Republicans: The Party of "No F*cking Way!"...

The Republicans are nothing, if not consistent.

It appears that the Republicans are going to persist in opposing anything Democrats propose, as evidenced by their opposition to financial reform.

Politically, this is "smart"; Americans, traumatized by the change associated with job losses, want to minimize any other change that would shake their worlds.  Republicans are tapping into this.

But the status quo WILL lead to change...negative change for most Americans that want education opportunities, don't want their pension funds to vanish on Wall Street, and do want health care when they need it.

The Republicans are placing party over country....they are, in fact, traitors.

Please imagine the reaction of Republicans if Democrats had threatened to filibuster Bush's initiatives.  Accusations of treason would have flowed freely.

The Republicans are hypocrites....and as the Party of Fear, are playing to a receptive audience.

Obama: Ruthless Pragmatist

You want health care reform?  Dust off that Heritage Foundation study from the early 1990s, because that market-based approach is politically feasible.

You want education reform?  Your state better have a coherent education policy and the support of the majority of the teachers' unions....or you aren't getting a dime of money from the "Race to the Top" initiative.

You want to lessen dependence on foreign oil, but also address environmental concerns?  Nuclear power and off-shore drilling are the most practical, immediate steps to take.

What were some of my fellow so-called "Lefties" thinking, that Barack Obama would be elected president, we'd all sit around the campfire, sipping our venti vanilla non-fat lattes, building wind-turbines for the neighborhood before we march down to the National Health Service office for our free checkup, singing "kumbaya?  Or in Joe Biden's case, "kumba-fuckin'-ya"?

President Obama is a pragmatist.  He represents me, a social liberal/fiscal conservative, as well as my gun-totting, conservative, "the-rapture-is-my-retirement-plan" neighbor.  There is no way both sides can be happy with any policy produced by the federal government.

Churchill once said that democracy is the worst form of government....except for all the other ones that have been tried.

Obama is bringing the change he promised...but he's doing it in a democracy, which is messy, and loud, and inefficient...never mind that our 3 branches system is designed to impede change.

Looking around the political landscape, I sometimes feel that Obama is the only adult in a room full of children.

In such a situation, there is only 1 option:  Ruthless pragmatism.

Idealistic, Young Liberal President Achieves Major Legislative Reform Initiative

Who would have thought it could happen?

Notwithstanding passage of the reconcilliation bill in the Senate, President Obama and Congressional Democrats have actually achieved wide-ranging, market-based health care reform.

This is an historic achievement, on par with Social Security and Medicare.

President Obama promised Change...and he delivered.  He had to bet the farm to do it...but he chanced it, and he won.

President Obama also woke up; he realized before it was too late that a passionate, clear message, delivered at the right time, could win the day.

Republicans also bet the farm...and lost.  The Republican strategy for November, 2010, was predicated upon the hypothesis that Democrats would crash their party on the rocks of health care....again.  All they had to do was delay, lie....and delay a little more, and America would see how useless the Democrats are.  It didn't matter that the Senate Bill was a close copy of the 1993 Republican Health Care Reform alternative to the Clinton Plan....party trumped country for the Republicans in 1993, and party trumps country for the Republicans today.

Health Care Reform becomes Law tomorrow...and for that, we can thank the Democrats.

The Tea Party: Corporate Carpetbaggers

Don't get taken in by "The Tea Party".

Building on the failure of President Obama to use the White House "bully pulpit" to outline a clear and concise message regarding government regulation of the financial and health care sectors of the economy, corporate opportunists posing as populists filled that message void.

Dick Armey, former Texas congressman, is the lead culprit, though certainly not alone.  His "FreedomWorks" organization can deny "astro-turfing" the Tea Party movement all it wants...but its fingerprints are everywhere.

Tea Partiers will argue that they are fighting "big government" and socialism...and defending capitalism and democracy.

The problem is, aside from "No" to Obama and "No" to Health Care Reform (which would benefit more "Red" than "Blue" states...and takes most of its points from the 1993 Republican health care reform bill, including individual mandates)...the Tea Partiers have no ideas.  The status quo would be the result.

That's fine with Corporate America...the status quo has resulted in huge profits for Wall Street, at the expense of Main Street.  Corporate America LOVES the status quo...and is willing to use the confusion from complex health care and financial sector reform legislation to create the fear and anger that can override a more rational response.

What the Tea Partiers forget is Wall Street reports to its stockholders, not to this country's citizens.  Obama is trying to use government, which is controlled by "The People," to protect this country from Corporations...which just see people as another means of production...or exploitation.

Clear and concise messages win converts.  Obama blew it with  Health Care Reform...and the simple "No" of the Tea Party is the result.

The Tea Party "No" is "Yes" to Corportate America....and "No" to Our Democracy.

Today's word is...Mamaloshen

Mamaloshen is a Yiddish word (literally, "Mother Tongue") that describes the understanding that comes when one's common sense derives as much from the "soul" as the mind.


This is a beautiful word...one that I learned today in reading Norman Lear's blog post at the "On Faith" series for The Washington Post.


For an atheist like myself, I do not find the use of the word "soul" untoward.  Agreeing as I do with Dennett's consciousness thesis in his "multiple drafts model," "soul" to me is who a person is; I am the serial narrative that is myself.


Returning to mamaloshen, then, one can see the meaning it conveys to a secularist:  understanding that jives with both logic, and experience.


Extrapolating further, we can conclude that it is in everyone's best interest that all our fellow beings have as rich a life experience as possible.  Opening experience means opening understanding.


Those who are closed to others...that turn away...that return a smile with a frown or an extended hand with a fist...those people have closed their minds.  It is in our interest, and theirs, to help open their lives...to experience and understanding.

Best Part About The SuperBowl? The Ads!

Especially the Banned Ones!



















Enjoy.

(Elder care, dogs, work, guitar study, blogging...something has to give...and it's blogging.  When the world gets less crazy, I'll blog some more.)

A Picture is Worth 1000 Words...