Finally, the Tough Talk Americans Deserve

Good Morning! It's a little late, but President Obama finally stepped up to the plate and started fighting back against the Republican idiot-machine that's been blaring for far too long now. It's been driving all reasonable Americans crazy, and it's time for it to be drowned-out by a more robust, intelligent messenger - President Barack Obama, our new hero in the White House!

President Obama finally launched a set of attacks on Republicans that including speaking off-the-cuff during some speeches, slamming Republicans for their lack of new ideas, repetition of old ideas, and pure obstructionism. Obama said Americans had not voted for "false theories of the past and they didn't vote for phony arguments and petty politics."

"They didn't vote for the status quo, they sent us here to bring change. We owe it to them to deliver," a fired up Obama said at a resort in Williamsburg, Virginia. HOW FANTASTIC! He knows the MAJORITY OF AMERICANS support him, and he's using the bully pulpit to speak and rail against the Republican repetitive-monkey-machine. It's a beautiful thing to watch. GO FOR IT MR. PRESIDENT!

The president is rejecting the Republican LIES that the stimulus plan should be defeated because it will expand the budget deficit. He's saying YES, it is a spending bill. That is what is required to create good American JOBS! "I found this deficit when I showed up," Obama said. He knows we know - how Rumsfeldian - the deficits are a Republican creation. It doesn't stop most Americans from understanding our current plight, and that deficits are only part of the problem. Jobs are even more important.

The president is telling the stubborn, obnoxious Republican hypocrites in the Senate that the "time for talk is over" and that immediate passage is necessary to prevent the worst economic crisis since the 1930s. The clock is not only ticking, it's about to break and stop working all together. President Obama is right to demand passage soon; there is no time to waste.

Republicans from hard-core, low-risk red state seats in the Senate seem unconcerned about national unemployment, despite showing around 600,000 job losses last month. They also appear unconcerned about their own constituents, because their states feature some of the highest unemployment figures in the nation. Instead, they continue to hammer on tax cuts for the rich and increased infrastructure spending - what economists call a single industry solution. Creating jobs across multiple sectors is of no concern to them.

As I keep repeating, the main Republican positions are absurd based on their past economic performance. The Democrats and President Obama agree; we tried it their way, and now we plan to go back to what works. "The time for talk is over, the time for action is now because we know that if we do not act, a bad situation will become dramatically worse," Obama said.

I must admit he had a rocky start, but it's good to see him get angry and stop pulling his punches. He can play chess instead of checkers all he wants, but that shouldn't stop him from speaking out when the Republicans are out there lying to everyone and anyone who listens.

The Republican manipulation of national data and media lies about middle-class America often leads to ignorant public support - aided by bad journalism - and ultimately bad legislation. In my opinion those negative Republican tactics must be torn from the national fabric and discarded forever. We need a new awakening as a nation.

Unlike many Democratic leaders of the past, President Obama needs to carry the biggest stick possible and beat the liars over the head with it every chance he gets. Only then will the bullies of the selfish Republican right back down and allow us to repair their damage. We have your back Mr. President. WE WON, and now WE NEED THE REPUBLICANS TO GET THE HELL OUT OF OUR WAY! Show us the way forward!

Friday's Political Rant #1 - Michael

Americans Always Get a Fresh Start

Good Morning Bloggers - Well, it looks like George W. Bush is leaving office having eliminated nearly 4 million jobs and leaving us in a nightmare of a recession, and don't forget about the $5 trillion in new debt - out of an $11 trillion total - he and his Republican friends will leave us as a parting gift. Bush is a failure on a colossal scale. Few can fathom the depths of his blunders, since the numbers and the problems are mind-numbing, staggering and sad.

The official unemployment rate is now at 7.2% and when you throw in the under-employed and those who simply fell out the system, economists say it's more like 14%. Of course the far right is already saying that it's the Democrat's or Obama's fault, but the rest of us know better. They were in charge - despite their ignorant belief we were after the 2006 election, filibusters be damned - and they destroyed our system. Now we need to tune them out and pick up the pieces.

So, despite the bad news, I chose to rave this morning. Why? Because I choose to remain optimistic. One way to remain optimistic and start the healing process is to reflect on success in the past. In 1992, when Bill Clinton was elected President, the American economy was barely creating jobs, wages were stagnant, and the unemployment rate was 7.5 percent. Sound familiar? That was under another Republican, and a Bush. I guess the Republicans loved those days so much they elected his son to do it all over again.

Obama's new economic plan is similar to Clinton’s at that time, however, whereas Clinton focused heavily on fiscal responsibility and debt reduction, Obama is forced to to renew parts of Roosevelt's New Deal. His bold economic strategy is focused on: government spending designed to spur growth, investing in education, and health care reform.

Once the bleeding has stopped, he also wants to focus on investing in green energy and other new industries. It's sill unclear what he'll do about Clinton's love of trade deals, so I guess we'll have to wait and see. I only hope he cares more about FAIR TRADE at the expense of free trade.

Still, if you consider what Clinton achieved, the strategy helped create over 22.4 million jobs and contributed to the longest economic expansion in U.S. history. WOW! Despite the idiotic opposition that always tries to take credit for the good while passing the buck on the bad, Democrats should be confident that we have what it takes to fix what George Bush and the Republicans broke.

So, let's try to be optimistic. Obama is not just a new beginning, he's a brilliant man, well suited to fixing the mess we're in now. He's working on creative solutions, perhaps taking the best of Clinton while adding his own bit of ingenuity.

That's what is so cool about the American system. Over the past eight years we Americans, or at least Democrats, have been envious of other countries with Parliamentary systems. We all know Bush would have suffered a vote of no confidence years ago. Our system is flawed, but the abusive presidents like Bush are few, while the number of very good, creative presidents, who accomplished great things, are clearly the majority.

So, we should be happy despite the nightmare. Yes, we sustained a great deal of damage, the unemployment rate continues to skyrocket, but the ship of state is still afloat, and we have a captain who understands what must be done to repair her. It's not going to be easy, but then again, tough times aren't meant to be easy. They're meant to challenge, test people of good character, weed out the bad, and create new solutions. America always gets a fresh start. Soon we shall have it.

Friday's Political Rave #1 - Michael

Expert Toady and Torture Tsar Needs a Job!

Hello Bloggers - The great wheel of life that moves the karmic forces of the universe appears to be spinning in the wrong direction for at least one in that criminal gang we call the Bush Administration.

I have the great pleasure to report that past thug, hired gun, and torturer-extraordinaire, Bush Administration Lawyer and Attorney General, Alberto - "the ghoul" - Gonzales, has admitted this week to be interminably UNEMPLOYED!

Yes, it's incredible. I always thought that Republicans hired Republicans, no matter how tainted they were with other people's blood. I guess I was wrong. It would appear that even repulsive Republican law firms have their standards. They "are skittish” about hiring him, Gonzales personally reports.

The man is under fire from the Justice Department and the entire Democratic opposition in the US Congress for his role in the political firings of nine US Attorneys, along with other suspicious behavior under investigation, mostly involving law-breaking related to White House record-keeping.

He says he considers himself a "victim of the war on terror.” WOW! What a CROCK of BS! He's the VICTIM now? I heard that Hitler felt the same way after losing his power, just before he killed himself. There you go Alberto, another way out!

The 53-year-old former judge and corporate lawyer told the Wall Street Journal, “What is it that I did that is so fundamentally wrong, that deserves this kind of response to my service?” UNBELIEVABLE! First of all, what service? Unless you call finding legal arguments designed to destroy the American justice system service, I don't see it Alberto.

The whole thing is scary. They all seem to enjoy the same "I didn't do it," Bart Simpson-like ability to distance themselves from their own crimes - both big and small, it doesn't matter. What incredible denial!

He says he’s delivered a FEW paid speeches, done mediation work and some arbitration. In the interview, he also said he’s writing a book but hasn’t yet found a publisher. If you ask me, he's angry that he HASN'T PROFITED from his role the way most Bushies have profited - in the MILLIONS AND BILLIONS!

Any "tell all" book, despite my personal desire to witness the exposure, wouldn't be worth the paper, and the publishers know it. The man has NO CREDIBILITY! Let's hope he NEVER finds a publisher, or a good job, and is forced to become a notary public (yea, right), or worse.

The Journal describes him as "flummoxed" by the amount of rancor leveled at his stewardship of the Justice Department, saying he wasn’t the one to blame. THEN WHO WAS YOU FREAKIN LUNATIC! “For some reason, I am portrayed as the one who is evil in formulating policies that people disagree with,” Gonzales said. “I consider myself a casualty, one of the many casualties of the war on terror.” Again, WOW!

How dare you! You little piece of crap! There are THOUSANDS OF CASUALTIES in the war on terror, and millions of injured, and YOU ARE NOT ONE OF THEM! You dishonor them all by that comparison. You are nothing but a narcissistic, disgusting little toady-like outre worm of a lawyer that happens to be scorned by the lowest of the low.

It is true that allies, Iraqis, Afghans, international "unlawful combatants" (a term you documented by the way), and honorable Americans have died because of your old boss, but you sir do not deserve to be mentioned in the same sentence with them. You are nothing compared to them.

You didn't even have the guts to tell Congress the truth when given the opportunity to help the nation, which also might have helped clear your name. You have been caught in LIE AFTER LIE, and nobody trusts you anymore. You are a liar! How many employers, especially law firms, need liars?

Sorry dude, but you are now what we like to call Bush debris, just like Bush himself. It is a term we use for Bush and his goons, the power slags who sold their souls, yet continue to exist without honor or ethics. Why not just go find a hole to crawl in, and leave us civilized people alone. Why not go work for Cheney in the UAE?

Like so many of his ilk, the man will never admit to what he did wrong. He will probably repeat the same BS about how he didn't do anything up until the point they close the jail cell door, or he drops dead.

No matter, he will always be the poster boy for the darker, more reprehensible parts of public service. His law-and-constitution-be-damned approach will be used to illustrate HOW NOT to represent the people or the president. All we can hope is, like most of the Bush Administration, justice ultimately prevails.

Wednesday's Political Rave #1 - Michael