Thursday, January 10, 2008

Rose Colored Glasses Are Sooooo 'Yesterday'

Let me begin by prefacing that George Bush is the single worst president we've had in history. And the GOP controlled Congress sucked waaaayyyy more than the Congress we have now, one that is only by a slim margin, controlled by Democrats. And it goes without saying that every single one of the GOP POTUS candidates have potential to steal Dubya McCodpiece's 'Worst President Ever' mantle. But of course, we Americans should have much higher standards shouldn't we? After all we have The Constitution. But, alas, we Americans also have the world's worst collective case of ADD in recorded history.

I just want everyone out there to take a sober look back to the Clinton era without their rose-colored glasses. The best way to do that is to read this piece from Alternet by David Morris. Here's the link: http://www.alternet.org/story/72336/. I know you don't want to read it kids, but please do not ignore it. It's not slime, it's not about Monica, it's the facts.

Bill Clinton's Administration did not operate as a Democratic administration and they were not in the least bit progressive. For instance, 'Don't Ask Don't Tell' was hardly the mark of anyone you could call progressive. It was gutless, ridiculously condescending to the gay men and women in uniform and in the long run hurt them more. If they were asked under orders they had to tell and then well, they were out of the military. The policy sanctioned discrimination, the only thing that can keep a gay American from being discharged from the military is if their superior decides not to ask them if they are gay. Could any of you out there imagine that your employment rode on the question of who you love? Could you imagine going to work everyday fearing your boss would ask that question? I know as a straight person I could not and when I put myself into their shoes it's beyond maddening to imagine it happening to me.

The Clinton Administration had as much contempt for the New Deal and Great Society as any Republican. Legislation that the first Bush or Reagan could have only dreamed of passing became reality under Clinton: NAFTA, The T-Com Act of '96, deregulation run amok, the rise of Enron, and Welfare Reform that recreated the 19th century class of the perpetually poor.

I have always been fond of saying (just ask Mr. Drinking Liberally for verification) that 'Bill Clinton was the best Republican President we ever had'. And I'll be damned if I do not get horrified gasps from Democrats, 'How dare you!...We...we...had a surplus! He was the first black president!' Sigh....what I wouldn't do for a drug from Merck that would jog their memories of that time. JUST KIDDING YA'LL! Merck is evil, to be honest so is every pharma company..if they weren't I wouldn't have to spend ten minutes a day deleting drug spam from my inbox.!

Anyway, when an administration enacts crappy policy it can take years to affect the population. Normally we have that yin/yang thing going and the succeeding administration pulls the country back. But no. In 2000, we got Dubya McCheney'sbitch who took the crappy policy-ball all the way into the endzone and then some.

So let's look at what we are dealing with a decade after the Clintonian promises that technology would solve all of our manufacturing loss woes, that deregulation serves the consumer not the CEO and Friedmanesque trade deals lift the third world out of poverty while guaranteeing the greedy American consumer low, low prices: under-employment, a stock-market that's all over the place, global sweatshop labor, rich getting richer, poor getting poorer, the middle-class tanking, unregulated industries soaking consumers with no accountability, Mexicans leaving their families to find work up north, foreclosures, unions battling for their lives as well as workers rights, corporate influence in every piece of legislation enacted, a pathetically biased media, etc...etc. Dubya in his wildest dreams could not have created this, he had help. He had Bill.

There was a time when I too wore the rose-colored glasses when looking back at the 90s when Clinton was president. Especially back in 2003 when Bush decided that America was entitled to attack any nation that just gave him the heebie-jeebies and Congress agreed. But over the course of the last four years I've really educated myself on our history, the state of our nation and what liberalism and progressivism means. And I found those rose-colored glasses no longer fit my need to see the truth.

My question to all of you Liberal Drinkers is...do you really want real change in this nation? Do you really want to trade rose-colored glasses for a stronger prescription that is difficult to deal with at first but you'll get used to, be glad you tried and will realize the future will be brighter as a result. That you do not want this change only for yourself but for your kids, your nieces, nephews, grandkids, your friends and their loved ones...for those who we leave behind here after we're gone. If so, you'll ask all of the POTUS candidates to rebuke the collude and compromise strategy of the DLC Democrats who fear liberals and progressives. You'll stand up for liberalism and progressivism. And you'll realize that if we want the future to be bright, we gotta lose the shades.

Thursday, January 03, 2008

The Audacity of Hope vs Hope Arkansas

Ahh...the Iowa Caucuses are over. Or should it be Caucusii? I'm not sure. A state with a minority population of 2.5% picked Barack 'Whoooossein' Obama over a Clinton? The Inevitable One lost to the Newbie with the "Un-Merkan" name. I'd wonder why but actually I'm not surprised at all. I can think of a few reasons and they all have to do with...we are tired of Bushes and Clintons. We want change.

Hillary made a big mistake by telling the world she played an instrumental role in her husband's administration. We've had time to reminisce since Bubba was King. While I do remember my 401K kicking ass back then, I also remember enduring 'down-sizing' and the hundreds of thousands of jobs leaving Ohio due to NAFTA. 'The Giant Sucking Sound' Perot predicted back in 1992 that would come from South of the border, moved East - finding countries willing to sell it's people into slavery for even lower wages than Mexico and willing to shower their executives even greater bonuses for wickedly huge profits. The outsourcing of all jobs be they blue collar or white, to India and China have devastated soooo many state economies it's ridiculous.

I also remember the Telecommunication's Act of 1996 that relaxed media ownership rules. Gee, that's served the public well hasn't it? Oh it hasn't? Huh. Hillary, a bit of advice...tell the nation you'd be better than your husband, tell us you would not not make the mistakes he made, and please.. don't tell us you had a hand in them. And whatever you do; do not tell us that receiving millions in campaign donations from big business lobbyists is equal to getting money from unions and public interest organizations. It's not. The ACLU and Cigna have different priorities and we are not stupid. Here endeth the lesson Hillary. You need to be, in your heart, a real populist in some way shape or form. Good luck with that.

Anyway....Obama won even though the Mediacracy said he wouldn't. The guy who the whisper campaigners did their best to play up as a 'scary terrorist' kicked ass tonight and I'll be damned if that doesn't make me happy! Whoooooo! I am truly excited about this even if he is not my personal pick. I'm hoping Mr. Audacity of Hope will take a cue from the populist candidate that nearly took him out and pay heed. Because America really wants change, they don't want someone who just talks about it.

Of course, there's the other one from Hope, Arkansas who won his race tonight. Mr. Mike 'Fox Hates Me' Huckabee...another Cinderella story of a more twisted variety...who spent gobs less yet creamed The Romney-Bot in the Iowa Caucus. Meaning - the Republicans are on their way to putting up just about the worst candidate ever. An even wackier Dubya without the money or family connections. A guy who has publicly stated: Women Must Submit To Their Husbands and Gay People Are Equatable To Necrophiliacs. Yeaaaahh, that'll play real well in the O.C. or anywhere else with running water.

Of course Mr. Old-Timey Values Guy...Huckabee aka The Huckster, has some pretty ugly baggage. He got his pre-serial-killer offspring off for hanging a dog from a tree for shits and giggles. And who could forget the rest of Mr. Aw-Shuck's plethora of corruption in office as Govengoober? It would seem that Mr. 'Aw-Shucks' is not exactly Mr. Clean.

Oh...man do ever I hope against hope that the Republicans keep Huckabee on top. I'd run my dog against him for president. Of course when Karly the Poop-Eating English Cocker beat Huckabee in a landslide, I'd have to step in at some point. I'd totally agree to be her Chief of Staff. It should be quite easy to spin a government official who licks herself, eats kibble, plays with inert objects, greets folks as if they are a a rock-star every time anyone she knows walks into a room, and craps wherever she feels as a being with the appropriate skills to be President compared to any GOP candidate. The improvement in diplomacy alone would be worth electing Karly The Poop Eating Dog for President. After all, we've accepted soooo much less of our President in every regard over the last seven years.

Sorry I digressed quite a bit there. But, if the election was to be held today and we'd have to choose between Obama and Huckabee? I would predict a landslide for Obama...especially since the kick-ass Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner has decided to bring voting integrity back for our state. Biiiiiiiiggg kudos to Ms. Brunner!!!! I will vote this year and it will be counted..Ms. Brunner you have no idea to how many who feel that's music to their ears. Please support Ms. Brunner folks cuz you know the PD et al will not.

Of course, we've got at least two more states that need to vote before the Mediacracy decides who we are supposed to vote for. And us Ohioans don't get to weigh in till well after that...March 4th. Not fair. Ohio is a state that has been labeled as 'bell-weather' in many an election, our population diversity comes closest to resembling the nation as a whole yet our primary is practically the last to weigh in. Yet, this October we'll be bombarded with entreaties of candidates we really had no part in choosing. Heavy, heavy sigh. The primary system is anything but democratic. Maybe someday, us liberals will decide to make it so. But in the mean time kids, it's that season. And our country is calling on us to bring it back from the disaster it's fallen into.

Hope is not just a subjective noun that some guy claims audacity over or a pronoun that labels a city in the Midwest...it's a verb that embodies what the American people need. See you this Sunday where we'll all exhibit the meaning of hope and the spirit of Democracy when we meet to lift a pint to both.

Liberally yours,

Judy