SavageDem

"I don't belong to an organized political party – I'm a Democrat." – Will Rogers

Category: Political

  • More Lies from John Kline

    (following is an editorial from the Savage Pacer of 2009-08-29)

    It troubles me that John Kline is given the bully pulpit of “Guest Commentator” to spread neocon propaganda. His continual rants against the Obama administration’s policies distort truth and ignore fact. His commentary of last week is no exception.

    The first part of his screed states that “…through the end of 2007, we saw job growth for a record 52 consecutive months.” This is true, but what Kline fails to mention is that this was the slowest rate of job growth in the last 75 years! He also doesn’t point out that 3.1 million manufacturing jobs were lost during the same time, bringing the number of manufacturing jobs in the U.S. to its lowest total since 1950! He also conveniently forgets to look at the root causes of current levels of unemployment: a recession brought on by deregulation of the financial industry initiated by Reagan in 1982. It has become obvious that unregulated “free market” economics don’t work, yet Bush I and II continued to push them, along with “free trade” policies that have resulted in our current crisis.

    Kline continues his attack on the truth by inaccurately characterizing the Employee Free Choice Act. Contrary to Kline’s statement, this Act actually adds an option for workers to join unions. If John Kline is concerned about jobs and wages, he should support unions, as union workers earn more than non-union workers. But the Republican Party attacks the right of American workers to unionize, and fought against an increase in the minimum wage.

    I find it amusing that Kline rails against the state of the economy and the efforts to fix it, but fails to address how we got into this mess! This crisis was in the making going back to the Reagan administration, so to complain about a fix not working in President Obama’s first six months is ridiculous! It’s also interesting that Kline criticizes the $787 billion allocated for the Stimulus Package, but says nothing about the $700 billion that Bush gave to the financial industry; $700 billion handed out to the richest of the rich, with no controls, no oversight, and which has mostly disappeared into places that no one can – or will – account for. That’s over $2000 out of the pocket of every man, woman, and child in the U.S. going to the very people that caused the recession.

    Finally, I must address the issue of universal health care. The United States spends more on health care than any nation in the world, but our health care system ranks 37th out of 191 countries. We have over 45 million people without health care in this country. Our health care industries (and executives!) make obscene amounts of money, yet costs go up and coverage goes down every year. Not having universal health care costs us more, as those in need use the most expensive services – emergency room – for their health care. They also don’t use preventive services, and thus end up costing more in treating illnesses that could have been prevented. A majority of Americans want universal health care, and we are the only industrialized nation in the world without it! The fact that the richest, most advanced country in the world doesn’t have universal health care is unbelievable.

    I hope that John Kline will begin to serve by making himself available to his constituents and by working to serve the interests of all the people, including those too poor to afford health insurance.

  • SENATOR AL FRANKEN!

    It’s official! The MN Supreme Court has just released their unanimous ruling affirming the appellate court’s decision that Al Franken is Minnesota’s newest U.S. Senator!

    “The question presented on appeal is whether the trial court erred in concluding that Al Franken received the most legally cast votes in the election for United States Senator. Because we conclude that appellants have not shown that the trial court‟s findings of fact are clearly erroneous or that the court committed an error of law or abused its discretion, we affirm.”

    See the actual decision here.

    Update: Norm Coleman concedes during his press conference, congratulates Al, and says he has spoken with Gov. Pawlenty and told him to sign election certificate! Franken press conference at 1615 CDT.

  • Tortured Logic

    Torture is immoral, illegal, and unjust. So why all this banter about whether or not it’s acceptable?

    The United States embodies – or should – the foundational tenet of justice for all. All one need do to determine if something is right is employ a simple litmus test: If my mother/brother/cousin were being held by a foreign government, would I accept <insert brutal treatment> being performed on him/her? If the answer is “No,” then we shouldn’t be doing it either. Torture is cruelty. It is inhumane. It is never justified. It is humankind at its worst. It is only advocated by fearful, mouth-breathing, still-stuck-in-Maslow’s-second-level, shallow, vengeful cowards.

    The far-right cerebrally-challenged fearmongers who keep advocating barbarism seem to justify it based on two arguments, used singly or in conjunction:

    1. Torture produces results.
    2. Other countries/organizations torture, so why shouldn’t we?

    Neither of these justifications can be rationally supported. First off, it’s been documented ad infinitum by everyone – military, intelligence services, psychologists – that torture does not produce reliable results. So strictly from an effectiveness point of view – removing emotion, compassion, justice, and morality from the equation – torture is ineffective.

    The second argument – they do it, so we should, too – is so inane as to almost not require a response. This “argument” is as stupid as the clichéd “jumping off a bridge because your friend did.” The actions of another are never any excuse for ours. “Someone stole my soda out of the breakroom refrigerator, so I can steal someone else’s.” “I know a guy that embezzled $40,000 from our local futbol club, so it’s okay if I take money that isn’t mine.” That’s not logic. That’s immorality, plain and simple. It’s acting out of vengeance. It’s childish, unprincipled, unethical, and misguided.

    The response to the rabid neocon hypocrites is simple: we don’t torture because it is wrong. It’s unethical. It’s barbaric. It is unjust. It is one of the most horrific violations of decency and morality possible. We’re better than that. It’s easy to be an armchair interrogator and say, “Hell, who cares what we do to them? They deserve it.” It’s a lot harder to set the example and stand up for what is right. But that’s what the United States is about: setting the standard for the world. We’ve forsaken that for awhile here – Bush, Bush and Reagan (with some help from Clinton) unscrewed the light bulb in the beacon of hope – but it’s not too late to reclaim our status. We can start down that path by investigating and prosecuting the criminals – including Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, et al – responsible for this detour to the dark side.

    I know President Obama has said it’s time to turn the page, but – as others have pointed out – you can’t turn the page until you’ve read it. We need to exorcise this cancer that has spread through our country. Yes, it will be painful. Yes, it will take time. But it is necessary.

  • Norris. Beck. Palin. Traitors.

    I shouldn’t be surprised. After all, we’ve all seen incredible hypocrisy over the past eight years under B*sh. Accusations of unpatriotic behavior while the Constitution was shredded, attempts to marginalize the Legislative and Judicial branches of government while complaining about an “obstructionist” Congress, a rush to “Christianize” our government while implementing a social policy that was as anti-Christian as anything imaginable, etc., etc., ad infinitum, ad nauseum. The Republican party of today doesn’t traffic in silly things like logic, common sense, and reason. Their chief weapons are fear, surprise, and an almost fanatical devotion to the Pope – but not ruthless efficiency…

    Yet I was still surprised to read the drivel spewn by has-been Chuck Norris. If you can get through this half-assed screed without gagging, you’ll read Chuck’s rationale about why it’s okay for the state of Texas to secede from the U.S. if “the going got rough in America.” The intellectually-challenged turncoat got the inspiration for his traitorous writings from an interview he did with Faux News’ Glenn Beck, another Nazi sympathizer. Beck asked Norris a self-answered rhetorical question about from whence a rebellion would come. Norris agreed wholeheartedly that Texas was the place. He says,

    I’m not saying that other states won’t muster the gumption to stand and secede, but Texas has the history to prove it.

    These morons – Beck and Norris – actually advocate for another Civil War! I cannot fathom the mindset that generates this garbage. This is the same crowd that crowed “Not a patriot!” from every rooftop when anyone dared to question why we were going into or staying in Iraq. And now they openly push sedition.

    But Norris and Beck aren’t the only unpatriotic crazies; in fact, we just had a Vice-Presidential candidate – I know, it’s still hard to believe that the Repubs were really that stupid – and her husband that supported secession! Sarah Palin was a member of the Alaskan Independence Party, even though the records on this have been expunged, and as recently as 2008 addressed the AIP, where she “shares your party’s vision of upholding the Constitution of our great state.” The AIP’s main goal is to turn Alaska into their own country, where they’re free to rape the environment, homeschool their kids (not kidding! check out their web site!), carry guns wherever, and in general not let nobody tell them nothing no-how. The AIP reveres their wise and benign founder, Joe Vogler, who once said:

    The fires of hell are frozen glaciers compared to my hatred for the American government. … and I won’t be buried under their damn flag.

    What a patriot. The great “snow machine” racer Todd Palin was a registered member of the AIP from 1995 to 2002, and while Sarah now says she was never a member, the chairman of the AIP told ABC News – before retracting her statement – that both Sarah and Todd were members in 1994.

    Secessionists love to claim that there’s nothing in the U.S. Constitution that expressly forbids seceding. Multiple Constitutional law types – which I do not claim to be, but am still allowed to reference – have put this to rest over the years following the Civil War, but none perhaps so definitively as contained in the SCOTUS ruling in Texas v. White (a lawsuit arising out of the Civil War), wherein it states:

    Considered as transactions under the Constitution, the ordinance of secession, adopted by the convention, and ratified by a majority of the citizens of Texas, and all the acts of her legislature intended to give effect to that ordinance, were absolutely null. They were utterly without operation in law. The State did not cease to be a State, nor her citizens to be citizens of the Union.

    and…

    The Constitution, in all its provisions, looks to an indestructible Union composed of indestructible States.

    So, back atcha neocons: if you don’t support this country, you’re a traitor. If you talk secession, you’re  a traitor. If you believe that the needs of the few outweigh the needs of the many…or the one (reverse copyright: Spock), you’re a traitor. Start being part of the solution instead of part of the problem. Stop being cut ‘n runners, and work for the greater good. Sure, it’s hard to figure out how to fix everything right now; but that’s what Americans are known for! The saying isn’t, “Good old-fashioned Norwegian know-how,” is it? (No offense to Norwegians) It’s American know-how!

  • Jindal’s Jihad

    If you haven’t heard, the neocons are having Louisiana governor – their next Sarah Palin – Piyush “Bobby” Jindal give the nutjob…I mean, Republican… rebuttal to President Obama’s (I love saying that!) speech tonight. This guy is just as scary as Palin, perhaps even scarier, as he was a Rhodes scholar, and therefore has a tad more brainpower than Caribou Barbie. A Hindu-turned-Catholic (at least publically), his background is disturbing in that he seems to be quite chameleon-like in his ability to blend into his environment in his quest for power.

    Here is an interesting read from a Louisiana native that covers Jindal’s history, conversion to Catholicism, brush with the devil, and more. Has some links to articles that Jindal himself published in the mid-90s about wrestling with his faith and his part in an illegal exorcism.

    I think we’ll have some fun with this guy when the Repubs trot him out as their 2012 candidate…

  • Bring Radio Heads to Task on Unfair Air Practices

    There is a horrifying thing occurring all across the country; the systematic removal of progressive talk radio.  It has been said that scary right-wing wackos are now blaming progressive talk radio for handing the election to Obama.  What’s their resolution to that problem?  Why cutting off the lifeblood (public airwaves) to progressive talk radio, of course.

    These conservative, scuzz-bag media moguls have declared war on liberal radio and if allowed, the only way people like you and me will be able to hear Big Eddie,  Hot-Mama Stephanie Miller, or grumpy Mike Malloy will be on satellite radio or the web.  WTF??  Where is the outrage?  Where is the incredulity?  Uh….where is the Fairness Doctrine?  What say we dust off that bad boy and get it back into circulation (which it was until Reagan killed it). 

    Maybe the Righties are doing this because they can’t man-up to the competition; progressive talk kicks conservative talks a$$ in equal markets EVERY TIME (look it up). 

    We won the election but these morons are still around.  Only now they’re being led around by fat-druggie Limbaugh, and they’re mad as hell they’re not in power any more. A dangerous 1-2 punch.  The fight continues, my fellow Blue-Progs (my term; a counter to Neo-Con).  Better not hang up those boxing gloves yet.

  • A day we’ll remember our entire lives: The dawn of a new age.

    I’ve just come back – OK, two hours or so ago – from volunteering as an Election Judge in perhaps the most important election in the history of the United States. And Barack’s our President! I’m so ecstatic I just want to – as a friend of mine voiced – run out into the neighborhood and shout it out to everyone. President Barack Obama! President Barack Obama!

    No, you haters out there, I don’t think he’s the Messiah. Or the Saviour. I do, however, think that his election is important on many fronts: the end of – hopefully forever – selfish, me-based, f*ck the poor, fear-based, decidedly and diametrically opposed to Christian tenets, neocon politics; the beginning of a positive, we-based, empowering, forward-thinking culture; and a final don’t-let-the-door-hitcha-on-the-way-out kick-in-the-pants end to racism, discrimination, bigotry, and small-mindedness.

    No, of course that won’t happen at once; but it’s a powerful start! Just by being there Barack will force the morons still rampant in our society to face up to what most of us have known for a l-o-o-o-o-o-ng time: skin color is no determinant of intelligence, ability, or performance. Like it or not, these intellectually-challenged members of our society must recognize that their President has a greater concentration of melanin in his skin than they might, but that this has no bearing on his ability to whip their collective intellectual asses. And if they don’t own up to this, than we’ll label them what they are: traitors. Isn’t that the standard neocon label that they put on anyone who disagrees with or dislikes a Republican President? Not patriotic. Not ‘merican.

    So back atcha. Support President Obama, or you’re not a patriotic American. And Goooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo-bama!

    Now, if only Al Franken pulls through in MN in the wee hours, my joy will be unbounded…

  • Here’s another editorial…

    …I wrote for the Savage Pacer. I’ve included the original unedited version below.

    First of all, I’d like to commend Syd Gross for an excellent article in last week’s Community Voices regarding the futility, horror, and wastefulness of the Iraq war.

    Secondly, I felt compelled to respond to John Benedict’s letter to the editor from last week. The basic gist of Mr. Benedict’s message is that the so-called “liberal media” isn’t reporting all the “good stuff” from the war, and that we don’t have any right to second-guess the all-knowing and all-powerful Oz…I mean, President.

    To begin with, I wish we did have a “liberal media.” Maybe then every newscast would lead off with images of coffins being returned to the United States on a daily basis, and children and women lying dead in the streets of Iraq. But George Bush has prohibited footage of any returning caskets being shown, and we don’t like to be disturbed by seeing the awfulness of war on our evening news. Perhaps because if we were faced daily with the graphic reality of the horror that is the Iraq war, we’d be quicker to demand that our troops come home.

    While there is no doubt, as Mr. Benedict says, that some good things have come from the occupation of Iraq, the fact is that this is an un-winnable war, and it’s time for us to leave. First of all, this is a civil war. There is no traditional “enemy” for us to fight, or “win” against. Roughly 60 percent of Iraq is Shiite Muslim, and about 35 percent is Sunni Muslim. The divide and conflict between these two groups dates back about 1400 years – and we’re caught in the middle. If we back the Sunnis, we anger the Arab nations, including Saudi Arabia. If we back the Shiites, we provoke Iran even further. George Bush keeps talking about “winning”, but there is no winning here: this is a centuries-old clash, and our presence there is fanning the flames.

    Our own history teaches us that it’s incredibly difficult to impose democracy – it’s taken the United States 300+ years, and we still don’t have it right. We started with the brutal annihilation of Native Americans, followed it with the brutal oppression and slavery of blacks, had a Civil War of our own, continued with suppression of women’s rights, and are still struggling today with gay rights and voter rights (but that’s another story). It’s incredibly naïve to think we can impose democracy on Iraq by force in just a few short years, while overcoming over a thousand years of religious and cultural strife.

    Lastly, the idea that Mr. Benedict promotes that we should trust this President to know and do the right thing is laughable. Bush is the guy that pulled weapons inspectors out of Iraq (where they found no weapons of mass destruction, by the way), and manufactured evidence (if you don’t believe that, try Googling “Italian letter Iraq”) to manipulate Congress and the American public into going to war. He then continued the falsehood by promoting the lie that Iraq had something to do with 9/11. And if you still think that there is a connection there, perhaps you should read the 9/11 Commission report from Congress, which found no link at all between 9/11 and the government of Iraq. It did, raise some interesting questions about ties between the terrorist organization Al Qaeda and Saudi Arabia – an ally of ours. This President is interested in his image, power, and oil, not in what’s good for the people of Iraq or the United States.

    Americans should be mad as hell. Mad that we’re mired in an endless war that’s ruining our economy for generations, killing our soldiers, and killing hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis. Mad that we’ve been lied to and misled continuously by our government. Mad that companies like Halliburton and Blackwater have stolen billions from YOU, the taxpayer, in falsified and shoddy work in Iraq reconstruction, and virtually nothing has been done about it (see the movie Iraq for Sale if you really want to get mad). Mad that our government is ignoring the 60+ percent of Americans who want our troops home as soon as possible.

    Remember: the President and government are work for us, not the other way around. Get involved.

  • My Rant on the Military Commissions Act & Right-Wing Power Grab

    The following got published as a letter to the editor in the Savage Pacer.

    As the bumper sticker says, “If you aren’t outraged, you aren’t paying attention.” It’s time for everyone to start paying close attention to the power grab being made by the Bush administration – and to be very concerned.

    The most recent threat to our freedom was last Friday’s passing of the so-called Military Commissions Act. This bill was ostensibly designed to allow greater latitude in prosecuting the “War on Terror.”

    What it really does is give unchecked power to the president. Under this bill, the president can indefinitely detain anyone he deems to have engaged in “hostilities” against the United States – and that includes any U.S. citizen. The bill allows the use of torture to extract confessions, keeps the courts from challenging the president’s actions, and (conveniently) gives retroactive immunity to any U.S. officials who may have been involved in torturing detainees during the latest Iraq war. It also lets the president interpret the Geneva Convention any way he sees fit. It makes the president judge, jury and executioner … and it’s wrong.

    Our country was founded by persecuted people fleeing a monarchy. The founders of the United States instituted a three-branch system of government specifically to provide a balance of power. They knew, from personal experience, that no one person or branch should be trusted with complete control.

    History is littered with examples of power-mad dictators and the resulting oppression of their people. We don’t need to be the next statistic.The Bush administration has a veritable laundry list of transgressions: illegally launching a war without ever going to Congress to have war declared, the use of torture and complete disregard for the Geneva Convention, illegal wiretapping of U.S. citizens and, this week, evidence that both John Ashcroft and Alberto Gonzales (the two U.S. Attorney Generals under Bush), along with Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert and others, covered up the predatory sexual behavior of U.S. Rep. Mark Foley (R-Fla.) to protect their political party. This all stems from an attitude that they are above the law. No one is above the law.

    While this wrongdoing has taken place because of one political party – the Republicans – this is not a partisan message. It’s a call to wake up and see what’s really going on in this country. It’s a call to get involved with your government. It’s a call to ask yourself what the United States stands for: always doing the right thing, or sacrificing our principles when convenient. “The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men.” – Plato

  • A Must Read

    Check out this phenomenal speech given by Bill Moyers on 2006-03-14.  If we could sit down with every American and get them to listen to this, really listen to this, we’d have a new Revolution occur.  Or so I’d like to believe.