Reports and opinions on the top political news and events in the United States and around the world. Presidential Politics, national and local issues are all commented on with sharp viewpoints.
Signs of trouble in the family are brewing. As election season draws closer the mainstream Republicans are trying to keep their odd relatives in the back room, but they keep going out of the window and talking to people outside, this will get ugly.
One of the flagship signs of strife is when what seemed like a runaway train conductor in Governor Jan Brewer of Arizona pulled the emergency brakes and vetoed a bill that would have required proof of citizenship from Presidential candidates in Arizona. That proof of citizenship could have included baptism or circumcision certificates. Brewer said the bill was a bridge too far. That is saying a lot in the current climate.
Now the Republicans have a different problem, a billionaire birther who won’t stop talking about the birthplace and citizenship of President Barack Obama. Donald Trump is out of control. Trump is not subject to the pressures of Karl Rove or any official in the Republican Party. Trump is a runaway train that came out of nowhere and is leading the Republican Presidential polls.
Donald Trump has unlimited media access and has not found a news camera that he does not like. Trump is on television every week with the top rated show on NBC in the Celebrity Apprentice. Who would have imagined that the real Americans would get behind a New York billionaire as their champion to take their country back.
After the Republican Party used Tea Party enthusiasm to make gains in the 2010 mid-term elections, they now expect them to go to the back of the bus and be quiet. Tea Party members and birthers are not going away quietly. Now the Republicans have to deal with the odd Uncle sitting in the middle of their living room because they didn’t tell him that his behavior was strange when it suited their purposes.
The United States government avoided a shutdown at the last minute, but a fight for the future of the United States looms as the 2012 budget battles takes shape. Democrats can thank Sarah Palin for giving them the upper hand in the Senate.
The next few months will determine if the United States emerges out of the dire financial situation it finds itself in as a nation that abandons long held principles of compassion for personal and political gain or as a country reclaiming the core of it greatness. The stage is set and in many ways the lines on the field of battle have been drawn.
The coming budget fight is a test of what this country will be for the next 50 years or more. You see the United States is viewed by many as something to be exploited for the gain of certain groups while others view it as a idea that represents a way of life, those two opposing points of view are at war.
Take the lines drawn in the near government shutdown that recently took place, all the way until the last hours the budget measure was held up by an added measure that would have defunded Planned Parenthood that had very little to do with actual budget numbers. In the end the Planned Parenthood defunding measure was removed from the final bill. In a separate measure Republican Congressman Paul Ryan authored a 2012 budget that basically ends Medicare as we know it an transitions to a voucher system that allows seniors to purchase health care from private insurance companies. Ryan’s plan may not become law, but it signals the difference between how the same issued is viewed, one view is from a need to provide guaranteed care to seniors and the other is to provide something for care to seniors, but there is no guarantee that it will be enough. An article titled “Paul Ryan Budget Proposal Approved By House Panel” by Ricardo Alonzo-Zaldizar and Alan Fram April 6, 2011 and published in the Huffington Post goes into details of Ryan’s budget plan.
Ryan’s plan basically turns health care for seniors over to private insurers, with all of the issues that everyone has with private insurers of escalating cost etc. How long would it be before private insurers and medical providers increased the cost of care beyond what vouchers would cover? If vouchers could not cover the costs of the medical car required then suddenly seniors need to come out of pocket or be basically uninsured.The attack on Planned Parenthood had a similar tone, but was approached from a cynical angle of not funding abortions. There is a law that prevents federal funds from being used to fund abortions.
So there you have it. Will the United States rewind the clock using the need to control our national debt to a time where seniors are left to fend for themselves on health issues? Will women continue to be under assault on their freedoms when it comes to reproductive health? The push to move more functions to private companies will be loud and intense. The Environmental Protection Agency will be under attack and branded as too restrictive as exemptions on what emissions it can regulate have already been surfaced.
Get ready as a push for profit over serving the public has begun. All is not lost as the Tea Party Republicans only control the House of Representatives. Of all people, Democrats may have to thank Sarah Palin backed candidates like Sharon Angle and Christine O’Donnell as the reason the Republicans don’t control the Senate. Sarah Palin helped provide a firewall against the Tea Party, you betcha.
Donald Trump has produced a birth certificate, but it turns out it was not official. Questions abound as his mother was born in Scotland, his wife in Slovenia and his plane seems to be registered in the Bahamas, can this guy even run for President?
An article titled “Trump Failed To Produce Birth Certificate” by Ben Smith March 28, 2011 and published in Politico exposes the issue. Did Trump manage to throw himself under the bus? After going into full birther mode, Trump fell short of producing the long form birth certificate that he is clamoring for President Barack Obama to produce.
Trump’s birth certificate that he released to NewsMax came form the hospital that he claims to have been born in and not from the Department of Health, where official birth certificates come from with the city registrar’s signature on the document. Doesn’t the Donald have people to research these things? Did he say I’m fired to someone after this gaff?
How do we know that this guy is not some plant from the beginning to one day assault us with distracting television shows and muddle up the election process while the real puppet masters run the show. Come on Donald, show the American people your real birth certificate so we know that you are a natural born citizen.
Michele Bachmann, Republican Congresswoman from Minnesota, said the first thing she would do if she ran for President is offer her birth certificate. This could be considered a very transparent appeal to the birther crowd that she is on their side.
There are not a shortage of serious issues to be dealt with in the world today, but talk of presenting a birth certificate seems to be to of mind for Representative Bachmann in importance. Will the constant attempts to undermine the legitimacy of President Barack Obama never end? If an elected politician really does not believe that the President was born in the United States, then come out and say it in no uncertain terms and stop the wink and nods to the fringe elements. An article titled “'First thing I would do is offer birth certificate'” by Bob Unruh March 11, 2011 and published on the WorldNetDaily website goes into Bachmann’s statements to a talk radio show host.
As the time for candidates that will run for President of the United States to declare their intentions fast approaches, the field could range from veterans like Newt Gingrich, mainstream types such as Mitt Romney and fringe candidates like Michele Bachmann. What is interesting is the prospects of televised debates with such a wide variety of personalities sharing the same stage. Will Bachmann present her birth certificate on live television and challenge the other candidates to do so as well?
In any event, veiled references that continue to challenge the validity of President Barack Obama should be replaced with direct statement or end altogether. Elected officials that feed into the paranoia for political gain without stating if they believe the President was born elsewhere are being dishonest and lowering the importance of their office.
Did the hard line and some would say union busting actions by Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker and the Republicans in Madison, Wisconsin just reelect President Barack Obama in 2012?
What President Obama and the Democrats failed to do may have happened in slow motion in front of everyone. The old saying of give a dog enough rope and he will hang himself just occurred in real time. Walker made a miscalculation on how fast he could ram through his union stripping measure. He thought the majority he had in the Wisconsin state senate would allow him to hammer the stripping of public union collective bargaining rights though under the cover of needed budget cuts. What walker did not count on was the walkout of 14 Democrats in the state Senate that would not allow the vote on the budget bill to take place due to rules that required a quorum.
The 14 Democrats went to Illinois and did a 4 corner slowdown that allowed the facts to emerge to the public that the budget reduction had been agreed to and that Walker still kept saying that ending collective bargaining rights of public union was a budget matter. It became clear that Walker’s desire to strip the bargaining rights of public unions was a separate desire unrelated to state budget issues. Then came the fake Koch brother phone call where Wisconsin Governor Rick Scott appeared to be in league with other Republicans in a plan to bust public unions across the country for reasons unrelated to fiscal issues. Scott Walker continued to forcefully repeat the same line even after it was clear that the union had already agreed to financial concessions.
Then the Republicans maneuvered to vote on a separate bill to strip union bargaining rights that had nothing to do with the Wisconsin state budget because it could be passed without the 14 Democrats present. The measure stripping public union bargaining rights passed and then the emperor had no clothes, but he will be informed that he is naked later. The appearance of a Governor and Republicans pitting themselves against teachers and other middle class workers to side with corporate interests left a bad taste in the mouths of many and served to wake up a battered, but groggy middle class. Now the reality of what is important to the wave of Republicans that were swept in was made clear and many in the public feel it must be stopped.
Many are too young to remember sweatshops. Sweatshops were largely in the garment industry and small groups of desperate workers worked long hours for low pay, in isolation and without any bargaining power.
The classic definition of a sweat shop was connected with industrialized America and included the following traits:
•Prevalent in the garment industry origin between 1830s and 1850s
•Desperate Workforce
•Long Hours for low pay
•Child labor may have been employed
•Dangerous working conditions
•Sweater/Subcontractor – had a workforce that did work for client, kept workers isolated and unsure of who the ultimate employer was, quickly replace workers for any reason
•Workers Inability To Organize – due to isolation
•Unions and labor laws largely ended sweatshops in the United States
•Most garment related firms outsourced production to other countries that employ sweatshop practices
Labor laws and unions effected changes that largely did away with the practices and conditions that created an environment that was friendly for sweatshop formation. Now in the 21st century are we set for the formation of a new type of sweatshop environment, not in sewing factories, but in corporate America, schools and government facilities? The reality is we may be already there. This is the current situation:
•Desperate Workforce – millions of unemployed workers – Some with benefits exhausted
•Sweater/Subcontractor – staffing firms – outsourcing – temp to perm – 6 month contract jobs etc.
•Workers Inability To Organize – union membership low and unions being busted as in Wisconsin and elsewhere
•This new sweatshop environment is invading all classes of work from public education, business professionals, health professionals and trade workers
What we are currently experiencing is a situation of surplus high-end workers that are becoming increasingly desperate after prolonged joblessness. The unemployment rate fluctuates as much from those giving up on searching for jobs as from new job placements. Many salaried workers have higher workloads and work longer hours than ever. Those trying to get back into the workplace often find themselves signed up with staffing firms and outsourcing companies that are the new age sweaters. Some find themselves working for companies on a temporary basis with hopes to move into a permanent position. Others find themselves getting back into the workforce on 6 to 12 month contracts that are often are not renewed because companies don’t want to take them onto their permanent payroll.
As for unions and collective bargaining, union membership is at an all time low. Unions are under attack and some are having their bargaining rights stripped like in Wisconsin. An article titled “WISCONSIN BUSTS THE UNIONS” by the Associated Press March 10, 2011 and published in The Huffington Post describes the move to strip public union bargaining rights in the state of Wisconsin. The key words are higher workloads, lower job security and little to no worker negotiating leverage, it sounds eerily similar to a sweatshop environment.
What a strange world, from Presidential birth certificate conspiracy theorists to a Congresswoman calling the administration a gangster government. Why are people behaving this way? It is insecurity, find out where it comes from and who is pushing it.
Something is amiss in the fabric of our great country and it is not just a deep recession. There are sign of a deep cultural divide that has some teetering on the edge of paranoia. The ultimate other apparently has landed in out midst and he is plotting to hand over our nation to the enemy like an overripe fruit. Never mind that President Barack Obama was elected by almost 70,000,000 Americans in a resounding victory over Republican John McCain.
Is this some form of mass hypnosis that has taken hold of a sizable portion of the population? No, this is the execution of a plan to exploit the fears of a segment of citizens for political gain and profit. Dog whistles and code words are flying around and some take them to heart. Throwing around terms like socialist, Marxist and gangster government are designed to create fear in the mind of some. The message is that they are coming to get you. This gang led by a President with a Muslim name wants to take your money, freedom and guns.
This type of fear mongering has turned into a cottage industry and those peddling speeches, books and television shows that pander to those feeling have become wealthy. An article titled “Sarah Palin's Earnings Over 9 Months Estimated at $12 Million” by Brian Montopoli April 13, 2010 and published on the CBS News website details Sarah Palin’s earnings from speeches and books over the first 9 months after she resigned as Governor of Alaska. Glenn Beck, Mike Huckabee and others are also fattening their bank accounts by selling fear to the fearful.
Let’s cut to the chase, some feel they are losing their deserved place in the pecking order of America as the economy changes and demographics shift. It is one of the oldest techniques in the world to sow fear and division to gain power and profit.
The thing that so many have clamored for has finally been produced. President Barack Obama produced his long form birth certificate and the reaction to it was shocking.
One of the first responses was, “He’s still a Muslim.” Of course, this is a hypothetical situation, but is exactly the type of response that would come from those with 10, not 1 reason they don’t support President Obama. Those ingrained attitudes are also exactly the reason President Obama should not show his long form birth certificate.
Barack Hussein Obama is the legitimate President of the United States. He was voted in by the people and sworn in by the Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court. President Obama met all of the requirements of the Constitution, election commission and every state's requirement for inclusion on ballots for President of the United States.
The other reason the President should not buckle to calls to produce a long form birth certificate is the satisfaction it would provide to the faction pushing the “He is an other” conspiracy theories. The satisfaction that group would get from having the sitting President complying with their requests would be immense. The symbolic damage of President Obama showing his birth certificate would be like he was pulled over, asked for his papers and that image would never go away. The individuals riding on the birther bandwagon are in a world of their own making and President Obama showing his long form birth certificate will not grant him acceptance into that club.
Now some of these states have bills coming to their legislatures that require a birth certificate as a part of qualification to be included on their ballot for President. It is questionable if any of these measures will become law. An article titled “Ga. latest state to propose "birther"” by the Associated Press March 2, 2011 and published on the CBS News website goes into the details on the measure in Georgia. These laws seems to like rules change imposed in some sports when a player comes along and takes a quantum leap beyond everyone else participating.
This is the state of American politics today with code words, finger pointing and fear mongering as the order of the day.
