View From The Midwest

The Nero-Cons Ride Again

2009-02-11T12:49:00.006-06:00

This week we have seen the wrangling over the stimulus package as the Republicans have tried to assert some control over how the money will be spent. We have seen the Democrats cutting money out of the bill, primarily for education, in order to get some Republican support for the bill in the senate. The breakdown is:

· $3.5 billion would be cut for work on higher education facilities.
· All $16 billion from the original bill for K-12 school construction.
· More than $1 billion from Head Start.
· $40 billion from a $79 billion proposal to help states pay education costs while trying to balance their own budgets.

Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE), involved in the negotiations with Susan Collins (R-ME) and Arlen Specter (R-PA), said the cuts were necessary because “the Republicans have an aversion to spending on education.” I know I certainly wonder why the Republicans are so worried about "generational theft," what John McCain describes as “a transfer of wealth from future generations to today's leaders,” but aren’t worried that future generations might not be adequately educated and able to meet the challenges of the future. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) responded: "Fighting a war without paying for it. Letting the banks be run like casinos on their own account, is that theft? You're damn right is is."
John Boehner (R-OH) said on “Meet the Press” that the Republicans didn’t want to be “the party of ‘No’ but the party of better ideas and better solutions.” When asked for specifics, he said “he’ll get back to us over the coming months.” Eric Cantor (R-VA), echoed the same talking point, saying that the Republicans "will not be the party of ‘No’ but will someday offer solutions and alternatives.” Shades of Sarah Palin. This is the Republicans still fighting against F.D.R’s New Deal. They were partially successful then in slowing spending intended to lift us out of the Republican Great Depression , which slowed the recovery. They are worried that if Pres. Obama is successful in reversing the economic collapse brought on by thirty years of Regonomics, (and eight years of Bush & Co. raiding the Treasury) they will again become irrelevant for a generation.
The most recent example of how bad things are in the real world was President Obama’s visit to Elkhart, IN. on Monday. Unemployment in the Elkhart-Goshen, area was 15.3 percent in January, the same month we saw more than a half-million jobs disappear nationwide. Elkhart resident Yvonne Sell said, "Here in Elkhart, I've never seen things as bad as they are. When you open the newspaper, unless you want to be a topless dancer, there's nothing." Robert Dunlop, president of J.A. Wagner Construction in Elkhart observed: "Unfortunately, when you drop a ton of money to pay billion-dollar bonuses on the East Coast, it kind of sucks on the Midwest, If banks can free up a little bit of credit so that people can buy products and get people back to work, that would be good for this area."
Had the financial sector actually used the money they received prior to the election to make credit available, many businesses would not have been stuck between the rock of bankruptcy and the hard spot of lay-offs. The Republicans, who have positioned themselves as champions of overseas outsourcing, keep insisting tax cuts will solve everything. They don’t seem to understand that you have to have a job in order to benefit from a tax cut. Without a job, people spend less, and the economy as a whole slows down. How much we are spending keeps dropping. What are Americans still buying? According to Frank Rich of the New York Times, we are still buying “Big Macs, Campbell’s soup, Hershey’s chocolate and Spam — the four food groups of the apocalypse.”

Neo-Con or Neo-Fascist?

2009-01-29T16:12:00.005-06:00

The most amazing thing happened yesterday. All the Republicans voted in a block against the latest stimulus package put forth by the Obama administration. That wasn’t the amazing thing though; it was that the die was cast before they even saw the plan in its entirety. House Republican leader John Boener was telling his fellow Republicans that they were going to vote “No” no matter what the bill said. They are trying to play to their base for the 2010 election cycle instead of trying to put the brakes on the economic downhill slide they helped to create. For the last eight years Boener & Co. have been unabashed cheerleaders for every spending program Bush and the Republican leadership proposed, now he and his fellow house members want us to believe that they are fiscal conservatives who are watching out for all of us. The same bunch who happily welched on their 1994 “Contract On America” when they figured we weren’t looking are now hoping we’ll forget the real origins of the current financial disaster. Remember all the things they promised they would do? Like 12-year term limits on members of the US Congress, the creation jobs and raising worker wages, and require a balanced budget. Here’s a more complete list:

The Fiscal Responsibility Act
The Taking Back Our Streets Act
The Personal Responsibility Act
The American Dream Restoration Act
The National Security Restoration Act
The "Common Sense" Legal Reform Act
The Job Creation and Wage Enhancement Act
The Citizen Legislature Act

The Contract had promised 10 bills to implement major reform of the Federal Government. When the 104th Congress assembled in January 1995, the Republican majority sought to implement the Contract. During the first hundred days of the 104th Congress, the Republicans promised to” bring to the floor the ten bills, each to be given a full and open debate, each to be given a clear and fair vote, and each to be immediately available for public inspection". Most of the bills died in the Republican dominated Senate. In fact a November 13, 2000 article by Edward H. Crane, president of the libertarian Cato Institute, stated, "... the combined budgets of the 95 major programs that the Contract with America promised to eliminate have increased by 13%." Now they are apparently taking their marching orders from an out of the mainstream, doctor shopping, Viagra popping radio talk show host to whom they must genuflect or be drummed out of the Neocon Corps. Either there is an extreme disconnect between the Republican view of the country and actual reality, or they are once again putting personal gain ahead of their responsibility to the country. While these kinds of loyalty tests are standard for Republicans, one must wonder who are they loyal to, the country or the party? They seem to have forgotten their much touted campaign talking point of Country First. I believe that the Republicans, as the 21st century Reichsinnenminiserium are working hand in hand with Rush, leading their Reichsinnenminiserium fur Propaganda und Volksaufklarung, in trying to rewrite history as fast as they can, while both keep taking their orders from Karl Rove. All of this deference to Limbaugh is just The Puppet Master quashing all independent thought while keeping everybody moving in lockstep. This is just business as usual for the Neo-Cons as they try to keep grabbing for everything they can get without regard for the consequences.

They aren’t concerned about our future; they are concerned we might catch on.

The Specter of Limbaugh

2009-01-23T14:31:00.005-06:00

The two stories that caught my eye (barely) were Rush Limbaugh saying he hopes President Obama fails, and Arlen Specter delaying Eric Holder’s appointment as Attorney General, and Specter’s incredible behavior during the hearing. I say barely because they were barely reported on in the mainstream media. In Rush’s case I have no argument with that, since his fifteen minutes would have been over long ago if there was any real competition in the markets he is in. In Specter’s case though, the idea that a Republican senator wants to prevent us from having an AG is (or should be) front-page news.

These are the same people who have repeatedly claimed the moral high ground in everything they do. One story I heard claims that Specter won’t stop until Holder agrees not to prosecute anyone involved in torturing prisoners at Gitmo and elsewhere. The conspiracy theory back-story is that the statute of limitations on George Bush’s authorizing the warrant less wiretapping of all Americans ends in mid-March. This is the program that sent White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales and President Bush's chief of staff, Andrew Card to the hospital room of then AG John Ashcroft on the night of March 10, 2004 to get Ashcroft to sign a re-authorization of the Patriot act. Ashcroft, still under the effects of anesthesia, refused to sign, and so George Bush signed the authorization. The story is that Specter wants to run out the clock, making any prosecution almost impossible.

As to Limbaugh, consider the source. This is the same guy who said drug addicts belonged in jail, not in rehab. His most recent soon-to-be denied quote was to listeners of his syndicated radio show.
Limbaugh told his listeners that he was asked by a major American print publication to give them a 400-word statement describing his hope for the Obama administration. He responded:

‘So I’m thinking of replying to the guy, “Okay, I’ll send you a response, but I don’t need 400 words, I need four: I hope he fails.” (interruption) What are you laughing at? See, here’s the point. Everybody thinks it’s outrageous to say. Look, even my staff, “Oh, you can’t do that.” Why not? Why is it any different, what’s new, what is unfair about my saying I hope liberalism fails? Liberalism is our problem. Liberalism is what’s gotten us dangerously close to the precipice here. Why do I want more of it? I don’t care what the Drive-By story is. I would be honored if the Drive-By Media headlined me all day long: “Limbaugh: I Hope Obama Fails.” Somebody’s gotta say it.’

So Rush wants Obama to fail to resolve the war, the economic mess the Bushies left, including the housing and banking crisis and near record unemployment. So in reality he wants America to fail.

Why does Rush hate America?

2009 - the Final End of 1984

2009-01-21T14:18:00.006-06:00

Well, it is official now, we have President Obama in command, and “W” is finally a member of the Ex-Presidents Club. It was interesting to watch the inauguration yesterday, as much for seeing a new president take office as to watch the reactions of those on their way out. George Bush barely reacted to most of Obama’s speech, lamely clapping in some spots and smirking or grimacing in others when Obama mentioned subjects like an end to governing through fear and the false choice between safety and freedom. Dick Cheney didn’t react at all, after arriving in a wheelchair, supposedly having injured his back moving boxes. I really don’t see Cheney moving boxes unless they were full of the documents he intends to withhold in defiance of the Presidential Records Act.

There were impromptu choruses of “Na-Na, Hey-Hey, Goodbye” among the few onlookers as Bush entered the Presidential helicopter for his final ride to Andrews AFB for the trip home. I had heard some debate on how Bush would return to Texas. I was willing to pass the hat for the U-Haul. I could imagine the Kennebunkport cowboy and the schoolmarm traveling across the country, seeing Ruby Falls, getting their picture taken next to the Worlds Largest Ball of Twine, and finally being confronted by some dissenting opinions, though I suspect he would convince himself that they were really telling him he is “Number One.”
Now we will get to see the last minute pardons (if any) made by former President Bush. There are two schools of thought on that. The first is that every one in the administration will get a blanket pardon, stopping any investigation. The second is that no one will get one (except perhaps Cheney and Bush himself) because then every one will be subject to the consequences of their actions which will keep everybody quiet, since a Presidential Pardon could eliminate any excuse for not testifying by removing any Fifth Amendment objections.

I want the crimes of the last administration will be investigated. The suggestions to the contrary being put forward by the phalanx of conservative talk show hosts is simply an effort to lay the foundation of the stonewall. I can’t imagine any regular citizen standing in court and getting anywhere by telling the judge “there is no reason to look back, we need to look forward now”. I can only hope that the recent exit interviews by Bush and Cheney, bragging about their policy of torture and secret wiretapping of American citizens will be usable in court. I also want to see an investigation of where all the money has gone, both in Iraq and in the first round of TARP money, which seems to have gone down a black hole. Let us also not forget the crowning jewel of the Bush legacy, revealing the identity of undercover CIA agent Valerie Plame during wartime.

I hope the current Democratic congressional leadership will grow the spine needed to look into all these things (and more, I’m sure). Despite the efforts of Henry Waxman and John Conyers, there appears to be no real effort to look into anything. Nancy Pelosi took impeachment off the table as soon as she was House Speaker, and Harry Reid goes into a swoon anytime a Republican stamps his/her foot.

George Santayana said "Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it” in response to Francis Bacon's statement that "A little philosophy inclineth man's mind to atheism, but depth in philosophy bringeth men's minds about to religion." We have seen the depth of the philosophy of the Neocon religion of “I’ve got mine” in action. Lets hope we don’t forget the results.