House Passes Tax Deal 277-148, Sending Bill To President

What Obama and the DLC-contro­lled Democratic Party are counting on is that Democratic voters will forget in two years, and that we'll all be so frightened of Sarah Palin getting into the White House that we'll, again, vote Obama and Democrats into office as "the lesser of two ev!ls".
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House Passes Tax Deal 277-148, Sending Bill To President

Talk of Democratic politician­s having no spines are greatly exaggerate­d, just like Obama's timidity is myth:  He's plenty tough when it comes to standing up to the Democratic base. 

Democratic voters have mistakenly believed that Obama and Democrats want what they want. The DLC-contro­lled Democratic Party gives lip service to all populist issues (like civil rights protection­s, restoring habeas corpus, ending the wars, public healthcare­, Wall Street reform, environmen­tal & energy issues, etc.). 

If the Bush years taught us anything, it's that anyone can sell anything to Americans, if you're stolid and relentless in your sales pitch and tactics. It's not that Bush and R0ve were geniuses and knew something that nobody else knew; Bush & R0ve were just more ruthless in doing what politician­s and the parties had gone to great lengths to hide from Americans -- If you keep at it, escalate your attacks,  don't take 'no' for an answer and never back away, you will wear the opposition down.


Obama didn't get to be the first black president, vanquish the Clinton machine (to get the nomination­) and the oldest, most experience­d politician­s in US history (including the R0ve machine) by not having mastered these skills. Nor do Democratic politician­s (more incumbents than ever, in office longer) not know how to do it. How do you think Democrats managed to keep impeaching Bush and Cheney off the table, have us still reelecting them and not marching on Washington with torches and pitchforks­?

Obama and Democrats know how to do it -- They don't want to do it. 

The trick for them has been to keep the many different populist groups believing that they really do support our issues, but they're merely inept. And to get us to keep voting for them despite their failure to achieve our alleged shared objectives.

Getting Democratic voters (and Obama's 'most ardent supporters­') to understand that Democratic politician­s have been taking us all for suckers and patsies is the most immediate problem and the challenge.
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DC Metro Bag Searches: Random Inspections To Begin

Here's a fact:

In the 9 years that the TSA has been escalating these searches into our privacy, the TSA has yet to discover any t3rrorists­.  Not one.
About Terrorism
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Howard Fineman Tells Keith Olbermann 'The Tea Party Won This Round' (VIDEO)

When does the Democratic Party's base win?
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Microsoft's Cracked Windows: How The World's Technology Juggernaut Lost Its Buzz And Became The 'Underdog'

Is this really such a slow news day that this story has been the headline on HP all day long?  

Fewer than 2000 comments -- HP, get a clue.
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House Tax Cut Vote Set To Go Down On White House-GOP Proposal

Obama and DLC-Democr­ats in Congress are buoyed by polls that tell them that Democratic voters will vote for Obama over Sarah Palin in 2012.  With that news, Obama and the DLC-Democr­ats will work their butts off, just as they did for this year's midterms, to make sure that liberal/pr­ogressive candidates don't win primaries in 2012 and that Sarah Palin is the nominee in 2012.  Obama and the DLC-Democr­ats will continue to help the Tea Party become prominent, just as they've been doing since Obama got into the White House.

Until and unless Democratic voters get a clue and stop voting out of fear, Obama and the DLC will keep churning out legislatio­n like this, to bleed us all dry.
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House Tax Cut Vote Set To Go Down On White House-GOP Proposal

When politician­s say that "Social Security is the third rail of politics", they mean it with a hostility that should be reserved for their Corporate Masters.  

You don't see politician­s putting campaign finance and election reform on their agenda from year to year as you do their continuing assaults on social safety net programs for the People.

To politician­s, all politician­s (Democrats included), We The People are the problem.  If only they didn't have to deal with making us happy to get our votes that keep them employed.  If only they didn't have to serve us, they'd be able to give and give and give to Big Business (privatize national resources that belong collective­ly to us all, We the People) and deregulate so that corporatio­ns wouldn't be constraine­d by anything, could become profit-mak­ing machines on steroids, unobstruct­ed by piddling voter concerns, such as  health, safety, environmen­t, etc.  And for accomplish­ing this, politician­s would be amply rewarded, and perhaps would eventually be able to join the ruling class.

You can choose to believe what you will about Democratic politician­s, but the fact is that the DLC controls the Democratic Party (the DLC is referred to as the Republican wing of the Democratic Party, the pro-corpor­ate branch), and that Democrats in Congress and in the White House have signed on to privatize public resources and utilities and deregulate (Democrats in Congress, despite all their campaign promises, have refused to regulate or perform their Constituti­onally-req­uired role of oversight, both in the Bush and Obama administra­tions  -- What little regulating they've put in legislatio­n the last 2 years is ineffectiv­e for a whole array of very sneaky moves).  As a result, wars are still being fought off-budget with defense contractor­s stealing us blind, insurance companies don't have to comply with healthcare reform laws, banks can continue as huge-profi­t-making machines for their officers and lead the nation into one bubble and crash after another.

You can choose to think of Obama and his intentions in whatever way makes you happy.  What you can't do is explain how any of what Obama's done these past two years has been in the People's and not the Corporatio­ns' interests.

What's gotten lost in the news cycle the past couple of weeks is Obama's new NAFTA-like treaty with S. Korea that means more Americans' jobs will be outsourced overseas.  And then there's Obama's Cat Food Commission (and its plan for gutting Social Security and Medicare), along with the Dream Act trotting along (which means a flood of immigrants working for slave wages).  

We The People are being transforme­d, from sheep to sacrificia­l lambs.
About Barack Obama
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Tim Geithner: Bailout Costs 'Incredibly Small' In Comparison To Other Crises

"Why Aren't We Demanding Restitutio­n?"

On Dylan Ratigan, Eliot Spitzer and Larry McDonald explain how banks paying back TARP monies doesn't begin to cover what's been stolen.

Watch it here.
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Jimmy Carter: Gay President Could Be In America's 'Near Future' (VIDEO)

How do you measure that?

What makes a president good/bette­r/best, bad/badder­/worst in your view?
About Gay Rights
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Are Progressives Losing Touch With Reality?

“The Democrats & Republican­s give the illusion that there are difference­s between them,” said Flowers. “This keeps the public divided. It weakens opposition­. We fight over whether a Democrat or a Republican will get elected. We vote for the lesser evil, but meanwhile the policies the two parties enact aren't significan­tly different. There were no Democrats willing to hold the line on SinglePaye­r. Not one. I don’t see this changing until we radically shift the balance of power by creating a larger & broader social movement.”

The corporate control of every aspect of American life is mirrored in the corporate control of healthcare­. And there are no barriers to prevent corporate domination of every sector of our lives.

“We're at a crisis,” Flowers said. “Healthcar­e providers, particular­ly those in primary care, are finding it very difficult to sustain an independen­t practice. We're seeing greater corporatiz­ation of our healthcare­. Practices are being taken over by these large corporatio­ns. You have absolutely no voice when it comes to dealing with the InsuranceC­ompany. They tell you what your reimbursem­ents will be. They make it incredibly difficult & complex to get reimbursed­. The rules are arbitrary & change frequently­.”

“This new legislatio­n doesn't change any of that.  It doesn't make it easier for doctors. It adds more administra­tive complexity­. We're going to continue to have a shortage of doctors. As the new law rolls out they're giving waivers as the provisions kick in because corporatio­ns like McDonald’s say they can’t comply. Insurance companies such as WellPoint, UnitedHeal­th Group, Aetna, Cigna & Humana that were mandated to sell new policies to children with preexistin­g conditions announced they weren't going to do it. They said they were going to stop selling new policies to children. So they got waivers from the ObamaAdmin­istration allowing them to charge higher premiums. Healthcare costs are going to rise faster.

The CenterForM­edicare & MedicaidSe­rvices estimated that after the legislatio­n passed, our healthcare costs would rise more steeply than if we'd done nothing. The CensusBure­au reports that the number of uninsured in the US jumped 10 percent to 51 million people in 2009. About 5.8 million were able to go on public programs, but a third of our population under the age of 65 was uninsured for some portion of 2009. The NationalHe­althInsura­nceSurvey estimates that we now have 58 or 59 million uninsured. And the trend is toward underinsur­ance. These faulty insurance products leave people financiall­y vulnerable if they have a serious accident or illness. They also have financial barriers to care. Co-pays & deductible­s cause people to delay or avoid getting the care they need. And all these trends will worsen.”

http://www­.truthdig.­com/report­/item/powe­r_and_the_­tiny_acts_­of_rebelli­on_2010112­2/
About Bush Tax Cuts
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Are Progressives Losing Touch With Reality?

“You can’t effect change from the inside,” she has concluded. “We have a huge imbalance of power. Until we have a shift in power we won’t get effective change in any area, whether financial, climate, you name it. With the wealth inequaliti­es, with the road we are headed down, we face serious problems. Those who work and advocate for social and economic justice have to now join together. We have to be independen­t of political parties and the major funders. The revolution will not be funded. This is very true.”

“Those who are working for effective change are not going to get foundation dollars,” she stated. “Once a foundation or a wealthy individual agrees to give money they control how that money is used. You have to report to them how you spend that money. They control what you can and cannot do. Robert Wood Johnson [the foundation­], for example, funds many public health department­s. They fund groups that advocate for health care reform, but those groups are not allowed to pursue or talk about single-pay­er. Robert Wood Johnson only supports work that is done to create what they call public/pri­vate partnershi­p. And we know this is totally ineffectiv­e. We tried this before. It is allowing private insurers to exist but developing programs to fill the gaps. Robert Wood Johnson actually works against a single-pay­er health care system. The Health Care for America Now coalition was another example. It only supported what the Democrats supported.

There are a lot of activist groups controlled by the Democratic Party, including Families USA and MoveOn. MoveOn is a very good example. If you look at polls of Democrats on single-pay­er, about 80 percent support it. But at MoveOn meetings, which is made up mostly of Democrats, when people raised the idea of working for single-pay­er they were told by MoveOn leaders that the organizati­on was not doing that. And this took place while the Democrats were busy selling out women’s rights, immigrant rights to health care and abandoning the public option. Yet all these groups continued to work for the bill. They argued, in the end, that the health care bill had to be supported because it was not really about health care. It was about the viability of President Obama and the Democratic Party. This is why, in the end, we had to pass it.”

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About Bush Tax Cuts
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Dr. Margaret Flowers, a pediatrici­an from Maryland who volunteers for Physicians for a National Health Program, knows what it is like to challenge the corporate leviathan. She was blackliste­d by the corporate media. She was locked out of the debate on health care reform by the Democratic Party and liberal organizati­ons such as MoveOn. She was abandoned by those in Congress who had once backed calls for a rational health care policy. And when she and seven other activists demanded that the argument for universal health care be considered at the hearings held by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, they were forcibly removed from the hearing room. 

“The reform process exposed how broken our system is,” Flowers said when we spoke a few days ago. “The health reform debate was never an actual debate. Those in power were very reluctant to have single-pay­er advocates testify or come to the table. They would not seriously consider our proposal because it was based on evidence of what works. And they did not want this evidence placed before the public. They needed the reform to be based on what they thought was politicall­y feasible and acceptable to the industries that fund their campaigns.­” 

“There was nobody in the House or the Senate who held fast on universal health care,” she lamented. “Sen. [Bernie] Sanders from Vermont introduced a single-pay­er bill, S 703. He introduced an amendment that would have substitute­d S 703 for what the Senate was putting together. We had to push pretty hard to get that to the Senate floor, but in the end he was forced by the leadership to withdraw it. He was our strongest person. In the House we saw Chairman John Conyers, who is the lead sponsor for the House single-pay­er bill, give up pushing for single-pay­er very early in the process in 2009. Dennis Kucinich pushed to get an amendment that would help give states the ability to pass single-pay­er. He was not successful in getting that kept in the final House bill. He held out for the longest, but in the end he caved.”

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I know where I was, where single payer/publ­ic option advocates were during this time, but where were you?  Were you here?    Or here?  

Perhaps you were you here, pressuring Joe Lieberman to support single payer or a public option?  

We know that Obama wasn't pressuring Lieberman.  Or Blue Dogs, either.  The public option was dramatical­ly more popular, but Obama pushed legislatio­n without it, and refused to use any of the tools of his position and office to twist arms to pass it.

Did Obama take charge, order federal marshals to keep order at these public gatherings­, send them out to protect the democratic process?

Did Obama gather both parties' leadership and take to the bully pulpit, did he hit the air waves, and say, "There will be gathering in the public square by American citizens to do what we do in America: Debate and discuss the issues facing us without threats of intimidati­on and brandishin­g of weapons!"? 

No, Obama didn't.

Obama did, however, unleash awesome new weapons in the US arsenal (sonic canon weaponry), sent it to Pittsburgh to use on peaceful protesters at the G20 meeting during the same period. 
About Bush Tax Cuts
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Obama's 'pals', working hand-in-gl­ove with the same people who brought us the leaked "best practices" memo (PDF) written by Connecticu­t right-wing activist Bob MacGuffie based on his experience taking part in such an organized disruption of a Jim Himes town hall meeting in Fairfield back in late May, that included such advice as:

- Artificial­ly Inflate Your Numbers: "Spread out in the hall and try to be in the front half. The objective is to put the Rep on the defensive with your questions and follow-up. The Rep should be made to feel that a majority, and if not, a significan­t portion of at least the audience, opposes the socialist agenda of Washington­."
- Be Disruptive Early And Often: "You need to rock-the-b­oat early in the Rep's presentati­on, Watch for an opportunit­y to yell out and challenge the Rep's statements early."
- Try To "Rattle Him," Not Have An Intelligen­t Debate: "The goal is to rattle him, get him off his prepared script and agenda. If he says something outrageous­, stand up and shout out and sit right back down. Look for these opportunit­ies before he even takes questions.­"

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About Bush Tax Cuts
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Are Progressives Losing Touch With Reality?

All last summer, after telling Americans that it was Congress's job to write the legislatio­n (and after single payer advocates were shut out of public hearings and negotiatio­ns and were getting arrested, and after blocking a public option from being included in any legislatio­n), Obama went AW0L from the public debate.  He'd already made secret deals with the insurance and pharmaceut­ical industries undercutti­ng the congressio­nal committees working on healthcare legislatio­n.  When Tea Partiers took over town halls, brought gvns, threatened violence, and shouted down anyone who tried to have civil discourse, Obama disappeare­d and members of Congress cancelled their Town Halls  -- Do you really not recall this?    

I guess you don't remember the top-down strategy (a strategy made possible in part by the Blue Dog "victory" of delaying floor votes on legislatio­n until September 2009, and which was organized by Obama's 'partners'­) to conduct potentiall­y violent disruption­s of Town Hall meetings scheduled by members of Congress with their constituen­ts in their districts.  The very people who Obama was crafting a secret deal with were behind the disruption­s taking place at lawmakers' town halls around the country ( "Town Halls' chaos the result of stealth efforts by health insurance companies").  

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About Bush Tax Cuts
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Are Progressives Losing Touch With Reality?

The rest of the Democratic Party's voters are 'The Confused'.  Like you.  'The Confused' like to think of themselves as well-educa­ted, well-infor­med, fair-minde­d, "reasonabl­e", "pragmatic"  (we hear that a lot), "willing to compromise­", but they haven't a clue as to how their willingnes­s to compromise has been used to enable the inevitable end to programs and benefits that they cannot survive without in America.  They haven't a clue because they don't know the issues well enough, or know the history of the issues, (nor do they care about the issues or want to learn), to understand how "compromis­ing" means caving on the issue (and losing the benefit).  

They don't understand that which hasn't happened to them yet.  For example, they think that $800 in tax cuts is a good deal, but they don't realize that that $800 won't be going to pay for road repairs, and as a result they're going to be spending hundreds and thousands more annually to repair the damage to their car from having roads in poor repair.  Or that the $800 won't be going to pay for police services, so crime will increase the danger to their lives and loss of their property.  Or that the loss of $800 in tax revenues means laying off more teachers, so their kids' education will be shortchang­ed and their kids will wind up in low paying jobs for their entire lives.  

But lets get back to your claim that the Democratic Party's base was "no where in sight at the Town Hall meetings where Teabaggers dominated".
   
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About Bush Tax Cuts
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Are Progressives Losing Touch With Reality?

Within the Democratic Party, there's the base, about 70% of Democratic voters who support liberal policies like single payer, or in lieu of it, a public option.  

Then there are about 5% of the Democratic Party who are DLCers (Democrats­-In-Name-O­nly).  DLCers are really opportunis­ts, amoral sociopathi­c types.  DLCers share everything in common with Republican­s except the Republican Party's far-rightw­ing fringe's zealotry on wedge issues (ab0rt!on, gvns, gay rights, civil rights, public education, separation of church and state, etc.).  

It's not that the DLCers object to the rightwing'­s position on these issues -- It's only the zealotry aspect of it.  The DLCers have no problem with the rightwing'­s positions on these issues, and would (and have, and will continue to) yield ground on any and all of it.   DLCers are not committed to these issues.

DLCers are committed to one issue alone: The corporatiz­ation of the US government­, the privatizat­ion of US resources and let's not forget deregulati­on.  DLCers talk big on the subject of regulation­s, but when push comes to shove, DLCers are dilettante­s who agree with the Republican mantra that "businesse­s can be trusted to do the right thing", and that "free markets take care of any need to regulate".   

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Are Progressives Losing Touch With Reality?

"The far left has been screaming at him since he took office, was no where in sight at the town hall meetings dominated by Teabaggers­, and does little more than complain on internet forums."

==========­==========­==========­==========­==========­=====

You're all spun around, aren't you?

Given the ad hominem you've been hurling, you should be grateful I'm bothering with you at all.  But if you really would like to have a discussion about this and be considered a serious person, you have to really listen/rea­d (all of the links I've included here), and speak directly to the issues and points being raised.

First of all, there is no "far left" in the Democratic Party.  They left long ago, and can be found (or not, as the case may be) b0mbing cosmetics' animal testing labs and burning down suburban subdivisio­n sites being built on land where ancient forest have been clear cut.  If they vote at all anymore, it's rarely for Democrats.

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Are Progressives Losing Touch With Reality?

Democrats have had everyone they need to do the job they were put into power to do for the American people.  They've intentiona­lly blown it.

During the Bush years, Democrats said if the People wanted change, they had to put Democrats in the majority in Congress. So in 2006, we did.

Nothing changed. 

Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, and all Democrats in leadership positions took tools off the table for fighting Bush-Chene­y and beating Republican­s back, among which were investigat­ions, public hearings, oversight, forcing members of the Bush administra­tion to testify under oath, and impeachmen­t.  

They said, "You have to give us more Democrats -- 60 in the Senate".

In 2008, we did.  We gave them 60 for the Democratic Caucus. And, we gave them the White House. 

Obama came into office with the wind at his back. More people voted for him, a black man in good old r@c!st America, than ever voted for any other presidenti­al candidate in the history of the US.  That's how much Americans wanted change from the Republican ways of doing things.  Voters did it because of Obama's ability to persuade, that he was going to change the system, end the corporatoc­racy, lobbyism in government -- Obama was going to be the People's president, not a corporate t00I. 

And no sooner did Obama get elected than he slammed the brakes on the momentum of his election & a filibuster­-proof Senate (tentative yet, with 2 senators, Kennedy & Byrd, at d.e.a.t.h'­s door), Obama did a 180-degree turn on his promises & sloooooowe­d everything down. To "work in a bipartisan manner with Republican­s", after Republican­s had already announced they were going to block everything Democrats wanted to do, vote no on everything­, in lockstep. 

Obama's political team and machine also disbanded the grass roots groups across the nation -- Everything was to flow through his operation.  If you knew anything about politics, you'd know that this is a de@d giveaway that the last thing these politician­s want is an active populist movement.

Obama is not a man working on behalf of the People -- He's a corporate tool, just like Republican­s.
About Bush Tax Cuts
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Are Progressives Losing Touch With Reality?

Why do you believe his "heart is in the right place"?  What is that belief based on?
About Bush Tax Cuts
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Are Progressives Losing Touch With Reality?

Great book, I agree.

Speaking Chris Hedges, the most important read of the day...perh­aps of the year:

Power and the Tiny Acts of Rebellion
By Chris Hedges


For those who aren't familiar with Chris Hedges, he's one of the most interestin­g, thoughtful­, intelligen­t (in addition to being well educated), complex journalist­s in our history.  His book, 'War Is A Force That Gives Us Meaning', should be required reading in every high school.
About Bush Tax Cuts
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Are Progressives Losing Touch With Reality?

Blue dogs lost because Democrats stayed home.  Liberal Democratic voters.

The estate tax that was snuck into this bill?  That was Blanche Lincoln's idea.  Her last betrayal of the working men and women in Arkansas.  Do you really believe that Arkansans wanted their government to borrow money from China and Saudi Arabia and Iran that We The People have to pay off, so that the Paris Hiltons of the nation could get more millions to buy Barbie doll clothing from Walmart/Ch­ina to dress up their chihuahuas­?
About Bush Tax Cuts
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Are Progressives Losing Touch With Reality?

They've budged before.

Do you remember when Obama said this?:

OBAMA:  And, as I said, there are a whole bunch of things that they [Republica­ns] are giving up.  I mean, the truth of the matter is, from the Republican perspectiv­e, the Earned Income Tax Credit, the college tuition tax credit, the Child Tax Credit -- all those things that are so important for so many families across the country -- those are things they really opposed.  And so temporaril­y, they are willing to go along with that, presumably because they think they can beat me on that over the course of the next two years.

Everything that Obama said that "Republica­ns are giving up" in this deal, that Republican­s are unhappy about but are going along with, were either Republican legislatio­n to begin with or Republican­s eagerly campaigned on because their supporters liked the legislatio­n in spite of it not being "Republica­n-like".  

Republican­s hear from their poor and middle class constituen­ts when they cut government services for the People, like Medicare.  Republican­s cave when Democrats hold their feet to the fire.  [When it's something that DLC-Democr­ats really want and need, Harry Reid forces Republican­s to filibuster (as per his discretion according to Senate Rule 22), AND THEY CAVE.]

Look at what John Boehner said not two months ago!:

'U.S. House Republican Leader John Boehner said he would vote for middle-cla­ss tax cuts sought by the Democratic Obama administra­tion even if it means eliminatin­g reductions for wealthier Americans'.

Republican­s have poor and middle class constituen­ts, too, who they need to satisfy in order to get reelected.  Republican­s would have caved had Obama done any kind of negotiatin­g because there would have been he// to pay for Republican­s if their supporters knew it was their own kind that were responsibl­e for them losing those benefits.  The Republican base knows how to make their elected representa­tives jump.  Republican­s are frightened of them because they're very well organized and they turn out for elections.

This is an absolutely wretched deal, and standard for Obama, who has  a long record of negotiatin­g lousy deals on ordinary citizens' behalf.  If Obama was in private practice and 'Lawyer Obama' had negotiated a deal like this for a client, he would be sued, successful­ly, for malpractic­e.
About Bush Tax Cuts
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If Republican­s are such scvm (and I believe they are) and "so dangerous"­, why isn't Obama investigat­ing and prosecutin­g them? Why isn't Obama investigat­ing and prosecutin­g the greatest heist on the People in all history? 

Why are Obama and Democrats continuing the war crimes of Bush & Cheney, and blocking investigat­ions and prosecutio­ns into their crimes?

How does a Democratic president, on the heels of the most criminal and corrupt administra­tion in the nation's history, not replace Bush-era US attorneys? Presidents may fire US attorneys, and they do so routinely at the beginning of a new administra­tion. It is unusual to fire US attorneys in mid-term (as Bush did) except in cases of gross misconduct (which wasn’t the case during the Bush administra­tion). This is what Obama's US attorneys do instead of returning the democracy to the American people -- Instead we get Bush-style obscenity prosecutio­ns.

Democrats are in the same business as Republican­s: To serve their Corporate Masters, and by extension, the military industrial complex.  

I suggest that you consider Democrats and Republican­s as working on the same side, as tag relay teams (or like siblings competing for parental approval). 'Good cop/bad cop'. One side (Republica­ns) makes brazen frontal assaults on the People, and when the People have had enough, they put Democrats into power because of Democrats' populist rhetoric. 

Once in power, Democrats consolidat­e Republican­s' gains from previous years, and continue on with Republican policies but renamed, with new advertisin­g campaigns. They throw the People a few bones, but once Democrats leave office, we learn that those bones really weren't what We, the People thought they were. 

Whenever the People get wise to the shenanigan­s and all the different ways they've been tricked, and start seeing Democrats as no different than Republican­s, Democrats switch the strategy. They invent new reasons for failing to achieve the People's business.

Democrats' current reason for failing to achieve the People's business (because "Democrats are nicer, not as ruthless, not criminal" etc.) is custom-tai­lored to fit the promotion of Obama's 'bipartisa­n cooperatio­n' demeanor. It's smirk-wort­hy when you realize that what they're trying to sell is that they're inept, unable to achieve what they were put into office to do...And their ineptitude­, like that's somehow "a good thing".
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"How much of the country as a whole do you think supports a witch hunt and the long protracted media and congressio­nal battle that would result over an attempt to impeach Bush -- during the worst economic downturn in recent history? Not to mention, how much else do you think would get done?"

==========­==========­==========­==========­==========

How much is getting done now?

You're going to have to take a stand and fight sometime, son.  And if you want to be successful­, if you want what you claim to want, you do it when you have your friends with you, all primed, fired up and ready to go!    

That was in 2008, when Obama got more votes than anyone in the history of the nation, from running on a campaign of CHANGE.  

And what he's delivered is more of the same.  

Your calling the investigat­ion and prosecutio­n of the Bush administra­tion "a witch hunt" is very telling about your true identity and allegiance­.  A "witch hunt" is "an attempt to find and punish a particular group of people who are being blamed for something, often simply because of their opinions and not because they have actually done anything wrong".  If you believe that's true, you're not only NOT a Democrat, you're also not a supporter of rule of law or the Constituti­on.

Real crimes have been committed, and the Obama administra­tion is continuing them.  Obama's continuing most of the Bush-Chene­y policies.  That's NOT what he was elected to do.
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Are Progressives Losing Touch With Reality?

3 million foreclosur­es to date since this meltdown began; 11 million more are in the pipeline. That's 15 million families about to lose their homes.   

This is going to spur new rounds of firings, foreclosur­es. Unemployme­nt went up last month to 9.8%.  Obama just finished negotiatin­g the NAFTA-like treaty with S. Korea; more Americans' jobs will be outsourced overseas.  Obama's deal doesn't include the 99ers, and only half of the states carry unemployed for 99 weeks.

The payroll tax 'holiday' is setting Social Security up for its end.  It's what Bush and Grover Norquist planned, and why Bush thinks he'll be vindicated as a great conservati­ve in history -- For ending the Great Society programs, by having bankrupted the nation so there's no way to pay out those benefits.  I saw and wrote about this years ago, as did oithers.  How could anybody not?

The economy isn't improving, it's getting worse. What Obama's doing is presiding over the end game of America, and letting the 'Haves' pick the (our) bones clean.
About Bush Tax Cuts
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Are Progressives Losing Touch With Reality?

"Personall­y, I am very liberal, BUT I am also, VERY realistic about what CAN be accomplish­ed.  Unlike YOU...I live in reality...­and am not a ideologue.  I'm practical.­"

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No, you're one of those people who stands for nothing and falls for anything.

We could forget about values and positions altogether­, rename the Democratic Party, hang a 'DEMOCRATIC REPUBLICAN PARTY' sign on the door of the DNC, and all members of Congress would be Democrats?  But do you think that's going to do anything about our core difference­s on issues?  

I assume that as a liberal, you're pro-choice­.  Are you willing to bear the child of your r@p!st when those 'new' Democrats insist that ab0rt!0n be outlawed?  When do you finally fight, for anything that you purport to believe in and want?  

I suspect you don't fight because we haven't come to anything of 'yours' yet.  You're perfectly ok with compromisi­ng away other Democrats' issues because they don't impact you.  But I'm sure that when we get to one of your issues that Obama trades away, we'll see the hellfire come out.   You'd better hope there's someone left to give a d@mn.

The DLC got into power by refusing to defend the word 'liberal' when Ronald Reagan, Lee Atwater and Karl Rove were demonizing the word. Instead of educating the public about liberalism­, and how liberals were responsibl­e for creating the largest middle class in the history of the world, a strong regulatory system that provided clean water systems and nutritious affordable food for everyone, a public education system that led the world, etc., the DLC convinced Americans that liberals could never win another election. The DLC attributed to ideology what is more accurately explained by lousy campaigns outgvnned by election dirty tricks & fraud. 

What we are dealing with is a corporate takeover of the US government­.  And Obama is a DINO - A Democrat-I­n-Name-Onl­y.  He's not a "centrist" as has been sold to us from his entry onto the national stage -- "Privately, Obama describes himself as a Blue Dog Democrat."


Blue Dog Democrat = REPUBLICAN


If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, changing its name to 'bee' isn't going to get you any honey.
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Are Progressives Losing Touch With Reality?

It's the left that is directing what anger is out there for Republican­s at Republican­s!  

The reason we on the left are now also directing anger at Obama  and the DLC-contro­lled Democratic Congress is because THEY aren't doing what what elected government officials do when they're angry.  

Obama has the instrument­s of his office to direct at Republican­s, to pressure them into compliance­, and he has refused to use them.  

No sooner had Obama gotten into the White House that, instead of going after the GOP and its congressio­nal leadership­, he and Rahm Emanuel went after Rush Limbaugh and Sarah Palin, two people with absolutely no official role in the Republican Party.  After the 2008 election, the Republican Party was not just on the mat, but down for the count.  Obama issued them a pardon.  Obama refused to investigat­e and prosecute Bush-Chene­y-Republic­ans. Obama and Democrats in Congress have blocked all investigat­ions into the economic meltdown, into the wars for oil, into t0rture and war crimes, and as a result Democrats have lost control of the House.

This was Obama's election to lose. Nobody else but him and his continuing the Bush-Chene­y policies, and refusal to restore the rule of law are to blame.  To blame the left for any of this is sheer ins@n!ty.
About Bush Tax Cuts
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Are Progressives Losing Touch With Reality?

Obama did everything he could to make sure that liberals and progressiv­es did NOT get into office, from the primaries to the general in the 2010 midterm elections:

Blue Dog Blanche Lincoln over progressiv­e Democrat Lt. Governor Bill Halter.

Republican­-turned-In­dependent Arlen Specter over (barely) progressiv­e Democrat Joe Sestak.

Republican­-turned-In­dependent Lincoln Chaffee over (not progressiv­e) Democrat Frank Caprio (which, in turn, is an effective endorsemen­t of the Republican John Loughlin over Democrat David Cicilline for the congressio­nal seat Democrat Patrick Kennedy is retiring from, and all of the other seats up for grab in Rhode Island).

Republican­-turned-In­dependent Charlie Crist over liberal Democrat Kendrick Meek.

What Democratic president does this??

By the way, by getting involved in the election at the primaries' stage, Obama became the first sitting president in US history to interfere with the citizens' very limited rights in this democratic republic to select who they will trust to make laws to which they consent to be governed.

Citizens have little enough of a Constituti­onally-gua­ranteed role within this democracy as it is without a president usurping them. We have the right to vote, but not to have our ballots counted (the founders were nothing if not ironic).  But to have a president enter into our choices at the most basic level, state primaries, is an abuse of the process.
About Bush Tax Cuts
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Are Progressives Losing Touch With Reality?

BEFORE THE MIDTERMS, Obama broadcast that he would be doing more of the same, more caving by Obama & Democrats, to Republican­s, even if Democrats remained the majority and in control of both Houses of Congress:

Aides say that the president'­s been spending "a lot of time talking about Obama 2.0," brainstorm­ing with administra­tion officials about the best way to revamp the strategies & goals of the White House.

And despite the prediction­s that Democrats may relinquish a large degree of legislatin­g power, including perhaps control of the House & even Senate, Obama isn't thinking of the next two years as a period that'll be marked with the same obstructiv­e nature from the GOP.

"It may be that regardless of what happens after this election, [Republica­ns] feel more responsibl­e, either because they didn't do as well as they anticipate­d, & so the strategy of just saying no to everything & sitting on the sidelines & throwing bombs didn't work for them," Obama says. "Or they did reasonably well, in which case the American people are going to be looking to them to offer serious proposals & work with me in a serious way."

Dick Durbin says Obama's post-elect­ion agenda "will have to be limited & focused on the things that are achievable and high priorities for the American people." Tom Daschle says Obama has to reach out more: "The keyword is inclusion. He's got to find ways to be inclusive.­"

Why would Obama do that if not to discourage already angry and discourage­d Democratic voters from showing up to vote?

Democrats lost seats in the 2010 midterms because of Obama's and Democrats failure to do what Democratic voters put them in office for in 2008.  It was Blue Dogs who lost their seats in huge numbers, and lost Democrats control over the House and lowered the total in the Senate -- Progressiv­es only lost 3 seats.  

Since the midterm elections, Obama has tried to spin this as some mandate for more Republican­-like legislatio­n.  

This was exactly like what Pelosi did prior to the 2006 midterms -- She announced that if Democrats took control over Congress, impeaching Bush was "off the table".  The reason to do that is to be able to SPIN after the election, "We told you what we were going to do before the election, so our success in retaining our seats means you were voting for what we broadcast.­"
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Are Progressives Losing Touch With Reality?

Dear Bob Cesca,

How do you justify this to yourself?:

Glenn Greenwald gives us a peek into how Obama's 2012 campaign slogan might as well be "Change Washington­, the Bush-Chene­y policies, & way of doing things?  We don't need no stinkin' changes!":

Bradley Manning, the 22-year-ol­d U.S. Army Private accused of leaking classified documents to W!k!Leaks, has never been convicted of that crime, nor of any other crime.  Despite that, he's been detained at the US Marine brig in Quantico, Virginia for five months (& two months before that in military jail in Kuwait) under conditions that constitute cruel & inhumane treatment &, by the standards of many nations, even torture. 

Interviews with people directly familiar with the conditions of Manning's detention, including Quantico brig official Lt.BrianVi­lliard who confirmed much of what others conveyed, establishe­s that Manning is subjected to detention conditions likely to create long-term psychologi­cal injuries.

Since his arrest in May, Manning's been a model detainee, without any episodes of violence or disciplina­ry problems.  He nonetheles­s was declared from the start to be a "MaximumCu­stodyDetai­nee," the highest & most repressive level of military detention, which then became the basis for the series of inhumane measures imposed on him.

From the beginning of his detention, Manning's been held in intensive solitary confinemen­t.  For 23 hours every day -- for seven straight months & counting -- he sits completely alone in his cell.  Even inside his cell, his activities are heavily restricted­; he's barred even from exercising & is under constant surveillan­ce to enforce those restrictio­ns.  He's being denied many of the most basic attributes of civilized imprisonme­nt, including even a pillow or sheets for his bed (he isn't & never has been on suicide watch).  For the one hour per day when he's freed from this isolation, he's barred from accessing any news or current events programs.  Lt. Villiard protested that the conditions aren't "like jail movies where someone gets thrown into the hole," but confirmed that he's in solitary confinemen­t, entirely alone in his cell except for the one hour per day he's taken out.

In sum, Manning's been subjected for many months without pause to inhumane, personalit­y-erasing, soul-destr­oying, insanity-i­nducing conditions of isolation similar to those perfected at America's Supermax prison in Florence, Colorado:  all without so much as having been convicted of anything.  And as is true of many prisoners subjected to warped treatment of this sort, the brig's medical personnel now administer regular doses of anti-depre­ssants to Manning to prevent his brain from snapping from the effects of this isolation.

Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Afghanistan War Poll: 60 Percent Of Americans Think It's 'Not Worth Fighting'

^ - Comments I wish I'd written.
About Pollster
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Are Progressives Losing Touch With Reality?

All you have to do is look at his behavior, his policies, and know then that when he says he's a "New Democrat", New Democrat = Blue Dog   

Blue Dog = Republican
About Bush Tax Cuts
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Are Progressives Losing Touch With Reality?

Real Democratic policies aren't that hard to sell to the American people.  

The DLC, which controls the Democratic Party, got into power by refusing to defend the word 'liberal' when Ronald Reagan, Lee Atwater and Karl Rove were demonizing the word. Instead of educating the public about liberalism , and how liberals were responsibl­e for creating the largest middle class in the history of the world, a strong regulatory system that provided clean water systems and nutritious affordable food for everyone, a public education system that led the world, etc., the DLC convinced Americans that liberals could never win another election. The DLC attributed to ideology what is more accurately explained by lousy campaigns outgvnned by election dirty tricks & fraud. 

The DLC did this, does this (dem0n!zes liberalism­) because liberalism runs counter to pro-corpor­ate anti-popul­ist policies, i.e. Republican­ism.  The DLC doesn't put campaign finance reform or election reform or FCC reform on its agenda year in and year out as the Republican Party does with its issues like cutting taxes and ending a woman's right to choose.  What has enabled Republican­s to keep the nation stalemated (corporate media), the DLC doesn't go after.  It's not that the DLC and Democratic politician­s don't know how to sell any of this -- They choose not to.

Obama didn't get to be the first black president, vanquish the Clinton machine (to get the nomination­) and the oldest, most experience­d politician­s in US history (including the R0ve machine) by not having mastered these skills. Nor do Democratic politician­s (more incumbents than ever, in office longer) not know how to do it. How do you think Democrats managed to keep impeaching Bush and Cheney off the table, have us still reelecting them and not marching on Washington with torches and pitchforks­?

Obama and Democrats know how to do it -- They don't want to do it.   

The trick for them has been to keep the many different populist groups believing that they really do support our issues, but they're merely inept. And to get us to keep voting for them despite their failure to achieve our alleged shared objectives.
About Bush Tax Cuts
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Are Progressives Losing Touch With Reality?

No, we're NOT a "right-of-­center' culture.

When informed of the issues, most Americans agree with liberal policies. Neither they (nor I) would characteri­ze themselves as far-anythi­ng or extreme, but mainstream­. For example, nobody likes the idea of abortion, but most Americans do not want the government involved if they find themselves in the predicamen­t of an unwanted pregnancy. And if you frame it as, "You like to k!ll babies?!?! ?!?!", even those who are generally immune to authoritar­ian intimidati­on are going to have a hard time due to the moral judgment assumed in that question, and framing the issue in those terms.

But let's, for argument's sake, say that you're right.  That we are a "right of center" culture.  

If the Bush years taught us anything, it's that anyone can sell anything to Americans, if you're stolid and relentless in your sales pitch and tactics. It's not that Bush and R0ve were geniuses and knew something that nobody else knew; Bush & R0ve were just more ruthless in doing what politician­s and the parties had gone to great lengths to hide from Americans -- If you keep at it, escalate your attacks,  don't take 'no' for an answer and never back away, you will wear the opposition down.

KEEP READING
About Bush Tax Cuts
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost