The Ghost Of Republicans Past

Republicans... Climb off of your electric horses... Congratulate yourselves while you have the feeling, because November 2012 is right around the corner... Don't get too comfortable on that fake equine, driven by your fake outrage.

Let's face it, Democrats stayed home to the tune of 14 million Democratic voters.  That 14 million represents the 18-29 age group that actually gave Obama the victory in the first place. They're angry because they felt Obama and the Democrats sold out on the Public Option, Don't Ask, Don't Tell, GITMO and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. True Democrats understood that times demanded bold actions that would set the Obama administration apart from Bush's... They didn't quite understand that Republicans obstructed almost every job creating piece of legislation put forth by their Democratic legislators...

The good news for Democrats is Republicans only won their races by a total of 5 million more votes in all, a number easily trumped in 2012 with a bolder team of Democrats willing to take the risks needed to get the country moving again.

Nevertheless, it actually turned out well for all concerned... Even Democrats! We kept the Senate, and you got rid of 30+ "Blue Dog" Congressional Democrats for us who were basically Republicans in hiding. Of course, in California we ran the table on you. Californians know what Republican dollars really buy:  Nothing but phony outrage, and sweetheart deals for their corporate sponsors.

Now you have to govern... You actually have to go to work and stop your sniper fire from behind the Fox News microphones... You've had 18 months to campaign against Democrats without taking any of the responsibility, and without offering one thing that helped the country move in the right direction.  It's been "All Hate Obama, All The Time." You've spent the last 18 months marshaling your surrogates and enablers with high pitched, and outrageous whistles only fit for K-9 ears; dog whistling "Death Panels," Obama is a Muslim terrorist sympathizer, "Show me his birth certificate" et al... 

Your victory this past Tuesday now forces you to do something you have never done before, which is to treat ALL American citizens, not just the rich ones, with equity and respect... An impossible task for any group that is run by Karl Rove, Rush Limbaugh with Sarah Palin as mascot...

Your base heard your calls... a deafening frequency that most Democrats didn't recognize, or perhaps refused to passionately silence. 

We will, though in the next general election.... 

The "Ghost of Republicans Past" are sure to appear in the form of tax cuts for the rich, and hatred for gays, Mexicans and the usual assortment of disenfranchised Americans whom you constantly blow down with your fake outrage.

Enjoy those hobby horses... They stop running in two years.

G.L.M.

Donald And Mickey Meet Glenn Beck!

Some will believe anything and anyone... But only a select group will fall prey to the most dishonest of the bunch...


Time for the Ducks of the world to take inventory of their listening habits!



Mickey seems out of sorts too!


G.L.M.

NAACP: Full Sherrod Video Proves Right-Wing Media Dishonesty

Compliments to the Republican echo chamber, Mark Twain's words are proven true:  "A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes!"  

Andrew Breitbart, of ACORN pimp video fame, concocted another traveling lie using Fox News as his travel agent... Shirley Sherrod may have been tying her shoes when she got word from the Obama Administration that she was fired as a result of the Breitbart doctored video of her allegedly making racist statements. All is not lost, though...

Shirley Sherrod is now a heroine. Breibart remains a weasel, and members of the Obama administration appear to suffer from collective racial cowardice.

In watching the full video of her speech, Ms Sherrod goes through the history of her family and how her father was murdered by Southern racists. She clearly spells out how despite her struggles with racism in the South, she advised young people to overlook racial differences and reach their goals through hard work.

What makes her a racist? NOTHING she said...

Moving ahead, it should be even more clear that "conservative" media should be viewed very sparingly, if at all, by fair minded individuals. The Obama administration must stop shying away from the inevitable fight that must be waged here in America regarding the issue of race. Obama must stop knuckling under to Fox News hacks, realizing that Fox and the right-winged echo chamber is going to create trouble for them when there is none... 

Lies are sometimes hard to defend, and near impossible when you are up against a news agency that is dedicated to lying. But in this case right has once again prevailed. Shirley Sherrod has been vindicated. She has been offered even a better job by those who fired her.

Fox News has egg on its face, but so does the Obama administration...

The problem of race in America continues... "Our nettlesome task is to discover how to organize our strength into compelling power."  Martin Luther King Jr.

G.L.M.

Father To Father...

Of all the different types of fathers a person could be paired with, I fortunately view my father on Father's Day through an imperfect prism of gratitude filled with many rainbow colors...

There are no perfect fathers out there. I should know being an imperfect father of 3 perfect children... But there are those of us who were willing to work hard at the craft of fatherhood, exposing imperfections for the sake of loving our sons and daughters to accountability.

In a perfect world, that's never enough... Especially when you expend so much of your fatherhood beating the cruel world back for the sake of your children. Today is the day we stand battered, grateful yet proud.  I do, anyway...

Fatherhood was never easy, but the presence of my children always strengthened it.

Hopefully this day will be a celebration of a father's love, and not of the unintended consequences of a father's presence. I have the highest expectations of being rewarded with the simplest love that merely states, "you made it all worthwhile, Dad."

I am told that every Father's Day, and never get tired of hearing it!

G.L.M.

Next Stop... Arizona

I am not a Latino living in Arizona, but I understand what they're going through these days... Every person of color pays higher premiums for the right to live in America one way or another. It has been that way from the beginning. 

So to all you Arizona Latinos, suck it up, says Arizona's State Legislature. Take it like a man, a woman or an innocent child who just doesn't understand what he or she will understand later on in life about the politics of race: American racial profiling builds strong character... 

Ask the families of Medgar Evers and Martin Luther King Jr... Ask Dr. Henry Louis Gates, and then try and ask Rodney King... if you can find him. How quickly we forget our past transgressions...

This latest and saddest chapter in the "Book of Republican Politics" is not just about scapegoating other ethnic groups or races. This is an equally sad attempt at controlling the Arizona ballot box for the elections of 2010, also known as voter supression. More Arizona Latino voters would mean more election victories for Democrats in a state that was once ruled by Republicans. Passing a law that rounds up all Mexicans that "look illegal" will never fly higher than the smoke-screen that it is.

Here's why... Latinos make up over 30% of the Arizona population, and provide needed labor and services that would cripple the entire state if they decided to leave or were pushed out.

The Arizona economy could not withstand any significant loss in Latino numbers, nor could it withstand another economic boycott such as the boycott heaped on the state for not approving the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday until 1992.

This brazen attempt at intimidating voters of color is from the same play book that kept thousands of votes from being counted during the 2000 Florida election that gave us George W. Bush... The same play book that disenfranchised thousands of voters in the Ohio election of 2004 that gave us George W. Bush again. The same play book that vilified "ACORN" in its attempt to register voters within communities of color who traditionally support the Democratic candidate.

Count on big Democratic gains in Arizona in coming elections, because Latinos are there to stay.

G.L.M.


"YOU CAN TELL BY THEIR CLOTHES"

What We Have Here Is A Failure To Reconcile

One of my favorite baseball stories involves a baserunner trying to score from second on a teamate's single... Shag Crawford, an animated umpire, was waiting to make the call at home plate. As the runner slid into home plate, the catcher was waiting there with the ball and tagged him "out" according to umpire Crawford...

Of course the runner believed he was safe and engaged in a heated argument with the umpire. Until finally, the umpire told the angry base runner, "If you don't believe you're out, read tomorrow's paper!" The umpire:  "Yes, I can call you out!." The base runner:  "Hell no you can't!" This was a classic, yet comical case of a 'failure to reconcile' on the part of the base runner. He remains "out" to this day.

Healthcare legislation has been signed and delivered. Unfortunately, some Republicans can't reconcile their ideals with the facts of the matter. Those republicans perhaps need to turn off Fox News and pick up tomorrow's newspaper... They need to stop with the foolish healthcare reconciliation amendments, and accept their defeat. What we have here is no simple failure to reconcile... What we have is an abdication of legislative duty.

Let's not fool ourselves. Obama's presidential victory has sent the "right" in the wrong direction. They have marshaled their troops in a futile attempt to stop this President, and now they have become the party of "Hell No!"

But it is more than about healthcare. Everyone believes that the deficits are too high, but that didn't start with Obama. Republican Vice-President Dick Cheney once told Treasury Secretary Paul Volker that deficits didn't matter...  Why do they matter now, and why are Republicans now willing to excoriate Obama while he deals with the deficits that they created? The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office gave its approval to President Obama's health care plan saying it would shave trillions of dollars off the deficit run up by Republicans. But the Republicans say the CBO is wrong. What gives?

Since Ronald Regan's presidency, there has been a steady erosion of the middle class, and a redistribution of wealth from the middle class to the rich. Since the Republican Party is the party of the wealthy and the wanna-be wealthy, this party takes it personal when progressive politicians and activists work to right the economic and social inequalities within the United States. When Democrats like the Kennedys and Pelosis and Obamas work for the people, they become the targets of the corporations and their political puppets like Ronald Reagan and John Boehner and George W. Bush.

Republican supported "tea baggers" chanted "nigger" as Congressmen John Lewis, D-GA, and Emanuel Cleaver, D-MO walked into congress to vote on H.R. 3490, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.  Carson got spit on... In the absence of this vitriol during the run-up to the Iraq War, and it's consequential effects on the American economy, coupled with the tax breaks given to the rich (all of these events taking place under a Republican run executive and legislative branch), you have to conclude that this anger has nothing to do with health care at all...  As the late Julian "Cannonball" Adderly would say, "It's somethin' else!"

Corporations like Americans For Prosperity and Freedomworks fund the "tea-baggers" who hurl the racial epithets, and who throw the bricks through the windows at the homes of Democratic law-makers.  They have strong lobbyist ties to Republican politics, and give generously to conservative causes. Republican politicians may not directly endorse the racists who join these fringe conservative groups, but they encourage it for their own advancement. But the "tea party" movement is just a gathering of disgruntled people who are dedicated to challenging black Obama's right to be an executive. They are unable to reconcile with the fact that "President" Obama can now enforce public policy on them:

A major failure to reconcile truth with fantasy...

I suggest these people read any newspaper dated November 5, 2008. And if they don't accept those headlines, then they should read tomorrow's paper as well... But no-matter how these angry people see it, health care has passed, and President Obama has signed it as law.

G.L.M.

WATCH THIS VIDEO


WATCH CONGRESSMAN CLEAVER BEING SPIT ON:

Face-Off In The Den Of Jackals

In an arena reminiscent of the Lions' Den in the Old Testament book of Daniel, President Obama recently presented himself inside the most unfriendly of confines... He voluntarily made a solo appearance at a Republican Congressional retreat which took place in Baltimore, MD this past Friday...

There were no lions present, but the President was alone in the presence of 178 conservative, but hostile Republicans. Armed with bitterness and feigned anger, these Republicans appeared more like jackals than anything else...

During his one hour face-off, Mr. Obama seemed composed but assertive. Sure but careful... His performance was one of legend considering he was all alone in a very unfriendly crowd with only the truth and his intellect as his weapons and his defense... His performance was brilliant to the point that Fox News had to cut away so they could circumvent what the President was saying, only to add their own commentary. I guess they couldn't bear having Obama score points on their "conservative" airwaves...

I wonder if Martin Luther King Jr. had this scenario in mind when he delivered his "I Have A Dream" speech?

Imagine a black man, all by himself, walking into a room full of conservative white Republican congressmen and congresswomen who hate him... He boldly stands before them and proceeds to tell them about his vision for the country... They challenge him with hostile rhetoric, and tell him that his views are the reasons why the country is in bad economic condition... This black man responds by telling them all that it is their past influence and wanton leadership that have caused the woes of the nation, and how they continue to "misrepresent the truth" as a group...

In the end, these partisan, neo-conservative white Republicans thanked the black man for his time, and asked him to "please come back." This black man left on his own power, and in good health. Several asked him for his autograph... He holds the title of  President of the United States of America!

If you have any sense or understanding of American history, you have to applaud President Obama regardless of your own political leanings... If you are black you have to be extremely proud.

When a lone black man stands in the midst of 178 mostly dishonest white Congressional Republicans to skillfully present the hard truth about their poor politics, you have to give him plenty of respect. President or not.

Times have changed significantly... If only my late grandparents could have witnessed this too.

Welcome in Black History Month.

G.L.M.

Watch Obama's Face-Off

V

One Down, Fifty-Nine To Go

Has anyone here seen my old friend Teddy's senate seat? Can you tell me where it's gone?

Suspending disbelief for a moment, you have to give Scott Brown his due, devil that he is... He caught the entire Democratic Party asleep at the wheel. Somehow the entire party thought the only thing that mattered was getting a health care bill passed... That's important, but this is a country in deep economic trouble too, and the perception of many, even in Massachusetts is nothing's being done about it.

Or is it white anger cascading to a crescendo of catchy discontent nation-wide? Not likely because Massachusetts voted Obama in by 62%. Brown only won with 51%. Massachusetts also has a black governor named Deval Patrick whom they voted in with 56% in 2006... It's got to be something else.

Scott Brown wins by a few thousand Independent and Reagan Democrat votes. These voters are key to every election for the foreseeable future.

Since last June, there have been 2 narratives running simultaneously in America: 1) The Obama narrative that every American should have health care; 2) Republican insistence that Obama is out of step with Americans because he pushes health care and is a socialist...

Forgetting that the country is in the grips of a most devastating economic crisis due to recent Republican leadership in all three branches of government, the Republican narrative has delivered them the late Ted Kennedy's senate seat anyway... How is this possible? Anything is possible with Democrats simply. They are a fractious group by political nature. However, Democrats were caught still living in November 2008...

But there can be no finger pointing in this defeat. Allowing a Republican to take Teddy's senate seat is like allowing Mark McGuire to play in Hank Aaron's uniform... The American economy has gotten so bad that even the bluest Democratic states are willing to kill tradition for jobs and better living wages. Even some Democrats are willing to buy into foolishness if it sounds like they will not have to make sacrifices as we all will if we plan on righting the country's economic ship.

Let's face it, no man could reverse in 1 year the economic destruction that took Bush 8 years to create.

Unfortunately for Obama and the Democrats, they don't have time to write a third narrative about how they're trying to undo what Bush and the Republicans have done. Especially with a dishonest media trotting out, as legitimate voices of reason,"wingnuts" who beguile an uniformed electorate with corporate bait i.e. tea parties.

For the most part, some Americans will vote for anyone whom they think inoculates them from experiencing hard times... Especially those willing to blame someone or some group for their own troubles. They'll even try Scott Brown in Massachusetts once.

Obama should work to make sure the public understands his agenda by carrying it out to the fullest...

Forget bi-partisanship, man! Do what the people voted you in to do... Change Washington, and do it boldly. You've lost 1 senate seat in the process, but you still have 59 to work with... which is more than enough.

G.L.M.