The Baby and The Bath

In recent days, President Obama has dealt masterfully with a crisis in Syria while under a great deal of pressure from the likes of McCain and other ideologues to bomb, bomb, bomb!  The cooling of that crisis [which is not over] came as the result of a compromise between Mr. Obama and Mr. Putin, his Russian counterpart. 

Thus, for the moment, the bombs and rockets have been put back on the rack.


There has been no contact between a president of the United States and the leader of Iran for over 30 years.  None.  There has been a lot of bluster.  Iran has been called "evil" by one president and lovers of war, including McCain, have pressed our leadership to take military action against Iran.

Yesterday, I believe, Mr. Obama telephoned the new Iranian leader and they discussed their mutual concerns.  It may not mean much but it's a start toward normalization of relations, a better understanding between countries and perhaps a cool-down from the heated rhetoric which so often leads to rockets in air and death and destruction.


Mr. Obama has been instrumental in putting together a health care plan which would ensure that most Americans had access to health care.  Initially, this health plan was derived from Republican sources - indeed, it was a Republican plan!  Today, Republicans in the House of Representatives have voted to shut down the United States government if they cannot have their way to either defund or delay the Affordable Care Act.  Psychologists would call this schizophrenic!


Do the Republicans have a healthcare plan?  No.  Do the Republicans have plans to create more jobs (other than lowering taxes on the wealthy)?  No.  Have the Republicans in Congress done anything to make our country better in the last 5 years?  No.  Have the Republicans taken action to worsen conditions in our country?  Yes.  The latest being to deny food stamps to millions of the American poor!

Are the Republicans currently engaged in creating legislation to deal with the many needs we have as a nation?  No.

If the Republicans are doing nothing and have done nothing for five years, why are they so opposed to a healthcare plan that was carved out of Republican minds?  Could it be they continue to despise Mr. Obama because he's only half-white?  Or could it be that many in the Republican Party have caved to the Teapot crackpots, who were rightly called "anarchists" by another Congressman today, in order to ensure their re-election?


One of the things mature and responsible people do when faced with a difficult decision is to make certain they do not throw the baby out with the bath water.  In other words, mature and responsible people do not shut down the government they have solemnly sworn to serve and protect because they are unhappy about a particular law that came about through the democratic process--passed by Congress and signed by the President.  It is the law of the land.

If anything is certain on this 28th day of September, 2013, it is that a majority of representatives in the U.S. House of Representatives [and one Senator especially] have turned into repulsive and repugnant and pugnacious persons who deserve neither respect nor re-election; they have made our government a laughing-stock around the world by their immature and petulant behavior and worse, they are putting our very democracy in danger of dissolution!

They are committed to throwing out the baby with the bath!


To end this post, I'm going to attach an article that I've posted twice before but deserves another hearing.  It is dated, but it still gives a sense of the mind and the actions taken by this president to better our government and our nation even when faced with bitter and vicious opposition.

THE OBAMA RECORD

Like all presidents, Barack Obama has enjoyed accomplishments but also made mistakes. As a presidential historian, however, I have been struck by claims being put forward by Obama’s many critics and the news media that he has accomplished little when, in fact, his presidency is easily one of the most active in history. As such, with all the misinformation circulating on talk radio, at town hall meetings, and in the blogosphere about the President, here is a fact-checked list of some of President Obama’s initiatives. At the end are some interesting factoids and misconceptions about the President.

Robert P. Watson, Ph.D.

Lynn University

October 4, 2011

BUDGETING

• Ordered all federal agencies to undertake a study and make recommendations for ways to cut federal spending (2009)

• Ordered a review of all federal operations to identify wasteful spending and practices (2009)

• Established a National Performance Officer charged with saving the federal government money and making federal operations more efficient (2009)

• Signed Weapons Systems Acquisition Reform Act (May 22, 2009)

• Overturned the Bush-era practice of not listing certain federal programs in the federal budget (2009) (2010) * Note: Bush did this (so did Reagan) in an effort to hide programs and make the budget look smaller; such “off budget” items are now included in the annual budget

• Full appropriations for war are now included in the budget (2009-2011) * Note: Bush did not list many of the appropriations for Iraq, Afghanistan, and the War on Terror

• Funds for emergency appropriations are now included in the budget (2009-2011)

• Signed statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act (Feb 12, 2010) after urging Congress to adopt “Pay-Go” (whereby each dollar of spending is offset by a dollar in cuts or revenues, which was used in the `90s but abandoned in the `00s)

• Proposed a three-year freeze on federal discretionary spending beginning in 2011 (2010)

• Is in the process of cutting 120 federal programs identified as either wasteful or unnecessary (2010-2011)

• Established a bipartisan commission on fiscal responsibility, staffed by House and Senate members and private citizens, tasked with submitting proposals to balance the budget (2010) * Note: In the face of Republican opposition, the powers of the commission were watered down

• Established a bipartisan commission on the future of Social Security, tasked with submitting proposals to preserve and strengthen Social Security (2010) * Note: In the face of Republican opposition, the powers of the commission were watered down

• Cut $20 billion from federal budget and has pledged to cut at least this much every year (2010-2011)

• Signed Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery Act (July 22, 2010)

• Ultimately decided to cancel planned new presidential helicopter fleet and stick with Marine One (2010)

• Freezing all discretionary spending for next three years, except on national security (2010-2011)

• Presidential Memoranda to freeze discretionary awards, bonuses, etc. for federal political appointees (2010)

• Measures to promote savings in government contracting (Jan 30, 2011)

• Measures to reduce size of federal budget/signed Budget Control Act (Aug 3, 2011)

CONSUMER PROTECTIONS

• Ended the Bush-era policy of protecting credit card companies (2009); signed Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure Act (May 22, 2009); credit card companies are prohibited from raising rates without advance notification or arbitrarily if customers are paying bills on time (2010) * Note: In place of the old policy, new consumer protections were instituted and the industry’s predatory practices were banned

• Instituted a new focus on mortgage fraud (2009)

• Signed the Helping Families Save Their Homes Act (May 20, 2009)

• Signed Prevent Deceptive Census Look Alike Mailing Act (April 7, 2010)

• Signed measures detailing what mailed items can be marked “Census” (May 24, 2010)

• Signed Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (July 21, 2010)

• Signed Cruise Vessel Security and Safety Act (July 27, 2010)

• Signed Social Security Number Protection Act (Dec 18, 2010)

• Signed Truth in Caller ID Act (Dec 22, 2010)

• Protections from online shopping fraud (Dec 29, 2010)

• Signed FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (Jan 4, 2011)

• Enhancements to Consumer Protection Safety Commission (Aug 5, 2011)

DISASTER RESPONSE

• Ordered a review of hurricane and natural disaster preparedness (2009)

• FEMA once again reports directly to the president (2009) * Note: Bush removed FEMA (prior to the Hurricane Katrina disaster) from this status

• Demonstrated an immediate and efficient response to the floods in North Dakota and other natural disasters (2009)

• Ordered that funds be released and red tape be streamlined for the ongoing Hurricane Katrina recovery effort in the Gulf Coast (2009)

• Timely and massive relief effort in response to the January 2010 earthquake in Haiti and ensuing humanitarian crisis; signed emergency Aid to American Survivors of the Haiti Earthquake Act (Jan 27, 2010)

Components of the response:

• The FBI’s National Center for Disaster Fraud was tasked to look into possible fraud with organizations soliciting funds for relief
• Announced the Clinton-Bush Haiti Fund
• Established an emergency Haiti Task Force in the State Department
• Established a website with information, resources, and a posting of a “person finder” online to help families and friends to locate loved ones
• Joint aid and relief planning with the U.K.
• Sponsored a resolution in the UN Security Council for additional security and police forces in Haiti
• Dispatched the US Navy floating hospital (USNS Comfort) and, within 5 days, 9 naval and relief ships, 5 Coast Guard cutters, 8 Coast Guard aircraft, and 12,000 US military personnel
• Initial dispatch of several ships and cargo planes full of humanitarian aid and supplies, 6 search/rescue teams (500 personnel), and 265 Department of Health & Human Services personnel for emergency medical and aid support
• Established a mobile US air traffic control center at the destroyed airport in Port-au-Prince
• Signed Tax Breaks for Haiti Donations Act (Jan 22, 2010)

• Signed Haiti Debt Relief and Earthquake Recovery Act (April 15, 2010)

• Signed Haiti Economic Lift Program Act (May 24, 2010)

• Signed Help Haiti Act (Dec 8, 2010)

• After the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, a freeze was placed on new deep water projects (2010); established a national commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon spill to examine facts and report a plan of action; new efforts to prevent offshore spills (2010)

• Executive Order to establish new security measures to minimize accidental release of bio and chemical agents; new strategies for public health and bioterrorism response (2010)

• After a slow start in responding to the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the White House is promoting a long-term plan to reconstruct the damaged Gulf and negotiated with BP the establishment of a multi-billion dollar trust fund for victims of the spill (2010-2011)

• Signed Disaster Relief and Summer Jobs Act (June 3, 2010)

• Extended national flood insurance program for those in need during current economic crisis (2010); signed National Flood Insurance Program Extension (July 2, 2010)

ECONOMY

• Increased infrastructure spending (roads, bridges, power plants…) (2009-2010) * Note: Bush was the first president since Herbert Hoover to not make infrastructure a priority

• Authorized the US auto industry rescue plan and two GMAC rescue packages (2009)

• Authorized the housing rescue plan and new FHA residential housing guarantees (2009)

• Authorized a $789 billion economic stimulus plan (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act) (Feb 17, 2009) * Note: 1/3 in tax cuts for working-class families; 1/3 to states for infrastructure projects; 1/3 to states to prevent the layoff of police officers, teachers, etc. at risk of losing their jobs because of state budget shortfalls

• Instituted a new rule allowing the public to meet with federal housing insurers to refinance (in as quickly as one day) a mortgage if they are having trouble paying (2009)

• Signed the Serve America Act (April 21, 2009)

• Authorized a continuation of the US financial and banking rescue plans initiated at the end of the Bush Administration and authorized TARP funds to buy “toxic assets” from failing financial institutions (2009)

• Authorized the “Cash for Clunkers” program that stimulated auto sales and removed old, inefficient, polluting cars from the road (2009); due to large response to program, signed Cash for Clunkers Extension (Aug 6, 2009)

• Convened a “jobs summit” to bring experts together to develop ideas for creating jobs (2009)

• Placed a 35% tariff on Chinese tires and a few other products such as pipes after China was found to be illegally “dumping” exports below cost (2009) * Note: Clinton, Bush I, and Reagan all refused to “get tough” on China’s predatory trade practices; Bush II refused four times during his presidency

• Ordered the FDIC to beef up deposit insurance (2009)

• Authorized the federal government to make more loans available to small businesses and ordered lower rates for federal loans to small businesses (2009) and signed a temporary extension of the Small Business Act (March 20, 2009)

• Signed Jobs for Main Street Act (Feb 24, 2010)

• Efforts to protect US firms’ trademarks, patents, and copyrights; signed Trademark Technical and Conforming Amendment Act (March 17, 2010)

• Secured authority to compensate certain furloughed federal employees (March 11, 2010)

• Signed Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment Act (March 18, 2010)

• Signed Airport and Airway Extension Act (April 30, 2010)

• Enhanced antitrust penalties and reforms (June 9, 2010)

• Signed Small Business Investment Act (June 17, 2010)

• Homebuyer Assistance and Improvement Act (July 2, 2010)

• Extension of Unemployment Compensation (July 22, 2010)

• FAA Air Transportation Modernization and Safety Improvement Act (Aug 10, 2010)

• Signed US Manufacturing Enhancement Act (Aug 11, 2010)

• Signed Small Business Jobs Act (Sept 27, 2010)

• Signed Worker, Homeowner, and Business Assistance Act (Nov 6, 2010); signed

• Extended unemployment benefits for one million workers and expanded coverage for some existing homeowners who are buying again (Nov 2010)

• Called on Congress to deliver a comprehensive “Jobs bill” (2010)

• Signed a bill to extend unemployment benefits set to expire (2010)

• Signed historic Wall Street reform bill (2010) * Note: Designed to reregulate and end abusive practices and promote consumer protections

• Signed the HIRE Act to stimulate the economic recovery (2010) * Note: The bill includes: tax cuts for small businesses who hire someone unemployed for at least two months; small businesses can write off their investments in equipment this year; etc.

• National Export Initiative established to enhance federal support (technical assistance, training, trade missions, etc.) and coordination efforts to help US businesses export products and services (2010)

• Forwarded initiatives to promote a “Wireless Broadband Revolution” (2010) * Note: Among other things, broadband is finally being considered as necessary infrastructure, with efforts to expand use, access, and spectrum…

• Expanded agricultural credit to farmers during current economic crisis (2010)

• Signed US Manufacturing Enhancement Act (2010)

• Signed Single Family Housing Mortgage Insurance (2010)

• Signed Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act (Dec 17, 2010)

• Signed America Competes (Reauthorization) Act (Jan 4, 2011)

• Extension of funding for federal support of transportation programs (Sept 16, 2011; March 4, 2011…); extension of funding for airports and airways (several piecemeal increases Aug 5, 2011; June 29, 2011; May 31, 2011 March 21, 2011… because of Republican opposition to full funding of construction, expansion, and improvements)

• Announced a comprehensive jobs proposal: cut payroll taxes for working families; incentives to hire the unemployed; reform unemployment insurance; incentives for businesses to hire “returning heroes,” federal supports to states to prevent loss of thousands of teachers and essential public workers; funding for infrastructure repair and construction and school modernization and construction projects; temporary payroll tax holiday… (September 2011)

EDUCATION

• Authorized construction funds for high-speed, broadband Internet access in K-12 public schools (2009)

• Increased funding for school construction (2009)

• Increased funding available for student loans (2009)

• Expanded the national youth service program (2009)

• Streamlined the federal student loan process to save $87 billion over the next 10 years (2009)

• Changed the rule to allow students struggling to make college loan payments to refinance their loans (2009)

• Discussions with Congress for education reform (2009-2011) * Note: Much of Obama’s education reform has been sidelined by opposition in Congress

• Initiated a “Race to the Top” competitive federal grant program for states who develop innovative policies (2009)

• Instituted a “judgment review” allowing families with student loans to petition to have their current financial status determine the loan rather than the previous year’s finances (2009)

• Launched “Educate to Innovate,” a public/private partnership making $236 million available for science, mathematics, and technology education programs (2009)

• Proposed capping the maximum amount students must pay on student loans (as percentage of their income) (2010)

• Proposed reducing student loan obligations for individuals going to work in community and public service jobs (2010)

• The federal government changed the system to offer direct student loans, cutting out the cost of private banks (“middle man”) who increase the costs in order to make a profit (2010)

• Increased investment in technologies for schools/education (2010)

ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT

• Removed a ruling that now allows individual states (like California) to enact automotive fuel efficiency standards above federal standards (2009)

• Offered attractive tax write-offs for those who buy hybrid automobiles (2009)

• Overturned Bush-era rule that weakened the Endangered Species Act (2009)

• Announced plans to purchase fuel efficient American-made fleet for the federal government (2009)

• Ended the Bush-era policy of not regulating and labeling carbon dioxide emissions (2009)

• Signed a measure requiring energy producing plants to begin producing 15% of their energy from renewable sources (2009)

• Announced that the federal government would reengage in the long-delayed effort to clean up “Superfund” toxic waste sites (2009)

• Announced the long-term development of a national energy grid with renewable sources and cleaner, efficient energy production (2009) * Note: Much of Obama’s energy reform was killed by Senate Republicans

• Proposed a new refuge for wild mustangs (2009)

• Cancelled several Bush-era mountain-top removal and mining permits (2009)

• Reengaged in international treaties and agreements to protect the Antarctic (2009) * Note: Bush had withdrawn from such efforts

• Asked Congress for an energy reform and “cap and trade” bill (2009) * Note: The Congress failed to pass such a bill

• Developing plan to lease US coastal waters for wind and water-current energy production (2009-2011)

• Signed the Omnibus Public Lands Management Act that protects millions of acres of scenic, historic, and recreational lands and trails (March 30, 2009)

• Signed Energy and Water Development Act (Oct 28, 2009)

• Overturned Bush-era policies that allowed uranium mining near national parks such as the Grand Canyon (2009)

• Expanded the Petrified Forest National Park (2009)

• Requiring that government buildings and facilities be retrofitted to save energy costs (2009) * Note: These green retrofits are moving very slowly

• Authorized studies in several western states to determine how to support large-scale solar installations (2009)

• Attended the Copenhagen talks and, after the talks were stalled, negotiated an international (voluntary) agreement on reducing carbon emissions and raising funds to assist developing nations in offsetting carbon emissions (2009)

• Banned importation of pythons in response to a growing population of pythons damaging the Florida Everglades (2009)

• Committing the federal government to increasing research and use of renewable, clean energy sources such as wind, biomass, etc. (2009)

• Executive orders establishing a federal initiative to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in all federal operations (2009-2011)

• Called for exploring the possibility of additional off-shore oil drilling in the Gulf, Atlantic, and off Alaska (but not in ANWR) (2010)

• Authorized use of funds for Deepwater Horizon oil spill from Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund (June 15, 2010)

• Signed North American Wetlands Conservation Act (March 25, 2010)

• Agreed to consider increases in nuclear energy production and requested a study on the feasibility of nuclear power plant construction (2010) * Note: Nearly all energy initiatives were defeated by Republican opposition in Congress

• Increased investment in clean energy projects (2010)

• Executive Order to develop a new strategy for and commitment to ocean and lake resources, and for scientific research on water quality (2010)

• Signed Asian Carp Prevention and Control Act (Dec 14, 2010)

• Signed Truth in Fur Labeling Act (Dec 18, 2010)

• Species protection measures for sharks and other animals (Jan 4, 2011)

• Signed Diesel Emissions Reduction Act (Jan 4, 2011)

• Measures to reduce levels of lead in drinking water (Jan 4, 2011)

• Signed Diesel Emissions Reduction Act (Jan 4, 2011)

• Executive Order for an interagency effort on domestic energy sources (July 12, 2011)

ETHICS

• Ordered the White House and all federal agencies to respect the Freedom of Information Act and overturned Bush-era limits on accessibility of federal documents (Jan 2009)

• Instructed all federal agencies to promote openness and transparency as much as possible in the release and availability of government documents (Jan 21, 2009)

• Placed limits on lobbyists’ access to the White House (Jan & Feb 2009)

• Placed limits on White House aides working for lobbyists after their tenure in the administration (Jan 21, 2009)

• Signed a measure strengthening registration and reporting requirements for lobbyists (2009)

• Ordered that lobbyists must be removed from and are no longer permitted to serve on federal and White House advisory panels and boards (2009) * Note: After saying he would not hire lobbyists, a few have been hired in the Administration

• Companies and individuals who are delinquent on their taxes or owe back taxes are no longer allowed to bid for federal contracts (2009)

• Established a special inspector general for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) (April 24, 2009)

• Enhanced the role and powers of the special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction (June 30, 2009)

• Signed the Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act (May 20, 2009)

• Initiated the “e-Rulemaking Initiative” (in cooperation with Cornell University) to allow for online public “notice and comment” of federal laws and initiatives (2010)

• Issued the “Open Gov Directive” ordering all Cabinet departments to promote transparency and citizen participation in their policies (2010)

• Signed extensions on banning lobbyists from serving on agency boards (2010)

• Developed the “Do Not Pay List” with data on contractors and recipients of federal funds who are deemed to be ineligible because of fraud and abuse (2010)

• Signed the Anti-Border Corruption Act (Jan 4, 2011)

• Opened additional presidential records to the public (Jan 21, 2011)

FOREIGN POLICY

• Closed the Bush-era “secret detention” facilities in Eastern Europe (2009)

• Ended the Bush-era policy allowing “enhanced interrogation” (torture); the US is again in compliance with Geneva Convention standards (2009) * Note: Obama has permitted some controversial interrogation techniques to continue

• Restarted international nuclear non-proliferation talks and reestablished international nuclear inspection protocols (2009) * Note: Bush withdrew from non-proliferation talks and dismantled the inspection infrastructure

• Reengaged in the treaties/agreements to protect the Antarctic (2009) * Note: These were suspended under Bush

• Reengaged in the agreements/talks on global warming and greenhouse gas emissions (2009) * Note: These were suspended under Bush

• Visited more countries and met with more world leaders than any president in his first six months in office (2009)

• Banned the export of cluster bombs (2009)

• Overturned Bush-era plans to increase the US nuclear arsenal (2009)

• Authorized the Navy SEALS operation that freed by force the US shipping captain held by Somali pirates (2009)

• Restored the US commitment to the UN population fund for family planning; overturned the ban on providing funds internationally for family planning (2009) * Note: The family planning efforts were suspended under Bush

• Instituted a new policy on Cuba, allowing Cuban families to return “home” to visit families (2009)

• Extended an offer of engagement (free from sanctions and penalties) to Iran through December 31, 2009 (Iran did not accept the offer) (2009)

• Sent envoys to the Middle East and other parts of the world, reengaging in multilateral and bilateral talks and diplomacy (2009)

• Authorized discussions with North Korea and the private mission by former president, Bill Clinton, to secure the release of two Americans held in prisons (2009)

• Authorized discussions with Myanmar and the mission by Senator Jim Web to secure the release of an American held captive (2009)

• Renewed lucrative loan guarantees for Israel (2009-2011)

• Signed the USIFTA trade agreement with/for Israel, which offers Israeli products preferred status (2009-2011)

• Authorized a $550m advance for Israel (six months prior to the scheduled date) in order to accommodate Israeli’s economic and financial needs (2009)

• Continued agreements with Israel for cultural exchanges, immigration, commercial cooperation, security/military cooperation, counterterrorism supports, joint military exercises (“Juniper Cobra” in Oct 2009), etc. (2009-2011)

• Spoke on Arab television, spoke at an Egyptian university, and met with Arab leaders in an effort to change the tone of US-Arab relations (2009)

• Ordered the US to finally pay its dues to the United Nations (2009)

• Attended the Summit of America’s meeting in Trinidad and Tobago (2010)

• Provided missile defense supports to Israel (2010); including $205 million for Israel to develop short-range rocket defenses (“Iron Dome”) (2010-2011)

• Dispatched several envoys and initiated talks with numerous nations (2010-2011)

• Signed a nuclear limitation treaty with Russia (2010) * Note: The agreement calls for both countries to reduce their nucs by one-third (1,500) and launch systems by half (800)

• Hosted nuclear non-proliferation summit for several nations (2010)

• Rejected international calls to condemn or use sanctions on Israel after the “Turkey flotilla” incident (2010)

• Executive Order to establish support offices in the State Department to assist the governments of Pakistan and Afghanistan (2010)

• Issued memoranda to continue drug interdiction support with Columbia (2010)

• Secured largest “foreign military funding” allocation to Israel in history (2011)

• Proposed a two-state solution in Mideast based on the 1967 borders with clauses for either side to amend the borders (“Mutually agreed upon swaps”) and develop security arrangements, designed to move the process forward before the UN (in Sept 2011) proposes and votes on a Palestinian state (May 2011)

• Executive Order for additional sanctions on Iran (May 23, 2011); ditto with North Korea (April 18, 2011)

• Initiative to promote US exports (June 15, 2011)

• Executive Order imposing certain sanctions/transaction prohibitions on Syria (Aug 18, 2011

GOVERNANCE

• The White House website now provides information on all economic stimulus projects and spending, along with an unprecedented amount of information on our government (2009)

• Ended the Bush-era practice of circumventing established FDA rules for political reasons (2009)

• Ended the Bush-era practice of having White House staff rewrite the findings of scientific and environmental regulations and reports when they disagreed with the results (2009)

• Limited the salaries of senior White House aides (salaries cut to $100,000) (2009)

• Has been holding open meetings with Republican leaders, although they complain of a lack of access and information (2010)

• Signed the Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery Act (2010) * Note: To curb wasteful spending

• Tasked federal agencies to develop plans for disposing of unneeded real estate and then to eliminate unnecessary or non-economical lands, properties, etc. (2010)

• Signed Fair Sentencing Act (Aug 3, 2010)

• Signed Federal Judiciary Administrative Improvements Act (May 27, 2010)

• Mandated federal agencies to write in “plain English” and documents be written in “plain writing” (Oct 13, 2010)

• Signed Access to Criminal History Records for State Sentencing Commission Act (Jan 4, 2011)

• Initiative to increase efficiency, effectiveness, and accountability of federal government (June 13, 2011)

HEALTHCARE

• Removed Bush-era restrictions on embryonic stem cell research (2009)

• Federal support for stem cell and new biomedical research (2009)

• Expanded the SCHIP program to cover health care for 4 million more children and signed Children’s Health Insurance Reauthorization Act (Feb 4, 2009)

• Established an independent commission to make recommendations on slowing the costs of Medicare (2009)

• The First Family initiated several personal projects to promote healthy lifestyles, including planting a garden for the White House’s vegetables and flowers, installing a swing set/playground for the Obama daughters and children of White House employees, and promoting exercise and fitness for children (2009)

• Reversed some of the Bush-era restrictions that prevented Medicare from negotiating with pharmaceutical firms for cheaper drugs, allowing government to again competitively bid (2009) * Note: Obama had promised to lift all restrictions but, while he did negotiate with drug companies for them to lower their costs, the deal only lifted some restrictions

• Expanding government vaccination programs (2009-2011)

• Issued new disease prevention guidelines and priorities for the CDC (2009)

• Authorized the FDA to finally begin regulating tobacco (2009)

• Tasked federal labs to prioritize research on and deployment of H1N1 vaccines (2009)

• Signed Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act (June 22, 2009)

• Established a new council on National Prevention, Health Promotion, and Public Health to be chaired by Surgeon General and charged with promoting healthy lifestyles and integrative healthcare (2010)

• Assisted Social Security recipients with claims; signed Social Security Disability Applicants’ Access to Professional Representation Act (Feb 27, 2010)

• Signed Medicare Physician Payment Reform Act (Feb 27, 2010)

• When accusations to the contrary arose, an Executive Order was signed to reaffirm that federal funds are not to be used for abortion services (2010)

• Signed the Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking Act (March 31, 2010)

• Signed the Stem Cell Therapeutic and Research Act (Oct 8, 2010)

• Signed the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act (Dec 13, 2010)

• Signed the Early Hearing Detection and Intervention Act (Dec 22, 2010)

• Extended healthcare and compensation for 9/11 responders (Jan 2, 2011)

• Established National Alzheimer’s Project (Jan 4, 2011)

• Signed a reauthorization of the Combatting Autism Act (Sept 20, 2011)

• Asked multiple congressional committees to bring forward a healthcare reform bill; held dozens of public hearings and town halls on the issue (2009-2010); signed Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (March 23, 2010); healthcare reform bill is $940 billion over 10 years (2010) * Note: 32 million additional Americans will receive healthcare coverage and costs will be lowered for most Americans, but many of the goals are phased in over four years

Components of the bill:

• Prevents insurance companies from denying coverage to individuals/family members with pre-existing health conditions; a temporary plan is being developed to cover high-risk individuals with pre-existing conditions until the full reforms go into effect in 2014
• Prevents insurance companies from placing lifetime limits on benefits
• Bans “rescission” so insurance companies can’t cancel coverage if individuals keep their policies current or if they become ill
• An individual’s out-of-pocket healthcare expenses are capped
• Closes the “donut hole” (Part D) for Medicare prescription drug coverage (under Bush, Medicare helped pay for drugs up to $2,600 and above $4,550, but individuals had to pay 100% of the costs in between these amounts); now Medicare helps cover costs irrespective of the amount – seniors will now pay only 25% of drug costs up to $4,550 and only 5% of drug costs above that amount
• In 2010, an emergency provision will offer seniors a $250 rebate on the costs incurred within the “donut hole”
• Individuals living at or below the poverty line were eligible for healthcare under Medicaid, but by 2014 individuals/families living slightly above (making up to $14,404/$29,327) the poverty line will also be eligible for benefits
• Individuals/families making less than $43,320/$88,200 per year will qualify for government subsidies to help purchase health insurance
• All individuals must have health insurance or face a government fine; all large (over 50 employees) employers must offer health insurance to employees or pay a fine
• Small businesses can get a tax credit if they offer health care
• There are hardship exemptions if individuals can’t afford health insurance
• Families can keep their children in college on their plans through age 26
• Promotes health insurance “exchanges” so consumers can buy “wholesale”
• Creates consumer assistance offices to help consumers file complaints or appeal decisions from insurance companies; beginning in 2011, insurance companies can no longer make excessive rate hikes without justification and approval, and those doing so may be barred from participating in new health insurance exchanges

Funding sources:

• Large employers (over 50 workers) that don’t offer health benefits will be charged a $2,000/worker fee; if the employer offers coverage but employees instead purchase federally subsidized insurance the fee is $3,000/worker receiving federal subsidies or $750/worker (whichever is lower)
• Annual fees on pharmaceutical companies ($27 billion), health insurance companies ($60 billion), and medical device-makers ($20 billion)
• Annual penalties on individuals who do not have health insurance (up to a maximum of $695/person)
• Increase in the Medicare payroll tax from 1.45% to 2.35% for individuals making $200,000+ and families making $250,000+
• 3.8% tax on unearned income for millionaires
• Insurance companies will be subject to a tax on each high-end insurance plan (so-called “Cadillac” plans) they offer

Miscellaneous:

• Illegal immigrants are not eligible for insurance or subsidies
• By Executive Order, such federal funding can’t be used for abortion
• The federal government will assist states by covering all of the increased expenses of expanding Medicaid coverage (90% of costs after 2020)

IRAQ & AFGHANISTAN

• Began the phased withdrawal of US troops from Iraq (2009); fulfilled campaign promise to have combat troops (90,000) out of Iraq by August 31, 2010; over 100,000 combat troops withdrawn by late 2010; continuing the withdrawal (2011)
• Authorized the deployment of 17,000 additional troops to Afghanistan, which had been pending for months during the Bush Administration (2009); begin withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan (August 2011)
• Changed the US military command in the Afghan conflict (2009)
• Tasked the Pentagon to reorganize US policy in Afghanistan; the new policy included 30,000 additional troops deployed, priority training of Afghan forces, developing agriculture and infrastructure, limiting aerial bombing, etc. (2009-2010)
• Ordered the Pentagon to send additional helicopters to assist US Marine units and Special Forces in Afghanistan (2009)
• Increased unmanned drone strikes on Taliban and al-Qaeda targets in Afghanistan (2009-2011)
• Ended the Bush-era “stop-loss” policy that kept soldiers in Iraq/Afghanistan longer than their enlistment date (2009)
• Visited US soldiers in Afghanistan (2010)

MILITARY & VETERANS

• Ordered the Pentagon to cover expenses of families of fallen soldiers if they wish to be on site when the body arrives back in the US (2009)

• Ended the Bush-era “blackout” imposed on media coverage of the return of fallen US soldiers (2009) * Note: The media is now permitted to cover the story pending adherence to respectful rules and with the approval of the fallen soldier’s family

• Ended the Bush-era “black out” policy on media coverage of war casualties (2009) * Note: Full information is now released for the first time in the War on Terror

• Ordered better body armor to be procured for US troops (2009)

• Signed Korean War Veterans Recognition Act (July 27, 2009)

• Signed Veterans Health Care Budget Reform and Transparency Act (Oct 22, 2009)

• Funding new Mine Resistant Ambush Vehicles (2009) * Note: The old Hummers were very vulnerable to roadside explosives and an alarming percentage of our soldiers lost in Iraq were on account of IEDs

• Increasing pay and benefits for military personnel (2009-2010)

• Improving housing for military personnel (2009-2010)

• Signed Veterans Health Care Budget Reform and Transparency Act (Oct 22, 2009)

• Signed Military Spouses Residency Relief Act (Nov 11, 2009)

• Expanded veterans’ reimbursement for non-VA emergency care (2009 & 2010)

• Initiating a new policy to promote federal hiring of military spouses (2009-2010)

• Ordered that conditions at Walter Reed Military Hospital and other neglected military hospitals be improved (2009)

• Beginning the process of reforming and restructuring the military to a post-Cold War, modern fighting force (2009-2011) * Note: Bush announced in 2001 his intention to do this but backed off the reforms after 9/11, which include: new procurement policies; increasing the size of Special Ops units; deploying new technologies; creating new cyber security units; etc.

• Ended the Bush-era practice of awarding “no-bid” defense contracts (2009)

• Improving VA staffing, information systems, etc. (2009)

• Authorized construction of additional health centers to care for veterans (2009-2011)

• Suspended the Bush-era decision to purchase a fleet of Marine One helicopters from foreign suppliers in favor of American-made helicopters (2009)

• Ordered a review of the existing “Don’t ask, don’t tell” policy on gays in the military (2010)

• Supports for blinded veterans (April 7, 2010); improvements in services for blind veterans; established Major Charles R. Soltes Blind Rehabilitation Center within the Department of Veterans Affairs (May 7, 2010)

• Increased cost-of-living adjustment and compensation for veterans (Sept 30, 2010)

• New GI Bill for returning veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan (2009-2011)

• Signed bill providing assistance for caregivers of veterans wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan (2010); signed Caregivers and Veterans Omnibus Health Services Act (April 23, 2010) * Note: The omnibus bill does the following: Training, funding, and counseling for caregivers; promoting pilot childcare programs for women vets under treatment at the VA; independent oversight to prevent abuse; readjustment counseling for National Guard and reservist units; etc.

• Eliminated co-payments for veterans who are catastrophically disabled (2010)

• Established enforcements for minimum essential care for veterans (May 27, 2010)

• Established a new interagency task force to assist veterans owning small businesses (2010) * Note: The efforts include promoting federal contract opportunities, improve access to loans and capital, mentor assistance programs, etc.

• Signed The Families of Fallen Heroes Act, which covers the moving costs of immediate family members of those lost in service (military, intelligence, and security personnel) (2010)

• Signed the For Vets Act (Dec 22, 2010)

• Measure to help prevent military families and vets from losing their homes (Dec 29, 2010)

• Proposal to offer tax breaks for businesses that hire unemployed Iraq/Afghanistan veterans; job training support for Iraq/Afghan vets (2011)

• Signed Restoring GI Bill Fairness Act (Aug 3, 2011)

NATIONAL SECURITY

• Phasing out the expensive F-22 war plane (which wasn’t even used in Iraq/Afghanistan) and other outdated weapons systems (2009)

• Announced his intention to close the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay (2009) * Note: The closure has been delayed due to opposition but it remains on the agenda.

• Stated his interest in housing terrorists at a new federal “super max” facility in the US (2009) * Note: this has been delayed due to opposition but it remains on the agenda

• Cut the expensive Reagan-era missile defense program, saving $1.4 billion in 2010 (2009)

• Cancelled plans to station anti-ballistic missile systems in Poland and the Czech Republic (2009)

• Signed Weapons Systems Acquisition Reform Act (May 22, 2009)

• Replacing long-range, expensive missile systems with more efficient smaller systems (2009-2010)

• Increased US Navy patrols off the Somali coast in response to pirating (2009-2010)

• Established a new cyber security office and appointed a cyber security czar (2009)

• Ordered the first nation-wide comprehensive cyber threat assessment (2009)

• Signed a one-year extension on some provisions of the controversial PATRIOT Act (2009;and again on Feb 27, 2010 and May 26, 2011)

• Authorized the use of more unmanned warplanes/drones (Predator, Reaper, etc.) in the War on Terror (2009); eliminated more terrorist targets in same time period than the Bush Administration

• Instituted a new Nuclear Posture Review, revising US nuclear deterrence policy to encourage more nations to join the 1996 Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (2010) * Note: Components of the policy include: a pledge to stop nuclear testing; a pledge to not build a new generation of nucs; identifying nuclear terrorism, rather than a launch from another nuclear state, as the major threat; a pledge to not use nucs on a non-nuclear state in a conventional conflict; etc.

• Signed Executive Orders to block payment, transfers, exports, etc… of individuals and organizations supporting the regimes of North Korea, Iran, Somali pirates, and other foreign threats (2010)

• Signed Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act (July 1, 2010); signed related measures for sanctions and divestment Act to deal with other foreign regimes like North Korea (2010)

• Additional funds and supports for southwest border security (Aug 13, 2010)

• Signed First Responder Anti-Terrorism Training Resources Act (Sept 30, 2010)

• Presidential Memoranda to extend certain provisions of The Trading with Enemies Act which was to expire in September 2010 (2010) * Note: This includes freezing assets and banning trade that benefits the Cuban regime; however further efforts at normalizing travel to Cuba are supported

• Signed bill for southwest border security and increased funds and agents on the Mexican border (2010)

• Ordered another review of efforts to close Guantanamo Detention Facility (Jan 22, 2011); review of unlawful interrogations (Jan 22, 2011); review of Guantanamo detainees (March 7, 2011)

• Authorized bombing of military targets in Libya in support of rebels; support NATO mission against Qaddafy regime (winter 2011)

• Many terrorists and senior leaders of al-Qaeda and the Taliban have been killed on Obama’s orders and on his watch (Osama bin Laden, Anwar al-Awlaki, Abus Hafs al-Shahri, Atiyah Abd al-Rahman, Ammar al-Wa’ili, Abu Ali al-Harithi, Ali Saleh Farhan, Harun Fazul, Baitullah Mahsud, Noordin Muhammad Top, Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, Saleh al-Somali, Muhammad Haqqani, Qari Zafar, Hussein al-Yemeni Dulatin, Abu Ayyub al-Masri, Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, Sheik Saeed al-Masri, Hamza al-Jawfi, etc.; many others were captured including Abdul Ghani Berader, Younis al-Mauritani, etc.)

RIGHTS

• Instituted enforcements for equal pay for women (Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act) (Jan 20, 2009)

• Appointed Sonia Sotomayor, the first Latina, to the Supreme Court (2009)

• Held the first Seder in White House (2009)

• Appointed a diverse Cabinet and diverse White House staff (2009) (4 women, 2 Latinos, 4 African Americans, 3 Asians in Cabinet) *Note: Obama offered 3 Republicans Cabinet posts, but only 2 accepted

• Signed Civil Rights History Project Act (May 12, 2009)

• Established protections and incentives for adopting children with special needs (May 15, 2009)

• Spoke at the annual dinner of the Human Rights Campaign, a gay rights organization (2009)

• Signed the first major piece of federal gay rights legislation that includes acts of violence against gays under the list of federal hate crimes (2009)

• Reversed the Bush-era practice of politicizing Justice Department investigations and prosecutions against political opponents (2009)

• Pushed for some of the 9/11 perpetrators to be tried in federal court (2009-2010) * Note: The process moved at a snail’s pace and, in the face of opposition, Obama has remained quiet

• Signed an extension of the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment Extension Act to provide federal research and support for treating the disease (Oct. 30, 2009)

• Allowed the State Department of offer same-sex benefits for employees (2009)

• After eight years of neglect, the Justice Department and EEOC are again enforcing employment discrimination laws (2009)

• Convened the White House Tribal Nations Conference, inviting representatives from 564 federally-recognized Indian tribes (2009)

• Provided increased school projects for Indian lands and increased funds for the Indian Health Service (2009)

• Signed an Executive Order mandating that his Cabinet develop plans to work with and consult Indian tribes on issues impacting Indian lands (2009)

• Signed Human Rights Enforcement Act (Dec 22, 2009)

• Proposed that the Pentagon repeal the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy; placed a “freeze” on current efforts to remove alleged homosexuals from the military (2009); commissioned a study to develop alternatives to “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (2010); signed Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Repeal Act (Dec 22, 2010)

• Called for federal agencies to look into recognizing gay partnerships in terms of benefits (2010)

• Signed an Executive Order for the President’s Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities (2010)

• Increased funding for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (2010)

• Signed Executive Order to promote the federal government as a “model employer” when it comes to hiring the disabled (2010) * Note: This includes new efforts to increase the recruitment, hiring, and training for the disabled

• Programs to assist Spanish speakers with the US Census (2010)

• Elena Kagen appointed to Supreme Court (2010)

• Tasked all federal agencies to develop new strategies to address HIV/AIDS (2010)

• Signed International Adoption Simplification Act (Nov 20, 2010)

• Signed Fair Sentencing Act (2010) * Note: The Administration continues to deescalate marijuana interdiction and raids; increased dramatically the amount of cocaine one must possess to be sentenced to jail; eliminated mandatory sentencing for first-time drug abusers and simple possession

• Signed Hoh Indian Tribe Safe Homelands Act (Dec 22, 2010)

• Additional supports for housing for the elderly (Jan 4, 2011)

• Executive Order for notification of employee rights under labor laws (Jan 30, 2011)

TAXES

• Negotiated a deal with Swiss banks to permit the US government to gain access to records of tax evaders and criminals (2009)

• Ended the Bush-era policy of offering tax benefits to corporations who outsource American jobs (2009) * Note: The new policy promotes in-sourcing investments to bring jobs back to the US

• Signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act which provides small tax cuts for 95% of “working families” (2009) * Note: The tax cuts were not as big as was suggested during the 2008 campaign

• Convened an advisory board that is looking into simplifying the tax code (2009)

• Ordered the closing of offshore tax safe havens (for individual and business tax evaders) (2009)

• Reduced taxes for some small businesses to stimulate the economic recovery (2009)

• Extended the Home Buyers Credit for first-time home buyers (2009)

• Proposed doubling the child tax credit (2010)

• Called for the repeal of the capital gains tax for small businesses (2010)

• Proposed rolling back the 2001 and 2003 Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans (2010) * Note: This would be for families earning over $250,000/year and would return their tax rates to the 1990’s level; however, the President backed off proposal in late 201 because of Republican opposition

• Proposed “Buffet Rule” which requires millionaires to pay a fair/minimum tax (Sept 2011) *Note: Many take advantage of tax laws to pay less than or lower percentages than middle class Americans

OTHER INITIATIVES

• New federal funding for science and research labs (2009)

• Signed national service legislation; expanded national youth service program (2009)

• Increasing opportunities in AmeriCorps program (2009)

• Signed Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act (April 21, 2009)

• Ordered the DEA to stop raids on medical marijuana usage (2009)

• Ordered a review of existing “mandatory minimum” prison sentencing (2009)

• Signed an order to limit airport tarmac delays and the time passengers had to sit in the plane/on the tarmac during delays (2009)

• Restored the EPA to “Cabinet level” status (2009) * Note: Bush removed the EPA from this status

• Beginning discussions with Congress for comprehensive immigration reform (2010-2011) * Note: Much of Obama’s immigration reform had been stalled by opposition in Congress

• Commissioned expert panels and reports from NASA; announced a new direction for human space flight that involves funding a new heavy lift-launcher and jettisoning the Ares 1 program; boosting NASA’s budget by $1 billion in 2011 (2010)

• Signed a bill so that members of Congress would NOT receive a cost of living adjustment in FY 2011 (May 14, 2010)

• Signed Daniel Pearl Freedom of the Press Act (May 17, 2010)

• Ordered a ban on text-messaging for all commercial truck and bus drivers (2010)

• Signed Special Agent Samuel Hicks Families of Fallen Heroes Act (June 8, 2010)

• Signed FAA Air Transportation Modernization and Safety Improvement Act (2010)

• Executive Order to seize transactions/property of criminal organizations (July 25, 2011)

• Signed Child and Family Services Improvement and Innovation Act (Sept 20, 2011)

FACTOIDS & MISCONCEPTIONS

Online/talk radio claim: The Obamas demanded and spent more money than any first family to move into the White House.

Fact: The Obamas paid for the renovations of the private living quarters in the White House with their own money rather than using the funds provided to all new first families.

Online/talk radio claim: The Obamas are Muslims (some emails claim atheists) who did not allow Christmas to be celebrated in the White House.

Fact: The Obamas are Christian and celebrated Christmas in a very traditional way during each holiday season at the White House. They also recognized celebrations and customs from other religions. What was different about the Christmas celebration was that the Obamas reused many Christmas ornaments from previous White House trees rather than buy new ones and used LED energy-saving lights.

Online/talk radio claim: Obama received extra money as part of his Nobel Peace award and he pocketed it all.

Fact: Obama received the same award as other Nobel laureates, but donated the award money for the prize to several charities.

Online/talk radio claim: Obama has been secretive and unwilling to allow public or media access.

Fact: In only his first year in office, Obama held 23 town hall meetings, gave 158 interviews, and held 42 press/news conferences, as well as 411 speeches, comments, and remarks * Note: Official numbers are not available on such things, but this seems to be a new record high in the White House

Online/talk radio claim: Obama vacations more than any president.

Fact: In his first year in office, Obama took only 26 days of vacation (2009) * Note: Official numbers are not readily available on such things, but this seems to be a new record low and far lower than Bush

Online/talk radio claim: Obama was not born in America and is some sort of international “Manchurian” plant who supports other countries over America.

Fact: Obama was born in Hawaii in 1961. He has been an internationalist president insofar as he took 10 foreign trips to 21 nations and met with 74 foreign leaders in only his first year in office (he also took 46 out-of-town trips to 58 cities and 30 states in 2009).

Online/talk radio claim: Obama has not kept any of his campaign promises.

Fact: Official numbers are not kept on such things historically, but it appears Obama made more promises and discussed more policy issues during his campaign than any other presidential candidate. But, it also appears he has kept more promises than perhaps any other president. (As of 10/4/11) Obama has kept 147 of his campaign promises and another 197 of them are currently in progress; but he has broken 49 of them and compromised with Republicans on 44 of them; another 69 of his campaign promises have been stalled by Republicans. (Source: PolitiFact)

… and in case you were wondering

Obama promoted the celebration of the Reagan Centennial and established the Ronald Reagan Centennial Commission (June 2, 2009)

Climate change, CNN & Gingrich, Al Gore, NSA, Bill O'Reilly, & Art Woodstone

One of the problems with conservatives is their brains don't work the same as the brains of normal people.  Because science so often interferes with their ideologies, science becomes a "bad" thing and not to be trusted.  Therefore, climate change is merely a liberal plot which will cost corporations more money to clean up the crap they spew into the atmosphere.

 

No doubt the latest report by the ICC which claims with "extreme confidence" that global warming is caused by humans will be met by conservatives with disdain and will be rejected as another rung in the ladder of "liberal plots" which have as their goal to do in the "one percent" who do so much for this country.

 

The evidence, however, is in.  "[...] the evidence of climate change has grown thanks to more and better observations, a clearer understanding of the climate system and improved models to analyze the impact of rising temperatures.

 

["...] the atmosphere and oceans have warmed, the amount of snow and ice has diminished, the global mean sea level has risen and the concentrations of greenhouse gases have increased."

 

The rise in sea levels will be more than expected previously:  10-32 inches by the end of the 21st century.  That will probably mean the end of our coastal areas and some of our largest and most significant cities.

 

Don't listen to the howling morons on the right!


Somehow, for some unfathomable reason, the serial adulterer, and the one most responsible for our current gridlocked situation in Washington, Newt Gingrich, was given a gig by CNN.  He's now a host on "Crossfire."

Seems, though, he's up to his old chicanery.  When Rand Paul and Ted Cruz appeared on "Crossfire," ol' Newt neglected to mention that his PAC had given money to both of them.

When Media Matters pointed that out to CNN, the news station said it was OK for Newt to host folks to whom he had given money without disclosing that fact.

CNN, being less a real news organization than a bump on the corporate log, has opened the doors for Newt and others to actually put together a political campaign and use their positions at CNN to publicize and support such campaigns!

Is this a great country or what?


Al Gore has not been heard from for awhile so it's good to see his smiling face brightening the political landscape.  God, how I wish he had been given the presidency that he actually won in 2000 rather than that nogoodnik hack from Texas who actually didn't win.  What a difference that would have made in the years from 2000 to 2008!  We would have had a stable and growing economy and no war in Iraq! 

Referencing the current hullabaloo in Congress which would be comedic if it wasn't so serious and if it didn't portend a future of more governmental functional disability, Gore said that the Republican Party is guilty of "political terrorism."

In a recent speech at the new Brookings Institution's Center for Effective Public Management, Gore said:  "Why does partisanship have anything to do with such a despicable and dishonorable threat to the integrity of the United States of America?

"And now you [the Congressional Republicans] want to threaten to not only shut down our government but to blow up the world economy unless we go back and undo what we did according to the processes of this democracy?  How dare you?"

As I wrote in a post yesterday, such threats are traitorous for the politicians involved have invalidated their solemn oath to defend this country from all enemies, foreign and domestic!  In fact, they have become the enemies domestic!


Bill O'Reilly, the erstwhile television clerk on the FAUX network, is going to write a new book:  "Killing Jesus:  A History."

Why would Bill, neither an historian nor a theologian, want to do such a thing?  Well, the Holy Spirit came to him in the middle of the night and God told him to write it.  It's part of God's plan for his life!

Several things come to mind.  Bill has never let reality interfere with his belief system.  His previous book on Lincoln was panned by critics for a number of egregious errors.

Where is Bill going to get his information about Jesus?  Doubtless, it will come from the Gospels.  The problem with that is they are not histories.  They are evangelical tracts written by persons unknown between 30 and 70 years after Jesus supposedly lived.  They cannot, therefore, be utilized to construct a biography of Jesus.  And that creates an even larger problem for ol' Bill because there are no other records of Jesus' life anywhere.  The Romans, who kept meticulous records of the events in their far-flung empire, know nothing of this man.  Other historians and writers of the time never mention him.  According to the Gospels, this fictional Jesus never wrote a word. 

For the above reasons along with many others a growing number of Biblical scholars have concluded that the Jesus of the Gospels is not an historical figure.  He was created by these unknown writers to give "life" to Paul's mythical Christ.  So, if Bill is going to write a book about "killing Jesus" he has his work cut out for him as he has nothing to work with.  Even those Biblical scholars who believe in an historical Jesus admit that the stories relating to Jesus' crucifixion, death, and resurrection are so garbled and contradictory and impossible they mean very little.

And Paul offers no help for Bill as he makes up his story for Paul has no interest in an historical Jesus, either.  His Christ lives in the first heaven (Paul believed in seven heavens) and whatever his life on earth was like, or what he taught on earth or what he said on earth was of no concern to Paul.

But I guess when you think about it, none of this should bother ol' Bill at all.  Hells bells, he works for FAUX News and they make stuff up all the time!


Keith Alexander is the director of the National Security Agency.  Since 2006, the NSA has been listening in on our conversations without Congressional or court oversight.  Now, Mr. Alexander wants to collect "the phone records of all Americans."  At least that's what he said at a Congressional Hearing yesterday.

He wants to put our phone records in a "lockbox" that will be searched only when necessary.  I am not making this up.  I am naive, perhaps, but this is not the nation in which I grew up and which I have loved since my youth.  This is something else, something dark and nasty and fetid and futile and filled with evil!

Al Gore said, "In [a] digital era, privacy must be a priority.  Is it just me, or is secret blanket suveillance obscenely outrageous"

Yes, Mr. Gore, it is "obscenely outrageous."  And it's our government that is doing it!

We have a right to privacy.  Rather, we used to have a right to privacy.  Totalitarian states always begin slowly and secretly by using the sinister promise, "We're just doing this to protect you.  There is a great danger [read Communism, Fascism, Nazism, Terrorism] out there and we want you to be safe.  If that means we have to tread on your freedoms, well, that's just too bad.  Don't argue and don't you dare to enlighten the country as to what we are doing under the cover of night or we'll put you in jail for so long your nails will stop growing!"

The NSA and the rest of the spy machine that has turned inward love people like Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.), who speaks for many when he said that everyone in Congress knew about this stuff, "it's nothing particularly new."

If "everyone" knew, and you knew, Mr. Chambliss, then everyone is culpable in destroying a basic freedom guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States.  Once again, "everyone" in Congress has violated their oath of office!


The so-called One Percenters in this country work very hard to keep their money, much of which they stole in a variety of ways.  Many of these people claim to be Christians.  Which is quite hilarious when you think about it, for the Bible declares that the love of money is the root of all evil.

It is right, I think, to assume that those who claim to be Christians should have at least a passing interest in following Jesus' teachings.  But that's really hard for the wealthy to do because the Jesus of the Gospels had nothing good to say about rich people!

The Gospels of Matthew and Luke tell a story about a rich young man (or ruler) who came to Jesus to ask what he had to do to inherit eternal life.  In both tales, Jesus suggests the young man follow the commandments.  When the young man says he has done that, Jesus says he must sell everything he has, give it to the poor and follow him.

[Seems that all the so-called Christian Republicans in Congress who voted to cut food stamps for millions of poor Americans missed this particular passage!]

The next thing Jesus says is brought to mind by my friend, Art Woodstone:

"You all remember Matthew 19:24:

"'Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.'

"So, why should that one percent [or, more realistically, that fraction of the one percent] care?  For them, having all that obscene wealth and being able to flaunt it, is heaven here on earth...so long as the other ninety-nine percent of us keep out of their business and stop freeloading.

"Paul Krugman labels them 'sociopaths.'  Seems extreme, but I think he's on to something."

The GOP, Ted Cruz and other traitors

Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives are not working on creating jobs, or on measures to protect our environment, or on bills which would help repair our aging and decrepit infrastructure, or on decent health care for our citizens, or on the need to make college less expensive for the majority of our young people, or on k-12 education which today is a sham - essentially teaching to tests created by political operatives to make themselves look good, or on measures to regulate the financial sector which appears to be on the brink of destroying our economy once again, or on ensuring that the FDA and the IRS and other governmental agencies have enough employees to do their jobs, or on sealing the gaps in the tax codes that allow corporations to hide profits overseas and thus pay no taxes on them, etc., etc.

Actually, the Republicans are not working on any of the multitude of problems we face in this country and what's worse, are anti all proposals to fix our problems!

How can that be?  Why is this so?  What has happened?

It seems that the American people elected a black Democrat as president.  Twice!  That stuck in the craw of these ultra-conservative, racist hacks who fear the teapot crackpots more than they fear their deity!  So, since 2008, when Republican leaders such as Boehner and McConnell declared they would put all their energies into destroying the president rather than serving the country, we have entered a period of gridlock unknown in our history!

Today, the Republicans in the House are working on one thing:  Defunding Obamacare and shutting down the United States Government.  They are willing to SHUT DOWN the government they swore to defend!  The goal of the Republicans is to kill Obamacare and hurt the president.  None of this posturing and manipulating has anything to do with the good of the country!  Those involved have spit in the face of the people who sent them to Washington by disavowing their oath of office!

These very repugnant Republicans have fallen in line behind their teapot desperadoes and the Senate creep, Ted Cruz, and have tossed their solemn vow to the winds.

Here's what Cruz said:  "Obamacare is destroying jobs.  It is driving up health costs.  It is killing health benefits.  It is shattering the economy."

[Do you ever wonder why so many utter fools come from the state of Texas?]

Notice that these are ALL LIES!  Obamacare is creating jobs, health costs are going down, health benefits are increasing and it is growing the economy!  Those are the facts!


Any Republican who would shut down the government in an attempt to defund Obamacare must be considered a traitor because he or she has deliberately violated his or her oath of office!

Ted Cruz = Thelma & Louise

h/t to Crooks & Liars.

Jon Stewart and Ted's Healthcare Plan

Are Virginia's Whitbeck and Cuccinelli anti-Semites?

Transcript of remarks by John Whitbeck, the chairman of Virginia’s 10th Congressional District Republican Committee, in his introduction of Virginia GOP gubernatorial candidate Ken Cuccinelli: WHITBECK:

You know, I’m a Catholic, and one of the things … and one of the things we celebrated recently was [garbled], and when the pope was elected, the head of the Jewish faith goes to the Vatican and brings a ceremonial piece of paper. It’s very old. It dates back hundreds of years. And he comes in the pope’s office and he ceremonially hands the piece of paper to the pope, the new pope, and the new pope ceremonially rejects it. And then the head of the Jewish faith leaves. [Garbled.] This time around, the Pope says, “I gotta find out what’s on this piece of paper.” So he actually takes it from the head of the Jewish faith, he opens it, he looks at, he closes it, he grimaces. And his Jewish counterpart says, “What what is?” And he says, “Well, that was the bill from the Last Supper.” So, on that note, we’re waiting for Ken Cuccinelli and he’s on his way.

* * * *

The Jew-baiters, Jew-haters, anti-Semites of various persuasions, just won't go away!  But why is it that so many of them inhabit the Republican Party in 2013?  Whole bunches of these GOPers claim  to not only "believe" in Jesus, but to have accepted Jesus in their hearts, and to follow Jesus' teachings.  

Why, then, do they bait and hate Jews?  Why do they perpetuate old stereotypes that were never close to the truth?  

Jesus was a JEW!  He was never a Christian, did not start a church, wrote down no doctrines, wouldn't understand Christianity under any circumstances.  Nor did the Jews kill Jesus.  The Romans killed Jesus.

So, why the mockery by John Whitbeck?  Obviously, he felt he knew his audience and his candidate, the repugnant Ken Cuccinelli, and therefore he felt it was appropriate to tell this stupid joke which conjures up much old anti-Semitic nonsense in one swell foop!  

Are the anti-Semitic views of Whitbeck and Cuccinelli representative of the GOP in Virginia?  Or is that too broad a generalization?  Perhaps we should first ask whether or not Whitbeckand Cuccinelli are anti-Semites.

The answer to that, I think, is found in the old saw about how the creature that walks like a duck, quacks like a duck and looks like a duck, is probably a duck!

Or maybe they just hate Jesus because he was one of the good guys!

[Thanks to the Pensito Review for the video and Whitbeck's statement.]

12 Signs America Is Insane by Jaime O'Neill

Smirking Chimp / By Jaime O'Neill

 

12 Signs America Is Insane

Bradley Manning is in jail. Dick Cheney is not. Need we say more?

The US flag flies at half-mast at the Capitol building in honor of the victims of the shooting at the Washington Navy Yard, September 16, 2013 in Washington, DC.

September 24, 2013  |  

12. Bradley Manning is in jail. Dick Cheney is not.

11. The six Wal-Mart heirs possess more wealth than the bottom 40% of families in this country. Or, in other words, six surrealistically-rich people who say they can’t provide decent wages or benefits for their workers have more wealth than roughly 160 million other Americans combined. Much of that Wal-Mart wealth is directly attributable to the ways U.S. taxpayers subsidize the Wal- Mart labor pool, offer tax breaks, and tilt the playing field so that so much wealth flows into those few hands. Six people. Think about that, if your own head isn’t too far up your nether orifice, then think of the people and policies that created such disparity.

10. Michelle Bachmann is on the House Intelligence Committee.

9. The highest-paid public employees in 26 states are college football coaches.

8. Rush Limbaugh has a net worth of nearly a half a billion bucks, and he is the most listened-to ignorance-and-hate-purveyor in the nation, with some 15 million regular listeners. He has two semesters of college under his rather lengthy belt, and according to his mother, he “flunked everything.”

7. College grads in 2011 left college with an average debt load of $26,000 apiece. That figure has gone up since then.

6. Justin Bieber made $55 million in 2012.

5. Doug LaMalfa, Louie Gohmert, Mike Spence, and Darrell Issa all serve or have served in the U.S. House of Representatives, and if you don’t know why those elected representatives constitute an example of our having our heads up our asses, then you’ve probably got yours up yours.

4. The news media actually cover things Donald Trump says.

3. According to the Department of Veteran’s Affairs, veterans of the U.S. military are killing themselves at the rate of nearly one per hour. Among American teenagers, suicide is the third-leading cause of death, right behind homicide and accidents.

2. House Republicans have held more than 40 votes to repeal the Affordable Care Act, but have not proposed a single bill to create jobs.

1. On the morning I was compiling this list, 13 people were shot to death in the nation’s capital. Since terrorists struck the U.S. on 9/11/2001, more than 300,000 Americans have lost their lives to guns—more than 100 times as many people as the number who died when the World Trade Center fell. We’ve spent well over a trillion dollars fighting terrorism, but we live with the threat of random terror in our schools and on our streets on any given day. That’s just the price we pay for “freedom,” I guess. Or so the NRA would have us believe, as they corrupt our politicians and subvert popular support for gun control sanity.


Thanks to Alternet.org for this fine article by Jaime O'Neill.  You can read the original at Alternet here. 

Also, please check out Mr. O'Neill's website, The Smirking Chimp.  You'll love it!

Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA) on Thursday held up steak, vodka and caviar during her House floor speech in an effort to shame Republicans who want to slash $40 billion from the food stamp budget, while they continue to go on "lavish" trips financed by taxpayers and other groups.

Earlier this month, House Republicans introduced a bill that caved to conservative members and doubled the amount of cuts the party was proposing to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

"In my district, California 14, we have about 4,000 families who are on food stamps, but some of my colleagues have thousands and thousands more," Speier explained on Thursday. "Yet, they somehow feel like crusaders, like heroes when they vote to cut food stamps. Some of these same members travel to foreign countries under the guise of official business."

"They dine at lavish restaurants, eating steak, vodka and even caviar," she added, showing food props to members of the House. "They receive money to do this. That’s right, they don’t pay out of pocket for these meals."

"Let me give you a few examples: One member was given $127.41 a day for food on his trip to Argentina. He probably had a fair amount of steak," the California Democrat continued. "Another member was given $3,588 for food and lodging during a six-day trip to Russia. He probably drank a fair amount of vodka and probably even had some caviar. That particular member has 21,000 food stamp recipients in his district. One of those people who is on food stamps could live a year on what this congressman spent on food and lodging for six days."

Speier was most likely referring to Rep. Steve King (R-IA), who traveled to Russia with an official U.S. Congressional delegation in September.

According to the Des Moines Register, King could have eaten for 881 days on food stamps for the $3,588 he spent during six-day trip to Russia.

Speier noted that Panera Bread CEO Ron Shaich was taking the "SNAP Challenge" by trying to live on the $4.50 a day allotted to food stamp recipients.

"I wonder how many of my Republican colleagues would want to cut food stamps if they had taken the SNAP Challenge," she wondered. "After all, that means no more steak, no more caviar or vodka. Based on these members eating habits, I wonder if they could survive."


The above is from Crooks & Liars and used with gratitude!

Senate bill would avoid shutdown of helium supply

Who knew?  We've got a crisis! In a couple of weeks the federal helium reserve will be shut down because of some crazy law enacted decades ago which would cause a world-wide shortage and be a very bad thing 'cause helium is used for important stuff like MRIs and blowing up balloons. 

So, the Senate passed a bill which will not allow this to happen.

Ironic, isn't it?   What organization on the face of the planet is best equipped to know about and express huge amounts of HOT AIR than the United States Congress?

Read all about it here.

Meanwhile at the Pentagon, Fundamentalist Christians Protest a Non-Existent War

by Mickey Weinstein

“No matter how big the lie; repeat it often enough and the masses will regard it as the truth.”  – Winston Churchill

Last week, a coterie of proud, prejudiced, Christian fundamentalists met with officials of the Department of Defense, specifically the U.S. Air Force, at the Pentagon.

The undignified and truly ignoble goal of this meeting? The sowing of confusion within the ranks of our military leadership and the subversion of the United States Constitution.

This gang of lying zealots came to huff and puff over a “war on Christians” supposedly taking place within the U.S. military. SPOILER ALERT: absolutely NO such war exists, period!

Cheered on by the conjured voices protesting this phony “war,” this gang of fundamentalist Christian religious predators came loaded for bear with two petitions carrying a total of 220,000 signatures. The true purpose of these inveterate religious extremists was to lobby the top brass to officially give free rein to the Christian fundamentalist vultures within our United States armed forces to coercively preach and proselytize to their otherwise helpless subordinates within the American military.

Oh, and did I mention that they also want to offset the historic gains of the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT) by granting homophobes the full right – enshrined and protected by law – to bully and dehumanize these very same defenseless subordinates or fellow servicemembers for their gender identity and/or sexual orientation?

Section 529 of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2014 will do precisely that. Oh, but don’t take my word for it. According to Bishop James Magness, Bishop Suffragan of the Federal Ministries of the Episcopal Church in Washington D.C.:

“…this proposal will in effect trounce the actual religious liberties of those who rightly should have access to freedom from an established religion in the public square. Those military members present at a military ceremony are often required by duty to be present and therefore may not have the ability to get up and leave. These military members will have to listen to the chaplains offend them — and they will have no recourse.”

The real kicker, my friends, is that this campaign of fundamentalist Christian extremism, fueled by hatred and fear, is being carried out under the flagrantly false flag of “religious liberty.”

What these fraudulent whiners are bellowing about is the loss of their prior existing fundamentalist Christian privilege in the face of withering Constitutional civil rights activism that has demanded the end of these hideous and illicit offenses within the ranks of our military. The Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF), the organization of which I’m Founder and President, has spearheaded this campaign, hence the sour grapes. It is precisely this that led Decision magazine, a publication of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, to decry me in their July/August 2013 cover story as not only “perhaps the nation’s most fervent anti-witnessing activist,” but no, get this: they also ran a full sidebar feature on me entitled “ONE OF THE MOST DANGEROUS MEN IN AMERICA”. This was all featured under the dramatic heading, “THE WAR ON GOD’S WORD.”

In a brazenly bizarre and transparent homage to the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, the vanguard of this push to legalize fundamentalist Christian proselytizing predation and tyranny have assembled under the perverse umbrella of the “Restore Military Religious Freedom Coalition” (RMRF). Indeed, most of the so-called “offenses” against their inverted and distorted conception of “religious freedom” consist of those all-too-frequent episodes whereby we’ve managed to successfully beat back their cowardly attempts to destroy and dangerously delimit our actual liberties (not to be confused with “license to kill”-style “liberties” tailor-made for “Modern-day Torquemadas”).

Helming this delegation of so-called “Christian leaders” was Lt. Gen. Jerry Boykin (ret.), Executive Vice President of the Family Research Council (FRC). Mister “No Mosques in America” Boykin exemplifies precisely the type of “religious liberty” RMRF stands for. After all, this is a quintessential and unapologetic racist, a man who’s been virtually canonized by his vast fundamentalist/dominionist constituency for his blood-soaked incitements to “holy war” against all Muslims everywhere, the likes of which haven’t been witnessed since the equally blood-drenched medieval Crusades. Dark Ages thy pathetic avatar be Boykin the Bigot.

Tailing Lt. Gen. Boykin was another renowned bigot, Col. Ron Crews (ret.), the head of Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty (CARL). Crews is an overgrown poster-child of the “homophobia industry “and a “prize Chicken Little” from among the retired chaplaincy. Following the landmark repeals of DADT and the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), Henny Penny Crews raised a deafening din of “the Sky is falling” squawking to the effect that there would be a vast exodus of servicemembers from the various branches as a result of the Obama administration turning the U.S. military into a “social experiment” (read: “Big Gay Boot Camp”).

Of course absolutely no such “exodus” occurred, with chaplains instead giving a “common, positive verdict about repeal.”

Conservative radio host Sandy Rios also attended the meeting. Rios, a frequent Fox News contributor and member of the hate-engorged American Family Association (AFA), recently linked LGBT love to the monstrous Ariel Castro’s decade-long spree of torment afflicted upon three helpless young women in Ohio held in torturous captivity. Rios also ludicrously compared the teaching of respect for sex and gender minorities to the espousal of using crack-cocaine, and fingered gay-inclusive school curricula for a decline in student performance. When she’s not espousing her base, evil, and vile hatred of gays, she’s advocating anti-Muslim extremism of the most pernicious kind.

True heroes of “liberty” and constitutional “rights,” indeed. Recall, however, that the Southern Poverty Law Center has characterized the FRC and AFA as not only domestic hate groups, but the “chief purveyors of lies about LGBT people” that result in trauma, hate crimes, and a tragic epidemic of teen suicides. Click here to read the hideous declamations of these organizations in their own words.

Yet now these well-funded exemplars of monstrous duplicity are disingenuously posing as champions of religious pluralism, tolerance, and civil liberties? Unlimited and galling hypocrisy at best – enormous national security threat at worst.

The enemies of our (remaining) constitutional protections and civil liberties thrive on lies, misinformation, and outright disinformation to advance their anti-democratic and fundamentalist Christian, religious extremist agendas. Such has certainly been our experience here at MRFF. By salting the “information battlefield” with false innuendoes, red herrings, and blatant untruths designed to appeal to diehard and disgusting prejudices, these professional religious bigots have managed to hoodwink all-too-many Americans into believing that President Obama’s Defense Department is waging some tooth-and-nail battle against all good Christians, especially those who faithfully serve in our U.S. military.

Søren Kierkegaard once opined, “There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn’t true. The other is to refuse to believe what is true.”

Is there REALLY any persecution of Christians in the U.S. military? Such cartoonish and cretinesque fantasy couldn’t be farther from the truth.

However, the fact that some docile and supine Americans are buying into this universally false fairy tale should be of significant alarm to those of us who don’t want to see the adoption of a militarist Christian dominionist gospel as our nation’s official state religion.

If and when that day ever comes, it will be the last day of freedom for our American democratic republic.

The Military Religious Freedom Foundation is up against well-funded extremist religious organizations. Your donations allow us to continue our fight in the courts and in the media to fight for separation of church and state in the U.S. military. Please make a fully tax-deductible donation today at  helpbuildthewall.org.

Michael L. “Mikey” Weinstein, Esq. is founder and president of the five-time Nobel Peace Prize-nominated  Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) and an honor graduate of the Air Force Academy. He served as a White House counsel in the Reagan Administration and as the Committee Management Officer of the “Iran-Contra” Investigation. He is also the former General Counsel to H. Ross Perot and Perot Systems Corporation. Mikey is an honor graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy and a former J.A.G. in the U.S. Air Force. His two sons, daughter-in-law, son-in law, and brother-in-law are also graduates of USAFA. In December 2012, Mikey was named one of the 100 Most Influential People in U.S. Defense by Defense News. He is the author of  “With God On Our Side” (2006, St. Martin’s Press) and  “No Snowflake in an Avalanche” (2012, Vireo).


This article was published at Alternet.org here.

GOP Voter Fraud in Florida!

We get all kinds of wackos in Florida.  The majority are old, well-to-do, from the north, cranky, bored, Republican, and a little bit crazy.

These are the folks who elected our latest governor, one Rick Scott, a Texan I've been told, who somehow, unfortunately, made his way to the Sunshine state and with the help of a $300 million payoff by his old health care company (which committed the largest Medicare fraud in history) bought the guv's office in Tallahassee.

Everyone knows that it is natural for Republican politicians to lie.  That's why they're Republicans.  But we hope, on occasion, they would at least pretend to care about the people they were elected to serve, and that they might actually believe in the freedom and democracy about which they prattle world without end.  

In the state of Florida, inundated with wackos (including Teapot Crackpots), common sense and commonwealth are two concepts our governor and his Republican cohorts in the state legislature don't understand or don't care about.  Consider their views on voting, which is essential to a democracy: Only certain people should vote - well-to-do, white Republicans; it's not right that minorities, poor people and the aged should also show up at the polls - at least not every time. 

So, to combat this problem of undesirable people voting in Florida, the guv and his tribe got together and decided to lie to their constituents.  They discovered "voter fraud"!  There are people, they said, who are voting who have no right to be voting.  Some of them are not even citizens, they said.  Some of them are black or brown or poor or old.  Many of them vote for Democratic candidates.  Therefore, we have to fix this "voter fraud" problem.

"We'll purge the voter rolls and we'll disqualify all those we would like to believe might be ineligible to vote!"  That's what the guv and his gang said.


So in the last election cycle a voter purge was ordered.  Lots of people were cut from the rolls of eligible voters.  Unfortunately, the huge majority of them were not ineligible and legitimate voters were turned away from the polls.

This was all President Obama's fault, of course.  Isn't everything President Obama's fault in the wacky world of the GOP?  The DHS has a program called SAVE (System Alien Verification for Entitlements Program).  The Department of Homeland Security disallowed Florida officials from using that database and that's why the guv and his goofies got everything all wrong.


Well, not really.  The database has some errors; it is not correct so it wouldn't have mattered if Florida had been able to access it.  In fact, Florida should not use it!  A coalition of civil-rights groups noted that "the SAVE database used to cross-reference names on Florida's lists of registered voters ... cannot verify U. S.-born citizens or those born overseas to U.S. citizens."  There's no appeal process (which was promised).  And 80% of the people who end up with their names in the SAVE database are minorities.

Nevertheless, another purge of Florida's voting rolls has been ordered and is underway.  The same problems persist meaning that the people the guv's cronies say are ineligible may not be ineligible at all!  And following the guv's guidelines may well mean that once again, many folks who are righteous registered voters will be expunged from the list - especially if they are of one of the "minorities."

But this year some county election supervisors are not kissing the guv's ring.  They're saying they have the right to remove people from the voter rolls and the guv better come up with better and more reliable information before they're going to do so.


This year, also, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement was asked by Florida's Secretary of State to investigate voter fraud.  Part of the fantasy perpetrated by our Republican leaders is that there are hordes of unregistered, ineligible voters rushing to the polls to elect Democrats to public office.  Other states run by God's Own Pissants (GOP) claim the same thing.

But there's a huge problem!  Voter fraud is, for all extents and purposes, non-existent!  In Florida the powers-that-be went after a group known as the Florida New Majority, "an established progressive organization known for advocating the spread of democratic participation across the country.  The organization was vital in registering scores of minorities last year--something which Republicans generally don't like."

The investigation didn't turn up any fraud in the suspected places or in the work of the Florida New Majority, "but it did stumble across a little fraud from the Strategic Allied Consultants--a GOP contractor that made the news last last year for falsifying registration forms.  Earlier this year, two former employees of SAC admitted to law enforcement officials that they did indeed commit voter fraud."  Two women confessed to submitting fake voter registration forms.  They had been told they wouldn't get paid unless they made their "quota," and it was suggested in no uncertain terms they were not to register Democrats.

So, it's not the supposed "fox" out there who's dangerous, it's the "hens"in the chicken coop up in Tallahassee.  What little fraud there is, is committed by Republicans.


Not that it matters much.  The U.S. Supremes, in their infinite wisdom and due to the mental cloister in which the majority live, decided there is no more racism in our country and therefore we didn't need all the protections provided our minorities by the Voting Rights Act.  Florida saw that as an opportunity, and acting upon the usual Republican premise that freedom is whatever the Republicans say it is and democracy is a good thing only if Republicans are in power, now requires a voter to show a state drivers license in order to vote in national/federal elections.

That's also fraudulent for the only possible purpose such a requirement can serve, in light of the lack of voter fraud, is to keep minority voters, the poor and the aged at home on election day. 

 Welcome to the world - GOP style.


Note:  Some of the information contained in this article came from Alternet.org here.

Larry Summers:  Goldman Sacked

By Greg Palast for Vice Magazine
Monday, 16 September 2013

Joseph Stiglitz couldn't believe his ears.  Here they were in the White House, with President Bill Clinton asking the chiefs of the US Treasury for guidance on the life and death of America's economy, when the Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Larry Summers turns to his boss, Secretary Robert Rubin, and says, "What would Goldman think of that?"

Huh?

Then, at another meeting, Summers said it again:  What would Goldman think?

A shocked Stiglitz, then Chairman of the President's Council of Economic Advisors, told me he’d turned to Summers, and asked if Summers thought it appropriate to decide US economic policy based on “what Goldman thought.”  As opposed to say, the facts, or say, the needs of the American public, you know, all that stuff that we heard in Cabinet meetings on The West Wing.

Summers looked at Stiglitz like Stiglitz was some kind of naive fool who'd read too many civics books.

R.I.P. Larry Summers
On Sunday afternoon, facing a revolt by his own party’s senators, Obama dumped Larry as likely replacement for Ben Bernanke as Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board.
Until news came that Summers’ torch had been snuffed, I was going to write another column about Larry, the Typhoid Mary of Economics.  (My first, in The Guardian, 15 years ago, warned that “Summers is, in fact, a colony of aliens sent to Earth to turn humans into a cheap source of protein.”)

But the fact that Obama even tried to shove Summers down the planet’s throat tells us more about Obama than Summers—and whom Obama works for.  Hint:  You aren’t one of them.

All these Cabinet discussions back in the 1990s requiring the blessing of Goldman Sachs revolved around the Rubin-Summers idea of ending regulation of the US banking system.  To free the US economy, Summers argued, all you'd have to do is allow commercial banks to bet government-guaranteed savings on new "derivatives products," let banks sell high-risk sub-prime mortgage securities and cut their reserves against losses.

What could possibly go wrong? 
Stiglitz, who would go on to win the Nobel Prize in Economics, tried to tell them exactly what would go wrong.  But when he tried, he was replaced and exiled.
Summers did more than ask Rubin to channel the spirit of Goldman: Summers secretly called and met with Goldman's new CEO at the time, Jon Corzine, to plan out the planet’s financial deregulation. I’m not guessing:  I have the confidential memo to Summers reminding him to call Corzine.

[For the complete story of that memo and a copy of it, read “The Confidential Memo at the Heart of the Global Financial Crisis”.]

Summers, as Treasury official, can call any banker he damn well pleases.  But not secretly.  And absolutely not to scheme over details of policies that could make a bank billions.  And Goldman did make billions on those plans.

Example:  Goldman and clients pocketed $4 billion on the collapse of “synthetic collateralized debt obligations”—flim-flam feathers sold to suckers and dimwits i.e. the bankers at RBS.  (See Did Fabrice Tourre Really Create The Global Financial Crisis?)

Goldman also cashed in big on the implosion of Greece’s debt via secret derivatives trades permitted by Summers’ decriminalization of such cross-border financial gaming.

The collapse of the euro-zone and the US mortgage market caused by Bankers Gone Wild was made possible only by Treasury Secretary Summers lobbying for the Commodities Futures Modernization Act which banned regulators from controlling the 100,000% increase in derivatives assets, especially super-risky "naked" credit-default swaps.

The CMFA was the financial equivalent of a fire department banning smoke alarms.

Summers took over the Treasury's reins from Rubin who’d left to become director of a strange new financial behemoth:  The combine of Citibank with and an investment bank, Travelers. The new bank beast went bankrupt and required $50 billion in bail-out funds.  (Goldman did not require any bail-out funds–but took $10 billion anyway.)

Other banks-turned-casinos followed Citi into insolvency.  Most got bail-outs ... and got Larry Summers–or, at least, Larry's lips for "consulting" or for gold-plated speaking gigs.

Derivatives trader D.E. Shaw paid Summers $5 million for a couple of years of "part-time" work.  This added to payments from Citigroup, Goldman and other finance houses, raising the net worth of this once penurious professor to more than $31 million.

Foreclosure fills the Golden Sacks
When Summers left Treasury in 2000, The New York Times reports that a grateful Rubin got Summers the post of President of Harvard University—from which Summers was fired. He gambled away over half a billion dollars of the university’s endowment on those crazy derivatives he’d legalized.  (Given Summers’ almost pathological inability to understand finance, it was most odd that, while President of the university, he suggested that humans with vaginas aren’t very good with numbers.)

In 2009, Summers, Daddy of the Deregulation Disaster, returned to the Cabinet in triumph. Barack Obama crowned him “Economics Tsar,” allowing Summers to run the Treasury without having to be questioned by Congress in a formal confirmation hearing.

As Economics Tsar in Obama's first term, did Summers redeem himself?

Not a chance.

In 2008, both Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican John McCain called for using the $300 billion remaining in the "bail-out' fund for a foreclosure-blocking program identical to the one Franklin Roosevelt had used to pull the US out of the Great Depression.  But Tsar Larry would have none of it, although banks had been given $400 billion from the same fund.

Indeed, on the advice of Summers and his wee assistant, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, Obama spent only $7 billon of the $300 billion available to save US homeowners.

What would Goldman think? 
As noted, Goldman and clients pocketed billions as a result of Obama’s abandonment of 3.9 million families whose homes were repossessed during his first term.  While American homeowners were drowning, Tsar Summers torpedoed their lifeboat:  a plan to prevent foreclosures by forcing banks to write-off the overcharges in predatory sub-prime mortgages.  Notably, Summers’ action (and Obama's inaction) saved Citibank billions.

Loan Shark Larry
The deregulation disaster machinery is not done with mangling Americans.  While not-for-profit credit unions, lenders of last resort for working people and the poor in the US, have been under legal and political attack, a new kind of banking operation has bubbled out of the minds of the grifters looking for a way to make loan-sharking legit.

One new outfit, for example, called “Lending Club,” has figured out a way to collect fees for arranging loans charging as much as 29%.  Lending Club claims it cannot and should not be regulated by the Federal Reserve or other banking police.  The recent addition to its Board of Directors:  Larry Summers.

If you want to know why Obama would choose such a grifter and gamer to head the Fed, you have to ask, Who picked Obama?  Ten years ago, Barry Obama was a nothing, a State Senator from the South Side of Chicago.

But then, he got lucky.  A local bank, Superior, was shut down by regulators for mortgage shenanigans ripping off Black folk.  The bank’s Chairwoman, Penny Pritzker was so angry at regulators, she decided to eliminate them:  and that required a new President.

The billionaires connected Obama to Jamie Dimon of J.P. Morgan, but most importantly to Robert Rubin, former Treasury Secretary, but most important, former CEO of Goldman Sachs and mentor of Larry Summers.  Without Rubin’s blessing and overwhelming fundraising power, Obama would still be arguing over zoning on Halsted Street.

Rubin picked Obama and Obama picks whom Rubin picks for him.

Because, in the end, Obama knows he must choose a Fed chief based on the answer to one question:  What would Goldman think?

Special thanks to expert Lori Wallach of Public Citizen without whom our investigation could not have begun. For the complete story of the investigation of Larry Summers, the "End Game" memo and the finance crisis, see Palast's highly acclaimed book Vultures' Picnic. Get a signed hardbound copy and support our work with a tax-deductible contribution of $50.  Also visit the Palast Investigative Fund's store or simply make a tax-deductible contribution to keep our work alive! Greg Palast is also the author of the New York Times bestsellers, Billionaires & Ballot Bandits, The Best Democracy Money Can Buy and Armed Madhouse.  Follow Palast on Twitter | Like Palast on Facebook | Forward to a friend  Subscribe to Palast's Newsletter | Podcasts Share this with

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