Saturday, November 07, 2009

NEW JERSEY AND VIRGINIA REPUBLICAN GUBERNATORIAL VICTORIES ARE NOT A REFLECTION ON OBAMA, BUT ON THE POPULARITY OF THE CANDIDATES FOR GOVERNOR   The Republican Party, nationally, continues to have a miserable 20% approval rating due in large part best described by Bill Maher this week on Late Night: “The Democrats have moved to the right and the Republicans have moved into the insane asylum.” We have seen the biggest exhibition of imbeciles at fake Tea Parties, Rigged Town Hall Meetings, comments by senile old Republicans coached to shout out mindless remarks about Obama as a Fascist, a Communist, a Socialist, a non-citizen,   HOWEVER, IT IS NOT TIME FOR THE OBAMA POLITICAL TEAM TO TAKE FOR GRANTED THEY CAN HOLD THE HOUSE AND SENATE IN 2010.   The two primaries held the week of November 3 in New Jersey and Virginia contrary to the expected celebration on Fox News [Bill Krystol, Sean Hannity, Dick Morris, the several anchors on Fox’s morning and afternoon Fox News that I never watch, Bill O’Reilly] and, of course, the always disconcerting Chairman of the RNC, Michael Steele [their token minority leader] etc.went into a tizzy like a bunch of kids at a high school party on ecstasy. My advice to my Republican friends is that you should not become too excited about victories in New Jersey and Virginia gubernatorial races in 2009. There were too many conflicting local issues to blame this one on Obama. Besides, in the case of Bill Krystol as Jon Stewart of The Daily Show likes to remind him when he is a guest of the Stewart show as the man who “Is always wrong.”  And, in fact, Stewart is correct. Krystol, editor of the very right wing The Weekly Standard is a neo-conservative which if they aren’t they should be a major embarrassment to the Republican Party. He fought like the devil to invade Iraq in order to establish an island of democracy from which the U. S. could operate to convert every other Middle Eastern nation to democracy. Every election held outside of Israel under the banner of democracy has elected parties in opposition to America and Israel and more often than not selected an aggressive Islamic Party prepared to kill, kill, kill.  Thanks Bill, we really appreciate the brilliant analysis you and your fellow neo-conservatives have offered on the state of affairs in the Middle East. They promised us that the people of Iraq would hurl bouquets of flowers at our soldiers’ feet, and that we would pay for the war from the proceeds of the sale of Iraqi oil. To date we have not received one $.01 from that oil, but we have watched as over 4,000 of our young men and women were slaughtered by IEDs and car bombers, and we have/will spend close to $2 trillion dollars all told before this, the greatest miscalculation in the history of U. S. diplomacy and strategic defense is over. Weapons of mass destruction that threatened the very existence of the U. S. and touted by the one of the least qualified Secretaries of State to ever hold the office, Condoleezza Rice, were never found anywhere in Iraq. Nonetheless, she warned that we could well see a mushroom shaped cloud hovering over our major cities in the near future. The Republican’s neo-conservatives started this war on a big fat lie and will end it with out nation near bankruptcy because he spent far more than the $50 billion projected the war hawks and on top of that mountain of foolishness, they gave a massive tax break to the top 1% of the American people. We could go on and on and on, but the fact remains is that the group of clowns that had the audaciousness to go television after the election results were in to declare that Barack Obama’s entire presidency had been kicked to the curb by these two elections should tell us something about the stupidity of this group of do-nothing Republicans. On November 5, 2009 a group of right wing, ill-informed kooks organized by the mentally challenged Congresswoman from Minnesota’s 6th District, Michele Bachmann, protested in front of the U. S. Capitol against Health Care Reform. Some of the unknown [to me] Congressmen literally threw the bill into the wind and were applauded by some senior citizens and mentally old people  who fail to recognize that we have arrived in the twenty-first century and that 44,000 people are still dying annually for lack of health insurance. Bachmann is a wonder to behold. I could tell she was a stranger on the planet earth when I real in her biography that she attended Oral Roberts University and was a member of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod a wildly conservative cousin of the Lutheran Church of America. When you meet an adherent to the preaching of Oral Roberts or any Evangelical offspring of mainstream Christianity you can rest assured you are on the far right of the faith that the vast majority of the Christians throughout the world hold true. She was very active in local pseudo-political activities while practicing law. In 1993 Bachmann and other associates opened the New Heights Charter School. However, imposing her personal, right wing beliefs upon the curriculum and the faculty, a group of parents of the children who elected to attend that school along with the public school district complained vociferously about Bachmann’s people inserting Christianity into the school’s curriculum which to them amounted to the use of public funds for a religious school. Denise Stephens, longtime Republican accused the school’s board of directors which included Michele Bachmann “of trying to set up classes of Creationism and advocating that the school include in its program something called twelve [12] Christian principles. ….” Further, the school officials banned such movies such as Walt Disney’s Aladdin making the horrendous claim that this popular children’s movie “endorsed witchcraft and paganism.” During a heated school meeting Bachmann, according to Stephens, became angry and asked, “Are you going to question my integrity?” and along with four other likeminded school board members resigned on the spot. When Mark Kennedy the 6th District Congressman chose to run for the U. S. Senate seat vacated by Mark Dayton of Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party [DFL], Bachmann jumped into the fray; and she came loaded for bear. Because of her hard right credentials, the religious right pours millions into her campaign coffers: According to Bloomberg.com news, evangelical conservative leader James Dobson put the resources of his organization behind her 2006 campaign. Dobson's Focus on the Family planned to distribute 250,000 voter guides in Minnesota churches to reach social conservatives, according to Tom Prichard, president of the Minnesota Family Council, a local affiliate of Dobson's group. In addition to Minnesota, Dobson’s group also organized turnout drives in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Michigan, Ohio, New Jersey and Montana.[16] During a debate televised by WCCO on October 28, 2006, news reporter Pat Kessler quoted a story that appeared in the Minneapolis Star Tribune and asked Bachmann whether it was true that the church she belonged to taught that the Pope is the Anti-Christ. Bachmann stated that her church "does not believe that the Pope is the Anti-Christ, that's absolutely false... I'm very grateful that my pastor has come out and been very clear on this matter, and I think it's patently absurd and it's a false statement."[17] Bachmann is a member of a church that is part of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod, whose doctrine teaches that the Roman Catholic papacy is the Antichrist identified in Scripture.[18]   After being elected to Congress, Bachmann appeared on Chris Matthew’s Hardball, during which she joined the chorus of other out-of-control Republicans by criticizing Barack Obama and his association with his former pastor, Jeremiah Wright and a fellow board member of a prominent Chicago charity, Bill Ayers. “…Usually we associate with people who have similar ideas to us, and it seems that it calls into questions what Barack Obama’s true beliefs, and values, and thoughts are.” When Matthews asked her “How many people in the Congress of the United States do you suspect as being anti-American?” she replied, “What I would say is that the news media should do a penetrating expose and take a look. I wish they would [the news media] would they would take a great look at the views of the people in Congress and find out, are they pro-America or anti-America…” At the protest Bachmann organized in opposition to the Obama Health Care bill before the Congress, she enticed several little known Republican Congressman who no one of importance has ever heard of before to speak. Several of them took copies of the bill and tossed them off the platform like trash. For those of us who have fought for health care reform, for the 50 million people without any health insurance, for the 44 million who die each year for lack of health insurance, for those who have been forced to file bankruptcy because of ridiculously high medical bills, and for those who can not afford to pay one more penny for premiums than they already pay, these Congressmen and Michele Bachmann should go to hell, straight to hell and do not pass go. John Boehner, one of the most heartless and least charismatic Republicans [nearly has bad as Mitch McConnell] and top leader in the House Republican caucus, also spoke. Very dramatically he produced a booklet from his suit coat and waved it ostentatiously. “This is my personal copy of the constitution.” And he began to read: “When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the ...” The only problem is that Boehner was not reading from the Constitution which he esteems, but without knowing it, the leader of the Republicans in the U. S. Congress was reading from the Declaration of Independence. What a fool! Cincinnati, Ohio can surely find a person to run for Congress who knows something about government, especially about the Constitution. And to top off a day of total disaster, the person who led the Pledge of Allegiance got the words totally screwed up. Now you know why the Republican Party has a twenty [20%] percent approval rating by the American people. The most absurd exploit of the week was Boehner’s introduction of the Republican Party’s version of health reform. 130 days after they said they would present their version of health care, a bill was finally introduced. Evaluated by the Congressional Budget Office, it was determined that the Republican version would increase the number of uninsured—yes, you read it correctly—would increase the number of uninsured from 47 million to 69 million and increase the deficit by $84 billion. After all of the town hall meetings planned and paid for by the insurance companies and the Republican Party design to make Obama’s health care reform look ridiculous, too expensive, too much deficit, too much debt and laced with the lies about death panels, cutting Medicare and Medicaid, radically increasing premiums, rationing health services, and implementing a government operated health insurance program called the public option, this crowd of bozos come up with their version of a health plan 130 days late, with an increase in the number of uninsured than we have now by 29 million and a larger debt by $84 billion than proposed by the president. If it were not so tragic it would be humorous. If it were not so stupid, it would laughable. To be sure that I am fair and balanced, I will take a minute to speak of the Democrats. This does not mean that Obama and the Democrats should rest in the  shade of the victory of 2008. I can run off a list of things I wish that Obama had done differently.   1. I wish he would not have appointed the former employees of Goldman Sachs—the very company that lead the way for Bush’s Great Recession. It looks bad and people are pissed off that Obama is acting like George W. Bush II   2. I wish the Secretary of the Treasury Tim Geithner would move faster to get some of the $700 billion dollars into the companies that are going to hire lots of people fast.   3. Geithner needs to get some new rules and regulations out to banks that not only puts a cap on their bonus’s and benefits, but forces them to loan money to worthy creditors, particularly if they are creating jobs.   4. Do not compromise on the Health Care Reform with those who have been enemies of this legislation for decades and are in the hip pockets of the insurance business.   5. Don’t give General Stanley McChrystal the 40,000 troops he is seeking. 40,000 more troops will not win that conflict for the U. S. and he is too steeped in traditional military tactics to put together a creative approach to a war that nobody in history has really been able to win.   6. Obama attempted to write a bi-partisan health care reform bill to no avail. As I said in my posting, “Screw bi-partisanship” Republicans can neither spell nor practice it.   7. Through Executive Order, pan the “don’t ask, don’t tell” before you become a victim of what appears to be a strong need on your part to be liked by everyone.   8. Kick Geithner’s ass and get this country going again. Listen to Paul Volcker who is probably the best advisor you have to trust and lean on.   9. Give Hillary lots of attention and responsibility; she is a superb Secretary of State.   10. Gibbs is only an average Press Secretary; by the way, the Fox News scenario was a mistake. Do not mention the word Fox anywhere to anyone. Maybe silence really is golden and will make that miserable crew go away.   11. I hope the president’s political strategists are in gear of 2010 and 2012 because things are going to get tougher including you, Mr. President.   JOE SHERIDAN’S BOOK—    JESUS WAS A LIBERAL/A Blogger’s Bold Opinions on Politics and Religion IS AVAILABLE FOR HIS READERS AMAZON.COM & AUTHORHOUSE.COM HAVE ALL VERSIONS [hard cover, paperback and E.book]  IN STOCK OR IT CAN BE ORDERED FROM BARNES AND NOBLE, BORDERS, WALDEN, BOOKS-A-MILLION AND OTHER LEADING BOOK STORES         3:45:00 PM    comment []

Tuesday, November 03, 2009

WE URGE ALL AMERICANS WHO GENUINELY CARE ABOUT HEALTH CARE REFORM TO WRITE A LETTER TO THEIR CONGRESSMEN AND SENATORS IMMEDIATELY.   A LETTER SIMILAR TO THE ONE SHOWN BELOW WAS SENT TO THE DEMOCRATIC SENATORS [PLUS ONE INDEPENDENT] WHO ARE ON THE FENCE ABOUT THE “PUBLIC OPTION” WHICH IS VITAL IF HEALTH CARE COSTS ARE TO BE REDUCED TO A REASONABLE LEVEL.   Senator Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) Senator Tom Carper (D-DE) Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL) Senator Mary Landrieu (D-LA) Senator Kay Hagan (D-NC) Senator Kent Conrad (D-ND) Senator Max Baucus (D-MT) Senator Ben Nelson (D-NE)       JOSEPH A. AND RITA J. SHERIDAN    Barrington, IL 60010  jasltd1@sbcglobal.net Winter Home (December thru May) Bradenton, FL      SENATOR JOSEPH LIEBERMAN: DAMN YOU!  DAMN YOU!  DAMN YOU!   THIS NATION'S PEOPLE HAVE WAITED FOR AN INORDINATE PERIOD OF TIME FOR UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE. THERE ARE THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE DYING EACH YEAR FOR LACK OF HEALTH INSURANCE [MORE THAN THE WARS IN IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN BOTH OF WHICH  YOU SUPPORTED].   WE ARE PAYING OUTLANDISH PREMIUMS FOR SECOND CLASS HEALTH CARE AND THE VAST MAJORITY OF THE VOTERS ARE DEMANDING A PUBLIC OPTION IN THE SENATE BILL AS A MEANS OF GIVING THE HEALTH INSURANCE COMPANIES THAT HAVE OBVIOUSLY BOUGHT AND PAID FOR YOUR VOTE, THE COMPETITION NECESSARY TO MAKE INSURANCE AFFORDABLE.    68% OF THE PEOPLE RESIDING IN CONNECTICUT WHO HAVE TAKEN THE TIME TO UNDERSTAND IT ARE IN FAVOR OF A PUBLIC OPTION. THESE ARE THE PEOPLE YOU WERE ELECTED TO SERVE.CONTRARY TO YOUR ACTIONS YOU WORK FOR THE GOOD PEOPLE OF CT. AND NOT THE SPECIAL INTERESTS FOR WHICH YOU ARE NOW FIGHTING. AND AS THE NATION STANDS ON THE THRESHOLD OF ITS FIRST REAL HEALTH CARE REFORM LEGISLATION, YOU HAVE ELECTED TO VOTE WITH THE REPUBLICANS TO ALLOW A FILIBUSTER THAT COULD VERY WELL DESTROY THE PUBLIC OPTION WHICH FOR ME WOULD RIP THE GUTS OUT OF ANY SO-CALLED REFORM AND IS A COMPROMISE FOR THE PREFERRED SINGLE PAYER INSURANCE PROGRAM THAT WE SHOULD BE PURSUING.. I WANT TO ASSURE YOU THAT THOUSANDS OF US ARE GOING TO INVEST OUR TREASURE TO VOTE YOUR ASS OUT OF OFFICE FOR EVER AND EVER WORLD WITHOUT END IF YOU MAKE THIS DREADFUL MISTAKE. YOU ARE A TRAITOR TO THE VERY PRINCIPLES THE PEOPLE OF CONNECTICUT SENT YOU TO WASHINGTON TO REPRESENT AND DEFEND. BY THIS ACTION YOU HAVE LOST WHATEVER SUPPORT YOU ONCE ENJOYED.   IF YOU VOTE FOR THE FILIBUSTER YOU MUST AT LEAST HAVE THE DECENCY TO RESIGN YOUR CHAIRMANSHIP OF THE SENATE COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND RELINQUISH WHATEVER SENIORITY YOU HAVE SO GENEROUSLY BEEN GIVEN BY THE LEADERSHIP OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY. CHOOSE YOU THIS DAY FOR WHOM YOU WILL CAST YOUR VOTE! OR AS JON STEWART, THE HOST OF COMEDY CENTRAL'S THE DALY SHOW, LIKES TO SAY, "YOUR BOOK" GIVES IT A SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT TWIST--"CHOOSE YOU THIS DAY WHOM YOU WILL SERVE--THE PEOPLE OR THE SPECIAL INTERESTS. THERE IS STILL TIME TO SAVE YOUR SOUL ON THIS ISSUE. JOSEPH A. AND RITA J. SHERIDAN   JOE SHERIDAN’S BOOK—    JESUS WAS A LIBERAL/A Blogger’s Bold Opinions on Politics and Religion IS AVAILABLE FOR HIS READERS AMAZON.COM & AUTHORHOUSE.COM HAVE ALL VERSIONS [hard cover, paperback and E.book]  IN STOCK OR IT CAN BE ORDERED FROM BARNES AND NOBLE, BORDERS, WALDEN, BOOKS-A-MILLION AND OTHER LEADING BOOK STORES     12:38:49 PM    comment []

Sunday, November 01, 2009

THE OUTRAGEOUS FRINGE OF CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN SOCIETY IS NOT A NEW PHENOMENA   PRESIDENT JIMMY CARTER SPOKE RECENTLY AT THE CARTER CENTER IN ATLANTA ABOUT THE HARSH, NEARLY CRUEL TREATMENT OUR FIRST BLACK PRESIDENT IS RECEIVING FROM THE FAR RIGHT, THOSE WHO BELIEVE THEMSELVES TO BE DISENFRANCHISED AND, OF COURSE, THE PERPETUALLY ALIENATED REPUBLICAN PARTY AND WRONG HEADED DEMOCRATS WHO SUFFER FROM A MOUNTAIN OF UNEXPRESSED HOSTILITY   THE REPUBLICANS, HAVE FASTENED THEIR FUTURE TO THE FANTASIES THEY HAVE CREATED ABOUT THE CALAMITY THIS AFRICAN AMERICAN MAN IS ABOUT TO BRING TO IMPOSE UPON OUR NATION.   During the 2008 presidential campaign I encountered some of the most despicable criticisms of my liberal perspective on the campaign I could imagine, especially coming from people with whom I attended high school in Fairborn, Ohio. Over the years I have idealized my high school years to a far greater extent than I could ever have imagined. It seems from the point of view that fifty years of separation has given, the actual events that I once believed were true were in reality nothing but wishful thinking and those with whom I had some form of a relationship in many cases was a delusion of my own creation. High School is a rapidly changing phase of one’s life. We are attempting to prepare ourselves for the life we hope to live. Our minds are hurriedly expanding with the knowledge we must have in order to be accepted into the college of our choice and our bodies are rushing hastily toward adulthood as sex becomes more and more the driving force, particularly in the minds of men. I simply did not realize the depths of the alienation of people who live in isolation, i.e. who never venture outside the cocoon in which they were born and never launch an inquiry into the details of their religious faith or their parents’ political fallacies. They still believe what they believed in 1950 although the world has changed dramatically in the past 60 years. Science has advanced far beyond our most spectacular dreams. Medicine has added 20 years onto the length of the average person’s life and it has created drugs that ease the pain and agony that diseases fifty years ago inflicted upon us. We can receive a transplant for nearly every organ in the body except the penis, although I am certain that young males in the future will be able to design the length, width, and shape of the most important organ their bodies [or at least the one with which he spends the majority of his time.] We have marvelous cars, planes, rockets, and ships that can carry us the deepest depths of the oceans and the uppermost corners of this magnificent Milky Way. When we compare our life with those who are born in darkest Africa, with the people of Somalia, South Africa, Ghana, Kenya or even the countries of the Middle East, i.e. Palestine, Egypt, Turkey, Iraq and Iran we have to stand back in utter awe that our forefathers were able to build such a prosperous nation of such grandeur and personal freedom and individual liberty. On November 8, 2008, we proved to the world that, in fact, we were “one nation, under God, with liberty and justice for all.” We were the first nation in the western world to elect a man of African ancestry as president of the United States. Throughout the campaign, because of the Republican Party’s divisive battle and its lack of leaders who demanded that its followers pay respect and high regard to a man brilliant enough, eloquent enough, wise enough and idealistic enough to run one of the most successful campaign’s for the presidency in history. Its candidate for Vice-President provoke those in her audience whose prejudice was eking out through the language on their signs, the words that slipped out of their mouths, and their chanting of derogatory slogans at rally’s across much of the South and some of the Mid-West. The Bible belt did not practice what it preaches every Sunday in its Baptists and Methodist churches whose white crosses dot the landscape of South Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Arkansas. Not far behind the socially retarded South is the southern Mid-West. In fact, Yahoo News did a study southwestern Ohio in towns like Springfield, Dayton, Fairborn, Miamisburg, Wilmington, and London and unearthed a massive pit of racial prejudice as they spoke to farmers in cafes, and blue collar workers [many of whom were out of work]. The racial bigotry was pervasive. One man in a small rural area in central Ohio stated quite openly and unashamedly that “we just don’t vote for black men in this part of the country.” I attempted to call the man a day later to conduct a telephone interview. I called three times and no one answered. Shortly thereafter I received a call from a young lady who asked if I had been trying to reach the gentleman. I explained who I was and that I was calling to conduct a telephone interview about his comments on Yahoo News the day before. She said that he was giving no interviews and when I pressed, “I won’t take much of his time. Since I was born in the general area of Ohio where he lived, I was interested in what were the primary influences that caused him to believe that he should never vote for a black man for public office. After she was comfortable with the fact that I was a blogger, a writer and was not out to do him harm she explained that his home was literally surrounded by media vans, that people had been driving by the previous evening throwing bricks into his windows until they called the local sheriff who closed the road and detoured traffic away from his home. She went on to say that he was receiving threatening calls one after the other which was the reason the local sheriff called in the FBI. She went on to say “I am with the FBI and our entire local staff is here to provide protection for the man.” While I did not follow up, I am certain that in a few days the heat of the moment cooled and things went back to normal. But in interviews in café’s and clubs, Yahoo did not have to look far to find racially intolerant people. It was everywhere according to the author of the story. I was shocked since I was born in a town not far from where this gentleman lives and in my home no racially insensitive talk was allowed. While we had friends and some member of our extended family who would use the “n” word, I would have gotten my butt beat if I tried to denigrate another race of people. Part of that comes from the fact that my mother’s side of the family had some Shawnee Indian blood. In fact, as a small boy I met my mother’s great, great grandmother who looked exactly like an American Indian pictured in the history books. But the most deplorable and disappointing aspect of this bigotry is the number of people from my high school class that I have subsequently discovered are intolerant of anyone of a different race, political party or religious perspective. After I sent an e-mail praising Barack Obama’s selection of Joe Biden as his running mate, I received an email from a guy in my class that I remember, but with whom I had only a passing acquaintance. When he discovered that I was working for Obama, writing for Obama, supporting Obama, he wrote me the most frightening letter I have ever received from what I believe to be a sane man [although after reading the letter I can not be certain]. Maybe he has Alzheimer’s, maybe he is just senile or suffers from some form of dementia, but he is convinced that if Obama is elected to the presidency the country will be destroyed. I can only wish that his health improves once a health care reform bill is passed. Another letter came from a guy in my high school class, but never as a friend and he along with a large number of my classmates either were associated with the military or went into the military as a career. He made me feel that my endorsement of Obama was unpatriotic. I find that some [not all] who have served in the armed forces end up being hyper-patriotic. However, the most hurtful came primarily from the wife one of my good friends in high school who was someone I could share my adolescent quandaries on a whole repertoire of subjects from the most personal aspects of sex, to college, dating, and, of course, girls in the general sense of the word. To be honest, I think his wife wrote this truly nasty letter because while she was younger than we were by several years, I did not know her or even feel that I met her back all those years ago. We did visit each other in their Florida home one winter many years ago, but they moved to Tennessee and have spent decades in one of the most southern of southern states. But it was all in her email. She is subtly intolerant of other races, other countries, and other ideologies. I receive hundreds of emails from friends or members of their families who have lost their minds in the political marshland that has seeped into many parts of our nation. These people never seem to free themselves of the prejudice and bigotry of their family of origin. They have not grown beyond their early years or even thought outside the boundaries of their parents’ politics, religion and social interaction. They are still adolescent philosophers caught up in the social alienation of the place where they spend the vast majority of their lives. Did you hear the number of people that continue to believe that Barack Obama is not a citizen of the United States? His birth certificate has been posted on the internet for months as well as his birth announcement in the Honolulu newspapers and letters from the Governor of Hawaii and other government officials. Still, arguably smart people called “birthers” held fast to the myth that he is not a certified American citizen. These people aren’t birthers they are idiots. During this long and unnecessarily drawn out debate on health care reform, I have seen the evils of politics at work. The Health insurance companies and their surrogates in the form of PR firms, PACs, Republican Operatives, planned and paid for the hiring of willing liars to attend the town hall meetings all over the country, to shout out loud phrases that impinge upon the veracity of the Obama health care proposal, carry signs that picture the president as Hitler with mustache and abominable names printed across the sign—Fascist, Communist and Socialist. Either these people do not know the meaning of the words that scream out of the cardboard signs they carry, or they are just frauds. They were hired by insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies and other groups including the Republican Party and paid to disseminate white sheets of paper printed with black lies all over them.  More importantly these events were heavily promoted by Fox News Network which rather than being fair and balanced became the last thing a news operation should be--terribly partisan. Right to Life groups paid for by the anti-abortionists in the Roman Catholic Church including some of their rogue Archbishops, Bishops, and priests who refuse to be satisfied by accepting their unabridged right to “no” abortion at any time, in any manner, but insist that the entire country the majority of which totally disagrees with them, must also cease this controversial procedure. The Roman Catholic Church along with Fundamentalists, Pentecostals, Southern Baptists and others of like stripe are marching, tying up town hall meetings with questions about the one issue they care about—abortion. Does this health care bill allow for abortion; if so, they are opposed regardless of the number of uninsured, regardless of the 44,000 people who die each year for lack of health insurance and regardless of the physical condition of the mother at the time of birth. These are the real Fascists who want to impose their will upon the entire country without the country’s consent. Webster gives us this definition of Fascism: “A governmental system led by a dictator having complete power forcibly suppressing opposition and criticism, regimenting all industry, commerce, etc. and emphasizing an aggressive nationalism and often racism.” Now for God’s sake will all of the groups mentioned above, who are nothing if not ignoramuses, cease and desist calling President Obama a Fascist. Dante’s inferno has seven [for most] and nine [for others] layers of hell. A friend of mine and fellow professor from time to time was at a meeting recently with a dear friend. She was told by her friend that the Republican Party was so bad it was creating an eighth or tenth layer of hell!   Hmmm - Dante's inferno may shed some light on that projection for you. There are 9 layers of hell in total not seven: 1 - Limbo 2 - The Lustful 3 - The Gluttonous 4 - Hoarders & Wasters 5 - The Wrathful 6 - The Heretics 7 - The Violent 8 - The Fraudulent 9 - The Treacherous (Satan) 10- [THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS SURROGATES]   Isn’t it ironic that the GOP already fits well into two of Dante’s nine levels of hell without designing a new one just for them--the [5] Wrathful and [8] the Fraudulent both a characteristics of neo-conservative and right wing Republicans. With all of the sex scandals they have faced from the Governor of South Carolina, to the Senator from Idaho, and Congressman Foley from Florida and the young men who work as capital pages, perhaps [2] Lustful should be added. They certainly are Hoarders and Wasters [4] of the tax dollars placed into their care by the electorate only to waste it on military projects that never saw the light of day, Neither Reagan, George H. W. Bush or George Bush never saw a deficit they did not like contrary to popular opinion. They could surely be considered Violent [7] for the Afghanistan, the war they refuse to finish and the Iraq war which was a preemptive invasion where we simply captured and occupied a sovereign nation which posed about as much danger to us as a pack of mice. That still leaves us with a name for 10th level of hell. We must give it some very serious thought, but I am leaning toward the word “heartless”.         JOE SHERIDAN’S BOOK—    JESUS WAS A LIBERAL/A Blogger’s Bold Opinions on Politics and Religion IS AVAILABLE FOR HIS READERS AMAZON.COM & AUTHORHOUSE.COM HAVE ALL VERSIONS [hard cover, paperback and E.book]  IN STOCK OR IT CAN BE ORDERED FROM BARNES AND NOBLE, BORDERS, WALDEN, BOOKS-A-MILLION AND OTHER LEADING BOOK STORES 11:48:46 AM    comment []

Thursday, October 29, 2009

DAMN THE REPUBLICANS [AND JOE LIEBERMAN AND EVAN BAYH AND OTHER BLUE DOG DEMOCRATS WHO ARE TRYING TO LOSE THE 2010 CONGRESSIONAL ELECTIONS] AND ALL OF THEIR VICIOUS ATTACKS ON HEALTH CARE REFORM THEIR RECENT SHAMEFUL PLAN IS TO RECRUIT CREWS OF RIGHT WING SUPPORTERS TO TRAVEL ACROSS THE COUNTRY, ATTEND THE TOWN HALL MEETINGS OF DEMOCRATIC CONGRESSMEN WHO ARE EITHER READY TO VOTE IN FAVOR OF THE HEALTH CARE REFORM BILL OR THOSE WHO REMAIN UNCOMMITTED--TO HARASS, EMBARRASS, FRUSTRATE OR BAFFLE THE CONGRESSMEN BY ASKING INANE QUESTIONS. THIS, MY FRIENDS, IS THE SAME BUNCH OF REPUBLICAN HOOLIGANS WITH WHOM PRESIDENT OBAMA IS ATTEMPTING TO ESTABLISH A BI-PARTISAN APPROACH ON HEALTH CARE. OBAMA IS WASTING HIS TIME AND THE ENORMOUS AMOUNT OF ENERGY NECESSARY TO PERSUADE REPUBLICANS IN CONGRESS TO SUPPORT HIS AMBITIOUS AGENDA. The president must never forget that it was the abject neglect of this country’s domestic issues by the Republican presidents and the Republican Congresses that controlled this nation’s agenda for the better part of thirty [30] years that places this nation so far behind all other civilized nations in the area of health care.! THIS PLOY PLACES THE GOP AND ITS LEADERSHIP AT THE TOP OF THE LIST OF POLITICAL OF AMERICA’S MOST DIM-WITTED AND HARDHEARTED CITIZENS. THEY DISRUPTED THE TOWN HALL MEETINGS, CREATED BOISTROUS NOISES THAT DISTRACTED THE AUDIENCE FROM HEARING THE FACTS ABOUT THE MOST VITAL ISSUE CONFRONTING THIS NATION IN THE PAST 50 YEARS, TO WALK UP AND DOWN THE AISLES TO AGITATE THE AUDIENCE AND FURTHER CONFUSE THE VOTERS, AND IN GENERAL, LIVE UP TO THEIR REPUTATION AS AN INSANE, RUTHLESS HERD OF PITILESS EGO-CENTRIC ASSES!   Unfortunately, Senators like Chuck Grassley from Iowa, returned to Washington only to conclude that his constitutes were actually afraid of losing their present health care benefits. Instead of clearing up their misconception, Grassley gave into the fear and intimated he did not want anybody grandmother to have to appears before a “death panel” or have the “plug pulled” on her life support system.   GRASSELY, NOTHING EVEN CLOSE TO A DEATH PANEL APPEARS IN ANY BILL BEFORE THE CONGRESS AND YOU LIKE THE WHIMP THAT YOU ARE ALSO THE TITLE COWARD TO YOU’RE LIST OF NEGATIVES THAT SHOULD EARN YOU EARLY RETIREMENT FROM THE U. S. SENATE IN THE NEXT ELECTION. Everyone knew that health care reform would be the MOST difficult “change” on Barack Obama’s agenda that called for throughout his campaign for the presidency. However, because the polls clearly reflected that somewhere between 72-80% of the American people wanted reform in what has become the most important factor in the lives of many people--HEALTH. Everyone knew that around 50 million of our country’s 300 million citizens were without any form of health insurance that results in well over 120,000 people die each year due to inadequate health care engendered by inadequate health insurance. The Republican diehards are playing every dirty trick in their repertoire to do what Rush Limbaugh and Fox News has repeatedly called for---“Kill the health care bill” for the sole purpose of hurting Barack Obama. Everyone knew that the cost of health care had increased 3 times the rate of their income and was endangering their life style of choice, the possibility of sending their children to college, paying down their mortgages, in many cases forcing them to choose between paying medical bills and buying food for their table. Everyone knew that 60% of all bankruptcies are a result of medical bills emanating from serious health problems with long term medical complications that cost them their jobs, their only source of income and was threatening their very lives. Everyone knew that as the unemployment rate skyrocketed because of the Great Recession [the legacy of George W. Bush and the Republicans in Congress], more and more were losing their health insurance and falling through the cracks of adequate and affordable health care. Really, I was naïve enough to believe that after the Republican Party had its elephant’s ass handed to them on a platter at the polls on November, 8, 2008 that they would have learned a lesson that they should have learned in the 1960’s commencing with the Reagan administration who for years had preached the same message, “Government cannot solve the problem; government is the problem.” Reagan was wrong then; and the Republican Party of 2009 is equally erroneous today.  There are some things that government and government alone can do. Without the government, we could not have created Social Security which to millions is the safety net that keeps them alive during the winter of their lives. Without government, one of the most revered programs ever passed by Congress and signed by the president would never have become the life line for literally millions of senior citizens—“the single payer” health insurance program called Medicare. A Democrat, Representative Anthony Weiner, introduced to his House committee on Energy and Commerce and amendment to abolish Medicare. Anxious to determine just how committed the Republicans were to their perpetual mantra that “the less government, is the best government,” Weiner went on to say. “This is your opportunity…to eliminate the Medicare Act once and for all, stamp out the scourge of public, government –run, government administered, single payer health care. This is your chance… I dare ya. I double dare ya’ and then go home and explain it to your constituents…” NOT ONE REPUBLICAN VOTED FOR THE AMENDMENT. You mistrust, hate, or attempt to overthrow the government the people have duly elected to office, at your own risk. The one institution in our nation that has the capacity to take on gargantuan undertakings for our collective survival such as defense, building our interstate highways, Social Security and Medicare, is the U. S. government; health care reform is one of undertakings and it is the only unattended right which the Republican continue to treat as a privilege for the well-off and only the well-off. The American people have spoken out clearly and indisputably.  In fact, for some time, their voices have been raised in favor of a program that would bring under the federal insurance umbrella, the nearly 50 million people who are without insurance coverage [simply because taxpayers pay out significantly more money when these people go to the emergency room at an average cost of $1,000 per visit], to eliminate the stumbling blocks the insurance companies have obstinately placed in the way of those who endure pre-existing illnesses when changing jobs, who suffer from catastrophic illnesses, who are refused coverage recommended by their primary health care physicians because of cost, and to include those unemployed children beyond the age of 18 who were refused extended coverage by the Republicans and the Bush administration. Republican and Blue Dog Democratic Congresspersons and Senators who are recipients of copious campaign contributions from the pharmaceutical and health insurance companies are at this moment fighting vociferously to insure that the millions of campaign dollars from these bloodsucking worms in the extraordinarily profitable insurance game continue to pour into their coffers. The Republicans, in particular, and the Blue Dog Democrats in general, are not fighting for their constituents’, they are fighting for themselves and the campaign money that will keep them in office to receive their handsome salaries and the best health insurance coverage of anyone in the country. The opponents of authentic insurance health care reform who are paper tigers that are, in reality, nothing but reactionaries whose minds have failed to escape from the 19th century while they continue to cling to the outmoded philosophy of “individualism”  and “free market economics” at all costs are bought and paid for by the special interest groups that control health care in this nation. An anonymous author wrote the following words that ring true when we talk of reactionaries: “Insects sting, not from malice, but because they want to live. It is the same with critics—they desire our blood, not our pain” The facts are that the Republicans and the Blue Dog Democrats simply do not want to make decisions that will cause them pain should insurance companies and others in the medical field elect not to fund the ever-increasing costs they face on the campaign trail. I understand their fear. But health insurance reform is bigger than any one Congressperson or Senator. The nation will survive the loss of a Congressman from Texas or Alabama or a Senator from Nebraska or Montana, but the loss of health insurance for millions of Americans for whatever reason, is potentially a death sentence for reasons not of their making. IT WOULD TRULY BE PATRIOTIC FOR A FEW OF THE PEOPLE ON THE REPUBLICAN SIDE TO DRAG THEIR ANTIQUATED MENTALITY INTO THE 21ST AND TO MUSTER ENOUGH COURAGE AND INTEGRITY TO PROVIDE THEIR CONSTITUENTS THE BEST HEALTH CARE THAT EVERY OTHER NATION IS PROVIDING ITS CITIZENS, EVEN IF ITCOSTS THEM A FEW MILLION DOLLARS IN CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS. One of most vocal opponents of health care reform is House Republican Leader, John Boehner of Ohio. Boehner hails from near Cincinnati, OH. I, too, am a Buckeye, but obviously have an entirely different point of view than Boehner. According to the Associated Press, Boehner claimed on July 23, 2009 that the House bill for health care reform, [misrepresentation#1] “…may start us down a treacherous path toward government-encouraged euthanasia.” LIE! LIE! LIE! Another Republican, former New York Lt. Governor, Betsy McCaughey, on July17, 2009, wrote, [falsification #2] “One troubling provision of the House bill compels seniors to submit to a counseling session every five years…about alternatives for end-of-life care.” LIE! LIE! LIE! The truth is: The House bill would require Medicare to pay for advance directive consultations with health care professions. BUT IT WOULD NOT REQUIRE ANYONE TO USE THE BENEFIT.” Tony Perkins, head of the Family Research Council falsely reports in a video prepared by his organizations, “Unless Congress states otherwise, under a government takeover of health care [misrepresentation#2], taxpayers will be forced to fund abortions for the first time in over three decades.” LIE! LIE!  LIE! THE LEGISLATION PRESENTLY BEING DELIBERATED IN THE CONGRESS WOULD IN NO WAY MODIFY THE HYDE AMENDMENT WHICH BLOCKS MEDICAID FROM PAYING FOR ABORTIONS?  SHOULD THE GOVERNMENT-RUN INSURANCE PLAN BE ADOPTED PRESIDENT OBAMA TOLD CBS NEWS “THAT THE NATION SHOULD CONTINUE A TRADITION OF ‘NOT FINANCING ABORTIONS AS PART OF GOVERNMENT FUNDED HEALTH CARE.’” However, let us be clear, the majority of Americans who favor “choice” over the rigid invasion of one’s right to practice their religion as they see fit, would encourage the Congress to include the right of abortion in the bill they pass. Many critics are claiming that the passage of the Obama health reform bill will force many people to change doctors and, perhaps, insurance companies [falsification #4].  LIE!   LIE!  LIE! The legislation under consideration would not require people to change doctors or insurance providers. Claims are being made by many Republican legislators in Washington and many right-wing pundits, i.e. Fox News, Bill Kristol [editor of The Weekly Standard],  Ann Coulter [all around Republican nuisance] and hosts of others that an Obama passed health reform bill “will lead to rationing” of medical services to the American people.  In fact, the lunatic fringe is saying overtly that should the health reform in its present form that the government will determine what medical procedures the patient may have. LIE! LIE! LIE! The infamously right-wing Washington Times’ Michael Cannon has written [falsification #5], “Expanding health programs will hasten the day that government rations medical care to seniors.” LIE! LIE! LIE! It is a known and widely accepted fact in the medical community that there are often too many tests being prescribed for patients of all ages. Every time a senior sees a new doctor, the same tests ordered by his or her previous four or five doctors, will be ordered once again. I have personally experienced this waste of money and time. When a national data bank is completed, a new doctor will simply pull up the patients records and know not only what tests other medical professionals have requested, but the results of those tests. That is not rationing, that is the wise use of government money expended on medical services. What Michael Cannon does not seem to comprehend is that medical care has been rationed for years, not by the government, but by the insurance companies.! The next [falsification #6] issue being tossed around by the Republican devotees is the claim that by reforming health care the federal debt will be increased over time. The president has assured the American people and the Congress that he will not sign a bill that is not debt free, i.e. will not add to the national debt. In fact, contrary to the claims by such Neanderthals as Lieberman of CT, the Congressional Budget Office recently declared that the inclusion of a “government option” in the final health reform bill will reduce the deficit. Every opponent of health care reform jumped on the report that the chairman of the Congressional Budget Office [CBO], Douglas Elmendorf gave to the House Ways and Means Committee in which he made very clear, if the critics of health care reform would only read it, that because he and his staff did not have the sources of funding for the program, he could only base his evaluation on the information at hand without taking into account any source of unknown financing.  Elmendorf made several conclusions on questions about which he and his staff have very limited knowledge. However, they believe that the president and the Congress need to put in place a board that would oversee the expenditures and root out waste that now exists by the billions in present practices and procedures. For example, the insurance industry’s administrative costs presently are approximately 20-30 % of its income from premiums, while Medicare’s administrative costs are between 2-4%. Granted individual policies have higher administrative expenses than group programs, but the truth here is that Medicare runs a tight ship in the face of the perpetual criticism from those who say that government can do nothing right. THOSE WHO SAY THAT GOVERNMENT CAN DO NOTHING RIGHT NEED TO RECOGNIZE THAT SOME OF THE MOST EFFECTIVELY RUN AGENCIES OF THE U.  S. GOVERNMENT INCLUDE: MEDICARE, THE VETERAN’S ADMINISTRATION MEDICAL CARE AND MEDICAID. I found it very interesting recently, when the ever pompous and always obnoxious Bill Kristol, Editor of  The Weekly Standard  was forced to concede on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart that the Veterans’ Administration ran the finest medical program in the country. Proving again that the government can do things right, the little neo-conservative was pounded on the question of health care reform by the sharp wit of Jon Stewart who always seems to skewer Kristol whenever he appears on the show. In fact, during his last visit, Stewart asked Kristol if he had ever been right. In my humble opinion [which many would argue does not exist], the Republicans goofed by organizing these protests at the Town Hall meetings held throughout the country during the August recess. Contrary to the propaganda pouring out of the Republican National Committee, these are not spontaneous protests. These are organized in the same manner the protests at the Florida recount locations were prearranged after the 2000 presidential election that ended with Bush being appointed the U. S. Supreme Court the president over the will of the people including the people in Florida. Rachel Maddow did us all a favor by identifying the names and faces of the protestors who crowded into the offices used for recounting the Florida votes with the people who are organizing and staffing these protests. The woman who stood up in Pennsylvania last week and made a fool of herself by flashing her birth certificate in the air and calling on the president to do the same thing, was a plant by the Republican Party. The fact is, the president went one step further and published a copy of his birth certificate on the internet for the entire nation to view along with copies of the Honolulu newspapers that carried his birth announcement. He has widely circulated letters from high government officials including the Governor verifying the validity of his birth. In- deed, he has done more than any other president to verify his American citizenship. NOW FOR THE GOOD OF THE COUNTRY, WOULD YOU MISERABLY ILL SOB’S PUT YOUR PARANOIA BACK IN YOUR BAG OF TRICKS AND STOP BRINGING UP AN ISSUE THAT HAS ALREADY BEEN RERESOLVED TO THE SATISFACTION OF 99% OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE. By the way, those of you who still have an open mind, the only reason the Republican Party, the groups organized and funded by the insurance companies and others opposed to health care reform, the only reason that Obama’s citizenship and his birthplace are being brought up time and time again is for the sole purpose of distracting the attention of the American people from the issue of health care reform. Erin Zorn of the Chicago Tribune wrote in his column on August 7, 2009 entitled Calling those bluffs about health care, “…Medicare—along with comprehensive coverage for active military, veterans and American Indians—‘is not only government –run health care, but it’s remarkably efficient,’” according to Congressman Anthony Weiner [D-NY]. The Congressmen went on to insist that while Medicare was not perfect, it is “a pretty darn good model of what a public plan [covering everyone] might look like.” Last month, the Harris/Decima poll, found that 82% if Canadians who have single payer, government operated health insurance,  prefer their nation’s health care delivery system to ours. In 2008, the Globe and Mail newspaper along with the CTV Television Network Canada commissioned a poll that found that 91% of Canadians agree with the Harris /Decima findings. Ipso/McClatchy poll, last month revealed that 65% of Canadians concurred with this statement, “I currently have access to all of the health-care services I need without it costing me more than I can afford.’ These polls did find that 74% of the Canadians believed they had to wait longer than they would like when referred to a specialist. Zorn concluded his article with this very impressive fact. In the 1960’s Tommy Douglas who led the fight for universal health care in Canada was considered THE GREATEST CANADIAN OF ALL TIME. Someday soon, America will have such a hero and we can only pray that it will be 2009.       JOE SHERIDAN’S BOOK—    JESUS WAS A LIBERAL/A Blogger’s Bold Opinions on Politics and Religion IS AVAILABLE FOR HIS READERS AMAZON.COM & AUTHORHOUSE.COM HAVE ALL VERSIONS [hard cover, paperback and E.book]  IN STOCK OR IT CAN BE ORDERED FROM BARNES AND NOBLE, BORDERS, WALDEN, BOOKS-A-MILLION AND OTHER LEADING BOOK STORES     12:44:19 PM    comment []

Sunday, October 25, 2009

DUE TO TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES BEYOND THE CONTROL OF THIS AUTHOR, WE HAVE BEEN UNABLE TO POST SINCE OCTOBER 16, 2009. WE APOLOGIZE FOR THE INTERRUPTION!          THE RECENTLY RELEASED BLACKSTRONE REPORT BLAMES BOTH THE ISRAELI GOVERNMENT AND HAMAS FOR THE EXTENSIVE DEVASTATION INFLICTED UPON GAZA DURING THE RECENT ISRAELI INVASION   ISRAEL’S NETANYAHU GOVERNMENT REJECTS OUT OF HAND THE BLAME HOISTED UPON THEM.   MANY AMERICAN JEWS FEEL STRONGLY THAT THE NETANYAHU EMPLOYED “DISPROPORATIONATE FORCE” THEREBY EXCESSIVELY DESTROYING GAZA’S INFRASTRUCTURE, INNOCENT GAZANS HOMES, HOSPITALS, SCHOOLS AND COMMERCIAL BUILDINGS.   EVEN TODAY BECAUSE OF BLOCKADES IMPOSED BY ISRAEL THOUSANDS OF GAZANS ARE PREVENTED FROM REBUILDING THEIR DEMOLISHED HOMES,  THOUSANDS MORE ARE WITHOUT WATER, OTHERS HAVE ELECTRIC POWER FOR ONLY 10 HOURS A DAY—ALL OF WHICH HAS PLACED AN ALREADY DISTRESSED PEOPLE MORE DEEPLY INTO THE DARK HOVEL OF  DESPAIR.   The whole world knew that with the election of Benjamin Netanyahu as Israel’s Prime Minister the promise of an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement would be jeopardized if not completely shattered. The reason is simple: Netanyahu is an Orthodox Jew who believes that all of the land between the Euphrates and the Nile is their “promised land.” He will never support the establishment of a Palestinian state and will never relinquish one foot of the land he and his Orthodox brethren believe was given to them by Yahweh as the Holy Land for his Chosen people. I was one America who was extremely pleased that President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton appealed to Netanyahu to refrain from building new settlements on the land that the U. N. in 1948 designated as the home of the new Palestinian state. There are roughly 130 settlements already constructed in each colony with a cadre of military and police protection surrounding them. There are an estimated 276,440 Jews presently residing in this West Bank conclave right in the midst of what one day will be the home of the Palestinians. Obama is the first president since George H. W. Bush’s administration that has made an overture for Israel to cease and desist the construction or even the expansion of these communities. The fact of the matter is that the first settlements were built with the authorization of the Labor government between 1968 and 1977. Later, the Likud government began offering stipends to encourage more settlers and their families to reside in this newly established land of “milk and honey.” The second surge of settlements “[was] the first of the ideological settlers who believed that Israel’s victory in 1967 was an act of God and indicated divine providence that the historic Land of Israel should be restored to the Jewish people…” When Menachem Begin took power, “his government and subsequent Likud governments provided what I earlier defined as financial incentives for Jews to move to parts of Judea and Samaria…Their purpose was to solidify Israel’s hold on the territory that was part of the biblical and historical Palestine/Israel [minus the nearly four-fifths of Palestine Great Britain severed in 1921 to create Transjordan] and preempt the creation of a Palestinian state.” [Wikipedia]. A third swell of settlements “moved to the West Bank primarily for economic reasons, that is, the government provided financial incentives to live there [primarily because] the towns were close to their jobs.” I visited Jerusalem in 1960 and could see widespread evidence of the implied threat that Orthodox Judaism posed for the already impoverished and politically impotent Palestinians. There were large signs attached to the side of buildings and stretched across the streets of cities flaunting the ancient adage that the Holy Land incorporated everything from the Euphrates to the Nile and was the property of the “chosen people” of Israel. The Palestinians and the entire Arab world were fearful of both the political and financial support coming into Israel from Europe and the United States. They looked on in dread from afar as the millions, even billions, of U. S. dollars poured into the country. Israel was planning to repossess all of the territory their widely advertized declarations incorporated and the final result would be the end of the dream for a United Nations promise of a Palestinian state. The American people and its politicians have all been blind supporters of Israel primarily because of the very large, well-funded and extremely effective Israeli lobbying efforts in the nation’s capital. It is commonly said that Israel is America’s only democratically elected ally in the Middle East and that because of the treaties between the two countries, the massive amount of aid the U. S. has poured into Tel Aviv [Israel’s capital] from the U. S. government, contributions from the religious right and individual members of American Judaism that they had or would soon have enough money to wage a war to end all wars between these two ancient friends who now were enemies. The U. S. gave Israel atomic bomb and provided them with the wherewithal to build one of the most impressive armies in the world. Meanwhile, over the 60 years that Israel was becoming a very powerful and financially robust nation, the Palestinians lacked the leadership necessary to build a nation, the money to build an army and the financial wherewithal to develop their territory commercially. Netanyahu’s invasion of Gaza and its massive destruction of Gaza are costing Israel a much larger price than the loss of life and the loss of its military machinery. It is beginning to lose one of what has been its most dependable supporters since 1948, the undying backing of American Judaism, the might of the U. S. government and the financial support that has been invested in the nation’s commercial and industrial base. The Israeli armed forces pounded Gaza from the last part of December, 2008, through January 17. 2009, causing many throughout the world and even some of its most devoted supporters in the American Jewish community to denounce the government in general and its Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu in particular, for using “disproportionate force.” I have been receiving a regular email from a group of Israelis who are fighting for peace. Sydney Levy of the Jewish Voice for Peace has been sharing with me and hundreds of others around the world who seek peace in the Middle East the story of the Shministim. This is a dedicated group of young men and women who are refusing to serve in the military service and are being sent to prison for their tenacious refusal  to fight in a war in which they no longer believe. They want peace. They want a real Palestinian state and they are willing to spend time locked in a damp, musty prison cell where they are forced to sleep on a concrete floor to prove the depth of their commitment. I read few articles that applauded the Israeli invasion. One was Andy Ostroy, a political analyst from New York who wrote a piece for The Huffington Post entitled, “Why Israel was Right to Invade Gaza.” The questions that haunt many the world-over is why did Israel’s physically and overwhelming powerful military forces remain so long in Gaza against an enemy that while a nuisance in no way endangered their army’s might? Why did it destroy so much of the public and private property? Why did they kill or injure so many Gazan people who reside in the territory and are already on the brink of national and personal annihilation? Dan Lieberman of the web site, the CounterCurrent.org wrote the following:   Although casualties are always disputed, most reports indicate that the inability to deter Israel’s attack resulted in the deaths of more than 1300 Palestinians, wounding of more than 5400, damage to more then 22,000 buildings, including United Nation’s structures, mosques, universities, a medical school and almost every police station. Predictions have Gaza's flimsy gross domestic product being reduced by 85 percent or almost to nothing.   The alleged reason articulated by the Israeli government and echoed across its land, America and all other nations that are its supporters by newspapers and other media [none of whom pretend to hide their prejudice in favor of Israel and against the duly elected government that came to power out of the pressure the Bush administration placed on the PLO to hold democratic elections], was the persistent launching of rockets by Hamas into the periphery of Israel’s borders. Nobody in Washington, nobody anywhere else in the human world thought that Hamas would be the victor in the democratic election that George W. Bush and his neo-conservative colleagues were convinced would bring peace and order to this mutinous part of the world. The election of Hamas, an Islamic faction devoted to the destruction of Israel and a consistent opponent of the U. S. Unfortunately, that only illustrates to all of us how very little we know about the actual conditions under which the Palestinian people reside and have resided for the past sixty years; and how little the neo-conservatives know of the real dilemma virulently facing the region. The people turned to Hamas not because they believe in their fanatical form of Islam, but because Hamas had played the game of “all politics is local” to the hilt. They provided food to those families who were hungry, medicine to those who were sick, water to those who were without water and shelter to those who were homeless just like the political bosses of old in the U. S. took care of “their people in the days when Tammany Hall in New York and the Pendergast machine in Kansas City, MO from 1890 to the 1930’s.” Hamas provided the necessities of a very marginal life to those who were prisoners of the squalor and disgust of the sordid ghetto. Unfortunately, the Fatah and the PLO [the other political enemies of Hamas and the beneficiaries of the West’s backing] just never got around to taking care of all of the years they were in power. The people of Palestine voted for Hamas because they served them and fulfilled their basis human needs.   Dan Lieberman of Counter Current goes on:     They attacked a largely innocent country that is more or less defenseless against some of the most well equipped military in the world. Now there is a massive humanity tragedy in play. Israel has the rights to self defense but I think to bring the military offensive so widespread into innocent civilian areas are a crime against humanity. I do not understand Hamas, the rocket attacks on Israel really does nothing significance, but Israelis' response was extremely damaging especially to the innocent and helpless Palestinian civilian population. It is best for both sides to stop their acts of aggression and talk peace on the tables. They may hate each other but for the sake of the innocent civilians, please talk rather than fight.     Another writer who traveled to Gaza following Israel’s pull out on January 17 came away with these comments: Digging through the pulverized ruins of Gaza revealed the extent of damage to the Palestinian community. Still not revealed are exact reasons for Israel’s attack, its sudden willingness to halt the damage and what awaits a shaken Middle East in the future. Clues that contradict the given reason for the attack - rockets hitting Israeli soil – are: (1) rockets have been hitting southern Israel since 2002, (2) the initial rocket barrage caused no casualties, and (3) the intensive emphasis on the rocket attacks as the reason for Israel’s overly aggressive counterpunch, with almost all Israelis and foreign newspapers reciting that theme, seemed too arranged, more like concerted propaganda, and an attempt to divert attention from more valid explanations. Rabbi Brant Rosen, a well known and widely heralded supporter of the Palestinian cause wrote in an article in the Chicago Tribune on September 27. 2009 entitled “A call to moral accounting? Yom Kippur is far more than a day of physical discipline for Jews.”    The Rabbi at the Jewish Reconstructionist Congregation in Evanston, IL believes that many Jews are more than ready to look at the good they do, but fail to repent of the harm they do. The Gaza invasion and the terrible harm Israel propelled upon the unknowing heads of the Palestinian people requires a deep and solemn repentance by the Jewish people. Rosen reminds his readers that in Isaiah, we find the words of the prophet that must act as the guide for kind of conduct Judaism must employ as a means to their repentance during Yom Kippur; that Yahweh requires of those who would dare call themselves the “chosen people” of their God:   “Is such the fast I desire, a day for people to starve their bodies? No, this is the fast I desire: To unlock the fetters of wickedness and untie the cords of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free.”   He went on, “Let this be the Yom Kippur on which American Jews choose not just to starve their bodies, but also to unlock the fetters and untie the cords—let this be the Yom Kippur on which we act on the Scriptural imperative to ‘seek peace and  pursue it,’ by calling ourselves and Israel to account.” In Deuteronomy 13: Moses who is considered by all Jewish people as the hero of the Exodus said, ‘He would bless the Jews if they showed their love for him by accepting the “prophet” whose teachings would be required of them.’ There is a great deal for which the Israel people and its elected government should repent. They have failed to live up to 90% of all United Nations resolutions concerning affairs of its relationship with the Palestinians. In nearly all of these instances [very close to 300] the United States in both Democratic and Republican administrations have used the “power of the veto” to kill these resolutions from going to the General Assembly or Security Council of the U. N. America has repentance to perform due to its unending support of Israel at the expense of the Palestinians and the many Christians who reside there. It is shameful for the U. S. to unequivocally back Israel when it is wrong and simultaneously, shameful for Israel to persistently violate international law at the expense of the Palestinian people. Less-partisan governments are able to comprehend when is has crossed the bounds of law and their moral imperative and appropriately react by voting against Israel. But it appears that the United States is blind to the facts and far often—silent to Israel’s infringement upon the people of Palestine. During the recent invasion of Gaza, Israel allowed only 80 trucks with food, fuel, medication and other supplies for over one million people to enter Gaza. Not only did Israel nearly destroy the whole of Gaza with bombs and tanks, and kill thousands of its people, but it apparently attempted to starve most of those that were left behind in dust and dirt of its shambles. There is little electricity [approximately 10 hours per day], little uncontaminated water and the absence of shelter for thousands has left them homeless and will continue to leave them homeless for a very long period of time. It has been estimated that for every Israeli that was killed in this incursion over 150 Palestinians are dead. According to some international organizations the Israeli have killed the largest number of civilian people in the shortest period of time by another government’s war machinery--even more than all terrorists acts put together. And the U. S. Senate passed a resolution supporting Israel. “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken America’s legislature?” THE ENTIRE U. S. CONGRESS, THE U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT AND THE WHITE HOUSE STAFF MUST READ THE BLACKSTONE REPORT IF THEY HAVE NOT. WE CANNOT CONTINUE OUR POLICY IN THE ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN CONFLICT FOR THE BETTERMENT OF OUR OWN FOREIGN POLICY GOALS FOR THE REGION.   JOE SHERIDAN’S BOOK—  JESUS WAS A LIBERAL/A BLOGGER’S BOLD OPIINIONS ON POLITICS AND RELIGION – IS AVAILABLE FOR HIS READERS AMAZON.COM & AUTHORHOUSE.COM HAVE ALL VERSIONS OF THE BOOK IN STOCK OR IT CAN BE ORDERED FROM BARNES AND NOBLE, BORDERS, WALDEN, BOOKS-A-MILLION AND OTHER LEADING BOOK STORES           12:41:32 PM    comment []

Friday, October 16, 2009

THE COMMITMENT OF ADDITIONAL FORCES IN AFGHANISTAN LOOKS LIKE A LOSING PROPOSITION FOR U.S.   WE ARE COMBATING AN ELUSIVE AND UNTRACEABLE ENEMY THAT FIGHTS BY DIFFERENT RULES OF ENGAGEMENT   IN DEFENSE OF A GOVERNMENT [ACTUALLY TWO—AFGHANISTAN AND PAKISTAN] RACKED WITH CORRUPTION AND HELD IN CONTEMPT BY ITS CITIZENS   It has got to be nearly impossible to win a conflict when the people of that land hate foreigners “occupying” their sacred soil and simultaneously believe the “occupier” to be in cahoots with a government they know is thoroughly corrupt, that does not have their best interest at heart and is ripping off every dollar of foreign aid designed to improve their lives for the sole purpose of the top dogs in leadership positions. If, indeed, this is a battle against our sworn enemy, al Qaeda, and its leader Osama bin Laden, why do they successfully regain control of areas of the country from which we drove them and their sponsors, the Taliban, out but a few years ago? Yes, Yes, we all want to see al Qaeda destroyed, broken into irreplaceable little pieces never to be put back together again.   Like the rhyme Humpty Dumpty tells us—    “Humpty Dumpty sat of a wall,  Humpty Dumpty had a great fall. All of the king’s horses, And all the king’s men, Couldn’t put Humpty together again.”   That is precisely what most Americans would like to see. After all, these infidels, these godless villains killed nearly 3,000 innocent people on 9/11in the very interior of our largest city. We will never forget that day and the shock that spread across this land like black, ferociously swirling cone shaped tornado that landed deep in the very heart of every one of us. Because other than Pearl Harbor, no enemy of this nation had ever successfully attacked us; a handful of crazy young men who no longer cared about living, and, in fact, looked forward to dying with great anticipation where they were convinced they would be the proud inheritors of seventy (70) young virgins and be given a seat of honor at the table of Allah From 9/11 I have supported the war President Bush instigated against the Taliban and al Qaeda in Afghanistan. Few American argued with the Bush administration’s decision to pursue the murderous enemies whose organization was responsible for the deaths of nearly 3,000 citizens in New York’s World Trade Center. What we did not comprehend and probably never will, was why American soldiers and our massive war machine was suddenly redeployed to Iraq with a hurried invasion of the kingdom of Saddam Hussein in his capital of Baghdad. Suddenly, the authentic enemies, the genuine invaders, the legally responsible murderers were left to their old ways of killing innocent people believed to be their opponents, of raising money for a major event that kills hundreds of blameless victims in a major complex somewhere in a unsuspecting city al Qaeda deems to be an adversary. After eight years of fruitless fighting and bloodshed we have deemed it time to withdraw our forces from Iraq and dispatch some of them, i.e. men and war gear to Afghanistan and the remainder to other military locations around the world [and for some unwarranted reason we have at least 1000 military installations today]. Let us all remember that the surge so widely heralded as an overwhelming victory—was no such thing. The war between Sunni and Shiites will go on as long as the earth circles the sun. Fourteen hundred years of hatred cannot be erased with the cessation of “occupation’ by the U. S. or the redeployment of one hundred and thirty thousand American troops off of what to them—is their sacred soil. I do not have the same confidence in Commanding General Stanley McChrystal and particularly in his proposed strategy that I had in General David Petraeus. And while the Petraeus did not bring an end to the killing in Iraq [even today, a roadside IED killed dozens of people in Iraq] nor did he bring an end to the conflict between the Kurds, the Sunnis and the Shiites, the quantity of deaths have decreased dramatically since the U. S. pullback. However, the religious “war,” the ancient loathing between the three Islamic sects will never vanish which, if true, means that killings will be written into the future of Iraq’s history as long as the nation exists. We are being asked by McChrystal to send 20,000, then 40,000, and from time to time I have heard reports that he is requesting as many as 80,000 additional troops. To be candid, I do not care if he sends anything less than 300,000 troops (which we do not have available) and place them strategically on the Afghanistan-Pakistani border which we know al Qaeda considers its private domain and are permitted to do so because neither the Afghanistan military nor the Pakistan Army invest enough military power to stop the back and forth traffic on these narrow, mountainous, dusty roads al Qaeda’s adherents traverse on a daily basis. We can not defeat al Qaeda in a way American’s are accustomed to comprehending the word “defeat.”  There will never be a winner.  Al Qaeda will never disappear. There are too many embittered people who live in countries in the Middle East and Asia where governments are in power that have done nothing but steal from the poor to give to the rich, where few politicians, if any in any country, are committed to enhancing the lives of the millions who suffer under their reign. These people see massive corruption in all levels of government, justice comes at a terrible price if it comes at all [not too unlike how justice is doled out in the good old U. S. A.] and the basic needs—shelter, water, power, medical facilities, schools, and the like are so far down on the list of their politicians’ “to do list” that they are barely noticed. How can 20 or 40 or 80,000 troops make a difference if we do not work both sides of Afghan/Pakistani boundaries? And how can we even dream of creating a truly democratic country when the president of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and the president of Pakistani People’s Party and President of Pakistan are both up to their necks in corruption. That is the only way this part of the world operates. And the corruption which the people see every day of their lives, which has inhabited the streets and alleys of both Islamabad and Kabul and most other capitals of the region forever gives no solace to the average man who is forced to live in a mud hut with a straw roof if he lives in a rural area and survives because of the generosity not of the government, but of al Qaeda and other political and religious groups vying for his support. In the cities, the families of the average man on the street literally lives on the streets or in uninhabited rooms that are crowded with as many people as they can cram into a small space in a old building with broken glass windows, slabs of paint [if the space and hallways are painted at all] is falling from the ceilings and walls, dirt more often than not is the carpet of necessity, and they eat what little food they can beg, borrow or steal. This brand of warfare requires “special forces” trained to function particularly in this type of topography, to sustain themselves in this type of life style that drop in and out of the cracks and crevasses the al Qaeda forces call home. It is not in the numbers of troops, it is in the training of the troops. Meanwhile, we need sophisticated trainers to teach in rapid fire order how to fight this brand of war and to see that they are paid sufficiently to have an incentive to fight for their corrupted and undeserving countries. The U. S. should not invest one more dollar or the life of one more of our soldiers while the wholly corrupt government of President Karzai of Afghanistan is in office. We cannot win friends and influence the minds of the people of that country as long as they believe that we are partners in crime with Karzai. Obama knows that. McChrystal knows that. It sounds to me like this general is trying to wage the old fashioned war that is not longer winnable. I was pleased to see that Obama committed $7.5 billion to Pakistan. But we must have advisors with their eye on every dollar to insure that it is spent for the betterment of the people, the training and pay of the military and does not go within 100 feet of any government official’s pocket. President Zardari of Pakistan is the husband of Benazir Bhutto who was assassinated by what is believed to be an arm of al Qaeda. While he has been up to his neck in suspicious activity, he is probably more trustworthy than any other of the leading Pakistani politicians. The investment that Obama is making in Pakistan is a very smart move. Pakistan is a far more vital link in our war with al Qaeda than Afghanistan. As Fareed Zakaria, an international columnist for NewsWeek Magazine wrote in his piece in the October 19, 2009 issue, “Joint Chiefs Chairman Admiral Mike Mullen recently acknowledged what U. S. intelligence and all independent observers have long said: Al Qaeda is in Pakistan, as is the leadership of the hard-core Afghan Taliban…All attacks against Western targets that have emanated from the region in the past eight years have come from Pakistan and not Afghanistan.” And yet, until Obama’s recent move, the U. S. was spending $30 in Afghanistan for every dollar in Pakistan. Zakaria persuasively that the U. S. is not failing in Afghanistan. We had one main objective, he says, “to deny Al Qaeda the means to reconstitute, train, and plan major terror attacks. This mission has been largely successful for the past eight years. Al Qaeda is dispersed, on the run, and unable to direct attacks of the kind it planned and executed routinely in the 1990’s. Fourteen of the top 20 leaders of the group have been killed by drone attacks. Its funding sources are drying up and its political appeal is at an all-time low…” William Polk, in an article in The Nation’s October 19, 2009 edition entitled “An Open Letter to President Obama.” makes this quite interesting statement: “Afghanistan has always baffled foreign invaders. After three attempts from 1842 to 1919 to rule it, the British gave up; at the end of a decade of costly war, the Russians did as well. Neither understood the complex social and political makeup of the country Without doing so, we cannot hope to accomplish our objectives, so let me highlight the main points.” “As insurgents, the Taliban remain formidable foes. Our chances of defeating them are poor. Indeed, some independent observers believe they are becoming more popular while we are becoming less popular. They, and many non-Taliban Afghans, regard us, as they regarded the Russians, as foreign, anti-Muslim invaders. Moreover, they see that the government we are backing is corrupt and rapacious. Observers report that it is deeply involved in the drug trade, stealing aid money and even selling U. S. supplied arms to the Taliban (as the South Vietnamese government did to the Vietcong). Moreover, it is ineffective: its writ hardly runs outside Kabul. Most of the country is in the hands of brutal, predatory warlords. The Karzai government will not last long after our withdrawal—that was the fate of the Soviet puppet government there and of our puppet government in Saigon. Forced to choose between warlords and the Taliban, Afghans are likely to choose the Taliban. As Gen. Stanley McChrystal has said, ‘Key groups have become nostalgic for the security and justice Taliban rule provided.’ Thus, we are courting long-term strategic defeat.”   Polk makes another very crucial statement: “Even in the tactical short run, I believe, trying to defeat the Taliban is not in America’s interest. The harder we try, the more likely terrorism will be to increase and spread. As the history of every insurgency demonstrates, the more foreign boots there are on the ground and the harder the foreigners fight, the more hatred they endanger.” He concluded with this profound statement:”…as long as we are there, the war will continue, with disastrous consequences for the things you [President Obama] want to do and we Americans need you to do. We must not follow Britain and Russia into Afghanistan’s quicksand.” The president is about to make one of the most important decisions of his presidency. Of course, the military wants more troops because ignorant of history and driven by the deeply imbedded need to “win the war,” it is hard to find any general who will contradict the field commander. However, the president is the Commander-in-Chief and he is the president of all of the people. If he says “no” to McChrystal the right wing and the hard right wing will go into hysteria. Remember, these are the people who dragged us into Iraq. Remember also that we are in a serious financial crisis; we cannot afford the $3-6 trillion some have estimated it will cost us to successfully take the war to the al Qaeda and that is without winning.   JOE SHERIDAN’S BOOK—  JESUS WAS A LIBERAL/A BLOGGER’S BOLD OPIINIONS ON POLITICS AND RELIGION – IS AVAILABLE FOR HIS READERS AMAZON.COM & AUTHORHOUSE.COM HAVE ALL VERSIONS OF THE BOOK IN STOCK OR IT CAN BE ORDERED FROM BARNES AND NOBLE, BORDERS, WALDEN, BOOKS-A-MILLION AND OTHER LEADING BOOK STORES         8:02:08 PM    comment []

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

THE INMATES [THE CONSERVATIVES OF BOTH PARTIES] ARE WORKING ARDUOUSLY TO TAKE OVER THE INSANE ASYLUM [CONGRESS]   WITH THE FINANCE COMMITTEE FINALLY VOTING ON THEIR VERSION OF THE HEALTH CARE REFORM, THERE IS MUCH TO BE DONE TO GET THE QUALITY OF HEALTH CARE REFORM THIS NATION REQUIRES [BEYOND THE PROVISIONS OF THE SENATE FINANCE COMMITTEE BILL].     I am senior citizen and have never heard such vitriolic language used against a president or a program as vital as health care reform is for the overwhelming number of Americans. Unfortunately, it appears that some of those who need universal health care the most, are such blind, loyal followers of the right wing fools in the Republican Party, Fox News and talk radio that they believe these unreliably motivated talking heads who are nothing more than puppets of the enemies of health care reform are actually telling the truth. If only these old fools who keep howling like horny coyotes about losing their Medicare, a government take over of health care, death panels, and rationing will wait until the final bill comes out of the Congress, i.e. if they will only wait until there is a bill voted on by both Houses of the Congresses and heading for the oval office for the signature of the president, will they know precisely what is in the final draft of the legislation. Right now they are fighting phantoms that are creatures of the special interest. On this I will be more than happy to wager—there will be no loss of Medicare coverage, no government take-over even if a public option is included, absolutely no death panels, and the only thing that will be rationed will be those tests which are given over and over again for the benefit of no one except the medical professionals and the insurance companies--by one doctor and then another doctor, and another, and another; one hospital and then another, an another, and another. In other words, the wasted money presently expended on tests that are nothing more than duplications of the same procedure because doctors and hospitals often do not share medical records and tests already taken on the patients’ behalf. Actually, this entire charade against health care has been vigorously organized by the Republican Party, Fox News, uninformed right wing talk radio hosts and, of course, the insurance and related corporations that have huge profits at stake with the outcome of this legislation. Unfortunately, these people do not play well with others, do not play on behalf of the needs of a majority of the American people, and have little or no interest in the urgent health needs of those who are slaves to the health insurance industry. In some states, one insurance company controls 80% or more of all health insurance available in that state and therefore, is free to charge whatever they damn well please, turn down coverage for any and all previous health conditions, and/or deny coverage to those whose health could, in the future, cost the insurance company dollars that detract from their profit margins. Insurance company management is fighting only for its shareholders, its balance sheets and their future as successful executives accustomed to hauling in enormous salaries and benefit packages using every tool at their disposal to mislead, deceive, hoodwink, pull the wool over the eyes of those who will benefit from reform, but lack the intellect, the insight or the educational background to see it. I have heard senior citizens argue that they are opposed to “death panels” when no death panels or anything like a death panel exists in any version of the several bills presently under consideration in the Congress. Henchmen for the insurance companies take front seats at Town Hall meetings because they are paid to and begin to shout obnoxiously gargantuan lies that old fools too dumb to question or too full of anger toward the “government” to look beyond their own baseless prejudices to their own welfare. The people who are loyal followers of Glen Beck or Rush Limbaugh are those in our country who have yet to have enough self-worth and self-esteem to think for themselves and all too ready and too vulnerable to accept whatever lies about Washington and the intentions of Obama that these demagogues disgorge. They have pushed this crusade against health care reform under the disguise of misinformation, blatant lies, and a bold display of ignorance. And now we have to face the fact that even some Democratic Senators who chair committees responsible for developing the reform sought by a vast majority of the America citizenry, have passed a counterfeit bill that is falsely labeled “reform” out of the Senate Finance Committee chaired by Senator Max Baucus of Montana that will do nothing to reign in the outlandish costs inherent in the present health care policy while pouring millions of additional dollars into the pockets of health insurance companies that have given Baucus over $4 million dollars in campaign funds. If Montanans have any sense they will throw this horse’s ass out of the Senate faster than a greased pig shot out of a cannon. This jerk held up the approval of this bill for two months giving his buddies in the insurance ample time to use the month of August to chip away at what was once widespread support this bill enjoyed prior to the August Congressional recess. Baucus looks and talks like the wimp that he is and even further the double agent he is to the Democrats who voted Obama into the presidency and gave the Demos a majority in the Senate and a whopping majority in the House. And this idiot from Montana is threatening the passage of a bona fide reform bill for health care, but is personally engineering major Republican gains in the 2010 elections. This man should be horse whipped on the main street of Billings [Montana that is] at noon. And Kent Conrad, another blue dog Democrat is giving the enemies of health care reform all of the support they need in his obstinate refusal to give this nation the “public option” it must have if it is to stop insurance companies from gauging Americans for every health benefit they receive. I would like to introduce you to the members of the Senate Finance Committee who cast the most destructive vote of their public careers when they chose to vote against a “public option” for the health care reform legislation presently before the Senate committee.   This is a list of those Republicans on the Senate Finance Committee who voted against the “option.”   CHUCK GRASSLEY, [R-IA] ORRIN G. HATCH, [R-UT] OLYMPIA J. SNOWE, [R-ME] JON KYL, [R-AZ] JIM BUNNING, [R-KY] MIKE CRAPO, [R-ID] PAT ROBERTS, [R-KS] JOHN ENSIGN, [R-NV] MIKE ENZI, [R-WY] JOHN CORNYN, [R-TX]   And on the Democratic side of the aisle—four rogue Senators voted against the “public option.”             MAX BAUCUS, [D-MT]           THOMAS CARPER [D-DE]           KENT CONRAD [D-ND]           BLANCHE LINCOLN [D-AR]   There is absolutely no way to bring health care costs down if we do not force health insurance companies to compete for our business. The sole purpose of the “public option” was to give the giant health insurance money machines competition in the pricing of coverage. The list above are the beneficiaries of huge sums of campaign funds from special interest groups associated with the industry that provides us health care and are the very reason why the United States of America pays twice as much for health care as any other nation in the western world and receives quality health care far below many of those same countries. As long as those Senators listed above are agents for the health care industry and not agents of the citizens who sent them to Congress to vote in their best interests, Americans will pay out of the nose for sub-par health care. However, the citizens of this country, seventy percent [70%] of whom support the public option, were attacked from two [2] sides.  The Republicans and the “free enterprise” freaks who believe that our country will crumble if health insurance does not remain under the auspices of big business and believe me, the health insurance industry is really big business. That is the very reason why they have flooded the public air waves, the town hall meetings and talk radio with advocates who knowingly lie when they call Obama is a Socialist, a Nazi, a Communist and falsely indict those who support the public option of attempting a “government takeover,” of the health insurance industry by inserting the “public option” into the health care reform bill. The option’s sole purpose is to bring down your health insurance costs and those who cannot see for the very simple reason that they are “blinded by the right,” to borrow a phrase from the title of former Republican David Brock’s book. It is time for the American people to see the naked truth—this is no longer “a government of the people, by the people and for the people.” It is a government of special interests because nearly all Republicans and far too many Democratic representatives in the Congress are bought and paid for by special interests. 4:03:22 PM    comment []