Random Thoughts for Latvian Independence Day

I have to say that I never voted for Bill Clinton either time he ran for President, but not because of his inability to control his penis or his repeated mistreatment of women.  I thought he was too corporate and conservative to win my vote. After the horrible welfare reform in his first year and the inability to reform the criminal justice system, I knew he was a failed President.  But I certainly do not think he should have resigned after the Monica Lewinsky affair. I think being only the second President in history to be impeached seemed like pretty significant punishment for his behavior and lying about that behavior.  I think that if a CEO or a boss at McDonalds who were sexually harassing their employees had to have their background and reputation dragged before a judge with three stripes on his robes to answer for inappropriate behavior in the workplace things would be much different around the water cooler. Or maybe we should try the next 200 years of female Presidents, CEOs and managers to avoid the problem in the future.

I really liked this week's On the Media called "The Reckoning"  and the discussion between Brooke Gladstone and Kathryn VanArendonk about Louis CK.  (By the way, Faux News, if you insist on pronouncing the "s" in Louis CK's name then you know nothing about him and should just shut up.)  But the discussion centered around his comedy which often condemned men, and the confusion many progressives struggle over this contradiction in his comedy.  Louis CK was constantly talking about how men were a huge threat to women and how do they still want to date men? Ms. VanArendonk said, "We thought we were listening to was a sheep wearing a sign that said 'Actually, I am a Wolf.'  It turns out it was a wolf in sheep's clothing wearing a sign that said, "Actually, I am a Wolf."  That is a really nice turn of a phrase.

I can't decide if it is good that the fake "Tax Reform Act" pass Congress to alienate even more of the Republican base or let it fail to anger the base.  Both will be bad for the country, but I can't decide which will be better for the future.  If the legislation fails, the stock market will tank causing short term pain.  If the legislation passes, so many constituents are going to see an increase in taxes while their rich friends are going to see a decrease in taxes.  Grad students, residents of Blue States, and those with large medical expenses will also be crushed.  While they see company CEOs get rich while not creating jobs and they are going to be pissed.  Both will destroy the Republican party even more, but will the Dems capitalize?

Meet the Press Interview with Rob Portman in 2014:  "Last thing we want to do is add to the debt and deficit and make the economy even worse." Here he is on Fox News in 2014:  "In other words, we have got tax revenues going up during this period we're talking about actually to historic levels. And yet because the spending so far outpaces the tax revenue, there's no way to catch up. Under the income tax, it's actually not possible to catch up with the spending that's going to be occurring in 25, 30, 35 years from now. We just got to make -- it's an obvious point to anybody who has to keep a family budget or is trying to run a small business, but we have to make that point to all Americans, that this is a problem that is going to get worse and it's going to come back not just to hurt us in our economy today, but it's really immoral to do to future generations."  Neil Cavuto interjected that the 'mainstream media' was dismissing a half trillion dollar deficit. He said, "I think it's immoral as well, sir. The mainstream media, say, only half-a-trillion-dollar deficits, we can all walk away now. And that is wrong too."  Portman responded, "And then it dramatically increases beyond that. And that, by the way, assumes no recessions, no wars, none of the kind of problems. It's a rosy scenario."  I guess the rosy scenario is only policy when Dems are in the White House.  Today, with a Semi-Republican in office we can assume no recession, no war, no natural disasters for the next 10 years.

Ohio Governor Election is wide open this year with four major Republicans in the race and then four minor Democrats wanting the job.  The big news will be when will Rob Cordray announce that he is running.  But the only Democrat on the Ohio Supreme Court made national news this week with a Facebook post in preparation for his run for the Governor's office.  (Reason number 221 to eliminate Facebook and their continued effort to undermine American values).  Ohio Supreme Court Justice Bill O'Neill bragged about the 50 people that he has slept with including women who were easily identified in the post.  I liked Judge O'Neill until he mis-characterized the protests by NFL players and gave up his Brown's tickets after a few African American players took a knee.  Now he seems to be making light of sexual harassment claims that are catching fire across the United States.  He should shut down his Facebook account and withdraw from the race for Governor.  He is not qualified for elected office.

The hypocrites in the Conservative Movement were exposed again this last week when it was revealed by the Washington Post that the Ohio legislator who resigned this week was alleged to have acted inappropriately with an 18 year old.  After assuring the 18 year old's parent that there would be consequences,  "Christian activist" Tony Perkins covered up the allegation that took place at a donor conference.  The Plain Dealer did some follow up work saying that Rep. Goodman was leading a secret gay life while proclaiming opposition to same sex marriage.   I hope that this puts the final nail in the coffin of Perkins' evil Family Research Council.  Perkins spoke before white supremacists, defending known philanderers like David Vitter and Donald Trump, and now covering up a sexual assault all to elect extremists.  The bottom line for all these is all around abortion and nothing else.  They are single issue voters and don't care about anything else including now pedophiles.

The Power guy in Puerto Rico was dismissed and the Army commander left even though power was not fully restored and many still do not have water on the island. Puerto Rico reached the dubious distinction of being the longest blackout in US history this week.  We are proposing adding $1.5 trillion in debt to the United States, but we are not talking about fixing Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.  The weak Governor of Puerto Rico wanted $94 billion to help bring his territory back while the administration proposed less than half that amount for all Hurricane recovery in four states.

By Brian Davis

Good Press Conference on Friday

President Finally is Hitting All the Right Notes

by Maxwell Johnson

I thought that the President did a good job on the press conference regarding the debt limit on Friday July 15, 2011. I thought that he finally hit all the issues and the hypocrisy of the other side. He seems to be stressing the issues that brought us to this point, and a history of the votes on raising the debt ceiling in the past. Stressed that the rich are going to have to pay a little more. President Obama talked about the proposal that he put forward.

"The least I can do is to say that people who are making a million dollars or more have to do something as well. And that’s the kind of tradeoff, that’s the kind of balanced approach and shared sacrifice that I think most Americans agree needs to happen," said Obama.

Obama criticized the House resolution that does not close tax loopholes, "But if you’re trying to get to $2.4 trillion without any revenue, then you are effectively gutting a whole bunch of domestic spending that is going to be too burdensome and is not going to be something that I would support. "

"So I have not seen a credible plan -- having gone through the numbers -- that would allow you to get to $2.4 trillion without really hurting ordinary folks."

"Chuck, you have 80 percent of the American people who support a balanced approach. Eighty percent of the American people support an approach that includes revenues and includes cuts. So the notion that somehow the American people aren’t sold is not the problem. The problem is members of Congress are dug in ideologically into various positions because they boxed themselves in with previous statements," said Obama.

"We don’t need more studies. We don’t need a balanced budget amendment. We simply need to make these tough choices and be willing to take on our bases."

These are all good points. The one missing point that the President was unwilling to further muddy the waters, and that was the debt was caused by the Congress. They decided not to pay for two wars. They decided to not fund a prescription drug benefit and the "No Child Left Behind" bill. Most of the current Congressional leadership were on a drunken spending spree for the last 10 years, and now they have found religion. They have to violate their Grover Norquist doctrine or bankrupt the Medicaid, space program, education department, and Department of Interior.

Good News /Bad News

by Max Johnson

Today is a rough day, but there are bright spots. It is much like the Corporate Party taking over the House--there are some small windows of light. Today, there is tons of snow on the East Side of Cleveland which is symbolic of how we got dumped on with the election. It was a repudiation of government, big cities, and progressive ideals. But the one bright spot for today was the end of Daylight Savings Time. I love getting that extra hour back.

Even though the states are going to be crushed with debt and mental health, pensions, alcohol and drug addiction treatment, housing assistance, and welfare will be cut, there are some bright spots. We have heard a few positives from federal officials about their plan. They include:

1. Reform of the legislative process in the Senate to get rid of the filibuster.
2. There are many corporate party members talking about ending earmarks.
3. Rand Paul and others said that they are willing to cut defense spending.
4. They have pledged to cut the budget to reduce the deficit. This is going to annoy some people. Right now, we have had 30 years of cutting taxes while promising to cut the deficit in the future. The future is today, and people are going to be angry.
   
5. They are going to try to repeal health care, which will make people realize that it is better than going back to the old way of an insurance company run system.
6. They are going to investigate the Federal Reserve, and transparency is always good.
7. The Corporate party is only focused on defeating the President in 2012. This single minded focus will lead to plenty of mistakes.
   

It might not be all bad. The Dems are delusional if they think they can work with the other party. I predict that a few states are going to have to go to the brink of bankruptcy because of budget shortfalls. It is like the easier ride into work in Cleveland as a result of the foreclosure crisis and so many people out of work.