2010: The Fourth Reich Rises Again

It’s been quite a decade. Look how far we’ve come in the last ten years. The Right Wing rose to power by crushing democracy in 2000. The Bush Administration went on to expand our debt to unheard of levels. They undermined our Bill of Rights with warrantless surveillance, torture, and utter disregard of Habeas Corpus. They started two wars they couldn’t finish, one of which was based entirely on falsehoods.

That all went well, didn’t it?

Now we sit at the end of 2010 and see the resurgence of the Right. Somehow they took control of Congress by convincing the voters to give the party of debt, war, and greed another shot at power. I’m sure things are going to get rosy now.

What happened? In 2008 enough Americans turned out to vote for a different party to govern. Do you think somewhere in the American brain there’s a sense that if you can’t fix eight years of damage in two years, then give it all back to the same irresponsible bunch to finish their demolition? No, something else has been at work here.

We live in dark times. The Radical Right is out to destroy presidencies voted in by democratic majorities. The Right hates democracy. When voters chose Clinton, they went to work at undermining him any way possible. Policy differences were not an issue. Their preferred tactic was the politics of personal destruction.

Then voters chose Obama. Now it is Obama’s turn. Never mind if Obama advocates the same thing favored by the Right, they will oppose him. For the Right it is all about gaining their dictatorial lock on power. We’ve heard from them that they will not compromise. Fascism and compromise never did mix well, did they?

Why is it that a shameless party with nothing good to offer the people has climbed back into power? In a word, FOX.

Yes, the Right has their own propaganda ministry working 24/7 to convince Americans to vote for Republicans. I use the word propaganda for good reason. FOX(R) is not a real news channel. FOX(R) has no journalistic standards and no intentions to report truth. They are a Right Wing political operation that relies on the American public to falsely believe they are a “fair and balanced” news network.

In August of 2009 when health care reform was the issue of the day, Frank Luntz, the GOP newspeak spinner, was coaching Sean Hannity on how to discuss the public option. Luntz argued that "if you call it a 'public option,' the American people are split, if you call it the 'government option,' the public is overwhelmingly against it." Luntz said that the program would be "sponsored by the government" and falsely claimed that it would also be "paid for by the government."

Hannity liked it and replied, "You know what, it's a great point, and from now on, I'm going to call it the government option."

Not only did they never use the term public option again, it soon morphed into “government takeover of health care”. No doctor for you until the socialist government says so. They’re gonna put a gubmint bureaucrat between you and health care. Yup, and then they’re gonna make Grandma go beg for mercy in front of a death panel.

The term public option was targeted for removal from conversation by FOX (R). In October 2009 Bill Simmons wrote an email titled “friendly reminder: let's not slip back into calling it the ‘public option’”. Of course the FOX crew complied.

And they also dutifully injected the idea that climate change was not real. Whenever climate change or global warming was mentioned they would falsely insist there was no scientific consensus on it. Tell that to the shrinking glaciers and Arctic ice, the thawing tundra, and drowning polar bears. FOX and Rush know more than dumb old scientists anyway, but this is a topic for later.

I wonder if anyone thinks the 2010 election would have different if the voters who believe Obama is a Marxist Muslim didn’t show up at the polls. I bet Congress would still have a Democratic majority if not for ignorance and the deliberate misinformation provided by FOX(R).

But don’t take my word for it. A survey was done by World Public Opinion.org through the University of Maryland, the Center on Policy Attitudes and the Center for International and Security Studies. They wanted to measure the degree of misinformation in American voters. Guess who were the most misinformed? FOX(R) viewers, of course.

We learn that FOX(R) viewers were "significantly more likely" to believe that:

--Most economists estimate the stimulus caused job losses (12 points more likely)
--Most economists have estimated the health care law will worsen the deficit (31 points)
--The economy is getting worse (26 points)
--Most scientists do not agree that climate change is occurring (30 points)
--The stimulus legislation did not include any tax cuts (14 points)
--Their own income taxes have gone up (14 points)
--The auto bailout only occurred under Obama (13 points)
--When TARP came up for a vote most Republicans opposed it (12 points)
--And that it is not clear that Obama was born in the United States (31 points)

This is why democracy is doomed in America. Mission Accomplished FOX(R). In the world of Right Wing power Ignorance is strength.

Bush v. Gore Plus Ten

The ten year anniversary came and went last week with little, if any, media attention. The minority of Americans with a functional memory vividly recall December 12, 2000 as the definitive point in history that democracy was finally killed in the US by the radical Right. As for the corporate media, they didn’t really care too much about bringing attention to this anniversary of a very crucial Supreme Court decision.

I suppose it may be due to our new era of bi-partisan “looking forward”. I’d guess that’s the reason why we can’t look back and investigate anything involving the Bush/Cheney cartel. I have a feeling Obama will be investigated up the wazoo soon after the next Republican congress gets together. But that’s different, right?

It is no exaggeration to say democracy was crushed when the Right Wing majority of the Supreme Court denied the majority of American voters a fair recount in Florida on December 9th, and gave the presidency to George W. Bush on December 12th. The half million more Americans who voted for Gore over Bush had their voices silenced by a Right Wing majority of five of nine.

The US had suffered a coup d'état.

Little did unsuspecting Americans know at the time that the prejudice, bias and cronyism of Republican Supreme Court justices would seal the fate of a nation, along with uncounted thousands of human lives in the ensuing wars of choice. The case of Bush v Gore reeked of conflict of interest and was devoid of precedent, law, and justice.

As a dark omen of the cronyism to come, we know the friendship between Justice Scalia and Dick Cheney went back over a quarter of a century. Perhaps if Dead-eye Dick had shot his duck hunting pal instead of his quail hunting pal things would have turned out better for the world.
Of course the Scalia/Cheney cronyism was not the only influence. Rehnquist, Thomas and O’Connor all had issues of conflict of interest as well.

For those with enough curiosity and interest in our recent history, I’d like to offer you revealing look at the likely, or even illegal, conflict of interest in that Right Wing court decision. These are but a few snippets from: The Georgetown Journal of Legal Ethics, Spring 2003 by Neumann, Richard K Jr

**

Conflicts of interest in Bush v. Gore: Did some justices vote illegally?

On December 9, 2000, the United States Supreme Court stayed the presidential election litigation in the Florida courts and set oral argument for December 11. On the morning of December 12-one day after oral argument and half a day before the Supreme Court announced its decision in Bush v. Gore-the Wall Street Journal published a front-page story that included the following:

Chief Justice William Rehnquist, 76 years old, and Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, 70, both lifelong Republicans, have at times privately talked about retiring and would prefer that a Republican appoint their successors. . . . Justice O'Connor, a cancer survivor, has privately let it be known that, after 20 years on the high court, she wants to retire to her home state of Arizona . . . . At an Election Night party at the Washington, D.C., home of Mary Ann Stoessel, widow of former Ambassador Walter Stoessel, the justice's husband, John O'Connor, mentioned to others her desire to step down, according to three witnesses. But Mr. O'Connor said his wife would be reluctant to retire if a Democrat were in the White House and would choose her replacement. Justice O'Connor declined to comment.

In a story published the following day, Christopher Hitchens, the United States correspondent for the Evening Standard of London, wrote that "O'Connor . . . has allegedly told her friends and family that she wishes to retire from the Court but won't do so if there is to be a Democratic president to nominate her replacement." Helen Thomas, a nationally syndicated columnist, wrote that "[t]he story going around [Washington] is that a very upset Justice Sandra Day O'Connor walked out of a dinner party on election night when she heard the first mistaken broadcast that Vice President A Gore had won. The ailing O'Connor apparently wants to retire, but not while a Democrat is in the White House and could pick her successor." Various parts of this story were repeated in a number of publications.

The following week, Newsweek published a more detailed account:

[A]t an election-night party on Nov. 7, surrounded for the most part by friends and familiar acquaintances, [Justice O'Connor] let her guard drop for a moment when she heard the first critical returns shortly before 8 p.m. Sitting in her hostess's den, staring at a small black-and-white television set, she visibly started when CBS anchor Dan Rather called Florida for Al Gore. "This is terrible," she exclaimed. She explained to another partygoer that Gore's reported victory in Florida meant that the election was "over," since Gore had already carried two other swing states, Michigan and Illinois.

At the time Bush v. Gore was decided, Chief Justice Rehnquist had often been described in the press as a person who would like to retire but would delay doing so until a Republican president was in office and in a position to nominate a successor who could be confirmed by the Senate.

The press has reported several times that Justice Scalia confided in others that he would like to become the next Chief Justice and that he understood that that could happen only during a Republican presidency. During the time Bush v. Gore was being litigated, Justice Scalia's son John worked at the law firm that represented the Bush campaign in the Florida courts, and Justice Scalia's son Eugene was a partner at the law firm that represented the Bush campaign in the Supreme Court.

On December 4, 2000-while Bush v. Gore was pending before the Supreme Court-Virginia Lamb Thomas, Justice Thomas' wife, sent an email to 194 Congressional aides, suggesting that if they wanted assistance in being considered for positions in the next administration, they could forward their resumes to one of Mrs. Thomas' coworkers at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank that collaborates with the Republican Party. In addition, according to the Wall Street Journal, during her previous employment with a Republican leader in House of Representatives, Mrs. Thomas "spearheaded a leadership effort to gather embarrassing information about the Clinton-Gore administration."

**

As Justice O’Connor said, “This is terrible!”

Well, maybe, Sandi, but you ain't seen nothin’ yet.

A Hero's Vote

Maybe some of you are also World War II history readers. And maybe you also saw the HBO series “Band of Brothers”. This was an excellent adaptation of Stephen Ambrose’s book of the same title.

The book and series follow the brave men of Easy Company through the war as they jumped and fought with the 101st Airborne Division from the D-Day invasion of Normandy, to the failed “Operation Market Garden” in Holland, and to the incredible heroic defense of Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge.

I have a particular personal interest in the Battle of the Bulge because my father-in-law served in the 318th Infantry Regiment in Patton’s Third Army. The 318th was the infantry support for the 4th Armored Division as they broke through the German lines to relieve Bastogne. I had lost one second cousin killed and another captured in that same battle.

We hear them rightly referred to as the “Greatest Generation” for all they went through. They grew up in the Great Depression and fought to victory in the Second World War. They saw our country endure hardships we can only imagine in our worst case scenarios of Republican rule.

While Republicans under Herbert Hoover were collapsing the economy and George W. Bush’s grandfather Prescott Bush was doing business with Nazi Germany, other Americans were re-electing Franklin D. Roosevelt. Apart from the Americans in uniform, those are the other members of the Greatest Generation to whom we owe a great debt. If not for their votes, we’d have no Social Security, no New Deal, and perhaps Republicans would have sided with Germany before the war. Nobody likes to talk about it, but there were large Nazi rallies in the US before the war.

I want to share with you the words of one member of that Band of Brothers who both fought in the war and voted for FDR. He was wounded in Normandy and again in Holland. Shortly before he was shot in the leg, he voted for the first time in his life. His words seem to ring truer today than back in October of 1944. Here is what he wrote about his first time voting in his book, “Parachute Infantry”.

***

My First Vote

I had to walk almost two miles to cast my ballot, but I would have walked ten, if necessary, because this was my first vote-I was 22 in June-and I had always wanted to cast it for Roosevelt, the greatest President we had ever had and the only one who ever gave the working man a break.

Roosevelt had faced and overcome the two great crises America had ever suffered: the worst depression in history and the world’s biggest war. He was a politician, as crafty and conniving as any, for politics is a cesspool of lying lawyers, but his work was greater than the man, and the country was better for it.

The rich Republicans hated Roosevelt for helping the working man, for encouraging the labor unions to wring a fair day’s wage for a fair day’s work out of employers who had never heard of such a thing before and for putting into effect fair employment practices that they considered outrageously Socialistic.

Roosevelt helped the unemployed when Herbert Hoover, the last Republican, an engineer who never quite understood humanity, had said, “Let every man help his brother,” when he knew perfectly well that the rich weren’t about to help the poor, never had and never would.

I had grown up with Republicans and gone to school and college with them, and sickened by their selfishness, their cold avarice, and lofty contempt for the common people, had early sworn to vote for the Democrats, who, for all their rotten political faults, were more concerned with the welfare of the country as a whole.

David Kenyon Webster - Holland 1944, with Easy Company, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division

***

A lot of us are tired of Obama and the Democrats, with their endless capitulation and “pre-compromise” with Republicans. A lot of us are ready to give up, and it’s hard to not sympathize with those of us frustrated by politics.

But, I for one don’t want this man’s vision to die. He fought for our right to continue the struggle against those in our country who do not want what is best for us. There is an entire party that puts money ahead of country. I will never stop doing everything I can to stop Republicans from destroying our freedoms, our economy, and our future, even if it means voting for those Democrats with their “rotten political faults”.

Too much depends on it.

Checkpoint Nation

Does anyone else remember back in the day, when we heard the word “checkpoint” we thought of Germany? First it was Nazi Germany with the “Your papers, please” checkpoints. Then we heard about Berlin’s “Checkpoint Charlie”, the crossing point between the free world and the Communist Bloc behind the Iron Curtain.

That was then. Now we live in a nation that’s becoming more like the old oppressive Eastern European states. We are now are a nation of checkpoints. We now have sobriety checkpoints. We now have drug checkpoints. We now have immigration checkpoints.

How much longer until we have Nazi style “Papers, please” checkpoints? Maybe we’re already there. Americans have been conditioned and frightened into accepting things that would have been dismissed as extreme only a decade ago.

Soon enough, we shall likely see corporate checkpoints with Blackwater thugs frisking citizens and shaking them down. Don’t be surprised.

Now we see old Willie Nelson was arrested for possession of a politically incorrect plant at a checkpoint. I hope you all feel safer.

It’s too bad this had to happen. The drug war is as insane and counterproductive as most other wars. It is institutionalized cruelty to harmless users and fills the pockets of criminal cartels. We can do better, but this is a corporatocracy where private prisons, mandatory “treatment” centers, courts, cops, and a vast horde of rogues profit from injustice.

At least the people are wising up. They are voting through ballot initiatives, perhaps our last vestige of democracy, to allow the humane use of medicinal cannabis. Politicians are the cowards responsible for the continuation of the cruel and unjust drug war. Not that they care about blood on their hands, or the lives of harmless people destroyed by prison and legal persecution.

As with the war on terror, the only way to win the war on drugs is to end it.

For now, all I can say is, “Roll down the windows, Willie.”

Who Hates America?

Everyone has by now been indoctrinated by the Right Wing media and know that liberals hate America. They are destroying America. That’s what we were told when we questioned Bush and Cheney on their pack of lies for war in Iraq. That is what we are told when we dare support Obama. That is what we are told even if we don’t support Obama, because of his habit of appeasing the corporatist Right.

It is no secret except to the willfully uninformed or willingly duped that the Republicans are imposing a blockade on our federal government. Their obstruction will lead to lockdown. Why? Because the goal of the Guardians Of Plutocracy is to insure Obama fails at everything, including, and most importantly, his reelection. Mitch McConnell said, “The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president."

Their priority is clear, and it is not the interests of 98 percent of the American people. They work exclusively for the economic elite.

Not only are all domestic policies obstructed, even ones previously supported by Republicans until Obama agreed to them, but foreign policy is now held hostage. I’m not talking about unending war. That’s about the only area where the Reich Wingers will offer their “cooperation”. Of course, along with a national security surveillance state, that’s their agenda to begin with.

They no doubt love Obama’s defense of Bush’s un-constitutional “unitary executive” measures with the all time favorite justification used by totalitarians. “State secrets” is now our standard operating rationale for abuse of power during our national “state of emergency”. The same manure the Nazis used has now fertilized the ground for the growth of American fascism. Hitler was very anti-terrorist. And of course, terrorists were whoever he said were terrorists. He invoked state secrets and declared a state if emergency to protect the people. Just like Bush, and now Obama, has done.

So we see what matters most for bipartisanship is national security, despite its destruction of our freedoms. One may believe Republicans would be interested in protecting America from nuclear weapons. They must surely want to cooperate in restricting WMD’s from falling into hands of terrorists. Turns out they don’t care. At least they don’t care enough to support Obama’s efforts in negotiating a strategic arms treaty. No, it’s more important for Republicans to see Obama fail...at everything.

As Paul Krugman wrote this week:

These days, national security experts are tearing their hair out over the decision of Senate Republicans to block a desperately needed new strategic arms treaty. And everyone knows that these Republicans oppose the treaty, not because of legitimate objections, but simply because it’s an Obama administration initiative; if sabotaging the president endangers the nation, so be it.

It’s pretty obvious that the Republican Party would prefer America fails at everything as long as they can take down Obama. Why do Republicans hate America? Well, maybe they don’t hate America. Republicans just love power and wealth so much, and hate Obama so deeply; they really don’t care about the consequences for the rest of us.

They may as well hate America. Obama needs to find a spine like FDR and “welcome their hatred”. For the love of America.

Don't Stomp On Me

We remember Rand Paul’s thug Tim Profit was caught on video, stomping a woman’s head to a curb for disagreeing with his politics. It turns out the thug, like most typical bullies, is a crybaby as well. Here’s an exchange between Profit and Dea Riley, the woman running for Lt. Governor of Kentucky.

Thanks to Liberal In Kentucky.

*******

Dea Riley November 15 at 11:27am Reply

Report I received this from Tim Profit today via FB message – Please see below my response.

Dea,

Not sure who you may know but there are a lot of details about my case that is unknown. Ms. Valle from moveon.org has said on msnbc I kicked her in the head and that what I did was premeditated which are both false. She has also stated the reason I attacked her was because we disagree on the issues. That is also false. She doesn't know where I stand on the issues.

1-I think Marijuana should be legalized and controlled.

2-I am against the patriot act.

3-I think the war is unconstitutional.

I would bet we agree on other issues as well. They don't know me but have portrayed me as something I am not.The real reason of what happened was she went after Rand like a crazed person who I felt was a threat to his safety.I am sorry all this happened but there are many other circumstances involved here I cant talk about. I have lived in ky all my life and never been in trouble with the law in this way. 31 years with at&t and bellsouth and not 1 complaint. She broke at least 3 laws and did not get charged. I just don't understand why Ray Larson is doing this to me.

---

Tim,

I'm not one to mince words. I know that you have been a supporter of this campaign, but I feel I should express myself. I don't know you well, but I've met you on a few occasions and I would agree that you're not a bad person as you have described in your message. I also will acknowledge my interaction with you has always been cordial and you have seemed respectful of me in every regard.

I'm not sure my words will help you but I do want you to know that I am expressing myself in the hope that you will embark upon a self evaluation. Frankly Tim, I don't think where you stand on any of the issues is relevant to what occurred. It has been widely accounted that Ms. Valle was spoken to prior to the incident whereas SHE made clear her purpose for attending. One witness on scene told me that many of the Rand supporters where planning on "getting her" when they saw her make her move. I don't understand why it is you kicked her at all in that she was on the ground, but whether she was or not does not justify her being kicked. I don't approve. She was alone and undefended. I think you were caught up in a moment and that moment was recorded on film. As to "they" portraying you as something other than what you are - it is you who committed that act that likely will define you for sometime to come. I cannot offer you assistance. I think Ray should throw the damn book at you and if I know anything about Ray Larson that is exactly what is about to happen.

I think this attitude that she was of threat to Rand Paul is ridiculous but mostly convenient. She had every right to be there and every right to make an effort to capture a photograph and accomplish her mission - as Moveon.org has done so many times before. In these United States Individuals are not required to agree with or behave in any manner as imposed by those of differing opinion. Our liberties extend themselves equally to all. There is no "exception" to this rule. There is no doubt in my mind that the reason she was subdued was to prevent her not from harming Rand Paul but rather to prevent her from accomplishing her political stunt. I don't care if she was paid - again the excuses are irrelevant to the outcome. It's politics - get over it. Your cause is NOT important enough to justify what occurred.

This type of hysterical overly exaggerated expression is nothing more than mob riot. Rand Paul should have returned your campaign contributions as I would have done - immediately. You have served to point out the severity and potential danger of this extreme movement that is enjoys protection under the umbrella of "Tea Party" but I'm certain that is not what was intended by those who organized the initial grass roots effort.

On a personal note if you had kicked me you would have been faced with a far different reaction than the submissive and refrained demeanor of Ms. Valle. I would have done all I could do to beat your ass into the ground with everything I had in me. Guarantee it. I'm afraid I stand with Ms. Valle and wish I had been there to defend her - which is what I would have done and am doing now.

You don't put your hands on women - EVER!

May I suggest the following:

1. Stop defending your behavior there isn't any defense.

2. Apologize to Ms. Valle as well as all those countless thousands who have witnessed your video.

3. Seek counseling and learn to discern between inappropriate and appropriate behavior in expressing your views.

4. Volunteer to serve in a women's abuse shelter, rape crisis center or home for abused children. Then and only then will you understand why it is our society is so repulsed by your behavior and what it leads to.

5. Next time you give money to a cause, contribute to one of the above organizations that benefits those who are truly victimized and truly in danger of having their lives harmed or jeopardized by someone "crazy".

6. Reevaluate who it is you support for office - may I suggest you support someone such as myself who isn't willing to tell you what it is you want to hear to get your vote.

Dea Riley

Insanity On The Ballot

Just as this election may not result in the worst possible outcome, there is really no best possible outcome, just bad to worst possible outcomes.

Good Outcome: Republicans LOSE seats.
Bad Outcome: Democrats keep the same disfunctional "majority".
Worse Outcome: Republicans gain seats.
Worst Possible Outcome: Republicans take both houses.

Under Obama and the Democratic majority we have suffered over the past two years; suffered the devastating effects of Republican "trickle up" economics, off-shoring jobs, endless wars, corporate entitlements to personhood and unlimited "free speech" through bribery, and obstruction of ALL efforts at reducing the suffering. Unfortunately suffering can breed insanity, and cruel exploitation by soulless amoral powers. The suffering will continue.

If you think the past two years were bad, you ain't seen nothin' yet. Since one of the two major political parties in the country is run by a "news" network, we'll be seeing FOX (R) set the agenda for our total collapse. President Palin, or one of their other employees, will surely finish the job. Soon these will be the missed and yearned-for “good old days”.

The propaganda is working. "Obamacare" is death panels. (To FOX (R) viewers.)The Stimulus failed. (Except when used as a GOP photo-op with a big check. And $288 billion out of the $800 billion cost of the recovery act was composed entirely of tax cuts. Yes, tax cuts! And according to factcheck.org. “In fact, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates that the stimulus increased employment by between 1.4 million and 3.3 million people, compared with what employment would have been otherwise. Observers may differ on whether that’s a reasonable return on investment, but it’s not accurate to say that the stimulus harmed employment or that it didn’t help.”)

Obama is spending us towards doom. (Never mind President Obama and the congressional Democrats cut the deficit. Oh, yes, not that it matters. The first Obama budget was billions less than the final Bush budget.)

The truth does not matter. We can try to tell the truth but it will be rejected if it does not fit the belief system nurtured and fertilized by the Right. FOX (R) manufactures "fair and balanced" propaganda. Fair for the GOP, and balanced against Dems.

Americans have been indoctrinated into wanting to give more power to Republicans. Yes, with their record, we know for certain they'll fix everything...in favor of the economic elites, as usual.

Failure will once again be embraced. But that's OK. Liberals will still get the blame. FOX (R) will tell us so, and have they ever been wrong?

Now that they have bought the government, it is only a matter of time for all the wealth to “trickle up”. Neo-feudalism, here we come. It was the “divine right of kings” that assured the lock on power in medieval feudalism; it is the “divine right of wealth” that assures power now.
The "Fair and balanced" kool-ade cult has been pouring for a long time. Millions have been indoctrinated to believe Obama is a Marxist Muslim.

This cult is nothing short of a Fourth Reich, strangling our democracy by seizing near total control of highest bidder elections, and three corrupted branches of government. This will not be pretty. They will hurt people...again.

The American Fourth Reich is still destroying our freedom and democracy from within. We must fight them by calling them what they are, fascists. My American Heritage Dictionary says: Fascism n. A philosophy or system of government that advocates or exercises a dictatorship of the extreme right, typically through the merging of state and business leadership, together with an ideology of belligerent nationalism.

USA 2010: Democracy is dead. Reason is dead. Truth is dead. Fascism is winning. Insanity rules. We will expect different results from the same crew that always works against the interests of 98 percent of Americans. That is the definition of Insanity.