A Nation of Immigrants

I am very happy with the president's prosecutorial change easing the grip of arrest, indictment and deportation of thousands of innocent children born to undocumented workers. They often know no other life but life in these United States bestowed upon them by their parents. This is why progressives and others of like-minded humanitarian belief MUST support the president.

His move was a FABULOUS move from a political perspective securing the Latino vote now even more solidly than before. In reality, though, to me, it does not matter whether this is a shrewd political calculation or if its motivation is as pure as the driven snow. That is not important. What matters is the freedom that this gives to children of an oppressed minority most of whom love this country, want to work, be educated, make a living and be left alone to thrive within it. Now their children can, albeit in two year increments, attempt to do that. What is important is the removal of the state placing a tyrannical yoke around the neck of those who wish this country no harm, indeed, conversely want to contribute to the success and defense of this nation. This still is not a passage of the so called Dream Act which I hope, if electoral reversal of an obstructionist Congress can be achieved, will ultimately occur.

We in this country, a country of immigrants, always have moved toward a wider expansion of human rights, an inclusion of a more diverse people and not in reverse away from that in transit to a previous century. We can and we will never go back. We will always move forward and rejoice in a coming change in the demographic hard wire of this country. It WILL be, ultimately a new day and the opposition Republican Party of white knows it. This president shows time and time again he is the superior candidate to the chilled, stiff and uncomfortable-in-his-own-skin Romney.

IF the president enjoyed a Congress with whom he could work, which was not obstructionist cheering as they do in near treasonous fashion for the country to fail, then this president could and would catapult our nation to a positive new day. Let us for him and for us return the House to a deep blue again, keep the Senate and surely keep the White House which we will so constructive humanitarian change can occur.

I believe this is a WONDERFUL day. I applaud the president and now on to November and let’s win then!

A WONDERFUL DAY!!!!!!

No time to compose a glowing opinion.  Suffice it to say: This white Jewish woman is SOOOO happy!   THIS is why progressives MUST support the president!!!!!  YEEEHA   He will be having a press conference to explain.  Unless I get this wrong this is a FABULOUS thing.  spread the word to ALL Hispanics.  This is a WONDERFUL day unless the Republicans screw it up!

"US to stop deporting and grant work permits to younger illegal immigrants"

Here is the story or

http://leanforward.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/06/15/12238478-us-to-stop-deporting-and-grant-work-permits-to-younger-illegal-immigrantws?threadId=3443189&commentId=67086087#c67086087

ONWARD to re-elect the president!!!  AND those whom you know in Mass tell them to come out to support Elizabeth Warren (her Republican opponent would NEVER support this but SHE WILL!)  

Forward or Back

The headlines that greet me today: "New Weapons Push Syrian Crisis Toward Civil War" and "Scores Die in Attacks on Shiite Targets in Iraq." A civil war in Syria, yet another bombing in Iraq--a country in which the US was supposed to usher in Jeffersonian democracy; add to these headlines the problematic onslaught climate change, world wide economic mayhem, indescribable poverty and a formerly democratic country which led the world by its example ripped down the middle with intractable racist and other differences that live on from the birth of a nation. This is the nation and world in which we live. This is the nation's generation the collective we bestow to the next who are born to live in it.

When I was a member in good standing of the left at Boston University in the late 60’s I thought my generation was truly going to usher in a new world; that we were going to change things dramatically and peacefully for the better as our message was, we thought, humanitarian--peace and love. We were going to make life better for everyone here. We were, when we gained power, going to create a fairer, just and more equitable world where race was not an issue, war was eschewed and the people were going to reap the economic benefits of unlimited wealth equitably fulfilling the nation's promise etched on the bottom of Lady Liberty, at whose feet my own grandparents wept. They disembarked from a hostile humanity that said Jews could not even live but in this new nation they knew they could because Lady Liberty told them so singing sweetly her famous lines:

"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!" 

Now what exists is a world that is worse than anything I could ever in my naive mind have thought. If I were a believer in Biblical thought (I am not) truly I would think we are living in End Times. Is perpetual war, the killing of innocents, and dire economic conditions going to usher in that beautiful world I envisioned so many years ago? Is this how people want to live in never ending war, a climate that has gone haywire in pertinent part through man's contribution, an economy where only the rich are content but we the living masses of the middle class are crushed? Does the top 1% want to bequeath this world to even their children? How could they?

Lady Liberty's song has, in our day, hit a sour note. The flame has been doused with the accelerant of bitterness, division, discord and enmity where the members of Congress refuse even to eat with others of the opposition. The nation is filled with stupidity and 10 second sound bites that say nothing and explain little about the complexity of our time as we are permanently driven to our respective corners inexorably trapped unable to move.

Can we simply just get along? Did we ever get along? We now are far from the melodious notes of Liberty's song and I wonder will it ever sing sweetly to us again? Will we remain uncompromising and extreme killing a nation for political sport and power which will do nothing? Will we ever move progressively forward or will we move reactionarily back? Lady Liberty’s sweet song can be renewed, its once eternal flame rekindled and its message of hope restored. I yearn for the day it is and wonder if I will ever live to see it.

Europe in economic crisis mode: What do I know?

In case you have not heard there is a European debt and looming catastrophic economic crisis. Studying articles I can understand the US bankster-induced economic implosion beginning over 30 years ago and coming to a head during the George Bush Republican theft of power 2001-2007 I have culled a few, what I think, are salient economic truths for bad times. I know I am NOT an economist and I further know that is a distinct understatement. Nonetheless I, naturally, have an opinion or two.

Europe is on the precipice of an economic cliff which is not only contagious to other European states it is a pathogen for this country as well. Why should we care about Europe? We care about Europe because we are a global economy and Europe is our largest trading partner. If Europe goes down the economic drain it will rein in spending and that whooping cough spreads its disease quite obviously to us as trade between the US and Europe would be significantly reduced. Companies in this country would suffer, employees would be laid off, unemployment would increase yet again, our already weakened economy would drift back into double dip recession or worse depression and, well, here we go again. As my Jewish mother following centuries of Jewish tradition would say when contemplating an impending tragedy – Poo poo God forbid perish the thought!

There is agreement on a way out, I think, by many who truly know about things economic and who have concentrated study on the 1929 Great Depression. My particular favorite economic academics are Paul Krugman and Robert Reisch. They know what works to prevent further contagion and what is curative for an impending deep recession or a looming depression.

In our country most Republicans who are not cerebrally dead ... well, a few who are not, know the prescription too and it is, even they know, most definitely NOT austerity. Those who say austerity is in order do so because it sounds so good and they simply want to ensure in patriotic fashion our president and by extension the country fail so they can regain power. Is that patriotic or treasonous? You be the judge.

It is well known that austerity in a major recession or depression is like withholding food from an anorexic. It WILL kill. A nation's debt is NOT like household debt where cutting one’s spending and reducing debt is the elixir.

It’s a COUNTRY for goodness sake and GOOD government’s job is to save its people from danger in this case joblessness by providing jobs to those who need it while inducing the private sector to invest to create jobs understanding that those who have jobs, even public sector jobs, WILL spend what they earn and jolt the larger economy thereby increasing the tax base. Spending through job creation is what an economy in crisis needs. Austerity as we see in Europe brings joblessness, reduced spending and ultimately increases public anger. Does debt have to be dealt with at a future some time? YES OF COURSE but not now.

Europe needs rescuing and a country such as Germany which has a stable economy and wealth has been the one to help but does so not from the goodness of its heart. ALL of Europe needs an infusion of significant cash to stabilize the Euro -- NOW.

Austerity threw nearly all of Europe into fury as singularly 25% joblessness can do so well. Revolutions are made from fury and revolutions by their very nature ARE violent. WWII sprang in part from such fury and gave the world the gift of fascism and on the other side of the spectrum, the gift of Stalin. When in crisis people simply love to be told, nay ordered, what to do and Hitler we remember made the trains run on time while creating a war machine that surely ramped up the economy. What a price the world paid for that!

Just what we want a repetition of Europe’s historical tyranny – NOT. An austerity prescription now whether in the US or Europe is, as I see it, trouble. Then again what do I know? Do not take my word for it Google Paul Krugman and/or Robert Reisch to get their opinions. Better still read another favorite of mine NYT Joe Nocera’s wonderful NYT editorial today on the European crisis here.



http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/12/opinion/nocera-how-not-to-solve-a-crisis.html?hp

Déjà vu all over again in Florida; voter civil rights in the crosshairs

The voter rights suppression attempt by the corrupt Florida Republican Governor Rick Scott MUST be remedied post haste by Attorney General Eric Holder. He must do so as President Kennedy through his Attorney General Robert Kennedy did in July, 1963 by sending Deputy Attorney General Nicolas Katzenbach demanding he do so to enforce desegregation imperatives. Kennedy employed federal marshals and the Alabama National Guard which, by the threat of physical force, demanded Wallace step aside and not block black students from attending school. Stopping the impudent and insolent Rick Scott is as important as THAT except now it is about voter suppression -- illegal and unconstitutional in our time.

I believe the federal government and the Justice Department have the ability to prosecute and DEMAND the malevolent, impudent and insolent Scott stop his voter suppression tactics. Nicholas Katzenbach issued an order for the racist Governor Wallace to step aside at the University of Alabama to allow black students to attend or troops would FORCE him to do so. Wallace stepped aside. Wallace did not like it, of course. TOUGH that he did not like it.

Scott is trying clearly to undermine the Democratic vote by suppressing the minority vote. Attorney General DO NOT LET HIM. DEMAND he cease and desist or if he does not he faces arrest for violation of the 1965 Voting Rights Act and obstructing justice.

Rick Scott's actions are an affront to our nation, to our Constitution, to democracy itself and cannot continue. If Scott continues his threatening tactics arrest that insulting, scurrilous, bloviating, malodorous excuse for humanity and force him to comply. It is déjà vu all over again and cannot stand!

Truth or Consequences -- Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's Half Truth and Lies

Factcheck.org is, as I see it, the best public policy center for assessing the truth of, as Al Franken said in the title of his book, the lies and the lying liars that tell them.  I am pasting Factcheck.org's assessment of Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's fiscal claims.  It is as follows:

In his ad, Walker says in the three years before he took office, “Wisconsin lost 150,000 jobs” but that now, “employer confidence is up” and “since the start of the year, Wisconsin has added thousands of new jobs.”

It’s true that Wisconsin lost nearly 150,000 jobs in the three years before he took office. More precisely, Wisconsin lost 145,000 between January 2008 and December 2010, the month before Walker took office. The entire country was reeling from the recession, and the percentage of jobs lost in Wisconsin mirrored the percentage of jobs lost nationally (both losing a little more than 5 percent).

Now, for the second part of Walker’s claim, that “since the start of the year, Wisconsin has added thousands of new jobs.” Do you see what he’s done there? Walker has skipped entirely over 2011, his first year in office, and instead referenced job statistics for the first two months of 2012. Even so, the ad was barely true when it came out, and less so today after some unfavorable data for March. Between January and February, Wisconsin added 10,100 jobs. But then the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that Wisconsin lost 4,500 jobs in March. So now, there’s been a net gain of 5,600 jobs in 2012.

But if you look at the jobs picture since Walker took office, Wisconsin has lost a net 14,200 jobs. In fact, Wisconsin has lagged behind the rest of the country in the recovery. While Wisconsin has lost jobs during Walker’s time in office, the country as a whole saw jobs increase by 1.8 percent.

Needless to say, Wisconsin is not on track for Walker to keep his campaign promise to bring the state 250,000 new jobs by 2015.

As the Greater Wisconsin Political Fund correctly pointed out in a , in 2011 recent ad, “Wisconsin lost more jobs than any other state. Dead last.” That fact was also featured in an ad from the Barrett campaign. From January 2011 to January 2012, Wisconsin lost a net 12,700 jobs. According to a review by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinal, that was the worst performance among all 50 states.

Walker: “We wiped out a $3.6 billion deficit without raising taxes.”

Walker’s claim that “we wiped out a $3.6 billion deficit without raising taxes” is also dubious. The state Constitution requires a balanced budget. And it’s true that Walker offered a balanced budget using the cash accounting method. However, using Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) accrual accounting methods, there is a $3 billion deficit in each of the next two years. We won’t bore you with the differences in accounting methods. It’s perfectly legitimate for Walker to cite the cash accounting figure in his ad, but that may confuse some folks who may remember that Walker cited figures using an accrual accounting method when he argued for cuts in state health programs, because that made future deficits look worse.

Next, did Walker balance the budget without raising taxes? Walker did not propose any general tax increases, and he implemented several corporate tax reductions. But his claim that he didn’t raise taxes is not entirely true. The nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau labeled two tax credit reductions as tax increases. One measure reduced the earned income tax credit for people with two or more children, a change projected to net the state an added $56.2 million over two years. Another reduced the homestead tax credit, bringing the state $13.6 million over two years. Walker argued those were spending cuts, not tax increases. But suffice to say, those who got those credits before, and don’t now, probably consider them to be tax increases. Walker also raised tens of millions of dollars by increasing a number of fees.

The moral of this story is beware of Republicans toting "facts" as often their "facts" are not the truth and their untruths, indeed, have consequences in extremis for our nation.

Al Gore has it correct -- OUR NATION HAS BEEN HACKED!

Read and heed. Vice-President Al Gore says it all much better than I ever could. Even if you do not agree with my political/philosophical point of view I urge you to listen. Purely, simply and I think objectively VP Gore states the reason why Romney and all Republicans if elected will ultimately kill this nation as we knew it. It is a GREAT interview by Spitzer of Current TV (FIOS Channel 192) and one which should make everyone pause for thought and leap into action against this diabolical takeover by the millionaire/billionaire 1%. It is here or below.

http://current.com/shows/viewpoint/videos/al-gore-takes-on-scott-walker-romneys-health-care-record-voter-suppression-and-citizens-united/

An Existential Perp Walk

I keep reviewing the Walker/Barrett fiasco of last evening's Wisconsin recall and Barrett loss. What went wrong? I keep telling myself not to worry as ultimately the country will see that Republican politics is not about most of them and almost always means things like Great Recession economic downturns. I keep saying to myself the status Republican quo will not stand and like 2008, the majority of the country feeling the sting of Republican politics and its attendant side cars of lies and fraud will put the Republican Party in electoral bankruptcy where it truly belongs. When Republicans rule they miserably fail because their philosophic base thinking Republicans are for them find out they surely are not and drown in Republican decision-making which puts billions in the hands of the very few but which cares nothing for most of the others who put them in office. Often, it takes Democrats to rescue the nation.

I begin to feel positive again until I remember the gargantuan money machine that the Republican Supreme Court majority put into play. Could one obscure decision, Citizen's United, have had such deleterious affects? The answer is a resounding yes. It is that coupled with an electorate which, in many cases does not understand things political, does not know the difference between the political left and the political right, forgets history longer than one week and will succumb to the Republican Party's paid-for-in-cash immoral propaganda which makes a few very very rich but certainly does nothing for the rest of the country which is not. Quoting another blogger who says:

Obviously, the politics of this country is moving towards the extremist ideology where some people would rather continue to defund social rights programs that it took years to create and establish while allowing the rich to not do their part. Politics is one thing, but where this country is headed seems clearly in the hands of misguided voters who believe in 30 second political sound bites that ultimately, don't have their best interests at heart. The voters in Wisconsin will reap what they sowed and so will this country if its voters continue this walk down into madness thinking it [Republican politics] will fix our ills. This event helps to validate my view that when I retire, this is not the place to be as people here have become more divided, selfish, corrupt, and greed stricken while we still debate the merits of viable health care and give tax breaks to the rich and corporate welfare to the war machine and certain big businesses. Although born and raised here, I love this country but not what it has become, especially the priorities of its people and definitely not exactly my ideal place to consider retirement.

Whenever I contemplate remedial policy for Republican toxicity I am stopped by a synapse that echoes Citizen United. Unless or until that rancid and destructive decision is either overturned OR, in the interim, the Democratic Party finds a way to compete with gargantuan big corporate oligarchic money running through the life blood of this nation and ultimately costing lives from its disease then truly there is, existentially, no way out.

The investigation of Scott Walker and that of his cronies’ nefarious possibly criminal activity should continue. In the interim the Democratic Party MUST find a way to compete with the opposition's money-smothering bought elections so that the existential perp walk path this country is on can be transferred to the very selfish, mean, Republican conservative base where it belongs.

Want to kill Medicare and Social Security vote for Scott Brown -- NOT

Is killing Social Security and Medicare for you?  No? If you want to see WHY you should NOT EVER EVER consider voting for Scott Brown click here or below and it will give you some excellent reasons why you should NOT consider EVER voting for him and why Elizabeth Warren is our ONLY Class A candidate for whom we should vote.


http://bluemassgroup.com/2012/05/scott-brown-the-truth-will-out/

CEASE and DESIST -- Arrest Rick Scott and his Secretary of State

There is NO question that the Dept. of Justice under Eric Holder CANNOT let the unconstitutional and possibly criminal actions of a Rick Scott and his Secretary of State stand.  They would love nothing else but to illegally and unconstitutionally purge hundreds of thousands of potentially Democratic voters from the voting registration list in Florida. 

They have thrown dirt in our Justice Department's face and by extension have kicked mud in the face of our president by refusing to obey the Justice Department's letter to stop their rancid actions.  Eric Holder and the civil rights division of the Department of Justice, MUST show spine as Nicholas Katzenbach exemplified during the Kennedy years when he stood in front of the racist Wallace and told him in no uncertain terms he WOULD face arrest if he did not step aside, comply with the law and let black students attend the University of Alabama. Atty Gen. Holder probably would not be in the position he holds if it were not for the brave civil rights protest, life and death struggle waged in the 1960's to create a fair and level playing field for minorities. 

Scott and his henchmen's actions are not far removed from Alabama's racist Governor George Wallace as Scott and his Secretary of State are systematically denying minorities, seniors, the disabled and even military men of their right to vote. It is all in an effort to defeat the president and it is why the attorney general's staff MUST go to Florida, tell those who are implementing these unconstitutional edicts of voter purge and suppression to CEASE AND DESIST or face arrest.

Perhaps the fear of prison would be enough to STOP what is the most egregious assault of voting rights since before the 1965 Voting Rights Act. Make clear that WE can be as strong as our opposition.  Show Rick Scott and his cronies up for the cowards and corrupt sinister men they are.

Prosac Will NOT Work

The word depression conjures up a variety of mostly negative definitions. It can be defined as a depression in the ground which your car must avoid or new shock absorbers will need installing; it can be a tropical depression which sometimes brings hurricanes; it can be an emotional depression which sometimes brings suicide OR in the case of this opinion, depression spelled with a big "D", can bring economic catastrophe which may usher in all the previously mentioned definitions of depression.

An economic depression with austerity as its remedy can create holes in the roads from lack of infrastructure repair, and climate change emanating from a do nothing government controlled by tooth fairy believers who think praying it away will work just as effectively as alternative energy.  Republicans will usher in more staunch believers in the oil barons who dupe the gullible to lasso their billions. It can bring job loss, home foreclosures, and people thrown out onto the street with no health insurance who become sick, massively depressed and suicidal. Who could blame them? The consequences of yet another economic Depression are dire and as I define it we may be catapulting ourselves into not only another national Depression but into a global THIRD.

To review: 1929 most of us know was the first Great Depression; Dr. Paul Krugman, the academic economic genius, terms 2008 – the so called Great Recession -- a Depression in his new book entitled "End this Depression Now" and, yet again, if we are to believe a hysterical and corporate money-soaked media which wants you to buy their advertisements, a THIRD Depression looms. This time the media may be correct.

Funny or not so funny this occurs just in time for the American electorate to vote charlatans, immoral austerity cranks and uncaring know nothings into Congress and ensure a victory for their puppet one percenter Willard Mitt Romney. He will take a victory walk directly into 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and effectively make this dire situation worse. He will make a colossal amount of bucks for himself (as if $250,000,000 of his estimated wealth is not enough) and, for his crony present-day robber barons of Wall Street. The wealthiest 1% will, in celebratory TV series Glee-like form, do a line, disco or chorus dance when he arrives.

The argument of the know nothing right is that more government austerity and regulatory anarchy is needed. Eliminate government spending, let the market have its way and voila Depression cured. I think NOT. I am not an economist as most who know me understand my hysteria over anything math. However, Dr. Krugman explains here and below for those who want to read his expertise why for a country as opposed to an individual austerity remedial effects for debt are different and why the consequences of austerity could be so calamitous. It WILL bring global and national economic collapse.

The THIRD Great Depression looms. The Republican austerity agenda eliminating social safety nets when desperately needed most will NEVER make this Depression disappear ... EVER and no amount of Prosac for this Depression will help. Read and heed Dr. Paul Krugman. He is always right!

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/01/opinion/krugman-the-austerity-agenda.html?src=ISMR_AP_LO_MST_FB

Republican Evil and Nefarious Tactics

This is what these Republican swine will do (scroll below)  They will stop at nothing.  I know many of you are probably getting inundated with requests.  This Walker election is number 2 in importance to show that  Republican quicksand of money does NOT always get results.  They think it will so the Koch Brothers and their Rove consorts are stealing or at least trying to steal elections and are using many tactics of voter suppression as well. 

George Carlin said you do not matter, you do NOT count and they the 1% WILL take it all.  But you must allow it for their twisted democracy ridding schemes to work.  If you do NOT support this poisonous toxic malevolence in our politics they will not gain power.  So the famous quote is again correct.  The only way tyranny succeeds is for good men to do nothing.

Think about contributing to this important election and getting involved in Democratic politics so that racism and money do NOT rule the day.

Sent: Wed, May 30, 2012 11:44 am
Subject: phones crashing

BREAKING: A conservative group supporting Scott Walker has shut down Democratic candidate Tom Barrett’s phone system.

They’re using a phone number connected to Tom Barrett’s campaign headquarters in their latest attack. The calls flooded the campaign, crashing their phone system.

It’s a new low, with under a week until the election. I can’t believe they’ve stooped to this.

After all his attacks on workers and women, now his campaign is shutting down his challenger’s phones? This is what Walker's supporters will do to win. Anything. It’s wrong. Wisconsin deserves better.

We need your contribution immediately to fight back against these disgusting tactics. We’re helping the on-the-ground effort to get out the vote next Tuesday -- and to make sure everyone knows we won’t stand by while Walker tries to steal the election. But we need your support now to win.

Will you help the DGA oust Walker and return to a Wisconsin free of these dirty tricks by giving $3 or more right now?

Backed by the Koch Brothers’ billions, there are no lies Walker won’t tell. Nothing he won’t try. No one he won’t attack.

Let’s not miss a chance to send him packing and protect our Democratic values.

There’s no place for him and his attacks in our politics. Click here to help do what it takes to defeat Walker.

Thanks,

Mark Giangreco
Deputy Communications Director
Democratic Governors Association

 

George Carlin the Great!

I know I keep touting The American Dream Utube of George Carlin. It is however, truly great and I found its completed version.

George Carlin was a genius and a man of prescient predictive powers. However, for some his language may contain too much profanity. If so, of course, do not watch or listen. But if you want to see and hear the most perfect description of our time made by a man before his death a few years ago . I was shocked, and still am, by his death and miss this force for the 99% who goes unmatched even to this day and expresses my sentiments exactly.

He was RIGHT on the money if you will forgive the pun.

It is here or below.

http://www.ebaumsworld.com/video/watch/1044358/

Vatican Treachery and it's NOT the Butler

Vatican treachery and corruption click here for the story for Vaticanleaks or below.

How about concentrating on the positions of power like the Pope himself and his merry "men" for punishment and NOT the butler, et al who are the leakers. Good for the leakers. They are brave and right. Those who are right always pay the price for their expose of power while the guilty go free. 

How anyone on planet earth could belong to this church much less send their children to an utterly corrupt and polluted institution, rich beyond belief while its so called flock starve, is beyond me! Just what Jesus would have wanted right? NOT!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/25/vatican-tracks-down-docum_0_n_1545425.html

Buying into BS -- KFStone Weekly

One would do well to click on the link: "Buying Into BS" or to the link at the bottom. This was sent to me by The KFStone Weekly. I thought this one particularly informative and absolutely 100% correct as my posts usually are! 

This week's op-ed, Buying Into BS, asks why many sins, errors and political missteps of the Bush years seem, at least retrospectively, to have gone largely uncriticized, while virtually everything about Barack Obama -- his person, his politics and his policies -- are under constant and minute critical scrutiny? Could it be because of his race? Or might it be due to something else? A look at how facts stack up against BS on one issue -- federal spending and the deficit -- might provide an insight.

Be good to yourself,

K. F. S.

The K.F. Stone Weekly

Kurt's Website

Bada Bing or as HP says Bada Bain

Here is a fair explanation from Huffington Post in a very entertaining way of exactly what Bain Capital, Mitt Romney's firm does. James Gandolfini as Tony Soprano in the HBO series The Sopranos and Ray Liotta as Henry Hill in the film Good Fellas, entertainment about the Mafia, parallel the reality of the quite legal Bain Capital with the illegal activities of the Mafia. The Mafia and Bain Capital are eerily similar in their approach albeit Bain is less violent at least physically. Click here or below to enjoy the video and a most entertaining explanation of Mitt Romney's profession as a vulture capitalist at Bain which he touts as his greatest ability as a business leader qualifying him to take a stroll for at least a four year occupancy of the Oval Office. Then read the explanation below it.

It may be humorous to listen and watch this video but CHILLING to think that a Willard Mitt Romney could in reality be at the helm of the most powerful nation on earth. I pray (yes I do) every day this never happens. All of us MUST ensure it does not.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/24/bain-capital-tony-soprano_n_1542249.html

The American Nightmare

A New York Times headline today says "Facebook I.P.O. (initial public offering of stock) Raises Regulatory Concerns" linked here and below.  It is a metaphor and an example of the times in which we live and what is so desperately wrong with an anarchistic unregulated Wall Street.

My father (a survivor of the 29 crash) always told me when I asked him why he had not invested in stocks that the stock market was NOT for the little guy. It was for those, he said, who had, at that time, millions and who could afford to take risk.  As I grew older and part of the working masses it became a market for most of us, a fad and a dupe, as we took risk through our respective workplaces so we could ensure we would have a retirement safety net over and above our measly, by today's standards, Social Security. We believed those "experts" who said this was a good thing and we believed them when they said the successful market at that time had proven in Ayn Randian fashion that the market rules and that it can only go up.  As someone in an old Sherlock Holmes "B" mystery movie with the excellent actor Basil Rathbone said: "We've been had, Watson.  We've been properly had" and we, the American masses have. 

My father had an uncanny way for being exactly right on many things economic and historical. Most know what has happened yet again as the mantra screams in rhythmic decibel-like cymbals clanging in our ears, we are living through the Greatest Recession since the Great Depression.  The market was not then and is not now made for the little guy, Main Street, workers' state pension funds, teachers, and all those who had NO understanding of their own investments and trusted brokers who may or may not have been on their side. Most have no idea of the insider trading scoop, the lightening fast computer technology and algorithms available only to those on Wall Street making the market uber complex . The little guy unless he/she is very smart, has an MIT degree and works on Wall Street, will not and could never understand it all.  Those little guys who were duped by media driven drivel to invest in Facebook stand to lose their shirt. They do not know what the insiders knew about this Wall Street IPO Facebook and how could they?  Worse, Morgan Stanley may have been guilty of knowing about Facebook's losses, telling only a few and not revealing it to the masses.  How could the average guy know?  He could not. This may be a violation of SEC rules but please do not hold your breath turning blue waiting for indictments of the big boys and getting only ad infinitum meaningless hearings until the furor dies down and the American public's very short memory remembers nothing, perhaps, waiting for Mitt Romney the king of the foxes to get them out of the economic ditch.  He won't. He and his cronies will eat you for lunch.

The stock market for the masses is a con game, defined by the American Heritage Dictionary as "a swindle in which you cheat at gambling or persuade a person to buy worthless property." It has stolen surreptitiously from us as Republicans who represent its millionaires and billionaires even now want to turn your Social Security, which USED to be placed in a locked box, over to Wall Street. Gaahead vote Republican and lose whatever you have left.  You or your children will, in time lose it all.

George Carlin the sage comic I loved so much and quote often presciently said the game is rigged and it's NOT rigged for most of you. The American Dream, he said, IS a dream because you have to be asleep to believe it. Be careful to whom you entrust your life's future. As the old commercial said applicable in our time "The life you save may truly be your own."

http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2012/05/22/facebook-i-p-o-raises-regulatory-concerns/?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20120523

Quelle Suprise

In case some may not be familiar with Corey Booker, the mayor of Newark, a comment. He is a man I have long eyed for higher office. His credentials are impeccable. His educational background reads like a Who’s Who in the some of the most prestigious universities in the world. He graduated from Yale Law School receiving a JD, Oxford University receiving an MA, Stanford University where he received a BA and yet another MA. He has been an attorney and now the Mayor of Newark, an ardent Democrat and a fervent supporter of the president.

He had, as I saw it, political stardom enmeshed in his DNA. Seeing his possible trajectory, I even contributed to his mayoralty campaign. Secretly, of course, I was hoping he would run and if, the fates of fortune prevailed, would ultimately become the nation’s second African American president. I allowed my political fantasy to soar because I thought he was that good. He had the background, the charisma, the ability, the verbal fluidity to make political grandiosity possible at least I hoped he would.

And then the unthinkable happened. As Democratic politicos too-often-for-me do, he imploded. Whether through assassination, accidents, or self-inflicted wounds of too-big-NOT-to-fail mouths the shooting star fades or kills itself depriving our nation of a force for good. Now, regretfully, add Corey Booker to that illustrious list felled by his own egregious misspeak on Meet the Press. He contradicted not only the president’s seminal opposition to Mitt Romney but the substance for which the Democratic Party stands in our era. What WAS he thinking when he said he was, indeed, “nauseated” by the negative ad campaign Democrats are waging against Bain Capital, Romney’s sole qualification, Romney says, for him to take a victory walk into the oval office. Booker says he was tired of sensational indicting of venture capitalists like Bain. Oh really, Mr. Mayor?

I was so incensed by Booker’s treacherous remarks that I called Mayor Booker’s office and left a few choice words on his machine. Why would a man of his intellect, loyalty to the president and having his own political aspirations commit political suicide on one of the most popular and prestigious political Sunday news programs, Meet the Press?

I believe from what I have read it really had less to do with the president and everything to do with promoting himself for higher office and thereby needing the big boys of Wall Street, venture capitalists including Bain Capital as well, to bankroll his effort. Ho hum so what else is new? Sadly, and to Middle America's detriment, Politicos need huge bucks to run for office.

Money the so called "mother's milk of politics" is front and center again. Has this not been so especially since campaigns rely more and more on expensive media – particularly television -- to sell their wares? Money has been tied to political candidacy for a very long time but, of course, since the Supreme Court’s egregious-to-our-nation Citizens United v. Federal Elections Commission decision it has created a swamp as big as the Amazon Rain Forest teeming with gobs of polluted money and crocodiles of secrecy guarding its nests.

Corey Booker’s misspeak blew up explosive in his face and it should have. Booker did not realize that his comments would land on him like a ton of bricks as they should. The politicos try to hide, as best they can, their ties to Wall Street big money. No matter what party, when a politico, especially a prominent one, exposes the malignancy of corporate cash in his blood stream, we the people of the middle class are stunned. Post Citizens United we should not be. Booker is allegedly bought by the very venture capital firm that the opposition Republicans are using and touting as their raison de' guerre and entrance into the oval office. Quelle surprise on both counts!

Interesting Interview: Inside the Actors Studio Interview by James Lipton of the Mad Men Cast

I do not know how many watch the AMC fabulous series “Mad Men” and love it as I do.  Last evening Bravo broadcast an interview of its main cast taken by James Lipton on Inside the Actors Studio.  It was incredible.  If you get Bravo I suggest you search for it on your cable station and may be able to watch it or you can try to see if its online simply by Googling Bravo and then looking for Inside the Actors Studio interview of Mad Men.  I posted the following opinion of the Interview that may be of interest:

 

I am a faithful-without-fail viewer of "Mad Men" since the beginning of the series. I have been watching television for a very long time and remember the late 50’s and early 60’s well. I became immersed in the subject matter of Mad Men because I lived it.  The direction is brilliant, the story line is brilliant, and the actors are brilliant so as you can see I have a bias.  I never want the show to end and yet I know it must. 

 

It speaks to me on so many different levels. I could spend months with each character discussing the essence of her/his role.  This segment of Inside the Actors Studio with James Lipton interviewing each main character of Mad Men was RIVETING.  It was so riveting that I refuse to erase the tape until I make sure ALL my relatives and friends who love this show see it.

 

What absolutely wonderful questions James Lipton posed to all of them.  Each one has his/her own personal depth of story that brought them to such exquisite performances of this show.

 

I cannot say whom I loved the best because they were ALL unique, articulately fascinating, but, like so many others, I am immersed in Jon Hamm's character, Don Draper.  I think I am immersed even more now since I saw this Inside the Actors Studio segment because I identify with Jon Hamm's own personal history.  I too had a very ill parent for decades and on many levels I can identify with Jon. The family interaction was sometimes difficult, sad, hurtful and very impacting so I understand those tragedies that brought him to his role.  I cannot say I am glad he had to go through a difficult and often sad childhood but if it helped him craft the Don Draper role then I can say thank you to him for allowing that part to emerge within the character and for his revelations during the interview which allowed me not to feel alone. 

 

ALL others in the cast fall into the superb category.  I love them all for what they bring to each role.  I love the story because I relate to it and I love the characters because they bring a window into an era to which some in this country would want unhappily to return but which closed most of its windows so no one could see in.  It also makes me realize that some vestiges of that opaque era have not left us.  We as a nation are split right down the middle; one part yearning to return to those days and another grateful that the social revolution of the late 60’s occurred.  I personally fall into that latter category. 

 

Special kudos go to 11-year-old Kiernan Shipka who plays Sally.  She would make any parent feel blessed that they produced such an intelligent, mature and significantly creative person who lights up a room with her smile and enthusiasm.  I hope we will see more roles she attempts and often!

Justice is NOT Blind -- Seeing the Light

According to McClatchy News “Blind Chinese legal activist Chen Guangcheng, whose daring escape to the American embassy in Beijing last month sparked a diplomatic crisis, left China for the for the United States Saturday afternoon.”  It appears his family was taken to Bejing Airport and will HOPEFULLY join him.

This is a big diplomatic success for the Obama administration IF Chen and his family arrive safely. It is proof of how capable our president, his team including and most especially Secretary of State Hillary Clinton are on the complexities of diplomatic negotiation. They are BRILLIANT! I am happy for Chen and hope his family reunites with him unharmed. 

 

Kudos to Chen for his incredibly bravery and improbable escape, the story of which is here and linked below. Big kudos go to the administration as well.  Many have forgotten the two women the Obama diplomatic team extricated safely from N. Korea with Pres. Clinton and VP Gore's irreplaceable help.  These are GREAT feats of diplomacy requiring the greatest skill and expertise.  Clearly, the administration knows what it is doing and how to get things done. 

 

On the domestic economic front as well it knows what it needs to do if the disloyal Republican opposition would STEP OUT OF THE WAY.  They, of course, will not step out of the way until they bring the country to its knees and rid themselves of this president even if it means dismembering the nation.

He is our first black American president in our nation's history but, sadly, that history has been steeped in the politics of interposition, nullification and Civil War.  It is a history where some cannot and WILL NOT, even today, remove the albatross of hatred from around our collective necks.  They are blind to the prison they have constructed for the incarcerated whole.  Let this administration do what it needs to recover from the Greatest Recession since the Great Depression so that it can heel its wounds as it has historically has done.  The American electorate needs to turn the House blue again so the president and the Congress can effectively govern.

Big congratulations are in order to Chen Guangcheng, to our diplomatic team and, oh yes, to China for doing a difficult and just thing. Hopefully, Chen Guangchen's family will join him as well.  Justice, at least in part, it seems has seen the light of day one more time!

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/28/world/asia/chen-guangcheng-blind-lawyer-escapes-house-arrest-china.html?src=intrp