Many Is That, Exactly?

I took a couple of weeks off, as Thanksgiving and snow came around (a subject we’ll address in a day or so), but we are all again occupied as lots of things we’ve been talking about  either will or won’t come to pass, and it seems like all that’s happening all at once.

Today we’ll take on “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT); this because the Pentagon’s top leadership just came out and reported that revocation of the policy, following a period of preparation, would be their preferred way to go.

There will be lots of others who will take on the question of what’s right and wrong here, and exactly how implementation might occur; my interest is, instead, to focus on one little fact that makes all teh rest of the conversation a lot more relevant.

That is the fact that about 70,000 LBGT troops serve in the military today, DADT notwithstanding, and, that if it wasn’t for DADT, almost 45,000 more troops would be serving that aren’t today.

And that one little fact leads to today’s Great Big Question: exactly how much military would 115,000 troops be, exactly?

Nov 21 2010

Democrats Lost 998 Seats in State Legislatures in 2010

There were about 6,115 state legislative elections in the United States in 2010, and…

In those 6,115 state legislative elections, Republicans picked a net gain of 998 seats from Democrats.

Republicans now hold 3,735 state legislative seats to 3,119 state legislative seats held by Democrats, a stunning reversal of power from 2006 and 2008.

Republicans have more seats in state legislatures than at any time since Reconstruction.  

So the last time Republicans exercised so much control over state legislatures, the leader of their party was Abraham Lincoln.

And of course Republicans also picked up 5 governorships and 6 Senate seats and 64 seats in the House of Representatives, and meanwhile there’s really nothing worth reporting about our absurd President and the rest of the Democratic “leadership.”

Nov 16 2010

Social Security: If The Rich Paid Taxes Like You And Me…Problem Solved

Over the course of the past couple of weeks we’ve been talking about how the War On Social Security was about to get under way and what happens when countries choose to privatize their systems.

Today we take on another bite-sized chunk of economic analysis: how can you get to a situation where Social Security is financially stable for the next 75 years?

We’ll describe some proposals that are out there-but the big focus of this conversation will be to look at one change that, all by itself, could not only solve the entire funding problem, but could actually allow us to lower the Social Security tax rate, immediately, and still achieve fiscal balance.

“Well, if that’s such a bright idea” you might ask, “why haven’t we adopted it already?”

That’s a great question-and after you hear the proposal, you may well have explanations of your own.

Nov 10 2010

Social Security: They Want To Cut, We Plan To Fight

So if you’ve been following my work lately, you know that there is a renewed effort underway to change Social Security, and that the fight officially began just this very morning.

Now what’s supposed to happen is that a television ad buy sponsored by a Wall Street billionaire is supposed to get you enthused about cutting your own Social Security benefits in the future; this is the tip of a “disinformation iceberg” that is trying to get you to act, right now, because if you don’t you will never, ever, ever, ever, see a single dime of Social Security when you get older.

I was on a “let’s talk strategy” conference call today that laid out some ideas for the “next steps”; we’ll be talking about that call over the next couple of stories…but for today, we’re going to talk about something you can do that will bring the message right to your favorite Member of Congress.  

Nov 08 2010

Why Don’t You Two Get A Room?

I’ve been watching these two flirting while pretending not to flirt since about 2002. The elephant would watch the donkey all the time, and the donkey would watch back, while they pretended to hate each others’ guts. The donkey would pretend not to give a shit — not speaking to him, not returning his calls, but the whole time she’d look for excuses to be around while the elephant was in the room. It got to be pretty annoying after a while — the donkey would be flirting her ass off, and the whole time saying it was nothing, just a little bipartisanship, all in a spirit of compromise.

It only got worse after 2004 — the donkey practically throwing herself at the elephant, while acting all coy, like she didn’t even care, the elephant behaving like a cold bastard toward her, while anybody with half a brain in their head knew he really wanted to fuck her brains out.

The goddamn’ donkey got even worse around 2008 or so — smarmy coy looks, suggestive touching, soppy goo-goo eyes, all the time insisting there was nothing to it. Finally, about the time of the health care vote, she was all but falling all over the elephant, and it became insufferable. It was all I could do to keep from yelling “for crissakes, why don’t you two just get a room, already?”

Hat tip to political cartoonist Mike Flugennock for posting this at Corrente as well as at his own site.

Nov 06 2010

Social Security: The War Begins Tuesday, And You Better Say…Oh, No!

It is my job to bring to you not just the news that took place, but the news that has yet to happen.

Today, that’s exactly what we have.

There is a war coming to try to change Social Security from a social safety net to a “revenue stream” for certain corporate interests, and that war is set to begin Tuesday morning, according to information that was provided to me yesterday afternoon.

Follow along, and you’ll be both forewarned and forearmed.

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