November 14, 2012

Outraged, I tell ya!

There's a lot of Republican outrage out there.

John McCain (2008 sore loser) and Lindsey Graham (2012 crybaby), in the Senate, have their panties all in a bunch over Benghazi.  They're outraged, I tell ya, outraged!

It's a cover-up! they say.  Obama knew! they say.  What about Petraeus? they say.  Susan Rice is not very bright! they say.  Obama issued a stand down order! they say.

Four people died in Benghazi.  That is awful, and I feel pain for their families who lost loved ones so brutally and suddenly.  With no time to say goodbye.  It's heartbreaking.

How many people died on 9/11?  Around 3,000? 

Democrats came together with the Republican president to mourn 9/11 and to vow that the lost would be avenged. 

Isn't that how it's supposed to work? 

Not if you're a Republican.  Instead of mourning those lost in Benghazi, they are outraged.  Instead of vowing that the killers would be punished, they are outraged.  Instead of quietly going about figuring out what happened, they are outraged.

Well fuck them.

Where was the Republican outrage when they learned that President Bush knew about the attack on the first tower before he went into a classroom for his photo op? 

Where was their outrage when they realized that he sat in that classroom, clueless, after he was told about the attack on the second tower and that America was under attack. Leaving our country leaderless.  

Where was their outrage when they found out how many times Bush and Co. were warned about Al Quaeda's activities within the United States? 

Where was their outrage when they found out that people in the CIA were running around with their hair on fire trying to get President Bush to react to their warnings? 

Where was their outrage when they learned that counter-terrorism adviser Richard Clarke was brushed off with "ok, you've covered your ass," when he tried to warn the Bush cabal about al Quaeda? 

Where was their outrage when Bush let bin Laden get away at Tora Bora? 

Where was their outrage when Bush said he didn't really think about bin Laden much? 

Where was their outrage when Bush took us to war over "WMDs" when there were no WMDs? 

Where was their outrage when thousands of troops and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis and Afghanis were killed, and as tens of thousands of US troops returned to the US with horrible injuries?

It was nowhere.  There was no outrage then. 

After all, Bush was a Republican, so there was and there would be no outrage on the part of Republicans.  Because Republicans stick together, you know.  America be damned, because Republicans stick together. 

Hell, they even approved Condi Rice as Secretary of State after she failed miserably as a national security adviser and after she LIED about the danger posed by Iraq.  But it's ok for her, because she's a Republican. 

But now they're outraged.  And they're self-righteously demeaning UN Ambassador Susan Rice for relaying the information she was given by the intelligence people.  And somehow they're trying to tie David Petraeus into all this. 

Well, I'm outraged. 

I was outraged in all those instances above.  And I'm outraged at the Republicans' false outrage now. 

John McCain, Lindsey Graham, and the entire Republican Congressional delegation should be hanging their heads in shame.  And slinking off to think about their loyalties.

Are they loyal to the United States?  Or only to the Republican Party? 


As always, I welcome your comments.

Epic Backfire!

In 2000, there was the debacle in Florida which resulted in George W. Bush being awarded the Presidency, with the help of partisan caging and the Republican-dominated US Supreme Court.  It was later learned that Al Gore actually won the election

In 2004, George W. Bush won "re-election."  John Kerry would have won the election if so many people in Ohio hadn't been turned away because of long waits to vote in urban areas -- up to eight hours.  In areas with more registered Democrats, there were proportionally fewer machines than there were in areas where the voters were more likely to vote Republican. 

In 2008, Republicans tried to delegitimatize Obama by focusing on the non-profit ACORN, which they alleged was registering ineligible voters.  Beyond that, there were some allegations of Obama and Clinton improperly appearing on the primary ballot in Indiana. 

By 2012, there were multiple Republican efforts to discourage voting. 

Since I live in Pennsylvania, I am especially concerned about our Republican-sponsored strict voter ID law.  Although a Pennsylvania judge issued a temporary injunction against enforcing this law for the November election, the PA State Department continued to run misleading ads saying that voter ID was required, ensuring voter confusion.

In Ohio and Florida, Republican legislatures cut early voting hours.  The resulting longer waits to vote threatened to disenfranchise
  • people who could not take hours off from work,
  • people who work two or three jobs,
  • people who needed help with transportation to get to the polls,
  • people who were disabled, and
  • elderly people whose children might vote in one precinct and then help them to vote in another precinct. 
In other words, people who were inclined to vote Democratic.

Republican administrations made no effort to hide their partisan tricks. 

But here's what happened:

Voters had finally caught on to the Republicans' shenanigans, tricks, challenges, and ploys.

In Ohio, people came to the polls ready and willing to wait in long lines to vote.   

Floridians responded to early voting with record turnout.

In Pennsylvania, turnout was strong, in spite of voter ID confusion, with long lines predicting record turnout and reports of unprecedented lines forming before the 7 a.m. poll opening.

And nationwide, in spite of suppression and a poor economy, young people voted by the tens of millions and had a 52% turnout rate. 

African-American voters turned out in droves to cast their votes.

Women, gays, blacks and Latinos all turned out, after Republican suppression schemes turned voting into a new civil rights movement.

The Republican efforts to suppress voting and disenfranchise Democratic voters BACKFIRED!

President Obama stated in his election night speech that "we have to fix" the voter suppression problems. Perhaps another Federal Election Reform Commission should be convened. Maybe we could check out Estonia's method.  Another subject, perhaps for another post.

As always, I welcome your comments.

November 04, 2012

Can all these smart people be wrong?

Here are some of the people who have endorsed Barack Obama for a second term as President of the United States. 

This is not an all-inclusive list; I have only listed a very few of the people I thought you might find interesting or surprising.  I did not include the prodigious number of athletes and entertainers who have endorsed President Obama.

Here is a complete, extremely well-sourced list if you care to peruse it. 

Former Republican elected officials:
  • Sen. Lincoln Chafee (R-RI), current Governor of Rhode Island (I-RI)
  • Sen. Larry Pressler (R-SD)
  • Gov. Charlie Crist (I-FL); Republican while in office

National political figures and former cabinet officials
  • Richard A. Clarke, former National Coordinator for Security, Infrastructure Protection, and Counter-terrorism for the United States
  • Douglas Kmiec, United States Ambassador to Malta, legal aide to former President Reagan
  • Candace Gingrich, half-sister of Republican 2012 Presidential candidate Newt Gingrich
  • Colin Powell, former United States Secretary of State, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, National Security Advisor, four-star General (Ret.) (Republican)

Military
  • Wesley Clark, four star General (Ret), former Supreme Allied Commander Europe of NATO
  • Richard Danzig, former Secretary of the Navy
  • Paul Eaton, Major General (Ret)
  • Donald J. Guter, retired U.S. Navy Rear Admiral, former Judge Advocate General of the Navy, current Dean, South Texas College of Law
  • Michael D. Lumpkin, former Acting Assistant Secretary / Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations/Low Intensity Conflict, former Navy Seal Commander, Master's Degree in National Security from the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey
  • John B. Nathman, retired U.S. Navy Admiral, co-chair

Business people
  • Jeffrey Brotman, Founder of Costco
  • James Sinegal, Founder and former CEO of Costco
  • Jon Corzine, Former CEO of Goldman Sachs, CEO and Chairman of MF Global, Former Governor of New Jersey and US Senator
  • Nathaniel Fick, CEO of the Center for a New American Security, author of One Bullet Away, a New York Times best seller
  • Bill Gates, Microsoft founder and CEO
  • David Geffen, Founder of Asylum Records, Geffen Records, and DGC Records; cofounder of DreamWorks SKG
  • Berry Gordy, Founder of the Motown record label
  • Steven J. Green, former CEO and Chairman of Samsonite Corporation and United States Ambassador to Singapore
  • Gary Hirshberg, Chairman, President, and CEO of Stonyfield Farm
  • Jeffrey Katzenberg, CEO of DreamWorks Animation
  • Marissa Mayer, CEO of Yahoo!
  • Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook
  • Russell Simmons, Cofounder of Def Jam
  • Eric Schmidt, former CEO of Google
  • Steve Westly, Venture Capitalist and Fmr. California State Controller
  • Warren Buffett, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway

Labor unions
  • AFL-CIO
  • AFSCME
  • American Federation of Teachers
  • American Nurses Association
  • Communications Workers of America
  • International Association of Fire Fighters
  • International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers
  • National Education Association
  • SEIU

Organizations
  • Clean Water Action
  • Environment America
  • Gay-Straight Alliance
  • Human Rights Campaign
  • League of Conservation Voters
  • National Organization for Women
  • Planned Parenthood
  • Sierra Club
  • The Advocate

Writers
  • Maya Angelou
  • Judy Blume
  • Deepak Chopra
  • Roger Ebert
  • Elizabeth Gilbert
  • Stephen King
  • Anne Lamott
  • Toni Morrison
  • Maurice Sendak
  • Lemony Snicket

Nobel Prize Laureates

Economics
  • Michael Spence, 2001
  • Joseph Stiglitz, 2001
  • Paul Krugman,

Science
  • Alexei Abrikosov, Physics, 2003
  • Peter Agre, Chemistry, 2003
  • Sidney Altman, Chemistry, 1989
  • Philip Anderson, Physics, 1977
  • David Baltimore, Medicine 1975
  • Paul Berg, Chemistry, 1980
  • J. Michael Bishop, Medicine, 1989
  • Elizabeth Blackburn, Medicine, 2009
  • Günter Blobel, Medicine, 1999
  • Nicolaas Bloembergen, Physics, 1981
  • Linda Buck, Medicine, 2004
  • Mario Capecchi, Medicine, 2007
  • Martin Chalfie, Chemistry, 2008
  • Leon Cooper, Physics, 1972
  • James Cronin, Physics, 1980
  • Robert Curl, Chemistry, 1996
  • Johann Deisenhofer, Chemistry, 1988
  • Edmond Fischer, Medicine, 1992
  • Val Fitch, Physics, 1980
  • Jerome Friedman, Physics, 1990
  • Murray Gell-Mann, Physics, 1969
  • Walter Gilbert, Chemistry, 1980
  • Donald Glaser, Physics, 1960
  • Sheldon Glashow, Physics, 1979
  • Roy Glauber, Physics, 2005
  • Joseph Goldstein, Medicine, 1985
  • Paul Greengard, Medicine, 2000
  • Carol Greider, Medicine, 2009
  • David Gross, Physics, 2004
  • Robert Grubbs, Chemistry, 2005
  • Roger Guillemin, Medicine, 1977
  • John Hall, Physics, 2005
  • Leland Hartwell, Medicine, 2001
  • Alan Heeger, Chemistry, 2000
  • Dudley Herschbach, Chemistry, 1986
  • Roald Hoffmann, Chemistry, 1981
  • H. Robert Horvitz, Medicine, 2002
  • David Hubel, Medicine, 1981
  • Eric Kandel, Medicine, 2000
  • Brian Kobilka, Chemistry, 2012
  • Roger Kornberg, Chemistry, 2006
  • Leon Lederman, Physics, 1988
  • Robert Lefkowitz, Chemistry, 2012
  • John Mather, Physics, 2006
  • Craig Mello, Medicine, 2006
  • Mario Molina, Chemistry, 1995
  • Douglas Osheroff, Physics, 1996
  • Arno Penzias, Physics, 1978
  • Martin Perl, Physics, 1995
  • David Politzer, Physics, 2004
  • Stanley Prusiner, Medicine, 1997
  • Burton Richter, Physics, 1976
  • Richard Schrock, Chemistry, 2005
  • Hamilton Smith, Medicine, 1978
  • Oliver Smithies, Medicine, 2007
  • George Smoot, Physics, 2006
  • Thomas Steitz, Chemistry, 2009
  • Jack Szostak, Medicine, 2009
  • Charles Townes, Physics, 1964
  • Roger Tsien, Chemistry, 2008
  • Daniel Tsui, Physics, 1998
  • James Watson, Medicine, 1962
  • Carl Wieman, Physics, 2001
  • Eric Wieschaus, Medicine, 1995
  • Frank Wilczek, Physics, 2004
  • Robert Wilson, Physics, 1978

There is a similarly well-sourced list for Mitt Romney if you are interested in it. 

What I found most noteable about Romney's list is that there are far fewer athletes, entertainers, military brass and writers.   Also fewer porn stars.  Oh, and no Nobel prize winners. 

Romney's list contains many, many more Republican state legislators than Obama's list.  What this tells me is that these legislators have their marching orders from their state Republican committees.  I found it telling that the references for these endorsements mostly came from the Romney campaign. 

(Note that these lists are from Wikipedia and they are subject to the enthusiasm and attention of their editors.)

November 02, 2012

Why I am so afraid

I am sad and scared for our country.  Here's why, in no particular order:
 
  1. One of our major political parties is intent on making our President fail.  Constituents be damned.  And then the President is criticized for not "reaching across the aisle" when he has bent over backward to do so, to the point where his supporters have become angry at him.
  2. The NDAA allows for indefinite detention of American citizens for little or no reason.
  3. Lies go unchallenged.  And when challenged, the campaign of one major party candidate says they won't be dictated to by fact-checkers.  And it goes on to tell lie after lie, unchallenged.  In debate, this is known as the Gish Gallop - telling so many lies so brazenly that your opponent can't figure out where to start debunking and you get away with many of the lies.
  4. Christians zero in on one or two issues that Jesus never mentioned and ignore issues that he talked about over and over.
  5. There are organizations who vow to intimidate voters.
  6. Our elections depend upon privately-owned electronic voting machines that provide no paper trail and result in votes that cannot be recounted.
  7. Words like "socialist," "communist," "fascist," "unions," and "deficit" are being thrown around by people who don't understand what they mean.
  8. Our public schools are being turned into for-profit enterprises.  Good education can't be provided by for-profit corporations.
  9. Some people are more concerned with the national debt than they are with their neighbors in oppressive debt.
  10. Our corporations put greed, yes greed, above their employees.  Highly profitable companies get rid of employees who have been with them for decades in favor of Chinese employees whom they can pay $0.99 per hour.  Did you notice, these companies are highly profitable already.  I have no problem with profit, it's a good thing and I know how important it is to make a profit in our own small business.  It's greed I have a problem with. 
  11. Our foreign policy is being reduced to made-up scandals about dissing Netanyahu (when the Israeli defense chief has praised the President) and about a consulate attack (when the CIA denies right-wing charges and nobody really knows what went on behind the scenes).
  12. One of our major political parties is intent on suppressing voting.  They say, out loud, that their efforts are intended to make their party's candidates win.
  13. The electoral college.  Nuff said.
  14. Important constituencies have suffered unthinkable losses and may be too exhausted to get to a polling place.  And, because of communication problems, they may not even know where to vote.
  15. One of our major party candidates has never lived in the real world outside of his privileged bubble, and calls himself "a businessman" even though he has never run a real business that produced real products and/or services.  He has no idea what it is to live on the edge.
  16. We have some great third party candidates, but our political system makes it fruitless to vote for them.
  17. Our infrastructure is crumbling, but some politicians will not pass legislation that will provide funds for their repair because their is no revenue to cover it.  But they won't take steps to increase revenue because they have sworn a blood oath to a rich pundit not to raise taxes.
  18. Social Security is being looked at as an investment program.  It was never intended to be an investment program; it is a social safety net.  It should never be privatized.  One simple tweak would ensure its survival, but Wall Street can't wait to get their paws on it.
  19. Medicare is being looked at as a gift to insurance companies.  One party insists on ending it as a federal program and handing out vouchers for insurance.  Try getting health insurance from a for-profit company when you're 83.  Medicare is efficient as it is, just paying providers and not trying to make profits for shareholders.
  20. One party wants to privatize everything.  But there are some things that should never be privatized, e.g., education, disaster relief, and fixing infrastructure.
  21. The media sickens us with their constant polling and horse-race predictions just to keep interest up and sell more advertising.
 
Those are the issues I find troubling at this time.  I'll update as I think of more.  And most of them will continue regardless of who gets elected. 
 
I welcome your comments.
 
Pam