We, the PEOPLE!!

President Obama has finally submitted his 2011 budget to congress, and one item that generally sails through without too much hoopla is the NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) budget.  But not this year.

A war may just break out in congress over Obama’s proposed budget for NASA.  The US space agency was formed in 1958 out of the old NACA (National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics) by then-president Eisenhower,  in reaction to the Soviet Union’s 1957 launch of the world’s first artificial satellite, Sputnik.

NASA brought together the national resources required for the USA to catch up to and surpass the Soviets.  It developed and oversaw all of the unmanned US deep space missions such as  the Mars orbiters, landers and rovers, the Venus imagers, multiple science missions to Jupiter, Saturn, the outer planets, asteroids and comets, the Hubble Space Telescope, most of the International Space Station.  It also developed the 29-year-old space shuttle program of 130 missions so far, among other programs.

However, the most attention and admiration was captured by NASA with its Apollo moon program of the 1960’s and early 1970’s.  On July 20th, 1969, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin first stepped out onto Earth’s moon.  Through December 1972, another ten humans trekked to and worked on this alien terrain.  Additionally, six more NASA astronauts were scheduled to go on three more moon missions beyond Apollo 17, until then-president Nixon axed the NASA budget due to an increasing deficit caused primarily by the US$25 billion a year (in 1970 dollars) Vietnam war.  By comparison, NASA’s budget in its moon-exploring heyday was approximately US$5 billion a year.  And while the Vietnam war was a miserable failure, NASA’s success and accomplishments were the pride of the USA.

It’s hard to believe that it all happened 40 or so years ago.  It makes the idea of NASA withdrawing from human space flight unimaginable. But Obama’s 2011 budget plan proposes to do just that by ending the relatively new NASA Constellation program, which was initiated over five years ago by the Bush administration to return humans to the moon and then explore beyond while retiring NASA’s space shuttle.

Constellation, which has cost over US$9 billion so far, has been chronically underfunded.  The blue-ribbon Augustine Commission, tasked then-incoming president Obama to review America’s space program and suggest ways forward, reported that the underfunded Constellation program could not get humans out of low Earth orbit (LEO) before 2030 at the earliest, even if funding was suddenly  and dramatically increased.

Thus, by terminating Constellation and retiring the space shuttle program after its five final missions, all scheduled in 2010, the USA would for the first time since 1961 have no human space transportation system either in its inventory or even on NASA’s drawing board.

Instead, NASA would provide (and in fact is already providing) research and development “seed” money for private companies to develop their own private human-rated spacecraft.   No schedule or clear time-line to achieve this capability would exist. Accomplishments would be governed solely by the profit motive.

This is certainly feasible from an entrepreneurial point of view, since several private companies such as Orbital Sciences and United Launch Alliance already provide non-human-rated space transportation service to both government and industry. They are set to receive more R&D money from the US government through NASA.

But there is a huge problem with this plan:  It clearly leaves the USA totally dependent on foreign technology and foreign availability for transportation into space, with no clear idea of when that situation might change.  Earth is by no means a tranquil place. Both foreseen and unforeseen needs may arise that demand that the US government redirect and rebuild its own human space launch capability.

However, without maintaining its extraordinarily skilled and experienced space workforce, the US will lose its ability to react quickly to resurrect its human space launch capabilities.  That would leave the US very vulnerable to the whims of possibly uncontrollable sources.  And this doesn’t even address the loss of national pride, or the the loss of interest in a space industry career by young people, who previously were sparked by the most accomplished and successful human spaceflight capabilities on the planet.

There seems to be only solution to this dilemma:  End the Constellation program while funding free enterprise research and development, but still maintain the space shuttle until the private enterprise products are online.  That would mean maintaining at least one space shuttle launch per year until its replacement is operational.  It could take five or even ten years, and would add some budget costs to NASA.  But without keeping the space shuttle operational, the USA will be have to hitch all its rides into space, just like someone hailing a taxi in the rain because he or she doesn’t own a car.

But if the Obama plan is passed as is,in 200 years our descendants just might be hearing Captain Kirk say, “Beam me up, Scotty”…..in Chinese.

President Barack Obama’s first State of the Union Speech last night was yet another glowing example of his ability to outperform practically anyone who has ever delivered a speech in a public forum.  His skills as an orator are probably unmatched by anyone coming before him.  To some extent, that trait might have been the very thing that propelled him, first, to the democratic nomination for president, and then to a general election victory in 2008.

However, after being in office for a year, the record does not indicate that his words and his accomplishment are in lock-step.  In fact, the most important declared  goals vs. what has been achieved in his first year at US president tell a very different story.  It is therefore difficult to say at this point whether his speech did much to change the minds of those critical independent voters who got tired of waiting for the change they voted for to occur.

According to the CNN/Opinion Research poll numbers released after the speech, 48% felt “very positive” about what they heard the president say and 30 % felt “somewhat” positive about it.  Although the two add up to a 78% positive rating, a year ago the number of “very positive” listeners alone was 68%, or 20% more after Obama’s first address before congress.   That 20% deficit demonstrates that independent voters are shying away from the president and his domestic agenda after a year of endless partisan bickering in congress.

In reference to the extreme partisanship occurring on Capital Hill, Obama did say something pretty bold during his speech:

“And if the Republican leadership is going to insist that 60 votes in the Senate are required to do any business at all in this town, a supermajority, then the responsibility to govern is now yours, as well.  Just saying no to everything may be good short-term politics, but it’s not leadership. We were sent here to serve our citizens, not our ambitions.

Those fighting words were directed at the GOP members of the US senate.  Since the beginning of Obama’s administration a year ago, the republicans in Congress have voted “no” unanimously (or nearly unanimously) on almost every bill in the president’s domestic agenda, including health care reform and the economic stimulus package.

With the election of republican Scott Brown last week, the democrats’ filibuster-proof supermajority in the senate is gone.  That means that as long as the GOP votes as a party block instead of individuals representing their individual states, they can essentially stop the senate from acting on the business of We, the PEOPLE!! dead in its tracks.

The tactic of seizing the moment to cast the spotlight on the opposition, as Obama did last night, is refreshing to say the least.  For too long this president has believed that if he just works hard on his agenda, everyone else will slowly but surely come to think as he does and believe in the domestic agenda he does.  That clearly has not worked.

Finally the gloves have come off and Obama is taking the political fight to the other side, who have never been reluctant to do the same.  The republicans are on notice that playtime is over and the fight will now be delivered to their doorstep.  If the Obama and the democrats had chosen to learn  and apply this lesson six months ago, Scott Brown might not have been elected to Ted Kennedy’s senate seat , and the democrats would still have hold of that 60-seat super-majority in the senate.

But on the other hand, as painful as it has been for the democrats, at least this has happened while there is still time to get the message and thus salvage their political existence.  Obama’s walk must now match his talk, because if he or it doesn’t, he’s facing a defeat for his party in 2010, and for himself in 2012.  The GOP has put out a mountain of lies about health care reform and other issues on the president’s domestic agenda.  They did so loudly and repeatedly until people started to believe them.  As long as Obama challenges these lies immediately, directly and continuously, regarding health care reform or any other issue, he will be okay and he will slowly regain the lost support of those independent voters who were instrumental with putting him into the White House to begin with.

We’ll be watching and frankly cheering for the president in the coming months.  And if the GOP still wants to continue in their roles as naysayers and obstructionists, we’ll be watching for that, too.

But will the majority of Americans watch carefully as well, or will they just believe the person who screams the loudest and the most?

In a dramatic political upset that was suspected only two weeks ago but should have been seen coming for almost two months, Massachusetts voters chose republican Scott Brown by a 52%-47% margin yesterday over democrat Martha Coakley.  Coakley is the Massachusetts State Attorney General who was considered to be the odds-on heir-apparent to the US senate seat held for 47 years by Ted Kennedy, and for seven years before that by his older brother, John F. Kennedy.

GOP pundits were quick to categorize this election as a referendum on President Barack Obama and the democrats in general, and health care reform in particular.

The White House responded that Coakley was simply a weak candidate who ran a lackluster campaign and made a ton of really bad mistakes which upset local citizens.  They claimed that her campaign manager didn’t pay attention to the strong and effective campaign being run by Scott Brown, neglecting to do adequate polling until just two weeks before the election.  The Coakley campaign staff blamed the National Democratic Party (NDP) and the Senate Democratic Campaign Committee (SDCC) for not supporting her strongly enough, early enough, and financially enough.

So which one was right?

The answer is:  All of them.

Coakley and her aides and staff believed that she would cruise into senate seat because it belonged to the democrats.  They also believed, as did the democrats at the national level, that it was impossible for a republican to win this senate seat in what is perhaps the most liberal state in the USA.  Coakley didn’t campaign very forcefully until two weeks before the election when polls indicated a rude surprise upset was in the making.

Scott Brown, on the other hand, ran a very effective campaign, consistently staying on the issues, and driving across Massachusetts in his pickup truck to meet with voters.  People were able to connect with him and with his message.

And then, of course, the GOP and big business played their respective roles like a fine Stradivarius violin.  The republicans kept up the hate & fear campaign against health care reform while the health insurance companies and related businesses pumped over US$10,000,000 into the Brown campaign. They fully realized that if he won, it would kill the democrats’ 60 -40 majority in the senate and allow the republicans to block any legislation proposed by democrats, including health care reform, with a filibuster.

But more than any other reason, this election was the democrats’ election to lose.  And they lost it.

One important reason is that people are still hurting from the economic downturn and resulting unemployment which started in December 2007 with the recession.  While the democrats were painfully developing their health care reform legislation, they didn’t accomplish much else.  New jobs were not created to point where they exceeded those lost.  Though all indicators are that the economy has turned the corner, that still has not translated into better conditions for the middle class.  Wall Street still hasn’t paid back all of the stimulus money, and yet Wall Street executives continue to receive huge bonuses.  The democrats have yet to pass legislation that would curb the Wall Street abuses that led to the recession in the first place.

And while the GOP has made a Olympic high art form of scaring the hell out of the American people with unending false and scary information regarding health care reform while slowing down the legislative process to the point where many people are just sick of it, the democrats have been absolutely AWFUL in correcting the record on reform and marketing it as a benefit, continuously or otherwise, to the American people.

Finally, President Obama promised during the presidential campaign to make government transparent for the American people, allowing them to be continuously informed of what the government of We, the PEOPLE was doing and why.  That simply has not happened.

Thus, the people of Massachusetts sent a clear message to the Obama Administration and the democrats, that they have got to change their methodology if they want to remain viable.  And their first lesson should come from the republicans who were considered to be moribund just one short year ago.

Yet, out of the last four off-season elections, the democrats have only managed to win a congressional seat in New York’s 23rd district, while the republicans have won the governorships of Virginia and New Jersey, and now the US senate seat in Massachusetts.  That’s three out of four for the GOP.  Obviously, something they’re doing is working.

That something is their marketing.  They’re very, very good at selling sand to desert dwellers, ice to Eskimos, snake oil to health food enthusiasts and tobacco to cancer patients.  They do it by employing the same tactics used since forever by advertisers:  Making you live in fear life without it (or with it, as the case may be), and making you hate being without it (or with it, as the case may be).  They also made friends with entities that have a vested financial interest in the product and lots of money to finance the message over and over and over.

Politics is a dirty game and is won by the party that plays that game the best.  If the democrats want to be taken seriously and seen as the protectors of humanity they claim to be, they must learn to do what the the republicans do so well.  They must market themselves by repeating over and over that the GOP is the party from hell.  Instead of constantly being put on the defensive, they must attack as the presently GOP does.  They must repeat it over and over and over.  They must take the offensive and make the GOP continuously explain why they even bothered to get out of bed this morning.  “Making you afraid of it, and telling you who’s to blame for it.  That, ladies and gentleman, is how you win elections.” (Michael Douglas as President Andrew Shepard in the 1995 movie, “The American President“).

In other words, the democrats have to learn to play the GOP’s game.  Otherwise, our progeny might be reading about them in US history class along with the Tory and Whig parties.

Between Sarah Palin becoming a paid political analyst for Fox News which is like making the Pillsbury dough boy a nutritional analyst, Harry Reid’s poor choice of words over a year ago, the same-sex marriage ban challenge trial going on in federal court in San Francisco, and the closed-door negotiations to merge the House and Senate bills into one that president Obama can sign into law before his State of the Union speech in a few weeks, there’s not too much political news to write about this week.

Since We, the PEOPLE!!’s first blog article two and a half years ago, this week could very well be the week the more meaty political news forgot to show up.  The news outlets are full of stories (as they should be) about the devastating earthquake in Haiti. which is the poorest nation in the western hemisphere, It will need a lot of help recovering from this tragedy.  Everyone can do something, even it’s just a small amount of money or energy.  To choose the best way for you to assist, click HERE.

In the meantime, We, the PEOPLE!! will continue to monitor the news waves for juicy tidbits of significant political bull$#!t, and will comment on them as they arrive in all of their hate-mongering and/or fear-mongering glory.  However, expect us to interrupt regularly scheduled life-activities to announce the winner of the “first person to catch Sister Sarah’s first use of the pseudo-political term “golly-gee”" on Fox News.  Extra credit will be given for a YouTube video of the climatic moment.  And if you can catch her saying “Gosh Darn It”, the award will be even greater.

Sometimes it’s best to simply sit back and watch from the sidelines.  This week seems the perfect time to do that.  Next week, on the other hand, promises to be filled with much more to comment on, not the least of which just might be a threatened constitutional challenge from the GOP to the democrat’s health care reform bill.

Yep!  Along with wanting a constitutional amendment banning certain medical procedures, namely abortion, and another one banning certain freedoms of expression, such as burning a flag in protest (which would bestow upon an article of sewn cloth more rights then on the American citizen who sewed it), these folks also want to prevent health care reform by arguing that mandating the purchase of health insurance by all citizens is unconstitutional.  In other words, make poor people have to use extremely expensive emergency rooms which they can never afford anyway for their health care needs.  The rest of us pay for that now, anyway, through higher health insurance premiums.  And what’s wrong with that system??  Nothing, according to Rush, who spent some time in a hospital recently and said nothing needed to change!

Hey, here’s an idea:  How about a constitutional amendment banning stupidity from politics?

We’re watching….

The USA seems to be a constant repeat target for terrorist attacks.  As a result, the terrorists have accomplished at least one of their goals, which is to foment fear in the heart and minds of innocent people.

Since 9-11, this profound impact on the nation’s psyche has caused some obviously effective anti-terrorist measures to be implemented, primarily in the more visible areas of the lives of citizens.  Regulations that restrict who and what can fly on commercial passenger airlines are well known to almost everyone, as well as the tighter control of all forms of government identification such as passports and drivers’ licenses.

But there have been some very ineffective measures taken as well, and certain measures that should have occurred but haven’t.

Perhaps the most ineffective of all the post-9-11 changes was the assignment of a Director of National Intelligence to coordinate all intelligence gathering an analysis in the USA under one central point.  It was implemented shortly after 9-11 by the Bush administration.  While the concept of placing all intelligence gathering capabilities under one roof was very sound, its implementation evidently hasn’t eliminated the inter-service rivalry and ineffective or even non-existent sharing and cross-referencing of “intel” among the various agencies of the federal government, such as CIA, FBI, Secret Service, military intelligence organizations of the army, navy, air force and the various commands throughout the world.   In other words, as President Obama put it yesterday, the information about the failed Christmas day attack on Northwest Airlines flight 253 was there in advance;  our intelligence structure simply failed to connect the dots.

There are those out there who would gladly give up your civil rights for their warm, fuzzy sense of security.  They insist that we should be physically/racially profiling every Arab-looking person trying to board a plane, whether internally in the USA, or externally for all flights coming into the USA.  They say this is the right thing to do, and critical to stopping any middle-eastern terrorist from attacking the USA (or any other country, for that matter).  They insist that the anti-racial-profiling folks are going to get us all killed.

What these emotionally driven folks don’t understand is that physical/racial profiling alone is simply discrimination, and does little to nothing to keep people safe.  White terrorists recruited by Al-Qaeda are just as likely to be the vehicles of terror on planes, ships, trucks, or in cities as any other people.  Profiling based upon physical/racial features alone simply doesn’t work.

Much more effective would be for the USA to take a lesson from the Israelis, whose national airline, El-Al, has never suffered a successful hijacking.  This is true despite the fact that Israel is probably the only country on earth that is more at threat from terrorists than the USA.  The reason for their success is that the Israelis have refined security to an extremely high and effective level, and they don’t do strictly physical/racial profiling.  What they are very, very good at is behavioral profiling, which includes pretty much the totality of how a person presents himself or herself.  It is exceedingly difficult to practice well, and cannot, by itself, be the sole determinant as to whether or not someone is a threat.  But somehow, the Israelis have become experts at it, and their record in avoiding hijackings speaks for itself.

Between behavioral profiling and assuring that all the intelligence gathering organizations in the USA and other friendly countries coordinate with each other and work in unison to share intelligence information in a timely and centralized manner, the entire world would be a much safer place than it is right now.  But it cannot stop there.  Nine years after 9-11, it is an incredible fact that most cargo entering the USA is still not inspected or even screened for possible radioactive materials that some lunatic could assemble in place into a rudimentary nuclear device, or even a “dirty” conventional bomb.

Furthermore, the controversy of electronic scanners that strip off your clothes, while understandable, is not being debated in the sunshine for some reason, most likely financial.  Many people don’t know that there actually are scanners available that eliminate skin from the scan screen, thus only displaying non-human material, such as explosives or weapons.  Of course, these “non-X-rated” scanners cost more.  After all, why spend extra money to get it right, if you can just get people to give up their rights??

Finally, every pilot and air traffic controller knows that anyone can take a private plane off from an uncontrolled airport with a load of…anything… and fly almost anywhere or into almost anything not in patrolled airspace.  That includes most cities and utilities.  Unfortunately, there are still gaps in US airspace surveillance and required electronic equipment in private planes operating outside controlled airspace that would greatly reduce that possibility.  But that requires money and stronger government regulation, something that the same people who support racial profiling are against.

Thankfully, however, it seems the Obama administration is committed to making changes to security policies based upon data and facts, versus emotion and shoot-from-the-hip reactions.  That is good, because it is more important to be carefully effective than carelessly demonstrative.

Clearly, the recent failures of the intelligence structure are going to be fixed.  Carefully.  Quietly.  Effectively.  The end result, which is the goal of intercepting threats before they are launched, is too important to play politics with.  One can only hope that the “other side of the aisle” does what democrats did with Bush and the republicans after 9-11…

Stand together.

Imagine if the following people made these New Year resolutions, and then stuck to them:

Rush Limbaugh:  “I will only tell the truth and always present verifiable facts.”

Former Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin: “I will actually do research before making comments on ANYTHING.”

US President Barack Obama:  “I will find the secret to getting republicans to like me.”

First Lady Michelle Obama:  “I will stay off Oprah’s show.”  (easy, since it’s ending anyway)

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi:  “I will find the secret to getting republicans to like me.”

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell:  “I will stop bashing health care reform”.

Senator Majority Leader Harry Reid:  “If Mitch McConnell actually stops bashing, I’ll walk from Washington to New York, backwards, naked.”

Fox News:  “We will REALLY be fair and balanced…as soon as we find out what that means.”

CNN:  “If Fox ever does get fair & balanced, we’ll walk from Atlanta to New York, backwards, naked, in a snowstorm.”

Former House Majority Leader Tom Delay:  “I won’t go back on “Dancing With The Stars” and I will beat the bum rap against me.”

Hillary Clinton:  “I won’t run for president again, but I want my own TV show”.

John McCain:  “I won’t run for president again…but I don’t remember why not.”

Pamela Anderson:  “I will be back in “Barb Wire, the Sequel.”

AIG:  “We’ll never again take bailout money from the feds….”.

US Health Insurance Industry:  “We will fully embrace health care reform”.

US Pharmaceutical Industry:  “We will stop ripping off the American public with outlandish drug prices”.

US Auto Industry:  “We can build cars that last 20 years and run on water, and we will.  This year!!”

Ann Coulter:  “I’m coming out of the closet and declaring my true beliefs:  I’m really a liberal, and Obama’s the BEST!!”

Osama Bin Laden:  “I will spend at least four hours every day outdoors in the sunshine”.

Senator Joe Leiberman:  “I will decide what I am.  Again.”

Senator James Inhofe:  “I will admit that human activities cause global warming.”

Copenhagen Global Warming Conference:  “When Inhofe admits to the above, we’ll all swim across the Atlantic, backwards, naked, in a hurricane.”

We, the PEOPLE:  “If anyone walks or swims backwards, naked, we’ll be there…to provide commentary, of course.” 

Happy New Year 2010 to all!!

T’was the night before Christmas and all through the land,

The GOP was wondering if it really could stand

Any more of their losing their partisan fights

After health reform passed by the dawn’s early light

With votes being scheduled by day and by night.

The GOP became rabid and threatened to bite.

But it mattered not, health care reform was a fact

That they could not defeat even with the fat cats

Dumping millions and millions into their campaign funds;

The GOP, though grateful, wishes it were new guns.

In the meantime, giving credit were credit is due,

Sarah Palin received her well-deserved cue

from Politifact.com, the nation’s truth master,

for becoming the USA’s top truth disaster,

“Liar of the Year”, her new titled crown,

For prevaricating that seniors would be “put down”

by “death panels” she claimed, that would solely decide,

which seniors would live, and which should just die.

And while this was happening, the economy grew,

job loss slowed and stocks rose anew.

Personal income is up, while inventory shrinks.

Yet, the GOP claims the recession still stinks

As they deny and delay and they obstruct the dems.

What they yell and they scream just simply condemns

Each word and each action from the other side,

Attempting, it seems, to prove that they lied

Even more than Miss Sarah, so perhaps they can earn

“Liar of the Year” at Politifact’s next yearly turn.

But they’ll have to wait for a whole ‘nother year,

So they’ll crank up the mongering of hate and of fear,

For they have nothing else, no data or facts;

Thus, all they have left are their lie-spewing hacks.

But We, the PEOPLE!! are onto their tricks,

even though they may view us as dumb country hicks.

It doesn’t much matter, ’cause the times, they are changin’

and Titanic’s deck chairs don’t need more arranging,

a lesson the GOP, one hopes, will embrace,

If they ever again want to win a presidential race.

So during this season of good will and good cheer

We, the PEOPLE!! wishes GOP a very great year,

whether vying for a dubious liar award,

Or deciding to end it and fall on their sword,

Or maybe, just maybe, they’ll get the flick

That they have no need for playing a trick;

If they just use the truth when debating a bill.

They just might, someday, retake the Hill.

So for now only good thoughts we’re sending their way

Merry Christmas to all, We the PEOPLE!! wishes today!

PS.  The War on Christmas?  WHAT war on Christmas??  May your war be non-existent and may your Christmas be a very merry one!

As reported in We, the PEOPLE!! last week, the Copenhagen International Climate Change Conference is now in full swing.  The leaders of most countries and many of the brightest scientific minds on Earth are attending in an effort to somehow limit future green-gas emissions and reduce, or at least delay, potentially catastrophic global warming.

Of course, “catastrophic” may not be the description if one lives close to, or even north of the Arctic Circle, like, say, in Alaska.  Folks up there probably wish for warmer temperatures so that riding a motorcycle or even a snowmobile can be done without freezing one’s nose off.

As the Copenhagen conference gets underway and the debates get more heated, the entertainment heats up, too.  The likely attendance and saber-rattling of US republican senator James Inhofe, who intends to put those uppity scientists in their place by preaching real (pseudo) science to them, based upon his experience in real estate, was reported last week.  But this week, it gets better!

Enter California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, also known world-wide as the Terminator. He leads one of the most smog- and air-pollution-prone areas in the world.  Over the years, California has instituted some of the strictest anti-pollution laws on Earth in an effort to control this illness-inducing bad air, most of which is caused by car exhaust and the burning of fossil fuels.  So it’s no surprise that Arnold the Terminator attended the Copenhagen conference in support of any emission controls that can be agreed upon.  He also held a news conference during he specifically raised questions regarding Sarah Palin’s position on global warming.

Regardless of what one thinks of Sarah Palin, most people will agree that she is fun to watch.  She lives in Alaska, much of which is above the Arctic Circle.  From the time she was a vice-presidential candidate, this “rogue” (by her own description in the title of her book) republican has been entertaining people everywhere.  Whether it was her ignorance of the “Bush Doctrine“ as a vice-presidential nominee, or her belief that expertise in foreign policy comes from being able to see Canada and Russia from Alaska’s borders (though not at the same time), she has mesmerized people with her Idaho-drawl and her mystical beliefs and descriptions of policies and positions.

In 2008 Palin took a stand against humans having any impact on global warming.  Her education rivals that of senator James Inhofe, who earned a degree in business administration at the age of 38.  While Palin’s degree in journalism was earned much earlier at the age of 23, she did put it to good use as a sportscaster.  Thus, she could rival her buddy Inhofe as he shakes his finger and scorns those arrogant scientific PhDs in Copenhagen.

But back to the entertainment.  Commenting during his Copenhagen press conference about Palin position on global warming, the Terminator asked “What is she trying to accomplish?  Is she really interested in this subject or is she interested in her career and in winning the (Republican presidential) nomination?   You have to take all these things with a grain of salt.”

Of course, being the true entertainer that she is, Palin wasn’t going to pass up any opportunity to response to the Terminator publicly on her Facebook page.  She fired back, in part, “Perhaps he will recall that I live in our nation’s only Arctic state and that I was among the first governors to create a sub-cabinet to deal specifically with climate change.“  She went on to say, “While I and all Alaskans witness the impacts of changes in weather patterns firsthand, I have repeatedly said that we can’t primarily blame man’s activities for those changes (underline added)” and she concluded, “what I didn’t do was hamstring Alaska’s job creators with burdensome regulations so that I could act ‘greener than thou‘” (emphasis added), a reference to the Terminator’s strong support for anti-pollution-emission and green technology laws in California.

She also took on former US vice-president Al Gore, claiming that Gore is promoting “doomsday scenarios”.  She also wrote on her Facebook page  “Climate change is like gravity – a naturally occurring phenomenon that existed long before, and will exist long after, any governmental attempts to affect it.”

Yes, indeedie!  It warms the heart knowing that humanity is protected by the likes of Inhofe and Palin.  And how silly of all those scientists who spent all of that money and all of those years earning their advanced Masters and Doctorate degrees!  That money could have been better spent renting helicopters to shoot at wolves from 500 feet, or on bigger gas-guzzling cars…and yachts..and private jets..and drilling for more oil in National Wildlife Preserves!

And it’s not everyone who gets to pull on Superman’s cape, or in this case, on the Terminator’s “green weenie”, and then live to talk about it.  With a big, fat smile, no less!  That’s why we love Sarah!

Coming soon…”Green Weenie…the MOVIE!”

* * * Special announcement 12-20-09:  Sarah Palin wins Liar of the Year Award from Politifact.com!!!  Check it out HERE and/or at Politifact.com

There are still people on earth who still think that the world is flat, or that believe psychics really do see the future with the exception of winning lottery numbers or really good stocks to buy (which is why they still work for $20 an hour).  So it’s no surprise that some folks still reject the concept of global warming and humanity’s role in it, despite tens of thousands of scientists world-wide with empirical data that repeatedly supports the science demonstrating the role of human-produced carbon and other heat-retaining “greenhouse” gases’ impact on the atmosphere, polar ice, and ocean heat-sinks.

Typically, the folks opposing the concept of human-induced or even human-aided global warming claim that it is a hoax, engineered by scientists just to get government grants as well as other money.  The detractors claim that  there is no credible scientific evidence to support human-induced global warming, any more than there is scientific evidence to support evolution.  They access all kinds of scientific ‘facts” of their own in support of their positions.  And occasionally, they will even insert religion into the discussion, as is the case when the creationists try to justify their beliefs by stating that the earth is no more than 6000 year old, and that approximately 3000 years ago, Noah put two of every animal on earth on his arc, including dinosaurs with modern day humans, and mammoths, and every living bacteria, amoeba, virus, mold, and all the other microscopic critters that today survive because of ol’ Noah’s efforts.

But regardless of what “evidence” these folks use, they are always lacking one thing:  Peer-reviewed scientific research that followed the scientific method (Ask a Question, Do Background Research, Construct a Hypothesis, Test Your Hypothesis by Doing an Experiment, Analyze Your Data and Draw a Conclusion, and Communicate Your Results) and survived strong peer-review scrutiny of the final result obtained.

A classic example (and one that is going to by embarrassing to all Americans and to America itself) is the expected trip of US senator James Inhofe, republican of Oklahoma.  He made headlines as far back as 2003 when he announced that “global warming is the greatest ever perpetrated on the American People”.

Inhofe has since backed up his claim (so he thinks) that human-induced global warming is a myth by using either archaic, debunked or out-of-context scientific “facts” to support his claim.  They are specifically listed and then specifically disproven here.

Much of what he and his supporters do is similar to the boy standing on a beach on a clear day, seeing where the ocean ends and the sky starts, and determining based upon his “scientific and empirical observation” that the earth is clearly flat with an edge that just drops off precipitously at the horizon.  In fact, most humans before Columbus’ voyages to the new world believed the same thing.  Even the church propagated this miserable misconception based upon flawed “science”, just that they propagated that the earth was the center of the both solar system and the universe.  These examples do reinforce the edict that if you say something often enough, it will eventually become “true” to the people hearing it over and over.

Senator Inhofe, claiming to be a “one-man-truth-squad”, will travel to Copenhagen, Denmark, where the world conference on climate change is occurring.  He will represent his political party, his philosophy, and also his country, since he is an American elected government official.  He will challenge every government leader and every scientist both attending the conference and working in the lab back in their own countries.  He will question their credibility and their personal and professional competence and integrity.  He will do so based upon all of his scientific expertise, achieved during a lifetime of real estate development and politics, and he will shine in the scientific brilliance of his undergraduate degree in business administration from the University of Tulsa, Oklahoma, which he finally achieved at the age of 38.

In Inhofe’s case, he is arrogant and self-deluded enough to think that he will somehow be given even the slightest amount of credibility by the many government leaders and the many real climatologists, geologists, chemists, microbiologists, anthropologists, physicists, mathematicians, and experts in a variety of other physical science disciplines that will be present, many whom have advanced college degrees in their scientific specialty, and all of whom have studied the evidence of human-induced global warming in their respective fields.

The very vast majority of these scientists from around the world have concluded the same thing:  Human-induced global warming is real, it is here, the effects are already with us, it is accelerating, and the ability to track molecules of human-induced greenhouse gases both in the atmosphere and in precipitation and in the world’s oceans, while a basic scientific capability, is universally seen and proven over and over and over.  But Inhofe will not be stopped.

In fact, if Inhofe tries hard enough, he just might be able to convince all those learned scientists the earth really is only 6000 years old, that Noah had dinosaurs and humans together on his arc, and the the earth really is flat.

Don’t just wish you could be there for the moment the scientific community has their “Inhofe” epiphany?  But if you do, here’s a word of advise for when senator James Inhofe from the USA is doing his “thing”:

Let everyone think you’re Canadian.

Warning:  This blog is gonna piss some people off.

As we pass the Thanksgiving holiday and get closer and closer to Christmas and New Years parties and family gatherings, most people are looking forward to the rest of the holiday season with anticipation and joy.

Yet, there are others who face the coming festivities with frustration and even dread.  These folks are often chastised for doing so.  As a result, many will accept their fate and suffer in silence, knowing they cannot fight a superior force of chocolate-dipped tradition wrapped in cholesterol-laden holiday bacon and baked in a pound of greasy turkey or ham fat, butter-saturated family holiday dinner events.  The pressure for them to succumb to the endless unwelcome temptations lying in wait at these gatherings is ultimately irresistible.  It is foisted upon them in a public setting, where they will be considered grossly offensive and anti-holiday, not to mention obnoxious and peculiar, unless they surrender to the bad health choices all around them.  Of course, this refers to all the folks who fight hard every day to maintain an healthy diet and/or lifestyle. They have either lost weight after a hell of a lot of hard work, or are in process.  They may either be or still are obese.  They may either already have or are desperately trying to avoid health issues.  Or any combination thereof.

People with such medical issues as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, high triglycerides, and/or diabetes, and who are overweight or obese with a huge appetite they fight to control are in danger of serious health “incidents”, such as heart and/or cardiovascular disease and incidents, amputations, blindness, kidney failure, stroke, increased incidence of cancer, and other very unpleasant and ultimately life-shortening events.  While some of these conditions can be controlled or at least reduced with modern medications, an individual with any of these conditions is the only one who can really impact and ultimately reduce the damage caused by obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure and cholesterol, at least to some significant extent.

Obesity is a national plague in the USA, which, by the way, is the most obesity-intensive nation among all the advanced western industrialized countries.  Certainly, the USA has an educational environment where the vast majority of children get continuing good health and disease prevention information early on and throughout their school years and beyond.

That being the case, why is the USA so fat?  And why does the average American live four years less that his/her European counterpart (besides a broken health care system)?

Part of the reason is that America is essentially a traditional country that preserves, more than most European countries, “old world” practices of “You’re in this family and I love you, therefore you must (and you shall!) eat my food;  you will let me feed you until you’re overstuffed; otherwise you’re saying you DON’T love me!”

This weird practice is most prevalent during traditional holiday family gatherings, when most people will throw all caution and common sense to the wind and indulge in all form of unhealthy food consumption, both in quantity and content.

In fact, the tradition is so ingrained in the average American family that any member whom attempts to somehow shield himself/herself from the high-calorie high-carb, high-fat, high-cholesterol food onslaught is chastised and treated like an unreasonable outcast.  This is often done by people who themselves are in  need a of a diet.  The health-conscious person, being only human and totally devoid of any support, will often ultimately give in.   Then comes regret for days on end, as the blood-sugar levels and body weight subsequently scream, “You’re an asshole.”  The unwanted gift that just keeps on giving, it could be called.

Even being in one’s own home is often far from safe.  For some bizarre reason which defies this writer’s reasoning capabilities, some people seem to feel that they can invade one’s well-controlled environment, bring in and cook tons of high-calorie, high-carb, high-fat, high-cholesterol, greasy and unhealthy foodstuffs for hours.  Their actions permeate every surface within 100 feet with will-power-destroying smells and aromas of artery-clogging, blood-sugar-level raising, prohibited goodies.  Then, after attempting to apply painful embarrassment for the healthy decisions one tries so hard to stick to at the dinner table, they leave tons of left-overs in multiple places in one’s kitchen to ensure that any hard-fought will-power still intact after dinner is utterly reduced to gumbo.

The guilt of knowing one caved in and ate this stuff, all in the name of family or tradition, or both, is ultimately inevitable.

But what is probably most amazing and least acceptable is how no one else seems the least bit concerned over what they’re putting you through.  They’re devoid of even a rudimentary understanding as to why you are acting like such a “miserable scrooge”, why you refuse to be a member of the “team”, and why you just don’t just “let yourself go” once in awhile.  They won’t or simply can’t see that “once in a while” actually becomes many, many more than “one in a while” during the holiday season, depending upon the size of the family and/or group of friends.   “Oh, so what!!?!!” they say to you.

Yeah.  So what?  Eat all that food.  Otherwise, you just don’t love them.  And that would be heartless of you.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, a traditional US  and Canadian holiday during which many people gather to have a large family dinner and, theoretically, to give thanks for all the good thing in their lives, even though its origin is somewhat disputed.  Still, for many the holiday has evolved to generally include over-eating in large groups, and then sitting in front of a television watching sports because of the discomfort when moving around too much due to the large mass now inside the stomach.  And while many will remember what they’re thankful for in their lives, some will also count the things and events they are not so thankful for…perhaps to achieve some form of balance?

Accordingly, We, the PEOPLE!! has developed a partial list of events and items to give thanks for, and a list of events and items that do not illicit thankful thoughts and feelings.   Adopt any or all of the list as one sees fit.  The list is by no means all-inclusive.  In fact, additions are always welcome.

First, the positive:

Events and items to be thankful for include the following:

1.  Both GW Bush and “Tricky Dick” Cheney are no longer in office.

2.  Barack Obama won the 2008 election.  A distinct perk of that event is that Sarah Palin is not vice-president.

3.  The democrats regained control of congress (but also see the not-thankful list about this).

4.  First the first time in history, meaningful health care reform has passed the house of representatives and is to be debated in the senate,  and therefore, for the first time in history, has a real chance of becoming reality in the last national hold-out of all the advanced industrial countries on earth, the USA.

5.  NY23 voted a democrat into congress for the first time since the end of the civil war.  It’s a sign.

6.  The US Constitution is again fully operational (after eight years of abuse).

7.  The nation’s air traffic controllers finally have a fair contract after three years of unnegotiated abuse by the Bush Administration.

8.  The economy continues to improve, albeit slowly, but steadily.

9.  The war on science is over, and science won it.

10.  The Earth is located on the outskirts of the Milky Way galaxy.  Thankfully, as a result, the more advanced civilizations possibly located closer to the galactic center probably won’t find us.  If they did, they would probably make us the laughing stock of the rest of the galactic civilizations for being so primitive, destructive and hateful towards each other.  Or they might simply eliminate us as a threat to galactic peace and harmony.  In 2012.

11.  The “Star Trek” franchise has been rebooted and a sequel to Star Trek 11 will be filmed.  Logically, it’s Star trek 12.

12.  The music of ABBA endures.

13.  Gas isn’t back up to over $4 a gallon, or even $3 a gallon.  Yet.

However, some not-so-thankful events and items are:

1.  GW Bush And “Tricky Dick Cheney were ever elected in the first place.

2.  Democrats in the senate can’t seem to get it together, and their majority is razor thin.

3.  Big business, big health insurance companies, big “pharma”, and the ultra-conservatives they finance continue throwing massive amounts of money and energy into a totally dishonest and fear-mongering ad campaign bent on destroying any change to their profit-motivated (as opposed to health and wellness-motivated) health system, even at the expense of the truth, and despite the cost in human lives and suffering.  If that same money was spent on research, they could probably have cured cancer by now.

4.  The people responsible for implementing torture as “acceptable US policy” still haven’t been held accountable.

5.  Human beings are still allowed to go hungry.

6.  According to a blue-ribbon panel of experts who studied the US  space program at length, insufficient money has been budgeted over the next 10 years to allow us to ever leave lower earth orbit and/or return to the moon.  And forget about exploring Mars.

7.  In business, even though management is always directly responsible for any concessions they give to labor during negotiations, labor is always blamed for management’s concessions.

8.  Some who that cannot convince anyone that they are right by using honest facts and data, revert to lies, fear-mongering, and hate-mongering instead.  They even become talk show hosts making tons of money, or write books about being rogues, which also makes tons of money.

9.  Even with 500 channels available on TV, nothing worth watching is often on.

10.  No matter how frequently one buys a state-of-the-art-cell phone, it’s obsolete the next day.

11.  Diet and exercise can slow the aging process, but nothing stops it.

12.  We are still at war.

13.  Battlestar Galactica hasn’t been revived.

On balance, there is more thankful than not, although the non-revival of Battlestar Galactica is very hard to take. 

Still, for all who celebrate or commemorate the day, We, the PEOPLE!! wishes a safe and joyous Thanksgiving!

Just don’t eat too much.

US Attorney General Eric Holder testified today before the Senate Judiciary Committee regarding the decision to transfer five captured alleged terrorists connected to the 9-11 attacks of September 11, 2001 from Guantanamo Bay to New York City to stand trail in open federal court.  He was called before the committee because of the controversy some conservative see regarding bringing these captives to US soil after as much as eight years in indefinite (and often secret) US military custody, under direct control of the good folks in the Bush administration.

During Bush’s reign, these prisoners were denied both basic human rights and the most basic due process.  This occurred because the Bush group, led by “Tricky Dick” Cheney, saw them as “enemy combatants“, a term of art used as an thinly veiled excuse to deny them the basic right to a speedy trial as guaranteed in the 6th amendment of the US constitution.  It was also used by the Bushies to deny the rights of the Geneva Conventions to humane treatment. By the way, the US signed the Geneva Conventions, and of course, the US constitution.  But then, they’re just pieces of paper, right?

The GOP conservatives have been screaming ever since the decision was made to transfer decision was made.  They claim that this will give the terrorists a forum to spout their venom*.  They also claim that these captives do not fall under either US or international law*.  They predict that having a trial in New York City will simply traumatize the survivors of the 9-11 attacks*.  They even managed to get several hundred of those survivors to sign a statement to that effect.  And finally, they claim that this action tells the rest of the world that the US is soft on terrorism*.

Curiously, these self-same conservatives are the first to defend the justice system of the USA as ostensibly being the best in the world (primarily because they believe the USA is always the best at EVERYTHING!).  So if it’s so good, why are they so afraid of using it?

And when you analyze each of their complaints separately and in detail, they don’t stand up to close inspection:

*  Terrorists will spout their venom:  The most infamous terrorist to stand trial, confessed 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, has already spouted his venom at the military commission in Guantanamo, with press coverage.  No one complained back then, nor was there any perceivable impact anywhere.  Are we so afraid of what a terrorist might say at his trial that we would cower at the thought?  Wouldn’t it be better to let the entire world see this maniac for what he really is?

*  captives do not fall under either US or international law: Of all the reasons the Bushies offered to deny rights to these captives, this one was absolutely the most galactically stupid!  According to this idiotic “logic”, the captives are not covered by our constitution, federal law, or Geneva Conventions.  So, by following this twisted thought process, they don’t have to worry about being arrested if they commit murder, rape, theft, or even tax evasion, because our laws don’t apply to them, right?  And it’s okay if they torture captured US soldiers or behead innocent civilians, because the Geneva Conventions don’t apply to them, right?

* A New York trial will simply traumatize the survivors of the 9-11 attacks:  Actually, many of the survivors have stated publicly that seeing these prisoners finally being held accountable by facing justice in a court of law will help the healing process which, for over eight years, has not occurred because there has been no closure for them.

* tells the rest of the world that the US is soft on terrorism:  This one is almost as short-sighted and shallow as the one about terrorists being exempt from the rule of law.  The entire world had always (until stunned by the Bush actions) seen the USA as a nation committed to the rule of law, a land of  “justice for all”.  And even ignoring for a moment the truly tainted US history of justice over the past 230 years, including injustice to minorities, lynchings, mob vengeance, religious intolerance, and justice if you can afford it, the USA still has always projected “equal justice for all” to the rest of the world.

Besides, what on earth are we afraid of in trying these terrorists in open court?  Either we have a case against them, or we don’t.  Either the evidence is solid, or it isn’t worth the paper it’s written on.  Either a prosecutor can prove their crimes, or he can’t.  And if we do prove our case for all the world to openly see , we can fix the tainted image of the USA as a nation that bends the rules or makes up new ones whenever the going gets tough.

Despite the values upon which the United States of America was founded, over the past week We, the PEOPLE!! has heard several people say that we should just have “eliminated” or “disappeared” these terrorists after they “confessed” (under unknown conditions).

Gee.  Isn’t that why these conservatives thought it was such a great idea to invade Iraq?  Isn’t that what Saddam Hussein used to do?

Oh wait;  It’s so clear!  Do as we say, not as we do.

Still crazy after all these years….. 

American children are told in elementary school that the USA has perhaps the best and the fairest system of justice in the entire world.  They are instructed that the basic foundation of American justice is the US Constitution.  And that, in itself, is fair enough.

However, once these kids enter high school, or perhaps are in college, they become aware that the American system of justice is fraught with weaknesses, shameful historical acts of prejudices and discrimination, injustice, and even brutality.  They reluctantly learn of the protection of the financially powerful at the expense of the poverty-stricken, disenfranchised, and “undesirable” segments of the population.

The axiom that “power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely” is an unfortunate but nonetheless real human weakness that even the magnificent US constitution can’t prevent.  Thus, young US citizens experience disappointment when they find out that the US justice system does not always protect the rights of all citizens as much as it sometimes protects the interests of the powerful.

Consider the very recent case of the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) deputies in court in Phoenix, Arizona.  These deputies theoretically ensure security against a violent act that might be committed by a defendant during a formal court session.  Because they are law enforcement personnel, they are entrusted by the public to serve and protect the citizens of Maricopa county, to obey and enforce the law, and to be above reproach in their conduct and integrity, both on and off duty.

But over the past two weeks, that’s not what happened in the Maricopa county courtroom, where a defense attorney was representing her inmate client who had gotten into a fight in jail.  The particulars of this court case are not at issue here.

Waht is at issue is that the defense attorney was at the podium with her client at her side, and she was addressing the judge.  At that point, behind her back, a MCSO deputy sheriff began illegally searching through her private papers which were in a folder on the defendant table.  The deputy found a particular document and then called another deputy over.  He handed the document over to this additional deputy.  The new deputy exited with the document, presumably to either keep it or copy it..  The defendant just happened to turn his head and witness the entire action.

More importantly, it was captured on video.

The defendant told his attorney what had just occurred.   She complained to the judge.  The judge told her to “take a deep breath”, and then attempted to minimize the deputies’ actions by explaining that they are present to provide “security”.  She must have considered the stolen document capable of somehow committing an act that would have threaten security, right?

We, the PEOPLE!! strongly urges that you now watch the actual videos here, here, and here, and read the story here and here to witness this unbelievable event for yourself.  Besides being absolutely shocking and disgusting, it demonstrates that none of us are really “protected” by the actions of some whose jobs it is to “serve and protect“, including the judge.  She witnessed the entire event but neither said nor did anything until the defense attorney complained.  Even then, the judge essentially did nothing.

During a later hearing held on this outrageous event, the judge STILL did NOTHING, claiming that the deputy would have to read the document in order to defend himself, and that would require a privacy waiver not granted by the defense.  Therefore, the deputy walked out of the courtroom a free as when he walked in.

No wait:  There’s more!

The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) issued a statement that the deputy acted appropriately!  The sheriff, Joe Arpaio, seems to enjoy being put into the spotlight of the press, as witnessed by the many actions he takes that illicit a ton of negative press coverage.  Anyone interested can do a google search to learn more about this “shining example of law enforcement integrity”…quote, unquote.

The whole point of this article is:  With people like these both in law enforcement and in judges’ seats in courts, no one can really feel safe in this country if they just happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, and are not financially powerful and independent.  The fact that justice in the USA is largely based upon a citizen’s ability to hire the best legal counsel and finance appeal after appeal is not an definition of “justice for all”.

A classic example of this is the famous O.J. Simpson trial of 1995.  The very wealthy Simpson hired a “dream team” of famous, VERY high-priced attorneys who convinced the jury that members of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) tampered with evidence.  The jury subsequently acquitted Simpson, not because he was innocent, but because the LAPD violated the law.    Ten million dollars bought Simpson a lot of protection against lawlessness by cops, but a public defender would have been crushed.

In this case, the inmate who caught the MCSO deputy stealing documents from his defense attorney doesn’t have the financial capability to take his case higher. The MCSO knows this, and so does the judge.

But if it had been Warren Buffet, or even “Tricky Dick” Cheney…do you think the MCSO deputy sheriff would have even approached within 10 feet of those documents?

Not a snowball’s chance in hell.

Last night two off-year elections were held for governors in Virginia (VA) and New Jersey (NJ).  Additionally, the 23rd congressional dictrict of New York State (NY23) held an election to fill the seat left vacant by Rep. John McHugh, a Republican who resigned to accept the appointment of President Barack Obama as secretary of the Army.

In the lead-up to the elections, the GOP has been making all sorts of claims about these election being primarily a poll on Barack Obama and the democrats.  The democrats, for their part, have been as aware as the republicans that they this was a tough election situation for them.  They were reasonably certain that they were going to lose at least one of these races, and were claiming that these are simply local elections about local issues.

In point of fact, the republicans won both governor races.  And now the GOP is claiming the end of the democrats.  Unfortunately, as they often do, they neglect to mention some very significant facts:

1.  Since 1989, the party winning the White House has always gone on to lose the gubernatorial races in both states the following year.  This year was no different.

2.  In both states, an incumbent was running for re-election.  Based largely upon their lack of strong popular approval due to varying issues they’ve handled, both incumbents lost.

3.  In Virginia, both the democratic incumbent and the republican challenger had previously run against each other for state attorney general, and the the democrat lost that race, too.

4.  The only significant race where no incumbents were running was NY23.  In that race, the republican was forced to drop out of the race at the last moment because polling indicated that an extreme right wing challenger, running late under the banner of the “Conservative Party“, was way ahead of her for the conservative vote.  However, in this significant election, the republicans lost the NY23 seat to a democrat.  It was the first time since 1872, only seven short years after the end of the US civil war, that a republican did not win that seat.

What makes this race the most significant of all of last night’s races is that the ultra-extreme right-wing fringe of the GOP endorsed an ultra-extreme right-wing conservative named Hoffman because they did not like the moderate republican that the GOP leadership had endorsed.  The ultra-extreme-right political pundits on hate-radio also endorsed him.  And yet, he lost the race.

In this race, none of the candidates was an incumbent.  None had run against another in a previous race.  But when the day was done, a man who got tons of free advertising on hate-radio, a man who had the support of the Tea-Partiers, a man who somehow knocked the moderate republican candidate out of the box, a man with the backing of the ultra-extreme conservative wing of the republican party, lost.  He lost an election in a republican district that is not as much about local issues as national ones in congress.

So what’s the significance of last night?

First, it is clear that most registered republicans voted for republicans and most registered democrats voted for democrats.  They were not the folks that determined the outcome for these elections; the independent voters were.  It is also reasonable to assume that a very small minority of these voters in VA and NJ disregarded all local issues in favor of cast a “political statement” vote against Barack Obama, or for him in NY23.  But the vast majority of independents were probably concentrating on the candidates and/or the local issues in New Jersey and Virginia.  So these races probably mean absolutely nothing when it comes to a poll on Obama and the dems.

However, in the more nationally oriented election in NY23, they probably concentrated more on the issues that congress and the administration have worked or will work.  As a result, this election is incredibly telling, because this is yet another republican congressional district which, since the 2006 elections, has turned to  a democrat to lead it.

It’s also quite possible that had the republican candidate stayed in the race without an extreme ultra-right candidate muscling her out, she might have kept that seat in the GOP’s corner.  But the ultra-right, being as arrogant as they generally are, decided, as they tend to do, that brute force was more effective than negotiation.  In other words, shoot your way in, regardless of who gets hurts rather than dealing to get some of what you want instead of none at all.

Didn’t work too well, did it?

And if anyone somehow still thinks that the elections were disapproval of Obama and his policies, they should check the totality of all of the national polls, which can be done at PollingReport .com.  It carries every national poll conducted on every national issue, updated continuously as the polls are individually updated with new data.

According to pollingreports, President Obama has a very respectable 54% approval rating, exactly one year after he was elected.

So if the GOP and the hate-radio gang still want to push the “Elections = Poll on Obama” concept, perhaps they should join the organization known as “The Earth Is Flat Society“.

They’ll fit right in.   

US House of Representative speaker Nancy Pelosi finally unveiled the democratic proposal for health care reform today.

Beside the expected prohibitions against insurance companies refusing to cover pre-existing conditions and canceling coverage when a person needs it the most, it contained language for a public health option, i.e., a government-payer plan similar to Medicare.

However, the “public option” is not the robust plan the most liberal members wanted, i.e., Medicare pay plan plus 5%, in which providers’ only options are to take it or leave it.  Nor was it what conservative wanted to see, which is no public option of any kind under any circumstances for any reason.  Instead, it was a compromise that is intended to bring the more conservative “blue dog” democrats into the larger democratic fold.

Of course, it is somewhat baffling to consider that most of the folks who hate the mere idea of a public option, where the government is the payer instead of a private, Wall Street listed, for-profit insurance company, are also extremely satisfied with their Medicare coverage.   One is reminded of the woman who attended one of the health care reform “town hall meetings” held last August.   She shouted out at the congressman on podium in front of reporters and of television cameras that she wanted the government stay out of any health care reform because she absolutely didn’t want the government interfering in any way with her Medicare!

On the other side of the issue, the most liberal of the democrats will be lamenting the demise of the so-called “robust” public option, i.e., Medicare for all.  Ostensibly, this “robust” plan would at least be available to those who do not have health insurance, and later possibly to anyone who wanted it.  Doctors and other providers would be paid Medicare fees plus 5% for services, period.  That would keep the public option costs low and consistent, with no possibility of unusual cost growth.

Well, neither side got their first choice.  Instead, a “watered-down” version of the public option, wherein negotiations over pay with providers would be a critical part of the plan, is the way the house leadership intends to go.

The “blue dog” democrats are expected to at least accept this plan because the government would no longer unilaterally control the fees to the providers.  Thus, private insurance companies would more easily be able to compete.  By requiring negotiations with providers, the plan now starts to look more like the private insurance plans which are currently available to federal employees and retirees under the Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) program, as well as many union-provided plans.

In these plans, premiums go up each year after the government negotiates with the private insurance companies for premium rates.  This, in effect, neuters the ability to keep costs low, consistent, and within the rate of inflation because recurring negotiations with providers easily allows for large yearly increases.  This year, for instance, premiums are rising as much as 15%, depending upon the plan.  And for comparison, the rate of inflation for the past year was negative 1.3 %!

What speaker Pelosi and the house democratic leadership have done is craft a compromise that should bring in the votes necessary to pass health care reform in the House of Representatives.  If both the extreme right and the extreme left are dissatisfied, then it must be the most balanced plan that could be achieved.  And that’s important, because if the democrats can’t remain united behind the plan, it will fail to pass the house.  In that case, the disaster will probably eat up everyone, democrats and republicans alike, and President Obama as well.

If you’re a conservative, you still have a shot having the public option stopped when a similar bill is debated on the senate floor.  The senate is much more volatile then the house because the democrats normally only have a tenuous 60-40 margin to stop the promised republican filibuster, and that includes Joe Lieberman, (I-CT), who has already said he will actually join the republican filibuster if a public option is included in the senate bill.  That would bring the tally to 59-41, insufficient to stop a filibuster.  So it is by no means certain that a public option will survive in the senate’s final version of the bill.

On the other hand, if you’re a liberal, the watered-down version of public option in the house bill may be strengthened during floor debate, and even it isn’t, the separate final bills that pass both the house and the senate have to be reconciled and then re-voted upon before the final version go to the president for signature.  So, at this point, it’s still a crap shoot.

As a wise man once said, there are two things most people will never want to watch:  How a sausage is made, and how a bill becomes law.  Both will disgust and turn your stomach.

C-SPAN, anyone?   

A news item today mentioned that the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will very soon be studying the issue of lop-sided talk radio in the USA, which has become overwhelmingly ultra-right-wing over the past several years.  In fact, this writer had been a liberal talk show host on a radio station in Rhode Island in 2005 and 2006, along with another liberal talk show host on the same station.  In December of 2006, both hosts were “let go” within a a day of each other when the station “suits” decided to swing the radio station over to the extreme right.

The FCC will hold a seminar to determine whether talk radio is reflective of predominant local attitudes, or whether the various talk radio stations throughout the USA have their agendas set in corporate headquarters, thus locking out opposing philosophies.  With that in mind, special investigative reporter “Secret Sam” was right on the spot and submitted this most timely report, exclusively for We, the PEOPLE!!:

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Fox news viewers were stunned today as they witnessed the live on-air arrest of a man that police say has been impersonating the popular afternoon television talk host Glenn Beck for the past 1 ½ years.

In the meantime, the real Glenn Beck will be returning to Fox on Monday with his guest, republican congresswoman Michele Bachmann.   They will discuss the topic:  “Man in the Moon: Always over us;  Always Watching.”  Beck says he will not dwell excessively on the fact that the man in the moon is black.

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So there you it.  And while it’s understandable that someone might try to impersonate a talk show host, what with all the perks these folks receive, there is only one question that really begs for an answer:

If someone is going to impersonate a talk show host, why on earth would he or she want to impersonate Glenn Beck (who describes himself as a rodeo clown)?

In fact, why would anyone want to impersonate any right-wing nut-job, who makes his money babbling at other right-wing nut-jobs??

One of life’s baffling mysteries. 

Imagine that “Joe” knocks a glass off a table.  Imagine further that “Joe” refuses to admit that he did it.  Then imagine that “Bill” comes over, cleans the broken glass from the floor, and replaces the glass.  Would you then blame “Bill” for failing to correct the problem?

That’s exactly what the GOP is doing by claiming that the current Obama administration has failed to fix the recession.  Today, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed over 10,000 for the first time since October 7, 2008, which coincidentally was just about the same time that the Bush administration finally admitted to the existence of the economic recession, which actually began in December 2007, according to economic experts.

The GOP controlled both the presidency and congress for six years, but they were extremely reluctant to even remotely admit to the existence of an economic recession, especially in light of the fact that they were facing the November 2008 elections with their worst election prospects in years.  They certainly couldn’t blame the democrats, who only regained a majority in the House of Representatives in January of 2007.  But they absolutely didn’t want to admit that fighting a very expensive, very failed and totally unnecessary war in Iraq, coupled with massive deficit spending and the GOP’s “Let-Wall-Street-Do-Whatever-it-Can-Get-Away-With” policies were responsible for causing an economic fiasco which was finally coming home to roost.

So when they lost the both the presidency and congress in November 2008, they did the only thing left to an group that never admits to a mistake:  They blamed everyone else.

Immediately following President Obama signed the second economic stimulus package into law, the GOP began to claim it was a massive failure.  Of course, they never mentioned that they supported Bush’s economic rescue package which was signed into law in the closing days of the Bush administration.  But then, that package was designed to bail out Big Business on Wall Street, while Obama’s economic package was primarily designed to bail out small businesses and the American worker.  Remember, the GOP knows who pays them the biggest campaign contributions:  Big Business on Wall Street.

One thing about Wall Street, though:  It doesn’t care where the money comes from.  Wall Street only cares if the money is there and if it can get its hands on the money.  They don’t care who brought the money, i.e., democrats or republicans.  If Wall Street thinks it can get a piece of the action, the stock market goes up.

It’s been going up since March, folks.

In the meantime, the GOP continues to rant and rave about how Obama’s economic policies are a universal failure because jobs are still being shred.  What they don’t mention, though, is that since the Obama economic stimulus package became law in February of this year, the monthly rate of job loss as well as the monthly total of jobless has slowed to less than half of what it was when Bush left office in January.

They also neglect to mention that the expert economists are publicly proclaiming that the recession is over, and that the job market, always the last segment of the economy to show recovery, will catch up in the months ahead.  They refuse to admit that it was their party’s policies over eight years that actually incited the recession. Instead, they choose to mislead the average person who really doesn’t understand economics.

In fairness, there are moderates in the GOP who have not been bashing and blaming everyone and everything.  Those folks represent the real and traditional GOP.  They understand that government works best when people work together, even across the political aisle.  They really, truly believe in less government spending for all the right reasons.  They’re clearly not the ones who advanced eight years of out-of-control spending during the Bush tenure.

Unfortunately, they’re forced by their own party to remain silent while the lie-spinners and hate-mongers in the GOP attempt to bamboozle everyone who will listen.

So what it comes down to is this:  You can believe the loud, angry voices in the GOP when they say that we’re all headed for economic ruin because of President Obama and those pesty liberal communistic socialists who control Congress.  So put all your money in your mattress to protect it from the lies of the dems and their paid-off professional economists.

OR………….

Emulate the financial experts and invest NOW in the stock market as it continues to react to go up and up, as it has steadily since last March when the Obama economic stimulus package began to really kick in, because even if you believe the GOP, you also have to believe the Dow Jones average, which was in the 7000’s last winter, and is now banging back over 10,000.

And remember…the loudest screamers in the GOP are probably also the biggest investors in the Wall Street markets.  After all, some of the GOP’s biggest “friends” are the same huge mega-corporations which make up the Dow Jones Industrial  companies.  

A man boasted about his sex life on a television show.   He was in his bedroom and displayed some sex toys.

So what?

Well, yesterday (Wednesday), this very same Saudi Arabian man was convicted of boasting about his sex life and displaying his bedroom and some sex toys.  On a Lebanese television station, no less.

His sentence:  Five years in a Saudi Arabian prison and 1000 lashes on his body with a whip.  Presumably, these lashes will not be administered all at once, since 1000 lashes all at once would probably kill him.  And if he dies, he can’t endure the full term of his five-year sentence in a brutal Saudi prison.

Saudi Arabia is an ally of the United States, primarily because it possesses, buried beneath its desert sands, the world’s largest petroleum reserves.  The USA and the rest of the western industrialized world know better than to seriously piss Saudi Arabia off, a lesson learned during the 1973 oil embargo.  As a result, one cannot expect that there will be any official protest lodged by any government.

Saudi Arabia is a monarch-based nation-state that follows Sharia law, which influences most Muslim countries to some extent.  Many westerners raise their eyebrows at such a religious government.  But then, every major deity-based religion on earth has its own version of Sharia.  For instance, Christians have the new testament and every denomination of Christianity has its own interpretation of Christian Law; the same applies to the Jewish religion, which is governed by the Talmud, or their book of laws.

Unfortunately for the average hedonistic human, a major theme of all of these deity-based religious laws is their attempt to firmly control human sexuality.  For instance, early in the history of the USA, people attempting to impose their personal brand of religious control passed laws against all forms of sexual activity that they personally did not agree with.  Those laws became known as “blue laws“.  Later, blue laws also encompassed other activities besides sex, such as what you could and could not do on Sundays, out of forced respect for the Christian sabbath.  It didn’t matter that in some religions the sabbath is on Friday or Saturday.  Someone in the majority wanted to impose their personal religious beliefs on everyone else, and blue laws were the way to do it.

Most western countries have since repealed such laws, although several states in the USA still have some of these crazy blue laws on the books.  Most notable are the laws against certain sexual activity (between consenting adults), and laws prohibiting or severely controlling the purchase of alcoholic beverages on Sundays.

When we read about a gang-raped woman in Saudi Arabia being convicted and whipped for her “role” in the rape, we shake our heads and condemn the Saudis for being primitive and brutal.

However, there is a common denominator at work here.  It is the majority imposition of religious beliefs, laws, or philosophies on civil government and particularly, the majority dismissal of any other opposing religious or philosophical views held by the minority.  In Saudi Arabia, the ruling group is Muslim and the result is strict adherence to Sharia law via civil or criminal laws.  It makes no difference that someone may not believe in following the Sharia.

In the USA as well as some other not-as-enlightened countries, there are still many folks who continuously attempt to impose their own brand of Christian law and dogma on the entire population through the passage of civil and criminal laws.  It doesn’t matter that a significant minority of the population doesn’t practice these same religious teachings.  The only thing that matters to those “majority” folks is that they got to control everyone else.

Significantly, it is not just everyone’s sexual activity that these zealots seek to control.  A recent additional example is the issue of teaching religious-based “intelligent design“, previously known as creationism, as an alternative to science-based evolution as the explanation for the origin of humanity.  These religious imposers were recently successful in getting certain school districts to teach the religious idea of creationism as though it was based upon scientific research (which it is not). This was later repealed.  But the fact that these folks were even initially successful is frightening because it means that this form of religious imposition is always in the background.

Finally, the outrageous subjugation of women in those Sharia-governed countries is an illustration of the dangers of mixing religion and government.  In Sharia-dominated areas, women are often seen as property, are not to be educated and are not even allowed to drive a car.  The more these religious beliefs influence government, the stronger the subjugation becomes.  And yet, this concept also exists to some extent in the more extreme forms of western religion as well.  Ergo, the danger of going down this road in the first place.

We, the PEOPLE!! strongly believes that religion has no place in government.  The US Supreme Court has affirmed this position on multiple occasions.  But if you disagree, which is your right, then perhaps you would be happier living in a place like Saudi Arabia.  They obvious believe that religion and government should be “married”.

So does Iran.

So if you really still want religion in government….consider moving there.  But if you do, then, unless you’re a married man, become celibate.  Or embrace pain.

Late last night, freshman democratic congressman Alan Grayson of Florida’s eight district (Orlando, Ocala, Eustis) addressed a late-night session of the US congress on health care reform.  He was allowed to speak for up to five minutes, but only spoke for half of that.  He was obviously prepared for the opportunity to have his say, however, in that he brought with him an easel and prepared charts for reference, clarity, and illustration.

Although few congresspeople were actually in attendance as is normal for late-night congressional sessions, Grayson spoke on the congressional record of president’s Obama’s health care reform speech before the joint session of congress two weeks ago, during which many republicans waved a piece of paper which was purported to be the GOP health care plan.  He stated that after that speech was over, he collected one of those sheets and found that, except for the title of GOP health care reform plan, the rest of the piece of paper was blank.

Thus, he attempted to make sense of what this GOP health care reform package actually meant.  As a result, after careful consideration of all the available information, he figured out that it is a three step plan.

Step one is “Don’t get sick“.  Evidently, if you simply don’t ever get sick, then what on earth do you need expensive medical insurance for?   The simple logic of this idea saves the country billions upon billions of dollars.  From a cost-effectiveness point of view, it’s difficult to argue with saving all that money.

However, realizing that no plan is absolutely flawless, and that the possibility of something slipping through must be covered as well, the GOP plan states in step two:  “And if you do get sick..“.  It seems that this step is incomplete if it doesn’t include an methodology to follow, but it’s purpose is to prepare us for the actual solution, which is outlined in exquisite detail in step three: “Die Quickly!”

The congresspeople who were not present for Grayson’s short speech got to watch it later on C-Span.  Those interested can watch the actual two and a half minute speech as well, HERE.

When one compares this to the expensive democratic plan for health care reform, which includes health insurance for everybody and assistance for those who can’t afford it, the economic thoughtfulness of the GOP plan is readily evident.  After all, once you die, you no longer require expensive treatment, unless you’re Ted Williams, who had his body frozen in liquid nitrogen immediately upon his death to the tune of several hundred thousand dollars….but that’s another blog.  

Clearly, it makes indisputable economic sense to not get sick.  But if you must get sick, it makes even more economic sense to die quickly, right?   And it’s no big deal, to die quickly, because most people believe in an afterlife, such as heaven (or hell, if you’ve been bad, or simply want to be with your friends), or perhaps some paradise flowing with milk and honey and 72 virgins who want to make you happy.  The afterlife’s specifics depend upon what your religious beliefs are.  But suffice it to say that most people in this country believe in some form of it and therefore would be all set by dying quickly under the GOP plan.

The only ones seemingly not covered in this way would be the atheists, most of whom don’t believe in any afterlife at all.  But then again, if those godless communistic liberals got sick and died quickly, that would dove-tail perfectly with the GOP’s desire to keep their religious-right political base happy and joyous.  So the plan itself has even more benefits once one really does uncover all of the far-reaching tentacles of the plan.  It is, simply put, insanely genius.

But wait a minute!  What about those horrible, selfish, abusive people who would allow themselves to indiscriminately get sick over and over and then refuse to die quickly, causing the rest of us all that added expense of actual medical care?   How would this plan solve that?

Well, the GOP has truly thought of everything.  In fact, they came up with the solution months ago when the health care reform debate first started heating up.  The GOP must have already had their plan in the wings ready to go, because they leaked out the information on the ultimate fail-safe mechanism to prevent any unpatriotic citizen from abusing their plan.  In fact, they’ve been talking about it for months, they have mentioned it repeatedly at town meetings, and they even had Sarah Palin allude to its use on more than one occasion.  Surely, everyone who has been paying attention to the health care reform debate knows that the republicans came up with the solution to prevent any abuse of their plan a long time ago.

You all remember what it is, right?

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DEATH PANELS!!!!!!!                                

President Palin is addressing a press conference in the White House press room this hour, to explain her unbroken string of vetoes on every piece of legislation to pass the congress.  The press room is staffed with reporters from the nation’s better known and internationally respected balanced news organizations which are known for their accuracy and total lack of bias:   Citizens United, Conservative Voice, Drudge Report, Fox News, Bill O’Reilly, GOPUSA, Hannity & Colmes, Human Events Online, MensNewsDaily.com, National Review, NewsMax, Patriotist, RightMarch.com, Right Wing News, Rush Limbaugh, Town Hall, Washington Times, and the Weekly Standard. Also present are members of Focus on the Family, the National Rifle Association, the John Birch Society, and the Westboro Baptist Church.

The doors to the press room are closed and guarded by elite Delta Force special forces personnel, and president Palin enters the room and walks to the podium.

Palin:  Good morning.  I have a brief opening statement.  I had moose omelets for breakfast.  They were yummy!

I will now take your questions in the order they were submitted and approved by my very loyal and very patriotic staff.

Press:  Madam president, you just vetoed the fourth bill in a row on health care reform to reach your desk.  Can you tell us why?

Palin:  Absolutely.  Just like the previous three, this bill is still too expensive  and for what?  Mandating a public warning about a health hazard??  I mean, how many times do I have to tell those socialist-liberal-communist democrats  who control the congress that sending Americans a stupid, big-government-interference warning about the need to avoid drinking their tap water, just because of a “few” stray (and unsubstantiated by the good folks at the American Nuclear Power Plant Consortium, I might add) radioactive chemicals leaking into the national water supply allegedly from the 200 new nuclear power plants I approved last year is a waste of money?

After all, it’s a well known fact that a little radioactivity is actually good for you.  I mean, com’n!  I jog all the time with my radio-active on my arm to keep me company.  And look how healthy I am!!  So, golly-gee and what the heck, what’s the problem?  And by the way, contracting building and running those plants in a mere 7 months to China was a huge money savings for the American nuclear industry. over an American company taking 10 years to build them.  How come we’re not getting credit for THAT?

Press:  The congress also passed a bill to regulate the financial markets so that a repeat of the 2007-2009 recession can’t be repeated, but you vetoed that as well.  Can you explain your reasoning?

Palin:  Absolutely.  The answer is that I haven’t the first damn clue…about why those socialist-liberal-communist democrats who control the congress even bothered.  Let’s face it:   Freedom isn’t free.  It costs money.  In America, that means dollars.  Not cents.  Just Dollars.  Lots and lots of dollars.  And who’s gonna make those dollars?  The big corporations and the very rich, that who!  They invest their dollars in America just as the colonials invested their slaves against all our enemies during the war of independence, the war of 18-whatever, and the war against the North.  And how do you ensure the continued profitability of those corporations and folks?   By allowing them to be FREE to make their profits!  After all, isn’t that why it’s called the FREE market????

Those socialist-liberal-communist democrats who control the congress just want to hurt those patriotic money-makers, so that America will fail and then they can have the Soviets come in and take us over.  And don’t tell me the Soviets are gone because I can see them walking on their beaches from my home state of Alaska.

And about that so-called recession:  America was incredibly prosperous until the socialist-liberal-communist democrats took over congress in 2007.  And the recession started in 2007, right?  See?  It’s so clear!  The socialist-liberal-communist democrats taking over caused that recession!  Think about it!

Press:  The war in Afghanistan is now in its 8th year and more Americans than ever are dying there, while Al Qaeda seems to grow stronger and bolder every day. What do you intend to do about that?

Palin:  Al Qaeda in Afghanistan is coming from “Al Qaeda in Iraq”, the same folks who helped Saddam Hussein plan 911.  And we would have defeated them and their internal base of operations at the joint Al Qaeda/Iraqi Nuclear stockpile facility had we had, say, 500,000 troops in Iraq to start with.  Now, I know this is the first time you’ve heard of that facility, but we know from a reassessment of the original 2002-2003 intelligence on Iraq that the facility exists and Al Qaeda is using it to train their operatives and suicide bombers.  We just have to find it, bomb it, and interrogate everyone within 50 miles of it with enhanced techniques to find out what Al Qaeda’s up to.

So we’re going to start building up our troop level in Iraq again, because we know the USA has the “chutzpah” to find and destroy that base, even if it takes us 100 years.   And besides, there’s a lot more oil in Iraq than Afghanistan.  So it stands to reason (I love saying that, don’cha know) that Iraq is where the money is.  Oh, yeah, and victory, too.

White House Press Secretary Hermann Goebbels III:  Thank you, Madam President Supreme Commander of the Earth.

Folks, this ends our press conference for today.  Thank you for listening quietly and please check all recording devices at the door so the nice men from the CIA can check them for germs.  If you’re a minority member, please stay in your seat until the nice agents determine how you got in here.

Bye-bye.