Voters Chart a Dangerous Path

What a predictable society we have become. Not only are we guilty of expecting instant gratification of our every wish and quick solutions for problems years in the making, we are delusional about the reasons for our failure. Conservatives deluge call-in programs with partisan talking points as if they were voicing opinions derived in some rational process instead of being fomented in the torrid right-wing spin machine with disciples mobilized to spread the word about everything from health care to Supreme Court nominees.

Persistent rants claiming President Obama is driving the country toward a socialistic, one-world amalgam are made by people who obviously have no idea what socialism is and simply repeat the vituperations of talk-radio hosts. They are misled as well by a cadre of fast-talking self-promoting cable ‘analysts’ who discuss the most profound subjects in a shallow, dismissive manner and who always manage to have the last word.

On Morning Joe recently a guest discussed his documentary about how content-light Supreme Court confirmation proceedings often are. He mentioned, for example, that Judge Roberts had been something less than forthcoming during confirmation giving the impression that he was a moderate of sorts. Once on the bench, however, he went out of his way to deliver a conservative message. Host Joe Scarborough said he disagreed with everything the guest had said about Roberts but then he (Joe) was a conservative and the guest was a filmmaker. The truth is most observers agree that the Roberts who appeared before the Senate was a different creature from the Roberts presiding as Chief Justice.

We knew of course there’d be a fight over the president’s nominee to fill the Supreme Court vacancy, no matter who it was. The veto machine in the Senate otherwise known as the Republican minority is always hard at work immobilizing that body with secret holds and manipulating issues to force filibuster-proof votes. They have plenty of company in efforts to malign nominee Elena Kagan. Absolutely ludicrous criticisms are leveled at her by a variety of people, many of whom should be relegated to the dustbin of inconsequential talking heads - - people like Bay Buchanan.

Buchanan says the president “dummied down” the Supreme Court by nominating Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan, an astonishing pronouncement considering her support of Sarah Palin whom she described as accomplished and “extraordinarily qualified” to be president, and coming on the heels of the eight-year administration of a seriously under-qualified George Bush. Speaking of “dummied down” appointments other than the Supreme Court appointment of Bush in 2000, we have Clarence Thomas who received a minimally-qualified grade from the American Bar Association. But agree or disagree with the Kagan and Sotomayor nominations, saying they aren’t smart is, well, just stupid.

It is hard to imagine that voters stand ready to ‘throw the bums out’ of office and return bums of even greater magnitude in frustration at the nation’s slow rate of progress out of financial distress. Disregarding the previous administration’s failed agenda and believing that tax cuts and unregulated markets will resuscitate a weak economy and ward off creeping socialism represents an impulse to clutch at a huge empty straw. Oddly, political enemies don’t seem to grasp the irony of referring to what they describe as Obama’s failings in terms, as Jon Stewart puts it, of Bush “f**k-ups.” Thus Kagan becomes his Harriet Myers, the BP spill his Katrina and Afghanistan his war. In a desperate attempt to excoriate Obama, opponents run the risk of highlighting the failed policies and offhand governing style of the former president.

The ship of state was foundering long before Obama took office but the quicksand of previous inaction and intransigence was waiting to suck the life out of his agenda. Now, little more than a year later, the public seems to have forgotten the reason for our national distress and, in a wave of misplaced anger inflamed by strident demagogues, have taken aim at the president and all incumbents whether or not they deserve blame. If voters choose to embrace the politics of the past and heed the demon call of the right-wing we will be delivered into the mindless world of Rush Limbaugh.and the party he leads.

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FINDING A VOICE by Ann Davidow

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Thankful Progressives

With some of my reasons for thankfulness added in dark red....

THANKSGIVING

27 Reasons To Give Thanks

We're thankful President Obama is thinking long and hard about committing more troops and money to Afghanistan.

(and I will whole-heartedly support a huge increase in troops under the following conditions: 1) There is a policy regarding our involvement in Afghanistan and what victory would look like; how does Obama and his war team define it. Part of that policy had better say whether or not we have (or ever had, for that matter) a policy to capture or kill the people whom, we are told, are responsible for the worst attacks on American soil since the war of 1812 and I'm not talking about KSM. OBL and the crazy Egyptian corn-ball who speaks for him these days. The policy must also include an exit strategy and a time-line created in conjunction with our allies. The attacks on 9/11/01 affected the whole world, not just Americans. However, what we would beg Obama not to do is to commit just enough troops to keep the war going so the Goopers won't call him a wimp but not enough to accomplish the only goals ever articulated to the American people and "our" Congress; to get the guys who conspired to hit us on 9/11, the elimination of Al Qaeda, world wide.)

We're thankful President Bush feels liberated now.


(I'm not so sure I feel that way. Heaven only knows what kind of nightmarish crimes the next administration will feel comfortable committing since nothing happened to Bush or to Cheney or to any of their brother trolls and murderers! Trust me, the failure to bring to justice the war criminals who committed crimes against the constitution and, therefore, against the people of the U.S., will lead to an even worse nightmare for many more of us in the not too distant future.)

We're (not) thankful Dick Cheney has elected to move from his undisclosed location to the media spotlight.
 

I find that having Old Dick out of his hidey hole is a good thing. He is a constant reminder to many of us old, moderate independents why we went screaming to the left of center early in the BuCheney administration. The man is terrifying on so many levels it just ain't funny, but here's what it all boils down to: Either Vice is still trying to scare the crap out of the American people for purely political reasons, if not personal financial reasons as well, or the old fool really believes the psychotic babble he keeps spewing and he really needs the rest of us to be scared witless with him. The latter is certainly understandable in a setting other than on TeeVee news where he is labeled the "former vice president of the U.S." So far as it goes, the label is correct, but if that's as far as it goes, then the label in incorrect. "Former vice president of the U.S., thank God," would be as correct as one could get.

Some knotheads in this country actually believe that God,  no matter what  it's called, should be thanked that Dick The-extremely-paranoid Cheney was our v.p. on 9/11.  I'm not here to argue that point one way or the other, though I fail to see how it mattered one way or the other since there is no official record of Cheney having done anything to prevent any of attacks that happened nor none that might have happened on that day.

I would, however, state my strong belief that having him as v.p from inauguration day, 2001 until he and George walked out of the Capital Building, free as birds, on inauguration day, 2009 is probably the most god-awful thing we've had inflicted on us as a people, a nation, since the civil war. 

Let Cheney speak!!! Please allow it to be obvious to all that Cheney is still wanting to have that fight again. No matter what they tell you, Kidos, the civil war in the late 1800s was about slavery. The current civil war is as well. What's changed is the ease with which one can be identified as a slave. It was easy telling black people from white people back in the day.

Not so much anymore, as slaves come in all colors. In these days, un-free people come in all colors and exist across several socioeconomic levels. What's worse is that corporate America has learned ways to enslave the peoples' money. Take, for example. all of the retirement "schemes" which have left soon-to-be-retirees looking at working for as  far into the future as the eye can see and people who were retired on a modest income having to try to return to the work force. All we need now is for the slaves with their "slave/ very insecure" money to wake the hell up to their own identity. Then, I will be thankful.

We're thankful Al Franken has gone from playing self-help guru Stuart Smalley on Saturday Night Live to helping rape victims receive justice from their employers.

(Damn time someone did!!)

We're thankful for the healing power of beer.


(And wine and coffee in Amsterdam.)

We're thankful there are some on the right who think Glenn Beck is "incoherent," "mindless," "erratic," "bizarre," and "harmful to the conservative movement."


(Not enough people, unfortunately. We are playing seriously loose and free with our sanity, these days. I would be thankful if more Americans demanded that all news media be more honest and do their damn jobs for a change.)

We're thankful for long hikes on the Appalachian Trail.




(Not me. I will never think of the Appalachian trail again that I won't have to also think about that goofy governor and his goofy affair. )

We're thankful Michael Steele understands that he can't "do policy" and that no one has any reason to trust his "words or actions."



(Hey, what up with dat? Steele has yet to figure our that he is just another GOP lawn jockie. A man I actually did admire, Colin Powell, found out the hard way.)

We're (not) thankful for "birthers," "deathers," "tenthers," or "tea baggers."

(Yep, I am of two minds on the a fore mentioned nutcases. TeeVee news seems to want us to believe that these people are having a positive affect, in that more independents are moving to the right. I would disagree with that. Those people make me want to move to Cuba. Not really. Exaggeration for effect. )

We're (not) thankful conservatives believe they love America so much that they can root for our President to fail and for our nation to lose out on hosting the Olympics.


These people have proven that they are not Americans but Rethugs.

We're thankful NFL players refused to "bend over and grab the ankles" for Rush Limbaugh.

Me to!

We're thankful six companies have resigned from the Chamber of Commerce due to its denial of climate change science.

(Me to, but only six? Geese!)

We're thankful Falcon "Balloon boy" Heene wasn't actually in the balloon.

(I wish the entire family and all the anchors who breathlessly reported the story for hours had been in the balloon. We have become Rome.)

We're thankful Lt. Dan Choi and Lt. Col Victor Fehrenbach bravely spoke out against Don't Ask, Don't Tell.

(Me too. Hope it matters.)

We're thankful Shep Smith doesn't always drink the Fox News kool-aid.
  
Me too. Can't watch him because I don't watch Fox anymore. Haven't since December 2001. I did tune in for the Beck experience just to see what all the fuss was about. Scared me so bad I have almost given up TeeVee altogether or watch SyFy. Sy Fy can't top the on-going saga of a man who has, for some reason, been given a big old microphone in the form of his own TeeVee show while he has a mental meltdown on live bers of people who tune in to watch this?TeeVee. We have become Rome! Look at the numbers of people who tune in to watch this? 

We're thankful more than 80 companies refused to lend their sponsorship to Glenn Beck's hateful rants.

(Damn, only 80? Who the hell supports this guy? They must be punished in the only way they understand. $$$$$$)

We're thankful there are progressive organizations in D.C. lobbying for a two-state solution in the Middle East.


(They might want to think about a two state solution for us. )

We're (not) thankful for the filibuster.

(But we will be when we are in the minority again. In the meanwhile, I want the entire debate televised live so the less informed among us can see what a filibuster is and how much we are paying for our senators to read the phone book. )

We're thankful that more than 20,000 of you stood up to Bill O'Reilly's harassment machine and called for impeachment hearings against torture advocate Jay Bybee.

Me Too!!!

We're thankful that Iran's authoritarian rulers live in fear of their own population.


Me Too. Just wish the authoritarians over here were as afraid as the ones in Iran.When the government actually fears the public, Democracy is arriving.

We're thankful we'll no longer have to listen to nativist rhetoric on CNN and global warming skepticism on ABC News.


Didn't listen to it to begin with?.

We're (not) thankful for bailed out CEOs who think they're doing "God's work" by doling out billions in bonuses.


(Me either. Actually, I won't be thankful until said CEOs are working their butts off for minimum wage, living in a run down trailer park, with no healthcare.)

We're thankful for the legacy of the Liberal Lion.


ME TOO. Still sad at his passing.

We're thankful Bill O'Reilly won't be following us home for Thanksgiving.
 
He had better not be anywhere aroud me. I consider him armed and dangeorus.


We're thankful a "wise Latina" sits on the Supreme Court.

I'll reserve judgement. I want to watch her for a few sessions before I say I.m grateful for that.

We're thankful our boss helped rescue imprisoned American journalists in North Korea.


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