USA MASS HYSTERIA, YELLOW JOURNALISM, GOP JINGOISM
NO CANDIDATE PASSES "FLINCH TEST"
OBAMA KEEPS CALM AND LOGIC
CALL OFF ELECTION?
Since the tragic massacre of 130 innocents in Paris on November 13, 2015 mass hysteria has broken out in the USA. The terrible tragedy in Paris, has caused unimaginable fear to seep in to the US psyche. Fear is a powerful emotion with an uncanny ability to make idiots of our citizenry, and journalists, and to create actual raving maniacs out of the political class and especially our hyped-up, eager, controlled, venal and ill-informed presidential campaigners.
The US press has used the tragedy to avidly fear monger for market share. Too much of their reporting has been short on facts and long on exaggeration. Even more egregiously they have turned to yellow journalism...attempting to ratchet up emotions based on sensationalism while dredging up so called "military experts" to malign the president and urge the nation into amother senseless unnecessary and unwise war.
Much of the blather and nonsense one hears is just not based on facts and is too silly to recount here. But suffice it to say that all the GOP candidates have rushed to (irrational) judgement about refugees, about inserting US ground troops into a complex and convoluted civil war, initiating a new war, lifting rules against torture, expanding the spy state, closing mosques, internment of Moslems, instituting religious tests for those entering USA as refugees, and so forth. Most of these candidates do not sound at all like actual American politicians and leaders such as Jack Kennedy, Ike Eisenhower, and even Ronald Reagan. One wonders where and from under what rock some of them have arisen?
But one thing is clear...not one of them...left or right....have passed the "respond to disaster test". It is certain that our nation will be faced with severe problems in the future. Major storms, loss of life, natural disasters, yes, even terror attacks are the stuff of every president's term. We hope that our future leaders will respond to these exigencies with calm and level headedness that would soothe the fears of our citizenry and then calmly and logically turn to address the disaster at hand with maturity and common sense.
Only one man has demonstrated this capacity, our present President, Barack Obama! He alone has passed the "disaster test". He alone seems to be the adult in a room of kindergartners. Among the loud calls for excess...he has not flinched. He has kept his calm and remained true to his and our American values and his logical assessment of the problem.
Perhaps we should just call off this election if we can not come up with any better candidates?
Sunday, November 22, 2015
Monday, November 9, 2015
MARCO RUBIO'S TAX PLAN EXPOSED AS "CRAZY"
Marco has a tax plan. According to a piece in the NY Magazine (See: " The Math on Rubionomics Is Way Way Crazier Than You Think"by Jonathan Chait, NYMat, November 8, 2015).
It is a crazy plan. Citizens For Tax Justice (CFTJ) analyzed the Rubio Plan and found the plan to be "hostile to economic reality". Rubio, who is essentially in the "employ" of fat cats like the Adelsons, Koch brothers and most recently billionaire Mr. Paul Singer, so it is understandable that his plan will give the most to the few. The plan slots one-third of the tax breaks to the top ONE PERCENTERS. (This is one of the pay-backs billionaire donors get for supporting the Rubio candidacy.) It follows that the rest of us get only the remaining two-thirds of that tax windfall to share among the 99 percent. That does not seem so fair already.
But according to CFTJ that is not the most crazy part. It is the size of the plan that is troubling. Recall the massive George Bush tax roll back. The one that led into the housing bubble and then the Great Recession of 2007? Yes that one. Rubio's plan is almost four times that big. His plan will cut tax revnue to about $12 trillion over the next decade. That means that over those ten years Rubio plaN will reduce revenue from about $40 trillion down to about $30 trillion. According to the CFTJ analysis that amount is only just enough to pay for defense, social security and medicare and the interest on the debt. Rubio's government would be pared to the bone. With those funds he would have to cut Out all non requisite or mandated expenditures over those noted above....no border security, no emergency funds, no Medicaid, anti-poverty budget, veterans healt care, education, infrastructure projects, etcetera, etcetera. Is is probable? No not likely...that why it is crazy.
Oh and to add insult to injury, Rubio also plans to enlarge the defense budget. Yes that massive mill wheel we have hanging around our necks which keeps us all riding over potholed bridge roads, with lousy health care, and crumbling infrastructure will only expand with Rubio. Also based on his donor class and their published demands, his largess with our tiny and queztionalble ally in the Middle East, Israel, will also grow....whether they need the money or not.
The authors state that the "relationship between Rubio's tax plan and economic reality" is "deeply hostile".
So Rubio's plan will undermine the miserable social safety net we have in this nation, further, to third world standards, eliminate government support for needed investment in domestic infrastructure, and instead, shunt the funds into the pockets of the super wealthy, and enlarge our already massive overstuffed military. If that is where you believe the nation should be heading...
It is a crazy plan. Citizens For Tax Justice (CFTJ) analyzed the Rubio Plan and found the plan to be "hostile to economic reality". Rubio, who is essentially in the "employ" of fat cats like the Adelsons, Koch brothers and most recently billionaire Mr. Paul Singer, so it is understandable that his plan will give the most to the few. The plan slots one-third of the tax breaks to the top ONE PERCENTERS. (This is one of the pay-backs billionaire donors get for supporting the Rubio candidacy.) It follows that the rest of us get only the remaining two-thirds of that tax windfall to share among the 99 percent. That does not seem so fair already.
But according to CFTJ that is not the most crazy part. It is the size of the plan that is troubling. Recall the massive George Bush tax roll back. The one that led into the housing bubble and then the Great Recession of 2007? Yes that one. Rubio's plan is almost four times that big. His plan will cut tax revnue to about $12 trillion over the next decade. That means that over those ten years Rubio plaN will reduce revenue from about $40 trillion down to about $30 trillion. According to the CFTJ analysis that amount is only just enough to pay for defense, social security and medicare and the interest on the debt. Rubio's government would be pared to the bone. With those funds he would have to cut Out all non requisite or mandated expenditures over those noted above....no border security, no emergency funds, no Medicaid, anti-poverty budget, veterans healt care, education, infrastructure projects, etcetera, etcetera. Is is probable? No not likely...that why it is crazy.
Oh and to add insult to injury, Rubio also plans to enlarge the defense budget. Yes that massive mill wheel we have hanging around our necks which keeps us all riding over potholed bridge roads, with lousy health care, and crumbling infrastructure will only expand with Rubio. Also based on his donor class and their published demands, his largess with our tiny and queztionalble ally in the Middle East, Israel, will also grow....whether they need the money or not.
The authors state that the "relationship between Rubio's tax plan and economic reality" is "deeply hostile".
So Rubio's plan will undermine the miserable social safety net we have in this nation, further, to third world standards, eliminate government support for needed investment in domestic infrastructure, and instead, shunt the funds into the pockets of the super wealthy, and enlarge our already massive overstuffed military. If that is where you believe the nation should be heading...
NO $5 BILLION TO NETANYAHU- NOT WITH OUR DESPERATE NEEDS AT HOME
Utrustworthy ally, Bibi Netanyahu is back in Washington, hat in hand, to beg for money...again. He undermined his friendship rating and credibility after the recent acrimonious Iran deal, and should not be welcome again in the White House. We understand he is now reformed and promises that he is now (again) in favor of the "two state solution". Can we believe him? It is whispered he has also given up using the "N" word to refer to our President. But with our government and GOP so eager to cut expenses to the bone for our own citizenry..how can anyone imagine giving big piles of greenbacks to Netanyahu? For what purpose? To build more illegal settlemets in the territories? Or is it to beef up his massive military, already armed to the teeth so it can turn its might again on the outdoor Palestinian prison of Gaza?
Without doubt, that $5 billion should be spent here at home to rebuild our schools, crumbling infrastructure, our failing bridges, our slow or non existent broadband, and to attend to the desperate needs of our poor, high-school educated, white middle-aged citizenry who are dying and committing suicide faster than any other demographic here in the USA or in any other affluent western nation. (See: NYT Nov.2, 2015, "Death Rates Rising For Middle Aged White Americans" by Gina Kolata)
Sunday, November 8, 2015
Je ne suis pas Charlie!
THE CHARLIE HEBEO PLANE CRASH CARTOONS
Charlie Hebdo, the French satirical magazine just published two cartoons which have us all realize how much we are NO LONGER Charlie. The phrase "I am Charlie" became popular after the terrorist attack on that publication's offices in Paris. But the recent cartoons published by the weekly Paris magazine concerning the tragic Russian plane brought down in the Sinai Peninsula on October 31, 2015 with the loss of 224 innocent travelers, among them 17 children was a step too far. Who can find anything to satirize about such a terrible human tragedy? Charlie Hebdo does not do satire...Its crude ugliness has no purpose or positive effect to increase knowledge or improve humankind. It exposes no human frailty or stupidity, only the coarseness and lack of humanity of the authors. No these cartoons are not Satie. It is a form of literary pornography.
Our sympathies, here in my little corner of the USA where most know little of Charlie, are with the families and relatives of the victims of that awful tragedy and with all the Russians.
Saturday, October 31, 2015
PAUL SINGER BUYS GOP CANDIDATE
RUBIO A PUPPET CANDIDATE
Oct 30, 2015. After what appeared to many to be a strong showing in the Oct 28, GOP debate in Colorado, Paul Singer, billionaire, hedge fund CEO ( Elliott Management) investor, Republican activist, and political mega donor came out publicly with a big check for Republican (absentee) Senator from Florida, Marco Rubio. He is now the Geppetto controlling the puppet strings to Marco's Pinocchio. Singer has been a long time political activist especilly concerned with the Midle East and Israel and on foreign policy issues. He supported George Bush's campaigns and wars and the Swift Boat Veterans attack against John Kerry.
"When people donate to us, they buy into our agenda" bragged Rubio, in response to queries by reporters concerned about the "influence effect". Slick Rubio twisted his answer around a full 180 degrees. The truth is that Rubio by accepting a huge chunk of cash, in this obvious influence sale, just made a solemn promise to accept Paul Singer's agenda rather than the other way around. Rubio has just been bought, stock, lock and barrel and is now mega donor Paul Singer's property.
Fast talking and smart, Marco, has been tailoring and parsing his messages carefully for a long time to snag this investor. So from now on, if we really want to know what Rubio thinks or will support on some topic or other, or what actions he may take in the Oval Office, if, heaven forbid, he actually gets elected, ..just ask what Paul Singer wants, would like or is thinking.
This is not how the Founding Fathers envisioned we would select leaders in our nascent democracy when they wrote the Constitution.
My opinion is that this influence sale puts Rubio too much in the control of one powerful man. It underscores the fact that millions of American voters and supporters will have significantly less influence on any issues that this candidate supports. As a result, I put Rubio on my "do not vote for list".
Oct 30, 2015. After what appeared to many to be a strong showing in the Oct 28, GOP debate in Colorado, Paul Singer, billionaire, hedge fund CEO ( Elliott Management) investor, Republican activist, and political mega donor came out publicly with a big check for Republican (absentee) Senator from Florida, Marco Rubio. He is now the Geppetto controlling the puppet strings to Marco's Pinocchio. Singer has been a long time political activist especilly concerned with the Midle East and Israel and on foreign policy issues. He supported George Bush's campaigns and wars and the Swift Boat Veterans attack against John Kerry.
"When people donate to us, they buy into our agenda" bragged Rubio, in response to queries by reporters concerned about the "influence effect". Slick Rubio twisted his answer around a full 180 degrees. The truth is that Rubio by accepting a huge chunk of cash, in this obvious influence sale, just made a solemn promise to accept Paul Singer's agenda rather than the other way around. Rubio has just been bought, stock, lock and barrel and is now mega donor Paul Singer's property.
Fast talking and smart, Marco, has been tailoring and parsing his messages carefully for a long time to snag this investor. So from now on, if we really want to know what Rubio thinks or will support on some topic or other, or what actions he may take in the Oval Office, if, heaven forbid, he actually gets elected, ..just ask what Paul Singer wants, would like or is thinking.
This is not how the Founding Fathers envisioned we would select leaders in our nascent democracy when they wrote the Constitution.
My opinion is that this influence sale puts Rubio too much in the control of one powerful man. It underscores the fact that millions of American voters and supporters will have significantly less influence on any issues that this candidate supports. As a result, I put Rubio on my "do not vote for list".
Tuesday, October 27, 2015
POLLS REVEAL VOTERS REJECT DONOR CLASS CONTROL
2016 DONOR CLASS VS PEOPLE
GOP PULLED TOO FAR RIGHT BY DONOR CLASS
RESULT: PARTY FAITHFUL SUPPORT OUTSIDERS
It's a story as old as politics itself. In the late Roman Republic it was the Optimates (elite, wealthy, old families) who battled the Populares (the rest of the Roman people including the tribunate and the people's assemblies) for political power, sometimes to the death. Today, we see that same conflict play out between the elite, super wealthy, donor class and the rest of the nation (small businessman, professionals and working classes and poor) as they vie for political ascendency and control,over government policies. In recent times, it has become all too apparent that the donor class choose the candidates and control the political agenda by application of big wads of cash. This practice is even openly defended by the political establishment of both parties as a form of free speech. Such overwhelming power by the few is rightly resented by those of us who were raised to treasure our vote as meaningful, and our nation as a democracy.
The sad effect of this system of political control by the donor elites is the effect on the Republican Party (and Democrats too). The demands on policy by the donors have pushed the GOP farther and farther to the right. Its agenda is now so close to that off its large donors and so far away from that of its voters and general members that not one of its establishment candidates who mouth the polices they must (to maintain their financial support) are supported by more than single digits in the polls.
After fifteen years of a senseless, unfunded $3 trillion dollar war, continued foreign military imbroglios, a stuttering economy stuck in the doldrums, (an economy which floats the hedge fund magnate yachts into high water, but has kept the work boats and row boats still inundated), a $19 trillion dollar debt, an immigration crisis, healthcare fiasco, collapsing infrastructure, and political dysfunction in Washington---- the people are clearly dissatisfied with government as it is. In addition, due to modern technology and access to instant media we all have a clear recognition of the political might of the oligarchic donor class simply with the click of a mouse or the touch of an iPad screen. That over-weaning power is also manifested in the hand-kissing and kow-towing of prospective candidates before moneybag donors like the Adelsons, Koch brothers and others. The citizenry are now aware that before any human vote is cast a minuscule number of super wealthy, perhaps 100-200 financially powerful individuals, have already decided as to whom the candidates will be and what policies they will support. They know this is not how a democracy should function.
The people have been left behind as the party led by its rich donors and controlers have moved radically rightward. Today, there is a nascent, nay, full blown rebellion against the establishment political parties and the donor network of the few which support it. It is the donor class against the people. Who will have control over the political agenda? The polls show who the people support.
Those who respond to the numerous polls indicate a clear aversion for the "puppet", "controlled", "programmed" candidates who can only run with the support of big donors, take the money and do their bidding. This "puppet"category of candidate includes all of the present Republican field (with the exception of Donald Trump). That group of candidates are all in single digits in the polls. The people are clearly rejecting them. The people are not willing to support the establishment puppet candidate.
The most recent national GOP a poll give Trump 32 % of the GOP voter electorate. Dr. Ben Carson gets 22 % ....all the rest except for Rubio (who just makes double digits), are in the single digit category. ( An even more recent national poll ( October 27, 2015) seems to indicate that Carson has a slight lead. His lead is within the margin of error. ). Right now more than 54% of the Republican voter pool favors Trump or Carson, two men who have no political experience and who are not supported by the elite donor class.
But when you look at a graph of the long term trends of the polling data one sees an even more striking picture. Trump and Carson's campaiang long poll data stand out over the other candidates. They rise steeply to the right, i.e. moving to higher percentages. Only these two are on a clear upswing. All the other candidates , including Rubio, are either in a steady state (level) or on a generalized downward trend, heading toward lower percentages . (See Realclear politics.com/polls, accessed October 25, 2015).
Political,pundits, Republicans Democrats, establishment types, media and others please take notice. The people are rejecting the present system of political finances...and the control of candidates and policies by a few high roll donors. The "optimates" have acquired too much power. The result of this in antiquity was the rise of the dictator Julius Caesar. Time to change.
GOP PULLED TOO FAR RIGHT BY DONOR CLASS
RESULT: PARTY FAITHFUL SUPPORT OUTSIDERS
It's a story as old as politics itself. In the late Roman Republic it was the Optimates (elite, wealthy, old families) who battled the Populares (the rest of the Roman people including the tribunate and the people's assemblies) for political power, sometimes to the death. Today, we see that same conflict play out between the elite, super wealthy, donor class and the rest of the nation (small businessman, professionals and working classes and poor) as they vie for political ascendency and control,over government policies. In recent times, it has become all too apparent that the donor class choose the candidates and control the political agenda by application of big wads of cash. This practice is even openly defended by the political establishment of both parties as a form of free speech. Such overwhelming power by the few is rightly resented by those of us who were raised to treasure our vote as meaningful, and our nation as a democracy.
The sad effect of this system of political control by the donor elites is the effect on the Republican Party (and Democrats too). The demands on policy by the donors have pushed the GOP farther and farther to the right. Its agenda is now so close to that off its large donors and so far away from that of its voters and general members that not one of its establishment candidates who mouth the polices they must (to maintain their financial support) are supported by more than single digits in the polls.
After fifteen years of a senseless, unfunded $3 trillion dollar war, continued foreign military imbroglios, a stuttering economy stuck in the doldrums, (an economy which floats the hedge fund magnate yachts into high water, but has kept the work boats and row boats still inundated), a $19 trillion dollar debt, an immigration crisis, healthcare fiasco, collapsing infrastructure, and political dysfunction in Washington---- the people are clearly dissatisfied with government as it is. In addition, due to modern technology and access to instant media we all have a clear recognition of the political might of the oligarchic donor class simply with the click of a mouse or the touch of an iPad screen. That over-weaning power is also manifested in the hand-kissing and kow-towing of prospective candidates before moneybag donors like the Adelsons, Koch brothers and others. The citizenry are now aware that before any human vote is cast a minuscule number of super wealthy, perhaps 100-200 financially powerful individuals, have already decided as to whom the candidates will be and what policies they will support. They know this is not how a democracy should function.
The people have been left behind as the party led by its rich donors and controlers have moved radically rightward. Today, there is a nascent, nay, full blown rebellion against the establishment political parties and the donor network of the few which support it. It is the donor class against the people. Who will have control over the political agenda? The polls show who the people support.
Those who respond to the numerous polls indicate a clear aversion for the "puppet", "controlled", "programmed" candidates who can only run with the support of big donors, take the money and do their bidding. This "puppet"category of candidate includes all of the present Republican field (with the exception of Donald Trump). That group of candidates are all in single digits in the polls. The people are clearly rejecting them. The people are not willing to support the establishment puppet candidate.
The most recent national GOP a poll give Trump 32 % of the GOP voter electorate. Dr. Ben Carson gets 22 % ....all the rest except for Rubio (who just makes double digits), are in the single digit category. ( An even more recent national poll ( October 27, 2015) seems to indicate that Carson has a slight lead. His lead is within the margin of error. ). Right now more than 54% of the Republican voter pool favors Trump or Carson, two men who have no political experience and who are not supported by the elite donor class.
But when you look at a graph of the long term trends of the polling data one sees an even more striking picture. Trump and Carson's campaiang long poll data stand out over the other candidates. They rise steeply to the right, i.e. moving to higher percentages. Only these two are on a clear upswing. All the other candidates , including Rubio, are either in a steady state (level) or on a generalized downward trend, heading toward lower percentages . (See Realclear politics.com/polls, accessed October 25, 2015).
Political,pundits, Republicans Democrats, establishment types, media and others please take notice. The people are rejecting the present system of political finances...and the control of candidates and policies by a few high roll donors. The "optimates" have acquired too much power. The result of this in antiquity was the rise of the dictator Julius Caesar. Time to change.
Friday, October 23, 2015
HILLARY'S GOT ONLY ONE GOAL
What the Benghazi Hearings revealed or reexposed about the Secretary of State is the following: Clinton's hawkishness on Libya led to a military and political disaster in that country. Her war-mongering polices certainly set the stage and contributed to the attack on our embassy in that troubled nation and the loss of life there. As head of the State Department, it was her responsibility to protect her staff, but she failed to secure the Benghazi post in the face of known threats and numerous requests for more security. Finally, she brazenly misled the American citizenry about the cause of the attacks to protect herself and her President from political fallout during an election year. That kind of a record may not harm her nomination prospects....but will be a heavy burden to bear in the general election
After the so called "Democrat Debate", the departure of Joe Biden and the Benghazi Hearings Clinton appears to have clinched the Democrat Party nomination. But perhaps not the election. As for the nomination, she had no real competition. ShE rolled over the Lilliputians in her way. She is supremely practiced. Recall, she has been running and preparing for this for decades. Sadly for her Party and the nation, that is all she is prepared for---- campaigning. When she actually has to perform, evidence seems to indicate she sits back, focuses only on her next personal goal,takes few risks and functions poorly.
Thanks to Joe Biden's wrong-headed departure from the race, and Bernie Sanders' revelation that he is NOT to be considered a REAL candidate (after giving away the debate with his "damned email" remark) the Dems have firmly placed the nomination crown on Hillary Clinton's head. That smakcs too much of oligarchy. Also it will put a bit of a dent in the TV viewership of any future Democrat "debates". The DNC should just cancel them as a waste of time and energy.
But rather than being a tour de force for her, the Bengazi Hearing were, for all her touted preparation, and polish, revealing of the inner Clinton. She still comes off as mendacious, controlled, plotting, haughty, insincere, untrustworthy, unbelievable and unlikeable. When her vaunted "record" is examined closely one must admit that though she is, on a superficial level, "well prepared". But closer examination of her curriculum vitae reveals her preparation is illusory and thin. She has breezed through her appointments only to count them on her list of required posts. Her single-minded focus is to gird herself ONLY FOR HER OWN PRESIDENTIAL ASPIRATIONS. She has labored tirelessly these last decades, but only to check off boxes and punch holes into her belt at each land post of her presidential cursus honorum. (Featehing her own nest via the Clinton Foundation slus fund was also right up there too.) Serving the public weal or making sure her staff have adequate security are not her main concern. The probing questions of the Committee members made that clear.
Yes, she served as First Lady, for a scalywag President who was rightly impeached. As the wife of a President, she was handed the seat of a Senator, carpet-bagging her way into New York State from her native Arkansas and points west. As Senator from New York she did little or nothing during her single term. She infamously voted in favor of the Iraq War (but only to burnish her credentials as a Presidential candidate). As soon as was possible, she abandoned the people of the State of New York to run for President in 2008. She was a poor campaigner and ignominiously lost her Presidential campaign to upstart one-term Senator Barak Obama. Her loss was to a large degree based on that misguided, self-aggrandizing Iraq vote. After the election, she pushed her political weight around to land another unwarranted plum position--- the post of Secretary of State in the Obama Administration. During this period she traveled widely keeping voluminous notes on the names of heads of state, but accomplishing little of significance. Again, while doing nothing much, she still found something to screw up. While Head of the State Department she compounded that first war-mongering Iraq vote, by initiating and pressing for the President into a military intervention in Libya. That action helped destabilize another Middle Eastern nation and ended in disaster with the overthrow of the Ghadafi Government. Libya became another failed state where ISIS is today established and already beheading its enemies. As Head of the State Department, she paid little attention to the plight of the very people who she placed into harms way in Libya, ignoring pleas for more security from her own appointment, Ambasssoador Chris Stevens. He lost his life there. She wrote and published a "memoir book" (since the Presidency of eorge Bush--who didnt read) this has become a near-requirement of all presidential candidates. The massive tome she published was very poorly received. The present investigation into her actions during and after the Benghazi attacks in Libya which killed three brave Americans and our Ambassador have revealed a Secretary of State who was in good measure responsible for the parlous state of that impoverished nation, but callously ignored her own Ambassador's multiple pleas for more security while posted there. Her answer to the House Committee inquiry about this matter:"Security was not my job." But as "Secretary of Hillary's Presidential Aspirations Campaign" she had plenty of time to respond to Sid Bluementhal's political lobbying and chatty emails.
Unwilling to reveal the fact that Libya was in the hands of terrorists as a result of her and Obama's ministrations just before the 2012 elections, she lied concerning the motives of the lethal Bengazi attacks. All these revelations underscore this candidates's tendency toward mendacity, and poor judgement and her continued focus on her own political goals and aspirations rather than on actually fulfilling her mandate as an officer of the the government. If the decisions she made regarding her "private email server, her forign policy decisions and her communications are any example of her thought processes and abilities as a leader, her Party and the natiion are now threatened with a pending disaster.
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