Perfect is the Enemy of the Good

Despite the president's critics on the left I am one liberal who loves him.  I wish he could govern for the next twenty years. I believe he is trying his best for the nation.

On Foreign Policy:  Am I happy with absolutely everything? No. Do I want civil liberties to always be recognized? Yes. BUT there are times I am sure the president has ordered things he felt were necessary to protect the nation sacrificing other principles in their wake. I support him for this.

On the Economy: Did I want the CEO the banksters to go before the courts en masse? YES, I did BUT too big to fail CANNOT fail.  He put Wall Streeters in his cabinet to protect the economy.  That WILL protect Main Street. If the OBSTRUCTIONIST Republicans would care about the country they SAY they love and pass more stimulus, jobs would be created, more revenue would be collected which would help the markets even more. If the president got all that he wanted the economy would be even better. But he is dealt a lousy Republican obstructionist often racist hand.  I support his treasury choices even if I was critical in the past.

On guns: AGAIN he is dealt a lousy hand by a right wing extremist violent, hateful group that thinks the Second Amendment gives them license to overthrow the government. NO it does NOT. It was enacted by a fledgling nation of 13 states that needed to protect itself from and ensure its legitimacy to foreign powers so that the people could be armed to protect that nation from a foreign power overthrowing it. It says "WELL REGULATED MILITIA." that means a militia within the states because strong federal government protection had not yet developed. 

The Second Amendment is NOT cover to overthrow the government, it is NOT cover to have any rancid multi-killing weapon of war one wants. One should NOT be able to obtain assault rifles and multi magazine bullet clips. Why? Because those are either meant to kill civilians OR they are meant to overthrow the United States government. That was IMPOSSIBLE in the late 1960's on the left and it likewise is NOT nor should it EVER be possible on the right. 

No government is perfect.  Let us not let the perfect be the enemy of the good.

Say it Ain’t So—the Black Sox Republican Congress

It is inconceivable to me that Republicans would tie their know nothing notion of not raising the debt ceiling to draconian cuts of social benefits needed for the sustaining of life. It is inconceivable to me that Republicans themselves would risk the decomposition of the Republican Party because they hate this black man in the WHITE House so much.  It is inconceivable to me that they would not realize that they will be taking a wrecking ball to the economy of this nation, indeed the world, and that they WILL be consummately blamed for it.

 

Even more incredible is that the Republican Party SUPPOSEDLY the party of patriots and love of country would put the nation through Inquisitional torture that would mean a near death experience for the nation they SAY they love so much. The lives of the military, veterans, seniors, and the disabled who rely on their government benefits would be at risk if the debt ceiling is not raised.  MANY things that ensure the nation’s survival such as air traffic control, the military and the security of our nuclear arsenal would be threatened. The possibility of nuclear material falling into terrorist hands would increase.

 

Incredulous as it may be, the fate of the republic is in the hands of intellectual nincompoops know nothings who would step on their own constituency’s toes rather than see a black man in the White House win at anything.  A relatively small number of Tea Bagger economic terrorists will court the possibility that the nation could plunge into chaos if the debt ceiling, raised historically many times under both Republican and Democratic presidencies would, for the first time, not be raised.

This is NOT a joke and Republicans WILL take the blame for not voting to raise the debt ceiling so the country can pay its bills.  Most will know that the fault for their misery lies at Republican feet.  We will remind the electorate of that fact every chance we get.  Tea Bag families, too, would be hit hard by an impending economic implosion that inaction of their Republican representatives would bring. Is that what Republicans truly want?   It needs to be made crystal clear to the deep red states that they can vote Republicans out of office if Republicans put the very survival of this nation at stake!

 

The debt ceiling, unbelievably, may be held hostage by the Republican Party and, not, in fact, be raised.  If you think our nation cannot be plunged into a darkness heretofore unknown think again.  It can.  Like the Black Sox scandal of 1919 say it ain’t so, Joe.  Say it ain’t so!

 

WHY REPUBLICANS MUST BE VOTED OUT OF OFFICE IF THEY DO NOT RETHINK THEIR IDEOLOGICAL MADNESS.  WRITE OR CALL THOSE REPRESENTATIVES IN REPUBLICAN DISTRICTS AROUND THE NATION AND URGE THEM NOT TO PUNISH THE ENTIRE NATION BY A HISTORICAL FIRST OF DEFAULTING ON OUR NATION’S DEBT!

MOST important email you will ever get from ME--PLEASE READ

PLEASE if you read nothing else I write read this. It is the MOST important opinion you will ever receive and then pass it on. This is one of the BEST opinions yet below which I saw on Huffington. Often the electorate is unknowing, not understanding and ill uninformed about the debt ceiling. They think it's the deficit. It's NOT. Here is what a blogger said on Huffington that is RIGHT on target and that EVERYONE should know. EVERYONE!! Nothing less than your economic well being, my economic well being, the country's economic well being and the WORLD's economic well being is at stake. It behooves you to know it for those you love as well!

"The President needs to hold a prime time address to the nation and explain to them what the debt ceiling is, how we got here and why the Republican game is so risky for this country and the world's global economy.

The debt ceiling has nothing to do with spending. It has everything to do with paying the bills that Congress has already spent the money for.

Bush campaigned against PayGo and when he took office, he and the Republicans repealed PayGo. He went on to put two wars, two tax cuts and a Medicare Part D insurance plan on the national credit card. Orrin Hatch admitted that it was "standard practice not to pay for anything." Bush's VP said "deficits don't matter" so Bush spent more than any President in recent history, followed closely by Reagan.

The last government shutdown stunt that the Republicans pulled in 2011 cost the taxpayers over 18 Billion. It also resulted in the nation's first downgraded credit rating, which the S&P blamed on the Republicans and the Tea Party.

If government shuts down, there will be no SS checks for the elderly and the disabled. There will be no Medicare for them when we are in the middle of a flu epidemic. There will be no pay for active duty military. There will be no Veterans benefits or VA hospital.
Reagan warned about this in the 1980's. It seems today's Teapublicans want to talk about Reagan a lot, but they don't want to govern like Reagan did."

For Those of You Who Love Cats

here or below! Completely utterly adorable! Cat's sleeping. I particularly identify with the one sleeping over the computer!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/10/21-cats-sleeping-weirdest-positions-photos_n_2442428.html?utm_hp_ref=comedy#es_share_ended

Historical Legacy -- "Zero Dark Thirty": A Review

I saw Kathryn Bigelow and Mark Boal's docudrama "Zero Dark Thirty" about the US operation which found and killed Osama bin Laden at his compound in Abbatbad, Pakistan.  I was mesmerized by the action of this film and sat jaw and white knuckled fists clenched.  2/1/2 hours, the film’s length, seemed to go by in minutes.  One cannot appreciate the expertise involved, the courage, and the fierce dedication required to find and kill bin Laden until one sees it or at least an accurate depiction of it.

 

I gave the docudrama film a 9 out of 10 star review on IDMB. I did not give it 10 stars because there have been critiques of most especially the torture scenes shown in the beginning of the film that I think need to be resolved but, perhaps, never will be.  The filmmakers aver that all information they used for the film was based on the truth as they discovered and documented it.  They take nothing back. 

 

To use torture or not to use it – that is the profound question.  Some say torture led to the revelation of Bin Laden’s courier which led to the finding and killing of bin Laden at his compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan.  Glenn Greenwald on the left thinks the depiction of torture was utterly disgusting and the film, he argued, portrayed the false notion that torture leads to the revelation of pertinent terrorist information and further betrays our country’s allegiance to its fundamental civil libertarian principles.  Those on the right have argued that classified material was breached, that the US did not torture but that torture is, indeed, an effective tool for attaining information on those who would do us grave harm which otherwise would go unknown without it.  Many who are much more knowledgeable than I about the details of the operation know the truth but according to Wiki with respect to the all important name of the courier who led them to bin Laden the CIA “will not disclose the name nor how they learned it.”

Are the details of the film absolutely accurate with respect to torture? Did the US use torture which included water-boarding and SO much more to extract the name of bin Laden’s courier leading directly to where Bin Laden was hiding?  The Bush administration we know, by admission, that so called “enhanced interrogation techniques” were permissible. Did the information gleaned from torture in fact lead to the name of bin Laden's courier which led directly to bin Laden's capture and killing in Abbottabad, Pakistan?  I do not know.

No matter what the veracity is concerning these questions, however, the technological expertise of this film is a thing to behold.  I am amazed that the filmmaker took such pains, I believe, to get the details correct AND I am awestruck by the nerves of steel those who were involved in the planning of the historic operation possessed. I am awestruck at the US military personnel who had the courage and the meticulous expertise to conduct it. Ultimately, though, it needed the order from the president to proceed. He gave it. Although the film showed nothing of the president one knows, in the final analysis, if the mission failed the president would have been media pummeled and, perhaps, would have even lost re-election. 

 

But there are other due process questions the film evokes.  How could a president who was a constitutional scholar heavily invested in Fourth Amendment due process allow those who practiced torture previously a pass from prosecution and further how could he use the newly-signed-by-him defense re-authorization act which expands executive power dramatically. It allows the president to conduct, without warrant, without presentation of evidence or trial, drone killings of suspected terrorists given to him on a daily list including the killing of one American citizen Anwar al-Awlaki in Yemen.  Why would the president change so dramatically on these issues? Is he simply securing power?  Does he think the legacy he is leaving is one of seeming bipartisanship? Does he do this to still try beyond the limits of credulity to reach out to the other side which slaps him back continuously? Is he simply duplicitous or does he know he must appease the military industrial complex corporatists or else?

 

I do not know the answer to these questions.  BUT I often think the easiest explanation is the correct one.  I believe the ball must be played where it lies disregarding previous policy decisions, horrible as they may have been, that led up to 9/11. What is at risk on the ground in the Middle East NOW? The Middle East and Al Qaeda which is strewn throughout it are no panacea of civil libertarian ideological purity.

 

What would YOU do?  Do you want this nation with all of its flaws nonetheless to survive? Do you want your posterity to live? There is a point, I suspect, of no return. We must act on what is. I think and I surely hope the president, a civil libertarian scholar to be sure, WILL be faithful to his oath and protect the nation from all enemies foreign and domestic above anything else. I hope history will record it as such.  I leave it to others much more qualified than I to judge. 

 

In the final analysis, I do NOT know what the president truly thinks but the questions surrounding prosecution for torture, extra judicial killing, warrantless wiretapping are pivotal to our nation’s historical legacy and I fear their abridgment may haunt it for generations to come. 

 

 

 

The Good-old Days

A friend sent this to me--scroll below. I ask can you BELIEVE it? Look at how long it took to crush the tobacco companies here -- decades. They still operate with impunity in many parts of the world and advertise to get young people hooked.

Likewise the anti gun effort is just beginning. Like tobacco we MUST persevere against those who advocate for the unregulated use of these killing machines and for strict regulation of guns for those who show some sanity. We can only do today what we can do and hope that tomorrow is a better day!

Our kids and grand-kids will never believe there was a time when these ads ran!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A friend directed me to the site below. It is one Israeli man's simple effort to promote love and not hate. It's so simple that I wondered why did I not think of it. I watched the YouTube of the link below and made a comment that there is more that connects all of us then we may know. Certainly we are genetically connected to all of mankind and we are within our own respective cultural milieu connected to those with whom we or our ancestors often fought.

I urge you to listen and watch the link below or here for a very compelling simple effort one Israeli man did that has, though the wonders of the Internet, been forwarded all over the word. I blogged an off the cuff comment on the site. Quoting me :

This is just beautiful. So much of the hate is politician induced NOT people induced. All it takes is one person to see a common humanity in us all. It's easy to me. Why it is not for others I do not have a clue. Middle Eastern people, Arabs, Persians and the Jewish people have more in common than we have differences. I firmly believe that. For me it is easy to get along and to appreciate and be kind to others. Why it is so difficult is beyond me. All of the Prophets, and all of the major religions teach love and understanding. Overthrow the hate and take the love [each religion preaches] . It's easy. Just do it!

http://www.ted.com/talks/israel_and_iran_a_love_story.html


MOST DEMOCRATS BELIEVE THESE THINGS AS WITNESSED BY OUR COMPOSITION. WE ARE A TAPESTRY OF ALL MANKIND. WORK FOR DEMOCRATS IN 2014 AND 2016 FOR A MORE PEACEFUL WORLD!

What everyone SHOULD know -- please read and tell everyone you know

This is important and it will be short. I urge EVERYONE to tell others they know and most especially in states that have Republican Congress people whose ideology is so cemented they care less if the country goes down than if they stick to their principles which are incorrect. It is UNTHINKABLE. Inform EVERYONE you know what the debt ceiling is, what it is not and what will happen if it is not raised.

The Debt Ceiling what is it NOT. It does NOT NOT NOT mean raising our line of credit so we can spend more. 

What it DOES mean is that the ceiling is raised for DEBTS ALREADY INCURRED BY CONGRESS and it is a promise that those debts WILL BE PAID for PAST stuff. IF you had a mortgage and other bills and you just said one day -- to heck with it I'm not paying for anything. What would happen? Ultimately your credit rating would crash and you would be on the street, vulnerable to attack AND those to whom you owe money would suffer too as they depend upon your payments. If they suffer others suffer because others could not pay their debts either without receiving payment from those who owe them money and so on.

THE US IS NOT A HOUSEHOLD THOUGH. IT IS A COUNTRY AND HAS A HUGE economy ... much bigger than any one person individually. Nations run on debt incurred and a promise to pay hence the debt ceiling is raised. If we do not raise the ceiling which in times past was automatic because our credit rating would crash as would the world economy. On a global and NATIONAL scale this would mean a convulsion would occur HERE AND INTERNATIONALLY if the country fails to pay its debts. THIS IS HUGE AND EVERYONE EVEN TEA PARTIERS THEMSELVES WOULD SUFFER MONUMENTALLY. WE ALL WOULD. Those who are not part of the utra wealthy suffer more and more quickly of course BUT even the rich would suffer as the world would be plunged into chaos. It could mean global DEPRESSION making the Great Depression look mild.

This MUST be understood by all!

IN SHORT THE US CANNOT FAIL TO PAY ITS BILLS AND NEVER HAS. Here is a link that explains it all SIMPLY. Pay attention to this quote:

The debt limit does NOT authorize new spending; instead, it provides the funding to pay for spending commitments that Congress has already made. Since the Treasury can’t issue new debt once the limit has been reached, the government would be forced to slash spending if it exceeds the borrowing limit. The result would be a partial government “shutdown” and a debt default (or the failure to make interest and/or principal payments on time). For any developed market, and particularly for the United States – which has been seen as having the safest bond market of any country in the world – a default is almost unthinkable.

Here is the link which explains it all or
http://bonds.about.com/od/Issues-in-the-News/a/What-Is-The-Debt-Ceiling-A-Simple-Explanation-Of-The-Debate-And-Crisis.htm

p.s. The 14th Amendment in our Constitution may provide that the president cover to do this automatically but the president wants Congress to do this as it always has but defaulting on the debt CANNOT and MUST not happen!

What To Permit or What Not to Permit -- That is the Question

Social deviance and anomie was one of the first phrases I learned in freshman sociology class.  In short, it means that social disorder or crime is linked to a feeling of personal alienation or anomie from the culture.  I thought it a good segué as to how I might express the profundity of what I think has gone wrong in our nation.  Why am I even bothered by this question?  I am bothered because I believe it matters and, yes, I am bothered that I sometimes am seduced by the anger of our new age.

I am a fervent protector of the First Amendment BUT as Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.'s opinion stated in the famous case of Schenck v. United States, 249 US 47 (1919), when, quoting Wikipedia, the Supreme Court explored the limits of the First Amendment protection of free speech.  Justice Holmes said:

The most stringent protection of free speech would not protect a man in falsely shouting fire in a theater and causing a panic.

I aver there is a panic in our crowded theater because there are no limits, no boundaries and no behavioral brakes in our nation's system any longer.  I stand in utter disbelief at the filth that passes as art and the violence that passes as entertainment in our nation. There is no sense of decorum and there is no fear of the consequences of one’s actions or speech.  There is a sexual and violent anarchy of greed in our land that makes this so.  

What is permissible to do and say and what is not that is the question.  At long last, paraphrasing Joseph Welch at the Army McCarthy hearings, have we no sense of decency?   

Kathy Griffin on New Years Eve with the supposed journalist Anderson Cooper spoke things and did things on CNN during the New Year's Eve celebration that I might read on a bathroom wall so the entire world (including children) could see. It was utterly embarrassing and monumentally profane.  Anderson Cooper is supposed to be better than that or so I thought.   

Two evenings ago I happened see part of the film "Reservoir Dogs."  I had heard it was violent but I wanted to see for myself if it was as difficult to watch as some had said and it was so much so I could not watch it as torture and mayhem were visited upon human beings in utterly sickening blood drenched detail.  

Then I happened upon a film called "Good Time Max" about two brothers both of whom were drug addicted.  Do I know that the behavior of addicts can be profane? Yes, of course, I do.  But this film depicted a confrontation between brothers that took the word filth to a new low actually filming and showing one brother's own excrement to exact revenge on the other. The camera cannot simply allude to it but it must show it directly.  I exploded in incredulity.

We are a nation adrift caring little for one another.  Our films show it, our TV news shows it, our books, newspapers and magazines show it, our advertisements show it and the cacophonic decibels of shock jock radio sound it.  Our Congress shows it when one member of status can use the most profane word in disrespect to his colleague so others can hear it or when some in Congress seek the best way to ruin the most vulnerable among us by stripping Medicare or Social Security. When is enough enough?

Is it any wonder we have a murderous Newtown or a theater in Aurora or a Virginia Tech when we have so much vicious violence directed at children and an NRA that thinks more guns carried by teachers armed to the teeth in schools is the answer to the devastating problem of the murder of innocents? What could possibly go wrong?   Is it any wonder we have 300 MILLION guns in our closets?  Is it any wonder we have ad infinitum war conducted by a country supposedly known for its democratic due process exceptionalism but one which has committed abominable atrocities and conducted a war based on lies?  We are a nation that has gone wild and knows no boundaries for its wildness whether at home or abroad.  Worse, most of it has been done for the money it earns.

The Kathy Griffin/Anderson Cooper spectacle was done for ratings which means money and how big an audience can something attain. How much money can the latest violent video game or violent movie make?  How far can sexualized cable TV go to get those ratings and money through its unbridled vulgarity and lasciviousness?  

Who would tune in on New Years Eve to a Guy Lombardo orchestra any more? Okay, so who wants to go back to that?  But Kathy Griffin's profanity with a clearly embarrassed Anderson Cooper is UNACCEPTABLE and is an example of how low we have culturally gone.  Those media events are mere microcosms of how many examples of cultural mayhem there are. Where are the boundaries of vulgarity, violence and greed? There are none and that is sad because of the social deviance and anomie it produces for generations to come.

One More Short IMPORTANT ITEM

When they said that the fiscal so called cliff scenario was only the first part of the fiscal legislation they were right. The Boston Globe quote explains the rest and WHY we must hold Washington’s feat to the fire NOT NOT NOT to destroy Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid. Write, call or send smoke signals to all of Washington and anyone else you know. It said:

“The fiscal patch creates extraordinary pressure to make cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, the Affordable Care Act, and Social Security,” said Ethan Rome, executive director of Health Care for America Now, a grassroots organization that helped pass the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. “These protections are vital to the health and economic security of America’s middle class and those working their way into it. Supporters of these programs need to make clear right now that they will not agree to beneficiary cuts in the future. “

“This deal was only a first step toward tax fairness,” Rome said in a statement Wednesday.“We need comprehensive tax reform that makes the wealthiest Americans and corporations pay their fair share and raises revenue for investments in health care, education, and jobs.”

“Instead of cutting benefits, Washington should be looking for responsible solutions that address the long-term challenges facing Social Security and Medicare — like reducing health care costs throughout the system, not just shifting costs onto seniors,” said Nancy LeaMond, AARP’s executive vice president.

YET AGAIN WHY DEMOCRATS MUST BE ELECTED. CAN YOU IMAGINE WHAT WOULD HAVE HAPPENED TO US IF SOCIAL SECURITY WERE NOT THERE DURING THE GREAT RECESSION? WELL WE ARE NOT TOTALLY OUT OF THAT AND MOST IMPORTANTLY OUR CURRENT ECONOMIC SYSTEM IS GUARANTEED TO HAVE MORE AS IT HAS THROUGHOUT OUR HISTORY. BOOMS, BUSTS, PANICS, RECESSIONS AND DEPRESSIONS ARE PART OF OUR ECONOMIC LANDSCAPE FROM THE BEGINNING! THE REPUBLICAN PARTY HAS BEEN TRYING TO RID US OF MEDICARE AND SOCIAL SECURITY FOR DECADES. FDR'S NEW DEAL SAVED THE REPUBLIC DO NOT LET REPUBLICANS TURN IT INTO MORE OF THE NEAR OLIGARCHY IT ALREADY IN MANY WAYS IS.
--

Best Explanation of tax cuts and increases I have found

Nope, I surely am not Einstein and when a number or the word tax is in a sentence. My brain spasms.   CNN explained last evening why EVERYONE was going to see some kind of tax increase.  I did not get it as I thought the president ensured 99% would not.  What I was not understanding was the PAYROLL tax for those who are working.   I prefer to call a "holiday" and it was in place for only two years by Obama.   The PAYROLL tax is different from the rest of the tax increases where those making under 400,000 will NOT see an increase at all but if you are rich you will.     As I understand it the Payroll Tax was ONLY a TWO year holiday anyway.  NOTE BENE:  Payroll taxes SUPPORT Social Security!.  Everyone especially the middle class and working class SHOULD want that if you want any kind of retirement short of the street.  

The following is in the publication "The Blaze."  I thought it the best explanation yet of the fiscal cliff deal.  This is how they explain it for those whose synapses are short circuiting about the dry subject of  taxes:

“For most people, [the increase for wage earners] is just the payroll tax,” said Roberton Williams, a senior fellow at the Tax Policy Center.

The tax increases could be a lot higher. A huge package of tax cuts first enacted under President George W. Bush was scheduled to expire Tuesday as part of the “fiscal cliff.” The Bush-era tax cuts lowered taxes for families at every income level, reduced investment taxes and the estate tax, and enhanced a number of tax credits, including a $1,000-per-child credit.

The package passed Tuesday by the Senate and House extends most the Bush-era tax cuts for individuals making less than $400,000 and married couples making less than $450,000.

Obama said the deal “protects 98 percent of Americans and 97 percent of small business owners from a middle-class tax hike. While neither Democrats nor Republicans got everything they wanted, this agreement is the right thing to do for our country.”

The income threshold covers more than 99 percent of all households, exceeding Obama’s claim, according to the Tax Policy Center. However, the increase in payroll taxes will hit nearly every wage earner.

Social Security is financed by a 12.4 percent tax on wages (payroll) up to $113,700, with employers paying half and workers paying the other half. Obama and Congress reduced the share paid by workers from 6.2 percent to 4.2 percent for 2011 and 2012, saving a typical family about $1,000 a year.

***Obama pushed hard to enact the payroll tax cut for 2011 and to extend it through 2012. But it was never fully embraced by either party, and this time around, there was general agreement to let it expire.

The new tax package would increase the income tax rate from 35 percent to 39.6 percent on income above $400,000 for individuals and $450,000 for married couples. Investment taxes would increase for people who fall in the new top tax bracket.

High-income families will also pay higher taxes this year as part of Obama’s 2010 health care law. As part of that law, a new 3.8 percent tax is being imposed on investment income for individuals making more than $200,000 a year and couples making more than $250,000.

Together, the new tax package and Obama’s health care law will produce significant tax increases for many high-income families.

For 2013, households making between $500,000 and $1 million would get an average tax increase of $14,812, according to the Tax Policy Center analysis. Households making more than $1 million would get an average tax increase of $170,341. [THEY SHOULD!]

“If you’re rich, you’re almost certain to get a big tax increase,” Williams said. [I SAY GOOD and remember to separate the PAYROLL TAX from everything else!]

IT IS CLEAR WHY THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY SHOULD BE SUPPORTED AND WHY WE MUST ELECT DEMOCRATS ACROSS THE BOARD.  THE REPUBLICAN PARTY IS NOT ABOUT MOST ANYONE EXCEPT THE TOP 2% IN WEALTH! AND THEY DO NOT NOT NOT CREATE JOBS.  THEY SINK AN ECONOMY AS THEY DID DURING THE PAST 30 YEARS!!

Short Reflection After the Cliff

I STILL support the president! I do NOT think he lied as some on the left and, of course, the right do. I still think if he could have done what he truly wanted he would have but the Republican block does one thing well - it blocks. They still have a majority in the House and blocking numbers in the Senate.

Again, emphasis must, I think, be placed on this obstructionist Republican Party which plays appeasement with their racist tea baggie extreme. They are intractable and blocked what the president originally wanted. A large part of the threatening Republican base still cannot see a black man and his black family in the oh so White House. I believe that is the springboard for Republican imperviousness.

It does seem the payroll tax holiday is done BUT it may come back with the new Congress which has shed some virus as the Dems increased in the Senate and some wingnuts in the House were booted. The Dems got many other things too numerous to list. 

 
The media is saying, a huge fight about spending and the so called "entitlements" or as I like to call them benefits of Medicare and Social Security is going to ensue. This "debate" will make the fiscal cliff, they say, look small. I hope that is media hype to get you to watch them is wrong. My advice -- like I have credibility on this -- is DON'T watch.

More tax reform, spending cuts, and other fiscal fights must ensue including the potentially devastating blow up on the debt ceiling. I am fastening my seat belt which I hate to do so I will fasten it not too tightly but realizing there may be a bump ride ahead.

The solution: give Republicans in local, state and national elections the boot so something can finally be done for the nation.

Short of the cliff what we get IF the House complies -- IF

I support the president and Democrats should too! IF he could have done the best liberals wanted he SURELY would have. No president ever with the exception of perhaps Lincoln had to deal with the most obstructionist opposition in the history of this nation. They are utterly intractable and every absolutely every cent Democrats raise should be to the purpose of unseating Republicans at both the national and most importantly at the state level in 2014. Republican especially Tea Bags would rather see people die than government help those who through no fault of their own cannot help themselves .

Our president is light years better than a Mitt Romney ever would have been. Count your blessings. Democrats and other progressive independents too do NOT betray a president that has worked his hardest for us under HUGELY difficult circumstances and often racist animus. He is, in my view, a SAINT and has the patience of Job!

Yes, I often see things as other critical progressives do BUT I am also a pragmatist.  I want the best we can do playing the ball where it lies.  

Now we must hope the part horrible House says aye.  I will believe it when I see it but it may happen.  Here's hoping it does!

Here is also what one blogger iterated explaining what we got.  I believe his assessment at least for now is correct and YES, of course I worry about the House accepting it.  It is not law until it does.

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL!!  I hope it stays happy. 

WHAT COMPROMISE LOOKS LIKE

The GOP did not want to raise income taxes on anyone.
The GOP wanted to tie deep spending cuts into any deal.
The GOP did not want to see extensions in key Democratic favored programs.
It did not get what it wanted.


It did get $150,000 increase in the tax ceiling, and it joined the democrats in supporting several tax credit extensions, 

The Dems did very well indeed (read on to find out how)..

Here is what the deal does:

A) All wage earners will see their payroll taxes return to 6.2 percent on earnings up to $113,700 in order to return the funding stream to Social Security and Medicare.

B) Individuals who earn more than $400,000 and couples who make more than $450,000 will see income tax rates increase from 35% to 39.6% For people at those income levels, tax rates on capital gains and dividends are expected to rise to 20%, up from 15%. In addition to the capital gain and dividend rates, health care reform will levy a new surtax of 3.8%  on capital gains for wealthy Americans, pushing up the top capital gains rate to 23.8%.

C) Estate tax rates are poised to rise from 35% to 40% for estates valued at more than $5 million.

D) Creation of  a permanent inflation "patch" that would shield millions of middle class taxpayers from the AMT (Alternative Minimum Tax that is supposed to guarantee that wealthy taxpayers pay a minimum amount of federal income tax, regardless of deductions, credits or exemptions. In essence, it is a flat tax with two brackets -- 26% and 28%)

E) Extended Measures/Programs:
- Unemployment extended for one year, preserving benefits for 2 million Americans who were at risk for losing benefits at year's end.

- The Child Tax Credit, Earned Income Tax Credit and Obama Opportunity Tax Credit (college tuition credits) will all be extended for five more years.

- One-year extension of the Research and Experimentation Tax Credit and Production Tax Credit, Alternative Energy Credits, along with an extension of the 50 percent Bonus Depreciation for businesses' capital expenditures.

- One-year extension of the DocFix current Medicare reimbursement rates, shielding participating doctors from a potential 27% cut in reimbursements.

AND...It would also temporarily delay the sequester -- i.e., billions of dollars in across-the-board spending cuts -- for another two months....when the debt ceiling debate will be a full force.

It will pass the Senate in a bipartisan vote and Boehner is going to have accept Democratic support in the House (which will weaken him). Not Bad.

A Final View From the Cliff

Mr. Ross Douthat in his December 30, 2012 NYT editorial entitled “How to Read in 2013”  linked here or below, suggests we should all read a variety of publications opposite to one’s point of view.  Yes, this is what a fair-minded member of the electorate should do. I have dedicated decades to at least trying to look at both sides of issues from both sides of the political spectrum but I had come to an age where I had to form core beliefs or forever be politically wandering and weightlessly floundering in endless space looking for a place to sit. I have read alternative right wing points of view over years.  I came to the conclusion if that part of the political spectrum gains immense power I fear for the viability of our nation. 

Therefore, reading more right wing ideology is impossible for me to endure. In the end I believe we are all in this together; that we either sink or swim together or we die alone. No matter what Ayn Rand, Paul Ryan, the Heritage Foundation, Wall Street Journal, National Review, etc. says I believe they are not only fundamentally wrong in their basic points of view but threatening to the our republic. I believe the right could be responsible for the death of those who through no fault of their own and for a variety of reasons need the help of the nation for which they have worked hard and to which they have pledged their allegiance. 

I fear the right's cruel belief system. Without safety nets, healthcare and other government benefits earned over a lifetime many will die who should not. I will stick to Paul Krugman, the NYT in general, the Nation Magazine and some of the best sites on the left Democracy Now and the Real. They speak truth no matter how difficult to hear and advocate for a more humane world.

  

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/30/opinion/sunday/douthat-how-to-read-in-2013.html?hp&_r=0

 

 

Philosophical Cliff Notes

I am breaking my New Year's resolution before New Year’s is even upon us. I promised I would turn many cheeks, that I would temper my temper and know that I could not change many things but that, at least, I would possess, as the Serenity Prayer states, the wisdom to change the things I can. I promised I would keep my anger in check against those politically imperfect whom I perceive to be the enemy of the good.
I advocate for the poor, the disabled and the dispossessed; for the hungry, for the middle class; for those who lost their jobs; for those who lost their homes; for those who could not seek medical attention and for those for whom most of the great wise men in centuries past say they cared.

Much of Christian philosophical thought appeals to me. Jesus said the first shall be last and the last first. He bestowed hope on the hopeless and eased guilt for one's station in life. It is easier, he said, for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. He fed the hungry, healed the sick and preached love not hate. He said if a man smite you on one cheek turn to him the other also and he, of course, said to love even one's enemies. Following his commands is difficult but I love what he is alleged to have taught. I am neither a Christian nor even a theist but I am a human being who wants to help even when helping seems a distant hope. Ted Kennedy eulogized his brother Robert and said his brother "saw wrong and tried to right it, saw suffering and tried to heal it, saw war and tried to stop it." To that I say bravo.

Alas, I am human. Yet again, I shake my fist in anger at a Republican Party which claims to believe in their Christian faith but who acts the antithesis of it. My heart burns with rage as the so called "fiscal cliff" draws near. Danger lurks in the distance but the opposition will not compromise. Republicans advocate for those who need no advocate. They care nothing for those who get so little but suffer so much as the merciless weapons of Wall Street have killed middle class hope. My anger knows no softening as the Republican position against the middle class turns to cement in the sands of cruelty. My fury is cultivated when compromise is eschewed but ignorance and racist thought is championed.

I want to turn the other cheek and run from my fiery rage but when one possesses no more cheeks to turn revenge is the only fire escape. I urge you to exact your pound of Shakespearean flesh by contacting your elected officials. Tell them to tax the rich and by saving the middle class save the nation. If that fails the ballot box in 2014 is available to throw the Tea Bag Republican Party overboard and rid our land of this intractable plague and terrible uncompromising scourge.

That is my hope and that is my prayer. There will, however, be an end to our imperial power if our nation offers no safety net for our poor and our sick. There will be no imperial power if our middle class fails. There WILL be an end to this American exceptional experiment as the angel of death shows its ugly face in the halls of Congress. There WILL be a high price to pay if a fiscal compromise is not reached. Falling off the cliff awaits and gives rise to the fear in me that the meek will not inherit the earth as Jesus said they would because man continually sows the wind and reaps the whirlwind!

THERE IS NO NEED ANYMORE TO SAY THAT THIS IS WHY WE MUST ELECT DEMOCRATS IN EVERY YEAR, IN EVERY STATE AND IN THE NATION AS WELL. OUR LIVES DEPEND THAT WE DO!

Out of Many ONE! Scroll down and listen

his is SO beautiful it made me cry!  Scroll down

 to begin 

 

Start your day with this…enjoy!
 

 

 

 

 

 

Flash mob Italian style.

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=GBaHPND2QJg&feature=youtu.be
 

 

My Take

Michael Kranish's December 23, Sunday Globe article "The candidate who never really let voters in" link here or below analyzed many aspects of the Romney campaign that failed and allowed the president a commanding victory and Romney a stunning loss. The blame ranged from people who controlled his campaign, the GOP primaries that hurt the candidate himself, to the over abundant minority vote and less abundant white vote.

Romney's son Tagg's revealing that Romney wanted the presidency less than any other was perhaps the most stunning admission of all. If true that served to reinforce for me that the REAL blame for Romney's loss is that Romney tried to fit a round peg into a square hole. I believe it was not Romney the man but Romney the snake oil salesman he was commanded to be by the Republican base which demanded radical right ideological purity that lost the election for him. Romney had to cast aside groups which in Massachusetts he courted -- women, pro-choice voters and gays. Heck he even sent an emissary to the gay pride parade in Massachusetts when he was running for governor. It was not Mitt Romney himself who lost the election but the Romney base that lost it for him as it demanded something which was not who he was. When he and others are finally nominated by Republican base and need to run nationally they lose. 

The nation is centrist in nature sometimes a little right and sometimes a little left but what they are NOT is extreme. No matter how good the Republican bench is their candidates may lie to appeal to the Republican base but the lie of who they are is not lost by the general electorate and they reject it. Republicans if they do not carve out a better brand -- which they seem not inclined to do -- will lose every time!

http://epaper.bostonglobe.com/epaper/viewer.aspx

Love, Help and Hope

The opinion below written by Michael Moore is one of the best pieces I have ever read explaining our national nightmare of violence. Michael Moore not only creates wonderful documentaries, is a humanitarian at heart but writes ever-so-well too.

I urge you to read "Celebrating the Prince of Peace in the Land of Guns -- a letter from Michael Moore" in its entirety and paste it below for you to do so. I hope in our hour of dismay that its content is heard throughout the land. I suspect Christ's response to Newtown would not be to get more guns. It is just my suspicion though.

Yes, I am a Jew and Jewish theology does not recognize the divinity of Christ. I am not a believer in religious orthodoxy of any type but I have always loved the philosophic message of Christianity as I see it. I have adopted some of its important tenets as I carved out, decades ago, my political thought. Its message to me is simple -- love, help and hope. Yes, love for your fellow man, help one another, and through both of these things hope for the reality of a better way to live.

To my Christian friends Merry Christmas and to all the others from whatever faith or no faith one springs I wish you all happy holidays and hope for

PEACE in our time!


Natalie

"Celebrating the Prince of Peace in the Land of Guns -- a letter from Michael Moore"

Monday, December 24th, 2012

Friends,

After watching the deranged, delusional National Rifle Association press conference on Friday, it was clear that the Mayan prophecy had come true. Except the only world that was ending was the NRA's. Their bullying power to set gun policy in this country is over. The nation is repulsed by the massacre in Connecticut, and the signs are everywhere: a basketball coach at a post-game press conference; the Republican Joe Scarborough; a pawn shop owner in Florida; a gun buy-back program in New Jersey; a singing contest show on TV, and the conservative gun-owning judge who sentenced Jared Loughner.

So here's my little bit of holiday cheer for you:

These gun massacres aren't going to end any time soon.

I'm sorry to say this. But deep down we both know it's true. That doesn't mean we shouldn't keep pushing forward – after all, the momentum is on our side. I know all of us – including me – would love to see the president and Congress enact stronger gun laws. We need a ban on automatic AND semiautomatic weapons and magazine clips that hold more than 7 bullets. We need better background checks and more mental health services. We need to regulate the ammo, too.

But, friends, I would like to propose that while all of the above will certainly reduce gun deaths (ask Mayor Bloomberg – it is virtually impossible to buy a handgun in New York City and the result is the number of murders per year has gone from 2,200 to under 400), it won't really bring about an end to these mass slayings and it will not address the core problem we have. Connecticut had one of the strongest gun laws in the country. That did nothing to prevent the murders of 20 small children on December 14th.

In fact, let's be clear about Newtown: the killer had no criminal record so he would never have shown up on a background check. All of the guns he used were legally purchased. None fit the legal description of an "assault" weapon. The killer seemed to have mental problems and his mother had him seek help, but that was worthless. As for security measures, the Sandy Hook school was locked down and buttoned up BEFORE the killer showed up that morning. Drills had been held for just such an incident. A lot of good that did.

And here's the dirty little fact none of us liberals want to discuss: The killer only ceased his slaughter when he saw that cops were swarming onto the school grounds – i.e, the men with the guns. When he saw the guns a-coming, he stopped the bloodshed and killed himself. Guns on police officers prevented another 20 or 40 or 100 deaths from happening. Guns sometimes work. (Then again, there was an armed deputy sheriff at Columbine High School the day of that massacre and he couldn't/didn't stop it.)

I am sorry to offer this reality check on our much-needed march toward a bunch of well-intended, necessary – but ultimately, mostly cosmetic – changes to our gun laws. The sad facts are these: Other countries that have guns (like Canada, which has 7 million guns – mostly hunting guns – in their 12 million households) have a low murder rate. Kids in Japan watch the same violent movies and kids in Australia play the same violent video games (Grand Theft Auto was created by a British company; the UK had 58 gun murders last year in a nation of 63 million people). They simply don't kill each other at the rate that we do. Why is that? THAT is the question we should be exploring while we are banning and restricting guns: Who are we?

I'd like to try to answer that question.

We are a country whose leaders officially sanction and carry out acts of violence as a means to often an immoral end. We invade countries who didn't attack us. We're currently using drones in a half-dozen countries, often killing civilians.

This probably shouldn't come as a surprise to us as we are a nation founded on genocide and built on the backs of slaves. We slaughtered 600,000 of each other in a civil war. We "tamed the Wild West with a six-shooter," and we rape and beat and kill our women without mercy and at a staggering rate: every three hours a women is murdered in the USA (half the time by an ex or a current); every three minutes a woman is raped in the USA; and every 15 seconds a woman is beaten in the USA.

We belong to an illustrious group of nations that still have the death penalty (North Korea, Saudi Arabia, China, Iran). We think nothing of letting tens of thousands of our own citizens die each year because they are uninsured and thus don't see a doctor until it's too late.

Why do we do this? One theory is simply "because we can." There is a level of arrogance in the otherwise friendly American spirit, conning ourselves into believing there's something exceptional about us that separates us from all those "other" countries (there are indeed many good things about us; the same could also be said of Belgium, New Zealand, France, Germany, etc.). We think we're #1 in everything when the truth is our students are 17th in science and 25th in math, and we're 35th in life expectancy. We believe we have the greatest democracy but we have the lowest voting turnout of any western democracy. We're biggest and the best at everything and we demand and take what we want.

And sometimes we have to be violent [beasts] to get it. But if one of us goes off-message and shows the utterly psychotic nature and brutal results of violence in a Newtown or an Aurora or a Virginia Tech, then we get all "sad" and "our hearts go out to the families" and presidents promise to take "meaningful action." Well, maybe this president means it this time. He'd better. An angry mob of millions is not going to let this drop.While we are discussing and demanding what to do, may I respectfully ask that we stop and take a look at what I believe are the three extenuating factors that may answer the question of why we Americans have more violence than most anyone else:

1. POVERTY. If there's one thing that separates us from the rest of the developed world, it's this. 50 million of our people live in poverty. One in five Americans goes hungry at some point during the year. The majority of those who aren't poor are living from paycheck to paycheck. There's no doubt this creates more crime. Middle class jobs prevent crime and violence. (If you don't believe that, ask yourself this: If your neighbor has a job and is making $50,000/year, what are the chances he's going to break into your home, shoot you and take your TV? Nil.)

2. FEAR/RACISM. We're an awfully fearful country considering that, unlike most nations, we've never been invaded. (No, 1812 wasn't an invasion. We started it.) Why on earth would we need 300 million guns in our homes? I get why the Russians might be a little spooked (over 20 million of them died in World War II). But what's our excuse? Worried that the Indians from the casino may go on the warpath? Concerned that the Canadians seem to be amassing too many Tim Horton's donut shops on both sides of the border?

No. It's because too many white people are afraid of black people. Period. The vast majority of the guns in the U.S. are sold to white people who live in the suburbs or the country. When we fantasize about being mugged or home invaded, what's the image of the perpetrator in our heads? Is it the freckled-face kid from down the street – or is it someone who is, if not black, at least poor?

I think it would be worth it to a) do our best to eradicate poverty and re-create the middle class we used to have, and b) stop promoting the image of the black man as the boogeyman out to hurt you. Calm down, white people, and put away your guns.

3. THE "ME" SOCIETY. I think it's the every-man-for-himself ethos of this country that has put us in this mess and I believe it's been our undoing. Pull yourself up by your bootstraps! You're not my problem! This is mine!Clearly, we are no longer our brother's and sister's keeper. You get sick and can't afford the operation? Not my problem. The bank has foreclosed on your home? Not my problem. Can't afford to go to college? Not my problem.
And yet, it all sooner or later becomes our problem, doesn't it? Take away too many safety nets and everyone starts to feel the impact. Do you want to live in that kind of society, one where you will then have a legitimate reason to be in fear? I don't.

I'm not saying it's perfect anywhere else, but I have noticed, in my travels, that other civilized countries see a national benefit to taking care of each other. Free medical care, free or low-cost college, mental health help. And I wonder – why can't we do that? I think it's because in many other countries people see each other not as separate and alone but rather together, on the path of life, with each person existing as an integral part of the whole. And you help them when they're in need, not punish them because they've had some misfortune or bad break. I have to believe one of the reasons gun murders in other countries are so rare is because there's less of the lone wolf mentality amongst their citizens. Most are raised with a sense of connection, if not outright solidarity. And that makes it harder to kill one another.Well, there's some food for thought as we head home for the holidays. Don't forget to say hi to your conservative brother-in-law for me. Even he will tell you that, if you can't nail a deer in three shots – and claim you need a clip of 30 rounds – you're not a hunter my friend, and you have no business owning a gun.

Have a wonderful Christmas or a beautiful December 25th!

Yours,
Michael Moore
MMFlint@MichaelMoore.com
@MMFlint
MichaelMoore.com