Monday, November 16, 2009

ARISTOPHANES, THE GREEK PLAYWRIGHT CALLED THE “FATHER OF COMEDY,” WROTE "YOUTH AGES, IMMATURITY IS OUTGROWN, IGNORANCE CAN BE EDUCATED, DRUNKENNESS SOBERED, BUT STUPID LASTS FOREVER.”   AND THAT MY FRIENDS IS WHAT THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND THE BLUE DOG DEMOCRATS ARE TODAY—STUPID!   THEY [GOP] VOTED AGAINST SOCIAL SECURITY, AGAINST MEDICARE, AGAINST MEDICAID AND WITH ONE EXCEPTION [JOSEPH CAO [R-LA-2] AGAINST HEALTH CARE REFORM BILL IN THE HOUSE!   Joseph Cao [LA2-R] was the only Republican demonstrating the kind of courage and insight that reflects the essence of the party of Abraham Lincoln. Writing early in his career, Lincoln penned this profound declaration: “Government should do for people what they cannot do for themselves or do so well.” That sentence is loaded with common sense. That is precisely what the founding fathers had in mind for the role of the federal government. That is precisely what is absent from the ranting and raving of the lunacy expressed by the Republican Party of the 21st century. Its leadership is as weak as an eighty year old nun’s arm wrestling proficiency. Boehner is a disgrace and McConnell has all of the charisma of road kill. Not only are they void of personality, they too are void of intelligent and viable alternatives on the issues fundamental to our nation’s future. They did not recognize that their own president and his advisors were leading this nation down a dead end ally when discussing the war in Iraq. The Republican leadership held no meaningful hearings to investigate the validity of the administration’s claims that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction that posed a threat to the United States. Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, was a lap dog for George W. Bush. It is doubtful that throughout the entire episode prior and leading up to our preemptive invasion of Iraq that the number one diplomat in the Bush administration once questioned the advisability, the morality, and the ethics entailed in such an invasion. Not one member of the Republican caucus in the Congress raised a voice of doubt about the prudence of the invasion, the cost [military projection of the cost of the invasion and the occupation [$50 billion all of which would be paid for out of our profits from the sale of Iraqi oil], the nearly total devastation of the Baghdad and other major cities whose  infrastructure will require billions of dollars to restore, the loss of life of our American soldiers, the massive loss of life of Iraqi civilians nor the 1400 year old battle between the Kurds, Shiites and the Sunnis that could possibly break out into a vision and deadly insurgency, and finally a cost to the taxpayers of this country in the mid trillions before it is all over and all the hidden costs are uncovered and tallied up. The media stood silently by as immense planes loaded down with bombs took off for Bagdad and few, if any reporters, asked noteworthy questions of the administration. The media remained silent, almost speechless, as the young American women and men who comprised our boots on the ground boarded planes headed into harm’s way. “We came, we saw and we conquered,” Or put another way, "Veni, vidi, vici" is a phrase attributed Julius Caesar when he wrote a letter to the Roman Senate after, the first assault when he defeated King Pharnaces in the battle of Zela which was in Asia Minor known today as Turkey, in 47 BC. .           Bush, on May 1, 2003 aboard the U. S. S. Abraham Lincoln, standing beneath a gigantic banner that said in intrepid letters”MISSION ACCOMPLISHED,” the president announced the war was for all practical purposes over and we were the victors—“veni, vidi, vici.” But as was so often the case during the eight years of the Bush/Cheney administration, he was thoroughly wrong. American soldiers in November, 2009 remain in Iraq and while the combat troops are no longer fighting the insurgents, they are attempting to train both the soldiers and the police so that they can bring a semblance of order to a nation that our bombs and soldiers very nearly destroyed. These same brainless legislators under the foolhardy and mindless leadership of Boehner and McConnell stood quietly on the sidelines as the administration turned the federal regulatory agencies into impotent tools of a cunning administration. No oversight. No investigation of banking and insurances practices in violation of federal laws. No supervision of the tax-payers money invested in these institutions to insure its safety; nothing from a party that believes that “free market” means freedom to do as you damn well please. The entire Great Recession of 2007-2009 was a result of an free-for-all stock market, unfettered banking system and an unregulated insurance industry brought to the American people by the political party holding fast to the antiquated concept of a “free market.” The tragedy is that there is no such thing as a free market—not as long as industries can buy the influence to pass legislation that gives them the right to rob, cheat and steal—such as the health insurance, banking, energy, and brokerage industries.  We all remember the infamous meeting that Vice-President Dick Cheney held in secret in Washington of all of the major players in the energy business. They were gathered to write the legislation that would oversee their industry. In other words, the energy people wrote their own rule book that they wanted to live by and the Republican Vice-President who came to the office from an energy related company made it possible at the expense of the American people. We all know that the market has been under the influence of government tax benefits for special interests of every department of government and whole industries including the health insurance cabal and through the use of massive campaign contributions that have been free to hose the investors, the insured, and the account holders of banks and investment firms. In this present battle for health care reform, it is the Republican Party and the Blue Dog Democrats who are also “free marketers” have received the vast amount of financial contributions from this special interest group in the general field of medical care. If you ask me, they should be forced to recuse themselves from the health care debate for a serious conflict of interest. Voted into office to serve the people, paid once in the office with millions of dollars to serve the special interests, some of our Senators are strictly in it for the money. To hell with the people who are worried to death about getting sick.  It is rumored that Evan Bayh receives seven figures in contributions from health insurance companies, his wife is employed by one of the biggest health care companies and they both allegedly hold considerable stock in that company which just happens to be one of the reasons why the Senator from Indiana has been vehemently opposed to the “public option.” Would someone please tell me how this man can serve the thousands of people in Indiana who are without health insurance while serving a health insurance company for which his wife works and both husband and wife hold serious stock holdings?   According to BioMed, “Statistics have shown that since 1994, the number of people without insurance coverage [in the Hoosier state] has shot up by 223,680. This has affected the prevailing rates of insurance premiums, which have gone up due to the growing population and increase of uninsured people. As a consequence, there have been delays in emergency care as well as dearth of job opportunities.”   Bayh is not alone. Many of those in both parties sitting in the legislative chambers of our national Congress are on the take for campaign funds. And they do not have to go far. The nearest health insurance company will give until it hurts as long as they can keep their deadly hold on the health of the people of this country; as long as they can charge whatever their cold heart demands; as long as they can turn down people with prior health conditions that make them a risk; as long as they can drop any of the insured for becoming seriously ill, or changing jobs, or moving to a new state—they will give and give and give because it will never hurt as much as the lose of their company’s profits hurts more. And by some weird set of circumstances, should their profits drop, they can always increase the already absurdly high premiums that they charge their policy holders. One of the Senators who openly opposes the public option is Senator Blanche Lincoln, a Democrat from the state of Arkansas, the home state of Bill and Hillary Clinton who launched their health care reform campaign in 1993. “I would not support a solely government-funded public option. We can’t afford that,” Lincoln said. The senior Arkansas senator is also the 2nd highest recipient of campaign contributions from the health industry among senators this year. Rep. Joseph Cao, the only Republican Congressmen to support the Health Care Reform Bill recently passed by the House, told the press that he “voted his conscience.” Would it not be wonderful if we had more Representatives in Washington who voted their conscience rather than the whims of the special interest groups that fill their campaign coffers such as Senator Blanche Lincoln from Arkansas mentioned above. Health Care Reform is critical to our country. The public option that has caused so much fury from the hard right and the health insurance industry is vital because it is the only way to reduce the  ridiculous costs of health care in 2009. Not only should Republicans study the issue and vote their conscience, but some of the uninformed, stupid, lemmings who went to town hall meetings because they were paid and trained by the Republican Party and the health insurance industry only to make fools of themselves should overcome “stupid” before they vote against their own self interests. Remember the words of Aristophanes—ignorance can be educated, but stupidity lasts forever.         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 1:20:30 PM    comment []

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

AND NOW TO THE SENATE—HEALTH CARE AND THE FINAL HURDLE   The real test for the Democratic leadership and its caucus! Deliver or die in the 2010 and 2012 elections.   THE PEOPLE WILL WAIT NO LONGER FOR RELIEF FROM THE DREADFUL HURT THAT OUR PRESENT HEALTH CARE SYSTEM THAT FILLS THE POCKETS OF HEALTH INSURANCE COMPANIES WITH THE COIN OF THE REALM WHILE BANKRUPTING AND EVEN KILLING THOUSANDS OF OUR VERY OWN CITIZENS SIMPLY BECAUSE OUR ELECTED OFFICIALS IN WASHINGTON ARE COWARDS, CALLOUS, AND PAWNS OF THOSE WHO BUY AND PAY FOR THEIR SOULS--IF NOT WORSE.     A friend of mine asked a very poignant question recently; how can these SOBs in the Senate take for themselves the finest health care insurance program available to human anywhere in the world, how can they vote billions and even trillions of dollars on defense that is conducting wars in countries that pose no threat to our nation or its people; how can these bastards watch the flag draped caskets of soldiers killed in the wars they voted to start and refuse to see that the underlying cause for the death of forty four thousand American citizens who die every year-- lack of health insurance--must be rectified. He went even further--How can that little wimp from Tennessee, Lindsey Graham get on television on the very day that the House passed the Health Care Reform Bill, and proudly announce that it was dead on arrival in the Senate? “If it weren’t for the fact that these jerks had the most sumptuous health coverage package for themselves and their families for life; and the health insurance companies were pouring millions of dollars into their campaign coffers they would be a little more sensitive to the voice of the people.” Sometimes when sitting in the lap of luxury people looking down from their penthouses are oblivious to the hurt and the pain that human beings on the street below are enduring. I join with my friend. I am shocked at the number of U. S. Senators who refuse to bow to the will of the people. Someday, in the not too distant future, these pompous asses will get voted out of office and men and women that still believe in government of the people by the people and for the people, will take their places. And the American people will take their rightful places in the pyramid of power. It looks as if the Republican Party, in general, and some Blue Dog Democrats, in particular, are heartless, callous, cold-blooded people who serve their own interests and the special interests that keep them in office at the expense of the needs of the people. It amazes me that anyone could be a Republican today after the last 29 years of GOP dominance in the White House and from time to time in the Congress. Reagan, who is the Deity of the hard right members of what used to be known as the Grand Old Party, looked compassionate, sounded compassionate, but in reality did very little to improve the quality of life for the vast majority of the American people. While today’s core Republicans are looking for a Reaganesque type candidate, they forget that he failed miserably. After sincerely guaranteeing to make the federal government smaller and more effective, to balance the federal budget within the first four years of his presidency--he failed. In fact, there is a new book by Will Bunch entitled,” “Tear Down This Myth: How the Reagan Legacy Has Distorted Our Politics and Haunts Our Future.” When Reagan came into office as the 40th president, all 39 of his predecessors in total had garnered a deficit of $300 billion. When Reagan left office, rather than balancing the budget as he so arrogantly promised while simultaneously disparaging the “tax and spend” Democrats that preceded him, left this nation with a $2.7 trillion dollar debt. As I listen to the ruthless criticism launched by the Republican leadership in the 111th Congress at Barack Obama, I would remind them that the deficit we face today is not as large as the one their beloved Reagan left behind and is being utilized to clean up the mess that John Boehner, Mitch McConnell and their president, George W. Bush left behind in the whirlwind of his failed economic policies that nearly bankrupted the entire nation and financially sank our ship of state. I recommend that these incompetent leaders that have dragged the once great party of Abraham Lincoln to its knees in public loathing should simply shut their mouths and be grateful that someone of Obama’s strength is at the helm. Bill Clinton the only Democrat to interrupt the Republican Party’s 29 year reign was the only president in decades to balance the budget. When Clinton came into office, he inherited the Reagan and Bush debts totaling $4.5 trillion. When he turned the presidency over to George W. Bush, Clinton left him a budget surplus of $559 billion. Eight years later, George W. Bush left Obama with a debt of $5 trillion. All of the gnashing of teeth by the Republicans over Obama’s debt is nothing but a deception on their part. He [Obama] was forced to clean up the flood of debt the George W. left behind due to wars in Afghanistan and a completely unwarranted war in Iraq, plus a massive tax cut exclusively for the top 1% of America’s tax payers [or to put in prospective, all of Bush’s friends]. This was one failure from which George H. W. Bush could not extricate his son George W. Bush. All of his less than successful life, the old man saved his son’s ass from being dragged through the streets of financial ruin. His presidency’s mistakes were too great; his old man, or whom he had very little respect, could not save him or the country from near disaster The hard right wants to kill the Health Care Reform bill because of the debt its implementation will thrust upon our future over a period of 10 years.  If, as projected, it cost the country $1 trillion over ten years that is nothing compared to the debt the 43rd president, George Bush has burdened us with via wars and tax cuts. They [the Republican members of Congress] did not want to kill the war in Iraq that costs 2.5 times the debt that Health Care could accumulate in 10 years. They did not want to kill the tax cut for the rich that caused more debt than Health Care Reform will accrue in 10 years. When Lindsey Graham, Mitch McConnell, Chuck Grassley, Jon Kyl, Orrin Hatch, Kit Bond, Richard Shelby, Jess Sessions, Jim Bunning, John Thune, Lamar Alexander and all of the rest of the forty [40] Republicans in the Senate knock health care because of the cost [debt] they are putting a price tag on human life that is immoral, at the very least, and unchristian at the worst. When we ask the ancient inquiry—“What would Jesus do in this case?” The answer is as clear as church bell tolling on a lovely, cloudless spring day. Pass Obama’s health care reform and pass it now. There are some Blue Dog Democrats that need to decide “whom they will serve!” Their opposition to Health Care Reform forces me to conclude that they must be half-breed Democrats. Our party and its adherents have been pushing for health care reform for decades and now that we are on the verge of passing the most important piece of legislation some of these half-breeds are balking. Founded in 1994, this group of conservative Democrats felt alienated from the power source in the party and formed a group dedicated to a more old-fashioned view of the Democratic message. For example, the best single source of finance for this rogue group of Demos and their Political Action Committee is the health care industry. According to Wikipedia, it was members of this group of centrist Blue Dogs “who were committee members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee [that] successfully delayed the House vote on the [recent] Health Insurance Reform Bill [HR32] until after the summer recess.” It was this same “Blue Dog Coalition [that] voted 32-4 in favor of the bill to limit access to bankruptcy protection. [S 256]”   An additional 16 Blue Dogs have not paid any money to the DCCC but were exempt from party-mandated contributions because they were top GOP targets for defeat in 2008. One reason for the party-dues boycott is contained in remarks made by Rep. primary challenges to any Democrat who does not vote to end the war in Iraq. Woolsey later stated that she was misunderstood, but the Blue Dogs have continued with the boycott. Donations to party Congressional Committees are an important source of funding for the party committees, permitting millions of dollars to be funneled back into close races [Wikipedia]   The Senate contact information for reaching out to this group of rascal Blue Dogs who, in fact, vote very closely with the Republicans that bother me deeply in this health care mêlée. Their obsession with the misinformation about the debt and the over all cost providing affordable health care for all Americans is hitting the nail squarely on the thumb. Their fixation with cost and debt could water down the most important piece of legislation in this century and turn health care reform into another piece of meaningless twitter. Write, email, call, fax, i.e. use whatever form of communication you the office of this group of mutinous Senators and tell them exactly how you feel about the health care issue and the public option so vital to reducing the cost of health insurance for all of us.   Joseph Lieberman (I-CT) 202-224-4041 – fax 202-224-9750 Email (http://lieberman.senate.gov/contact/) Thomas Carper (D-DE) 202-224-2441, fax 202-228-2190 Email (http://carper.senate.gov/contact/) Bill Nelson (D-FL) 202-224-5274 Email (http://billnelson.senate.gov/contact/index.cfm) Johnny Isakson (R-GA) 202-224-3643, fax 202-0228-0724 Email (http://isakson.senate.gov/contact.cfm) Evan Bayh (D-IN) 202-224-5623, fax 202-228-1377 Email (http://bayh.senate.gov/contact/email/) Mary Landrieu (D-LA) 202-224-5824, fax 202-224-9735 Email (http://landrieu.senate.gov/contact/index.cfm) Susan Collins (R-ME) 202-224-2523, fax 202-224-2693 Email(http://collins.senate.gov/public/continue.cfm?FuseAction=ContactSenatorCollins.EmailIssue) Olympia Snowe (R-ME) fax 202-224-1946 (http://snowe.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=ContactSenatorSnowe) Max Baucus (D-MT) 202-224-2651, fax 202-224-9412 Email http://baucus.senate.gov/contact/ John Tester (D-MT) 202-224-2644, fax 202-224-8594 Email (http://tester.senate.gov/Contact/index.cfm) Kent Conrad (D-ND) 202-224-2043, fax 202-224-7776 Email(http://conrad.senate.gov/contact/webform.cfm) Ben Nelson (D-NE) 202-224-6551, fax 202-228-0012 Email (http://bennelson.senate.gov/contact-me.cfm) Ron Wyden (D-OR) 202-224-5244, fax 202-228-2717 Email (http://wyden.senate.gov/contact/) Herb Kohl (D-WI) 202-224-5653, fax 202-224-9787 Email (http://kohl.senate.gov/contact.cfm) Robert Byrd (D-WV) 202-224-3954, fax 202-228-0002 Email (http://byrd.senate.gov/contacts/) Mark Warner (D-VA) 202- 224-2023, fax 202-224-6295 Email (http://warner.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=Contact) Tim Johnson (D-SD) 202-224-5842 Email (http://johnson.senate.gov/contact/) On November 11, 2009, one of the country’s great humorists, Garrison Keillor wrote a marvelous piece entitled, “No fount of Wisdom for Senate GOP/ Health care is too complicated for the Congress.   “The Founding Fathers intended the Senate to be fount of wisdom flowing but when you consider Saxby Chambliss and Jim Bunning, John Ensign, Jim DeMint, James Inhofe, who look as if they’ve been banged on the head too many times, and the moon-faced Mitch McConnell, your faith in democracy is challenged severely. Any legislative in which 41 senators from rural states that together represent 10 percent of the people can stop 90 percent, it’s like driving a bus with a brake pedal for each passenger: That’s why Congress has a public approval rating of 25 percent.   Health care is much too complicated for Congress. The whole issue should’ve been handed over to a blue–ribbon commission of economists—let them draw up a plan and defend it and stand up to the ranters and rug-chewers—and let Congress do what it does best, which is to uphold virtue and decency and to denounce narrow self-interest and partisanship, and then go to lunch.”   When you look at the names of the Republicans Garrison mentioned in his piece, one has to give thanks to God Almighty that we have survived this long as a nation. The contemporary version of the party of Abraham Lincoln is the most embarrassing cloistered group ever to take up perfectly good seats in the great hall of our upper chamber. My friend, who started this discussion went on to say, I shake my head in disbelief that people that appear to be intelligent and caring, continue to vote for Republicans. After Bush, I will not vote for that party as long as there is breathe within my body. Amen to that! There was one vote on the GOP side in the House cast by the representative from New Orleans, Joseph Cao who simply said, “My people need this health care reform bill.” Oh, that there were more intelligent, caring, constituent-sensitive Republicans and Blue Dog Democrats, We must pass this Health Care Reform legislation or the Democrats in the Congress will get their majorities stolen from them by an angry mob of of members of their own party; yes, that’s right--Democrats. 7:02:56 PM    comment []

Saturday, November 07, 2009

REPUBLICAN GUBERNATORIAL VICTORIES IN NEW JERSEY AND VIRGINIA 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 []