Justice for working people

Are corporate CEOs the new Nazi party? They are no longer concerned with the well-being of our country or the lives of their employees or the environment. Their only real concern is lining the pockets of their executives. A friend of mine shared her experience about how American Airlines demanded pay cuts from its employees only to have the executives take massive bonuses with the money that the workers gave up. Some people complain and rage against unions but they are the last vestige of democracy in the work place. The 1880's were the time of the "Robber Barons", wealthy business people becoming rich off the slave labor of American workers and child labor. We the People said no more and demanded our representatives make laws forbidding these practices. It seams memories are short and politicians don't want to talk about the past because it  might hurt their election chances. Well, it's happening again. Corporate CEOs are manipulating the system to squeeze the middle class for everything they can and to hell with the country or it's citizens. I say it's time that "We the People" stand up and say NO MORE! No more Wall Street bonuses, no more Foreclosure rip offs, no more raping the environment to line the pockets of CEOs. It's time for laws and/or tax policies that provides for only fair profit and fair compensation for bankers and CEOs who owe their jobs to government bail-outs (money from "We the People"). Unions aren't perfect but they are a hell of a lot more just and democratic than corporations. Power to the people.

Thank you Arnold

In a stunning show of honesty Arnold Schwarzenegger, California's Republican Governor, called out the people who are trying to subvert our democracy for private gain. Now, there are many things that I have disagreed with the Governor about, but on this we stand together. Big Oil companies are spending millions of dollars trying to overturn a popular energy reform law passed by more than 2/3 of the California congress. The people overwhelmingly support clean energy laws but the largest polluting industries have sponsored a ballot initiative (Prop. 23) to kill a bill know as Assembly bill 32. The law requires energy producers to be cleaner and that pisses off the dirty oil companies.
The initiative freezes all provisions of AB 32 until California's unemployment rate drops below 5.5% for four consecutive quarters. WHAT? -- four consecutive quarters of 5.5% unemployment -- that has only happened 3 times in the last 30 years. Currently, unemployment in California hovers around a devastating 12%. The oil companies know that those rates won't drop to 5.5% in a long, long time. You see how devious proposition 23 is. Not only is it created by out-of-state oil companies only interested in protecting their bottom lines, there are a lot of reasons that Californians should reject Prop 23: besides the fact that Texas oil billionaires are trying to fool the citizens of California with lies and half truths with millions of dollars of TV ads. AB 32 has already done a lot to ramp up investment in clean energy in California, positioning the state to be a leader in an important industry. It's already creating jobs in an important sector, clean renewable energy. As it reduces greenhouse gas emissions in California indirectly reduce numerous other air pollutants by restricting carbon emissions, making California's air healthier saving unknown millions in hospital bills related to smog induced illness. Hooray for Arnold and the other conservatives that are speaking the truth about how big money is trying to buy laws that benefit no one but themselves. I'm voting no on Prop. 23, let's send the Texas billionaires back to Texas.

The health of our nation

Welcome back. I've bee away for awhile dealing with a family medical situation. At the time when some of the health care reforms are about to go into effect I'm astounded at the rhetoric from the right about taking away the very meager reforms that could make it through congress. I'll tell you, health care is not cheap, even with Medicare it cost my family a lot of money. The outright lies that have been told about "Obama Care" with imaginary death panels and many other ridiculous statements on the behalf of Billion Dollar Insurance CEOs. Health insurance is a racket, the insurers get to charge whatever they want and cancel policies after someone gets sick, and the only people who win are the CEOs who take home 100 million dollar paychecks. It's interesting to watch how the U.S. has fallen in every measurement of quality of life. Many in our country live in fear of getting sick and loosing everything they have worked hard their whole lives to achieve. There is something very wrong when Insurance companies can cancel a policy after years of paying premiums when someone get a serious illness and ruin a family all for a fatter bottom line. The Republicans want to repeal health care reforms but who are they really looking out for? CEOs, that's who. Health care should not be for profit it should be a right.

Politics as football

With football in preseason and the 2010 mid-term elections just around the corner it occured to me that there are some disturbing similarities. Football is a great American pastime and we love to root for the home team. It has become such an important part of our lives that we buy cars in the team colors, arrange our vacations around play-offs and send our kids to the schools of our favorite teams. That's a good thing, right? Well yes, but there is also the aspect of blind allegiance to our team regardless of weather they play well, abuse their players, take drugs, abuse animals or many other unsavory acts that we read about. This is where football and politics collide. Many Americans are rooting for their political team to win without really knowing or maybe even caring how they go about winning. In "political football" it has become "my team, right or wrong" with no consideration for what happens after the game. In sports if the coach video tapes the other team's signals (New England Patriots & Bill Belicheck) no real harm is done except to our sense of fair play, but in the job of governing our country, the results matter. Policy positions have become things candidates say to please the crowds and are easily changed when they don't suit them or are wrapped in the flag as patriotic to convince people that not thinking like they do is somehow un-American. What we truly need in the country is more people rooting for good policy and not just our team. There are many opinions out there but there are also facts, history and examples of good governance and if we care about our children's future and the health and well being of this great country we'll take a good hard look at what the people on our team or theirs are doing with our resources. Next from the Populist Tyrant: Why did we sell arms to Iran and who really benefited?

The Myth of Conservatism part 2

I have always considered myself a conservative. I want to conserve our natural environment for the health and enjoyment of our children. I want to conserve American jobs by not allowing companies to move them to China. I want to conserve our tax dollars by using the purchasing power of "We the People" to get the best deal on things like health care. So why are the "Conservatives" against all of these things? I believe it's because the "Conservative" movement isn't a solution for governing as much as a marketing campaign. The Ads read Family Values, Keep Government out of our lives, Fiscal Responsibility, etc. So why is it that when Republicans are in power they are plagued with scandals of infidelity and corruption. They push through the most intrusive government programs such as The Patriot Act and warrant-less wire tapping and advocate for the government to decide what we do in our bedrooms and generally side with big business against individuals. The fact is that none of these issues ever get solved, abortion is still legal, there is more cursing on TV than ever, the government seems to grow and the budget goes out of control. If conservatives were to actually solve the problems they campaign against they would loose their taking points and need to address some of the more pressing issues. Let's face it, the conservatives or at least those in congress don't govern well. Since Reagan took us down the path of Voodoo economics we have dropped in every measurable way as a super-power. We went from being the largest exporter of finished goods to the biggest importer. We were the biggest creditor and now the biggest borrower, we had strong unions that helped build the middle class now our manufacturing jobs have moved to China. If we are going to continue to be the greatest country on earth we must stop pretending that what's good for the top 1% is good for America and call the conservatives what they are... Snake Oil salesmen.

Killer Zombie Economics

This may seem like a scene from a bad horror movie but it's much scarier than that. A cry went up from the Senate floor that extending unemployment benefits would cripple our country via the National Debt. All the Republicans cheered. That same day Senate Republican leader M. McConnell claimed that the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy didn't increase the deficit. Huh? That's right, Voodoo Economics are back from the dead. Like a crazed zombie that keeps getting up after being killed over and over with facts, these people just keep regurgitating the same Bull Sh*t and telling us it's chicken soup. HELLO AMERICA! If we want a balanced budget we have to face the facts, Democrats do a better job of running the government. Now there are plenty of gripes I have with the Dems but the GOP, known as the Party for the rich and of the rich want to continue slashing tax rates for millionaires while starving working class folks whose jobs got moved to China so the CEOs could take home an extra couple of million. This graph shows that since Ronald Reagan the GOP has driven this country into a ditch and they want the keys to the car again.

The reality nobody wants to talk about is that our country does better when the rich pay more in taxes. When Eisenhower was in office the upper tax rate was above 75% and we had the greatest prosperity in our history. I know this goes against what we've been told by the pundits but the numbers don't lie. When Clinton raised taxes on the upper income bracket, we went from deficit to surplus and the economy boomed. Now don't get me wrong, Clinton got some things right but many thing wrong like NAFTA, but his tax policy was right on. When business have to pay more tax on profits, they reinvest in the company and hire more people, buy more machines and generally help the country.
There are many, many reasons that tax cuts are wrong for our country right now. They do nothing to stimulate the economy and the rich don't spend that extra money they put in off-shore banks to hide it. It's time for the people to wake up and let's kill zombie economics once and for all.

The real cost of war.

I have stood by and watched countless talking heads bicker about why we must "fight them over there so we don't fight them here". Well my only response is that they must think we are idiots, do they think we can't count the bodies of our people who have died for the profits of companies like Black-Water and Haliburton? To say our soldiers died for a lie is only half the story. Each day in Iraq and Afghanistan our young men and women are turned into murderers. The psychological damage that is inflicted on them when they are made to shoot down civilians or bomb whole villages out of existence leaves scars that may never heal. They call it PTSD or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, I call it the only logical outcome for participating in this travesty. Our blood and treasure is going to line the coffins our "Defense forces" and line the pockets of millionaires and billionaires. Please watch this brave soldier speak truth to power and reclaim his humanity. God bless us all.