To My Florida Friends and Loved Ones

Reporters and the President and his surrogates keep asking Romney and Ryan to explain how they're going to pay for the massive tax cuts they're promising the wealthy, and they say, they can do it without raising taxes, but, that's disingenuous.

In Massachusetts, as Governor, Romney cut taxes and raised fees of all kinds. These include state fees and tuitions, fees for businesses, marriage licenses, business renewals, you name it, he raised, by hundreds of percent in most cases. He also cut education budgets, prompting the smart people of Massachusetts to kick him out after one term. His approval ratings were so low, he couldn't even run. Now he claims he was such a great governor. Sarah Palin couldn't get away with this. Why can Mitt Romney?

Both Romney and Ryan have made it clear that they think "entitlements" that help the poor only keep them dependent on government, and should be reversed or reduced. It seems clear that both Romney and Ryan would balance their massive tax cuts for the wealthy on the backs of the poor and the middle class, for it is their belief that this will bring about a healthy economy. They couldn't be more wrong, but, how many people understand economics in the absence of Bill Clinton shouting it at them from a podium until his voice is literally raw.

Romney's one signature reform, on which the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare, is based, was, I believe, largely pushed through by Senator Ted Kennedy. Romney signed it, and took credit for bi-partisanship. The people of Massachusetts love their health care, and 98% are covered, but Romney says he'll repeal "Obamacare", and immediately cause insurance companies to begin raising their rates and reducing their coverage, not to mention, the poor people who have a pre-existing condition. I hate that Romney gets away with lying not only about his plans, but about his record.

This reminds me of the debates between Gore and Bush. Bush was lying, and Gore was sighing. Gore informed the public exactly what Bush planned to do. Put lobbyists in charge of writing legislation, gut the education system and regulations on corporations. He couldn't have foreseen the two wars, government sanctioned torture, and the blind eye of the Bush Justice Department toward Wall Street shenanigans, Blackwater and Halliburton. All of the same characters that still support all of these policies are right behind Romney, telling him how to pull the wool over the eyes of the American people.

As Romney lies, and the President, reluctant to seem like "an angry black man", has to control his temper. I'm sure he couldn't wait to get out of there and just have a smoke.

I'm not saying the President is perfect. I'm just saying Romney is a dangerous joke. So, please, don't vote for him.

Love and light,
Barbara

Hannity and The Loss of Sanity

This isn't Sean Hannity, but they're in the same club.

Originally, this article was going to be called, The Loss of Sanity, but, I added the name Hannity for a couple of reasons. First of all, it's a great rhyme. Secondly, it brings Sean Hannity, and lie-meisters like him to the forefront of the conversation, where they belong.

And, so why Hannity? He's the perfect poster boy for the right-wing echo chamber that appears to be an effective means of fooling white people into believing outright lies and voting against their own interests.

First let's look at the loss of sanity. I first noticed it when I began to notice things that I expected to turn out in a certain way, based upon my experience, turn out another way instead. The first example of this that comes to mind in the election of George Bush, Jr. in 2000.

When I write the name of George Bush, Jr., a creepy feeling comes over me, as though I'm writing the name of Lord Voldemort, "he who should not be named". But, the feeling that something's not right here, began when we first heard that "there was a problem in Florida". FOR THE FIRST TIME IN HISTORY... exit polls were wrong. The vote in Florida was "too close to call". They were "taking it out of the Gore column", then, "putting it in the Bush column", then, well, you know the rest. I shudder to think of it. George's "baby brother", the governor of Florida, may be able to tell us more about it. As a nation, it's when we decided to stop trusting exit polls to call elections, and started trusting hackable electronic voting machines and a right-leaning Supreme Court.

Is this when we lost justice?

I remember being shocked at the time that people were arguing that Bush was the better candidate. Arguing forcefully. Angrily. What was this? When Bush took office, we were shocked. And, he proceeded to do everything that Gore had warned that he would - started two wars, allowed lobbyists to write and carry out the legislative agenda, rolled back scientific research, and worse. All of the progressive gains of the Clinton Administration were gone - a huge surplus became a huge deficit; shady business practices became the norm; with a fall guy taking the rap, and no changes, legislative corrections or true accountability after the facts were exposed. We began to witness increased evidence of a lack of justice, in almost every area of American life.

 I think Hannity, Rush, and the rest of them appear legitimate because they're on t.v. or have vast radio audiences, especially in rural areas, where they're the only show in town. There used to be "truth in advertising", at least we thought, and the Fairness Doctrine. People must unconsciously think these are still in place, but the Fairness Doctrine, instituted in 1949 to protect the public airwaves, was rolled back by the FCC during the Reagan years.

People don't realize that Fox News can lie about anything, and get away with it. They must assume it's truth, or someone "higher up" would correct them. They must not realize that the "higher up" people are the ones promoting the false facts, having purged their networks of any moderate or reasonable employees who are unwilling to peddle their particular brand of false premises and erroneous conclusions. Acceptance of the mainstream media of this status quo lends Fox News and Clear Channel legitimacy.

From Daily Kos, "Learned Helplessness"

On television, there is not much value placed upon the truth. I think that can be very confusing for many people. Since there's no consensus based upon facts and research, people begin to believe that everything is just opinion, even provable facts become subject to debate. The dumb-ing down of America. There's no truth, only a "balanced" view, which accords equal value to lies  as the truth.

No wonder people are going off their rockers.

God Bless the NRA, Not for Guns, for Money

Why does this country seem to be run by the NRA?  How powerful is the NRA in the politics of this country, and in the decisions made by our "elected" representatives?  What kind of perverse democratic system, claims legitimacy, yet bows in fealty to the NRA?

That there's even a debate that excessive availability of guns increases gun related crimes and fatalities is ridiculous. Why do we allow ourselves and the public to be brainwashed like this by a partisan organization?

How powerful is the NRA?

Research shows that an assault weapons ban, barely passed by the Clinton administration in 1994,  saved about 20,000 lives during the 10 year period it was in force.

Democrats came to believe that voting for this assault weapons ban, cost them control of the house in 1994, and, according to Trent Lott, possibly cost the presidency for Al Gore, when he cast the tie-breaking vote calling for restrictions at Gun Show sales in 1999. Recently, the Republican controlled house voted overwhelmingly to historically hold our first African American attorney general in contempt of Congress, on an obviously conflated charge of being involved in a program of allowing guns to be "walked" across the border into Mexico.

During that ridiculous debate, I learned that the NRA was "scoring" the vote. This can be incredibly intimidating for anyone on the NRA "enemies list", bearing in mind the hundreds of millions of dollars being bandied about during this election cycle, not only by the NRA, and now, without disclosure laws, (we have legislation pushed and supported by the NRA to thank for this, too) but also by every other right wing nut case gun rights advocacy group. The measure to hold Holder in contempt of Congress passed with 31 Democratic votes.

Further examination in an in depth investigation by Fortune Magazine, showed that this "fast and furious" program didn't even exist, and that Federal Agents were actually unsuccessfully trying to get US Attorney Offices to prosecute this, (thanks to the NRA) legal buying and walking of guns across the border, and were told this horrifying process is completely legal.  Here is the widely quoted article by Katherine Eban , "The Truth About Fast and Furious". Probably 1 in 100 Americans who knows the true story of this whitewash campaign against the Attorney General of the United States.

Attorney General Holder,  is actually trying to limit the widespread availability of weapons and investigate the purported "scandal". Can that be why the Republicans and the NRA are looking to discredit him?

This is from a recent letter to GOP leadership, from an article in Commentary Magazine, about the NRA scoring of the Holder contempt vote:

"It is no secret that the NRA does not admire Attorney General Holder. For years, we have pointed out his history of anti-Second Amendment advocacy and enforcement actions. Since taking office, Attorney General Holder has seized on the violence in Mexico to promote the lie that “90 percent” of firearms used in Mexican crime come from the U.S.; to call for bringing back the 1994 Clinton gun ban; and to justify the illegal multiple sales reporting scheme, which amounts to gun registration for honest Americans who buy long guns in southwest border states."

Have any of you reading this ever held a gun? Ever shot anyone, or anything for that matter? The Vice-President of the United States under the last Republican administration SHOT A MAN IN THE FACE! And we're all alright with this?

The right-wing echo chamber that is Fox News, Murdoch, Clear Channel, Rush Limbaugh and politicians at the local, state and federal levels, along with super-pac laws, that brought us swift-boating and the Citizens United case which brought us corporate funding of government march in lock step with the NRA for personal and political reasons, but mostly for money. It is well known that weapons sales worldwide exceed 1.5 Trillion dollars PER YEAR. The rest of us can't compete with this kind of money, and if this kind of money is purchasing our government, we don't have a chance at democracy, and that's what we're seeing here. This kind of money, since the election of George Bush and the "swift-boating" of John Kerry, has purchased our current political system and the current laws that sustain it.

I used to listen to Mario Solis-Marich on the radio and occasionally called into his show to rant. Now, I no longer have a car radio, and he no longer has as radio show. But, I dedicate this blog to him, since, he told me I should write one.

I miss the days of good governance not seen since the Clinton Administration, when his promises to ban assault weapons, raise taxes, put more police and firemen on the street, add teachers to make classroom sizes smaller, end corruption in entitlement programs and provide health care for all raised him to the presidency.  Elections then seemed responsive to peoples' views.

Over the years, as right wing organizations have taken control of media outlets and the airwaves, more and more people seem to have bought in to political arguments that are fallacious, sometimes ludicrous, and often in opposition to their best interests. They don't seem to understand or trust the economy and how it works. Trickle down economics is all the Republicans have to offer, and it was ridiculous on its face, and now proven to fail, yet, we're in a close race for the presidency, despite having one of the most centrist and reasonable presidents in the history of the United States. Stimulus spending by the government has proven over the course of our history to stimulate the economy, create jobs prosperity and new opportunities for the middle class. Yet, poor people, low, and middle income people are still arguing for decreased spending, hiring freezes, de-funding entitlement programs, and bringing down the debt. The political arena has become so muddied with lies, that the truth becomes a confusing mess.

In conclusion, I'd like to look for a minute at the 2nd Amendment, the right to bear arms, and why it's important. Of course, if authority outlaws anyone else from having guns, people would be intimidated by the authority. But with so many guns already in circulation among regular people, as well as state militias, this argument is moot. Besides, no individual's weapons can ever overcome the overwhelming firepower of any government of today.  The more guns out there, the more people get shot. That is the simple and indisputable fact. So why do we roll over and spread our legs for the NRA, allowing felons, drug dealers, and terrorists and other crazies to legally buy as many guns as their hearts desire? It's not because of their guns, it's because of their money.