For whom the bell tolls

Chris Hedges has written an article about the death of Liberalism in America, specifically as it relates to the Democratic party.

Hollow shell of a party

He writes with passion these days and seems to be striving to call people to action. I'm not sure what that action is, and perhaps neither does he.

I think that ripping on Liberals is doing Wall Street a favor, and blaming liberals for Wall Streets actions is like blaming a rape victim. Of course, it is hard not to be disgusted by the actions of Democratic party members as they turn so much hope into so much refuse.

Once decline gets to a certain point you're like an easy mark surrounded by hustlers when all you want is to work, eat, and love.

From Frum

 

David Frum has an interesting post about California’s Proposition 23, which he attacks as a job killing bill.

Here is the link: Opposition to the Proposition

Mr. Frum’s bread has been buttered with Scientific methods and I suspect his own achievements led to a respect for scientific opinion. With so many Republicans carrying torches against the book-learnin’ I find his voice refreshing.

Got enthusiasm?

Are you looking for a reason to vote?

Here it is:

Something other than conventional wisdom.

I sez, "The trouble for D.C. democrats isn't an apathetic base, but the opposite."

If the base were apathetic it wouldn't care that Guantanamo is still open for business.

If the base were apathetic it wouldn't care that president Obama didn't deliver a single-payer health-care system.

If the base were apathetic it wouldn't care that conservative economic policies failed America, but democrats ceded the moment to fill the vacuum.

If the base were apathetic it wouldn't care that D.A.D.T. was not repealed.

If D.C. democrats are hunting for an enthusiasm gap, they should look between campaign pledges and legislative action. That is the same place, coincidentally, where they can locate a solution to their dilemma.

From "Yes we can" to "they won't even worse"?

The election strategy concocted by D.C. Democrats for the upcoming mid-term election can be summarized as follows:

"You could do even worse than vote for us"

Does that sound like a winning strategy?

Colbert in Congress

Stephen Colbert goes to Congress in character:

Pinata

Jon Stewart is on the mark in this clip, which covers a "town hall" meeting recently attended by president Obama:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Meet the Depressed
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Tea Party

Source

Mind the enthusiasm gap

I always enjoy when someone takes the time to simplify tortured logic and feed it to me straight. For instance, while lunching with the upper-crusts of Connecticut, president Obama bashed his base. Some idiotic D.C.-thinkers tried to justify the pool-pissing moment, but David Sirota describes it like so:

"The president has decided to not even acknowledge the legitimacy of Democratic voters' expectations - many of which he himself asked us embrace in his "real change"-themed campaign for the presidency. That's right, just as White House press secretary Robert Gibbs attacked the "Professional Left" a few weeks ago, the president has decided to make fun of Democratic voters who dare expect him to fight for the policies he promised. "

Here is a link to the whole article.

Happy Dam a Rahm

If democrats lose as projected in November, will president Obama continue to praise those responsible and continue to cast aspersions at the left?

Bad economic news

Whenever I hear the word economist used in the same sentence as Chicago I shudder involuntarily. Chicago economists, in my view, are responsible for shuddering Main Street and turning Wall Street into a casino backed with public money. I am not a fan of president Obama's latest pick to chair his Council of Economic Advisors, Austan Goolsbee.

Isn't it interesting that Mr. Goolsbee is described as a "Centrist Economist" in the story above?

Have you ever heard of a "Centrist Mathemetician", "Centrist Surgeon", or "Centrist Rocket Scientist"?

This political appointment signifies that president Obama continues to place his faith in those most responsible for creating the crisis. That is very bad news since spin doesn't pay the bills.

Not flaming crosses?

The Dove World Outreach Center, a Baptist church, plans to burn copies of the Koran on the anniversary of 9/11.

Religious people seem to enjoy prancing around the frontiers of hatred. Perhaps for an encore they can drop their trousers and moon Mecca?

Hypocrisy alert

Where were all the deficit hawks when Bush was in office?

Dog days

It is a difficult thing to watch the Obama administration in action these days. So many people thought they were electing the next Jack Kennedy and wound up electing a president without a strong sense of purpose, without the ability to control the narrative, and without the necessary toughness to make his words real for the middle-class.

Even as it becomes crystal clear that voters are going to punish this administration for doing too little, president Obama is out there promoting tax cuts for corporations (see here).

Many on the left cling to fantasies that president Obama is being misled by his handlers, but I believe it is they who were misled. The president's actions consistently convey that he believes in the right of corporations to rule, and will only make token gestures on behalf of the middle class.

Fish in a barrel

The finding of articles that support my theory that the position of CEO is attractive to morally insane people (or psychopathic personalities) is a job that is all too easy. Here, though, is an article which practically begs the interpretation:

Massey Energy's Blankenship: No shame, but plenty of blame

This is a man that lets no evil outcome deter his purpose or actions. He refuses to take responsibility for his actions, and not only fails to pity those his actions have killed, he manages to feel sorry for himself to boot.

Not news

The tax-cuts passed by president Bush did not have a stimulative effect on the economy.

Spending American greatness for a tax cut is cheap.

The urgency of combating global warming is in direct disproportion to political activity, while being in direct proportion to carbon-fuel subsidies.

Our all-volunteer armed forces can no longer operate without the use of mercenaries (thugs).

Death panels have been operating inside for-profit insurance companies for years. They call their sentences "recission".

Sarah Palin lies a lot, is mean-spirited, and not good at governing.

Fox is to news as Glenn Beck is to a newscaster.

Obama's poll numbers explained

A Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll this week found that nearly 6 in 10 Americans believe the country is on the wrong track and a majority disapproves of President Obama’s handling of the economy. Nearly two-thirds expect the economy to get worse still.

Source

Unsurprisingly, turning the treasury over to the reprobates that engineered the crisis is bad economics and bad politics.

Unsurprisingly, trading the support of Democrats to court Republicans gains neither crucial votes nor enthusiastic supporters.

A president should not put up with a team that achieves such ignoble results.

Obama's poll numbers explained

Voting is primarily an emotional decision for voters, and nothing highlights this like a poll which finds...

"In numerous polls, the public has voiced their displeasure at the much maligned bank bailout, but most don't know which president signed the controversial act into law. Only a third of Americans (34%) correctly say the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) was enacted by the Bush administration"

Source

People are angry and they know what for, but not whom to blame.

President Obama hasn't done much to reverse this public perception, making him a far worse politician than I thought.

Obama's poll numbers explained...

I am always on the lookout for quotes that illustrate why the poll numbers for president Obama are so low. I think this one by Brent Budowski nails it:

Voters pray for action, but all they hear is self-praise from those who don’t listen, and all they see is vanity and self-indulgence from those who don’t care.

Source

Obama's poll numbers explained

Robert Reich writes recently...

Average Americans are hurting. But their pain isn’t coming from government. It’s coming from an economy whose benefits are concentrating ever more at the top, whose giant corporations are controlling ever more of our democratic process, and whose costs and risks are becoming ever more burdensome for the middle class and the poor. Public schools, parks, and libraries are closing or reducing hours and staff. Median hourly wages are dropping. Unemployment is at levels not seen in decades; long-term joblessness hasn’t been this bad since the 1940s. Social safety nets — unemployment insurance, Social Security, and Medicare — are endangered.

Yet corporate profits are reaching unprecedented levels, and the richest Americans — CEOs, other top corporate executives, investment bankers, and hedge-fund managers — are raking in as much or more than before the Great Recession.

Source

I contend that the movement of money from middle-class Americans to rich Americans was facilitated by politicians every step of the way.

I also contend that the Clinton administration did improve the lot of the middle class and that fact explains his popularity and Obama's unpopularity.

We voters wanted real change not spare change.

More right-wing violence

Here is yet another example of a violent gun-toting white guy spewing right-wing ideology:

Raymond Peake

I wonder if a little fox was whispering in his ears?