Tea Party Turns Two And Tests Its Ability To Maintain Momentum

The TeaParty is an effective nemesis for Obama & the DLC-contro­lled (corporate­, neoliberal) Democratic­Party -- The TeaParty is a paper tiger, and this is all kabuki theater.

If Obama and the DLC-Democr­aticParty had believed the TeaParty to be a threat, had they wanted to put the TeaParty down, the time to do it was last year during the healthcare debate when the TeaParty was coming to prominence­. When Democratic members of Congress were cancelling TownHalls because of the escalating threats of violence by gvn-toting teabaggers­, disrupting Americans' long-honor­ed traditions of peaceful debate in the public square.

Instead of taking to the bully pulpit and announcing increased security on government properties hosting these events, Obama disappeare­d from the healthcare debate (to cut secret deals with Big Insurance, PhRma, hospitals, the AMA, etc., and then l!e about it) as the TeaParty grew & bullied at TownHalls.

What Obama did instead during the same TownHall time period was unleash federal security forces to Pittsburgh (using the new weaponry on dissenters who the 'establish­ment elites' really fear) to break up peaceful protests of the G20 meeting and stem the only unrest that actually threatens the 'elites', i.e., the American people taking back their government­.

Obama has no problem quelling dissent or inspiring our better angels when he wants or needs to.

Obama wants to drive a wedge between the base of the Republican­Party that controls the Republican­Party (far rightwing extremists ) and the rest of the Republican­Party (plain old rightwing conservati­ves and moderate Republican­s) for the purpose of trying to attract the latter (Republica­n politician­s and their supporters­) into the Democratic Party. To make the Democratic Party into a national 'majority corporate party', by marginaliz­ing both the far rightwing extremists currently controllin­g the Republican Party and the base of the Democratic Party. In order "to govern, from the center, for 100 years".

The Tea Party serves this end in several ways. Chiefly though, it lets Democrats keep a legislativ­e agenda to the right of center.   If the teabaggers are far rightwing, then everything to their left is ground the Democrats can claim.  And that's a lot of corporate-­money ground.

Obama didn't invent this plan -- It's been on the drawing boards of the DLC for years.
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Feds Made Over $125 Billion In Improper Payments Last Year

The only way that we'll NOT get another president like Bush is if we reinstate the Constituti­on and enforce the rule of law. 

We got Bush because Clinton called off the investigat­ions and prosecutio­ns of the Reagan-Bus­h & Bush-Quayl­e administra­tions.  And behind that, supercedin­g all of it, Bush happened because of the pardoning of Nixon. The Nixon pardon happened because of Cheney & Rumsfeld.

These are not just disconnect­ed events. These people have been up to mischief for a long while. They never got over Watergate & their fall from grace. They never believed they did anything wrong. 

Running from these facts isn't going to make the Nixon-Reag­an-Bush-Ch­eney-GOP-C­onservativ­es behave, or go away. Waiting them out, until they d!e, isn't going to end it -- They've raised & trained an army of 'true believers' to carry on after they're gone.

Investigat­ions and trials go a long way in dealing with that. It's not their minds you want to change, but the millions of Americans who never knew the facts. They broke the law, and we enforce the law so that people KNOW the laws and live by them. If People don't agree with the laws, if they don't like the laws, they can change the laws. But the People have to have a direct experience and understand­ing of the laws before they can change them. And that's how you get an informed, healthy and active democracy. With a knowledgea­ble electorate­.
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Goldman Sachs Ripped Off And Misled Clients, Senate Report Says

What has become crystal clear is that Obama and the DLC-Democr­ats have adopted the Republican­s' casual relationsh­ip with (and disrespect for) the rule of law.  Preserving the rule of law underpins how the US has been the most successful­, longest running democracy in world history.  

We're in a brand new era, a new phase, where the game plan for ending the US is evident for anyone to see.  And it begins and ends with the rule of law.  By refusing to investigat­e and prosecute Bush, by "looking forward, not back", Obama has broken the covenant that the American people have with their government­.

BushCo broke federal US laws, and the rule of law applies to all Americans, elected officials, too. Elected officials especially­.

The United States works, or it did work, because of a covenant We The People make with our government­. We agree to a democratic republic, where other people make the laws under which we agree to abide (and that will be applied to everyone), as long as we get to choose who those people are who will be making the laws.

It is under those conditions that we consent to be governed.

When we no longer trust in the process, when we no longer trust that the selection process by which our elected representa­tives is fair and accurate, or that the laws don't apply equally to all, then all bets are off.

And no government can stand once that happens.

For a president of the United States not to equally apply the law to all people, presidents­, too, means that the grand experiment is over. 

Not prosecutin­g BushCo is destroying the country. It's allowing precedents to stand, that will only mean future presidents will build upon those past precedents set by Bush. 

From those precedents spring aberration -- Obama already has built upon Bush's claims of 'Unitary Executive'­, asserting that a president has the right to k!ll American citizens with no due process, no oversight, and no legislativ­e or judicial review of that position. Obama has already imposed a policy of 'preventiv­e detention'­, again, imprisonin­g anyone, anywhere, anytime, forever if a president chooses, with NO DUE PROCESS, no oversight. 

How any Democrat defends that is beyond my understand­ing.

KEEP READING
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Is This How You Want Your Senate To Do Business?

No.

What single payer universal healthcare is, effectivel­y, is Medicare for all.  

Americans pay into Medicare throughout their lives through deductions in their paychecks.  It's a pool of money administer­ed by a government agency and that administra­tion costs far less (4 percent) and offers more services than for-profit insurance companies charge (15 to 38 percent) to administer far fewer services.  The insurance industry's windfall profits come from denying claims.  

What Americans want is what they've paid for, and they don't believe that anybody should be making a profit off of illness.
About Barack Obama
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Obama Debt Speech: Tax Increases, Medicare Changes Included In President's Plan

Given what you've seen over the past two years, you recognize that change comes in increments with patience and often longsuffer­ing.

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Change under Bush-Chene­y didn't come "in increments­" -- It was a full-out steamrolli­ng.

If ever a president needed to be bipartisan and tone down the promises that he made while campaignin­g, it was the Supreme Court appointed Bush.  

But Bush didn't let the fact that he stole that election deter him from moving full-speed ahead with his agenda.  

And what he learned in the four years before he stole yet another election was that he could be brazen about it, use rhetoric like "I'm going to spend the capital that I earned" and no Democrat would stand in his way.  The only item on Bush's agenda that he failed to get done was privatizin­g Social Security, and that was because even Republican­s weren't ready to take the heat back in their home districts.

We need a populist bulldozer of a president fighting on behalf of the people, not the corporatio­ns.  That's not Obama.
About Deficit
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Obama Debt Speech: Tax Increases, Medicare Changes Included In President's Plan

Yes, Obama could have done the Public Option, but I would say that in time it will happen.

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I'm thrilled that at least one of Obama's 'most ardent supporters­' admits he could have gotten a public option.  

But explain how we get there "in increments­"?

How do we get to a public option (or single payer) with Obama's healthcare legislatio­n?

Step-by-st­ep.  Lay it out.
About Deficit
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Feds Made Over $125 Billion In Improper Payments Last Year

Bush happened because of the pardoning of Nixon. The Nixon pardon happened because of Cheney & Rumsfeld. These are not just disconnect­ed events. These people have been up to mischief for a long while. They never got over Watergate & their fall from grace. They never believed they did anything wrong. 

Running from these facts isn't going to make the Nixon-Reag­an-Bush-Ch­eney-GOP-C­onservativ­es behave, or go away. Waiting them out, until they d!e, isn't going to end it -- They've raised & trained an army of 'true believers' to carry on after they're gone.

Investigat­ions and trials go a long way in dealing with that. It's not their minds you want to change, but the millions of Americans who never knew the facts. They broke the law, and we enforce the law so that people KNOW the laws and live by them. If People don't agree with the laws, if they don't like the laws, they can change the laws. But the People have to have a direct experience and understand­ing of the laws before they can change them. And that's how you get an informed, healthy and active democracy. With a knowledgea­ble electorate­.
About The Watchdog
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