OBOF TYMHM & MORE Vol 16 No 06

OPINIONS  BASED  ON FACTS (OBOF)

THINGS YOU MAY HAVE MISSED (TYMHM)

YEAR ONE

YEAR TWO

YEAR THREE

YEAR FOUR

YEAR FIVE

YEAR SIX

OBOF YEAR SIX INDEX
OBOF TYMHM Vol.  16 No. 01	Jan. 03, 2016
OBOF TYMHM Vol.  16 No. 02	Jan. 25, 2016
OBOF TYMHM Vol.  16 No. 03	Jan. 28, 2016
OBOF TYMHM Vol.  16 No. 04	Mar. 05, 2016
OBOF TYMHM Vol.  16 No. 05	Apr. 16, 2016
OBOF TYMHM Vol.  16 No. 06	May 27, 2016

 

 

AGENDA

 

1.  FROM  FLOYD

 

2.  Without A Political Revolution America Cannot Achieve True Greatness

 

3.  Only Sanders Defeats Trump the Old Fashioned Way: With Truth-telling, Character & Competence.

 

4.  Senate Democrats Considering Competence Replacing DNC Chair.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

FROM  FLOYD

 

 

No need to say it, but I have had health problems, which is the reason for no postings.  There is a great deal happening, Of couse, some good, some bad, as usual.

 

Special explnation:

 

I usually go through all the articles, line by line, and  put in spaces and etc. so as to make it easier to read.  It taks a lot of time and I am going to skip it time so I can get this out to you.  Also, there was an article leading up to the reason for removing the Chairwoman of the DNC.  I can't find it.  Among other things, she has, for the past year and a half, a number of illegal obstuctions to Senator Sanders and others.

 

I think you will find these articles real interesting and informative regarding our election devlopments.

 

A few interesting points:  I am sure you know I am a Sanders man until "the last vote is counted."  In Kentucky and Oregon Sander and Clinton split the primaries, with Clinton ekeing out a win by 1/2 a point in Kentucky.  Sanders won 56% to 44% in Oregon.

 

There were many charges of cheating and rules being rigged.  At Nevada's Democratic Convention, Sanders supporters were so upset they were even throwing chairs and calling for the Convention Chairwoman to be hung.  It was reported that, "Under pressure," Sanders came on and condemned "any action of violence and harassment."  At the same time he warned that "Americans are out-raged" at the political establishment. Columnists have labeled Sanders as "blowing it" when he responded to the Nevada uprising.

 

I have followed Sanders campaign, actually, before it was a campaign.  All the things that I have seen occur during that time period, while I can't prove it, leaves me to believe that there has been plenty stacked, illegally, against him. 

 

I THINK THAT IF HE DOES NOT WIN WE WILL NEED THIS MAN LIKE NEVER BEFORE.  WE NEED TO KEEP HIM AND THE REVOLUTION HE HAS STARTED.

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Without A Political Revolution America Cannot Achieve True Greatness

By Michael Payne -

May 22, 2016

| Op-Ed

 

 

In this more than bizarre presidential election process, such as we haven’t seen in a very long time, we often hear a statement made about “Making America great again” or “We need to restore America’s greatness.” Trump, in particular, is obsessed with that objective and claims he knows exactly how to make it happen.

Well, it’s easy to talk about restoring this country’s greatness. Yes, that’s an important and admirable objective and it most certainly can be achieved; but it cannot unless America experiences a political revolution in which the vast majority of its people, led by new fearless leaders, rise up, demand dramatic changes in this government and its policies, and absolutely refuse to take no for an answer.

Bernie Sanders is often criticized for promoting revolutionary ideas which the Establishment dismisses as impractical. He knows that it will take a political revolution to make them a reality; that, without one, these and other key initiatives will never materialize.

America cannot restore its greatness until it breaks the massive control that Corporate America has on this government and this country’s election process. Massive amounts of corporate money continue to flow into the Congress. This “dirty money” is contaminating that highly ineffective legislative body and making its members no more than political serfs employed by the masters of Corporatism.

A country is worthy of being called great when it has a government in which its president and Congress refuse to go to war unless there is absolutely no other alternative; one that no longer uses it military to intimidate and dominate other nations who refuse to bend to its dictates; one that replaces embedded war hawks with stable, rational-minded individuals. A great nation and government do not conduct an endless, fabricated War on Terror.

Greatness is present when a country’s government establishes an atmosphere of trust of its citizens and does not allow various intelligence agencies to listen in and record their communications, thereby violating their Constitutional rights of privacy; when that government is transparent and does not act in complete secrecy; when it honors the rights of free speech and does not condemn whistleblowers for exposing serious government abuses.

Great nations and governments have leaders with a vision for the future and make plans and set priorities designed to address and solve the country’s problems and strengthen its foundations. That kind of government would put job creation at the very top of its priorities and work closely with the business sector to find the ways and means to restore its manufacturing sector and its workforce.

Can a nation claim that distinction of greatness when it does not have a universal health care system and many millions of its people don’t have medical coverage? America, in fact, does not have one health care system but, rather, five separate systems; private health insurance, Medicare, Medicaid, Obamacare and the Veterans Administration system. They are not coordinated and are all very costly and plagued by substantial waste and abuses. And even with this disjointed system, we keep hearing that this country cannot afford a single payer system to cover all Americans. That’s shallow, misguided thinking.

A great nation’s leaders would understand that they must begin the process of reducing the nation’s large dependence on petroleum and make the development of solar power and other new sources of energy a top priority.

Speaking of solar power, why are Germany and China leading the world in its development? Well, it’s because their governments do not allow powerful petroleum companies to dictate the energy policy of their countries, as is the case in America; their governments have made this a very high priority because their visionary leaders know that this will reap great dividends in the future.

China is the world’s leading manufacturer of a wide variety of products; Germany also has a very strong manufacturing sector. Why have they both passed the U.S.in this endeavor? Well, unlike the U.S. government, which has allowed corporations to dismantle its manufacturing sector, their governments realize that their countries cannot remain strong and stable without a thriving manufacturing base and a skilled workforce.

These two countries are advancing and moving forward into the future while America is stuck in neutral because of its corporate-controlled government.

Without such a revolution Wall Street will continue to come up with more schemes and scams by which to fleece the American people. The stock market will continue to resemble a Las Vegas gambling casino. And the next time the banksters get into a massive financial mess our government will bail them out; and guess whose money it will use?

Without this revolution, America will continue to head into the future with an unknown final destination. The nation’s economy will continue to be lifeless and stagnant, because the massive consumer power that once fueled it has now been largely diluted after the American worker was thrown under the bus.

A great country would not continue to enter into trade agreements such as NAFTA, CAFTA, and the currently proposed TPP and TTIP agreements which do great things for the Corporatists but continue to decimate the American workforce. It would not have a president like Mr. Obama who strongly pursues these corporate trade agreements under a cloud of secrecy so that its many anti-U.S. worker provisions can’t be seen so they will not be subject to objections by the Congress and the American people.

That kind of country would not be attempting to intimidate Russia and China by moving military power into their territories; it would get out of the Middle East, remove all troops out of Iraq, Afghanistan, stop the bombing in Syria, stop launching drones into various Middle Eastern and North African countries; it would not be in the business of entering countries and removing dictators like Saddam Hussein or Muammar Gaddafi from power.

The restoration of greatness to America will never materialize unless and until we witness that political revolution that will we need to completely transform this political process that is suffocating America, stifling its energies, and impeding its drive and creativity; it won’t happen unless and until this country is turned in a radically new and positive direction.

Now we could go on and on about all the many other things that America is failing to do because of the inability of its current government to govern this nation in an effective manner. But nothing is going to change, nothing will get better, we won’t solve our many problems, and this country will not advance going into the future – unless we find the way to light the fire that will drive this powerful political, or shall we say,  people’s revolution.

Want to make America great again?  Well, that’s what it will take.

Michael Payne

 

 

Michael Payne is an independent progressive activist. His writings deal with social, economic, political and foreign policy issues; and especially with the great dangers involved with the proliferation of perpetual war, the associated defense industry, and the massive control that Corporate America holds over this government and our election process; all which are leading this nation down the road to eventual financial ruin if the conditions are not reversed. He is a graduate of Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois and a U.S. Army veteran.

 

~~~

Only Sanders Defeats Trump the Old Fashioned Way: With Truth-telling, Character & Competence`

 

By Robert S. Becker -

May 8, 2016

| Op-Ed

 

The only remaining primary suspense is whether Democrats will follow Republicans and nominate their least attractive candidate. And that presents this imperative conundrum: how to trash Trumpery, then ideally reduce it to a teachable, epic fiasco. Oddly enough, Trump’s steamroller against even more telling “losers” spotlights Bernie Sanders’ opportunity: here is the Democrats’ best moral, policy and Electoral College giant killer. Though preliminary polling also elevates Hillary over Trump, her campaign staggers, bogged down with a less than sterling campaigner still facing unresolved email legalities. Is that the killer app to stop a train wreck or impede Trump from adding the world’s most famous residence to his Vanity Fair palaces.

Countering Trump’s novelty entertainment hustle is daunting: his Star Wars tractor-beam and reality-show fixations with scene domination are so far immune to ordinary antidotes. You can’t out-blather or out-insult, out-badger or shout Trump down. Certainly the mild-mannered Sanders is not blessed with charismatic, star power “spontaneity.” Slick novelty often comes across as genuine until the veneer wears off, then the ungodly sordidness oozes up. Enter, Trump’s remarkable opposite.

All significant national polls favor Sanders, mirroring both DT’s astronomical negatives (the price for crude pandering to disgruntled yahoos) and Bernie’s valor: courage battling a political machine, high trustworthiness, and positive, collective goals informed by a humane vision. Trump instead dishes out theatrical, inflammatory fireworks, yet cheap shots that dominate primaries wither in general elections. Already for 2/3’s of the electorate, Sanders excels exactly where Trump is transparently fraudulent: honesty, coherence, knowledge and moral constancy.

Presidential Lottery?

This election comes down to whether key voters in ten states embrace a wannabe Demagogue-in-Chief (where anything goes and fabricated crises rule) vs. two known commodities, whether Clinton or Sanders. Few doubt how President Clinton reigns: more tepid Obama compromises, with accelerated militarism and ties to fossil fuel, Wall Street tycoons, and her rich and famous Foundation’s clients. Sanders’ presidential impact is less predictable, yet his steadfast career and campaign guarantee this focus: a war against inequality that reboots the economy, levels the playing field at home and curbs belligerence overseas.

If you love Obama, Clinton works; if you don’t, or are offended by the nastiest wheeler-dealer in town, there’s no other serious change option  except Sanders. Undeterred by farce or gestures, here’s the crisis-driven Trump Way: “who cares what some agreement says as long it give me bragging rights, a set-up to take credit for solving my next crisis.”

In fact, Trump’s ascension to presumptive GOP nominee dramatizes all of Bernie’s strengths, precisely why he’d outdo Clinton in blunting Trump’s faux populism. Let’s not minimize Trump’s leverage: to seize attention, focus on reductive sound bites with high (if limited) emotional appeal, and convince the gullible that talking loudly enough about winning and change equals walking the walk. Trump has elbowed aside knee-jerk rightwing campaigning, wiping out credentialed Bullying a opponents. That’s his one great gain.

‘Populist’ Bully?       

Direct screaming matches won’t bloody a pugnacious, agile hustler who knows TV manipulation to perfection. Moral indictments against an unprincipled opponent, whose fans bizarrely worship this “straight-shooter” for “telling the truth,” will flop. Anyone captured by a hustler’s con no longer hears outside the bubble. Contradicting insupportable lies and distortions with reason, logic, and evidence won’t shift those who long ago axed their thinking, if not skepticism genes.

Even clever ridicule and piercing satire of Trump’s carnival reality will not win over the uninvolved and under-informed, indeed could boomerang as seeming below-the-belt (!), contemptuous abuse. Entertainment does not answer to ordinary political agendas, that experience and policy matter, so few philosophic or intellectual levers will dispatch that vacuous war cry, “Make America great again.”

The best retort to an unqualified, unstable narcissist is dramatic contrast with a principled, grounded, selfless career professional like Sanders. Broadcast Trump’s vanity worldview, glorifying his almighty cash nexus, against Sanders’ steadfast life of public service — in which honor and persistence reinforce moral intentions, fleshing in Bernie’s idealistic pledges. Trumping Trumps demands a veto, a stable, moral choice opposite in every way to his surfeit of moneyed self-indulgence, life-long manias for fame, and incendiary fabrication. Absent any voting record, why not make the campaign about the Donald’s life as a greedy billionaire — without once filling a public office? Has he ever honored the highest Christian good: anonymous, unselfish giving, without ego or self-interested bias?

The most powerful lever, plus a great offset to enormous mass cynicism, is simply broadcast how Sanders has lived his life — and why — with measurable achievements.  Trump loses ground when transformed into the iconic, multi-multi-billionaire who exemplifies why and how crony capitalism has gone off the rails. Not only has the middle-class, scandal-free Senator Sanders dedicated his life to helping others: even now, he refuses the low road when his candidacy hunts up plausible options for victory.  Trump is the perfect foil for all Bernie stands against.

Bold Gambit: Will Morality Win Out?

Only the least vulnerable pragmatist, the only intact figure whose demeanor can heal divisions, best neutralizes the loudmouth, content-free braggadocio who bellows “just trust me.” Hillary is already a sitting duck for the Trumpster cannon barrage. If trust matters above all, then Trump’s 65% disapproval ranking already convicts him as the least trusted, political ne’er-do-well in our history. Or a ne’er-do-nothing, considering his zero elective resume. Trump’s pre-emptive nomination clarifies that Democrats risk losing a once-a-generation opportunity by not putting forwards their best player, the primed and vetted clean-up hitter.

That Sanders is already the most appealing national change-agent in a generation is why he’s still nipping at Hillary’s well-heeled heels. Both his character strengths and insurgent protest would be squandered were Democrats to reject what their own party spawned: a redemptive, growing, systemic change movement. Is there any question that nothing mortifies Trump’s electoral weaknesses like a moral mass movement run by a highly-trusted political professional?

Otherwise, if the top 1% continue to horde the nation’s productivity gains, then brace for aggressive, less rational pitchforkers whose violent responses could dwarf the Sanders’ forces. Like FDR, the Sanders’ movement ultimately offers the 1% a measure of stability, even partial redemption, just as our first Progressive Era saved capitalism from its greediest capitalists. Sharing the wealth is not just moral but restores our vaunted socio-economic mobility, at least for a generation or two. You can’t beat something (predatory) with nothing, they say, but savvy goodness in a reliable champion goes a long way to that end.

 

Robert S. Becker

For a decade, Robert S. Becker's independent, rebel-rousing essays on politics and culture analyze overall trends, messaging and frameworks, now featured author at OpEdNews, Nation of Change and RSN. He appears regularly at Dissident Voice, with credits from Alternet, Salon, Truthdig, Smirking Chimp, Dandelion Salad, Beyond Chron, the SF Chronicle and others. Educated at Rutgers College, N.J. (B.A. English) and U.C. Berkeley (Ph.D. English), Becker left university teaching (Northwestern, then U. Chicago) for business, founding and heading SOTA Industries, a top American high end audio company from '80 to '92. From '92-02, he was an anti-gravel mining activist while doing marketing, business and writing consulting. Since 2005, he seeks out insight, even wit in the shadows, without ideology or righteousness across the current mayhem of American politics.

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Senate Democrats Considering Competence

 

 

Replacing DNC Chair

 

 

 

By Marlee Kokotovic -

May 25, 2016

| News Report

 

 

Democrats discuss whether to #DumpDebbie from her position as chairperson of the Democratic National Committee.

 

Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Chairperson of the Democratic National Committee, may soon be losing her position. She could be giving up her seat as soon as the beginning of summer. At least a dozen top elected officials are on board with this decision.

“There have been a lot of meetings over the past 48 hours about what color plate do we deliver Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s head on,” a U.S. Senate Only

Democrat supporting Hillary Clinton told The Hill on Tuesday. “I don’t see how she can continue to the election. How can she open the convention? Sanders supporters would go nuts,” the source concluded.

Wasserman Schultz has been accused of favoring Clinton because of her history with the candidate. She was the co-chair of Hillary Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign. In December, she was responsible for stripping the Sanders campaign of access to the DNC’s 50-state voter file, which caused a lot of outrage amongst the party.

The hashtag #DumpDebbie is already going viral by Twitter users to urge the removal of Wasserman  Schultz.

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If the good Lord is willing and the creek don't rise, I'll be with you sometime again.  I am not sure when.  Keep turned.  Thanks for watching.  I try to get you info that I think you really need to know. 

God Bless You All

&

God Bless the United States of America

Floyd