WELCOME TO OPINIONS BASED ON FACTS (OBOF)
&
THINGS YOU
MAY HAVE MISSED (TYMHM)
YEAR THREE
|
Name
|
Published
|
|
OVERVIEW
|
|
|
OBOF & TYMHM PART 14
|
Dec 18, 2012
|
|
OBOF & TYMHM PART 15
|
Jan. 02, 2013
|
|
OBOF & TYMHM PART 16
|
Jan. 08, 2013
|
|
OBOF & TYMHM PART 16
EXTRA
|
Jan. 11, 2013
|
|
OBOF & TYMHM PART 17
|
Jan. 15, 2013
|
|
OBOF & TYMHM PART 18
|
Jan. 22, 2013
|
|
OBOF & TYMHM PART 19
|
Jan. 29, 2013
|
|
OBOF & TYMHM PART 20
|
Feb. 05, 2013
|
|
OBOF & TYMHM PART 21
|
Feb. 14, 2013
|
|
OBOF & TYMHM PART 22
|
Feb. 20, 2013
|
|
OBOF & TYMHM PART 23
|
Feb. 27, 2013
|
|
OBOF & TYMHM PART 23 SPECIAL
|
Mar. 06, 2013
|
|
OBOF & TYMHM PART 24
|
Mar. 07, 2013
|
|
OBOF & TYMHM PART 25
|
Mar. 12, 2013
|
|
OBOF & TYMHM PART 25-EXTRA
|
Mar. 14, 2013
|
|
OBOF & TYMHM PART 26
|
Mar. 19, 2013
|
|
OBOF & TYMHM PART 27
|
Mar. 26, 2013
|
|
OBOF & TYMHM PART 28
|
Apr. 02, 2013
|
|
OBOF & TYMHM PART 29
|
Apr. 08, 2013
|
|
OBOF & TYMHM PART 30
|
Apr. 17, 2013
|
|
OBOF & TYMHM PART 31
|
Apr. 23, 2013
|
|
OBOF & TYMHM PART 32
|
Apr. 30, 2013
|
|
OBOF & TYMHM PART 33
|
May 07, 2013
|
|
OBOF & TYMHM PART 34
|
May 18, 2013
|
|
OBOF & TYMHM PART 35
|
May 21, 2013
|
|
OBOF & TYMHM PART 36
|
May 30, 2013
|
|
OBOF & TYMHM PART 37
|
June
05, 2013
|
|
OBOF & TYMHM PART 38
|
June
11, 2013
|
|
OBOF & TYMHM PART 39
|
June
18, 2013
|
|
OBOF & TYMHM PART 40
|
June
25, 2013
|
|
OBOF & TYMHM PART 41
|
July
02, 2013
|
|
OBOF & TYMHM PART 42
|
July
09, 2013
|
|
OBOF & TYMHM PART 43
|
July
16, 2013
|
|
OBOF & TYMHM PART 44
|
July
23, 2013
|
|
OBOF & TYMHM PART 45
|
July 30, 2013
|
|
OBOF & TYMHM PART 46
|
Aug.
06, 2013
|
IN THIS ISSUE
1. What does Congress look like?
2. Republicans choose vacation over governing.
3. Fighting the GOP hateful agenda without hate.
This one does
a good job outlining our present situation.
WHAT DOES OUR
REPUBLICAN
CONTROLLED CONGRESS LOOK LIKE ?
People throw fascism and other terms
around without knowing the definition. Fascism
is an authoritarian, nationalistic right-wing system of government and social
organization. In other words, an extreme
right-wing, authoritarian, or intolerant views or practice. It’s important to add that in practice,
fascism also supports big business and the wealthy at the expense of everyone
else. All laws and taxes passed are in
support of the government, the wealthy, and big business.
Does that sound like what we are seeing
happening right now in our country?
~~~
Republicans
Choose (More) Vacation
Over Governing
Dave Johnson
Campaign for America’s Future / Op-Ed
Published: Saturday 3 August 2013
This week was put up or shut up time for Republicans. After decades demanding unspecified budget
cuts, they finally had to put their vote where their budget outline was. So what did they do? They are taking a 40th vote on repealing
Obamacare and then heading home for five weeks vacation. This is who they are.
This week the House Republican leadership withdrew its
own transportation and housing appropriations bill. (Transportation, Housing and Urban Development
is also known in DC as “THUD.”) The bill lined up with the Republican “Paul
Ryan” budget outline Republicans have already passed. But even though
Republicans completely control the House, they couldn’t pass THUD because the
cuts in the bill were just too much for members to stomache. They understand that the public, having been
promised for decades that cuts in “waste” will be painless, will not like it
when the things that make their lives better are what gets cut, and will likely
vote accordingly.
For decades Republicans
have talked of the need to cut government, without ever specifying specifically
what, they would cut. So, here they are,
having to put actual numbers on their eternal promises to cut, cut, cut, and
they can’t even stomach it themselves. This bill was 9% below even sequester-level
cuts. The worst cuts were to public
works projects (construction jobs), Amtrak and community planning and
development block grants. Note that
while some Republicans couldn’t vote for it because it cut too much, others
objected because they wanted even more cuts! (Note that they did pass large increases in
military spending in exchange for large contributions from military contracting
corporations.)
When they return in the fall it looks like they will try
to divert attention from their failure to come up with specific cuts by passing
something that Democrats cannot accept and the President will veto, then shut
the government down and try to blame Democrats. Senate Republicans moved that ball down the
road, by filibustering the Senate version of the THUD bill. The country is left without a budget and the
Congress goes home
The rubber has hit the road, the Republicans have been
fighting for power, they have it, and this is what they are doing with it. They
are obstructing and deflecting, not governing. This is who they are.
~~~
Fighting
the GOP’s Hateful Agenda
Without Hate
Richard
(RJ) Eskow
Campaign for America’s Future / Op-Ed
Published: Monday 5 August 2013
ABOUT Richard (RJ) Eskow
Richard
(RJ) Eskow is a well-known blogger and writer, a former Wall Street executive,
an experienced consultant, and a former musician. He has experience in health
insurance and economics, occupational health, benefits, risk management,
finance, and information technology.
When is it fair to say that some political battles aren’t
just disagreements over policy, but actually represent a struggle between
‘good’ and ‘evil’ points of view? And
when, if ever, is it helpful to say so?
There are those on the Right who debase the currency of
that four-letter word – “evil” – by using it against anyone who disagrees with
them. But what word do you apply to
people who deny food to hungry families, voting rights to minorities, or a
chance for self-advancement to hard-working students from lower-income homes?
How do you fight the hateful without succumbing to hate?
Reprehensible
Politics was once a collegial craft in this country. They called it the “art of compromise,” and
policy disagreements were handled without resorting to wholesale condemnation
of one’s opponents.
Unfortunately, the Republican leadership in Washington DC
In fact, that could be the new Republican Party’s motto: one reprehensible act after another.
Note that we’re speaking of the Republican Party’s
leaders, not its voters. Polls have
shown that registered Republicans are a very different breed from the party’s
leadership. By large majorities, they want to preserve and strengthen
Social Security. They support Medicare. GOP voters even supported a “public option”
for healthcare and additional taxes on millionaires, if only by slim margins.
Sure, the Republican rank-and-file includes people who
hold some pretty reprehensible ideas – about society, minorities, the poor, and
women. But it also includes many people
whose ideals, and whose beliefs about the nature of freedom, lead them to
embrace political positions which many of us reject. That doesn’t make them any less idealistic.
Party leaders, on the other hand, seems to hold no
principles except self-interest. They’ve
reversed themselves on core principles of individual liberty, states’ rights,
and privacy whenever it suits them. The only common thread has been their own
power and the interests of their major funders.
Their track record is remarkably despicable. And just this week they make that record
worse, by voting to take food from the mouths of hungry children.
Countdown
to Starvation
First Republicans tried to cut $20 billion from the food stamp program. When that didn’t work, they decided to try
again – and doubled the figure to $40 billion. Who would that hurt? Government
data tells us about the human beings who rely on “SNAP”
assistance (its official name):
A record number of people – 47,661,353 Americans – are
receiving food stamps this year.
SNAP’s benefits are extremely modest. The average person receives $133.29 per month.
That’s $4.38 per day.
We should be doing more, not less, to help them.
In another cruel twist, Republicans also want to set a strict time limit of
90 days for SNAP assistance- supposedly to force recipients to find work. But most food stamp families—62 percent—already have a working adult in the
home. The GOP is also refusing to raise the minimum wage, which means that
figure will only get worse.
The
Hoax
What’s more, the notion that it takes three months to
“find work” in this economy is a cruel hoax. More than 80 percent of food stamp homes
include someone who has worked in the last year. But the GOP is fighting
employment programs and cutting government jobs.
Instead of good work at good pay, all the Republicans
want is a 90-day countdown to starvation.
And yet Republican Rep.
Marlin Stutzman said, presumably with a straight face, that
“Most people will agree that if you are an able bodied adult without any kids
you should find your way off food stamps.”
Why act and speak so despicably? Some members of Congress don’t understand what
they’re doing. (It’s surprising to meet
with Representatives and learn how little information they’ve sometimes have
about even the most important isues.)
In addition, many (if not most) Republican politicos hold
a reflexive hatred for all government. And all of
them know where their party’s corporate and billionaire backers stand on these
issues. Sometimes that’s all the information they need.
Hateful
Deeds
Congressional Republicans passed a budget which included
draconian cuts to most major government programs, and made those cuts worse by
including increases to defense spending – increases which
further enrich the defense contractors financing their campaigns.
They used previously routine budget votes to repeatedly hold the Federal
government hostage. They did a dubious
deal with the President to create the “sequester” – a kind of fiscal “doomsday
machine” – and seem to have pulled a fast one: They pretended its cuts were
unacceptable to them, but now seem quite willing to let them stand – or
to demand Social Security and Medicare cuts in
return for lifting them.
There’s more than enough reason to fear that the
President, who included Social Security cuts in his own budget, might be
willing to collaborate rather than fight - a move which would be
unpopular, unwise, unkind, and unnecessary.
Why unnecessary? Because Republicans
are folding on the sequester. When
confronted with the impact of cuts mandated in their own budget – in this case,
to transportation and community block grants – many of them backed down this week. Fortunately for the
rest of us, they couldn’t face the political heat.
On the Senate side, Republicans turned the filibuster and
other procedural rules from rarely invoked options into routinely deployed
paralyzing maneuvers. Republicans under
Mitch McConnell have transformed the Senate from a collegial body into an armed
camp, and effectively changed it from a body which employs majority rule into
one in which a minority can block any piece of legislation.
(Astonishingly, Democrats allowed this to happen without
fighting back and even now, their opposition is scattered and weak.)
More Hateful Deeds
What else has the GOP wrought?
Massive lying and
deception –
see “death panels” and suggestions that the President is a “socialist.” (Too bad he isn’t half the “socialist” that
Republican Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower and Richard Nixon were.)
A theocratic power grab, with hateful rhetoric
toward people with different beliefs – especially Muslims.
Suppressing the civil
liberties of
women, African Americans, religious and ethnic minorities, and gays.
Undermining democracy by deliberately
disenfranchising poor and minority voters; and, perhaps most gravely for
humanity’s future,
Denying the reality of
climate change, despite overwhelming and conclusive scientific evidence.
Party leaders have lavished tax cuts on millionaires,
billionaires, and corporations, while hammering the middle class. The Wall Street deregulation they promoted
(with the collusion of ‘centrist’ Democrats) led to the financial crisis of
2008, which was almost a coup de grace for the American Dream. Now
they’re determined to finish the job.
These aren’t aberrations. This is the GOP.
The
Rageful Rich
Which gets us back to our original question: At
what point is it reasonable or productive to suggest that we’re dealing
with bad people?
The answer may be “Never.” After all, saying it won’t change their minds.
Very few people believe that they’re
“bad.” The GOP and its backers are no
exception.
It’s worth taking another look at Mitt Romney’s “47
percent” video. What’s really disturbing about that video is the authenticity
of Romney’s rage, and that of his listeners. Their shameful behavior is
made possible by their genuine belief – however deluded – that the people
they’re hurting somehow deserve to be hurt.
The truth is, our words aren’t likely to change their
minds no matter what we
say. So where does that leave us?
What’s
love got to do with it?
It was inspiring to watch civil rights leader turned Congressman John Lewis talk with Bill Moyers recently.
Speaking of the bombers who murdered little girls in a Birmingham
We have to love the hell
out of everybody … It’s a better way … I made up my mind to love because hate
is too heavy a burden to bear.”
Lewis told a story:
“One of the people that
beat me on the Freedom Ride in 1961 … came to my office later with his son …
And he said, ‘Mr. Lewis, I’m one of the people that beat you and left you
bloody. Will you forgive me? I want to apologize.’ His son started crying. He started crying. I started crying. He hugged me. I hugged him. He called me brother. I called him brother.”
John Lewis is a better human being than many of us. But he and Dr. King lay out a road worth
following, even for those of us who lag far behind.
Judgment
Day
Note, however, that Dr. King and Rep. Lewis said
“forgive.” They didn’t say “forget.”
They didn’t ask us to accept the unacceptable, or to pretend that the behavior
of their opponents was anything other than immoral.
We have the obligation to judge right from wrong, and to
resist what is wrong.
Yes, we also have the moral duty to forgive. But forgiveness can only be granted when the
wrongdoing has stopped. And forgiveness has to be sought. Right now the GOP’s leaders aren’t asking for
forgiveness. They’re demanding surrender.
Therein lies one of the White House’s fundamental errors:
We all know that negotiation is
necessary. You can even, as in the DC legend of Republican Ronald Reagan and
Democrat Tip O’Neill, “have a beer afterwards.”
But it’s wrong to pretend that an immoral set of actions
is moral just to expedite those negotiations, or to heighten your own political
profile. That kind of pretense has a
corrosive effect – on our political dialogue, our social values, and our
national soul.
Breaking
the Spell
Aside from the rare Hitler, we don’t have the right to
condemn other human beings in their totality. But we must be unhesitating and
unsparing in our criticism of that which we believe to be wrong. That means speaking to the actions of our opponents, not their
hearts.
It’s a mistake to reflexively reject everything our
opponents do, especially because we’ll miss opportunities to work together.
Personally, I think Sen. Rand Paul’s positions on drone warfare and the NSA are
motivated by idealism, and are far more ethical than that of many Democrats. That opens up the possibility of new alliances
on certain issues.
It’s true that, by and large, Republicans policies do
terrible things to a lot of innocent people. We need leaders who’ll fight those policies
wholeheartedly, not ones who indulge in false equivalency or pretend to be
“above left and right” out of self-interest.
The GOP’s policies are horrifying. But the word “evil” is like a dangerous spell
that can turn on the one who uses it. It can quickly turn righteous anger
into inchoate rage, which makes a person less effective and occludes moral
clarity.
In case you doubt that, just look at what it’s done to
the conservatives who use it so freely.
We’ll need to find the strength to fight immoral behavior
with all the strength at our command. But
we’ll need to do it without succumbing to hate. Because, in the end, the question isn’t about
who they are.
It’s about who we are.
~~~
If the good Lord is willing and the
creek don't rise, I'll talk with you again next Tuesday, August 13, 2013.
God Bless You All
&
God Bless the United States of America
Floyd
No comments:
Post a Comment