Bearish or Bullish

In the Sacramento Bee today there is vexing article "Obama is Bearish Gingrich is Bullish" by Debra Saunders. It is not complimentary to President Obama.

The article implies that the differences between the conservatives, Gingrich, and the progressives, Obama, lie in outlook, just like on Wall Street.

She uses the analogy to suggest that Gingrich, in promising $2.50 gas by somehow upping gas exploration and development above current levels, is Bullish or optimistic in the future. The President's mixed approach, is 'bearish; in that it take a pessimistic view.

And she concludes, although not very strongly, that the Bullish approach is best, because it ultimately will bring more oil and gas to market

I fundamentally disagree. And, to disagree with this optimistic approach I know harms the progressive position.

Americans are by nature optimistic, especially when relating to the use of natural resources. This is understandable when you look at history.

Americans are all immigrants (except for Native Americans whose history plays directly into the topic of natural resources). When American colonists immigrated from Europe there was a sense that Europe was using its natural resources up. You must remember this was an agrarian age, the industrial revolution had not started. Whale oil fueled lights and was the oil of the 17th and early 18th century.

Petroleum was not discovered except as a nuisance to farmers, and coal was burned by scrapping it off the surface of the earth and using it in stoves (that just had been invented).

Feudalism was the economic paradigm; and aristocratic monarchy was the political one.

The colonists were fleeing this as "excess persons", that is to say, they went to the dangerous new world because there was not enough to go around in Europe.

What they found was unbelievable. The "New World" had vast natural resources, and free land. There were not nobles or lords in the way, only the Native Americans, and the colonists had firearms, and the "Indians" had bow and arrows; a tragic mismatch.

It is no wonder that a basic tenant of American faith and optimism is this "exceptionalism" that has great faith in limitless natural resources. In the twentieth century, the United States twice came to the world's aid, by using its vast natural resources to destroy tyranny with good, and service, guns and butter.

Today, the United States uses from 20 to 30% of world's energy resources every day. As the article says, if every country in the world used as much, we would need five earth's to provide the energy.

As more countries enter the "developed nation" status, more energy is demanded. And we only have one earth.

So, how do we approach this "new" paradigm? We apply, as the article suggests, the same formula that has worked each time before: we will out produce the world with our vast natural resources and win the day.

That is the bearish position that Gingrich uses, along with xenophobia, racism; etc., which by the way also were part of American "exceptionalism": producing the Civil War, Genocide of Native American to feed "Manifest Destiny"; etc.

In short, the bearish position is not without human and moral cost. But I digress.

So why would Obama embrace the "bearish" position, when the "bullish" optimism of the past has served America so well? Why wouldn't Obama approve the Keystone pipeline, it is in the American tradition.

Ok, read carefully here, because this will go against your "American exceptionalism".

We we running out of gas. We are reaching quickly the tipping point of the world's resources, all resources, to support the total world population.

In a sense we are where Europe was in 1492-1885, when natural resources could not provide a decent life for its population, prompting the mass migration to the "New World" (including Africa, Asia and the Americas through colonialism).

It is not by accident that Gingrich talks about colonizing the moon for resources, it is part of the bearish approach following the same pattern that worked for immigrant Americans in 1500.

The problem is, it takes a whole lot more energy to move one human being to the moon and back. Mass migration is impossible. Mars is three months away, traveling at thousands of miles per hour, for a crew of three. And, the atmospheres of the Moon and Mars cannot sustain human life.

The closest planet that might sustain human life has not been found yet, and promises to be millions of light years away.

In short, we are stuck here. There is not another migration that will save us. We have to make do, with the resources we have, and use innovation and human brain power to utilize energy much more efficiently or we will overtax the resources of the world and sink into social, economic and political chaos.

If you wonder what this looks like, take a peak at equatorial Africa. Global Warming has already changed the climate to a point that the natural resources cannot support the population, mostly agrarian in nature, resulting in genocide, warfare, and mass starvation.

While Americans whine about $5.00/gallon gasoline, the Sudan sees millions starving, raping, and dying.

Now that is a pretty bearish or pessimistic view isn't it? And, anyone running for public office would be pretty stupid to adhere to it unless they put responsibility to their people, the world and the future ahead of an optimism that only will make things worse.

President Obama is no fool. He knows he took a risk by refusing to approve the Keystone pipeline. He knows we cannot move immediately from using 30% of world's resources to say 10% immediately. He knows that.

Gingrich, on the other hand, knows America's hot button. He knows history. He knows that confidence in abundant natural resources and their maximized use, is what Won the West (stole the West), Won World Wars I, and II, and the Cold War. We "outproduced them", and out used resources we had in the Americas to prevail. Why wouldn't that work again?

Ok, lean in here again and listen: BECAUSE WE DON'T HAVE ALL THE VITAL RESOURCES ANYMORE!

Saudi Arabia and the Middle East have vastly more petroleum resources that does the United States. And, they mostly have nationalized their oil reserves, and their country's leaderships control supplies.

In the United States, land of free enterprise, oil companies are multi-nationals, with no allegiance to our country. They drill in our land and oceans, and sell the oil to the highest bidder. The Keystone Pipeline is being built to move tar sand oil to Texas, because Canadian Law does not allow exporting Canadian Oil, drilled within Canada to be exported, unless it is refined outside Canada.

And, Canadians will not allow a thousand mile plus pipeline to traverse their land because of environmental concerns.

The Keystone Pipeline is a scam, exposing the Midwest to pollution, with no benefit to Americans short term or long term energy needs.

President Obama knows that, and to his credit did not approve it.

Gingrich knows it too, but he also knows what Americans believe in, so he sells a bearish view of natural resources that he knows is now false; pandering to an American optimism that is no longer valid, accurate, or relevant.

It is not complicated. To maintain our present standard of living, America has to stop imagining and using what got us out of trouble before. There is no mass migration to a bountiful continent to bail us out. Opportunity no longer will come through Manifest Destiny.

The Bullish approach is to change, to modify, to more efficiently use energy. President Obama's approach, whether he wins re-election or not, is correct.

To prevail, he has to convince Americans to modify one their most profound principles: that we can outproduce anyone, out natural resource them, and prevail every time.

This time, we have to out think, and out efficiency the world to keep our high standard of living. If we use the old approach, WE WILL LOSE!

Bullish is a prescription for defeat.

Rich More Likely to Act Unethically

This was the title of an article that ran today in the Sacramento Bee.

The article summarizes research done at U.C. Berkeley that used several approaches to determine if rich people act more unethically than the rest of us.

The results were what I expected. Rich people cheat!

Rich people are more motivated by greed, was one of the scientific postulates, that the research confirmed. Because they are more motivated by greed, they take more "short cuts" that are unethical and even illegal.

No wonder: Bernie Maloff...the Savings and Loan Scandal...Wall Street insider trading...the list goes on and on.

And who does the conservative movement in this country worship: those who "made it". The fabulous 1%.

Mitt Romney proclaims that is, "Time to stop apologizing about being successful".

The facts are that white collar crime is prosecuted far less than working class crime. Our prisons are filled with petty criminals, drug related crimes, and crimes for little real value; while those who destroyed Enron and millions of middle class mortgages never see a courtroom.

The reason for this inequity is money. Money buys good lawyers. And money buys politicians. And money buys cops.

Police are reluctant to pursue rich criminals, because they rarely get convicted. Sometimes the influence is more corrupt than that.

The U.C. study first checked driving habits at intersections; and found the richer the car, the more the driver cut people off, illegally took the right of way; etc.

The rich cheat more on taxes, give less to charity, lie more; etc.

And Fox News lionizes them. Their talking heads threatened to quit, when increases to the rich tax rates were threatened. And, their talking heads have been caught in too many out and out lies to list here. There have been books written about the lies of Fox news.

And still the middle class watches, almost hypnotized by the B.S.

In 1972 Richard Nixon, unconvinced that he had the election won, send "plumbers" into the Democrat National Headquarters to get information to smear his opponent. The "plumbers" were caught, and the nation watched in horror as what was a minor event, morphed into an impeachment. This all happened not because of the minor crime, "breaking and entering", but because of the monumental and unethical, cover up.

At the time, it was said that Watergate proved there is no connection between education and ethics; the "Presidents' Men were all highly educated and very rich". It should have been added, that the is no connection between money, power and honesty.

When I was attending Stanford, I "rubbed elbows" with the children of wealth. Mitt Romney was a freshman then, and I actually knew him. He was a decent guy, and we all liked him.

But he was fabulously rich. His father, who was governor of Michigan, and a very successful businessman, was a self-made man. Mitt was not.

I never saw Mitt being dishonest; although his leaving Stanford and going on a mission conveniently dodged the military draft. A poor kid, could not have afforded to do such a thing, and at the time, those who dropped out of college got drafted; and many went to Vietnam.

But my roommate was a different matter. He was forced to go to Stanford by his very wealthy father, hated it, and wanted to quit. But he had to get kicked out, if he quit he would be disinherited. So he simply did not attend classes. And he urged me to lie for him when his professors called to see where he was.

I did to a point, he had a lot of "flu", but then started telling them the truth; he was at the beach, he was with a girl; etc. It didn't seem to matter; he stayed enrolled!

The guy lasted until the summer before Stanford kicked him out. He made it through three quarters, and never attended a class.

The reason, we found out later, was that his father gave a boatload of money to the University. In those days that carried weight, lots of weight.

I was not happy at Stanford my first quarter. I was homesick. I was fighting for a position on a talented Freshman football team. I wanted out; foolishly I found out later, as I came to love the place.

But I KNEW what would happen if I quit; I would lose my deferment in a minute and be drafted. No question! I was a poor kid from Redding, California, no extra breaks for me. It was either go to class or go to Vietnam!

And so it goes, the rich have ways around things, like a draft, the poor don't have them. Rich people don't go to jail as often as poor people. Rich people play by their own rules. Rich people live by different ethical rules than the middle class.

Today, America is run by the rich. The Republican Party, of the "good Republican cloth coats" that Nixon used to dodge an earlier ethical lapse that almost cost him the Vice Presidency, is a memory.

Today's Republican Party is run by the rich, gives homage to corporate power and greed. Its foot soldiers are disaffected middle class members, who are still mad that the Democratic Party stood up for civil rights.

The party also is made up of delusional Christian Conservatives, convinced the end is near, and secretly hating people of color. The "Bible Belt" that used to be Southern Democratic territory, is now Republican. I still think Lincoln must be spinning in his grave!

Look at a map sometime of Red States and Blue States. The Republican Party is of the south, it is Dixie, with border states thrown in. But those who really run the party are not from the mostly poor rural Red State areas. The rulers are on Wall Street, investment "leaders" and C.E.O.s who use their incredible wealth to dictate to their Congressional puppets who they have bought and paid for.

And this has lapsed over into the Democratic Party as well. Well heeled lobbyists have bought politicians from both parties.

And THAT is why our system doesn't work: Unethical behavior, illegal behavior, immoral behavior is justified because after all, "we are in this to make a profit".

Making a profit is the be all and end all of business activity. The difference is, since the rich now control commerce in the country, business ethics have been virtually eliminated. Lying, cheating, and even stealing is an accepted business ethic.

The rich, shriveled old man, in "It's a Beautiful Life", Mr. Potter, has won.

And so, the U.C. study is right. Rich people lie more than we do. Rich people cheat more than we do. Rich people steal more than we do...

What amazes me is members of the middle class who protect them, who argue for them, who coddle them, and who idolize them....as they destroy our country.

When will we wake up!????

Detroit Bankrupcy

Over the last three years I have received many emails from my conservative friends deriding Detroit and rust belt cities. Their favorite pictures are showing the acres of abandoned homes, in various states of disrepair.

The cons chortle about these dismal scenes, mostly I think because the blighted neighborhoods are now semi-occupied by people of color. The racism is palatable.

Their glee makes me sick!

Now, as Mitt (wit?) Romney campaigns (while riding in his Cadillacs) in Michigan, we are again reminded of another article of faith of the right wingers (right next to xenophobia and racism); the cleansing nature of bankruptcy.

Remember one of George W's "gifts" to the United States was a wholesale rewriting of bankruptcy laws, shifting the balance from the bankrupt to the creditor. And, foreclosing on a home is now possible as part of a bankruptcy; before a person could at least keep their home.

Most did not of course, liquefying the home was painful but necessary part of bankruptcy. But the cons had to be sure the home gets taken under the new law; I'm surprised they didn't push for debtor's prisons!

And the cons lied about the ultimate effects of these changes in law, promising economic benefits. There was no positive economic effect as promised. I would suggest the new bankruptcy laws will be found to have deepened the past recession and have, as usual, been another con reform that backfired; added to prison reform, welfare reform, tax reform, educational reform...you name it...

This punitive approach to misfortune is echoed in Romney's support to "Let Detroit go Bankrupt". At the time, 2008, Romney was still working for a company that specialized in bankrupting companies, selling off the assets, firing the workers, and making a huge profit in doing so; kind of parasitic?

Was Bane Capital standing to make a killing if G.M. went bankrupt? One wonders. I always smell a special interest when cons whine!

Middle class cons, have now accepted the "conventional wisdom" that bankruptcy is good, that it is cleansing, that it ultimately results in a better economy.

During the Great Depression homeless farmers, who had lost everything, hung a few bankruptcy judges. Now bankruptcy judges are seen as heroes?

The fact is bankruptcy is awful. It destroys people's lives. Sometimes it is the only thing that can be done. But, bankruptcy is not always the fault of the debtor.

The majority of bankruptcies in the country occur because of health care issues. A homeowner loses his/her job, loses health care insurance, then someone gets real sick. To pay the bills, with only unemployment (another hated benefit by cons), people take loans out on the house. Eventually this all falls apart, with bankruptcy the only recourse.

Of course the new health care law is evil...you don't want people to have any hedge against plain old bad luck....cleanse...cleanse....It is your fault if you are poor or unemployed..you are just lazy!

There is nothing clean about starving children...nothing! But they are lazy too, right...a six year old should be doing janitorial work (Newt says so).

The new bankruptcy laws are punitive, and weigh heavily in favor of banks, credit card companies, and other creditors. They combine to create a growing poor class in this country who are doomed to a lifetime of poverty.

This does not bother the cons. It is cleansing! It will ultimately work out. Detroit needs to be destroyed, the unions are evil, and ultimately working people are smucks, who deserve to be fooled, hoodwinked, and lied to.

Is it just me, but doesn't Romney remind you of the traveling salesman, who knocks on your door, and you immediately put your hand over your wallet while talking to him?

In fact, saving Detroit was a huge mistake, they say, as Romney speaks in a stadium to about 800 people; in a venue that holds 50,000. There is a message in this!

The message is maybe, just maybe the working class in this country is waking up. Maybe they will question Fox Propaganda, with their colorful sets, and short skirted hotties; and realize they are getting worked over.

The autoworkers were not the only ones who would have suffered. Millions of support personnel, ranging from parts stores to shade tree mechanics would have suffered. And, millions of consumers, who suddenly were left with a car with a warranty and no company to back it up. But what the hell...cleanse...cleanse.....

Detroit got in trouble because cons in their midst sold the idea that a big pickup would make a big profit, regardless of the fact that gas costs $100 to fill up the tank. As people cut back, as the rich got richer, they couldn't afford the gas. WE ARE RUNNING OUT OF GAS!

Don't be fooled by the fables that environmentalists are blocking access to the holy grail, that all we need to do is drill off the California coast, or in Alaska, or pipe tar sand oil in from Canada; that liberals are deliberately blocking access to the bounty that still lurks in the earth. Have you ever wondered why liberals would do that? Why would they block access to oil so they could piss off consumers who then would never vote for them. Did you ever think that maybe, just maybe, the world is running out of sweet crude oil? The latest projection, by the way, is the world has 40 years left at current consumption levels.

That means a baby born today will be middle aged when there is NO MORE CRUDE OIL.

Do you think, just for a minute, that is why gas prices are going up? As we argue about global warming, and refuse to conserve, the liquid gold is burning away in front of us.

Smaller cars, public transportation, solar and wind power, an actual energy policy with teeth is our only hope to continue prosperity in the country...and of course the cons scream...drill baby drill.

Obama's energy policies are bad, bad.....conservation when facing a diminishing resource is bad.

What?! President Obama has never changed his message, we must change our energy habits or die economically. It is that simple! And he is right! Drill baby drill is a recipe for disaster!

But remember, it is cleansing to make millions poor, and put our economic future in the hands of zealots who believe that running out of oil is good. It is like bankruptcy; running out of oil all at once will cleanse the world!

I suppose it is good for the soul too, which gets us the Rick Santorum (a later blog topic).

Beware the Simple Solution

It's Obama's fault...cut taxes and stimulate the economy....drill baby drill.....immigrants are the cause of the recession....public pensions cause the budget deficit....regulations kill jobs....

I could go on and on. Each of these and other charges by the conservative right wing are repeated and enhanced through Fox media to do one thing; convince the average, non-reading voter, that simple solutions to problems are all we need to do.

Voters are propagandized to believe that global warming is nothing; caused by sun spots, not people. Literally billions are spent to do one thing: convince the public that the problems in energy, education and health care are not that complex, they just need a simple over riding solution: like cut taxes, buy insurance across state lines, and create charter schools.

And that is our major problem. The facts are that the problems this nation faces are not simple. We are a nation of over 300 million people, with hundreds of languages, and many cultures pushed together.

The social, political and economic sciences were established with the idea that complex problems require study, statistical analysis, and depth of research to lead to accurate and effective solutions.

One good example right now is the rise in gas prices. I have read several letters to the editor, by gleeful conservatives, blaming President Obama's delay of approval of the Keystone Pipeline for the high gas prices. Even if the President ultimately approves the pipeline, it will not be built for many years. How on earth can the act of not approving it NOW have anything to do with high tax prices?

Then there is the Iran issue and gas prices. Conservative candidates (I don't think there is a Republican Party anymore) all claim they will lower gas prices, while bombing Iran into oblivion.

Any research at all of gas prices increases now, includes how the Iranian crisis is driving gas speculations up. If the middle east is plunged into yet another war, Iran can block more than just their gas reserves. Saudi Arabia is not an enemy of Iran, and would, in the event of an attack on Iran, curtail its oil exports to the west. The results of that would be a two dollar rise in the price of gas.

The truth, and you have to READ to find this out, is that President Obama's policies on energy have resulted in a massive increase in drilling, fracking and domestic oil production. Many progressives are not comfortable with this, but the truth is present U.S. energy policy encourages gas efficiency, natural gas exploration, solar power increases. In short, a COMPLEX policy approach aimed at reducting our gasoline dependency.

The United States has 2% of the world's population and uses almost 30% of the world's energy. And, the vast majority of crude oil in the world is NOT in the United States. And, oil that is mined in the United States (coal also for that matter) is exported to other nations. Is is not our oil!

It always interests me that my con friends say it is "our coal and oil", when we never have nationalized these industries. Shell Oil, Standard Oil, all Oil Companies are multi-nationals who have loyalty to one thing: profit.

When Obama ran for president in 2008 he also used the increase in oil prices to political advantage. But he ran on a complex energy policy, that worked to decrease our overall reliance on fossil fuels, smarter development of energy reserves, and a long range plan to protect the United States best interests.

Congress steadfastly refused to enact most of the President's energy agenda, and we are seeing its effects now; once again being worked by foreign developments through higher gas prices.

Elect the conservatives and you elect the oil companies plain and simple, and you insure our slavery to fossil fuels; which the world is running out of.

And the endgame of this inability to maturely and scientifically dealing with a problem: the destruction of the United States.

What hypocrisy

Rick Santorum distresses me greatly with his moralistic hypocrisy.

He stands as a "true conservative", or "severe conservative" if you subscribe to Mitt Romney's doublespeak. This position calls for small government, no government...in fact...less than no government. Government is evil, it intrudes on lives, it destroys initiative; it is just evil!

Then listen to Rick the Elder go on and on about how contraception is evil, how abortions should be illegal, how pre-natal screenings should be banned. All of this intrusion into a woman's most personal area would be enacted, under King Rick, through GOVERNMENT!

HUH? Where does this come from? How does a unabashed severe conservative flip into government thought control? The government should ban contraception, ban abortion, ban pre-natal screening, ban womens' rights.

Santorum talks constantly about theocratic ideals, that is syllable away from theocracy.

And who is behind this theocracy plan; why the good ole Catholic Church!

Yes, the same Catholic Church whose hierarchy taught Joe Paterno everything he knew about covering up pedophilia. The same Catholic Church, who during WWII did NOTHING to stop the horrors of genocide. The same Catholic Church that forbids contraception in Third World countries, resulting in mass starvation; with child mortality at record levels.

As a Christian I know I should not criticize my fellow Christians. However, there is little doubt that the Catholic Church is foursquare behind Rick Santorum. The recent dust up over The Affordable Care Act including contraception as a covered benefit, and the Catholic Church's out of context reaction was timed perfectly for political effect.

The facts are that this is a non-issue, being manipulated by the Catholic Bishops to assist Rick Santorum's candidacy.

The loser in all this is Mitt Romney, who has seen his double digit lead in Michigan disappear as Rick Santorum, who is probably un-electable in the general election, surges.

Santorum is surging because he is promising to use the government, if he is elected President, to legislate morality, plain and simple. If he wins, every woman in America loses big time!

The hypocrisy of this is off the charts.

Gas Price Rising...How Convenient

The strategy was telegraphed, like a punch, for months. Cons began with the Keystone Pipeline issue, knowing full well that there was no way President Obama could immediately approve the pipeline (mandated studies have not even been completed), cons pushed a decision before Christmas. They knew he would say no. They were betting our country on it.

And, of course, several con sources have been repeating the chant about how much higher gas prices are under Obama than under Bush. Ever wonder why they have been doing that?

This is not true, of course, but the chant has gone on, while we were able to purchase gas in the low $3.00 range, just as we did from 2000 to 2006 or so.

And why, some wondered, were the cons repeating high gas price warnings as the economy floundered?

The answer is apparent now.

The oil cartels have suddenly raised gas prices by at least .$50/gallon and more. And, projections are being released by "objective" petroleum predictions (there is no such animal) that gas prices will be close to $5.00/gallon by labor day.

How convenient for big oil. How convenient for the Republican Party, whose "drill baby drill" mantra is party gospel. How convenient to try to kill our economic recovery.

How inconvenient for President Obama who will pay for the accelerating recovery with higher gas prices and possible electoral defeat.

This is being done on purpose folks. It is a plan right out of Karl Rove's playbook. They have been working on this for the past three years.

Have you read the excuses for the gas price increase? They are almost comical, but not quite. They range from refineries being shut down for maintenance, to the Iranian "crisis" (what?).

They are lying!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The truth is big oil has a vested interest in electing a Republican President, who will do their bidding, in 2012. It fits their plans to literally take over the country in the next four years. The Koch Brothers, oilmen, want to return to the days when an oilman (George W.) was in the White House. They raped the country then, and want to rape it now.

So, if you believe in the "tooth fairy" then accept these lies.

You will be paying even higher gas prices, because ultimately Big Oil wants demand to be as high as possible, justifying six, seven and eight dollar a gallon gas (before taxes) after the election. That is right, AFTER the election, the prices will not come down. They will have us where they want us...and the game will be up!

This will produce a windfall of epic proportions, and they can finish the task of literally buying the entire country, and half the world for that matter. If the President is defeated, there will be nobody in their way.

The only way to stop this power grab is to conserve, and don't let your vote be bought! When the price of gas goes up, use less. Carpool, get on the bus, demand better public transportation; etc.

Big oil is betting you don't do this. They are betting you will do as you have in the past, panic, blame the President; and GIVE THEM WHAT THEY WANT!

Throwing President Obama out of office because of high gas prices will buy guess what....even higher gas prices, with no recourse.

Will Mitt Romney stand up to Big Oil? Will Santorum? Not a chance! Big oil owns the Republican Party!!!!!

It is demand plain and simple! You are once again being suckered! You are being worked! They are betting that you bite, that the economy, as it improves, lures you back into your wasteful energy ways, puts you back in your big truck and SUV, and through skyrocketing demand, leaves them in absolute charge of our lives.

It is a huge turning point in this country. If we choose wrong, like in Indiana Jones, not "wisely" then we die. Ultimately that is what is at stake, our freedom from a cartel run country, who controls everything; and ends up with the end of our way of life and the loss of our freedom.

It is called fascism. To resist is to be free, to be taken in by them is to lose our freedom.

Gas Prices rising....how convenient......

Confused?

Rick Santorum now leads Mitt Romney for the Republican presidential nomination. Newt Gingrich wins primary based on colonizing moon ideas. Ron Paul denies racist newsletters he sponsored in 1990s (not 60s). Conservatives adopt the policies of the Catholic Church regarding contraception while repudiating Mormon candidate.

It goes on. Republicans, at least half moderate ones, stand aghast and appalled by the direction of the party as it lurches to the right.

Every student of Political Science since ever has studied the tendency of American politics to govern from the center. Very few candidates for President have ever been elected who appealed to the extremes: Walter Mondale and Barry Goldwater leap to mind.

This middle road, compromising aspect of successful candidates for President drives both extremes nuts. You only need to turn into MSNBC or Fox News to hear it, both extremes are always upset about some kind of "sell-out" or so, that does not conform with their ideal picture of what should be done.

President Obama, for example, is still getting grief for extending the Bush Tax Cuts, and not falling on his sword for a "single payer" Health Plan. Mitt Romney, who used to be the apparent Republican nominee, recently described himself in front of a radically right-wing audience, as "a severe conservative".

What? A severe conservative; what on earth is that? Images of Elmer Gantry or maybe Dirty Harry come to mind. What is a severe conservative?

Rick Santorum, who is about as severe a conservative as you can get, meanwhile is outpolling Romney in national polls. This is the same candidate who lost by 18 points in Ohio (?) because he was so severe his own party abandoned him in mass.

And this is where the Republicans are going while they plot (plod) to rid the country of the great Satan: Barack Obama.

Guess what, it likely won't work. Santorum has already lost all the women vote for his Neanderthal, Catholic Bishop views on abortion and anti-women views. Romney doesn't know who he is; but one thing for sure he is Mormon, and evangelical Christians simply will not tolerate that.

And then there is Newt, who has so much baggage from his past, that he needs two buses to travel; but doesn't get his seat on Air Force One.

Conservative forces in this country are spending billions to radicalize the conservatives; and it has worked. But, what they have missed is they now are out of step with mainstream America, and remarkably it looks like people are figuring it out.

Of course, a recession that has placed millions in poverty, with massive amounts of wealth concentrated in the top 1% , who are paying for the conservative propaganda blitz, does not help their cause.

Democrats cannot relax because of this. "Citizens United" has given an enormous advantage to the aristocracy to simply buy the election. This approach has limited successes, but still lurks as a way to grab victory from the jaws of defeat.

The nation's future depends on this; either we elect a true conservative, who is "severe" enough, to then alienate everyone and plunge the nation into a possible civil war; or we wake up and re-elect a moderate (compared to the wing-nuts on the other side) President who will continue a middle road approach, which is the usual American political tradition.

Confused? I'm not!

Small Business

Today, in the Sacramento Bee's editorial section, there was an article written by a "small business owner" who just happens to be the majority whip in the House of Representatives...and a Republican of course.

He wrote a diatribe about how restrictive government regulations and the weight of government was the reason why the economy is not thriving. As part of this onerous mash of stifling bureaucracy are the supposedly sky high capital gains taxes, that are "choking economic growth".

I have some friends who were small business owners. The conservative ones mimic the same party line, it is all the government's fault that small businesses are not thriving.

So, when we cut regulations where do we start? Where do we go to cut costs, and regulations, so businesses can thrive?

If the experience of Wisconsin or Michigan are any guide, it is straight at labor. Cutting labor costs is the key to success; not innovation or new ideas, but labor costs.

There was a time in America when workers stayed with the same company for a lifetime. Employees were part of the family, and worked alongside the owner for over thirty years.

This system died a long time ago. Now, employers actually discourage longevity, because it...guess what...drives up labor costs.

And one of those most onerous costs is health care. To keep those costs down, small business owners long ago came up with the idea that older workers mean higher health care costs, so they are expendable.

America is the ONLY country in the world who runs its health care system through employers. The only one.

And health care insurance is an enormous pain for small business owners. Many have done away with any coverage at all, prompting the present fifty million or so who have no health care insurance at all.

So, to survive small business have cut benefits, laid off older more loyal workers so what is next to become "lean and mean".

Workplace safety, workman's compensation, unemployment insurance become candidates and are identified as "government burdens" that are "stifling" small businesses. Add to that, any thoughts of a pension plan, and you have the target for business conservatives...basically reduce the labor force to 1880-90 conditions. A conservative Presidential candidate even suggested children serve as janitors at their schools to eliminate expensive union backed custodians. That is child labor.

And it makes sense, when according to conservatives, to compete in the global economy means you treat workers like they do in China or Singapore, no protections, low wages, no benefits.

There are a lot of moral and economic problems with this approach. For one, we have had this debate already, and decided a long time ago that the key to a robust economy was to have a class of consumers who have money to spend on the products and services our economy produces. A thriving middle class as the bedrock of a growing economy is an accepted fact of economic vitality not only in the United States, but throughout the world.

China and India have rapidly growing middle classes, regardless of the relative poor working conditions that exist. There are some economists who say America's middle class is shrinking, as those in the "developing nations" increase, and there is not much we can do about it. There is only so much wealth to go around, it is finite in the world, so what we are witnessing is a shift of wealth from the middle class dominated developed nations to the growing developing ones.

The problem with that thesis is the phenomenon of fantastic growth in wealth in the top of the American economic hierarchy. There appears to be plenty of wealth to go around, it is just concentrating in the top.

One thing is for certain, a strong middle class means a better America for all. Huge gaps between the rich and the poor, with the majority of wealth in the hands of a few, does not bode well for a democracy.

I suggest the following: 1. It is not the government that is holding back economic growth, it is mostly America's health care insurance system, that siphons off vitalilty through a labyrinth of profit taking, a huge bureaucracy that could be eliminated by a non-profit, government run, single payer system. Stop employer provided health insurance completely, Medicare for all really is the answer no matter what the insurance industry lies about. . 2. Enforce the progressive tax code, and stop the Bush tax cuts for everyone. They did not work, and have actually retarded economic growth. 3. Eliminate all state employment laws and regulations and concentrate them in a universal federal code of labor law.

We are operating with a labor code that has layers of local, state and federal laws that often conflict and are more expensive to everybody. We have a mobile workforce, people move across state lines all the time, why have a workman's compensation program in every state, that sometimes is contradictory?

Put Congress to work on developing a national economic policy that would protect American workers and yes, condition our participation in the global economy. I often have thought that we keep arguing about free enterprise, government regulations; etc., while we SHOULD be arguing about a national economic policy that would present a united front to the world.

Why does each state have global economy approaches? Why does Texas compete against California for economic growth, when workers travel from one state to another?

We are spending our time competing against ourselves, when the enemy is out there. It reminds me of the wagon train joke, where the settlers turn inward and shoot at each other rather than at the enemy.

The problem is government over-regulation, but from multiple, overlapping areas, without a strong central core.

That is what will begin to make it better for small businesses to compete in the global economy.

And that, of course, is what conservatives will resist to the death. Because small, de-centralized government, is their mantra, their bedrock of belief, and America's passport to defeat!

Start of Third Quarter

I was sitting, partly enjoying Madonna at 51 trying to act like she was 28, and everyone started settling in for the second half of the Super Bowl.

I had disregarded my own prohibition on spirits because of antibiotics for a sinus infection, and had a couple gin and tonics in me; probably didn't help with the inhibitions.

And then the screen when dark. At first I thought we had a glitch, but Clint Eastwood's gravely voice came over the surround sound.

And the room fell dead silent. I mean dead silent.

And we listened and we watched and I began weeping.

Weeping around my golfing buddies is always problematic. But I checked, and there were a few wet eyes in the house.

And then Eastwood said something like, Detroit knows what it is like to nearly lose everything...

And then the pictures of middle class families, leading to what I thought was going to be a plea to buy Chrysler.

And that never came.

The thing built and built to an emotional crescendo. It caught the Great Recession. It caught the fear and anger I have had over the past ten years, that we have stood by and watch rich ass holes bankrupt the middle class.

I flashed on phone calls I have made for customer care, and listened to a foreign voice. I flashed on looking on every electronic device I use, and seeing Made in China on it. I flashed on buying a golf hat, and reading "Made in Vietnam". I flashed on Barry Grigsby who died in Vietnam in 1967.

I flashed on the articles by Mitt Romney saying that Detroit and the auto industry should have been allowed to fail. In fact the right wing is adamant that the auto bail out was wrong, and we should have allowed Chrysler, and G.M. to be shut down, losing millions of jobs, to "cleanse the economy". How is losing millions of jobs, dooming millions to poverty a "cleansing condition"? I guess it is if you are worth 300 millions dollars as Romney is.

The rich asshole. That is really what they are. These jerks have, for over thirty years, worked hard to gut America's economy while getting unbelievably rich. They have bankrolled Fox News and other conservative loudspeakers, to convince who they are screwing that they are really not getting screwed.

Like I say to my conservative friends, these blowhards on the right HATE YOU! They are NOT your friends!

And they right now are desperately trying to buy the Presidential election with "Citizens United" billions, in an unfair political fight.

Eastwood at one point said one punch wouldn't knock America out. I would offer that there will be many blows at the American Dream, aimed at creating a permanent aristocracy. The super rich will not give up until the middle class is dead.

We will never get out of the tunnel to play the third quarter.

And our only hope is if the middle class, especially white middle aged baby boomers, wake up and realize that the danger is NOT in the Latinos, or the African-Americans, the danger is in the corporate boardrooms of this country.

I can not believe that corporate Chrysler did the "Halftime in America" to have the reaction it had. I think they were so boneheaded that they hired a known conservative voice (I still see Eastwood at the right hand of Reagan), and did a commercial about selling their cars and that was about it. But in an attempt to re-create the optimism of their conservative hero, they did...but the optimist this time is a Democrat! Romney is the nay sayer.

So, somewhere in there they screwed up. They touched the heartstrings of America, and showed us the way out of the dark that began their commercial.

The way out is through President Obama, not through the conservative philosophy that got us into this mess. President Obama was elected on, remember, the "Yes We Can" corny phrase. Palin has mocked this, Romney has mocked this, because it scares the hell out of them.

And it is working!

And what did Eastwood really say, "Yes we Can"...we can do it. Detroit did it; with a government bailout that the cons hate.

And of course that is the whole point.

If we decide to elect them back into power, we as the middle class, are finished.

I think the commercial was a wake up call, a call to optimism, and a call to finish the economic recovery that is plainly ongoing. YES WE CAN!

Control?

Liberty. A short word, that has been a part of America from its inception. Liberty.... It immediately invokes all sorts of images, the statute, the coin, freedom, individualism; etc.

Today it seems liberty is the watchword of the conservative right; meaning liberty or freedom from over-reaching, tyrannical government. Liberty has taken on an economic, free enterprise meaning not a legal one.

Conservatives would have you believe that big government has crushed individual liberty, a wedge if you will between your natural rights to "life, LIBERTY and the pursuit of happiness" to pursue business interests unfettered by government regulation.

And, of course they conveniently forget the Preamble to the Constitution: "We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America." (note the words...form, establish, provide, promote, secure).

Government is a compact between us all, and under the control of "The People", does take an active and far-reaching role in making the conditions through law for liberty.

And that liberty, we now have established through a Civil War and the Civil Rights struggle, is not just for white people, but for ALL!

The Constitution was not written to create a government that intrudes on individual liberty, but works to provide the blessings of liberty. Without a government of the People, liberty doesn't have a chance. Monarchies cannot provide liberty, aristocracies cannot, plutocracies can't, fascism sure as heck can't...

Basic constitutional law provides that we are "a nation of laws and not of men."

Government in the United States has "checks and balances" throughout its constitutional and even tort law that makes it extremely difficult to infringe on individual liberty.

This is different in criminal law, where the rights of the public to "the general welfare" trumps rampant individual liberty....we lock criminals up. The concept of "clear and present danger" is integral to this decision that sometimes government must act to protect the people from themselves. The Bill of Rights was added to the Constitution, to put a limit on government's power to do this for good reason; witness the Salem Witch Trials.

The Komen flare-up recently, and the reaction to it are instructive. The conservatives hate Planned Parenthood, a non-governmental organization, that works with women on contraceptive, birth control, abortion counseling not financial support, and a whole host of issues dealing with reproductive issues.

Yes, Planned Parenthood has been painted for some reason with a "liberal" brush. But this is for a reason, that cuts to the heart of our liberty.

The Catholic Church, contrary to the vast majority of Protestants, has forever been against artificial contraception. They of course are also adamantly opposed to abortion in any form.

The Catholic Church is pre-eminent in developing nations, especially in Hispanic regions. For years, Mexico for example, has "enjoyed" a high birth rate because the Catholic Church prevents its members from using contraceptives.

And therein lies the point, that deeply affects the recent Komen Foundation flareup, where a anti-breast cancer organization was dragged into the abortion debate by some anti-abortion advocates.

When the Constitution was written the Catholic and Anglican Church were still embroiled in a war for souls. Open warfare had occurred, thousands had been jailed and executed, (Mary Tutor etc) all because church controlled governments were being used to enforce a secular belief.

That is one big reason why the Puritans fled England. Government was deeply involved in thought control, physical control, and there was no liberty. Theocracies were attempting actual thought control...the ultimate Big Brother.

Today, the Catholic Church, and fundamentalists have leaped into the fray, claiming that the Affordable Health Care Act encourages contraception and by implication; abortion.

This has the Catholic hierarchy up in arms, and according to conservatives anyway, another excuse for opposing the Affordable Care Act.

One is suspicious of this, since it seems conservatives are making up a lot to oppose the Affordable Care Act; read, insurance companies behind the mask of conservatives are against it. Behind every oppositional argument to the Affordable Care Act you can find the Insurance Industry...every one!

Anyway, the Komen Foundation gets dragged into this, and for a short time, stops its funds to Planned Parenthood, which could lead to thousands of poor women not getting breast cancer screening.

This evidently has been reversed after a huge public outcry. But, behind the immediate is the more dangerous situation that Catholic and Fundamentalist leaders are using their beliefs about contraception and morality, to intrude into the Affordable Care Act, and ultimately our liberty.

Choice; ie, liberty is the issue.

What right does the Catholic Church or Fundamentalists have telling a person what to do regarding contraception (or abortion for that matter)? And what right do they have to move that telling into pushing for legal prohibitions? Planned Parenthood does not tell people what to do, it provides education so people can make a choice. The churches are telling people they will rot in hell if they chose abortion or contraception; and therein lies the rub.

What more fundamental a liberty than over your own body? What more fundamental liberty that frankly whether you sleep with somebody or not (male of female for that matter).

And who really knows what God wants?

There are big reasons, huge "higher law" reasons, why liberty is in the Constitution. There are big reasons why the secular and the spiritual need to be separated as much as possible. The Komen controversy proves that yet again.

I am always bothered by Fox News and how they embellish every story that accuses the bad government of infringing in Christian belief, ranging from taking down the 10 Commandments from a County Courthouse, to school officials not allowing prayer at a Commencement. It sometimes dominates the Fox "fair and balanced" news cycle.

And fundamentalists wail...and the Catholics rally...and liberty is in danger.

And each time we take another step closer to King Henry the Eighth.

The threat, my conservative friends, to liberty in this country is NOT from government, it is from ourselves; from those among us who think they know what is best for us morally and spiritually.

Laws not men should govern...and Laws not men who think they know God's Will should govern.

Keep the church out of it!

Citizens Disunited

In today's Bee there is an article that breaks my heart. Reports are coming in on the impact of the "Citizens United" Supreme Court case and they portend the final end of our democracy.

Super Pacs and their offshoots are raising billions of untraceable dollars to fuel our already bloated political process. Money rules everything.

And it is patently unfair. Multi-national corporations, bent on weakening the American economy are pouring millions into campaigns to elect people who, as Mitt Romney just said, "don't care about the poor".

And they don't.

What amazes me about many of my conservative friends is they never get the utter hatred and distain the super rich have for ordinary people in this country.

The rich pour millions into causes that have literally broken the middle class, and enriched the top 1% beyond belief, and conservative poor people root for them. That's right, actually root for them!

But the Supreme Court, who may vote later this year to invalidate much of the Affordable Health Care Act (another law that stands to massively help not hurt the poor and middle class), has insured the unfairness in this country only gets worse. Who really stands to lose if the Affordable Health Care survives: the rich "health care" insurance industry of course. Who is fighting the Act with everything it has...you guess!

Money is power. The founding fathers knew that, as they faced down the most powerful, and richest empire in the world at the time. They knew that Britian had already bought off most colonists, called Tories, with their riches.

In fact, the Tories continue after the revolution to ultimately morph into guess who? The Republicans! If you doubt this, read a little bit from James Madison.

Anyway, Jefferson knew it was a long shot for ordinary people to prevail, so they crafted the Constitution with a Bill of Rights to protect the little guy. The Tories have been working ever since to undermine that political idea.

And the Supreme Court is packed with at least five Tories. These aristocratic idealists, actually believe that the best government is one that rules aristocratically, that rich people all deserve all their wealth, and the poor "don't matter". (Again Romney).

The Supreme Court majority in "Citizens United" proved that Torie aristocracy rules in the United States. A person of modest means simply can no longer run for Federal office, nor for state office and soon even for local office. Super-Pacs will decide who runs, and with the exception of a dwindling power base of unions, own the political influence landscape.

Unions are being attacked at every turn by the Tories who realize that once their power is gone (which it almost is), then aristocracy cannot help but win.

And who roots the attacks on? The middle class of course, propagandized by Fox News into actually believing that unions are evil, that working class rights are wrong, that a decent wage is uncompetitive.

So we read about Apple, whose sub-contractors in China recently were exposed for running sweat shops, doing jobs American well paid workers used to do, for slave like wages and brutal working conditions. And why do they allow this? Because it leads to better profits. And who gets the profits? The rich of course!

Wal Mart has successfully resisted any efforts to unionize their workers, and employs millions of temps, part time victims of a minimum wage and no benefits. Wal Mart has led the way in breaking unions and in destroying the middle class, who SHOPS AT WAL MART!

That's right, the middle class and poor actually subsidizes the super store that helped to reduce them to poverty.

But I digress.

And unions, that once got Americans the highest standard of living in the world, are now depicted as evil. And union Super Pac money, while a shrinking factor, was depicted as on a par with corporate power in the "Citizens United" decision.

This is the same court, that said through Justice Kennedy, that the Internet would not have anything to do with expanding the power of Super-Pacs. His statements were incredibly naive.

What incredible B.S. There is no way union political influence in the United States can come close to matching up with corporate, aristocratic power. The Court was comparing apples to oranges.

President Obama has put together a tidy sum to run for President from the small contributions using the Internet. But there is a limit to how much that can earn.

All gas companies have to do is raise gas prices a few pennies (they are doing it now), and use that extra money to fuel anti-middle class aritocratic candidates.

And, as an added bonus, they then blame the President for not keeping fuel costs down; and the middle class buys it, both at the pump and at the ballot box.

So higher gas prices include the very money that will bring our democracy to an end.

Citizens Disunited....