Jefferson's Porch

Like Rome before us...maybe?

2011-01-22T15:17:00.001-05:00

Yep, it's true....we are in no way ready to come together and act like Americans. The wealthy and powerful elite, who now own 24% of all income as well as over 50% of all American wealth, continue to purchase our democracy each and every day. And every now and then, they look down at the other 95% of us and laugh at how we are squabbling over birth certificates, and states rights, and terrorism, and border security, etc. etc. etc.

And we allow our reps to give away the country to these people, and to China, and to India and call it "free trade" and "jobs" and "globalization". Manufacturing jobs have been gutted, wages are dropping, jobs have left America with the help of our govt. All the while we call each other socialist, and fascists, and liberal, and conservative because we don't know what else to do.

This year, our cities will really start to collapse...our states will begin to really gut safety nets for our sick and elderly and our youth...and many of you will smile and applaud these efforts while your neighbor suffers or maybe your own family will suffer.

America doesn't want to fix things....we want to bicker and yell at each other and feel superior to the guy down the street. We want to wave our flags and still believe we're the biggest baddest country in the world...and we're not anymore. We like believing the lie...it helps us sleep a bit better

Time to dive into the deep end, America

2011-01-22T10:17:00.002-05:00

As a staunch believer in Democratic Socialism, I have to say that America must stop pussy footing around with it's love affair with libertarianism. It's time for America to get off the fence and jump into the deep end of the libertarian pool.

So many of my fellow Americans continue to rail against government and scream for freedom and liberty and American exceptional-ism. Well, it's time, America to stop your ranting, stand up and shout to the hills

"We don't need no stinking government!"

Well, hang on a minute....we've got to keep the military but nothing else.

Let the free-market reign supreme in Americans everyday lives. No more regulation...no more public schools....privatize all aspects of our lives such as police, fire, EMT, roads, bridges, water, electricity...don't even have courts since the market could come up with various ways to settle disputes. Let people buy and sell anything they want. No rules. No regulations. Guns available to everyone. No food safety laws. No drug control. If people get hurt or die it's obviously only because of their bad choices and remember....those idiots will have served to teach others while at the same time their deaths will weed them out of society.

America has never truly embraced liberalism. Oh it tried with the New Deal and the Great Society, but that pesky military industrial complex along with religious zealotry came along and successfully convinced America that wars and rich people were way more important than a middle class. Maggie Thatcher, Milton Friedman, Ronald Reagan...they made Americans realize that wealth, power, and most importantly freedom were only attainable when govt and regulation simply got out of the way.

So c'mon, America....you're like the teenage girl who secretly yearns for the "bad boy" (libertarianism) but refuses to leave the nice guy (regulated markets) who always forgets their anniversary. Don't put it off any longer. You must take the next step and embrace libertarianism. Grow a pair, dude. Man up and do away with that awful pro-federal government document called The Constitution and go back to State power under the Articles of Confederation. Let the states and regions rule their own lives. Embrace social darwinism openly..."Survival of the fittest", right? "I've got mine, so screw you all", right?

So, stop the bullshit. Stop whining about "minimal government". That's not what you really want. Don't be shy now...let's go all the way. Who knows, maybe it will usher in an American Paradise, a true "Pax Americana". We won't know until we try.

Do we have the guts to do it? Stop screwing around with the bad boy and get married. Have a few kids. What have you got to lose?

Of course it's all about if our president is a Muslim....

2010-08-22T14:56:00.002-04:00

Our nation is hurting and how we got here is just as important as how we get ourselves out of it.

Please allow my rant until the end...the title of this blog will then kinda make sense.

It's true that our politicians played a major part in where we are today. Beginning in the 80's our country began to believe that democracy and economics we're the same thing...that capitalism and our constitution meant the same thing. We were told that our government, we the people through our representatives, was the problem and that business, greed, the "free market" was the saviour of our liberty. We were fed the lie that if we only gave massive tax breaks to the wealthy, if we got rid the the regulation on businesses, if we sold off to private corporations our "commons", if we did this, we would see unprecedented economic growth and individual Americans would reap the rewards of greed, avarice, and simply acting our of our own individual naked self interest.

We were told that "free trade" would open up untold markets for American goods and that if we only stopped taxing products coming into our country, that we would see other countries do the same for our products. So Clinton signed NAFTA and bound us to the WTO and the GATT agreement. We agreed and laughed at Ross Perot who predicted that free trade would give us that giant "sucking sound" of our jobs leaving our nation.

For over 30 years, we have seen our good manufacturing jobs all but disappear...out sourced to China and India and Indonesia. All in the name of free-trade, but in fact in the name of cheap labor, no labor standards, no environmental standards, corporate profits, and just plain greed. Before Reagan, manufacturing jobs made up almost 30% of our GDP, now it's around 11%. Now, our job outlook centers around "Do you want fries with that?"

We were also told that if only the banks would be allowed to "gamble" with our deposits in the stock market, that these giants of men, these captains of banking industry would usher in a new era of commerce not through manufacturing, but through finance. Clinton signed the law tearing down the wall between deposit banks and investment banks...he signed the law that allowed banks to create mega-complex derivative contracts that were simply bets, on bets, on bets, on bets...by the late 90's, America and it's representatives had become bought, owned, and operated by 7 major banks, and by a handful of global multi-national corporations.

Before Reagan, American families had personal savings of around 24%. As productivity kept increasing, wages stagnated since unions lost strength and corporations gained more control through mergers and acquizitions. Add to this "free-trade" said American workers now have to compete with workers world wide making pennies an hour. During the 90's Alan Greenspan saw this coming when it was clear that wages were not tracking productivity and while supply increased, demand lagged since folks didn't make the money to buy the stuff being supplied. The fear in the early 90's was "deflation" since prices were too high for the wages being earned. The Fed began a credit policy that lowered interests rates and encouraged more presonal borrowing, more easy credit cards, higher bank leverage of capital, and sure enough....American's kept on purchasing...but with debt. As of 2007, personal saving tanked to -4%.....seriously...NEGATIVE numbers.

Clinton, bound by "pay as you go" requirements in Congress and being a centrist, reduced the size of government, the debt, the deficit, and left office with (arguably) a budget surplus. Bush and the GOP took our country from a lower debt, budget surplus, and relative peace and after 8 years, took the debt to 10 TRILLION dollars, a 1 TRILLION dollar deficit, 2 insane and UNPAID FOR wars, Medicare Part D (unpaid for), saw 7 MILLION JOBS lost and bailed out the big banks to the tune of 750 BILLION dollars of our tax money with NO STRINGS ATTACHED!!!

So after all of this, our country crashes......and the media focuses on why it's all the fault of our black, Afro-Centric, Muslim, Kenyan, communist, socialist, fascist, no birth certificate, tyrannical terrorist loving dictator of a president.

I was attacked by GLENN BECK

2010-03-10T15:42:00.001-05:00

A message to a friend

2009-09-27T13:05:00.000-04:00

Mary:

I want to strip away all the hype and spin. Our country, yes OUR country, has lost it's way. We, you and I, conservatives and liberals, Americans...must fully understand that we want the same thing...what's best for our nation. We want good schools, and safe homes, and good jobs and opportunity for all of our citizens. We both want a nation that we are proud of and that others will look to for the standards that should guide all nations. We want our elected officials to not only represent our interests but to provide leadership. They need to be honorable and humble at the same time standing strong for ALL Americans. We need businesses that not only make a profit but do so with the understanding that they exist because of this nation, not the other way around. Business can be successful and still care about their employees and customers and the environment. Over our 230+ history, we have amended our constitution many times...this is necessary because the one thing that remains constant is change. Our future depends on our constant ability to adapt, change, innovate, and move forward....to be "progressive". At the same time, we can and must "conserve" those traditions that matter...liberty, community, self sacrifice, loyality, these are the rocks that the founders used to build this country. Mary....we both want the same thing. We may choose to support different paths to that goal, but that is why we must come together and debate those paths so that we are finally united as a country on how to solve our problems. As Americans, we must reject the hype and spin...we must call out those who choose to divide us...we must embrace each other as Americans as we have done in the past....then we can overcome anything. If we continue to fight each other...if we continue to ignore our real problems as we discuss trivial issues and trivial people, then we will miss our opportunity...we will allow those who have power to keep it and the rest of us will go on thinking "If only...."

I embrace my conservative American brothers and sisters. I long for another voice like William Buckley....or Teddy Roosevelt, or Eisenhower, or Lincoln. Where are the conservatice leaders who boldly stood above the fray and shouted against concentrated wealth and power? Where are the liberal leaders who marched for the common American? Where are the real union leaders that died making sure working Americans were given a fair wage for a days work? Where are the GOP leaders of yesterday who stood up and supported the voting rights act and the marches in Selma? Where are the Republicans who walked up to Nixon and said "you have to go" for crimes against the Constitution? Where are the Democrats who stood firm for Social Security and Medicare in the face of accustions of being communists?

Mary...we both want the same thing...our country to be strong again for ALL Americans. We can do it together...you and I. At least that's what I want to believe.

What our Senators SHOULD be required to wear!

2009-09-10T12:47:00.001-04:00

THANKS, THOM HARTMANN!!

For those who wish to just move forward....

2009-06-01T10:28:00.001-04:00

Slamming back at Joe the Republican

2009-04-09T17:57:00.006-04:00

Many folks have read the story of "Joe the Republican". The 'self made' man who goes through the day enjoying benefits that his government (mainly through progressive policies) have provided. Below is a retort from a conservative to the points in the tale. I've decided to offer my own response to the retorts....(The original text is in italics, the conservative retort is after, and my comment is in bold)

“Joe gets up at 6 a.m. and fills his coffeepot with water to prepare his morning coffee. The water is clean and good because some tree-hugging liberal fought for minimum water-quality standards. With his first swallow of water, he takes his daily medication. His medications are safe to take because some stupid commie liberal fought to ensure their safety and that they work as advertised.”

Unfortunately, if Joe is in his forties or older, he is extremely likely to have one or more medical conditions for which no effective medication yet exists thanks to those same stupid commie liberals that introduced huge delays in every step of the process of technological advancement in the drug industry, and prevented a large number of development projects that would have been judged as a good risk had the costs of the whole enterprise not been jacked up so outrageously.

Now let's set the record straight...our government (we the people) not only try to keep us safe from risky drugs that can hurt or kill us, but the fact is that almost 30% of the funding for all drug R&D comes from...you guessed it..the government through the National Institutes for Health (NIH)! In 2000, a report from from a Joint Economic Committee of Congress outlined the benefits of NIH research. It noted that some econometric studies had given its research, which was funded at $16 billion a year in 2000, a rate of return of 25 to 40 percent per year. It also found that of the 21 drugs with the highest therapeutic impact on society introduced between 1965 and 1992, public funding was "instrumental" for 15. So let's move on to our next screed.

“All but $10 of his medications are paid for by his employer’s medical plan because some liberal union workers fought their employers for paid medical insurance — now Joe gets it too.”

Yeah, he gets it all right. Of course, he gets paid medical insurance in lieu of cash mainly because they’re taxed differently, which in turn evolved out of attempts by productive enterprises to evade price controls imposed by one of the heroes of the left, and the results are less than inspiring. This is generally referred to as a failure of the “free market” by people dedicated to keeping the Big Lie going for yet another century.

Tsk, tsk....again, our conservative get's it all wrong. Everyone with a brain knows that insurance works cause it spreads the risk out over the greatest number of people therefore keeping costs down. That's why we need to get ALL americans covered by insurance so the costs for everyone stays DOWN! Of course, our retorter above would like to have you believe that for-profit insurance (aka the free market) is the best way to go since it's so much less expens.....wait a minute...LESS EXPENSIVE??? Now let me see...Medicare adminsitrative overhead costs aroudn 3-5%. No profits, no dividends, solid basic coverage. For profit insurance adminsitrative overhead costs 18-22%, dividends paid to shareholders, and CEO's like "Diamond" Bill McQuire get compensated to the tune of $1.1 BILLION DOLLARS!!!
Moving on....

“He prepares his morning breakfast, bacon and eggs. Joe’s bacon is safe to eat because some girly-man liberal fought for laws to regulate the meat packing industry.”

You mean like the ones that prevent those evil meat-packers from more rigorously testing their cows for Mad Cow disease? Gee thanks.

Now this one's a no-brainer. Since Reagan and especially lovable Dan Quayle, we stopped fully funding our USDA inspectors and...get this...let the industry regulate it self!!! Hmmm...sounds like a winner...FOR THE INDUSTRY!
More, please...

“Joe dresses, walks outside and takes a deep breath. The air he breathes is clean because some environmentalist wacko liberal fought for the laws to stop industries from polluting our air.”

Of course it would be even cleaner if those same environmentalist wacko liberals hadn’t also fought to stop new nuclear plants from producing electricity without polluting the air.

He tee's it up and it's hit over the wall. Now about that pesky nuclear (or nucular) waste problem.
Next...

“Joe begins his workday. He has a good job with excellent pay, medical benefits, retirement, paid holidays and vacation because some lazy liberal union members fought and died for these working standards.”

No, the unions did not produce Joe’s high pay or any of his benefits. The technological advancements over the intervening decades allow huge amounts of wealth to be created with comparatively little effort - this means that Joe’s efforts, modest as they are compared to the strenuous efforts of his ancestors, create huge amounts of value, for which he is paid commensurately. Some of that pay is in the form of benefits - they are instead of, not in addition to, a portion of the cash that he would otherwise receive in payment, and to the extent that our friends on the left caused a substitution of benefits for cash that Joe would not have chosen on his own, they have made him worse off.

All the unions did was form cartels and use the threat of violence to keep competitors at bay and extort some wealth from the capitalists. The amount of wealth that could possibly have been obtained from capitalists in this manner is a tiny, insignificant fraction of the huge gains in wealth and income that people in every walk of life have enjoyed since the unions began doing this, so it is mathematically impossible for those unions to be responsible for the current affluence of the non-wealthy.

Ahh, yes...the conservatives wishful desire to go back to the days when sweatshops abounded, children toiled in factories, and 'capitalists' reaped the dividends. Look, organized labor gave and gives a voice to millions of wage earners who never had one before. And remember what Abe Lincoln said: "Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if Labor had not first existed. Labor is superior to capital, and deserves much the higher consideration." So capitalism doesn't even exist without labor. And here’s another Republican’s opinion on organized labor…
If I were an employee, a working man ... or a wage-earner of any sort, I undoubtedly would join a union of my trade... I believe in the union and I believe that all men are morally bound to help to the extent of their powers in the common interests advanced by the union.
– Theodore Roosevelt
Onward...

“Joe has to pay his Fannie Mae-underwritten mortgage and his below-market federal student loan because some elitist liberal decided that Joe and the government would be better off if he was educated and earned more money over his lifetime. Joe also forgets that in addition to his federally subsidized student loans, he attended a state-funded university.”

And thanks to the subsidies that encouraged millions of his competitors to pursue courses of education that would otherwise be a losing investment (actually, such courses were still losing investments - the taxpayers covered the losses), Joe had to go to college himself just to keep up with the competition, even if the courses he took contributed little to his ability to actually do the work and added little value to himself or his employer. The fact that his employer could be taken to court if someone with a college degree was passed over in favor of someone of a different race with only a high school diploma makes employers more likely to require this paper regardless of its relation to the actual work. Finally, the real value of the high school diploma, and the level of useful knowledge and ability it represents, has been declining for quite a while, meaning that Joe had to waste part of his adult life learning things that he should have learned during his childhood. And, the more that “worker protections” make it difficult and expensive to fire people, the less willing any employer is going to be to give someone with little experience a shot without impressive credentials; if it’s difficult and expensive to fire someone, you’d better not hire someone unless you’re sure he’s going to work out.

Which means that not only is Joe out four years of his own life and thousands of dollars, he’s also likely stuck supporting his own kids well into their early adult years, and he spends his nights worrying that one of his kids will not manage to get through nearly a decade of her prime reproductive years without derailing the required long course of education with a pregnancy.

Man...this guy is hard core! Actually, I agree with one thing...Joe is out thousands of dollars for his education. Wasn't it Thomas Jefferson that built the University of Virginia as a school of higher education that was FREE???? Jefferson was a staunch advocate of free public education. Jefferson promoted studies of natural history, botany, archeology, and architecture. Aside from that, I guess "impressive credentials" are something to be laughed at.

“It is noontime and Joe needs to make a bank deposit so he can pay some bills. Joe’s deposit is federally insured by the FSLIC because some godless liberal wanted to protect Joe’s money from unscrupulous bankers who ruined the banking system before the Great Depression.”

Of course those unscrupulous bankers worked for the Federal Reserve.

And last time I looked, the Federal Reserve was NOT a formal part of the federal government! Maybe the writer believes as I do that the managing/printing of our currency should be returned to our government and we should abolish the Fed Reserve!

“Joe is home from work. He plans to visit his father this evening at his farm home in the country. He gets in his car for the drive. His car is among the safest in the world because some America-hating liberal fought for car safety standards to go along with the taxpayer funded roads.”

And if he brings his small child with him, that child has to sit in the back seat because some America-hating liberal fought for a car “safety” device that endangers small passengers sitting near it, and refuse to this day to rescind this decree, insisting instead that it is Joe’s place to adjust to the whims of bureaucrats by moving his child out of the path of the explosive device rather than the bureaucrats’ place to adjust to their own mistake by allowing Joe to switch the damned thing off when appropriate.

That's it? That's all you got about auto safety?? A car seat? And I guess you don't like those taxpayer funded highways that a Republican president rammed through!

“He is happy to see his father, who is now retired. His father lives on Social Security and a union pension because some wine-drinking, cheese-eating liberal made sure he could take care of himself so Joe wouldn’t have to. ”

Joe isn’t helping to take care of his father? I’d say he’s chipping in to the tune of 15% of his paycheck. And his father depends for part of his livelihood on the financial health of a company that he no longer works for, because wine-drinking, cheese-eating liberals encouraged them to withhold part of his pay and only give it to him after he retired, assuming it still existed. Gee, thanks. And if it wasn’t for the damned FDA (see above), I’d bet serious money that Joe’s father would be healthy enough to keep working, and he’d be facing a long enough life expectancy that permanent retirement would be ludicrously expensive and completely out of the question at his youthful age unless he was unusually wealthy.

(sigh)…

Joe gets back in his car for the ride home, and turns on a radio talk show. The radio host keeps saying that liberals are bad and conservatives are good. He doesn't mention that the beloved Republicans have fought against every protection and benefit Joe enjoys throughout his day. Joe agrees: "We don't need those big-government liberals ruining our lives! After all, I'm a self-made man who believes everyone should take care of themselves, just like I have.

I’ll finish with more from Teddy

No man can be a good citizen unless he has a wage more than sufficient to cover the bare cost of living, and hours of labor short enough so that after his day's work is done he will have time and energy to bear his share in the management of the community, to help in carrying the general load. We keep countless men from being good citizens by the conditions of life with which we surround them. We need comprehensive workmen's compensation acts, both State and national laws to regulate child labor and work for women, and, especially, we need in our common schools not merely education in booklearning, but also practical training for daily life and work. We need to enforce better sanitary conditions for our workers and to extend the use of safety appliances for our workers in industry and commerce, both within and between the States.
– Theodore Roosevelt, speech at Osawatomie, Kansas, "The New Nationalism" (August 31, 1910)

The government is us; we are the government, you and I.
– Theodore Roosevelt, speech at Asheville, North Carolina (September 9, 1902)

We need more muckrakers

2009-03-08T15:24:00.002-04:00

Capitalism demands that profit rules over the public interest. The Government (We the People) are charged with protecting the public interest. Consider history...Upton Sinclair opened our eyes to the horrors of the meat processing industry and that led to Teddy Roosevelt signing the Food and Drug Act. It wasn't the industry that suddenly realized it was processing rats, mice, and other foul stuff into our meats...it took a muckraker (aka liberal) Like Sinclair to bring it out in the open.

Bring history to the present...Reagan convinced us that Government IS the problem. All we have to do is take any and all yokes off of the free market and we will all be so much better off because the market knows best...the market will always correct itself and make things right.

Bull.

The market cares ONLY about profit and greed. Ok, I support business doing what it's supposed to do...increase profits and take care of the private sector. However, I believe what the founders believed...We the People, in the form of government, must protect the public interest. The devil is in the details of course, but we've tried Reaganomics and it failed. Now get out of the way and go lick your wounds. If our government is up to the task, it's time to change things...for the betterment of the public's interest, not Wall Street.

Just my 2 cents.

WAKE UP AMERICA!

The truth about corporate income taxes

2009-03-04T13:54:00.002-05:00

Don't believe the hype about corporate income tax rates.

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSN1249465620080812?sp=true

The economic collapse: from a religious man

2009-03-03T12:05:00.002-05:00

Even an atheist can appreciate this......

(From Bishop John Shelby Spong)

The Rhetoric of the Stimulus Package

It has been fascinating watching our legislators in Washington debating the stimulus bill and seeking to reform the way stimulus monies have been spent thus far. My conclusion is that either memory is short or politics are blind. The Republicans, who controlled the White House for the last eight years and both Houses of Congress for six of the past eight years, and who managed to turn a billion-dollar surplus into a trillion-dollar deficit, suddenly became frightened of "saddling our children with massive debt." Where has all this fiscal responsibility been residing? We listened to the same people who voted for the war in Iraq with its unlimited financial appropriations and with almost no accountability, including many "no bid" contracts let to American oil interests, who now seem to have decided that the stimulus package is a gigantic "giveaway of wasteful spending." People who supported President Bush's irresponsible and failed tax policies, which shifted massive wealth from the middle class to the wealthiest ten percent of the population and thus helped to lead this nation into the deepest economic recession since the Great Depression, now appeared to be advocates of more of the same as their way to get this nation out of the current downturn. Insanity has been correctly defined as continuing to do the same thing while expecting a different result! Yet the failed policies of yesterday were offered with straight faces as the solution to the crisis those same policies created.

We listened to the howls of protest from business leaders who have long lived high on the economic hog, accumulating vast wealth and awarding themselves gigantic bonuses through risky and inappropriate lending practices, but who now seemed outraged that their salaries and bonuses should be curtailed or limited. Coming hat in hand to the American taxpayers requesting a bailout with public funds, they apparently expected no change in their executive compensation. They seemed not to recognize that their greed had killed the goose that laid their golden eggs. A man like Ken Lewis, who as CEO of Bank of America has watched his business drop shareholder value by 96%, still argued against placing any limits on executive compensation. "We will lose our best talent," he told us with a straight face. Lewis failed to explain why such outstanding talent had led to such disastrous results. The same could be said for the leaders of Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, Countrywide Finance, Washington Mutual, Merrill Lynch, Wachovia Bank, AIG, Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns, WorldCom and countless other icons of American business. Was it outstanding executive talent that led these corporations either to bankruptcy or to being taken over at fire sale prices? Does that performance result from "irreplaceable" employees? Can the executives who have led Citigroup, J. P. Morgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, MBIA, Ambac, XL Capital, Ford, General Motors, Nissan, Sonic and others to similar cataclysmic drops in shareholder value be so good that their retention requires exorbitant salaries and bonuses? Would it be so great a loss to their companies if the stated threat that they would be gobbled up by foreign banks or hedge funds actually occurred? The cemeteries of the world are filled with "indispensible people."

When the taxpayers of America are bailing out failed businesses run by failed executives, the people of America become the stockholders and members of the various boards of trustees, which gives them the right and the responsibility to set compensation. When these rescued companies recover and repay the taxpayers, then they can set their own compensation, subject only to their new stockholders' best judgment. Bonuses, which were designed to reward extraordinary performances, are hardly appropriate when those performances have led to today's economic crisis.

Those bank executives who were complaining that they could not live on the proposed $500,000 a year limit for publicly assisted businesses might look at the 7.6% of the population who have now lost their jobs and whose lives and security have been seriously disrupted. Perhaps they might also glance at those in the retired or near retired population who during their working lives invested in what they were told were safe, conservative, dividend-paying businesses that would enable them to live into old age with dignity, but who now discover that executive greed and sheer incompetence have robbed them of their once secure future.

Whatever else this economic downturn has done it will inevitably begin to restore a semblance of that basic sense of balance that once governed American business practices. As recently as the 1970s, the ratio between the compensation paid to top executives and workers in America was about 35 to 1. That is, if the workers averaged $50,000 a year, the CEOs averaged $1,750,000 a year. Today, less than forty years later, that ratio has risen to 275 to 1, which means that if the average worker today makes $50,000 per year, the CEOs' average compensation has become $13,750,000 per year. Our society has lost all sense of proportionality, to say nothing of both our social and economic interdependence and mutual responsibility. When one adds these facts to the massive outsourcing of middle class jobs that has taken place during the last 40 years in the United States, which has forced many workers into less skilled and less lucrative jobs, one realizes how much the purchasing power of the middle class, the working class and the working poor has actually declined, while executive salaries have blown the lids off the charts. The gap between the rich and the poor in the United States has reached unhealthy dimensions. Business leaders appear to have forgotten that there must be a general population with sufficient money to buy their products or recession, or even depression, is all but inevitable.

Yet in the political arena the idea that a basic fairness needs to be part of the business plan of this nation is looked upon askance. It was inserted into the last presidential campaign by the infamous "Joe the Plumber" rhetoric as a scare tactic. Republicans dubbed it "socialism." In Senator Joseph McCarthy's era it would have been called "communism"! To some people fairness seems not to be compatible with capitalism and a free market society. The great battle cry from the ranks of the well-to-do when economic fairness is discussed is that the architects of fairness are engaging in "class warfare." We need to recognize that America has been fighting class warfare for decades, but it has not been attacks launched by the poor against the rich, as those who use this cry seek to suggest. It has been an attack, sometimes quite brutal, of the rich against the middle class and the poor. Our present economic crisis reveals the fact that the middle class and the poor have lost that war and because the rich have won, the rich are suffering. The time has come to redress these grievances and to reestablish fairness by adjusting the tax codes so that those who profit the most from the economic engine that is America will bear a proportionate part of the responsibility of financing the government of this great nation and securing its peace and wellbeing.

There are many things that Ronald Reagan did as President of the United States that were exciting and noteworthy. No one will ever forget his words, "Mr. Gorbachov, tear down this wall," uttered in a divided Berlin. Mr. Reagan, however, was guilty of the tactic of constantly painting the government as the enemy of the people. He suggested again and again that taxes were somehow inherently evil, that the government was always the problem and never the solution. He kept telling people that their compensation was their money and that they should be allowed to keep most of it. Taxes, he said, were basically confiscatory. This Reagan idea, recycled now through two Bush presidencies, poisons our national life to this day and its echoes are heard in the rhetoric that marks the current debate over the stimulus package.

I need to say to those who still salute this idea that most of the money they have made in the last forty years in this country could not have been made in any other country in the world. Those who have become successful financially owe most of their success to the privilege of living in the United States. They not only have a vested interest in but a responsibility for keeping this nation strong economically, militarily and socially. It takes tax dollars to do that and they need to recognize that their "confiscatory" taxes represent the biggest single bargain in the budget of every economically successful citizen. When American corporations who make their fortunes in the freedom of this country then decide to establish offshore headquarters to avoid paying a fair share of taxes, they are acting in an unethical, selfish and irresponsible way. Freedom is expensive, as is the task of building the atmosphere in which civic life for all can bloom, but those things are well worth the cost. All Americans want to have safe roads, bridges, harbors and tunnels. All Americans want to have good schools for our children, good hospitals and good medical care for all. We all want our food, including our peanut butter, to be safe. We want our investments to be protected from both the Bernie Madoffs and the John Thains of this world. We want our medicines tested and to have their purity guaranteed. We want our people to be safe from attacks from foreign sources or domestic sociopaths. These precious and commonly expected realities of our corporate life cost money. It is, therefore, not just fitting but proper that those who profit most from the life of our society accept the responsibility for and be motivated to keep that system not just functioning, but healthy. Those whose greed and selfishness have led this nation to a place where the whole economy goes into decline, recession and perhaps even depression should bear a proportionate share of the hard times that they have caused for others. I think they will be able to survive for a year or two on a capped salary and restricted bonuses. Class warfare? Socialism? Communism? No, fairness, honesty and mutual respect require these steps. It is even biblical, since the Bible says: "Freely you have received so freely give!"

– John Shelby Spong

Supply/Demand???....Don't you believe it!

2009-01-16T15:15:00.001-05:00

Did you believe that the $147 a barrel price of oil last July was because of Supply and Demand?

Don't believe it.

Watch

Watch CBS Videos Online

"Laffer-ing" all the way to ruin..or...how voodoo economics has lead this country to disaster

2009-01-09T10:50:00.006-05:00

In 1980 George H. W. Bush, while running against Ronald Reagan in the presidential primaries, referred to supply side economics as "voodoo economics". (he changed his mind, of course once accepting the VP nod from Reagan)

He was right....and over 28 years, this kind of economics has led us to ruin as a nation.

But what most people fail to see is that the folks that thought this up, (Arthur Laffer, Jude Wanniski, Grover Norquist, David Stockman, ) didn't just want to cut taxes, they also wanted to gain votes for more political power and that meant that they also had to increase government spending.

Wait a minute....Republicans increasing spending???? I can hear Sarah Palin now, "Say it ain't so, Joe!" But it's true.

That's where we come to the 2 Santa Claus Theory. Traditional conservatives believed in less taxes and LESS spending, and balanced budgets. However, in the 70's, this was seen by some cons as the path to being in the minority party forever. These folks believed that it was government spending that rallied voter support for the dems, so, let's see....why not cut taxes AND increase spending!! Yeah, that will cause voters to like us AND we can still move towards Norquists goal of -

"I don't want to abolish government. I simply want to reduce it to the size where I can drag it into the bathroom and drown it in the bathtub."

But, under Reagan, weren't we were told that by cutting taxes, tax revenues would GO UP??? Yeah, we were told a lie....click HERE to see that tax revenues did NOT go up, they went DOWN under Reagan. That's why he left office with a HUGE national debt. (Remember, Reagan said deficits don't matter) So, cut taxes and raise spending...that will cause massive deficits and therefore it will "starve the beast" (destroy the federal government). Which is exactly what folks like Norquist want to happen.

Well, here we are 28 years later, 12 trillion dollars in debt, negative personal savings, double digit unemployment/under employment, no manufacturing base, almost no unions, 47 million without health care, trillions spent in Iraq and Afghanistan.....WAKE UP AMERICANS!!!

Norquist is drooling.....

It's time to bring back what worked from 1935 to 1980....

strong unions (pass the Employee Free Choice Act)
a trade policy that protects (yes, i said protects) our manufacturing jobs...let's start making stuff again
do away with the Bush tax cuts on the wealthy, or better yet, roll back the Reagan tax cuts on the wealthy
update regulation to 21st century technology standards
have a single payer health insurance policy (how about everyone can buy into MEDICARE)
increase the minimum wage to a LIVING wage
FREE higher education for anyone that qualifies

It's time! Here's a nice article on why supply side economics didn't work!

Where oh where have our jobs gone?

2008-12-15T12:50:00.003-05:00

It is a given that if an economy is to grow, demand must increase. For demand to increase, people need to have more money to spend. In order for people to have more money to spend, they have to have GOOD PAYING JOBS!! Why is this a mystery to so many people, especially politicians?

Consider this statistic from the federal government...from 1994 to 2007, net manufacturing employment has declined by 3,654,000. According to the World Resource Institute, manufacturing was 20.3% of our GDP in 1987, and in 2007 it was 11.7%...that's a 43% DECLINE!

By the way, in 2007 the financial services/real estate sector was 20.4% of GDP.

This year alone we've lost millions of jobs and we have politicians who want to see more pink slips come from the auto industry.

We're diving right into another Republican Great Depression. (borrowed from Thom Hartmann)

Wakeup, America! We need to make things again. We need tariffs! We need PROGRESSIVE policies and legislation to begin to counteract the disastrous results of Reagnomics.

People need good, union jobs that pay a living wage...not a minimum wage.

Truly despicable

2008-12-13T10:10:00.003-05:00

It's truly despicable that a small cadre of republican senators actively want to sacrifice hundreds of thousands if not millions of jobs all in an effort to cripple the UAW. It's clear beyond doubt that this weeks killing of the bridge loan legislation for the auto industry was nothing more than an attempted murder of good union jobs in the country. It isn't even politically motivated...union busting will NOT bring in more voters to the republican party!!! Even the Dark Lord, Dick Cheney this week knew the writing on the wall...

At a closed-door GOP lunch on Wednesday, Dick Cheney tried to convince Southern Senate Republicans to pass the White House auto bailout bill. If they didn't, he warned, "it's Herbert Hoover time."

Check out the list of senators who voted YES for 700BILLION dollars for the financial industry bailout, but voted NO for the auto workers...

http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2008/12/12/tarp-yes-auto-no/

Someone get me the transcripts of the hearings with the bankers and financial heads where THESE senators grilled them on THEIR pay, on THEIR EMPLOYEE pay, on how THEY TRAVELED to the hearings, on how THEY are going to restructure their companies to not let this happen again....$700,000,000,000.00 given out without ANY OF THESE QUESTIONS!

With the election of Obama, trickle down Reaganomics HAS to be dead or dying. However, until the next congress, these dastardly senators will do everything they can to maintain life support for policies that are ruining this country.

It's sickening.

C'mon, Islam...join the 19th century

2008-11-30T12:17:00.002-05:00

My title is stolen from a Bill Maher schtick where he comments on how Islam is stuck in the 7th century.

This morning, I read in the Guardian that ritual "honor killings" have increased 70% in Basra, Iraq.

Human Rights Watch defines "honor killings" as follows:

Honor crimes are acts of violence, usually murder, committed by male family members against female family members, who are held to have brought dishonor upon the family. A woman can be targeted by (individuals within) her family for a variety of reasons, including: refusing to enter into an arranged marriage, being the victim of a sexual assault, seeking a divorce—even from an abusive husband—or (allegedly) committing adultery. The mere perception that a woman has behaved in a way that "dishonors" her family is sufficient to trigger an attack on her life.

Read the Guardian article here http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/nov/30/iraq-honor-killings-women

This barbarism occurs all over the world in the name of religious faith.

Wake Up, Humans!! Stop believing the lie of religion.

How about some lovin' for Joe the Auto Worker??

2008-11-28T08:31:00.002-05:00

The financial institutions (banks, investment houses, etc.) have spent years getting fat and happy using questionable loans, mortgage backed securities, derivatives, consolidated debt objects...all of which are under the radar and non regulated.

And when these esoteric contracts blow up in their faces, they come to us, the taxpayer, begging for a hand out.

We don't tell them to suck it up, change your business practices, and re-organize out of bankruptcy.....we oblige them to the tune of trillions of dollars.

But when the auto companies can't get cash from these same banks....which every business relies on for keeping inventory and meeting payroll, our government kicks them in the teeth and tells them they need to change how they do business...and, by the way, maybe they should just go through bankruptcy.

Once again, the average worker (Joe the Auto Worker) can just go suck eggs...we're only interested in helping out Jack the Banker.

Wake up America!

Work begins...

2008-11-15T16:17:00.002-05:00

With the election of Obama, America has been given a 2nd chance....for everything. We last had this chance immediately after 9/11. Bush had the country (and the world) in his hands...hell, even Iran was holding candle light vigils for 9/11 victims.

And did he ask us to sacrifice? Did he ask us to do everything we could as a nation to reduce our dependence on foreign oil?

No.

He told us to go shopping. That's it. He then proceeded to pull us out of international treaties, invade 2 Muslim countries, and cause the loss of life on a HUGE scale.

We now have a chance to reverse this deadly course our country has taken. Obama, the democrats, and even moderate republicans have an opportunity to heal our nation, repair our international reputation, fix our economy, and give us hope for the future.

But, let's not forget...Obama is NOT "our leader". No American president is supposed to be a leader...our president must listen to the people and represent us accordingly...it is OUR responsibility to make it known to Obama and our government exactly what we want and need.

The work begins now.

Wake up, America!!

Sometimes a duck....

2008-10-10T08:25:00.001-04:00

From January of 1995 to January of 2007 (12 years) the Republican party has maintained control of the House and Senate. (during the 107th congress, control shifted temporarily to Dems with the Jeffords defection from the GOP)

For 8 of those years, Jan 2001 - Jan 2009, the Republican party has controlled the White House.

Using Ronald Reagan's great question...Are you (or the country)better off now then you were 8 or even 12 years ago?

It's a simple question...if you answer YES, then you will most likely vote for McCain even knowing that he admitted to voting to support Bush policies over 90% of the time. But that doesn't matter to you because you LIKE what has happened to our country under conservative control.

But if you believe we are NOT better off now, then now is the time for a change of control in Washington.

Yeah, it's a simple way to look at it, but....sometimes a duck is really a duck.

Conservatives, you've had your try....now step aside and let us give it a go!

The New Deal being replaced by a "Raw Deal"

2008-09-23T07:05:00.002-04:00

Don't be afraid.....be downright terrified!!

The Bush administration not only wants us (the congress) to write them a blank check for $700 BILLION dollars, according to the actual propsed legistlation, NO ONE CAN ASK ANY QUESTIONS ABOUT HOW IT'S GOING TO BE USED!! Here's the text of Section #8

"Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency."

Do we want this administration to mis-manage another pile of money??????

Call you congresman/senator and yell loud and strong..."DON'T DO THIS!"

WAKE UP!

Foxes guarding the henhouse

2008-09-06T10:43:00.002-04:00

Folks, let's get serious here.

Ever since Ronald Reagan uttered the famous quote that the 9 most terrifying words in the English language are "I'm from the government and I'm here to help", true conservatism's ideal of slow change and limited government, began to be replaced by a new form of radical conservatism.....NO GOVERNMENT! For almost 30 years, the Republican party has been slowly but successfully taken over by individuals like Grover Norquist, Tom Delay, Karl Rove, et. al. with only 2 items on the agenda...destroy the federal government (ala Norquist's wish to shrink the size of the federal government in order to drown it in the tub) and to do whatever it takes to keep Republican rule permanent. While Bill Clinton was a thorn in their side, Clinton still managed to govern economically more to the RIGHT then to the LEFT (NAFTA, GATT, WTO, welfare reform, don't ask don't tell). And the right still impeached him for lying about a blow job!

The 1994 "republican revolution" and the contract on America, was a sea change in the move forward to the 2 agenda items. They controlled the house and senate along with a very divided supreme court. Add to this the infamous "K" Street project that placed Rick Santorum and Tom Delay in charge of telling corporate lobbying firms who they could hire as lobbyists....yes, only hire those who are favorable to the republican positions or don't' expect any access to Congress. Finally in 2000 they found their "cheerleader" in chief, George W. Bush. With Rove's help along with the supreme court, Bush was appointed to the presidency. Now the right had control of all 3 branches of government.

9/11 was the next event that rocketed the new (neo)right wing agenda forward. Dick Cheney took control of all things secretive, Don Rumsfeld set about screwing up the military, John Ashcroft started to cover up bare breasts on statues, and Ari Fleischer told the press that Americans have to be careful of what they say. And, by the way, the corporate media donned lapel flag pins, while being told by the administration that their access to information would be restricted should they dare to ask tough questions....which led to the elimination of any investigative journalism of the government, and a sharp increase in stories about celebrities and blonds who go missing on exotic island vacations.

Now throughout all this, Bush and the right spent taxpayer money like a drunken sailor. Both on 2 wars and an explosion of ear marked appropriations. Things got so surreal that Tom Delay, when asked about Bush not vetoing a single republican spending bill told the Wash Times in September of '05 "...there was no fat left to cut".........and the press moved on!

So for almost 30 years of "Reaganomics" we have a federal government and the republican party taken over by people who "claim" they want to reform government, and some outright espouse wanting the demise of it (Norquist).

Now John McCain has picked a VP who gave a rousing speech to the Alaskan Independence Party convention in support of a group who wants nothing less than to secede from the USA to become their own nation. WE CANNOT GIVE THE KEYS TO OUR FEDERAL GOVERNMENT TO THIS GROUP OF PEOPLE!

Let's kick the foxes out of our hen house this November.

You gotta see this!!!

2008-09-05T20:20:00.000-04:00

Karl Rove, Experience, and Palin

2008-09-01T13:52:00.003-04:00

Recently, Rove was on Face the Nation and said this about Obama possibly picking Tim Kaine, Gov. of Virginia....

"With all due respect again to Governor Kaine, he's been a governor for three years, he's been able but undistinguished. I don't think people could really name a big, important thing that he's done. He was mayor of the 105th largest city in America. And again, with all due respect to Richmond, Virginia, it's smaller than Chula Vista, California; Aurora, Colorado; Mesa or Gilbert, Arizona; north Las Vegas or Henderson, Nevada. It's not a big town. So if he were to pick Governor Kaine, it would be an intensely political choice where he said, 'You know what? I'm really not, first and foremost, concerned with, is this person capable of being president of the United States?'"

Unfortunately, you will NOT see this pursued by anyone in the corporate media world.

When a duck is really a duck

2008-08-31T08:30:00.003-04:00

McCain's pick of Gov. Palin is being disussed as a brilliant strategy to strip women voters who supported Hillary Clinton. Many talking heads are trying to spin this pick as a calculated, winning move that will put McCain in the White House.

I think it's just a wild, stupid move from a guy who is desparate to win.

Think about it...he's met her twice and the 2nd time is when he offered her the job.
She is anti-choice, believes in teaching creationism in public schools, no international experience, supported Pat Buchannon for president in 2000, etc.

And McCain thinks she will woo Hillary voters?? Is he serious?

McCain has lost it.

Let's face it, this is not a brilliant move....it's just plain dumb.

Gov Palin supports Obama's energy plan

2008-08-29T15:04:00.001-04:00

This has been taken DOWN from the Governor's web site.....
________________________________________________________________________________

Palin Pleased with Obama's Energy Plan
Includes Alaska's Natural Gas Reserves Printer Friendly

No. 08-135

August 4, 2008, Fairbanks, Alaska - Governor Sarah Palin today responded to the energy plan put forward by the presumptive Democratic nominee for President, Illinois Senator Barack Obama.

“I am pleased to see Senator Obama acknowledge the huge potential Alaska’s natural gas reserves represent in terms of clean energy and sound jobs,” Governor Palin said. “The steps taken by the Alaska State Legislature this past week demonstrate that we are ready, willing and able to supply the energy our nation needs.”

In a speech given in Lansing, Michigan, Senator Obama called for the completion of the Alaska natural gas pipeline, stating, “Over the next five years, we should also lease more of the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska for oil and gas production. And we should also tap more of our substantial natural gas reserves and work with the Canadian government to finally build the Alaska natural gas pipeline, delivering clean natural gas and creating good jobs in the process.”

Governor Palin also acknowledged the Senator’s proposal to offer $1,000 rebates to those struggling with the high cost of energy.

“We in Alaska feel that crunch and are taking steps to address it right here at home,” Governor Palin said. “This is a tool that must be on the table to buy us time until our long-term energy plans can be put into place. We have already enjoyed the support of Alaska Senator Ted Stevens, and it is gratifying to see Senator Obama get on board.”

The Governor did question the means to pay for Obama’s proposed rebate — a windfall profits tax on oil companies. In Alaska, the state’s resource valuation system, ACES, provides strong incentives for companies to re-invest their profits in new production.

“Windfall profits taxes alone prevent additional investment in domestic production. Without new supplies from American reserves, our dependency and addiction to foreign sources of oil will continue,” Governor Palin said.

McCain's Lies

2008-08-18T07:35:00.002-04:00

If you watched the Pastor Warren forum over the weekend, you saw and heard McCain tell a story about how a prison guard in Vietnam shared a christian moment with McCain by drawing a cross in the sand.

It seems that this event was also experienced by Alexander Solzhenitsyn.

What a coincedence

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/8/17/122230/161/239/569299

Wakeup, America!

Get the TRUTH about "Drill Here, Drill Now"

2008-08-17T16:59:00.000-04:00

Steiger"wierd" strikes again

2008-08-13T19:27:00.002-04:00

Well, tuned in last night to hear John Steigerwald ranting that he doesn't want the government controlling his healthcare. I guess he would rather take his chances with the for profit health insurance companies. What does he get for his efforts???

1. No guarantee that he won't be dropped from coverage for any reason.
2. Possibly denied claims for no good reason.
3. Rates that continually increase to keep paying stock dividends and CEO salaries.
4. 47 million Americans without insurance. (These folks have to wait to get really sick and go the ER for health care.) Doesn't this raise the cost of insuance for everyonce else?

Let's all support HR 676 that would expand Medicare to ALL Americans. What could be better for America than all of our citizens content in the knowledge that they won't have to worry about getting the health care they need.

Single payer health care, Karl Rove, and Inherent Contempt

2008-08-09T14:21:00.006-04:00

This morning at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh, I attended a press conference sponsored by the Western PA Coalition for Single-Payer Healthcare. The event brought together folks who are advocating legislation basically extending Medicare to all Americans. The feds will pay the bills, and the private sector will handle delivery of the health care. Sounds like a good deal to me!

State Senator Jim Ferlo's office reserved the room and the Senator was there to introduce speakers including Donna Smith recently in the movie Sicko and is co-chair of the Healthcare not Warfare campaign with PDA (Progressive Democrats of America), as well as labor leaders, other politicians and a visit by Congressman John Conyers of Michigan! It's his bill that is up for debate on extending Medicare (HR 676) to all Americans.

What a fantastic event! The speakers were great and had everyone applauding and cheering the prospect of a single payer system. Ron Codario, M.D. (steering committee of Western PA Coalition for Single-Payer Healthcare and member of Healthcare-NOW and Physicians for a National Health Program) was there to urge everyone to get out there and get this passed NOW!

Rep Conyers was inspiring and couldn't help but get the crowd excited with how his committee is dealing with Karl Rove and Harriet Myers thumbing their nose at being sobpoenaed to Congress...he told the crowd that he may use the power of Inherent Contempt of Congress to arrest Rove and place him in the jail cell below the captiol! YES!

All in all a great event and I'm more hopeful that we can build enough support to get HR 676 and PA State legislation passed so that all Americans can sleep better at night knowing they won't have to lose their livihood to save their life!

Wakeup, Americans!

Here's some pics from the event...

Code words, Moses, and the Terrified Christians

2008-08-05T07:31:00.000-04:00

The McCain camp wants to reach the Terrified Christians and let them know that Obama is the Anti-Christ!

Watch it

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUpM42X-DCs

Wakeup, Americans!!

Please thank a liberal!

2008-08-04T18:08:00.000-04:00

Joe Republican: A Day in the Life of a Conservative
Re-posted by Frank J. Ranelli

Thanks to; John Gray, Cincinnati, Ohio

Like the Way You Live? Thank a Liberal!

Joe gets up at 6:00 am to prepare his morning coffee. He fills his pot full of good clean drinking water because some liberal fought for minimum water quality standards. He takes his daily medication with his first swallow of coffee. His medications are safe to take because some liberal fought to insure they are safe and work as advertised.

All but $10.00 of his medications are paid for by his employers medical plan because some liberal union workers fought their employers for paid medical insurance, now Joe gets it too. He prepares his morning breakfast, bacon and eggs this day. Joe's bacon is safe to eat because some liberal fought for laws to regulate the meat packing industry.

Joe takes his morning shower reaching for his shampoo; His bottle is properly labeled with every ingredient and the amount of its contents because some liberal fought for his right to know what he was putting on his body and how much it contained. Joe dresses, walks outside and takes a deep breath. The air he breathes is clean because some tree hugging liberal fought for laws to stop industries from polluting our air.

Joe walks to the subway station for his government subsidized ride to work; it saves him considerable money in parking and transportation fees. You see, some liberal fought for affordable public transportation, which gives everyone the opportunity to be a contributor.

Joe begins his work day; he has a good job with excellent pay, medical benefits, retirement, paid holidays and vacation days because some liberal union members fought and died for these working standards. Joe's employer pays these standards because Joe's employer doesn't want his employees to call the union. If Joe is hurt on the job or becomes unemployed he'll get a worker compensation or unemployment check because some liberal didn't think he should loose his home because of his temporary misfortune.

It’s noon time, Joe needs to make a bank deposit so he can pay some bills. Joe's deposits are federally insured by the FSLIC because some liberal wanted to protect Joe's money from unscrupulous bankers who ruined the banking system before the Depression.

Joe has to pay his Fannie Mae underwritten mortgage and his below market federal student loan because some stupid liberal decided that Joe and the government would be better off if he was educated and earned more money over his life-time.

Joe is home from work, he plans to visit his father this evening at his farm home in the country. He gets in his car for the drive to dads; his car is among the safest in the world because some liberal fought for car safety standards.

Joe arrives at his boyhood home. He was the third generation to live in the house financed by Farmers Home Administration because bankers didn't want to make rural loans. The house didn't have electric until some big government liberal stuck his nose where it didn't belong and demanded rural electrification. (Those rural Republican's would still be sitting in the dark).

Joe is happy to see his dad who is now retired. His dad lives on Social Security and his union pension because some liberal made sure he could take care of himself so Joe wouldn't have to. After his visit with dad he gets back in his car for the ride home.

Joe turns on a radio talk show, the host's keeps saying that liberals are bad and conservatives are good. (He doesn't tell Joe that his beloved Republicans have fought against every protection and benefit Joe enjoys throughout his day) Joe agrees, "We don't need those big government liberals ruining our lives; after all, I'm a self made man who believes everyone should take care of themselves, just like I have".

Steiger"weird" Watch!

2008-08-03T12:30:00.000-04:00

Yeah, I'm a talk radio junkie. Locally, KDKA radio offers up mostly right wing, conservative screeds from local and national personalities. Lately, a local sports guy has turned to hosting a political talk show, his name is John Steigerwald.

While I've enjoyed Steigerwalds commentary and interviews related to the Pittsburgh sports scene, his political talk show creds show that he should have stayed with sports.

Recently, I tuned in and heard him chanting the latest conservative mantra of "Drill More Oil!". His favorite catch phrase is Shutup and Drill. So, I called in to ask a simple question of the host. I asked John why the oil companies are not currently dirlling on millions of acres of land that they lease from the government (us, that is). Well, John proceeded to stammer, spit, and cough and just couldn't come up with a quick quip of an answer to that one. His best was "We have to trust the oil companies to know how and when to drill."

Good one, John. Trust the oil companies.

Actually, to be fair, his initial answer to my question was "Oh, that's the Democratic answer!" In return, I asked "Well, what's the reailty, John?" Which was the trust big oil line. However, he still couldn't give a reason why drilling was not currently being done on leased land. Well, I asked another...."Why isn't drilling being done now with the thousands of dripping permits already issued to oil companies?" Again, spit, stammer, and cough.

Oh well, all I wanted was to give John a chance to show how much research he's done on a subject that he clearly is passionate about...unfortunately, all he cares about is getting T-Shirts made that say Shutup and Drill.

Guess we just need to sit back and trust that big oil will always do the right thing.

We'll check back in on ol' Steiger"weird" on occasion just to see how its going.

Wakeup, Americans!

Where have you gone, Tim Russert?

2008-08-03T11:28:00.001-04:00

Ok, just watched MTP with Leiberman and Kerry, Brokaw, et. al.

As I am sitting there listening to Joe hammer home the need to drill more off shore saying that it's "safe" to do so now, I'm waiting for Brokaw to show him photos of the gulf after Katrina and to point out the government's own numbers for the millions of gallons spilled into the gulf.

Nothing.

Such a softball and Brokaw wouldn't even swing at it. Man, I miss Tim.

Wake Up, Americans!!

Big oil and Drilling for $$$

2008-08-02T11:59:00.000-04:00

Ok, so the latest screed from the right (as well as the media) is that we can provide quick relief for gas prices and also screw the likes of Hugo Chavez by just letting Exxon/Mobil drill, drill, and drill for oil off our shores.

We are being told by John McCain that current drilling technology is clean, and safe. Please tell that to the gulf coast residents that lived through Hurricane Katrina

http://www.katrinadestruction.com/images/v/damaged+energy+facilities/

So we know it's not clean nor safe. But, let's say that more oil is pumped from US offshore rigs. Somebody please tell me what impact that will have on oil prices? Now? 6 months? I'm looking for someone to give me numbers here.

The fact is even if we drilled in ANWR, and everywhere we could off our shores, AND we didn't sell it on the open market but kept it for our selves, it would serve our needs for about 1 year according to the US Energy Information Administration.

Wakeup, Americans!

WWJD?

2008-08-02T11:54:00.000-04:00

WWJD? No, it's not what you think. The "J" is for Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson.

I'm reading Thom Hartmann's fantastic book: "What Would Jefferson Do?". After listening to the right wing and evangelicals constantly bring up the Founders when try to make a point, I thought it was time to find out what REALLY was on the founders minds.

Read this book, I'm begging you. I'll write more when I'm finished.

Wakeup, Americans!