Obama Leads While Congress Stumbles

Obama Leads While Congress Stumbles

President Obama again decisively demonstrated skilled diplomacy as he and Hillary deftly garnered the international support for intervention in protecting thousands of people from a mad dictator. There should be a nonpartisan effort to stand with the world and face down Muammar Gaddafi. Instead, Republicans are criticizing Obama for – get this – lack of leadership? I guess when you have nothing to offer, attack someone else for your own failure to lead. Even Dennis Kucinich, a Democrat, criticized the President for not getting approval from Congress.

So where was the House? At recess…
Congress could not even muster enough interest to meet to address the humanitarian crisis in Libya. Republican Hose Speaker Boehner could have called the House back into session, but he failed to act at this critical moment. Hypocrisy is such a Republican mainstay now the world rightfully asks, “Was Boehner on a corporate sponsored golf junket?”

America is playing this one perfectly. We are gathering real support from nations around the world to deal with rogue regime intent on massacring it’s own citizens.

Contrast this with the dark years of the Bush administration fabricating intelligence reports, scaring the country with nonexistent WMDs, and forcing Colin Powell to lie before the UN holding a baggie of white powder. That is just one of the images from that era that shamed America.

But America has turned a corner since then. The genius of Obama’s actions in this situation re-inspire the American people and the world to once again have confidence in the United States government to identify and address real crises. The US once again serves as a role model to the rest of the world when the President leads the American people in living up to it’s ideals.

As Republicans Lurch Right, Moderates & Independents are Left Behind.

As the Republicans lurch ever further to the right, moderates and Independents are left behind.

The divide between Republicans and the rest of the country is growing ever wider, and moderates and liberals are slowly realizing they actually have a great deal in common.

Even some Republicans who have managed to unplug from FOX have realized that they, too, have a lot more in common with those who support working Americans than they previously thought.

The birther-muslim-kenyan etc. craze has served as a lightning rod for Republicans to draw attention away from their radical pro-rich agenda. The daily shriek is just a smokescreen designed to make what Republicans are really up to seem less extreme in comparison.

Everyone except the most extreme Republicans have come to realize that what is good for the richest 1% is not good for the remaining 99% of Americans. We are all starting to realize that America is made up of more than multi-national corporations; America is made up of people.

Moderates and independents join the liberals in a collective "WTF?" when Republicans vote to keep giving oil companies tens of Billions of dollars in welfare payments. No Republican "talking point" can overpower the fact that oil companies are the most profitable in the history of the world and should not be getting subsidies from the taxpayers.

Independents and moderates are no more immune to rising gasoline prices at the pump than anyone else. So as Wall street speculators drive up the price of oil, Independents, moderates and liberals are coming to the same conclusion: There is something wrong with Republican "business as usual".

So as the almost continuous campaigns heat up, we all know what to expect. The Republicans will trot out all of their tired tactics designed to divide people on social issues in hopes of driving Americans with common economic interests apart. They are playing to an ever shrinking, ever more radical conservative base, leaving most of America behind.

Independents and moderates are not fooled by these distractions. As much as the Republicans have attempted to demonize everything they disagree with as "liberal", it turns out that liberal values are American values. A majority of Americans don't want to change Social Security and, despite the inaccurate reports in the media, Social Security is not "broke". Americans believe it's unfair when people are thrown off their health insurance when they become sick. We realize that tax cuts for the rich only benefit the rich, and the rest of us (and our children) are left paying the bill for it.

Are the Rich Paying More Than Their Share? Are Others Not Paying Their Fair Share? No, and No!

We always hear how the rich are being overburdened with taxes and how a progressive tax system is unfair to the rich. It's such a common talking point in the media that it is almost never questioned. Here's why it's completely false.

First, a few facts: 400 households have 50% of the wealth in the US. These top 400 billionaires own half of everything - money, property, ...Everything.

The rest of us get to share the remaining 50% of the wealth. That means that just 400 get one half, and 310 million share the other half.

But the rich pay a lot of taxes, right? ...Right?

The total amount of the income taxes collected from the billionaires who own half of everything in the US is less than 2%.

So who makes up for the rest? You guessed it ... we do.
The total income taxes paid by the poorest Americans who share the other half of the wealth is 98.2%!

In short, the richest people who own half of everything in America pay 1.8% of the income taxes, while the poorest who share the other half pay over 98% of the income taxes. That's so hard to imagine I made a picture.

The 'common wisdom' talking point that the rich are getting a bad deal is just plain wrong.

How come 40% of people don't pay any income taxes?

The short answer is: because they don't have anything. The poorest 40% of Americans have to share 0.02% of the wealth. That's not two percent, that's point zero 2 percent - or 0.0002.

To put this in perspective, if all the wealth in the US was $100, then the poorest 40%, or 124 million Americans, would split 2 cents between them. That's why they don't pay taxes. You can't get blood from a stone.

So the next time someone whines that it's not fair that 40% of people don't have to pay income tax, remember this picture, and tell him that he's looking the wrong way. Instead of looking down the income scale, he should be looking up the income ladder. Trying to tax those who don't have anything is stupid.

So who else doesn't pay taxes?

Those who have too little income to pay taxes are in good company. It turns out that some that have a lot of income - many in the Billions of dollars - don't pay taxes either.

Amazon(.com) and Boeing aircraft company have income tax rates less than 5%. That seems very low, except when compared to other corporations, they are suckers.

According to the Government Accountability Office, two out of three U. S. corporations paid no federal income tax from 1998 to 2005.

These include many huge corporations. ExxonMobil is the most profitable company in the history of the world. They pay no tax. Nothing. Zilch.

General Electric also pays no tax. But what makes this fact even more unbelievable is that they even get billions in "tax credits" back from the government. That's correct, they actually get money BACK!

So when you hear in the media about the rich being overtaxed, or how tough it is for the rich right now, you now know this 'common wisdom' is completely wrong.

It's always a good time to be rich!

Fellow Americans: We Need to Reflect

"If ballots don't work, bullets will" was shouted by Joyce Kaufman, former Chief of Staff to Republican Representative Allen West, in her speech to the crowd at a Tea Party rally.

It a sad time in America when this anti-American statement and hundreds more like it are not met with widespread and immediate condemnation.

The media likes to portray this issue by reporting both "sides" in a political he-said, she-said style with no real analysis, and certainly no indication of the truthiness of either position.

"False equivalence" in this case refers to the often heard claim in the media that everyone is equally guilty of inciting and dangerous rhetoric. It is a false equivalence because the inciting and dangerous rhetoric comes predominantly from the right-wing of the political spectrum, and not equally from both "sides".

The reality is that Democrats and liberals will reflect on their speech and rhetoric, but Republicans, tea partiers and the right-wing TV & radio shockers will not. Already we have seen the right-wing defend their past inflammatory rhetoric and insist that they will continue it. So the call to "tone it down" will only be heard by those who don't really need to hear it, and ignored by those who really do need to tone it down.

Everyone is NOT equally guilty of inciting and inflammatory rhetoric. But we all have a responsibility to work against it.

In the end, the two "sides" are really those who support open democracy and American principles, and those who agitate against these ideals. The underlying principle of democracy is that we can make the best decisions for the many, without resorting to violence to achieve selfish and narrow political objectives.

If there is one thing that should unite all of us as Americans it's that the vote is the foundation of our democracy. The idea that bullets should ever - ever - be more powerful in our democracy than our votes is something we can all unite against.

So the answer from all Americans to Joyce Kaufman and people like her is: No, bullets will not work. Ballots will.

President Obama Was Right to Cut a Deal

For 23 1/2 months Congress has failed to act on the expiring tax cuts. President Obama stepped in and provided some desperately needed leadership, and now the Democrats are all ready to fight...Obama?

Do you really think Congress can do in 2 weeks what it utterly failed to do in 23 1/2 months?

You can't say President Obama caved without recognizing that the Democratically held Congress has caved for almost 2 years. And now, at the eleventh hour, they think they can get a better deal. But they have put forward no bills either before of after Obama's negotiation with the Republicans.

President Obama was right to cut a deal. The reasoning he gave in his speech was pragmatic and made good sense.

Obama's deal will put food on the table for the unemployed. Tax cuts will pump billions into the economy just when we need it most. That money, if collected as tax, would never be allowed into the economy by the Republicans. The best way to get money to the middle class to spend it is to not collect it in the first place.

It's true that we liberals and progressives didn't feel like it was a "win" because Obama and other Democrats didn't "sell it". I think that this could have been framed more competently to make us feel victorious while doing the right thing. This is not a new issue; it has been a perennial problem for Democrats.

Democrats should not be disappointed with Obama for stepping in at the last minute to do something that the Democrats in Congress utterly failed to do for the 2 years they held both Houses of Congress.

Some of the Democrats in both the House and the Senate were actually in Congress to vote on the original Bush Tax Cuts in 2001. When were they planning to act? They waited 9 years, 11 months and 14 days before decrying the President for dealing with the issue at the last possible moment - while Democrats still held both Houses.

Democratic enthusiasm for a better tax plan is just too little, WAY too late. This should have been a priority a year ago.

Obama did the right thing. We should do the right thing and support him.

Midterm Election 2010: Another Unreported Headline

The "Southern Strategy" was applied nationally, and it worked.

The Republicans used a national campaign this election season. The Southern strategy is a common strategy employed by the Republicans in the southern states, and it works in those states.

The Southern Strategy is the strategy that uses covert and overt racism to stir up fear and anger among white voters to get them to vote Republican and to turn them out in larger numbers. The chairman of the Republican National Committee, Michael Steele, not only admitted that this strategy was used with success, he specifically apologized to the country on behalf of the Republican Party for using the Southern Strategy because it was wrong.

In this midterm election, the Southern Strategy was applied on a national level and it worked in both northern and southern states. The result of this covert and overt race baiting was that the Republicans have the majority seats in the House of Representatives in Congress.

So the question now is: Will the racist campaign strategy turn into a governing strategy?

Midterm Election 2010: The Unreported Headlines

Democrats won the Senate.

There were enough seats up for grabs in this midterm election in both houses of Congress so that either party could gain control of the Senate or the House. The Republicans won control of the House, and the Democrats won control of the Senate. So why does the "mainstream media" frame it as a "win" only for the Republicans?

This is a perfect example of how the "mainstream media" weaves its Conservative bias into the news.

The headline we see is "America Has Spoken: Republicans Win The House"

The Republicans won enough seats in this election to be in the majority in the House. Therefore, Republicans won the House. The Democrats won enough seats in this election to be in the majority in the Senate. Therefore, Democrats won the Senate.

But you won't see it reported that way. Not on CBS, NBC, CNN, not anywhere. Why isn't there a headline that says "America Has Spoken: Democrats Win The Senate"? It's because it doesn't fit with the "mainstream" media's Conservative narrative.

What did America say, and what did the media hear?

Because the Republicans are now in control of the House, everyone is saying "America has spoken". Didn't America speak just as loudly when we voted the Democrats to be in control of the Senate? Or when Obama was elected President? These Democrats were also elected by a majority of American voters.

Democrats were elected to control half of the Legislative Branch in the Senate, and there is a Democratic President presiding over the Executive Branch of our government. Republicans control only one half of the Legislative Branch. For those of you keeping score, that's one and one half branches for the Democrats, and only one-half of a branch for Republicans. That equals a 3 to 1 'branch ratio' favoring the Democrats.

The "mainstream" media narrative is detached from the reality of mainstream America. On the whole, America is still telling Democrats "Keep going!"