Joseph A. Sheridan: Progressive blogs

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 21:45:00 GMT

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 6^th 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

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 18:38:49 GMT

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

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 17:48:46 GMT

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

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 18:44:19 GMT

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 19^th 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 21^ST 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

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Sun, 25 Oct 2009 18:41:32 GMT

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

Sat, 17 Oct 2009 02:02:08 GMT

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

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 22:03:22 GMT

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.

Sun, 11 Oct 2009 22:42:41 GMT

AMERICANS HAVE EVERY REASON IN THE WORLD TO BE PROUD THAT OUR PRESIDENT HAS BEEN DECLARED THE WINNER OF THE NOBEL PRIZE FOR PEACE.

CONTRARY TO THE OPINION OF THE ANTI-OBAMA CONSERVATIVES, THE DAY THE U.S. ELECTED OBAMA PRESIDENT, THE WORLD BEGAN TO SEE AMERICA IN A NEW AND POSITIVE LIGHT.

There have been two elections in my life that made me extraordinarily proud of this country and the wisdom of our people. The first was the election of John F. Kennedy in 1960. I was a graduate student in Washington, D. C. and worked hard on the Kennedy campaign.

Having recently returned from a lecture tour around the world, my mind was still filled with the immense amount of anti-American feeling that I encountered primarily on college campuses where I spoke. The dominate question that cropped up in every question and answer period was, “Who will be the next president of the United States.?” And on every occasion I answered confidently that it was my belief that the next American Commander-in-Chief would be John F. Kennedy, the junior Senator from the state of Massachusetts.

I came home and worked diligently on the Kennedy campaign on campus. I was in Washington and was able to see the first presidential debate at the NBC broadcast studios only blocks from the campus of Wesley Theological Seminary on the American University campus.

In addition to chairing the Kennedy for President Committee, I participated in student debates, handed out leaflets and marched at rallies. After the first debate I felt certain that Kennedy would win despite the strong opposition posed by the right wing of the Republican Party and the religious right that was convinced his Catholicism would taint his presidency.

On election night, I stayed up watching the results pour in, and for those old enough to remember, it seemed on that occasion the vote count would never stop. It was close. The final count found Nixon and Kennedy so close that a small margin separated them in the final tally. But the dynamic young Senator overcame the strong opposition and slide across the threshold of victory by the skin of his teeth.

My counter part, the chairman of the Nixon for President Committee came into my room early the next morning to congratulate me. Unfortunately, he could not force the words out his mouth before he broke down and began to sob. He was convinced that Kennedy was going to be a puppet of the Pope and that he was so inexperienced he would destroy our country and all the precious values upon which it was founded.

Kennedy turned the face of the world to the United States and with the gracious aid of his beautiful wife, Jackie; they became the symbol of all that was good about this country.

When they visited Europe the crowds poured into the streets by the hundreds of thousands. When the president spoke to the German people near the Brandenburg Gate the people were overwhelmed with enthusiasm and deeply inspired by the words he spoke that day.

Throughout the recent presidential campaign, Barack Obama made an even more profound impression because the first African American was running for the highest office in our land. When he spoke in Berlin three hundred thousand Germans filled the venue just to see and hear this young, dynamic and oratorically gifted American speak. As an American, I was thrilled. I was proud that our country had the insight and the wisdom to nominate the first African-American to the Oval Office.

He was brilliant. He was eloquent and his mind was filled with the kind of fresh, vibrant ideas I not heard from a candidate for president in nearly fifty years.

Unfortunately, most of the world became disenchanted with America and with democracy because of the bewildering leadership provided us by Reagan, Bush I and Bush II. Our invasion of Iraq drew the disparagement of much of the world. Our go-it-alone foreign policy instituted by George W. and Dick Cheney alienated even those who had been our allies since the Second World War. In the end, George W. ended up with the lowest approval rating of any American president in modern times. Only seventeen percent [17%] of the European people approved of Bush as president and the number was dropping more precipitously every week.

On election night, massive numbers of people flocked into the streets of every major city in Europe, Africa and even Asia as Barack Hussein Obama handily defeated the pathetic performance of John McCain and the totally ill-prepared Governor of Alaska—Sarah Palin.

Hundreds of thousands of people filled Millennium Park in Chicago to garner one of the first glimpses of the president-elect and his beautiful family along with vice-president-elect Biden and his wife. The world was looking for change and this man represented the kind of change for which millions of Americans had been longing.

Wherever the new president goes, wherever he speaks, whether Cairo, London or Ankara, he is telling the world that America has changed direction and that we are reaching out with an open hand rather than the clinched fist that became the insufferable symbol of the Bush/Cheney administration.

Granted, Obama has been in office for only nine short months and he has not had time to accomplish many of the programs he had planned for our country and its relationship with the remainder of the world.

He was nominated for this honor just weeks after being sworn in as the forty-fourth president of the United States. Therefore, it is obvious that Barack Obama was selected for this unique tribute not because of what he had accomplished, but for the hope, the promise and the sense of pride the whole world felt when the most powerful nation in the world elected to the highest office in the land the first African-American.

He has put an entirely new face on our nation and has done more in those few short months to let the whole wide world know that America will be its partner for peace and open the door even to those who are our sworn enemies to honest, accessible conversations; that diplomacy will be our weapon of choice and that as long as we can candidly work together, we will labor arduously to gain the trust necessary to build a more peaceful world.

Contrary to some of the unwarranted criticism launched at him when speaking abroad, America has much for which it should apologize and he did. Unfortunately, we are not the chosen people of God, we are not always “good” and almost never “great,” but Obama has made us a worthy world neighbor and a leader in world events absent of the immoral and unethical behavior so often expressed in the past eight years.

The right-wing of the Republican Party is a vicious, vindictive horde of people who are enamored with our power and our financial strength. They will never know just how much hatred the world felt for our policies over the years. Obama has begun to build bridges that will allow for a more hospitable international arena in which to operate.

Obama deserves to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace because of the hope he has planted in the hearts of most of the world’s people and because of his foreign policy of dialogue with all governments who wish to talk with candor and honor.

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 20:05:53 GMT

TO THE RELENTLESS GOVERNMENT CRITICS WHO BELIEVE NOTHING GOOD COMES OUT OF WASHINGTON

AND TO THOSE WHO DETEST EVERYTHING THE GOVERNMENT DOES---

THE FORMER PUBLIC EDITOR OF THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE, AND NOW A PROFESSOR AT LOYOLA UNIVERSITY--DON WYCLIFF HAS WRITTEN A CONVINCING RETORT

“AT A TIME OF UNIVERSAL DECEIT TELLING THE TRUTH IS A REVOLUTIONARY ACT.”

GEORGE ORWELL

If ever there was a time of “universal deceit” it is now. Over the past few years or so as the entire issue of health care reform has come to the forefront of our national debate, I have heard more deception, half truths, falsehoods and outrageous mendacity proliferated by opponents to the issue than on any issue since the very same process was used to persuade the American people we must preemptively invade Iraq for our own security and safety.

And unfortunately, the propagandists are the very same people who lied their way into an unwarranted war. These people hate government except for the purpose of waging war and filling their coffers with millions of dollars that accrue to the military industrial complex that prosper only in times of conflict.

There is a whole gaggle of anti-government geese who despise everything that the federal government does and has little or no hope that it can do anything for the good of the people even after the disaster the recent “free market” crash forced upon millions of American by the failure of the “free market” zealots to remedy their policies and their own irresponsible behavior; and to employ the kind of sanity and sobriety the handling of other’s life savings demands.

The voices of doom [primarily right wing Republicans, libertarians and disingenuous Blue Dog Democrats] have been jacking up their voices at town hall meetings, creating pandemonium, shouting lies, pointing accusatory finger at men and women who are working hard to bring to the last nation in the civilized world to pass universal health care legislation, who are employed [bought and paid for] by the insurance giants, the colossal pharmaceutical entities, twisted arms of the special interest groups who businesses are one way or the other tied to the health care field.

Let us be clear. There has been no bill passed by both Houses of Congress at this juncture. There is truly nothing to argue about yet. Granted their will be.

I will not hide behind my façade—I want a single payer system that is based on our present Medicare plan, but that is under the management and supervision of a Federal Reserve prototype whereby medical experts and patients serve on a board with the Chairman [from the private sector] appointed by the president, but beyond the control of both the president and the Congress.

The only true way to save money is to put serious oversight on the shenanigans of the health insurance companies that have been benefiting mightily from the freedom to charge whatever “their little hearts desire,” with the fearful support of the Republicans who are the key lobbyists for the entire medical and medically related fields.

Don Wycliffe, using the very effective tools of sarcasm and derision to answer the major questions confronting the Congress as they wrestle with the most important issue of this century—health care reform.

Wycliffe asks—“SO YOU REALLY WANT THE GOVERNMENT OUT OF THE HEALTH CARE?”

If any of you have had the nerve to listen to some of these town hall meetings primarily populated by organizations representing the health care field and especially the health insurance business, we surely have noted that the individuals who were most vociferous in their noise making were sitting in the front, they held the questions they were asking on sheets of paper they held in their miserable little paws and they were surrounded by a crowd of like-minded souls all of whom were recruited by special interest lobbies.

In other words, these protests were organized by groups stridently opposed to the Kennedy-Obama version of the health care reform legislation [none of which has passed either body of the Congress].

But they flagrantly drew the attention away from health care issues and brazenly began to shout should outlandish and exploitive words as “Socialism,” “Nazis,” “Hitler,” “dictator,” and other terms that had no place in a town hall meeting whose purpose it is to share the crowds thoughts and ideas on health care and not to obliterate the good reputation and highly respected character of your opponents.

If is true that you really want government out of the business of health care, Wycliff suggests that we do it:

· ELIMINATE MEDICARE—Let the elderly fend for themselves. Wycliff suggests that our elderly “deserve better than to be subjected to a system created in Washington by venal politicians and administered by incompetent bureaucrats [Is that an oxymoron?] … These are parents and grandparents we’re talking about. Surely if we do away with this government program, there will be private entities clamoring to serve this segment of the market –at lower prices with higher quality to boot. Surely?

I was having this discussion with an eighty-three year old man at my health club recently. He believes that the greatest waste in government spending is in the health care field. Not the military, now the war in Iraq, not the war in Afghanistan, but in the field of health care particularly in Medicare and Medicaid.

He suggested to me that the U. S. government was interfering with God’s divine destiny for man by keeping people alive longer than God intended [now that is free market carried to the extreme]. We should let mea and women die when they get sick instead of trying to keep them alive. If people had their own money to pay for the treatment that would extend their lives, that would be fine, but he did not feel it was his civic duty to pay to extend the lives of others.

This is precisely the argument many of the right-wing Conservative Republicans want. That old fool from Texas, Dick Armey is suing the government to get out of Medicare. I say let him out, but for God’s sake and the Country’s do not let him back in regardless of the severity of his illness.

· “So, if you really want government out of the business of health care, Wycliff goes on, ELIMINATE MEDICAID including its various offshoots for children. There is no reason we should subject the poor—especially poor children—to inferior health care of the sort delivered by the government. Let them find quality health care in the private marketplace, just like their economic betters.”

People that are attending town hall meetings for the singular purpose of disrupting the interaction between the Congressperson and those who come with a sincere desire to learn the truth about the subject, are enemies of democracy, enemies of the freedom of speech, enemies of the freedom to assemble and certainly enemies of universal health care for all.

These people are particularly repulsive when we consider that most of those who are acting as disruptive agents of lobbying groups representing health care related industries, agents of the health insurance cabal striving with all of their might to save the immense profits they are making off of the illness of the American people, especially our impoverished children. Somehow there ought to be a very special retribution for the executives of these insurance giants that are eating meat off of the dead bodies, if you will, the skeletons of those who die without the availability of appropriate health care. And to that list of those who deserve retribution, we should add the list of Congresspersons who vote against either a single payer system or a public option that will have the desired effect of reigning in the gargantuan profits being taken home by the insurance moguls and their companies.

I recommend that they be drawn and quartered, i.e. have a horse tied to each leg and each arm and at the sound of the bugler’s horn playing taps, each horse, headed in a different direction receive a harsh whip across its hind quarters, as the limbs of these thieves of the public’s access to affordable health care are painfully severed from the bodies of those guilty of destroying the lives of millions of Americans.

Too harsh, you think; maybe but if we inject poison into the veins of a convicted killer causing him to die, what can we possibly do to men and women and Congresspersons who have knowingly voted against universal, affordable health care for all that is portable regardless of where the insured goes, and that cannot be denied to anyone for pre-existing conditions. What can we possibly do to punish those who pray the Christian mantra of “love thy neighbor as you love yourself,” and still deny their fellow citizens the very health care required to save their lives and of which they inconsiderately consume?

· Wycliff moves on to one of the more interesting facets for those who sincerely proclaim yes to the next proposition, “So you really want government out of the business of health care?” ELIMINATE THE TAX DEDUCTION FOR EMPLOYER PAYMENTS OF PREMIUMS FOR EMPLOYEE HEALTH INSURANCE. Some people will argue that his is not direct government involvement in health care. But what could be more direct—and pernicious—than the government’s putting its thumb on the scale to virtually force employers to spend money on health care as opposed to higher employee salaries, or higher executive salaries, or higher dividends for investors, or any of the myriad other things an employer could elect to spend its money on? It is an unconscionable interference in the free market that diminishes the quality of ordinary Americans’ lives by propping up sub-par providers of health are.

· Wycliff—in his effort to answer the quandary, “So you really want government of the business of health care? ELIMINATE THE VETERANS HEALTH-CARE SYSTEM. We do our veterans no favor by subjecting them to a system that, virtually by definition, forces them to accept substandard care.

“If we have any continuing debt to veterans after their service is over, let them find quality care providers and quality insurers in the private marketplace.”

According to recently released opinions by numerous military medical experts nearly one-third of our soldiers are returning home only to suffer for months if not years from what once was referred to as “battle fatigue,” but today is known as “post-traumatic stress syndrome.” It takes the very life out of a soldier’s sole. The perpetual fear one confronts walking through the dusty, dirty and dangerous streets of Iraq and Afghanistan never knowing if your foot will trigger a roadside bomb, more correctly referred to as an “improvised explosive device” which the terrorist manufacture in the back rooms of their bombed out homes, or in the shells of structures that were once business enterprises.

When one calculates the cost of our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the cost of medical care for all Americans seems like but a dot on the page of history. One had to account for the fact, that the Bush Administration and did everything it could to hide the true cost of the wars they fought so vigorously and the Republican Congresses, excusing themselves from the brutal task of overseeing the actual costs of the two wars never allowed the budgets to be incorporated in their annual budgets.

However two economists, applying the minds of brilliant mathematicians to the cost of war, did not believe the figures being tossed about by the Congressional Budget Office.

Joseph Stiglitz and Linda Bilmes calculated in 2006 [three years ago] as best they could without full disclosure from the government of the real expenses, estimated at that time the U. S. had spent $3 trillion dollars by now that figure has nearly doubled.

Why do Republicans and Red Dog Democrats feel that one billion dollars added to the deficit by the health care of 300 million Americans is too high a price to pay?

However, in January, 2005, the government estimated that over 1 million men and women had served in Iraq and Afghanistan. Today [over four and a half years later] that number has increased to well over 1.5 million. If the 30% figure hold true and approximately 500,000 soldiers will require some kind of medical treatment either physically or from post traumatic stress syndrome, we would be in serious trouble if Wycliff next answer to the quandary: “So you really want government out of the business of health care”

· ELIMINATE MILITARY HOSPITALS AND HEALTH CARE FACILITIES.

Think about! If, indeed, over 500,000 troops required medical care, what in the hell would we do without the military hospitals and health care facility?

It is too absurd to even consider such a move. Almost has absurd as to oppose health care reform that this nation has been begging our Congressmen and Presidents to pass since the 1940’s.

Nearly seventy years and yet even today Grassley of Iowa, DeMint from South Carolina, McConnell from Kentucky, Boehner from Ohio, Shelby from Alabama, Kyl and McCain from Arizona, etc. etc. etc.

· ELIMINATE INDIAN HEALTH SERVICE. I happen to be one of those Americans that are mostly Irish and German, but partially Indian. Somewhere along the way one of my ancestors took a little roll in the hay with a beautifully Indian lady. In fact, my mother’s grandmother whom I saw several times as a young child looked exactly like an Indian. If ever there was a group in American that seldom has been introduced the lady of justice, it is the American Indian. If there ever was a group of people who lost everything at the hands of a cruel and unreasonable federal government it is the native Americans. Obviously, while most remain in the vindictive hands of poverty, to take what little health care they receive from the U. S. government would be the death knell for thousands.

· Wycliff also sardonically recommended to those who fall under the umbrella of “So you really want government out of the business of health care” that we should ELIMINATE THE OFFICES OF THE SURGEON GENERAL! “How much longer”, the author asks, will we subject the American people to medical busybodies on the federal payroll hectoring us about the things like the dangers of smoking, obesity, unprotected sex?

Surely, in the minds of those who have such a low opinion of government and the causes it embraces the fact that the Office of the Surgeon General spearheaded the demise of the cigarette industry is a crime for which it will never be forgiven. There are some, I surmise, on the other hand, who believe that without the force and persistence of the Surgeon General’s Office our nation’s lungs would be significantly more diseased and are therefore grateful for the money and time the office spent to reduce smoking in this country. In fact, in hundreds of other ways, this office brings to the public’s attention potential epidemics that could cause the death of millions of our people were they not alerted to dangers ahead.

· And finally, Wycliff urges those who adhere to the philosophy “So you really want government out of the business of health care? To “ELIMINIATE SUCH AGENCIES AS THE CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION, THE NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH AND OTHERS THAT TO DO UNBIASED, SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH AND EVALUATION BUT REALLY HAVE DARKER SINISTER POLITICIAL AGENDAS AD THAT, IN ANY CASE, CANNOT POSSIBLY BE AS HELPFUL AND ESSENTIAL AS THEY HAVE HOODWINKED SO MANY INTO BELIEVING THEY ARE BECAUSE. . .WELL, BECAUSE THEY ARE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT AGENCIES.

Those who are filling town hall meeting with their mindless questions of suspicion, their questions supplied to them by organizations that are virulently opposed to any measure of reform to the health care system, the insurance companies paying the expenses of the throngs they have gathered together and seated in the front row of the town hall meetings with their hands full of propaganda supplied by the agents opposed to reform, by special interests groups that will fight to the death to say whatever must be said to disrupt the meetings, scream out the insane questions that they are paid to ask by the sponsors of the “kill health care” movement reflecting the mindlessness of Rush Limbaugh and Fox News regardless of how inane the words they speak or how distasteful or how untruthful the implications of what they say about the president or the health care reform issue.

Those of you who stand up in town hall meetings and downgrade the federal government, who deny government’s ability to do anything right, who believe the government is interfering into your precious, personal life, would find out very quickly just how good our government does some things should suddenly there was no Social Security, no Medicare, no Medicaid, not VA hospitals, no veterans health, no Indian Health Services, no Centers for Disease Control, or National Institutes of Health, etc.

While those who are blessed with the best health care insurance available to human beings anywhere, the members of the U. S. Congress, trivialize the major issues that surround health care reform, not only are their nearly 50 million without access to health insurance there are millions more whose discretionary income is robbed of the good things of adult life such as their children’s college education, home repairs, continuing education, vacations, healthier but more expensive food for their dinner table because they are paying outlandish premiums to health insurance companies that have bought and paid for Congresspersons and Senators who are paid to represent the people, but in fact are representing their special interests that are pouring millions of dollars into their reelection bank accounts.

It is clear that the Blue Dog Democrats truly do not want to face up to the fact that voters in their districts are making personal sacrifices to insure themselves and their families have decent health care. It ought not to be that way and in the vast majority of the industrialized world it is not that way.

Why can’t Senators from miniature states like Montana and North Dakota and Senators such as Baucus and Conrad see that every penny we spend on health care will be returned to us many times over in reduced future medical costs, a healthier work force, happier and more productive employees and students more physically prepared to take on the challenges of today’s educational morass.

Why are these men from insignificant states unable to appreciate the major cities and states of this country are overpopulated with millions of people on the very edge of fiscal and physical disaster that are dependent on their leadership to bring health to them and their families.

Think about it—those who answer “yes” to the question Wycliff posed, “So you really want government out of the business of health care?”

· ELIMINATE MEDICARE

· ELIMINATE MEDICAID

· ELIMINATE THE TAX DEDUCTIONS FOR EXPLOYERS PAYMENTS OF PREMIUMS FOR EMPLOYEE HEALTH INSURANCE

· ELIMINATE THE VETERANS HEALTH CARE SYSTEM

· ELIMINATE MILITARY HOSPITALS AND HEALTH CARE FACILITIES

· ELIMINATE INDIAN HEALTH SERVICE AND OTHER SUCH HEALTH PROVIDER PROGRAMS FOR SPECIAL POPULATIONS

· ELIMINATE THE OFFICE OF THE SURGEION GENERAL

· ELIMINATE SUCH AGENCIES AS THE CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION, THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF HEALTH. . .

Be careful of what you wish for, you may get it.

“AT A TIME OF UNIVERSAL DECEIT, TELLING THE TRUTH IS A REVOLUTIONARY ACT.” George Orwell

JOE SHERIDAN’S BOOK—

JESUS WAS A LIBERAL/A BLOGGER’S BOLD OPIINIONS ON POLITICS AND RELIGION –

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Thu, 10 Sep 2009 15:22:53 GMT

SCREW BI-PARTISANSHIP!

OBAMA AND THE DEMOCRATS WERE ELECTED ON A PROMISE OF HEALTH CARE REFORM. IF THEY DO NOT DELIVER, THE PEOPLE WILL TAKE MATTERS IN THEIR OWN HANDS COME 2010.

THE REPUBLICANS, ON THE OTHER HAND, HAVE ONLY ONE MOTIVE IN MIND WHEN IT COMES TO HEALTH CARE, AND IT SURE IN HELL IS NOT REFORM

PERHAPS, THE NOW INFAMOUS WORDS OF THE FOOLISH SENATOR FROM SOUTH CAROLINA, JIM DEMINT TELLS US THE REAL INTENTIONS OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY:

“Speaking about health care, Senator DeMint said, ‘If we are to stop Obama on this, it would be his Waterloo. It will break him.’”

IN OTHER WORDS, REPUBLICANS HAVE ONLY ONE GOAL IN MIND AND THAT IS TO DESTROY OBAMA.

That is precisely why they have been acting like a band of gorillas making some of the stupidest moves against Obama I have heard from any political party since the dying days of the Whigs.

How purely stupid does one have to be to question the motives behind what has become the tradition for the president to speak to America’s school children on the first day of school.

As a good conservative Republican friend of mine said after hearing Obama’s speech on November 8, 2009, “Well, Obama did it to us again; he made a total fool out of the Republicans. He gave a super speech with no hint of trying to recruit students to do anything, but to become the very best persons they could become.”

The first fool in this case was Jim Greer, Chairman of the Florida Republican Party who accused Obama of trying to solicit our children to become supporters of his Socialist agenda. This Greer fellow was joined in his charade against the presidential speech by the head gorilla, Rush Limbaugh, the know-nothing Fox anchor, Sean Hannity and CNN’s old blow hard and “birther” Lou Dobbs, and, of course, the emotionally challenged, Glen Beck.

Dobbs, Hannity, Beck and Limbaugh obviously did not know that during President H. W. Bush’s speech to the Alice Deal Junior High School he asked the kids to send him letters to express their opinion on what he should be doing as president.

The school speech was just one of several ploys the Republicans have deployed to turn the nation’s attention away from the health care issue and to concentrate on totally irrelevant issue. Dobbs and others are still pushing the envelope on Obama’s birth certificate even though the state officials have verified his Hawaiian birth. Let’s face it, enough B.S. is enough. It is time for these infiltrators to crawl back under their rocks and allow the president get on with the very important business he must conduct on the nation’s behalf.

Greer dug up the farcical accusation that Obama is a Socialist. First all, Greer does not know what the word, “Socialist” means [nor do Coulter, Hannity, Beck, Limbaugh, and many of the Senators and Congressmen who have been throwing the word in the face of our president at regular intervals since he first assumed office.

Nazis is another favorite epithet of the lunatic fringe of the GOP. Please give us a break. You stupid idiots who think you are being so patriotic by throwing verbal stones at first African-American president are a disgrace to the nation, to the high ideals this nation stands for and to the God you so proudly pretend to serve when in fact, you are not even as good as the Pharisees who arrested, tried and killed Jesus of Galilee and whom Jesus disliked with passion and referred to as “hypocrites.”

The former Lt. Gov. of New York, Dr. Betsy McCaughey, allegedly coined the phrase “death panels” which was picked up by the former Governor of Alaska and former Republican Vice-Presidential candidate, Sarah Palin and posted on her FaceBook page. The lie these two tawdrily ladies propagated became the mantra of the GOP including Senator Chuck Grassley [R-IA] who stood before a crowd of Iowans and echoed this same lie. A U. S. Senator, Grassley knew he was telling his constituents a total untruth; simultaneously, he was spreading this falsehood across the country and because of his long tenure in the Senate gave it credence in the process.

Rep. Joe Wilson [R-SC-2] harshly bellowed out in the House Chamber in the midst of the president’s Health Care Reform speech after he stated that no undocumented aliens will receive health insurance under his proposal.

It was Wilson who was lying and not the president. This miserable, small-minded Congressman from South Carolina owes my president and, and by the way, his president a very sincere and widely broadcast apology.

According to The Center for Immigration Center the Obama bill makes it very clear that undocumented immigrants will not be covered by his proposed health care reform; "Nothing in this subtitle shall allow Federal payments for affordability credits on behalf of individuals who are not lawfully present in the United States." (See Section 246.)

Wilson also appears to be a “birther” [does not believe Obama was born in America]. Why are there so many kooks in politics in the otherwise great state of South Carolina—Wilson, DeMint, Sanford and Congresspersons too numerous to mention?

The Republicans apparently hold no compassion for those millions of American citizens who endure life without health insurance coverage:

· WHO ARE STUCK WITH INSURANCE THAT IS TOO EXPENSIVE

· WHO HAVE BEEN FORCED TO FILE BANKRUPTCY DUE TO GARGANTUAN MEDICAL BILLS

· WHO HAVE BEEN DENIED INSURANCE DUE TO PRE-EXISTING CONDITIONS

· WHO HAVE BEEN DEPRIVED OF HEALTH INSURNCE COVERAGE DUE TO LOSS OF THEIR JOB

· WHO COULD NOT CARRY THEIR INSURANCE COVERAGE WITH THEM WHEN CHANGING JOBS?

In other words, the GOP does not want health care reform simply because they do not want the Democrats and President Obama to receive credit for doing something about health care costs that the voters have been demanding since the 1940’s.

I simply cannot believe what I have been hearing out of the mouths of Republican leaders and their like-minded pundits. The faces of DeMint [R-SC], Kyl [R-AZ] McConnell [R-KY], McCain [R-AZ], Cantor (R-VA) etc. and Fox News’ Hannity, Beck, Krauthammer, Barnes, Coulter, and Rove,

The Obama proposal is “not a government takeover” of the health care insurance, you will be able to keep your present health insurance, if you like it, no one will be forced to change doctors, there will be no health insurance for undocumented immigrants, no “death panels” to dictate whether grandma lives or dies and no funding of abortions.

After the president spoke on [September 9, 2009] the Republicans response was negative by Louisiana Congressmen, Rep. Charles Boustany who suggested on behalf of the GOP that we needed to start all over again. How can a Congressman who knows full well that health care was first introduced by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1913. How long does it take the Republicans to respond to the needs of the people? The answer, of course, is forever! They do not serve the people, they serve only the special interests, big business, or contributors to their campaign coffers.

Now is the time. Obama gave a brilliant speech on the most important issue facing this nation in this century. If the character of this country has any good left in its soul, we must approve universal health care. 96 years is long enough. A Republican president had the right idea in 1913, and modern day Republicans have lost much of the best that was the Republican Party. Lincoln and Roosevelt were surely the cream of the GOP crop and nothing good has come out of the Grand Old Party in 1913. In fact, for nearly thirty years they have taken the country backward. It has been so long since the Republicans have had a good idea, a new idea, a constructive concept to enhance the lives of our people. We certainly know what they oppose; hopefully in the decades ahead once we have a few high class funerals and rid the party of the dead wait they have carrying around for years, a new generation will implant flesh and blood onto the skeleton of the Republican ideology that once was the home of Abraham Lincoln.

If they elect not to support this health care issue as the president has laid it out, the Democrats, all of the Democrats [including the Blue Dog Democrats] better face up to this fact, the Americans made up their minds last November that they wanted Obama as their president and, simultaneously, they made it clear they want health care reform now.

Send out the word, if the Republicans do not wish to support health care, screw them.

Mon, 07 Sep 2009 16:52:02 GMT

PARENTS OBJECTING TO THEIR CHILDREN HEARING THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES ADDRESS THE NATION’S SCHOOL KIDS ARE A DISGRACE TO OUR REPRESENTATIVE DEMOCRACY, OUR EVERLASTING FREEDOM OF SPEECH AND THE NATION’S EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM DESIGNED TO PREPARE OUR YOUTH FOR THE WORLD BEFORE THEM

THE CONTEMPTIBLE CHAIRMAN OF THE FLORIDA REPUBLICAN PARTY, JIM GREER, SET OFF A WILD STORM WHEN HE MADE THE APPALLING ALLEGATION THAT THE PRESIDENT WAS ATTEMPTING TO EMPLOY THE SUPPORT OF SCHOOL CHILDREN TO MOVE HIS ADDENDA FORWARD AND ENCOURAGED OTHER PARENTS TO KEEP THEIR CHILDREN AT HOME OR AWAY FROM THE TV SET.

I HAVE A SECOND HOME IN FLORIDA AND THIS MAN MAKES ME ASHAMED TO ASSOCIATE WITH ANY STATE THAT ELECTS SUCH A REPREHENSIBLE MAN TO LEAD A POLITICAL PARTY

Every president since Ronald Reagan has given an address to the children of our nation’s schools. It has become the way our nation’s leader can encourage and cajole our country’s school to get the most out of their educational opportunity, to remain in school through graduation and for those so inclined to prepare themselves for college or advanced study.

Even though every president represents one political party or the other, no president uses this opportunity to make political points with our youth.

In this case, Chairman Greer threw the race card up against the wall hoping it would stick and, in some way, degrade our first African-American president.

His criticism not only discredited Barack Obama, he discredited the office of the presidency to the youth of our nation many of whom will be assuming positions of leadership in the future. As a nation, we should encourage their participation in government, their interest in politics and their knowledge of how our political system works.

Jim Greer did none of the above.

And the other parents, buoyed by Greer’s comments, wrote letters to the schools of their children, while very small in number, exhibited the same shocking disregard for our president and the office of the presidency.

And those principals in a small number of schools that sent letters home to parents inviting them to excuse their children from viewing the president’s speech if they so desired, did little to correct an inexcusable idea that is obviously another Republican ploy to downgrade one of the most intelligent men to occupy the oval office, and certainly a splendid example of a person who rose above the poverty into which he was born to the highest office in the land.

He deserves our praise, not our cynical obfuscations! In the vast majority of the world, this man has resurrected our national image out of the repugnant sewers the former president had dragged it; and simultaneously, our country has won the applause of peoples everywhere for electing an African-American to the presidency of the most powerful nation in the world.

The Republican Party has been dishonoring this man and his office ever since he was inaugurated. And while he fruitlessly attempted to form a bi-partisan agenda for our country’s future, the Grand Old Party looks every bit the heartless, calloused, and useless party that is so far behind in its thinking and its style of leadership, it helps me understand why they would select Jim Greer, chairman of its Florida party.

JOE SHERIDAN’S BOOK—

JESUS WAS A LIBERAL/A BLOGGER’S BOLD OPIINIONS ON POLITICS AND RELIGION –

IS AVAILABLE FOR HIS READERS AT

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Fri, 04 Sep 2009 18:24:18 GMT

JOE SHERIDAN RESPONDS TO A BLOG BY CJ THAT APPEARED IN THE MILITARY PERSPECTIVE ON SEPTEMBER 4, 2008

Why I Despise Liberals

September 4th, 2008 by CJ

I didn't think about this until after I had written the post, but I have been unable to do anything about it since I've been at work all day. I want to make clear that I do not despise ALL liberals. I have many liberal friends, some of which are here. As a matter of fact, I really like NY David - a liberal. I work with some DOD civilians who are liberals and disagree with me on practically everything political, but I consider them good friends. I don't want to link you wonderful liberals with the idiot extremists that I speak about here. I apologize for not making that point originally and hope I didn't offend those of you who consider me a friend. Just as there are extreme conservatives that I can't stand for their extreme, this post was meant to highlight the extremist in your midst.

I sat patiently and watched the Democratic National Convention. I sat patiently and watched the Republican National Convention. I really try hard not to bring politics onto this site unless it relates to military topics, but I can't keep my mouth shut about this.

Not once…NOT ONCE…during Barack Obama's speech was he interrupted by right wing conservatives at his convention. Conservatives in attendance, if allowed to be in attendance at all, listened intently to what the candidate had to say. There were no chants, no cat calls, and no disruptions. What the hell is wrong with liberals that they have to continuously interrupt John McCain during his speech?!

It started with the idiots, yes IDIOTS, from IVAW. I realize they're fellow Soldiers, but they're morons! Anyone listening to my radio podcast last night heard me rail against those that don't agree with me. I got an email because a fellow veteran didn't like my opinion about giving a medal to Soldiers with PTSD. I discussed how much I love and respect all Soldiers for their service, but that doesn't give them a free pass to do and say stupid things. It's one thing to have an opinion as long as it's an informed opinion. Just because IVAW doesn't agree with the war, doesn't mean they can make a mockery of the process. Oh yeah, freedom of speech, blah blah. Time and place, that's all I have to say.

Then the even bigger idiots - bigger than IVAW - of Code Pink had to have their say and interrupt his speech. Not once, but twice! I loved how those in attendance started shouting "U.S.A." every time they wanted to pipe up, but it still interrupted his speech. I'll keep to myself my opinion about what was said at either convention, that's not for here. I will remark on the stark difference that I noticed between the two conventions:

Republican chant: "U.S.A."
Democratic chant: "Yes, we can" and "Si, se puede"

Republican military tributes: 3, not counting John McCain's
Democratic military tributes: 0

Medal of Honor guests at RNC: 5, plus the family of MoH Recipient Michael Monsoor
Medal of Honor guests at DNC: 0

Number of mainstream media reports of war protests and demonstrations at RNC: numerous
Number of mainstream media reports of war protests and demonstrations at DNC: none; only blogs and special interest sites

This despite the fact that the virtually the same people were at both. Why do I bring this up? Because to the uninformed viewer, it appears as if people are only angry at the RNC and that the DNC has no problems and agrees with ALL Americans. IVAW was at both.

If liberals ever want to be taken seriously, they need to find respectful ways of getting out their message. The problem is that liberals only respect themselves. They don't care about listening to the other side. They only care about furthering their own ignorant agenda of defeat against terrorists and conservatives. I'll be honest, I really liked Obama's speech (I liked Palin's more!). He's a truly remarkable public speaker. And he didn't have to worry about being interrupted by rightwing nuts. Grow up, people!

Posted in Military Perspective

Response from Joseph A. Sheridan

CEO and Publisher of

THE LIBERAL PERSECTIVE/Joe Sheridan’s Radio Weblog.

First of all, I am one of those Liberals you deplore. I can see from the outset that if you think Sarah Palin's speech was better than Barack Obama's that you and I have very little to talk about.

But as you can readily see from the polls and the election results most Americans do not agree with your perspective.

The eight years of the Bush administration has nearly permanently destroyed our country, its civil liberties and its economy.

Obama made sense to an American population that is hurting badly. Many of us believe the war you are fighting was not waged for the safety and security of our country, but from some clandestine motive yet to be revealed.

There are billion and billions of dollars needed at home to repair a rapidly deteriorating infrastructure which has been ignored far too long.

Bush's market driven economics has allowed our governmental agencies to operate without supervision and thus permitted deleterious policies to nearly bankrupt the country.

Bailouts of banks and brokerage houses and now consumer mortgages that cannot be paid off from incompetent oversight of the economic capacity of buyers to pay down their debt is getting a shot of $700 billion dollars in the arm. Another $800 billion was interjected into the economy yesterday November 25, 2008, for a loan to Citigroup and other companies on the brink of insolvency. Your children, if you have or plan to have any, will pay for this their entire lives.

The Bush administration's free market philosophy has given birth to bonuses of millions of dollars to the executives who have driven theses institution into massive debt. Without demanding results, corporations can not successfully operate.

The corruption that has penetrated much of the Bush administration from Halliburton's rip off of the government through their contractual negligence in Iraq was not only tolerated, but by the failure of the government to impose appropriate penalties upon Halliburton and to investigate the relationship of this company with its former CEO, Dick Cheney, they are signaling to other government contractors (and there are many) that corruption of massive proportions will be tolerated.

Young man, you are suffering from a lack of an educated understanding of what the conservatives have done to our nation.

You need to read more, study more and let someone who comprehends the reality of the past eight years to write the blog. You are not prepared for such a daunting task.

You comments relative to the crowd reactions at the two conventions, hit the nail squarely on the thumb. Obviously, you did not see or hear the terrible responses of crowds on the McCain campaign trail that shouted out loud and clear “KILL HIM,” relative to Obama, “Nigger,” “Celebrity,” “Socialist,” “Communists,” “Marxist,” “Muslim,” “Anti-Christ,” and, unfortunately for McCain, most of those vicious comments came from audiences in which Sarah Palin was the speaker, and was the one who encouraged such malicious remarks.

She accused Obama of “palling around with domestic terrorists,” which everyone who took the time to study the circumstances know was a gigantic lie that the Republican Party, McCain and Palin conjured up to put Obama down. Fortunately for America, it did not work this time.

McCain repeated time and again throughout the campaign that Obama was not qualified to be president, that he did not have the experience to be president implying that only McCain had the experience and the qualification.

After all he was a war hero that is recognized by the voters as a deeply appreciated contribution to the freedom of this country, but lying in a cage in the Hanoi Hilton does not give you the qualifications or the experience to become Commander-in-Chief of the United States. And as for his twenty-six years in the U. S. Congress, in his case what it means is one year of experience twenty six times over.

“There is nothing that can take the place of experience, unless it is talent.” These words spoken by an unidentified football coach could not capture the truth more accurately. Obama, perhaps, is the most talented presidential candidate since Thomas Jefferson and John F. Kennedy.

Toward the end of the campaign when McCain became erratic and appeared to modify his campaign strategy every other day, he too uttered absolute lies to make his point. He was bitter. He was negative. He made promises that not even God could produce.

And the American people perceived, especially during the economic collapse, that McCain had no well thought through solutions to the collapse of the housing market, the failure of major banking and insurance institutions while Obama approached the crisis with calm thoughtfulness, and professional candor that gave the clear impression that not only was he qualified to be president, but he was set on a course that could make him a great president.

If you did not see the people dancing in the streets in major cities across the country or the millions that gathered in cities in Europe and Asia, you missed the telling point of why this election has turned the tarnished image of America into a symbol of hope, and reason and compassion.

Barack Obama’s election is the biggest boost to our standing in the world than anything since the Marshall Plan after World War II.

Joseph a. Sheridan
jasltd1@sbcglobal.net

THE LIBERAL PERSPECTIVE/Joe Sheridan's Radio Weblog http:/blogs.salon.com/0004320

JOE SHERIDAN’S BOOK-- JESUS WAS A LIBERAL/A BLOGGER’S BOLD OPIINIONS ON POLITICS AND RELIGION --IS AVAILABLE FOR HIS READERS AT

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Wed, 02 Sep 2009 22:05:05 GMT

PRESIDENT OBAMA MUST INSERT HIMSELF MORE CONVINCINGLY INTO THE UPCOMING BATTLE OVER HEALTH CARE REFORM

IT IS OBVIOUS THAT A BI-PARTISAN SOLUTION WILL NOT EVOLVE WITH THE PRESENT LEADERSHIP IN THE REPUBLICAN PARTY CONTRIBUTING NOTHING BUT ANTIQUATED, WORN OUT IDEAS THAT DO NOTHING TO REDUCE THE UNACCEPTABLELY SOARING COSTS OF HEALTH CARE [BOTH INSURANCE AND TREATMENT].

If IT RESTS STRICTLY ON THE SHOULDERS OF DEMOCRATS TO PASS UNIVERSAL, AFFORDABLE, PORTABLE, HEALTH CARE REFORM WITHOUT EXCLUSIONS FOR PRE-EXISTING CONDITIONS, THEN SO BE IT AND EVERY BLUE DOG AND REGULAR DEMOCRAT MUST ENROLL IN THE BATTLE OR FEAR FOR THEIR SEATS COME THE 20010 ELECTION!

President Obama has received severe criticism for his “lack of involvement in the “Health Care Reform” debacle that is brewing in Congress.

Those of us who were alive and aware during the Clinton fiasco in 1994 when she and a select committee of health care experts wrote a 1,000 page bill that was literally handed to the Congress by the then first lady, [Mrs.] Clinton and her committee.

Congress was hostile; particularly the far right side of the chambers [Republican], so vigorously opposed to any reform of health insurance then, even as they are today even before they know what is included in the new bill that has yet to come out of the various committees in both Houses working on the project.

One of the reasons Congress never seems to get anything accomplished in a short period of time is that there are so many fingers in the legislative pie that by the time a bill emerges there is nothing left but a broken crust.

Obama elected, this time around, to let the Congress write the bill to get as far away as possible from the accusation that the new administration was attempting to arbitrarily shove a bill with pre-determined conditions down their throats.

Obviously, the Obama approach isn’t working well either. It is because there are such deeply imbedded irreconcilable differences between the two political parties it would take forever and a day to resolve the deep abyss that divides them and will perhaps forever. The Democrats have nothing in common with a heartless, free market, special interest oriented GOP.

The Republicans hate anything that smells of government involvement because they are still feeding on the spoiled milk of Ronald Reagan’s idiotic philosophy of government who sincerely felt that “government is not the solution to the problem, government is the problems.” Reagan was wrong then and his adherents are equally wrong today.

Like it or hate it, Social Security and Medicare are life-savers for millions of Americans who are inauspicious enough not to inherit a fortune from their ancestors, or unlucky enough to work for a company that forfeited its employees pensions so laboriously earned over many years of employment with the company when it filed bankruptcy due to appallingly bad management.

The Republicans learned nothing from the recent Great Recession of 2007-8 and the abject failure of their “free market” economic policies that did not make the grade when it came to oversight of the banking, insurance and brokerage business as they played losing games with the people’s money and left millions without retirement funds, their savings or any form of equity.

To allow health care to exist in the same failed “free market” environment would not only be unsuccessful in reducing health care costs, it would give the insurance, pharmaceutical and medical treatment personnel the right to continue to charge more for the product or service, it would drive millions to the edge of bankruptcy and equally important would rob the average American family of the ever decreasing amount of disposable income they have at the end of the month after all bills are paid; not to mention the medical care their families require.

Obama has got to gird his loins for a serious battle not for insurance companies, not for pharmaceutical companies, not for doctors and hospitals, but for the American people who have been left high and dry for nearly thirty years when the “free market” freaks took care of the rich and abandoned the needs of the remaining 98% of the American people.

If the Democrats cannot get together, if the Blue Dog Democrats persist in their opposition to the “public option” or better yet a “single payer” program and continue to pursue an “insurance cooperative” with the authority to control the absurd escalation of insurance premiums and will leave only a handful of mammoth insurance companies to play in the really minute and untested world of coop insurance.

Obama must come out of the Labor Day Week-end swinging on behalf of the policies that he wants. He must be specific about what he wants in the bill and he must twist some arms of some of these Blue Dogs with carrots and sticks and to use the stick when the carrot fails to persuade them.

Those who vote against the Obama plan will be penalized by major contributors to the Obama campaign including labor, teachers, and millions of citizens who voted Democrats into office with the assurance that a health care reform would be passed and signed into law.

And by the way, we do not want some half-assed version of reform that is possible; we want real health care reform that is required now. And not as Senator Lieberman [I-CT] suggested last week--that we take small steps and prove to Republicans that the reform the Democrats want will work.

You could live for one [1] hundred years and never get Republicans to agree on what the progressives in the Democratic Party know we must do to reform a broken and intolerable health care program not just for the uninsured, but for nearly all Americans finding harder and harder to pay the outrageous cost of health insurance and health care in general.

Dr. Drew Westen, professor of psychology and psychiatry at Emory Univer4sity made a poignant point on The Huffington Post: “Public sentiment for genuine reform -- not a Botox bill, which will momentarily cover up the wrinkles in the pained face of our health care system long enough for a smiling Rose Garden ceremony -- may not.”

But we need the president’s voice, his muscle and his power. He will never be loved by everyone. He need not be liked by anyone. With the Republican Party over-populated with a horde of truly cynical, prejudiced and obsolete minds, the Democrats, including President Obama, will have to work in the opposite direction of the party [GOP] that despite the calendar continues to live in times of yore and at the same time work aggressively to convince the American people of today of the workability and viability of their proposals.

“Mr. President—get mad and get tough!” Do not let the Republicans cause you to go down in the flames of defeat on the most vital issue of this century and the very heart of your campaign for the presidency.

Prove the miserable and foolish Senator from South Carolina along with all of his ultra-conservative colleagues that they truly are so far to the right on the issue of health care reform that they are perfectly wrong and are about to slide down the mountain to oblivion and take with them the few reputable members of their party down with them!

JOE SHERIDAN’S BOOK-- JESUS WAS A LIBERAL/A BLOGGER’S BOLD OPINIONS ON POLITICS AND RELIGION --IS AVAILABLE FOR HIS READERS AT

AMAZON.COM AND AUTHORHOUSE.COM--BOTH HAVE ALL VERSIONS OF THE BOOKS

Sun, 30 Aug 2009 20:48:15 GMT

THE CONSERVATIVE WARNING RELATIVE TO THE KENNEDY FUNERAL DESERVES OUR TOTAL REVULSION!

DON’T TELL THE DEMOCRATS HOW TO MOURN THEIR HEROES AND WE WILL NOT TELL YOU HOW TO MOURN YOUR DEITY!

DO YOU THINK THE REAGAN FUNERAL WAS ANYTHING OTHER THAN CALL TO POLITICAL ACTION BY THE FOOLS WHO CONTINUE TO SEEK A CLONE TO REPLACE THE 40^TH PRESIDENT?

At first, I thought that perhaps “by the grace of God and a big wooden spoon,” the Conservative were going to take a few days off from their persistent barrage of lies, misconceptions, and misinformation about the Obama health care reform plan, and pay their respects, their condolences, their gratitude for the assurance Senator Ted Kennedy’s life had given to the American people who have been deprived of the rights, their justice, their equal access to opportunity that the rest of us cherish. Many highly regarded Republicans did just that. Michael Steele stepped down from his partisan podium and made this remarkable statement: “For close to five decades, Sen. Ted Kennedy followed in his family’s long tradition and served his country with great distinction. His legacy should serve as an inspiration to anyone interested in public service.”

Similar praise flowed from former President H. W. Bush, former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, former first lady Nancy Reagan and a chorus of congressional Republicans.

While many names were missing from the list of those praising Senator Kennedy, they were not the Republicans of the highest degree of integrity. In fact, those who “came not to praise” Kennedy tend to live most of their miserable lives in the scum of negative criticism for their rivals and because they are so tainted with their persistently slanderous comments about their opponents, respectable Republicans simply hang their heads in shame.

However, when I read this subhead in today’s newspapers, I really became quite distressed—“Conservatives warn of 'Wellstone effect' for Kennedy!

Who in the GOP has the audacity to tell followers and supporters of one of, if not the, greatest U. S. Senator ever to occupy a seat in the Upper Chamber for forty-seven [47] years how to mourn his loss?

Who in the GOP has the audaciousness to say to those who come to mourn the death and celebrate the life of Edward Moore Kennedy whose name appears on 2500 pieces of legislation passed by the Senator of the United States and signed into law by the president that they must restrain their mourning and their celebration?

Who in the GOP has the temerity to demand that one of the great leaders of a party not of their own brand should modulate their tears for his passing and rejoice in the life he so abundantly lived?

Who in the GOP has the audacity to demand that the Democrats who supported the Senator, friends who did not agree with him, but held him in high regard, and those who disagreed with him fiercely from a political perspective, but loved him as a man, a senator and a human being who knew how to tell a great joke, laugh at those things he felt to be profoundly humorous and sing the great Irish melodies with the colossal strength and power he often employed in his speeches before the Senate on those occasions when he roundly chastised the Republicans for their uncaring hearts and displaced allegiance?

Who in the GOP has the impudence to decry our right to boisterously celebrate this great and marvelously productive life lived for the rights of all, for justice for all, for civil liberties for all no matter their race, color, politics, religious affiliation or sexual preference?

The answer to the question “who in the GOP” would dare tarnish this period of mourning for the death of the “Lion of the Senate” could come from only a very few dark, dank corners of the conservative lunatics.

"Placing [Kennedy’s] name on a health-care bill, in memoriam, or using his name as a sympathy ploy to advance a health care bill that would deny Americans the choices Sen. Kennedy had is an insult and is supreme hypocrisy,” the talk show host Rush Limbaugh said Wednesday. 'The senator's passing is going to give them the opportunity to use the sympathy play to get as much done in his name as possible."

"No government was a partner with God in Ted Kennedy's death. To put his name on this current health-care bill would be to insult what he stood for,” Limbaugh said.

Another leading conservative media figure, Sean Hannity, recalled the Wellstone memorial.

“Remember Paul Wellstone's death? You know, 'Let's do everything for Paul.' And we're now being implored to get behind Obamacare because it's what Ted Kennedy would have wanted,” he said, according to the liberal media monitor Media Matters, which is in turn suggesting that conservatives have crossed the line with allegations of politicization.

The H.S.A. Coalition, a lobbying group devoted to tax-free health savings accounts — championed by conservatives as a health care solution — warned supporters to “watch for the Wellstone effect.”

“The Democrats should remember their experience with the Sen. Wellstone funeral,” wrote the group’s president, Dan Perrin. “While I disagreed with almost everything Sen. Kennedy stood for, the MSM [mainstream media] subjecting the country to a Sen. Wellstone-type funeral experience, would be using him like a cheap suit.”

Former Republican presidential candidate Gary Bauer, who now heads the socially conservative group American Values, echoed Limbaugh’s charge in an e-mail to supporters Wednesday.

“The first news most Americans heard this morning was the announcement that Sen. Ted Kennedy had passed away after his 15-month battle with brain cancer. The second thing most Americans heard was a shameless attempt by Big Media 'talking heads' and liberal politicians to exploit his death by suggesting that America should honor the senator by stopping the debate and passing ‘health care reform,’” he wrote. “No one who was against another Big Government power grab when Ted Kennedy was alive should now toss their principles out of the window and cave in just because he has passed away. In fact, the left and their media shills should be ashamed of themselves for exploiting his death in such a crass and cynical way.”

The Chicago Tribune, in an article entitled “GOP reaction shows deep political divide,” The most contemptible and disgraceful remark came from a relatively unknown blogger for The Washington Times --a voice of the far right emerged out from under his rock long enough yesterday to make this statement: The Tribune article by Mark Z. Barabak and Jim Tankersley wrote: ”But a far different message echoed amid the cacophony of talk radio and across the blogosphere, where Kennedy was excoriated for is liberal politics and especially, the 1969 death of Mary Jo Kopechne at Chappaquiddick Island, MA.”

“Some said good riddance, “If you can’s say something nice about a person, then say mean things about them instead,” wrote Andrew Breitbard, a Washington Times columnist and leading conservative blogger. “Especially if they are unapologetic manslaughterers.”

Politico carried another perspective. “Bill Hillsman, an independent political consultant in Minnesota who did ads for Wellstone in 1990, said he didn’t think the charges would stick.

"I'm not sure [conservatives] are going to have the same traction here as they did with Wellstone's memorial," he said. "That memorial really did turn into a cheerleading session to elect Walter Mondale. I don't think Ted Kennedy's memorial is going to be a cheerleading session for health care."

Those are some of the vicious voices and displaced minds within the Republican Party that even in times of death and mourning allow the snake inside their souls to hiss its poisonous verbiage.

I wonder if this unknown [until today] Washington Times pencil pusher Andrew Breitbard has ever heard of the word, “forgiveness” and if he has ever refreshed his obviously failing memory with the facts. Kennedy apologized in public and many times over the years in complete privacy expressed his disdain for his own behavior at Chappaquiddick Island.

You Pharisees [die hard fanatical Conservatives] and your failure to comprehend in your heart the essence of “forgiveness” is precisely what provoked Jesus to refer to the cold hearted souls the need to put down their stones at a time like this and answer the question that Jesus put to those who were about to carry out the repugnant Jewish law and stone to death a woman caught in the act of adultery—“Let him who is without sin, cast the first stone!”

Those who fail to see the true greatness in Teddy Kennedy above and beyond his many failures. This man had a heart of purely refined and hallmarked gold that reached out every week to the twenty-nine [29] nieces and nephews who had lost their father—his brothers John and Robert- the children of his sisters and to other relatives and friends in times of loss or injury, and to constituents who depended upon him to solve their problems with government agencies. He was there. He reached across the aisle and taught not only his son, Edward, “to like Republicans, but practiced it in his own life” Some of his best friends included GOP colleagues such as the ultra-conservative, Orrin Hatch, Senator from Utah, and others whose opinion he respected even after he pounded his desk and raised his baritone voice in opposition to the political positions he found to be wrong.

He faced great tragedy. He lost three brothers—Joseph, Jr. in the war, John F by assassination, Robert F, by assassination, a sister in World War II, another sister was diagnosed as retarded and was hospitalized most of her life; he experienced two major air crashes one in South Hampton, MA that broke his back kept him hospitalized for months.

His oldest son, Edward Kennedy, Jr. at the age of 12, had his leg amputated due to cancer, Kara, the Senator’s daughter was diagnosed with lung cancer and while told at first she had but one year to live, the Senator found the best expert he could locate, and performed the surgery necessary to remove the cancer. Five years later she was running five miles a day and was going strong... He lost his father, mother and came to the aid of family and friends who confronted difficulties whether physical, legal or psychological.

It was the suffering and the learned ability to fall, get backup and resume the fight that made him the powerful and brilliantly successful Senator he became. Many have concluded that he accomplished more in the Senate than most Presidents’ realize in their White House term.

The Senate will never experience another Senator any time soon who can replace this brilliant man who many believe was one of the greatest Senator’s in the history of Congresses’ Upper Chamber.

Children, veterans, women, minorities and all those who lives were negatively impacted by the actions of government or the failure of government to act, were the benefactors of his heart and soul over the forty-seven [47] years he served in the U. S. Senate.

JOE SHERIDAN’S BOOK-- JESUS WAS A LIBERAL/A BLOGGER’S BOLD OPIINIONS ON POLITICS AND RELIGION --IS AVAILABLE FOR HIS READERS AT

AMAZON.COM AND AUTHORHOUSE.COM IN ALL THREE VERSIONS--HARD COVER, SOFT COVER AND E-BOOK

Fri, 28 Aug 2009 21:34:58 GMT

TEDDY KENNEDY IS DEAD, BUT CAMELOT WILL LIVE FOREVER!

I HAD THE UNIQUE OPPORTUNITY OF SPENDING A FEW DAYS WITH THE YOUNG SENATOR FROM MASSACHUSETTS IN 1955 NAMED JOHN F. KENNEDY

JOHN, LIKE HIS BROTHER TEDDY, WAS LOVED BY ALL WHO KNEW HIM

One of the honors that accompanied my election as Youth Governor of Ohio in 1955 was to spend a few days in Washington, D. C. with the junior senator from Massachusetts, John Kennedy. As I sat in the Senate waiting room off the floor of the U. S. Senate Chamber waiting to meet the most talked about Senator in Democratic circles, I was surprised as this handsome, charming, smiling young man bounced down the stairs to the waiting room, reaching out his hand and saying, “Governor Sheridan, welcome to the Senate of the United States!”

Over the next few days, I had the chance to meet with him from time to time and found to be one of the most likeable men I had ever met. He was direct, open and possessed a sense of humor that allowed those around him to feel his inner warmth and real love for the human race.

One my final day in Washington, as the Senator and I took the elevator to the Senate floor, we said our good-byes, and he walked out onto the room off the Senate floor where Senators gather to rest and to chat with their fellow legislators.

As the doors closed, the lady operating the elevator turned to me and said softly, but oh so sincerely, “That is the finest man in the U. S. Senate. Every time he rides my elevator, he asks about my children by name. Such a fine gentleman,” she said quietly. “Such a fine gentleman,” she repeated as though she felt obliged to be sure I heard her words of praise and admiration.

Teddy Kennedy I never had the privilege to meet, but from my friends in Massachusetts, I understand that he shared the same qualities that made his brother such a great human being. Senator Orrin Hatch [R-UT], one of Kennedy’s best friends spoke last evening on every TV channel and cable station in the country about his love and admiration for Kennedy who served in the U. S. Senate for forty-seven [47] years, the third longest tenure of any Senator in the history of the country.

His legacy, however, will not be the number of years he served; it will be contained in the 2500 pieces of legislation he sponsored or co-sponsored over that impressive span of time. Every piece of social legislation that has been passed by the Congress since 1962 carries the name of Senator Edward Kennedy and because he passed this way, made his way to the U. S. Senate by the people of Massachusetts, he was able to change the face of this nation for women, poverty-stricken children, unemployed, underemployed, of every race, color and creed--all were benefactors of his sympathy for and understanding of the people of this country who were ignored when they passed out money, education, and good health.

There are more Kennedy’s on the horizon and I am sure that the influence of the Patriarch of the Kennedy Clan, Joseph P. Kennedy, will make its impact felt upon the next generation even has it did in Joe’s own children.

Joe Kennedy was Ambassador to the United Kingdom, the first Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission under President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Born in Boston, Joe Kennedy was a staunch Democrat, a die-hard Irishman and a strong Roman Catholic. The influence of these three facets of his life were strictly imposed upon the sub-conscious of every one of his ten [10] children. In Joe’s mind, his oldest son, Joseph, was destined to be the politician of the family, but his death in World War II brought that dream to nothing. However, in his place, a young, skinny, but very bright brother, John F. Kennedy, came to the fore in 1947 when he ran for the U. S. House of Representatives for the 11^th District of Massachusetts. In 1953 he ran for and won the U. S. Senate seat for the state of Massachusetts and in 1960 was elected President of the United States.

Making a very controversial move, the youngest of Joe Kennedy’s tribe, Edward Moore Kennedy, decide to run for his brother’s U. S. Senate seat in 1962 at the youthful age of thirty [30]. Teddy played football at Harvard and was a broad shouldered young man with the infamously handsome Kennedy face whose physical features of strength and confidence were carried over in his personality. His ability to get along with anybody and everybody also made his the “perfect” Senator. Over the years, his capacity to cross the aisle of the Upper Chambers and talk and negotiate with Senators from the Republican persuasion and often make compromises that were necessary at times to make progress in passing key legislation.

Historians, on the day of his death were quick to say, that Edward M. Kennedy will rank among the most talented, gifted and successful men ever to sit in the Upper House of the U. S. Congress.

We will miss Ted Kennedy terribly, particularly at this critical moment as the Congress wrestles with the controversial and complex issues surrounding Health Care Reform. But every Democrat who sits in the House or the Senate owes the beloved “Teddy” one last favor, passing a health care reform bill that is truly reform and not some watered down piece of legislation not worthy of the paper upon which it is written. Universal health coverage, with a public option that will give real teeth to the competition insurance companies must have if we are to bring medical costs in line and reduce health care expenditures.

I would prefer to see a single payer program like Medicare [which to you old fogies about my age have yet to learn is a single payer program that is government run].

God Speed, Ted Kennedy, and give us the honor of watching over us as this recalcitrant and often mean spirited Congress works to bring the people what they want most from his session of Congress.

God bless you and know that we are grateful for all of the great battles you have fought for civil liberties, human rights and health care. Now it our turn to take up the ball you have dropped at our feet and carry it across the goal line to score one for one of the greatest Senators of our history.

Thu, 27 Aug 2009 02:03:15 GMT

OBAMA AND THE WHITE HOUSE STAFF ARE COMPROMISING FAR TOO MUCH AND FAR TOO HURRIEDLY WITH THE ADVERSARIES OF HIS HEALTH CARE REFORM

FOR EXAMPLE--WHY IN HELL DID THE PRESIDENT EVER AGREE NOT TO NEGOTIATE DISCOUNTS WITH PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANIES FOR MEDICARE AND OTHER GOVERNMENT HEALTH CARE PROGRAMS FOR THEIR COLLABORATION ON REFORM

IF THAT IS THE PRICE HE HAD TO PAY FOR THEIR SUPPORT FOR HIS HEALTH CARE REFORM, IT IS A PRICE FAR TOO COSTLY—AT LEAST FOR THE TAXPAYERS!

Why would anyone even hint that they are willing to give up on the “public option” before a bill has even emerged from the Congress. First of all, the “public option” is but a poor substitute for a “single payer system” that, in the end, is the only legitimate way that we will be able to actually cut health care costs significantly.

It seems that every time some half-assed right winger yells “Socialism” at least half of the Democrats in Congress hide under their desks. Why do we insist on dealing in labels, especially when the vast majority of the people who are yelling have no idea what “Socialism” truly is?

Obama should never have abandoned the “single payer option” before the debate even began. The Democrats have a majority and while the House is cluttered with these so called Blue Dog Democrats [allegedly fifty-two] who may vote with the Republicans, However, I believe in the end, when it comes right down to casting their votes, these wayward Democrats will vote against any Obama proposal only with the greatest trepidation imaginable.

These Blue Dogs and those who are overtly critical of the president’s plan because it costs too much, considerably increase the deficit, or will be detrimental to Medicare recipients, will give their opposition a second thought in the face of momentous drop in support from many Democratic stalwarts. Many such as AFL- CIO, United Steel Workers, NEA, American Federation of Teachers, million of liberal and progressive voters who overwhelmingly support a “public option” [even a single payer option] plus the millions of Americans who are fed up with the failure of Congress to deliver a universal health care for decades, have already openly suggested that they will run strong and well-financed campaigns against Congressmen and Senators who refuse to support the president’s plan.

This time around the people voted for a president who ran aggressively on the promise of health care reform. Every poll taken prior to the smear campaign of lies, misinformation and intimidation instituted and executed by the Republican Party and its financiers in the insurance industry over seventy [70] percent of the American people were wildly in favor of health care reform. Reform is what the people want. In other words, a vote against health care reform, affordable insurance, portability from one job to the next, elimination of pre-existing conditions, these Blue Dogs and their Republican colleagues could very well cost them re-election.

We do not yet have a health care reform bill of any kind. Those in town hall meetings are arguing over provisions in a bill that do not exist. The elderly fearful of losing Medicare benefits are crying over milk that has not been spilled. Those yelling Socialism, Fascism, government control such as the lunatics like Rush Limbaugh who deserves to be taken to the woodshed for distorting the provisions of this nonexistent piece of legislation, lying about rationing that does not appear in a bill yet to be written, using provocative language for the sole purpose of spreading fear and anxiety to those who have neither the intelligence, the time, or interest to study the issues for themselves. In other words, your friend, Mr. Limbaugh is pulling his BS right of the bodily part designed to dispose of waste.

The president should fight hard for those portions of a health care bill that succeed in doing everything he promised he would do during his campaign—a portable insurance plan allowing employees who lose jobs to take their insurance policy with them, reduction of overall costs in both premiums and medical procedures, elimination of pre-existing conditions as a reason for denying people insurance coverage, i.e. in other words, deliver what he promised without compromise. A Health Care Reform Bill without all of the “bells and whistles” candidate Obama promised will be worthless for his political future.

One of the major reasons health insurance companies have successfully increased premiums so dramatically over the past decade is the very serious reduction in competition. Some states have only a single carrier, others have but two.

Regardless, as the Associated Press’s Ricardo Alonso-Zalkivar reported his article on August 22, 2009, “Critics say monopolistic conditions drive up premiums paid by employers and individuals.”

Republican Senator Olympia Snowe of Maine represents one of the states with the highest insurance costs in the nation. She said recently, according to AP, “There is a serious problem with the lack of competition among insurers…The impact on the consumer is significant.” In fact, the Senator’s words comprise one of the biggest understatements on the subject.

In her own state, WellPoint, Inc. has captured seventy-one {71} percent of the entire state leaving Aetna with a mere twelve [12] percent.

The AP article goes on to include “A study by the Urban Institute Public Policy Center [which] estimated that a public plan could save taxpayers from $224 billion to $400 billion over ten [10] years by lowering the cost of proposed subsidies for the uninsured, while preserving private coverage for most people.”

The co-author of the Center’s study, economist Linda Blumberg says, “Right now, there’s no incentive for insurers or big hospital groups to negotiate with each other, because they can pass higher payments on through premiums. A public plan would have the leverage to set lower payment rates and get providers to participate at those rates.”

“The health insurance industry maximizes their profits by delivering as little care as they can legally get away with, or for that matter, illegally [get away with].”

If the Congress were correctly doing its job, it would be looking behind the façade of the insurance industry and determine how much money the industry is earning and how much of those earnings were derived from services for which the industry should have performed, but failed to perform to improve their price per earnings ratio.

If Congress, and in particular, Senators Conrad, and Baucus chairmen of the two key committees charged with writing this health care reform legislation for the Senate, fail to include at the very least a “public option” in the version of the bill that finally emerges from the legislative chambers, they are condemning those of us who buy health insurance to a wild ride up a steep mountain of ever increasing premiums and a precipitous, nearly vertical decrease in services provided; in other words, Conrad and Baucus with their miserable idea for an insurance co-op, will give the giants of the health care industry the right to charge us “blind.”

Katha Pollitt of The Nation, wrote in the August 31-September 7, 2009 issue, a question all members of Congress had better ask before casting their vote on any health care reform bill that appears on their desk, “Ok…what are insurance co-ops? I poked around online for fifteen minutes and discovered that they’re untested, small, unregulated, that they exist in twenty states and that Senator Kent Conrad of North Dakota really likes them—but I didn’t discover what they actually are.”

The USA Today ran an article in August 17, 2009 entitled “What is a Health Insurance Co-op anyway?” The following quote comes from Anne Underwood’s article:

The idea that the public plan will dominate the market, I don’t see that. As the president said, we have a post office, Federal Express and U.P.S. I use all three. The idea [of relying solely on private insurers] is like saying we’ll abolish the post office and give people vouchers to send letters with Federal Express. That’s what we’re doing if we don’t have a public plan.

Who knows? Maybe some consumers might put together a co-op that would survive. But the idea that co-ops will provide competition in the private market that would have effect on cost is an illusion. We’re talking about using taxpayer money to pay money to private insurers without any competition. How crazy is that?

Every expert I have read agrees that the substitute offered by these two Senators from far west, an insurance exchange, will not have the power to force reduced rates which is one of the key elements of reducing overall health care cost. More importantly, only the very largest health insurance operators will be able to participate in the exchange, i.e. UnitedHealth Group, WellPoint, and Aetna leaving them the power to determine premiums without the restraint of a “public option,” let alone the vehicle offering the most widely accepted savings that would be derived from a “single payer system.”

Every American and especially every Congressperson had better know precisely what these insurance co-ops really are about before we allow twp Senators [one from North Dakota and the other from Montana] and their other four Senators who are bought and paid for by the insurance industry get us into serious trouble. And reform is nothing more than the Congress once again selling out to those who pay their campaign bills.

If the Congress was truly doing the work of the people, and if we were not so overly populated by a crowd of people who have no idea what the word Socialism truly means, we might be able to pass a health insurance and care reform based upon the very same formula as Medicare which is working fine for me [I am seventy-two years old and have seven years of experience with Medicare]. By the way, to those of you who do not know, Medicare is a single-payer system.

Wendell Potter, a former VP for corporate communications at Cigna, was a major witness before the Congress. According to this former insurance executive, reported that the industry is obsessed by “two key figures: earnings per share and the medical-loss ratio, or medical-benefit ratio, as the industry now terms it. That is the ratio between what the company actually pays out in claims and what it has left over to cover sales, marketing, underwriting and other administrative expenses and, of course, profits.”

Read the above sentence carefully. The health insurance industry has created a term for the money it “loses” for paying health costs of its policy holders.

Potter went on to say that the best way to reduce “medical-loss” is to stop insuring unhealthy people.

The insurance industry has embraced two policies to accomplish a lower “medical-loss”. According to Potter, “One is policy rescission. They look carefully to see if a sick policyholder may have omitted a minor illness, a pre-existing condition, when applying for coverage, and then they use that as justification to cancel the policy, even if the enrollee has never missed a premium.”

“Purging,” according to Potter, is where insurers rid themselves of unprofitable accounts by slapping them with ‘intentionally unrealistic rate increases.’” He gave the example of purge by Cigna when they decided to clear its books of the Entertainment Industry Group Insurance Trust in California and New Jersey by increasing the premiums for some families to $40,000 per year and giving them only three [3] months to pay up.

If a universal health insurance package comes out of Congress, the insurance industry will have approximately fifty [50] million prospective customers. These insurance barracudas must not be permitted to pick and choose or purge their policyholders under any circumstances.

In this kind of severe economic environment, as premiums run unbridled, more and more employers are forced to either cut back on benefits or drop insurance coverage altogether.

The only way to force gluttonous health insurance companies to reduce their profits and their premiums is to create a competitive atmosphere in which to operate. We should put a stop to the limitations that prevent companies from servicing customers outside the state in which they are licensed to serve, also to enhance the competitiveness of the industry.

But more importantly, members of Congress should not “roll over and play dead” on the issue of a “single payer” insurance program. Those poor souls who either can not read or will not read and do nothing but watch Fox News are totally unaware of the fact that the Medicare they love so much is precisely that—a single payer system. And more importantly, it is not socialism in action; rather, it is an effective and less expensive delivery system for the care of senior health. Administrative costs are in the range of 2-4% compared to private insurance companies which are in the 20-30% range. For that reason alone, those who believe that Congress should be representing the needs of our citizens and not the profits of our insurance companies would use their business sense to institute a “single payer” program at this propitious moment in history—a Democratic president, a Democratic Congress and the people crying out for change.