For the wingnuts on the right, including dipshits like New Gingrich, talking to one's "enemy" is tantamount to making him/her king.
So, when Obama lifted some travel restrictions, etc., regarding Cuba (but not the trade embargo), the wingnuts went crazy as if he was single-handedly turning the U.S. into a satellite of Castro the Marxist.
But...as P. M. Carpenter put it, "What Obama did in tandem with lifting those travel restrictions ... was to announce, in a kind of diplomatic dance, his one and only bargaining chip. His administration, he said again at the Summit of the Americas, is 'prepared to ... engage with the Cuban government on a wide range of issues -- from human rights, free speech, and democratic reform to drugs, migration, and economic issues."
Bingo! "And sure enough, it was also last week that Cuba's president Raul Castro, announced for the first time that his government is 'willing to discuss everything, human rights, freedom of press, political prisoners, everything, everything, everything they want to talk about."
Now while this isn't the second coming, it does change the type of missiles and trajectories the two countries have been aiming at each other -- words have been exchanged for weapons.
What can be bad in that?
But the apopoleptic response of the Repugnican right grew even more shrill and vociferous when Obama actually dared shake the hand of Hugo Chavez, president of Venezuela.
The wingnut who Carpenter calls "that little toad of a Big Thinker," Newt Gingrich, ran out of the house to get away from his 12th or 13th wife, and said "[Obama] has made life easier for the Castro dictatorship in Cuba, why not embrace or at least be cheerful and friendly with Hugo Chavez?"
But he wasn't done. Newt, the paragon of serial adulterers and foreign policy expertise, claimed that Obama's actions "sends a terrible signal to all of Latin America, and a terrible signal about how the new administraton regards dictators."
But Newt, of course, was not the only one. A women, speaking for John Boehner, another Repugnican weeper, claimed Obama was allowing Chavez to gain publicity at the "expense of the United States." And "Republican Senator John Ensign labeled Obama's cordiality 'irresponsible.'"
Well, Newt, most of the hoi polloi are probably ignorant of our recent history, but you can rest assured that some of us are quite aware of the love exhibited for rotten, no good dictators by previous Republican administrations is a matter of public record. Saudi Arabia comes to mind, as an example, Newt. What do you have to say about them apples? With Repugnicans, it's always been about protecting American interests (read corporations). Any dictator is good if he's willing to protect our corporate interests. Hell, we'll even let him terrorize his own people!
And isn't it better, in the long run, to try to mend fences, to better understand each other, to try to come to some agreement so that we can all live together and maybe work toward a peaceful solution to our differences?
That is not in the Repugnican playbook, I guess. There it is written "drill, baby, drill," and "bomb, bomb, bomb Iran" or any other country that we don't like at the moment! And if we discover another Iraq which has oil we want, we'll just invade and blow the country to smithereens, no matter the human costs!
Methinks Obama's is the better way. But it sure as hell would be nice if a few "leaders" of the opposition would show a bit more concern for their country than getting reelected by their Ignorance R us base!
P.M. Carpenter has much more to say at BuzzFlash and he can say it better than I can; read his entire article here.
This has got to be one of the funniest clips I've seen in a long time. It's laugh-out-loud stuff.
It's also sad, as there are a whole hell of a lot of morans out there who really believe it's true. But, hey, I taught school for many years, and know exactly how stupid some people and their kids really are!
As everyone knows, we face multiple, massive problems in our country and around the globe; problems which could escalate into end-of-the-world scenarios; problems for which we don't seem to have solutions at the moment, or if we do have solutions, we lack the political will to implement them.
Why then, we wonder, do some people concern themselves with trivia, such as why Obama isn't going to church?
Alex Koppelman at Salon's War Room has a brief article about Bill Sammon, who serves as the managing editor of the Washington Bureau for Fox News. Mr. Koppelman quotes from a blog post by Sammon which appeared on the "nework's Web site:
"With Easter just days away, Obama has yet to reveal what church he may have chosen or when he might attend his first Sunday services as president."
Why would Sammon care?
It seems that Sammon is a christianist of some stripe, as, according to Koppelman, he wrote a book in 2007 called "The Evangelical President: George Bush's Struggle to Spread a Moral Democracy Throughout the World."
Heh. Heh.
The title alone removes Sammon from our list of serious thinkers! George Bush and Moral Democracy? George Bush the lying warmonger? I don't think so.
Now, none of this is a big deal, but it does point out the tendency of christianist wingnuts to simply get everything all wrong. Whether Obama goes to church or not is irrelevant. His actions as president are what count, not some piety expressed in a public place.
And, I for one, am delighted he's not going to church and that most of the religious rhetoric that hung like dark clouds over the Bush administration has been lifted.
At this point in our national life, we need less religion and more morality; less piety and more pragmatic action based upon reason, not faith.
The differences between our current administration and our former administration are stark. The latter was mostly concerned with flaunting power and tearing down, and the Obama administration is concerned with cooperation and building up.
Thus, at G-20, the "leader of the free world" (our president!), helped to bring about what McClatchy calls "large achievements."
"The leaders of the world's major industrialized nations accomplished something at their G-20 summit...that rarely happens at such gatherings of heads of state.
"The produced large achievements.
"They pledged the first-ever global regulation of hedge funds and private-equity firms, big players in global finance that have enjoying operating under the regulatory radar. They agreed to require banks to set aside more capital in good times to help them function in bad times. They vowed to crack down on tax haven nations that allow the wealthy to escape taxation. And they pledged $1.1 trillion to the International Monetary Fund and related institutions to help revive the global economy."
What struck me, in particular, was how for the first time in a long time, the United States held out the hand of friendship by explicitly involving itself in cooperative efforts, and thus telling the rest of the world we not only own up to our culpability in this godawful mess, but recognize that we do not live in isolation, that we cannot "make it" on our own, that we're all in this together and we'll do whatever it takes to make it right.
That's a 180 from how the Bush/Cheney gang of criminal thugs operated over the past eight years!
This obviously does not mean that our problems are over and that we're on the way back to easy street. We may never walk easy street again. But it does mean that we're committed to taking the necessary steps to modify the system so that it works, not just for the greedy bastards on Wall Streets around the world, but for all the people -- those who because of the greedy bastards are now homeless, jobless, and hopeless.
McClatchy has much more on this subject which you can survey here.
The christianist rightwingnuts' heads have exploded recently about President Obama and his teleprompter.
The accusation is being passed around from one wingnut to another that President Obama cannot think on his feet and cannot say anything that makes sense without having it written down and appearing on his teleprompter. The implication is that some sneaky socialist or commie down in the basement of the White House is somehow incorporating horrible socialist or communist plans in Obama's speeches but does it so effectively the public is not only not aware of it but somehow succumbs to socialism and communism.
I mean we can see this every day. Drive down the street, any street and people will be out waving the banner and sickle yelling about our failing capitalistic system and how only socialism and communism can save us.
What's really funny is that we finally have a president who can, indeed, think on his feet and can do a press conference for god knows how many minutes taking and fielding questions, answering them using big words, with intelligence and wit and irony and satire. Hell, half the press corps doesn't know what he's talking about he's so far over their heads.
Have the right wingnuts forgotten G.W. Bush, who couldn't string three words together in a comprehensible sentence; who thinks the children is reading?
Please: to all the right wingnuts with nothing to say except moronic nonsense, get a life!
When President Barack Obama appeared on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, he made a verbal gaffe, which he has indicated he sincerely regrets and for which he has apologized.
About 3 minutes plus into the interview, Obama made a joke about his bowling skills referencing the Special Olympics.
The rightwingnuts have gone batshit crazy.
Oh well. They haven't a fresh idea in their brainfogged heads, so they have to create something to get airtime.
Arnold Schwarzenegger defended the president, saying that he knows Obama's heart is in the right place and that the president is a strong supporter and defender of the Special Olympics.
Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska, however, showing her desperate need to find the limelight and try to turn the conversation away from her ethical problems, pounced all over Obama claiming he was disparaging and insensitive, etc. I think Palin almost wept she was soooo upset.
This, ladies and gentlemen, is the same Governor Palin who dragged her special needs child all over the country into all kinds of crazy situations while campaigning with John "the cane" McCain! Only Palin didn't even bother to take care of the child most of the time; that was the job of her pregnant, unwed daughter, Bristol!
The church membership of the Obama family seems to be a major concern for a number of people.
McClatchy carried a long article on this "situation" yesterday, noting that the President and family "are considering joining several churches of various denominations in the nation's capital but have yet to settle on one, and aides say they're unlikely to decide before Easter."
You may recall earlier in the year, while still on the campaign trail, certain wingnuts were pissed off about candidate Obama because he often did not attend worship services on Sunday mornings, and sometimes, gasp!, he went to work out a gym instead.
The problem of church membership has gone from the sublime to the ridiculous...Obama and his aides are "vetting" churches. Heh. Heh.
If he has to join a church, I'd suggest the Episcopal Church. The Episcopalians are high on pomp and ceremony and not much else so no raggedy old clergy will crowd his mind with nonsense questions like WWJD (What would Jesus do?).
We've had enough of presidents trying to follow Jesus. That's what got us into Iraq, rendition, torture and illegal assassination squads run out of Cheney's office.
In fact, the problem could be easily solved. Don't join any church. Don't go to church. This is a secular country; be secular. There is nothing in any church that is going to help President Obama run the country. If he feels the need to discuss things with his god, he can do that in the privacy of the Oval Office or the Presidential bedroom.
Not joining a church would also send a hopeful message to the growing numbers of people who do not identify with a religious institution and as well as the growing number who have given up religious faith entirely to base their lives on common sense and reason.
Clergy types in Washington, of course, don't see it that way. Derrick Harkins, of Nineteenth Street Baptist pompously postulated that "It's a personal decision [the hell it is!], and it's a prayerful decision. They need to listen to God in terms of how that unfolds for them."
Huh?
How does that work, exactly? Does the voice of God come down from heaven in the middle of the night booming out, "GO TO NEW YORK AVENUE PRESBYTERIAN!", or does Obama suddenly wake up in the middle of a speech by Joe Lieberman and realize that God wants him to attend the Episcopal Church of the Epiphany?
Heh. Heh.
Stay home Sunday mornings, President Obama. Spend quality time with your family away from the roar of the crowd and the aromas of the too-washed and heavily perfumed. Go bowling in the basement. Watch a little FOX News and laugh. I mean are there any bigger clowns in town than the Repugnicans?
Nobody really cares if you go to church or not except for the christianist wingnuts and you've lost them already! They're totally convinced you are a socialist, the most dangerous man ever, the anti-Christ, a communist, and a sleeper mole for the "international Jewish conspiracy." Furthermore, they know you weren't born in the USA! And they've got the Bible verses to prove it.
Oh boy, the Xtian right wingnuts are really, really mad! Yessiree! That socialist, godless, nogood Commie Obama is going to reverse the ban on government funding of embryonic stem cell research!
Now, you just know that God is tearing off his wings up there in heaven at this brazen attempt to play himself! Jesus and the Holy Spirit are so angry they're thinking about making Satan the patron of the Democratic Party instead of the Republican Party!
And it's not only the Xtian right wingnuts that got their shorts in knots. It's the crippled rabble who make up the Repugnican congressional leadership, too!
Omigod, whined Repug whip of the House, Rep. Eric Cantor: "Why are we going and distracting ourselves from the economy?" he cried. "This is job No. 1. Let's focus on what needs to be done."
Heh. Heh. And all the people laughed their asses off! Repugnicans "focusing" on what needs to be done? That's why every single one of the damn nogoodniks voted against Obama's plan to help the economy. They "focused" all right; they "focused" the whole damn country!
What Cantor is really focused on is "embryo harvesting" and "human cloning." He's worried about big, bad Uncle Sam: "Frankly, federal funding of embryonic stem-cell research can bring on embryo harvesting, perhaps even human cloning that occurs. We don't want that. That shouldn't be done. That's wrong."
Hmmm. Sure wouldn't want to clone any Repugnicans! He's right about that!
But Cantor and the rest of the dim bulb Repugs in Congress stand alone with the religious goofballs on the right.
Meanwhile, Dr. Harold Varmus, who co-chairs Obama's science advisory council and is president of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, speaking for common sense and reasonable people everywhere, said that the Obama administration is endorsing "the notion that public policy must be guided by sound, scientific advice."
But why? whines Cantor. We've got God, the Vatican, Limbaargh and the GOP to tell us what is right, wrong and inbetween!
Why do we need any faith-based nonsense in the government?
We don't. In fact, because the entire faith-based operation involves the transfer of public money to religious institutions, it would seem that such an operation is in clear violation of our Constitution! No taxpayer dollars should go to any religious institution for any reason!
Unfortunately, President Obama doesn't seem to agree with me. Thus, he has moved to reshape and increase the size scope of a governmental faith-based structure.
According to Liliana Segura at AlterNet, Obama issued "an executive order that, rather than doing anything to dismantle Bush's faith-based initiatives, bolstered them with a new 'advisory council on faith.'"
But it gets worse. According to a U.S. News and World Report article, "(Obama's) public rallies are opening with invocations that have been commissioned and vetted by the White House." Prayers "commission and vetted by the White House"? Please say it ain't so!
This is, as they say, "unprecedented."
With regard to the faith-based business, Obama has created an Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. He did this via an executive order. The Council is to "be composed of not more than 25 members appointed by the president from among individuals who are not officers or employees of the federal government."
John DuBois, a 26-year old former Pentecostal pastor is heading up the faith-based office.
Not good. "However well-intentioned it sounded, the American Civil Liberties Union was quick to voice its alarm over the president's order, pointing out that the mission of the religious advisory council will also be 'to advise the president and the White House faith-based office on how to distribute federal dollars, and also advise on a range of other issues, such as AIDS and women's reproductive health care' -- areas where religious views present nothing if not a conflict of interest."
Mr. Obama needs to rethink all of this. First of all, it is unnecessary. If religious groups want to do good work in the community, that's fine. But they can do it with their own funds, not with taxpayer money.
I shall repeat myself: To give federal monies to religious groups for any purpose is in direct violation of the Constitution.
Give it up, President Obama!
Ms. Segura has much more to say about this issue and you can read her entire article here.
Another interesting article here (which is where I found the photo above showing then Senator Obama's interest in faith-based work).
The trickle down theory: helping the rich help the economy
I'd be the first to admit I'm not an economist, but I can't help observing how certain economic ideas have played out in our country's recent history.
Consider this business of helping the rich.
Geoff Colvin, writing in the February 2 edition of Fortune magazine, suggests that's exactly how President Obama should design his economic plan. Stimulus plans, tax rebates, and increasing the capital gains and dividend taxes on people earning more than $250K a year, just won't do it, says Colvin. While they may provide a short-term boost, they won't succeed in the long-term.
Here's Colvin's idea: "Let's help corporations and the rich."
Why would we want to do that? Because we all want to create jobs and increase investment, and those things come from "companies and the wealthy."
Now, that doesn't mean we just hand out checks to very rich people. "Rather than spending more, our plutocrats need to invest more, since private investment creates long-term jobs. So let's offer high earners the very modest help of just leaving them alone..."
Oh, one other thing: we need to reduce our corporate income tax, which says Colvin [untruthfully] is "among the world's highest."
Colvin sums up his ideas by referring to that late great, but very sleepy president, Ronald Reagan. The initiatives he proposes "could be parts of what will surely be the most ambitious economic program since Ronald Reagan's first term."
Yeah? And we all know how that turned out! What is it with these guys? They never give up. Colvin is doing nothing more than offering the same old failed "trickle down" economics that didn't work before and won't work now.
[Notice the Repugnicans--out of touch, out of power, out of the loop. Image by Mark Wilson, Getty Images]
Yeah! Finally! The damnable so-called Mexico City policy has bit the dust! Back in 1984, Reagan, the B-grade movie actor turned prezident, instituted a rule that banned the federal government from funding any organizations that provide abortion and abortion counseling abroad.
The policy has been in effect except for a period during the Clinton administration.
The policy had no rational basis, of course, but was a sop to the extremist right and their religious pretensions.
Yesterday, President Obama "lifted the global gag rule."
Here's what he said:
"It is clear that the provisions of the Mexico City Policy are unnecessarily broad and unwarranted under current law, and for the past eight years, they have undermined efforts to promote safe and effective voluntary family planning in developing countries. For these reasons, it is right for us to rescind this policy and restore critical efforts to protect and empower women and promote global economic development.
"For too long, international family planning assistance has been a political wedge issue, the subject of a back and forth debate that has served only to divide us. I have no desire to continue this stale and fruitless debate.
"It is time that we end the politicization of this issue. In the coming weeks, my Administration will initiate a fresh conversation on family planning, working to find areas of common ground to best meet the needs of women and families at home and around the world.
"I have directed my staff to reach out to those on all sides of this issue to achieve the goal of reducing unintended pregnancies. They will also work to promote safe motherhood, reduce maternal and infant mortality rates and increase educational and economic opportunities for women and girls.
"In addition, I look forward to working with Congress to restore U.S. financial support for the U.N. Population Fund. By resuming funding to UNFPA, the U.S. will be joining 180 other donor nations working collaboratively to reduce poverty, improve the health of women and children, prevent HIV/AIDS and provide family planning assistance to women in 154 countries."
What a breath of fresh air! For eight long and miserable years, realistic approaches to the problems of the world have been stifled because of the recalcitrant ugliness of christianist bozos with their tentacles deep into Bush and his administration.
Finally, we can move ahead with actions based on reason and justice to provide real help to those in need.
I know that when Obama says his administration will try to find "common ground" with various groups, he is speaking in "hopeful" terms. It ain't gonna happen! There is no common ground to be had with the christianist right for they know the absolute "truth," and that includes the notion that all abortions are wrong, contraception is sin, and the Obama administration is doing the work of the devil.
Hopefully, the Obama administration will simply ignore their ignorant cries and genuflections to their godawful god.
Let's start here: the right wingnuts seldom, if ever, let facts get in the way of their delusions. Thus, Congressman Mike Pence, a Repugnican from Indiana insists that no matter what Obama does or doesn't do regarding abortion, "life is winning in America."
Pence believes (has faith) that "It is accurate to say life is losing in Washington, DC -- both in our judiciary [and] among a pro-abortion majority in the House and Senate, and now with the election of a pro-abortion president of the United States."
But is he worried? Nah. "But let me say with confidence," saith Pence confidently, " ... I believe life is winning in America. Despite the best efforts of the pro-abortion movement to defend abortion on demand, more Americans embrace the sanctity of life today than ever before -- especially younger Americans."
If only it were true, dear Mr. Pence. But it isn't. In fact, in a Time poll conducted between July 31 and August 4, 2008, fully 86 percent of those polled said abortion should be always legal or legal in some circumstances. Another university poll about the same time, indicated that 63 percent of Americans agreed with Roe v. Wade. In other words, a majority of Americans continue to favor a woman's right to choose and that abortion should be legal in this country.
President Obama made the following statement with regard to abortion while anti-abortion groups gathered around the country to pray God would change his mind and while, at the same time, pro-choice groups celebrated:
"On the 36th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, we are reminded that this decision not only protects women's health and reproductive freedom, but stands for a broader principle: that government should not intrude on our most private family matters. I remain committed to protecting a woman's right to choose.
"While this is a sensitive and often divisive issue, no matter what our views, we are united in our determination to prevent unintended pregnancies, reduce the need for abortion, and support women and families in the choices they make. To accomplish these goals, we must work to find common ground to expand access to affordable contraception, accurate health information, and preventative services.
"On this anniversary, we must also recommit ourselves more broadly to ensuring that our daughters have the same rights and opportunities as our sons: the chance to attain a world-class education; to have fulfilling careers in any industry; to be treated fairly and paid equally for their work; and to have no limits on their dreams. That is what I want to women everywhere."
Notice that Obama is not "pro-abortion," just as most people are not pro-abortion. But, unlike the christianist wingnuts, he realizes that the government has no business in women's business. It is fascinating to note that so many of the same people who always decry "big" government and government interference, strive desperately to enable means for the government to interfere with a woman's right to choose.
It is such a wonderful change to have a man in the White House who is not only moral and ethical, but understands the constitutional mandates under which he is called to carry out his responsibilities.
If only people like Pence understood their constitutional mandates!
I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors. I thank President Bush for his service to our nation, as well as the generosity and cooperation he has shown throughout this transition.
Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath. The words have been spoken during rising tides of prosperity and the still waters of peace. Yet, every so often the oath is taken amidst gathering clouds and raging storms. At these moments, America has carried on not simply because of the skill or vision of those in high office, but because We the People have remained faithful to the ideals of our forbearers, and true to our founding documents.
So it has been. So it must be with this generation of Americans. That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood. Our nation is at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred. Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age. Homes have been lost; jobs shed; businesses shuttered. Our healthcare ...
... is too costly; our schools fail too many; and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet.
These are the indicators of crisis, subject to data and statistics. Less measurable but no less profound is a sapping of confidence across our land -- a nagging fear that America's decline is inevitable, and that the next generation must lower its sights.
Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America -- they will be met.
On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.
On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics.
We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.
In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of shortcuts or settling for less. It has not been the path for the faint-hearted -- for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame. Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things -- some celebrated, but more often men and women obscure in their labor, who have carried us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom.
For us, they packed up their few worldly possessions and traveled across oceans in search of a new life.
For us, they toiled in sweatshops and settled the West; endured the lash of the whip and plowed the hard earth.
For us, they fought and died, in places like Concord and Gettysburg; Normandy and Khe Sahn.
Time and again these men and women struggled and sacrificed and worked till their hands were raw so that we might live a better life. They saw America as bigger than the sum of our individual ambitions; greater than all the differences of birth or wealth or faction.
This is the journey we continue today. We remain the most prosperous, powerful nation on Earth. Our workers are no less productive than when this crisis began. Our minds are no less inventive, our goods and services no less needed than they were last week or last month or last year. Our capacity remains undiminished. But our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions -- that time has surely passed. Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.
For everywhere we look, there is work to be done. The state of the economy calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act -- not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth. We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together. We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology's wonders to raise healthcare's quality and lower its cost. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age. All this we can do. And all this we will do.
Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions -- who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans. Their memories are short. For they have forgotten what this country has already done; what free men and women can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose, and necessity to courage.
What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them -- that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply. The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works -- whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified. Where the answer is yes, we intend to move forward. Where the answer is no, programs will end. And those of us who manage the public's dollars will be held to account -- to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day -- because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government.
Nor is the question before us whether the market is a force for good or ill. Its power to generate wealth and expand freedom is unmatched, but this crisis has reminded us that without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control -- and that a nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous. The success of our economy has always depended not just on the size of our Gross Domestic Product, but on the reach of our prosperity; on our ability to extend opportunity to every willing heart -- not out of charity, but because it is the surest route to our common good.
As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals. Our Founding Fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake. And so to all other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born: know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman, and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and that we are ready to lead once more.
Recall that earlier generations faced down fascism and communism not just with missiles and tanks, but with sturdy alliances and enduring convictions. They understood that our power alone cannot protect us, nor does it entitle us to do as we please. Instead, they knew that our power grows through its prudent use; our security emanates from the justness of our cause, the force of our example, the tempering qualities of humility and restraint.
We are the keepers of this legacy. Guided by these principles once more, we can meet those new threats that demand even greater effort -- even greater cooperation and understanding between nations. We will begin to responsibly leave Iraq to its people, and forge a hard-earned peace in Afghanistan. With old friends and former foes, we will work tirelessly to lessen the nuclear threat, and roll back the specter of a warming planet. We will not apologize for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defense, and for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you.
For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus -- and non-believers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth; and because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.
To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect. To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society's ills on the West -- know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy. To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.
To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds. And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the world's resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it.
As we consider the road that unfolds before us, we remember with humble gratitude those brave Americans who, at this very hour, patrol far-off deserts and distant mountains. They have something to tell us today, just as the fallen heroes who lie in Arlington whisper through the ages. We honor them not only because they are guardians of our liberty, but because they embody the spirit of service; a willingness to find meaning in something greater than themselves. And yet, at this moment -- a moment that will define a generation -- it is precisely this spirit that must inhabit us all.
For as much as government can do and must do, it is ultimately the faith and determination of the American people upon which this nation relies. It is the kindness to take in a stranger when the levees break, the selflessness of workers who would rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job, which sees us through our darkest hours. It is the firefighter's courage to storm a stairway filled with smoke, but also a parent's willingness to nurture a child, that finally decides our fate.
Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends -- hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism -- these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history. What is demanded then is a return to these truths. What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility -- a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.
This is the price and the promise of citizenship.
This is the source of our confidence -- the knowledge that God calls on us to shape an uncertain destiny.
This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed -- why men and women and children of every race and every faith can join in celebration across this magnificent mall, and why a man whose father less than 60 years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath.
So let us mark this day with remembrance, of who we are and how far we have traveled. In the year of America's birth, in the coldest of months, a small band of patriots huddled by dying campfires on the shores of an icy river. The capital was abandoned. The enemy was advancing. The snow was stained with blood. At a moment when the outcome of our revolution was most in doubt, the father of our nation ordered these words be read to the people:
"Let it be told to the future world ... that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive ... that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet [it]."
America. In the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words. With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come. Let it be said by our children's children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back, nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God's grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations. -- Barack H. Obama.
[Photo of Matt Barber, christianist hypocrite par excellence]
President-elect Barack Obama has betrayed Christians in America, according to the christianist wingnut Matt Barber of the rightwing, fundy outfit, Liberty Counsel.
Omigod! How has Obama betrayed Christians in America? you ask.
Well, it's quite simple. Obama pretends to be a Christian. Not only so, but he's invited three Christian clergy to invocate at his inauguration. One is a homophobic, rightwing fruitcake named Warren. Another is a respected veteran of the Civil Rights movement and considered to be a moderate. The final choice is a bishop in the Episcopal Church.
It's the latter that's the problem. Why would a bishop be a problem? Well, it seems this bishop is of a different sexual orientation than Matt Barber.
Here's what the loving Christ-like Barber has to say about his fellow Christians, Barack Obama, and Bishop Gene Robinson:
"It's a shame that our next president apparently has so little regard for his Christian constituents that he would give such a high place on honor to a self-styled man of God whose only claim to fame is that he abandoned his wife and children to enter, 'loudly and proudly, a sexually deviant lifestyle expressed condemned by the very Bible he's ironically called 'holy and sacred.'"
So, Robinson's a bad guy. Why? He's a homosexual. Barber, being a true christianist, does not mention that Robinson and his ex-wife, whom he divorced some 20 years ago, remain friends and that he is very close to his two adult daughters. Barber, being an asshat, doesn't mention that Robinson has lived in a loving and faithful relationship with his partner for 20 years. Barber, concerned more with christianist dogma than following his "savior," fails to note that Bishop Robinson lives an exemplary Christian life.
Barber exemplifies those self-righteous nasties who claim to know the mind of God and proceed to tear down other Christians as well as anyone else who doesn't agree with them.
If the legendary Jesus was anywhere near the truth when he spoke of hypocritical behavior on the part of the religious folks, it's not the Robinsons of the world who will be called to account for their ungodly behavior, it's the Barber's of the world!
While the following items are focused mainly on issues related to "religious liberty," they reach far beyond that to touch on a number of other constitutional freedoms.
American United for Separation of Church and State, a watchdog for religious freedom, founded in 1947, has compiled "a list of 9 religious liberty issues that merit special attention from the White House. Called '9 in '09,' this campaign seeks to repair the damage that occurred to the wall of separation between church and state during the Bush administration."
1.Restrict Faith-Based Funding: The Bush administration's dangerous executive orders promoting the "faith-based" initiative should be overridden. Religious organizations should not be singled out for special government treatment and generous tax subsidies.
2.Ban Faith-Based Job Bias: An executive order should be issued barring religiously-based job bias in all publicly-funded programs. Not one dime in tax funds should go to "faith-based" organizations that discriminate in hiring.
[Of course, if Number 1 above were implemented, Number 2 would be moot.]
3. Select Good Judges: Give America judges who support the Bill of Rights, including its church-state separation provision. Our country deserves federal judges who will respect, not eviscerate, the First Amendment.
4. Reform Justice Department:America must have a Justice Department that understands its duty to uphold constitutional rights, not one that parrots the views of extreme Religious Right legal groups.
5. Stop School Vouchers: Cease all federal funding for misguided school voucher "experiments" in Washington, D.D., (or anywhere else) that subsidize religious and other private schools.
6. Protect Military Personnel: Sever the tie between fundamentalist groups and the military. The United States must have a military that doesn't take a stand on theological issues and that does pressure its service personnel to adopt religious beliefs.
[See my post today on how Christianity is forced on our soldiers, here.]
7.Defend Sound Science: Base public policy on science, not theology. Public policy on issues such as stem-cell research and education about human origins must be based on science, not religious dogma.
[Pharyngula posted an interesting article today on teaching creationism in Brunswick, North Carolina, here.]
8. Resist Church Politicking: Oppose attempts to overturn the federal ban on church politicking. No tax-exempt house of worship should be permitted to engage in partisan politicking by endorsing or opposing candidates for public office.
9. Oppose Sectarian Symbolism: Use the presidential bully pulpit to oppose sectarian resolutions in Congress. We must see an end to polarizing resolutions in Congress that promote one faith over others, thus sending the messasge that some Americans are second-class citizens.
Once upon a time, I had a friend. I thought he was a good friend. We didn't talk much about politics.
We moved on. He, in fact, moved to Obama's birth state. I moved all over the place. We continued to correspond at Christmas.
At some point down the road he discovered my blog. He didn't like it. Turns out he was so far on the right he made Limbaugh look like a liberal and O'Reilly like a saint. Our country's problems are all due to the Democrats he said. Social Security and Medicare were programs devised by the Democrats to give a license for people to steal from the government.
Everywhere he looked, he saw liberal pinko commie fellow travelers. He decided I was one of them.
End of friendship.
Adam Cohen has written a book called Nothing to Fear (Penquin Press, $30 -- $22.46 at Barnes & Noble). John H. Richardson has a brief but brilliant review in the latest Esquire.
Here's Richardson's intro: "During the Great Depression, when 16 million people were out of work and 1.5 million were living in shantytowns, President Herbert Hoover insisted that the free market was the only engine of prosperity, that the poor were lazy, and the wealth would trickle down eventually--and the nation slid further and further into despair."
Phil Gramm, anybody?
Adam Cohen describes how FDR "turned that despair--and Hoover's failure--into hope." In the first 100 days, Franklin Delano Roosevelt "declared a national bank holiday, inspired the nation with the first of his famous fireside chats, and cut the federal budget by $500 million. ... one revolutionary new law followed another. With blinding speed, as one observer put it, 'a new standard of public decency was being set.'"
It wasn't easy. Cohen's description of Republicans is reminiscent of my friend and the Republican Party today. Republicans in the 1930s fought FDR tooth and nail trying to derail every single one of his attempts to put the nation back on track.
"They said famine relief would turn America into a nation of freeloaders, that capitalism would die without the gold standard. They called child-labor laws an intolerable intrusion on states' rights. During the debate over the Tennessee Valley Authority, so many power company executives denounced the 'socialist plan' that Congress had to schedule an extra day of hearings."
Cohen tells of a "remarkable group of social reformers," focusing on Frances Perkins who became FDR's secretary of labor.
In her earlier years, Perkins "lived in Hell's Kitchen settlement houses, where she saw women and children working 16-hour days in sweatshops and witnessed the infamous Triangle Shirtwaist fire. To her we owe the fire escape, the eight-hour day, the five-day week, and Social Security -- liberal innovations that helped save capitalism from itself, the last time liberals had to save it."
The names have changed. The Republican Party has not. Unfortunately, the Democrat Party has become a mere shell of what it used to be and is beholden now, like most Repugs, to lobbyists and their corporate bosses.
But out situation today is eerily familiar to anyone who lived through the Great Depression. Hope is fleeting. And it's going to get worse.
Obama has the chance to be this century's Franklin Delano Roosevelt. There is no question he's brilliant enough. The question is whether he has the requisite steel in the back and the requisite fire in his belly.
The Repugs will fight him every step of the way. That's why those of us who know a little history, laughed at McCain's campaign slogan, "Country First." The Republican Party didn't give a damn about the country in 1929 and most don't give a damn now.
But, as Obama knows, putting the country back on track has been done before and can be done again. It's his time and his chance.
If he feels he has to have someone give an invocation to a deity at his inauguration, he can certainly do better than the homophobic Rick Warren! There are any number of extremely gifted and highly-respected religious leaders in the mainstream Protestant denominations, in the Roman Catholic Church and in Reform and Conservative Judaism.
Rick Warren is a right wing, fundamentalist wingnut!
This sends absolutely the wrong message!!!
God help us!
I would write much more, but Americablog has an excellent post here. Just be prepared to run for the Pepto-Bismol.
Persons wishing to gain perspective on the attempts of the mainstream media to somehow tie Barack Obama to the corruption of Rod Blagojevich in spite of the fact that U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald has said there is NO evidence that Obama was involved in any wrongdoing, should read this article by Jamison Foser at Media Matters.
Here's the first two paragraphs:
"To anyone who lived through the media feeding frenzy of the 1990s, during which the nation's leading news organizations spent the better part of a decade destroying their own credibility by relentlessly hyping a series of non-scandals, the past few days, in which the media have tried to shoehorn Barack Obama into the Rod Blagojevich scandal, have been sickeningly familiar.
"Whenever reporters think -- or want you to think -- they've uncovered a presidential scandal, they waste little time in comparing it to previous controversies. Yesterday, CNN's Rick Sanchez tried desperately to get the phrase 'Blagogate' to stick -- the latest in a long and overwhelmingly annoying post-Watergate pattern of ham-handed efforts to hype a scandal by appending the suffix '-gate' to the end of a word."
Those of us who knew Sanchez when he tarnished the airwaves in south Florida expect no less than some seedy, sordid attempt to exploit a non-issue so as to better feather his nest at CNN. But he's just one pitiful example of what Mr. Jamison describes as the ongoing perfidy of news organizations that find it easier to create a scandal than to ferret out the truth.
There are so many things about what our government is doing around the world, especially militarily, that most of us are simply not privy to because we just don't care enough to find out or our news agencies are more concerned about Jennifer Aniston's wanting a baby than reporting news essential to our understanding of the world in which we live.
Maybe I'm just out of the loop. Have you ever heard of Africom?
Assuming a negative answer, I'm gonna tell you.
Africom is a new U.S. military command for Africa, established by President George W. Bush in February 2007: it is the Africa Command.
Daniel Volman, writing for AllAfrica.com says that "Throughout the Cold War and for more than a decade afterwards, the U.S. did not have a military command for Africa; instead, U.S. military activities on the continent were conducted by three separate commands: the European Command, which had responsibility for most of the continent; the Central Command, which oversaw Egypt and the Horn of Africa region along with the Middle East and Central Asia; and the Pacific Command, which administered military ties with Madagascar and other islands in the Indian Ocean."
So, why do we need an Africa Command now? Because the Bushites decided that someone had to keep a closer tab on Africa's oil! In fact, "the Bush administration declared that access to Africa's oil supplies would henceforth be defined as a 'strategic national interest' of the United States..."
The question is whether Barack Obama will continue to walk the path laid out by Bush and friends as regards Africa. Indications are that he will, with important reservations. In his response to a questionnaire by the Leon H. Sullivan Foundation, Obama said that Africom "should serve to coordinate and synchronize our military activities with our other strategic objectives in Africa."
Part of his reasoning was that "there will be situations that require the United States to work with its partners in Africa to fight terrorism with lethal force." And it will be helpful to have "a unified command operation in Africa" to facilitate such action.
Notice, that Obama spoke of "partners in Africa." In other words, unilateral action is unlikely but nevertheless many are fearful "that the Obama administration will continue to expand the entire spectrum of U.S. military operations in Africa, including increasing U.S. military involvement in the internal affairs of African countries ... and the direct use of U.S. comabat troops to inteervene in African conflicts."
Some folks, however, are re-thinking Africom, including members of Congress. In 2006, the Resist Africom Campaign was formed to educate the American people (boy, they missed me!) about Africom "and to mobilize public and congressional opposition to the creation of the new command."
The Resist Africom Campaign wants Obama to "pursue a policy ... based on a genuine partnership with the people of Africa and on a mulitlateral approach which includes other countries which have an interest in Africa, including China and India -- which promotes sustainable economic development, democracy and human rights, and a new global energy order based on the use of clean, safe, and renewable resources."
Sounds good to me. But, then there's that oil bizness. And we still ain't close to getting over our addiction to black gold.
[Image by Reuters]
