Talk smack about Bill will ya?

I want to thank Mike at http://mypoliticaltake.blogspot.com/2010/10/us-national-government.html#comments.  He felt that Bill Clinton got away with something, I'm not sure what though.  If we want to bring up presidents getting away with something, consider the following.

In the 1980s we had a president of the United States who broke U.S. law and an international embargo and sold missiles and other military hardware to Iran our enemy, to fund a covert war to keep a two bit dictator who would do our bidding in power in Central America, and knowingly with Germany supplied our buddy at the time Saddam Hussein with poison gas munitions which he used on the Iranians as well as his own people.

His V.P.,  before getting that gig, was head of the CIA and it’s documented under his watch the CIA was flying drugs out of Panama for our good friend at the time, Noriega.

Now later this future president’s son was hob knobbing with CEOs of oil and energy companies  like Ken Lay of Enron, and ruining every position in the oil sector his daddy could get him... not one successful co. yet had millions of dollars of investors from Saudi Arabia, and never turned a dollar for these investors either.

Eventually after a contested election this son became  president. His buddies  at Enron were intentionally shutting down the electrical grid to CA. to raise the prices and ripping off CA utilities for over 23 billion dollars. And even though the president was begged personally by the Governor of CA to get involved, which the federal govt is supposed to regulate, did nothing until the house of cards of Enron collapsed and exposed the old boy crony connections.

Soon afterword’s a highly motivated crew of terrorists, mostly Saudi Arabian nationals hijacked some airplanes on 9/11/2001. In response, after  much name calling and questioning the patriotism of nay sayers,  and alienating many longtime allies and behind a media blitz of trumped up lies,  attacked Iraq in 2003!

Now this Presidents V.P. while trying to trump up charges to attack Iraq had an active CIA agents identity exposed to the world, endangering the lives of any person working for US that came into contact with her,  to punish her husband, an analyst who would not back down that we had no factual evidence of WMD's in Iraq which was delaying the White House’s goal of war, with a country which had no ties to the terrorists.

AFTER ALL THIS and not one "LEADER" who was exposed for their deceit was brought up on treason charges or impeached.

It seems to me that the motivating factors for the Republican parties activities seem to lie in the sins of avarice and greed.  You tell me which is worse.  Bill Clinton’s personal failings did not endanger lives, did not rip off our citizens, nor send our citizens into wars we should not be in. 

I understand and mirror Rachel at http://thewellinformedcitizen.blogspot.com/ 's frustration regarding the mainstream media, right vs. left (or vice- versa) battles, and general malaise that seems to permeate all things political right now.  Her post was written before this last election, but the negative rhetoric never lets up.  We think that there will be a break, but remember that the presidential election is now less than two years away and that means the process is starting all over again. 

Just as I am, she is also a supporter of  President Obama.  I do not feel, as Mike does, that the President is going to keep us in turmoil and strife.  Honestly, if Mr. Obama were to try and reach out to the right, he would most likely pull back a nub.  Did you hear Mitch McConnell's statements right before the election? No? He seems to have set the right's agenda for the next 2 years.  Forget jobs or the economy, this guy has his sights set on destroying all things related to the progress of the current administration.  Luckily, there have already been strides in the direction of progress. This link,WTH Has Obama Done So Far, illuminates some of the positive steps that have been accomplished.  I think there is something for everyone.  Did you know that more private sector jobs have been created during his two years in office than during the entire Bush administration?  That Pell Grants have been increased to help pay for college?  Those are just a couple of the items from the list of accomplishments already achieved.  But you would never know it if you only got your information from the media.

The New Business Model for Prisons

Yesterday morning, while driving my son to school I heard a piece on NPR (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130833741&ps=cprs) detailing how a for-profit prison company helped to create a need for its services. Now, America is proud of the fact that we are a "make our own way" country, but this is a new low. Their plan was to open "detention facilities" in Arizona to accommodate the upcoming need for prison space for illegal immigrant women and children. How did they know there would be such a need? Because they had been in on the planning of Arizona Senate Bill 1070. How is this legal? How is this ok? A business model based on locking up women and children, women and children with no voices to protest.

It all revolves around the current SB 1070. The law is currently being challenged in the courts, but if upheld will require law enforcement to lock up anyone they stop who cannot prove they are in the country legally. This alone is a slippery slope that the extremest out there have no problem sliding down. I understand that the immigration debate is a long and complicated matter. But I don't believe that it will be solved locking up women and children for profit.

One thing has to be made clear, the "dentention center" is a prison. If you would like to see, take a look at this short video on the ACLU site that shows our own Hutto Detention Facility, you can find it at http://aclu.tv/hutto. Better yet, take a day trip and check out the high fences or maybe you will be fortunate enough to observe the children in prison garb getting their allotted yard time. That should warm the cockles of your heart. And if it doesn't, well it may be because you don't have one. We're talking children here folks. Is this what our country has been reduced to?

By the way, if you are of the mind set that these women and children are a burden to the taxpayer now, imagine what they will cost once the for-profit prison companies start sending the bills.

No Whiners in Politcs

Recently, Joe Biden made the comment that "he wanted to remind our base constituency to stop whining and get out there and look at the alternatives.  The President has done an incredible job.  He's kept his promises."  Apparently some thin skinned Progressives got there feelings hurt. Joan Walsh of Salon.com was one of them. 

In her Sept. 27th editorial she writes of some of the accomplishments in the previous 21 months since President Obama took the oath.  The healthcare and financial reform were monumental, just not monumental enough.  According to some progressives, especially ones with ample internet real estate to fill, nothing is ever good enough.  We get it.  You expected and wanted more, so did we. 

But I contend that with a scant four weeks left until mid - term elections now is not the time for petulant footstamping.  The stakes are much too high.  We need every Democrat on deck.  Especially those with far reaching influence.

The right wing may be set to wrench control of both the House and Senate if we don't wake up and take action.  While historically mid term elections have been low key, we know that is not the case this time.  The extreme right is gaining a foothold in the Republican Party and it could get ugly.  This is the time for a unified base.  Save the rest of the sniping until after the election. 

Here They Come Again

I have an uneasy feeling.  With the GOP Senate nomination of Tea Party rising star Christine O'Donnell in Delaware, it appears the religious right is amping up for another grab for control of the government.  I don't want to seem paranoid but I'm sure we have seen this before, only that time they used the moniker "Moral Majority".  And the Tea Party may be welcoming them with open arms.

This article from Huffington Post (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/17/tea-party-rift-values-fiscal_n_720869.html) reports that various Tea Party / Republican leaders spoke at the 2010 Values Voter Summit in Washington D.C. on Friday.  The rhetoric all seemed to focus on  morality and how Washington has none.  The article does point out that there are some leaders of the Tea Party that want to keep a distance from social issues, for now.

I believe that we are heading down  a dangerous path.  The fundamentalist vision wants to deny civil rights for gays, control women's reproductive rights and ban stem cell research for starters.  Our country has worked very hard to get where we are today, and while not perfect, it beats the hell out of the religious rights desire for an earlier time.