God Bless Them Both

It is hissy fit time..

I really thought that the Supremes were going to overturn the Affordable Care Act. I really did.

The Insurance industry has poured millions into discrediting the Act. Two Justices, at least, have wives, or themselves, who openly were patronized by the Insurance Cabal (I can't call it anything less).

And when you read the part of the Act that caps their profits and administrative costs, and even will pay a rebate to millions at the end of the summer, you quickly understand why the Insurance giants hate the act. I never could understand why insurance companies would propagandize against an act that will give them 30 million new paying customers. It is the regulation piece, that restricts their utter freedom to jack us all around, that they hate.

And they, up until now, have been very successful in poisoning the well regarding the act. The insurance industry has spend millions, lying about the act. And, predictably, a majority of Americans are very paranoid about Act.

A reporter asked why the administration has not made a better case for the Affordable Care Act. The response from the White House was basically that they could not afford to match the full court press that the Insurance Cabal has mounted.

And, of course, the Republican Right Wing (who is the Party now), has been only too happy to fall in line with this propaganda. Much of this has not been because of opposition to the Act itself, after all Mitt Romney who is the Republican standard bearer passed a very similar law in Massachusetts. The almost hysterical opposition is because President Obama is given credit for it; hence the derisive term Obamacare.

If anyone believes this is not crass political theater I am amazed.

Meanwhile there are 50 million Americans, and increasing, without any medical insurance. The recession has clobbered the middle class, removing employment and benefits for millions. The nation is in trouble.

And the conservatives go nuts because the government is intervening to save American lives. President Obama today, said "it should be clear I did not do this for politics"; in fact he has bet his political future on it. He then went on to say he did it for the American People.

What a novel topic, someone sacrificed for the greater good.

Another person who voted for the People, at great political risk, was Chief Justice Roberts, who then Senator Obama voted against when he was confirmed. That's right, Senator Obama voted against the Chief Justice, who just voted with the majority to uphold the Affordable Care Act.

A defeat in the Supreme Court, would have been devastating to the Obama Administration, but Roberts voted to uphold the Act!

And the cons are throwing a hissy fit. And they hate Roberts.

And Roberts, and Obama are now brothers in one regard, they have put country above self, have done unpopular things, have taken risks for all of us.

God Bless them; God Bless America.

Priceless

I watched as the helicopters and planes swooped in, and put out the fire in the Buckeye Canyon. It always amazes me how efficient they are, how quick they put out the blaze.

And, when I think about it a little, how expensive! Planes and helicopters operate for hundreds of dollars an hour, and the fire suppression chemicals they carry are not cheap.

And then there is Jim Nielsen, our carpetbagger Assemblyman. His op ed piece, in the June 20 edition, was at first somewhat of an analysis of proposed tax code changes that might be considered, somewhat well delivered. And then came the finale.

The last two paragraphs used at least five stereotypes and slogans, to push the hot buttons of our local conservative government haters.

Typical of right wing conservatives, Nielsen used lies, stereotypes and emotional images to depict government as "micromanaging business"; "targeting taxpayers"; "out of control state government"; and accuses government of "putting bulls eyes on the back of taxpayers".

Meanwhile, temperatures are once again setting records throughout the west, Colorado is burning, New Mexico is burning, and we are next.

And Nielsen and his gang, want no taxes, no services, and let the Good Lord take care of the fires. In fact, the $150 (about $12 a month) state fire fee, being charged to property owners living on top of tinder dry forests, to provide those life-saving helicopters and planes, is seen as the devil himself. The Jarvis boys are helping overturn that.

Cities, counties and the state are cutting everywhere. Crime is rising due to police cuts. Firemen will soon be overwhelmed with wildfires that global warming is causing, and Nielsen worries about targets on the backs of taxpayers. So let's cut that too, and let the fires burn from Buckeye to Bonneyview.

Priceless!

Fiction Wins Again

As usual, no accountablily

I have always been amazed by utter lack of introspection that conservatives show toward their "programs".

A case in point, is the incredible lack of any accountability for the complete breakdown of the middle class wealth in the last decade.

National statistics, that no con I know of disputed, showed a precipitous drop in the economic vitality of the middle class; and a huge increase in the wealth of the very rich.

The total wealth figures were even more disturbing; showing a 40% drop in personal wealth in the middle class, from 2000-2008, which happens to be the presidential term of George W. Bush.

It also is the term of de-regulations, tax cuts, corporate tax loopholes; etc.

In short, the Bush era was a time of massive de-regulations, tax cuts for the wealthy, to somehow stimulate the economy to grow. That was the promise of the "ownership society", remember?

The "Ownership Society" was a administration catch phrase, everyone could own a piece of America. Home ownership was to be its anchor.

Unfortunately, the associated deregulation in the mortgage industry, was a hotbed of "liars loans", fraud, and abuse, that directly led to the housing bubble, that directly led to the greatest loss of individual wealth by the middle class in history.

And where is the analysis from the right? There is a strange silence.

All the corporate sponsored "think tanks" are silent. No comment is the norm. Nothing, to explain the largest shift of wealth in U.S. history.

Nothing....silence....no analysis, no empirical method, nothing.

What is really maddening is there is no denial analysis either. They don't even bother denying the statistics, they just trot out Romney, who is suggesting the same "fix" the next time around.

Of course, this occurs because the tax cuts, the housing fraud, the "ownership" society cleverly was intended to steal massive amounts of wealth from the middle class, and shift it to the wealthy. They knew what they were doing.

After the statistics were released, there were a few statements by former Bush officials, basically explaining that they were surprised when the economy began to tank, that it was all a shock, as in "shock and awe".

It sounds familiar, like the surprise, that the "intelligence" surrounding the ramp up to attack Iraq, was wrong. The same crap they trotted out when Katrina happened. The same nonsense they tried for 9/11 by the way.

Bush was able to dodge that one, "he didn't know", even though the Clinton Administration gave him tons of information and warned of an imminent terrorist attack. Bush blew it, but as usual did not analyze why he blew it; typical con response.

I can remember, before 9/11 Bush took more vacation days, time off, than any other President to date. He even famously said, working too much in the job was a bad idea. And then, when hell fire was raining down on New York City, he sat dumbfounded in front of an elementary school class in Florida, because he "didn't know, was showing coolness under pressure, was not sure what to do".

Flat out analysis, the guy froze, he didn't know what to do in a leadership position, because he was never a leader to begin with.

But the cover-up worked. Bush was able to shift the onus off his "freeze" and onto, of course, the prior administration, because it was THEIR fault "I didn't know". There was even a T.V. program produced, putting the onus on the Clinton Administration for the 9/11 attack. In the 2004 election, a campaign ad even famously claimed, "President Bush kept us safe from terrorist attack", ignoring that September is 8 (eight) months after he was sworn in as President.

President Bush was President when the most destructive surprise attack in U.S. History occurred. There, I said it. That is certainly NOT "keeping us safe".

To accept these lame excuses, "we didn't know", or the "information was faulty" takes a stretch of imagination beyond intelligent analysis. This is the "business" party after all. Romney repeats ad nausium, that his "business" expertise will fix the economy.

Bush was, after all, the first Harvard MBA to be president. I remember being told, that economic "experts" were in charge, not to worry, everything would work out. Tax cuts will fix everything, regulations were what was was causing all the trouble; trust us!

As our pockets were being picked!

And of course, that is my point. Conservatives never analyze their mistakes, or their programs that don't work so well. Because they never analyze their errors (after all nobody is perfect), they never test their next ideas against prior experience; and blunder from mistake to mistake. The result of this is that fiction takes the place of truth.

But when it comes to a liberal programs, like Medicare for example, legions of analysis are trooped out, finding fault everywhere. Every liberal program is subjected to books full of conservative analysis, ripping into every fault, every failure.

And, with Fox News, talk radio, blaring propaganda at us 24/7, there is not need for truth in any of this.

Fiction is the remedy for all ills. Karl Rove has even written that using fiction to win political points if "fair game" in politics. In short, lying is better than the truth in political debate.

And when Americans accept this all as truth, as they are doing right now, the country is finished.

Wrecking America

The wrecking crew is getting better.

They destroy public institutions and public confidence. They arrogantly sneer at anything public, worshipping the free market as the cure for everything.

However, they neglect to mention the billions they rake in via governmental incentives, bail outs, subsidies, tax credits, loop holes, etc. Welfare for the poor is a dirty word, welfare for the rich is a right.

And now, thanks to a right wing 5/4 "majority" on the supreme court, they give millions secretly to increase the stranglehold they enjoy over at least half of Congress. They bought the recall in Wisconsin, plan to buy the Senate and the Presidency.

And then, with a "businessman" who is bought as President, they will finally have it all.

And the white aging redneck, who believes every hourly lie from Fox and Wack-nut talk radio hosts, so hates the mullato President, that he will vote for the rich, spoiled brat running for President, who knows the least about ordinary people of any Presidental candidate in 100 years.

And, once in office the rich spoiled brat will push for repeal of what is left of a health law, that will doom millions to more poverty.

America is veering to the right, out of stupid fear and ignorance.

We will get the government we deserve, and the fascist disaster that follows.

And the con wrecking crew will win, and fascism will rule us all.

Driver less Into the Future

We are half way through our mini-vacation in Colorado. We had a nice visit with my step-son and his family; beautiful children and a great family.

Colorado is coal country. It is also not very "green" around here. Solar panels are not much in evidence, although we did drive by a large wind farm while traveling on I-80 in Wyoming.

The mine dominates life in Craig. Mitt Romney recently visited, and told the miners that he intends to "take the regulations" off mineral acquisitions at all levels.

In short, stop regulating emissions, full speed ahead, damn the torpedoes, drill baby drill!

Meanwhile, New Mexico is burning up. It hasn't rained much for months in Colorado. Steamboat Springs, a major ski resort area, has suffered through several years of drought, and many businesses are shuddered in the town.

But global warming is a concept that only those wacko Californians worry about.

So, according to Romney, we should stop all the regulations to get more energy, drive up emissions, and global warming is a socialist plot.

Craig depends on coal to live. There is no doubt that Romney will win here.

Coal and Elk hunting in the fall, are the only forms of economic vitality in the region. The people of Craig are stuck, depending on a form of energy, that left "unregulated" is leading us to climate disaster.

And Romney, typically pandering, tell them just what they want to hear.

Now, I am not recommending stopping coal production, not at all. We need coal in the United States. But every study I have seen, stresses that coal is a very dirty energy source, and emissions have to be controlled, else CO2 levels will keep exploding.

In other words, we must have coal, but we must control its by-products as well.

This is costly and not easy. This will cut profits and drive up the price of energy. This is about as popular politically I am in Colorado right now!

And Romney makes it very clear that Global Warming is not a priority with him. He noticeably missed New Mexico in his visit, with the largest wildfire in its history (caused by Global Warming). He told the miners that big government regulations are to blame for all of our economic distress, that we must "take the regulations off" to get to prosperity.

So what to do? Democrats will likely get killed in the upcoming elections if they state the obvious, that our present course is heading us to global disaster. People do not want to hear that, they want jobs, and economic growth. They see coal, oil, and natual gas as the gateways to that vitality.

Many do admit that global warming is happening, even Texans have noticed the endless droughts, but don't want to pay the price to stop it. And Romney, Mr. Opportunity, is right there to take advantage.

We already know cheap oil ran out a long time ago. But increasing gas prices are caused by over-regulation, right? That's right, its the government's fault!

There is also quite an effort in the region to begin fracking for oil, in a region that has little water resources and less all the time thanks to the droughts. Fracking requires vast amounts of water the region does not have. It also can destroy the water supply. So, the Governor of Colorado recently limited it.

Meanwhile, Google is working hard on driver less cars, to improve driving safety. This ingenious development, is occupying Google scientists at the highest level.

Google maintains that "there is no reason humans should be driving". Oh really?

So instead of working on mass transporation, they work on a driver less car?!

So, we should develop driver less cars, so we can sit behind the wheel, or joystick, or instrument panel, and read our papers while being whisked to work in the mounting traffic jams that are choking our roads, pouring tons more CO2 into the atmosphere, and causing New Mexico to burn up!

Driver less is a good analogy for the political leadership that Mr. Romney is suggesting.

Let the corporations run the country, because they proved in 2007 just how good that works! What is good for unregulated corporations is good for America, right?

My grandchildren are beautiful. They are smart too, all of them. They look to me, as a former teacher, with respect, and I challenge all of them to do their best, get all the education they can, and succeed.

But part of me worries, because the world they will inherit will be a limited one at best if we continue this madness. The economy they will inherit, will be so beset by cimate damage, that economic opportunity will be limited to survival.

Global warming costs far more than the efforts to stop it! This basic truth is being proved everyday.

I wonder why google doesn't devote their energy toward making coal a clean energy source; after all, there is lots of coal left.

I wonder why Google doesn't work on getting us out of our cars everyday, develop clean, efficient mass transportation, so we can use our driver less cars less, because there is not a lot of oil left?

Romney is gaining momentum, and may get elected. The conservatives have made no secret that they intend to roll back as many "regulations", (energy and conservation laws) as possible, having already denied any global warming is taking place.

Conservatives know people are scared, and are using that fear to blunder into the future, as usual putting profit in front of what is right; witness the Dust Bowl, The Great Depression, The Great Recession, and now the Great Warming.

Progressives are becoming afraid to bring reality up, watching New Mexico burn silently. It is not politically popular to state the truth.

So, New Mexico still burns, Colorado has no snow, and we all step closer to hell on earth.

And Google is working on driver less cars to take us into the future.

How appropriate!