There was a funny skit on Saturday Night Live in which a performer who resembles President Obama recited programs promised during the election campaign and then, one-by-one, said something like “that hasn’t happened.” Republicans have been making the same point, but, of course, without any humor. It is with ill grace that a party that has filibustered almost every initiative introduced by the President in Congress, now complains that many of the initiatives have not been enacted.
The Obama Administration has, as I said in my last commentary, saved this country from total financial collapse. The Republicans in Congress could not care less. Their aim is not the economic recovery of their country, but rather, regaining control of Congress and the White House. Some right-wing Republicans, like that buffoon Rush Limbaugh, would actually welcome the failure of our economy.
Many people who do not understand the financial basis of the American Economy are critical of the large amounts of money spent to bail-out the banks and Wall Street financial institutions. Those bail-outs were actually begun under the Bush Administration, which deserves credit for creating the TARP program and supplying needed funds to keep the financial institutions going. This effort was furthered by the Obama Administration with the approval of all major economic experts in America. If it had not been done, American would be an economic wasteland today.
Promptly after his inauguration, President Obama secured enactment of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, better known as the “Stimulus Bill.” It is thanks in part to this bill, and its effect of creating or saving over 640,000 jobs, that the recession is now ending and our economy is returning to robust activity.
There have been many other accomplishments. On January 29, 2009, the President signed the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act which reversed an obnoxious Supreme Court decision and made it possible for working women to bring suit for long-standing pay discrimination.
On February 4, 2009, the President signed the Children’s Health Reauthorization Act which reinstituted a program providing health insurance for millions of children from lower-income families.
On May 20, 2009, the President signed the Helping Families Save Their Homes Act and the Fraud Enforcement and Recovery act, two pieces of legislation intended to ameliorate the effect of massive foreclosures around the country. The Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act gives the federal government tools to crack-down on the kind of fraud that put thousands of hardworking families at risk of losing their homes despite doing everything right to live within their means.
On May 22, 2009, the President signed the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure Act of 2009. Congress has taken action to move-up the effective date of this law due to the fact that the banks have tried to avoid it by hastily raising interest charges.
Among other major legislative accomplishments of the Obama Administration there are the Weapons System Acquisition Reform Act, the Cash for Clunkers Act, extensions of the Unemployment Insurance Program, The Hate Crimes Bill, and the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2010 (in which the President was able to cancel a number of programs and weapons systems unwanted by the Pentagon).
Aside from these and many other items of legislation, the President has accomplished a great deal by means of executive orders, including the outlaw of torture, the requirement that the federal government invest in energy efficiency, reversal of the Mexico City Policy, and reversal of many of Bush’s executive orders including one permitting a claim after an administration ends of executive privilege for presidential records. President Obama’s initiatives in foreign affairs have improved the standing of America throughout the world and earned him the Nobel Peace Prize.
If you think that the Obama Administration has no important accomplishments, think again.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
The Economy?
To my astonishment, one of the factors given for the Democratic losses in the November 3rd election of Republicans to the governorships of Virginia and New Jersey was the poor state of the economy. In surveys taken at polling places, 85 percent of voters in Virginia and 89 percent of voters in New Jersey said that they were worried about the economy. Apparently the high rate of unemployment is being blamed by some on President Obama, who has been in office for 10 months. It seems that people, egged-on by Republican leaders, blame the incumbents in office for the state of the economy even if it is not their fault. Moreover, Republican spin-doctors have tried to make the governors races a referendum, in part, on President Obama’s handling of the economy.
Let’s get a few things straight. President Obama inherited a disastrous recession from George W. Bush and the Republicans. The recession was largely the result of the Republican repeal of laws and regulations that would have prevented much of the predatory lending and Wall Street manipulation of derivatives that led to a national financial meltdown. The recession began in December, 2007, and by the time Obama was inaugurated in January, 2009, it was in full-swing. At its low point, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 6347. As of November 6, 2009, it stood at over 10,000. In January, 2009, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was down -6.2 percent. As of September, 2009, it was up +3.6 percent. That’s a 9.8 percent improvement in the GDP in just 9 months.
When President Obama took-over the government, America’s major banks and financial institutions were on the verge of total collapse. Such a collapse would have plunged this nation into depression and chaos. Over the objections of congressional Republicans, the President and his economic team were able to rescue the financial segment of our economy with TARP and other funds and were able to stem the tide of economic disaster with a major stimulus bill.
Those who accuse the Obama Administration of doing nothing should stop and think. All they have done to date is save this country from utter financial devastation. If you think we have high unemployment now, imagine what it would be like in a real depression. During the great depression of the 1930’s it was as much as 25 percent.
As of October, 2009, the stimulus had created or saved over 640,000 jobs. The U.S. manufacturing sector grew in August for the first time in 19 months. It continued to grow in September and October. According The Institute for Supply Management in its monthly Report on Business, the US manufacturing industry is hiring more aggressively than at any time since 2006. The Institute’s index for employment increased by 6.9 percentage points in October, 2009.
On November 2, 2009, The National Association of Realtors said pending home sales rose again, marking eight consecutive monthly gains – the longest streak since measurement began in 2001.
October, 2009, was far and away the best month American retailers have had since consumers put the brakes on spending last autumn. Major categories had robust sales growth for the first time in more than a year. In October, 2009, apparel sales increased 3.4 percent compared with the same period a year ago, luxury goods rose 6.5 percent, and jewelry increased 7.2 percent.
Despite the fact that there is still high unemployment, most leading economists have declared the recession to be over. It will take time to get back the jobs that were lost during the Bush recession, but they will come back—perhaps slowly. The absence of a genuine depression and the continued improvement in the economy is thanks to the steps taken by the Obama Administration and opposed by the Republicans.
Let’s get a few things straight. President Obama inherited a disastrous recession from George W. Bush and the Republicans. The recession was largely the result of the Republican repeal of laws and regulations that would have prevented much of the predatory lending and Wall Street manipulation of derivatives that led to a national financial meltdown. The recession began in December, 2007, and by the time Obama was inaugurated in January, 2009, it was in full-swing. At its low point, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 6347. As of November 6, 2009, it stood at over 10,000. In January, 2009, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was down -6.2 percent. As of September, 2009, it was up +3.6 percent. That’s a 9.8 percent improvement in the GDP in just 9 months.
When President Obama took-over the government, America’s major banks and financial institutions were on the verge of total collapse. Such a collapse would have plunged this nation into depression and chaos. Over the objections of congressional Republicans, the President and his economic team were able to rescue the financial segment of our economy with TARP and other funds and were able to stem the tide of economic disaster with a major stimulus bill.
Those who accuse the Obama Administration of doing nothing should stop and think. All they have done to date is save this country from utter financial devastation. If you think we have high unemployment now, imagine what it would be like in a real depression. During the great depression of the 1930’s it was as much as 25 percent.
As of October, 2009, the stimulus had created or saved over 640,000 jobs. The U.S. manufacturing sector grew in August for the first time in 19 months. It continued to grow in September and October. According The Institute for Supply Management in its monthly Report on Business, the US manufacturing industry is hiring more aggressively than at any time since 2006. The Institute’s index for employment increased by 6.9 percentage points in October, 2009.
On November 2, 2009, The National Association of Realtors said pending home sales rose again, marking eight consecutive monthly gains – the longest streak since measurement began in 2001.
October, 2009, was far and away the best month American retailers have had since consumers put the brakes on spending last autumn. Major categories had robust sales growth for the first time in more than a year. In October, 2009, apparel sales increased 3.4 percent compared with the same period a year ago, luxury goods rose 6.5 percent, and jewelry increased 7.2 percent.
Despite the fact that there is still high unemployment, most leading economists have declared the recession to be over. It will take time to get back the jobs that were lost during the Bush recession, but they will come back—perhaps slowly. The absence of a genuine depression and the continued improvement in the economy is thanks to the steps taken by the Obama Administration and opposed by the Republicans.
Monday, November 9, 2009
More on Intelligence, Education, and Elitism
A recent letter to the editor reminded me that there are still morons out there writing letters to the editor. Some letters are so illiterate you would think that the writers would be ashamed to send them in. This one was full of grammatical errors, but I will not repeat them all. The writer referred to my column as being filled with "miss-information," which I assume is information for unmarried women. The writer has no clue as to how to punctuate, constantly leaving his commas outside the quotation marks, and referring to me as "one of the 'State Controlled Media' wannabe's'." This moron has written many letters to the editor, and each one is filled with grammatical errors. He displays his ignorance without realizing that educated people are aware of his inability to write in the english language.
When I wrote a column discussing the lack of education found in conservative commentators like Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and Glenn Beck, and compared it with the educational accomplishments of liberal news people, the letters poured in calling me an “elitist.” I also contrasted the low educational achievements of Bush Administration officials with the extraordinary accomplishments of President Obama and his team. This seemed to outrage the right-wing people who responded to my column by saying that we would be far better-off in Washington with less educated people.
It seems that there is a kind of class hatred by conservatives toward liberals and toward the generally higher level of liberals’ education. Conservatives feel that they are looked down upon by more intellectual liberals. It is not unlike the deep resentment felt by lower class people toward wealthy and sophisticated people. That kind of resentment has fueled violent revolutions.
I probably am an elitist. I believe that when it comes to news commentators, the truth is more likely to be heard from highly educated people than from uneducated people. I believe that the best people to run a government are the most highly educated and intelligent people. I simply cannot understand people’s claim that we need uneducated people running this country. When G. Harrold Carswell was nominated by President Nixon to the Supreme Court, Democrats charged that he was a mediocre judge. In defense, Senator Hruska of Nebraska said: "Even if he is mediocre, there are a lot of mediocre judges and people and lawyers. They are entitled to a little representation, aren't they, and a little chance.” I don’t know if he was kidding or not.
The last thing you want on the Supreme Court is a mediocre judge. The most important attribute of any Supreme Court justice must be intelligence. If I am an elitist because I want my Supreme Court justices to be highly educated intellectuals, so be it. The same applies to the President and his Administration. I want the very brightest people running the country. If this is discrimination against not-so-bright people, so be it. I realize that highly educated people can make major mistakes. A good example would be the list of mistakes involving Viet Nam described in "The Best and The Brightest" by David Halberstam. I realize that all governments make mistakes, but I want those decisions being made by educated and intelligent people, not dunderheads.
I am firmly convinced that there is a wide gap in education and intelligence between liberals and conservatives. This is proven not only by the difference between liberal and conservative media commentators and the difference between liberal and conservative governmental officials, but also by the people one meets everyday. I realize that many poor minority people can be considered liberal, and that many of them do not have extensive education, but when I speak of liberals and conservatives, I am speaking of the middle and upper-class people of all races who do not suffer from the obstacles that confront the poor people.
My thesis is proven by the letters to the editor opposing my columns. It is surprising that people writing to the editor are willing to have such illiterate letters published for all the public to see. The letters are not only substantively stupid, but are filled with grammatical and spelling errors. In some cases it is almost as if the writer was a secret liberal trying to make conservative letter-writers look foolish.
The same letter-writer that I referred to above was incensed that I dared to criticize the far right-wing organizations like the Ku Klux Klan. He started a sentence, “The vitrol language you have used…” The remainder of his letter is long, ungrammatical, and unintelligible. His other letters are equally dumb. Another letter-writer penned the following brilliant remark about me: “It’s not hard to see nor read he truly doesn’t know what he is talking about nor does he speak for Americans.” The same writer recently wrote, and repeated, that President Barack Obama is a “Muslin.” I suggested to the editor of the paper that perhaps we should call President Obama the “Commander in sheets.”
I also notice that even the letters that are not illiterate show a high degree of stupidity. It is as if such writers did not actually read my column and are responding to some other commentary. I wrote a column carefully examining why some female voters who had supported Hillary Clinton refused to vote for Barack Obama, and suggested that some, not all, might be doing so because of racism. One writer complained that I was painting all people who switched from Clinton to John McCain as racists. In my column I had gone out of my way to say the opposite. In another column I expressed concern that vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin had once called the head librarian in town to inquire about censoring some books. I was careful to note that no books were actually removed. Nevertheless, one writer complained that I had accused Palin of book-burning. This kind of thing has happened repeatedly.
I recently wrote a column describing the stupidity of ultra right-wing organizations like the Ku Klux Klan. I did so hoping to draw some Klan sympathizers out of the woodwork. One of my frequent critics took the bait and wrote a letter to the editor in which he accused me of “defiling” myself. I assume that, unless he is a secret liberal trying to make conservatives look like idiots, he is a Klan or militia sympathizer. He has now walked into my trap and exposed his true beliefs for everybody to see.
I have noticed that southwest Ohio is heavily populated by far right-wing types. I assume that somehow, large numbers of Southern rednecks came up from the South and settled in this area. These are the least educated Americans. They are the most conservative, and in many cases, their conservatism spills over into extremism. When I use the term “redneck,” they complain because they identify with that term. They are proud to be gun-toting, rebel-flag-waving, Klan sympathizing, bigoted, uneducated, ignorant, repulsive rednecks. They know that they can never be intellectuals, so they wallow in their own ignorance.
When I wrote a column discussing the lack of education found in conservative commentators like Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and Glenn Beck, and compared it with the educational accomplishments of liberal news people, the letters poured in calling me an “elitist.” I also contrasted the low educational achievements of Bush Administration officials with the extraordinary accomplishments of President Obama and his team. This seemed to outrage the right-wing people who responded to my column by saying that we would be far better-off in Washington with less educated people.
It seems that there is a kind of class hatred by conservatives toward liberals and toward the generally higher level of liberals’ education. Conservatives feel that they are looked down upon by more intellectual liberals. It is not unlike the deep resentment felt by lower class people toward wealthy and sophisticated people. That kind of resentment has fueled violent revolutions.
I probably am an elitist. I believe that when it comes to news commentators, the truth is more likely to be heard from highly educated people than from uneducated people. I believe that the best people to run a government are the most highly educated and intelligent people. I simply cannot understand people’s claim that we need uneducated people running this country. When G. Harrold Carswell was nominated by President Nixon to the Supreme Court, Democrats charged that he was a mediocre judge. In defense, Senator Hruska of Nebraska said: "Even if he is mediocre, there are a lot of mediocre judges and people and lawyers. They are entitled to a little representation, aren't they, and a little chance.” I don’t know if he was kidding or not.
The last thing you want on the Supreme Court is a mediocre judge. The most important attribute of any Supreme Court justice must be intelligence. If I am an elitist because I want my Supreme Court justices to be highly educated intellectuals, so be it. The same applies to the President and his Administration. I want the very brightest people running the country. If this is discrimination against not-so-bright people, so be it. I realize that highly educated people can make major mistakes. A good example would be the list of mistakes involving Viet Nam described in "The Best and The Brightest" by David Halberstam. I realize that all governments make mistakes, but I want those decisions being made by educated and intelligent people, not dunderheads.
I am firmly convinced that there is a wide gap in education and intelligence between liberals and conservatives. This is proven not only by the difference between liberal and conservative media commentators and the difference between liberal and conservative governmental officials, but also by the people one meets everyday. I realize that many poor minority people can be considered liberal, and that many of them do not have extensive education, but when I speak of liberals and conservatives, I am speaking of the middle and upper-class people of all races who do not suffer from the obstacles that confront the poor people.
My thesis is proven by the letters to the editor opposing my columns. It is surprising that people writing to the editor are willing to have such illiterate letters published for all the public to see. The letters are not only substantively stupid, but are filled with grammatical and spelling errors. In some cases it is almost as if the writer was a secret liberal trying to make conservative letter-writers look foolish.
The same letter-writer that I referred to above was incensed that I dared to criticize the far right-wing organizations like the Ku Klux Klan. He started a sentence, “The vitrol language you have used…” The remainder of his letter is long, ungrammatical, and unintelligible. His other letters are equally dumb. Another letter-writer penned the following brilliant remark about me: “It’s not hard to see nor read he truly doesn’t know what he is talking about nor does he speak for Americans.” The same writer recently wrote, and repeated, that President Barack Obama is a “Muslin.” I suggested to the editor of the paper that perhaps we should call President Obama the “Commander in sheets.”
I also notice that even the letters that are not illiterate show a high degree of stupidity. It is as if such writers did not actually read my column and are responding to some other commentary. I wrote a column carefully examining why some female voters who had supported Hillary Clinton refused to vote for Barack Obama, and suggested that some, not all, might be doing so because of racism. One writer complained that I was painting all people who switched from Clinton to John McCain as racists. In my column I had gone out of my way to say the opposite. In another column I expressed concern that vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin had once called the head librarian in town to inquire about censoring some books. I was careful to note that no books were actually removed. Nevertheless, one writer complained that I had accused Palin of book-burning. This kind of thing has happened repeatedly.
I recently wrote a column describing the stupidity of ultra right-wing organizations like the Ku Klux Klan. I did so hoping to draw some Klan sympathizers out of the woodwork. One of my frequent critics took the bait and wrote a letter to the editor in which he accused me of “defiling” myself. I assume that, unless he is a secret liberal trying to make conservatives look like idiots, he is a Klan or militia sympathizer. He has now walked into my trap and exposed his true beliefs for everybody to see.
I have noticed that southwest Ohio is heavily populated by far right-wing types. I assume that somehow, large numbers of Southern rednecks came up from the South and settled in this area. These are the least educated Americans. They are the most conservative, and in many cases, their conservatism spills over into extremism. When I use the term “redneck,” they complain because they identify with that term. They are proud to be gun-toting, rebel-flag-waving, Klan sympathizing, bigoted, uneducated, ignorant, repulsive rednecks. They know that they can never be intellectuals, so they wallow in their own ignorance.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
The Hate Crimes Bill
On October 28, 2009, President Obama signed into law the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act. The Act expands the 1969 United States federal hate-crimes law to include crimes motivated by a victim's actual or perceived sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, or disability. This was the law that was so forcefully opposed by James Dobson and Focus on the Family. It has long been opposed by Republicans and supported by Democrats. Now, by tying it to a Defense appropriation bill, the Democrats were able to get it passed.
In signing the bill the President pointed-out why this law was a necessary addition to regular laws against violent attacks: “You understood that we must stand against crimes that are meant not only to break bones, but to break spirits -- not only to inflict harm, but to instill fear. You understand that the rights afforded every citizen under our Constitution mean nothing if we do not protect those rights -- both from unjust laws and violent acts. And you understand how necessary this law continues to be....we sense where such cruelty begins: the moment we fail to see in another our common humanity -- the very moment when we fail to recognize in a person the same fears and hopes, the same passions and imperfections, the same dreams that we all share.”
Thirty-five Senate Republicans voted against passage of the defense authorization bill because it also contained this hate crimes legislation. Only Senators George Voinovich, Dick Lugar, Olympia Snowe, and Susan Collins voted with Democrats to move the legislation to a final vote.
House Minority Leader, John Boehner, opposed the bill saying: "All violent crimes should be prosecuted vigorously, no matter what the circumstance. The Democrats' 'thought crimes' legislation, however, places a higher value on some lives than others.” The bill, however, does not prosecute “thought crimes.” It explicitly states that "Nothing in this Act...shall be construed to prohibit any expressive conduct protected from legal prohibition by, or any activities protected by the free speech or free exercise clauses of, the First Amendment to the Constitution."
Boehner and the right-wingers have not given the real reason for their opposition. The real reason is that they hate homosexuals and do not want to have laws protecting them from the army of homophobic bigots out there who would gladly attack and kill them. They think that gays are evil. They stupidly believe that gays have chosen their sexual orientation, and that such choice should be punished.
Boehner claims that the hate-crimes bill singles out one group and provides it with special protection. I wonder how he and his cohorts would feel if the law singled-out combat veterans and provided them with special protection against attack. They would be falling all-over each-other to support such a bill. But we all know that criminals do not attack veterans just because they are veterans. On the other hand, thousands of gays and transgender people have been deliberately attacked, injured, and murdered because of their sexual identity.
Matthew Shepard was tortured, tied to a fence, and murdered in 1998 near Laramie, Wyoming, because he was perceived to be gay. James Byrd, Jr. was an African-American man who was tied to a truck by two known white supremacists, dragged by it, and decapitated in Jasper, Texas in 1998. There were no applicable hate crime laws in Wyoming and Texas at the time of the murders.
Right-wingers like John Boehner use mealy-mouthed excuses for their prejudice against gays. All hatred of gays is unpardonable bigotry. All bigotry is ignorance. Organizations that claim to be religious, but cry-out against the rights of homosexuals, should be denounced. And the right-wingers in Congress, by catering to this barbarian segment of the populace, deserve to be condemned.
In signing the bill the President pointed-out why this law was a necessary addition to regular laws against violent attacks: “You understood that we must stand against crimes that are meant not only to break bones, but to break spirits -- not only to inflict harm, but to instill fear. You understand that the rights afforded every citizen under our Constitution mean nothing if we do not protect those rights -- both from unjust laws and violent acts. And you understand how necessary this law continues to be....we sense where such cruelty begins: the moment we fail to see in another our common humanity -- the very moment when we fail to recognize in a person the same fears and hopes, the same passions and imperfections, the same dreams that we all share.”
Thirty-five Senate Republicans voted against passage of the defense authorization bill because it also contained this hate crimes legislation. Only Senators George Voinovich, Dick Lugar, Olympia Snowe, and Susan Collins voted with Democrats to move the legislation to a final vote.
House Minority Leader, John Boehner, opposed the bill saying: "All violent crimes should be prosecuted vigorously, no matter what the circumstance. The Democrats' 'thought crimes' legislation, however, places a higher value on some lives than others.” The bill, however, does not prosecute “thought crimes.” It explicitly states that "Nothing in this Act...shall be construed to prohibit any expressive conduct protected from legal prohibition by, or any activities protected by the free speech or free exercise clauses of, the First Amendment to the Constitution."
Boehner and the right-wingers have not given the real reason for their opposition. The real reason is that they hate homosexuals and do not want to have laws protecting them from the army of homophobic bigots out there who would gladly attack and kill them. They think that gays are evil. They stupidly believe that gays have chosen their sexual orientation, and that such choice should be punished.
Boehner claims that the hate-crimes bill singles out one group and provides it with special protection. I wonder how he and his cohorts would feel if the law singled-out combat veterans and provided them with special protection against attack. They would be falling all-over each-other to support such a bill. But we all know that criminals do not attack veterans just because they are veterans. On the other hand, thousands of gays and transgender people have been deliberately attacked, injured, and murdered because of their sexual identity.
Matthew Shepard was tortured, tied to a fence, and murdered in 1998 near Laramie, Wyoming, because he was perceived to be gay. James Byrd, Jr. was an African-American man who was tied to a truck by two known white supremacists, dragged by it, and decapitated in Jasper, Texas in 1998. There were no applicable hate crime laws in Wyoming and Texas at the time of the murders.
Right-wingers like John Boehner use mealy-mouthed excuses for their prejudice against gays. All hatred of gays is unpardonable bigotry. All bigotry is ignorance. Organizations that claim to be religious, but cry-out against the rights of homosexuals, should be denounced. And the right-wingers in Congress, by catering to this barbarian segment of the populace, deserve to be condemned.
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