Obama honors Jesse Jackson. Then more notes on current events.

What 'choo talkin' 'bout, Willis?

Improving economy

Your Political Compass

The religious right, the tea party, the conservatives, the libertarians - whatever we are calling them these days - have moved the country so far to the right, that the old right now appears to be the left. Think Obama is a liberal? A careful examination of his policies places him as an authoritarian right-winger. I can't disagree - he's done lots of stuff I'm not happy with.

You can click on this image to view it larger.

Just checking up on you.

The NSA is still spying on us.

Hate for America even in the face of destruction.

If you want the whole story...

Obama explains Benghazi...

Responding t the Teabillys

Guns - who will win the day?

Two Democrats dealing with Republicans

Liberals Beware!

I have come to the conclusion that ignorance and stupidity are contagious. When people start watching Fox News and hanging out with other conservatives, the idiocy seems to spread and even fall to depths that one could never have imagined. Liberals, don't get too close to conservatives - the stupid seems to be spreading.

Republicans have vivid imaginations and utilize that skill to feed their fears.

Hypocrites all

It was interesting to me yesterday that Obama got on TV and acted all outraged over the NRA victory on gun control (expanded background checks on gun purchases went down to defeat in the Senate). But face it - he, like all of the Senators that voted no on the gun control issue, are owned by big business interests. I would have been far more interested in what the POTUS had to say if he had thrown a few bankers in jail after the banking scandals of the past few years. His sponsors are just different than the Republican sponsors. Douche-bag.

Regarding the President's budget proposal, including cuts to Medicare and Social Security...

From Daily Kos

We can't win here, so lets do the GOP's work for them.

So says a "longtime Obama aide," according to Politico:

    "We're not going to have the White House forever, folks. If he doesn't do this, Paul Ryan is going to do it for us in a few years," said a longtime Obama aide, referring to the 2012 Republican vice presidential candidate who proposed a sweeping overhaul of Medicare that would replace some benefits with vouchers.

Seems this person forgot Paul Ryan was on a ballot last year. Verdict rendered.

You know what? Fine. If we lose the White House and both houses of Congress, then by all means, Paul Ryan should go ahead and get his druthers. If the American people vote for the Ryan budget, then by God they should have it. That's the way the political system works in a democracy. You run on a platform, you win, you get to implement your platform. If the American people don't like it, they only have themselves to blame for voting for it. They asked for George W. Bush's party, platform and leadership and boy did they get what they asked for.

Do you think Paul Ryan would ever come out and say "Fellow Republicans, we had better go ahead and raise the minimum wage because if we don't, Bernie Sanders is going to come along and do it in a few years?" Ridiculous.

If Democrats run on something and win, then they should implement what they ran on. What Democrats should not do is run on a platform, win, then turn around and implement the policies of the side that lost. That doesn't make any sense. It makes a mockery of the political process. It treats Democratic voters like a bunch of rubes. If Republicans want to cut Social Security, let them run on it and win. We don't need to do their work for them.

No, we won't have the White House forever. That is why we should do what we stand for. What we get elected for. If the people want Republican government, then they should vote for it and get what they deserve.

It's all about the hate.

Republicans hate anyway, but with a black man in the White House the hate is at an all time high.

Obama - only just better than the alternative

Barack Obama is way too conservative for my tastes. His recent foray into offering up cuts in Social Security and Medicare had me going nuts. What the hell is he doing?

From The Political Carnival

Hey, remember this?

V.P. Biden "flat guarantees" no changes in Social Security, which "effectively takes Social Security off the table."

So this happened: Obama budget would cut entitlements in exchange for tax increases:

    President Obama will release [has released] a budget next week that proposes significant cuts to Medicare and Social Security and fewer tax hikes than in the past, a conciliatory approach that he hopes will convince Republicans to sign onto a grand bargain that would curb government borrowing and replace deep spending cuts that took effect March 1. [...]

    Obama proposes, for instance, to change the cost-of-living calculation for Social Security in a way that will reduce benefits for most beneficiaries, a key Republican request that he had earlier embraced only as part of a compromise. Many Democrats say they are opposed to any Social Security cuts and are likely to be furious that such cuts are now being proposed as official administration policy. [...]

    Overall, the budget request reflects Obama's stark shift in strategy over the last month, as he has adopted a far more congenial posture toward the opposition…

    "Millions of working people, seniors, disabled veterans, those who have lost a loved one in combat, and women will be extremely disappointed if President Obama caves into the long-standing Republican effort to cut Social Security," Sen. Bernard Sanders (I-Vt.), who caucuses with Democrats, said earlier this week, after reports surfaced that Obama might include the change in his budget.

    "In 2008, candidate Barack Obama told the American people that he would not cut Social Security. Having him go back on his word will only add to the rampant political cynicism that our country is experiencing today."

Too much celebration, not enough substance

So, the first filibuster in the Senate over a new gun control bill was broken and there will be debate and there will be discussion. But there probably won't be any substance to the resulting bill - and it will never pass in the House. I'm very pessimistic about this whole thing. But - at least there will be a vote.

Reducing the deficit

It's important to different between our "deficit" and our "debt." The national debt is the total accumulation of money we owe to our creditors - a sum built up since the nation's founding. The deficit, on the other hand, is the amount each year's budget exceeds the nation's income for that same year.

Critics like to talk about Obama as a tax and spend liberal, but in fact, each year he has been in office since his first, he has been reducing, not increasing, the annual deficit that he inherited from the Republicans. Never, ever forget who the big spenders are in our government - they just won't tax to cover the cost.

Feeling the sequester

Now this is interesting - the President returning 5% of his income to the treasury as a sign of solidarity with our nation's workers who are being hit hard by the sequester. He's attempting to show some solidarity, and yet, most of those hit by the sequester are losing 20% of their pay - one day of furlough out of every 5 days.

So the critics are out in force. Why not a 20% pay cut Mr. President? Look at how much money you make! Everything you do is paid for, they claim. (Or is it? I'm sure he still has to cover personal expenses.)

I don't know, fellow readers - I think the Pres will take more flack for this move than he will gain acclaim for a bold move. He should have just kept the money.

Republican morality is in the toilet

I'm trotting out an old friend of mine again today...

Written by Christ Hedges for Truthdig.

"Those who retreat into fantasy cannot be engaged in rational discussion, for fantasy is all that is left of their tattered self-esteem. When their myths are attacked as untrue it triggers not a discussion of facts and evidence but a ferocious emotional backlash."

The reason Republicans re-direct your attention on issues and lie about things is they have no where else to turn in defense of their beliefs. There's no good reason to hate Obama other than race; there's no good reason to harp on Benghazi except for their hate of the black man in the white house; there is no good reason to continue to harp on cutting social security other than the fact that it is a favored program of the Kenyan Muslim haunting their dreams. Facts and reason are the friends of the enlightened and the liberals and conservatives thrive on fear and hate.

Trolling the Republican party

The hate runs deep #2 of the day.