I'm Starting to Get Mad People!

Hello Papamoka Bloggers! This wonderful editorial cartoon from The Independent in London sums up my feelings about our Democratic leaders right now, and their lack of cojones when it comes to health care and the other reforms we elected them to tackle. To be blunt, I'm growing tired of the bi-partisan boob jobs. What a bunch of tards!

My Open Rant to Democratic Leaders

I know it's a tough fight against a tough enemy, but unless we see more competence, offense and strategy, we're going to start to think you guys are bought-and-paid-for just like the Republicans. We're beginning to wonder what's up people. What the hell is wrong with you?

I know many of my readers will disagree or think I'm too harsh, but come on, why do you seem to get blown away in the media by the lies and distortions of the right-wing so easily? Why can't you fight fire with fire? Why can't you fight harder? Nobody's going to blame you for it.

I think it's pretty obvious you allow yourselves to be chased, kicked around, and spat on. You guys almost seem like idiots, or worse, masochists.

Why do they always seem to win when it comes to swaying public opinion? Any good answers? Why are you so bad at getting our message out? The Republicans have a horrible record, so why can't you talk about it more? Repeat it! Beat it to death if you have to! Repetition can be a good thing.

"Civilized" responses to Republican shit-slinging is pathetic. Sling it back for God's sake. Get angry! Get passionate! Tell the truth about them! Stop acting like a bunch of gutless wimps! Demand to get on FOX "News" and FIGHT BACK against the LIES!!

Oh yea, and what about your latest offers to give up everything important, such as the public option? What kind of negotiation skills are those? WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU PEOPLE THINKING? You seem almost incompetent, ready to give away the store. Why?

President Obama, Pelosi and Reid better have a good plan, because right now you all seem like a bunch of rank amateurs. It's hard to tell what the hell you're thinking!

Btw, the only improvement to that cartoon might be to put Harry Reid on top of the donkey, since he seems to be encouraging all the running these days. He's our biggest pussy of all. I'm beginning to think he's a Republican spy.

It's true the Republicans and their propaganda machine are large and scary, but where's the damn leadership we voted for? Grow a pair you bunch of overly sensitive political hacks! Get out there and fight fire with fire! Get nasty if you have to!

Once again, many readers will think I'm too harsh, but I'm tired of losing. I say counter their lies and deceit with our own "spin" about their motives and intentions. Tell the truth about their horrible records! Talk about their horrible history!

DO SOMETHING!!! Get the freaking job done! Stop running away and stand up for what is right! Republican assholes are laughing at us for God's sake!

We gave you our money, time, energy and votes! I know you're each a little different in some ways, but FIND SOME COMMON GROUND - to lower costs - AND BEAT THOSE LYING CHEATING BASTARDS OR GET THE HELL OUT OF WASHINGTON!

Michael Boh
Papamoka's Left Coast Contributor
from Our Rants & Raves Blog

PS - I hope I'm wrong and that President Obama and the leadership know what they're doing, but I'm afraid that may be too much to hope for. Unless we see some improvement, hope is a luxury I can't afford right now.

Obama, Geithner, and Olbermann Tag Team GOP

When it comes to going to the wall for something you believe in then President Obama has his stimulus planning covered. Treasury is in line with Geithner towing the line on what will work and what will not work. MSNBC has Olbermann all over the stimulus plan approved today by the Senate but needs reconciliation by the House.

President Obama flew to the hardest hit area of Indiana today to talk up the stimulus bill in a city with over 15% unemployment. That wasn’t good enough, he then flew to Florida to an area with the highest mortgage foreclosure rate in the nation to talk up his stimulus plan. Both cities by the way voted against him in the election for President in 2008 by large margins. Obama’s staff didn’t screen the visitors to his visit, there was no bank of military members forced to sit and listen to the President speak. The house was full of regular folks in each city just wanting help. And they loved him for it!

Keith Olbermann has this to say on it over at MSNBC…

Video Link

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

One has to give President Obama credit for knowing how to play the game of politics when the representatives elected to serve you refuse to serve you the voter in your government. I’m sure that in the days to come we will see the backlash of Republican refusal in the Congress to help the ordinary working class people get through this tough economic time paid off by a vote in opposition to their re-election and their political party. You don’t have to be of any political party to be unemployed and that is the message that President Obama can and will sell right in the GOP back yard.

Hypothetical conversation between President Obama to the GOP… “Check Mate”. AKA If you are not going to work with us in Washington, then I will work directly with the people in your home state. Deal with the consequences and let the political chess pieces fall where they may. How strong are your morals when 15% of the people in your political district are unemployed and the President offers relief, help, a hand up? How strong are your political convictions when it comes to helping distressed homeowners when your constituents are the leader in home foreclosure?

While the GOP wants to strong arm the stimulus to our economy they are not even looking out the window of their local political office. Not Hiring and House for sale signs mean nothing to them as they jet out to Washington and place blinders on simply because they are told to do so by the leaders of the party. Who elected you to your seat in our nations government? It sure as hell was not anyone in Washington, D.C.!

Papamoka

Crisis, Republicrats, and "Change" Elites Can Believe In

As the saying goes, I don't come around here much any more. It's not for lack of interest. To the contrary, my interest in the political health and happenings is as strong as ever. Certain things beyond my control limit my ability to write. So you might say I'd have to get fairly fired up to print anything.

No one was more pleased on November 4th last year to see Barack Obama win the presidency. For, like many, I believed. I believed an unprecedented crisis called for a cessation of "more of the same." The nation simply can't afford it. I repeatedly said that if Barack Obama turns out to be another Bill Clinton; we're screwed. Not since March of 1933, when Herbert Hoover handed a flaming torch to Franklin Roosevelt has there been such a stark choice put before those who govern.

That is, play the same game, side-tracking onto issues that fit an ideology, or really DO something about the steady, corrosive dismantling of the middle class in America. The people of the United States do not have the luxury of pretending that this whole mess is just a little hiccup on the road to "recovery"...that is, recovering the status quo prior to the economic collapse in September 2008. In fact, the collapse was nothing more than the end result of 40 years of separating politics from economics.

Mr. Obama has not even assumed the office of president, and already the signs are there of the choice being made. Same 'ole same 'ole....throw the old bums out; put the new bums in, as Stephen King put it once. The first is the S-CHIP program, voted on this week. It involves a $33 billion dollar budget for a very laudable and worthy program. However, in light of current events there is something disconcerting about depending so strongly upon tobacco taxes.

S-CHIP will benefit those of lower incomes who make too much for Medicaid yet not enough to afford private insurance. Congress (and the new President) are ensuring an extension and expansion of S-CHIP by levying a huge tax increase on the lower economic strata. It's simply a fact that most smokers are not well off; in fact most are not far above or are below the poverty line. But smoking is evil, etc., and that's just too bad. After all, it's .....FOR THE CHILDREN!!

So our new government is going to transfer a huge amount of money from the bottom and to the bottom. Now that is an exchange any Wall Street banker can believe in.

Additionally, President-elect Obama is making noises about "fiscal responsibility" that involve Social Security and Medicare. Granted, Medicare is a mess, especially after that ridiculously irresponsible "drug benefit" launched by an idiot president and an equally idiotic congress.

But Social Security has been stolen from EVERY YEAR since the mid-1960's. Remember, even the "surpluses" at the end of the Cinton years wouldn't have looked so rosy if the money stolen from Social Security was not included. If the word "stolen" seems a little excessive, I'm just quoting the late Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, who, testifying before a senate committee many years ago, made that claim. I clearly remember him telling the committee that if General Motors was doing with their pension funds what the congress was doing with Social Security, the board of directors would have been in prision a long time ago. But, legality is not a problem when you're the ones making the laws.

Nevertheless, the Obama administration is making it clear that this "Grand Bargain" is going to require some people in the country to bend over. And it isn't going to happen on Wall Street.

So lately I'm asking myself what the difference is between this new era of "change" and the status quo? A Democratic Party that is more like the Republican Party means the change is in the rhetoric, not the substance. Peeing on my leg and telling me it's raining is not change.

I personally don't matter. The nation matters. And if, through stupidity and myopia the "leaders" in government kow-tow to the elites who have fairly well run us over a cliff and into a manure pile, ....well that DOES matter.

Joe Lieberman Needs to Go

Hello Papamoka Bloggers - I have to add my two cents to Papamoka's regarding Joe Lieberman. Personally, I think he needs to GO, and GO NOW!

I guess we should have expected it. After Harry Reid met with Joe Lieberman yesterday to express his dissatisfaction over his campaign behavior, Lieberman is now talking to Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) about the possibility of caucusing with the GOP.

Reid is considering taking Lieberman's committee and subcommittee chairmanships away from him. In my opinion he should. How could Democrats trust Lieberman now? How could they even consider letting that guy caucus with them? The man would rat them out to the Republicans in a heartbeat.

According to the Huffington Post, a Lieberman aide, who requested anonymity, said today that "Lieberman and McConnell have spoken in recent days about the possibility of Lieberman joining the GOP conference."

I personally think Lieberman sold us out during the campaign. He claims to be a Democrat in everything except defense. What the "F" does that mean? Democrats are not soft on terror. Why didn't he just try to encourage improvements while working within our ranks?

I think it's because he wanted McCain or any Republican over a Democrat. Who knows why? I'm sure he has his crazy reasons. It's probably something to do with Israel and Middle East policy. Personally I don't see much of a difference between the parties in those areas.

I hope he enjoys his time with the Republicans, because they're not known for welcoming turn-coats. They will treat him pretty bad. He certainly won't have much influence. He will lose his committees, most of his power, and ultimately look foolish for his failure. What a moron.

I say good riddance. Get rid of him. Toss the tosser. The man is a traitorous scumbag. He turned his back on his party and his constituents. He needs to be FLUSHED!

Michael Boh
Papamoka's Left Coast Contributor
from Our Rants & Raves Blog

War, Veterans and Unemployment Funds

In a typical Washington D.C. style of diplomacy and legislative ignorance the war in Iraq is funded, veterans from the war get a GI Bill for education, and the unemployed get and extension of benefits. Senate President Harry Reid was right, you don’t get services for Americans or Veterans if it isn’t attached to a bottomless pit called the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. I talked about this a while back here.

Domestic Spending Intact as House Passes War Bill

By Paul Kane
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, June 20, 2008; Page A03

In a pair of bipartisan votes, the House yesterday approved $162 billion to continue the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan well into 2009 and a separate measure that would allow veterans returning from those battlefields to receive increased education benefits.

The domestic spending measure, approved 416 to 12, also includes a 13-week extension of unemployment insurance for laid-off workers who have used all 26 weeks of their current benefits, and $2.65 billion for Midwest flood relief.

"It became clear this is what we had to do," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said during debate over the bill. "I will enthusiastically vote for the domestic piece of this."

The emergency spending bill -- which authorizes $95.5 billion for the unemployment and veterans benefits and a variety of other programs -- heads to the Senate, where leaders say it could be approved next week.

After weeks of gridlocked negotiations, President Bush threw his support behind the legislation yesterday despite the tens of billions of dollars in domestic spending above his original demands. Despite his original preference for a slimmed-down version, Bush embraced the veterans' plan drafted by Sen. James Webb (D-Va.), then demanded that the education benefit be transferable from veterans to military spouses and children -- adding an estimated $1 billion a year to its cost. - Washington Post


What will be interesting is to see how the political candidates in the race for President vote on this spending bill in the Senate. This is a catch 22 piece of legislation. If Obama votes for it then he is putting his name to the war in Iraq, if he votes against it then he is telling the unemployed and veterans to get lost. Same scenario goes for McCain. Vote for it and he is all for another hundred years in Iraq, vote against it and he is bashing the veteran base he allegedly loves to vote against time and time again.

On the other side of this coin is the current resident of the White House who has all of a sudden found this is legislation he can sign with pride. Do ya think the money that will find it’s way into the coffers of his and Dick’s bank account has anything to do with it?

I don’t even want to think about what Bush’s signing statement will look like!

Papamoka

*****The Washington Post has linked back to this post...

*****Herald News has picked up this post... Thank you!

*****Reuters has picked up this post... Thank you!

*****CNN has us on the radar for this post... Thank you!

Technorati Tags:
Unemployment Extension, Veteran Benefits, VA, Iraq War, Afghanistan War, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, Bush, Senate Votes, House Votes, Congress, John McCain, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Education of Veterans, Washington Post, Paul Kane

PELOSI & REID FOLLOWING A PATH TO IRRELEVANCY

By Michael Linn Jones

Ever heard of Al Smith? He was once governor of New York, and the first Roman Catholic in a major party to run for the presidency. This was in 1928, and he was nominated by Franklin Roosevelt. That year Roosevelt won election as governor of New York himself.

Smith lost the election to Herbert Hoover. Some might say the nation lost the election, too, considering what followed. In 1932 Smith was one of Roosevelt's rivals for the Democratic nomination for the presidency. In the years that followed Smith was a strong opponent of Roosevelt's New Deal. For all of his progressive attitudes of that time, Smith was a firm believer in government action needing the close cooperation of business.

FDR was born rich. Al Smith was a classic rags-to-riches story. One of the problems with rags-to-riches is that many forget all about the rags as soon as they see the riches. Al Smith was far from being a bad man; in fact, a good one really but not in step with the realities facing the nation at that time. As President of the Empire State Building, Smith found himself in the circle of the wealthy. And, according to historian William Manchester, he liked it. (THE GLORY & THE DREAM, VOL.1)

Brevity requires an injustice to the memory of Governor Smith, but certain aspects of his career remind me of the current Democratic leadership in the House and Senate. It can be very difficult to articulate some thoughts; to put them into words that capture both the meaning and emotion. Here is my best shot:

The election results of 2006 was a message of sorts. A lot of people were fed up. Yes, Iraq was a big topic but not the only one. Voters weren't exactly on the war path yet were also beyond patience. After six years of a presidency that was somewhat short of competence and honesty, along with a Republican Congress that was more cooperative than Hitler's Reichstag, people wanted a strong gulp of Jack Daniels.

What they've gotten is near-beer. The highly-touted Democratic victory in 2006 is a Roman Candle that is sputtering. And with very few sparks. House Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Leader Harry Reid have a big problem. The majority of the people who allowed them to gain the positions they now hold are not represented. That is, the voters.

No, there will be no talk of impeachment; no talk of de-funding the Iraq War (which is the ONLY recourse of Congress, really) nor anything else that might rock the boat. For that boat floats upon the invisible sea of campaign cash. In order for their nets to continue to haul in a harvest, that boat must be stable. The rules of life in America (which they write) must remain essentially the same.

When something needs to be done, there is something worse than doing nothing. And that is to APPEAR to be doing something when in fact doing little more than nothing. And THAT is the story of the Lilliputian Legistature in 2007. The boat remains steady, the nets keep hauling in the silent harvest, and a holding pattern is established that awaits the self-destruction of the Republicans.

In times past, there were convergence points; economic and social forces removed the status quo from the stage. It usually is unpleasant but somehow inevitable. In Europe, 1848 was such a time, not to mention the French Revolution.

Here, there is the Civil War, the Great Depression, and 1968. That particular year is relevant because that is when the Democratic Party started to dissolve from being a voice of millions to a thousand voices of narrow-minded interest groups. The glue that held the party together was diluted on purpose.

The years the Democrats spent out of power were not so much because of the effectiveness of the Republicans (which was considerable nonetheless) so much as their own slide to irrelevancy. What mattered to the party didn't matter to the people. Or vice versa.

Despite all the political science and election specialists, there are forces that build, much like along a geological fault line. They can be ignored (and usually are) for a very long time. But sooner or later those in power discover that their usual remedies no longer work. When the balance is lost no one knows what will happen.

But like Al Smith, Pelosi and Reid and all those they truly represent (and they are NOT "little people") have climbed to the heights and find they like it there. The rarified air of power not only corrupts, but blinds.

In the end, misused power has no power at all. It just creates a vacuum that will be filled by radical change. That does not always equate with wisdom or good.

****************************

Cross posted at Michael Linn Jones.com & The Van Der Galien Gazette