“Wonky?” What about the lies?

October 5, 2012 a world of progress, letters, progressive living One comment

Today’s paper had a headline on the front page: “Debate reveals Romney’s wonky side.”

I don’t know if I would call it wonky to stand up there and lie for 90 minutes.

If you look for the headline online, you won’t find it, but it’s there in the print edition.

I’ll admit Obama wasn’t at his best, and if Romney had told the truth at all, I would give the debate win to him.

But he didn’t. Here’s just a sample, taken from the Daily KOS:

  • When he claimed, “Pre-existing conditions are covered under my plan.” They’re not.
  • When he said President Obama had “cut Medicare by $716 billion to pay for Obamacare.” Obama didn’t.
  • When he denied proposing a $5 trillion tax cut. He did.
  • When he said President Obama had “added almost as much to the federal debt as all the prior presidents combined.” Not even close.
  • When he resurrected “death panels.” That’s been called “one of the biggest whoppers of the night.”
  • When he stated that half the green energy companies given stimulus funds had failed. Only if three out of nearly three dozen is half.

He stood there, smirking, and called President Obama a liar after telling dozens of lies about his policies and refusing again and again to offer specifics about his budget and job creation plans.

If you want to call than wonkish, if you want to call that winning, that’s your call; it isn’t mine.

 

Oh, give it up already

May 4, 2011 a world of progress, progressive living Comments Off on Oh, give it up already

Rep. Peter King, Republican of New York, claims that bin Laden was captured because of the torture administered to prisoners during the Bush administration.

I noticed a post on Facebook yesterday from a friend of a friend who said, “I suppose Obama will want credit for killing Osama bin Ladin.”

Well, duh. Whether Obama wants it or not, he deserves credit.

Some on the right have said the president doesn’t deserve any credit, even that the mission was accomplished because we tortured people (Rep. Peter King, Republican of New York), or that it was illegal (Fox News).

The right’s tactic now will be to turn the conversation away from the capture of bin Laden to something else — probably torture — to make Obama look weak.

But the fact is, Bush couldn’t get bin Laden and Obama did.

There’s plenty of credit to go around, but President Obama promised during his campaign that he would go after bin Laden and that if Pakistan wouldn’t or couldn’t help, we would go in and get him anyway. I consider that a campaign promise kept.

Once in office the president instructed Leon Panetta to make finding bin Laden a priority. It took awhile to track him down, and then a few months more to figure out how to get him with the least risk for our people and for innocent people who might be nearby.

Obama is a patient man, and he wanted to be certain this was done right. Remember the beating Jimmy Carter took when his attempted rescue of the hostages in Iran failed? That’s how this mission could have looked too, but Obama and his people took the time to get it right, and now the world’s most wanted criminal is dead.

Now, contrast this focused search and planning with President George Bush’s comments on March 13, 2002: “I don’t know where bin Laden is. I have no idea and really don’t care. It’s not that important. It’s not our priority.”

And this one: “I am truly not that concerned about him.”

Those comments came just a half year after bin Laden’s people had killed 3,000 Americans, and some people want Bush to get credit for the capture of the man? I don’t think so.

President Obama hgas said he won’t release the photos of bin Laden taken after he was shot, and I’m fine with that, although I’m sure conspiracy theorists on the right will claim he’s not really dead. We’ll call them “deathers.”

So, let’s just say this to those of you who doubt: President Obama WAS born in the United States and he was the man in charge when bin Laden died in Pakistan.

The GOP baits its hook again

December 13, 2010 a world of progress, progressive living Comments Off on The GOP baits its hook again

Ok. I have to give it to the greedy, the devoid of conscience, the Soul-less… you have played a masterful game and now that you have what’s left of humanity who still gives a damn about their fellow humans against the ropes, make it quick won’t you? I know, how bleeding heart liberal of me to ask such a thing. Suffering is such a deliciously righteous punishment for the sinner who dares point out the emperor has no clothes.

Is there anyone out there that has yet to make up your mind about which side of the divide you are on? I’m talking about the new chasm on the left, exposed by the news that Obama has come to an agreement with the Republicans that will extend the deficit and the tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans. This one certainly was a nice gash. I feel what’s left of our shared liberal/progressive lifeblood bleeding out as we speak.

I know it’s taken years of patience, planning and work on the part of those who think paying their fair share for the good of all is only for the poor bastards who can’t seem to take care of themselves in the first place. Congratulations, your twisted logic of using us to build and defend your empire while feeling no responsibility to us whatsoever was apparently a winning hand. How enjoyable it must be for the God’s of power and wealth to watch us prove their point. Now we are fighting amongst ourselves over the scraps. This battle is between the defenders of and those living off of the scraps and those who see those scraps for what they are, just a little more bait. I know, we also paid for the bait, but that does not change the fact that it’s still just bait.

Maybe we deserve this fate. Maybe the Soul-less egos who run this world have been right all along about us Liberals. If all we can do is talk about what’s right and are not willing to fight, suffer, and sincerely give all we can to help our own get off the scraps, why should they care? The uber powerful have always used that message to command an army of people that they really can’t stand just as much as Liberals. I’m sure it’s so much easier to rally the zombies now than in the old days with the advent of cable networks and manufactured terrorism.

While we debate who is at fault here, the spineless Dems, the pragmatic Pres or the heartless GOP we are not really putting the responsibility where it belongs, and that’s squarely with us, the 98% in this country. To our great detriment we let our focus on the big picture go dim, ignoring the people of other places who are exploited for our comfort and convenience and the lessons we should have learned from that.  Attention Middle Classers: There has been a change in the terms of your food chain status… it’s been downgraded.

There have not been many missed opportunities by the Gods of Plutocracy to land a punch and it’s has taken it’s toll.  98% of us grow more desperate every day and now we are turning to fighting each other over the scraps. Again, I dare say the Gods of Plutocracy find it satisfying to say this just “proves them right” about our weak minded “kum ba ya” ideology.

I won’t be going into debating all the points of this proposed “framework” here. It’s all spelled out elsewhere on this site, the for and the against in great detail. I am here to say it’s time to join together and help each other while we take a stand. It’s time to stop pretending the rules of negotiation with the GOP haven’t changed, it’s time to stop mocking taking a stand before it’s too late as “idealism”.  It’s time to stop falling for the scraps and calling it pragmatic compromise. We should not be giving 900 billion in deficit exploding, economy crushing tax cuts to the wealthy while the 98% are getting scraps wrapped around a barbed hook.

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