Political Psychic

Daily Rants about Politics

Howard Zinn – author of “People’s History of the United States”

Howard Zinn believed in the working class – or rather, the middle and lower class and their ability to change history.  He believed in the greatness of regular, working people – like you and I – and what they did to change history. He believed that true change came from the bottom up, and not from the top down. Movements like the Tea Party movement are called astro-turf movements because they are coporate sponsored for profit. They recruit working class people to do their bidding – to go out into the streets on behalf of the wealthy (like the health insurance companies, etc) to make it appear that they are connected with the working class in this country, when in fact they are not. They are sponsored events, for profit, whereby tickets are sold and celebrities are provided in order to draw a larger crowd. Their cause is not about the middle class, but about shouting down the opposition – the out-of-work class of people who get absolutely no media coverage, despite the size of their crowds.

The media is mostly owned by the wealthy class, which in turn tries to suppress the opposition – the voices of those who have been hurt by Reaganomics, exported jobs and industries. The few who have benefited from such policies are the benefactors and supporters of today’s astroturf movements.  What made Howard Zinn so special was his focus on the rebellions of the working class and the strikes they held throughout history. From the farmers’ strikes of the 1700′s on through the 1970′s, with Cesar Chavez’ farm workers strikes. Today, few people are willing to strike in public. We have been trained as a people to “put up and shut up” – to be afraid and submissive. The very thought of protesting invokes images of riots, armed police on horseback, water canons, and worst of all jailtime and the threat of being labeled an “enemy combatant”, which will more than likely generate a file at the FBI that will put you on every terrorist watch list. This is all thanks to George W. Bush’s Patriot Act and Homeland Security, illegal domestic wiretapping, and cointel-pro programs.

Howard Zinn died the other day, and his writings will speak to generations to come, much the same way Ghandi’s and MLK’s do for us today.  Do yourself a favor and pick up a copy of this very inspiring book.

Just found out on the Randi Rhodes that $600 million is coming to the Pacific Northwest for building a high speed rail system.

OMG… I’m soooooo relieved

Every other country in the world considers it a crime to make a profit off of charging people for health care. Every country except ours.

When you ask a congress person why we can’t seem to get people to see what’s wrong, they say, “they like their health insurance coverage, so they don’t want to change it”.

I feel like I’m being told the biggest lie I’ve ever heard told – and people do nothing but nod their heads in agreement with it. I used to have great coverage, too, when I worked – but I would’ve been waaaayyyy happier if I could’ve gotten health insurance that didn’t try to rip me off every time something important had to get done.

Every day, I read and listen to stories about people who’ve traveled abroad who’ve been through really incredible health crisis problems while out of the country. Not one single one of them had to pay a bill or wait three weeks to see a doctor. Not one single one of them had to worry about their financial situation or feel like a second class citizen while waiting to receive care. Even in Mexico, a foreigner can get better health care – for free – while visiting their country.

People are DYING in this country while trying to receive care – they are dying because they are not able to pay for health care.  They are dying because they’ve lost their homes trying to pay their bills.  They are homeless, broke, hungry, and completely lost, and cannot work because they are too sick – and can’t get well because they have NO health care.

I really wish people would open their eyes and stop sitting idly reading these stories. We have to hit the streets, protest out loud, and really start shaking things up. Enough is ENOUGH.

It was a great speech. Nothing really new.

What I liked.

• He promised to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” this year. But I’m still upset about not doing it sooner. There were urgent requests – All of them noteworthy – By high-ranking military men who were wrongly outed. They wanted him to do something right away – To take a stand against what was happening to them. He did nothing to stop it. He could’ve written an executive order to repeal the old – But instead insisted Congress to take action. Then, when someone in the House came up with strongly worded legislation to do exactly that, the White House blocked his efforts. I mean, what kind of White House does that?

The old Bush White House did that kind of thing. And instead of change, we’re getting the same old thing. Obama has tons of leftovers from Bush, and a few new kinds of Karl Rove’s of his own – Like Rham Emmanuel, Tim Geitner, and Paul Bernanke. This certainly helps me understand why Obama isn’t threatening the prior administration with prosecutions for war crimes, illegal wire-tapping, etc, etc, etc. He’s also keeping a lot of the same illegal executive orders Bush put into place.

Anyway, I’m just glad something is being done now about “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”.

• I also liked the fact that he confronted the Supreme Court about their disastrous ruling that will flood our elections with unlimited amounts of foreign corporate money. Putting lawmakers’ seats for sale is NOT democracy. I guess former Illinois governo r only needed to wait a year if wanted to legally sell a Senate seat, because NOW, it’s f*cking golden.

What I didn’t like was:

• Obama’s repeated promise to work with Republicans. Seriously. Has our president become some kind of abused spouse who refuses to leave the wife-beating drunkard who keeps promising that he won’t hit her anymore??
  It’s so embarrassing.

• His promise to push for more off-shore drilling and nuclear power. What the heck happened to Green Energy Jobs and Legislation????!!!! Exactly how will helping corrupt oil and nuclear energy companies help the
  environment??? It was just more embarrassing concessions to the very people who put us in the situation we are still stuck in – a broke country with a shameful history of massive environmental pollution.

I have mixed feelings about the high-speed rail project. While I’m very glad we are going to build something that will push us forward in so many ways for years to come, I don’t understand why we couldn’t put this same
money into fixing more highways and bridges. Public investment in infrastructure is an extremely effective way to create more jobs and push the country forward. I guess I’m just a little jealous, maybe, that it will
not be happening in our neck of the woods. I really hope something more can be done for the rest of the country, and not just the south, where Republicans will simply treat you like cr*p for helping them out.

• For example: In Portland, highways are a mess. Especially the bridges. I feel quite sure that we will have a nightmarish bridge collapse in the not-so-distant future. I wish I were kidding, but you only need to drive underneath a few – especially the extremely large bridges that cross over the Willamette or the Columbia Gorge. The one that connects into Portland is especially dismal-looking – and it’s the tallest one – a double-decker bridge with a constant stream of traffic on it. Portland could use quite a big boost of help from a federally funded highway project. It would provide tons of jobs to construction workers, a reliable source of income for the city and surrounding areas, and it would restore and beautify a very old city that is badly in need of help. It would – most importantly – make these bridges safe again. And I’m not even talking about the bridges in Washington state, which could also use a hand – but not half as badly as the ones in Oregon. It rains almost every day of the year here, and the harsh weather makes it even tougher on our heavily traveled infrastructure.

Anyway. those are my two cents.

Thanks.

What if you had a job you loved but the pay was too low for you?

What if you were allowed to seek out alternative forms of income because your employer couldn’t afford to pay you what you needed? I mean, quite literally, your boss said, “Look, you’ve got a guaranteed job here with me
that doesn’t pay much – But if you decide to stay, you can spend as much time needed outside the office in order to find the kind of money you need and want.” Then your boss says, “People won’t be happy with your inability
to come into the office, but at least no one can fire you for not being here.”

That’s exactly why we need campaign finance reform. It’s the only real way we can fight the Supreme Court’s ruling – by making this our next challenge.

Health care is obviously not going to get done with Harry Reid at the helm in the Senate. We have a strong majority in both houses, yet we can’t seem to get him to see past the number 60. Republicans rammed through tons and tons of legislation within the first few months of Bush’s first term – and all they had was the House, with a very weak majority there. They destroyed this country – because Democrats were too afraid of what they might have to deal with if they went up against Darth Cheney (the one who acted like president).

Corporations and Republicans are a deadly, scary duo.  They are both ruthless – and I don’t blame Dems for being so frightened.  And back during Bush’s iron-fisted dictatorship, I can only imagine what it must’ve been like with the weight of the world on your shoulders, Fox News, et al, smearing your name, and the only way you could protect yourself was to play possum when “the Hammer”, Tom DeLay, decided to threaten you within an inch of your life. Republicans stole two presidential elections, knew about 9/11 long before it happened, sent us to war on a pack of lies, bankrupted our country way before 9/11, and made sure everyone paid dearly if they didn’t vote for every rightwing psychopathic measure.

I’m not exactly sure why Dems haven’t stood up against the Republicans yet. But I’m pretty sure it’s like asking why the Soprano’s neighbors haven’t set Tony’s house on fire yet. They don’t want to be part of the sh*t storm that would go down on them for trying to seek justice.

Campaign Finance Reform would help put politicians back in the voters’ corner. But it would only help politicians who were brave enough to go up against the Sopranos. We need to tell the Dems in office that we’ve got their back if they’ve got ours.

I really hope and pray that Kucinich considers another run for the White House.  I seriously feel that he has a real chance next time.  The country has seen so many unfulfilled promises come from so-called progressives. Kucinich was the only one who repeatedly pushed for impeachments of Bush and Cheney.  That fact alone should have pushed him forward during the 2008 race.  Now, because of the need for action against Republicans, it would be a very, very smart and necessary move toward restoring real justice in this country if Kucinich became the next President.

Anyway…I saw this little write-up on Kucinich on Crooks and Liars and simply had to re-post it.

http://crooksandliars.com/susie-madrak/new-kucinich-program-aims-create-mill

Putting those of us who are middle-aged out to pasture with Social Security is not such a great solution for the people whose retirement accounts were decimated by the market crash – not to mention, of course, the president’s plan to allow a bipartisan commission “suggest” Social Security and Medicare cuts in the near future.

But hey, at least Kucinich is at least trying to do something about jobs — which is more than you can say for most members of Congress:

CLEVELAND — An Ohio congressman pushed for a new program to add a million new jobs Monday.

Congressman Dennis Kucinich unveiled his plan Monday afternoon at his Lakewood office.

Kucinich proposed offering early retirement with social security benefits and health insurance subsides to people as young as 60 years old. He said that will free up as many as a million new positions in businesses that have already shed jobs.

“In every business, people are cutting to the point of where they’re not functioning the way they used to. So, this gives business a chance to get new blood in. At the same, be able to do it in a way that they don’t have to have access more money to do it,” Kucinich said.

Kucinich said he’ll introduce his Kucinich job plan bill this week on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives.

It’s here.  A newly formed corporate entity has decided to take the big leap and run itself for public office.  I wonder who their human interface will be??  I’m pretty sure it will be Republican-friendly.

Here’s a snippet from their website:

Murray Hill Incorporated is Running for Congress
for the Best Democracy Money can Buy

Until now, corporations only influenced politics with high-paid lobbyists and backroom deals. But today, thanks to an enlightened supreme court, corporations now have all the rights the founding fathers meant for us.

That’s why Murray Hill Incorporated is taking democracy’s next step– running for Congress. It is a vision for the future we can all be proud of.

Vote Murray Hill Incorporated for Congress!
For the best democracy money can buy.

Read the Press Release.

ShareThis

Follow us on Facebook
YouTube Channel
congressinc@murrayhillweb.com
Call us on Skype (301) 637-2119

Oregon Republican Party officials are claiming that the Unions bought and paid for yesterday’s win. On the ORP/Oregon Republican Party’s website, their site shows how much unions spent on the campaign. However, they are missing one very important number:  the ORP’s budget to kill 66 & 67. While Oregon unions put in about $3.7 million dollars in advertising dollars, the ORP put in more than twice that amount to try and stop them.

Kudos to the ORP for trying. Their taglines were pretty edgy – but still very deceitful. Oregon voters saw right through it all. Thank God.

Some examples:

* Stop Job Killing Taxes *
* Unions are Buying the Elections *
* Measures 66 and 67 will hurt Oregon’s economy and employment *

My favorite: A funky little animation/video they have on their website, titled: “It’s your Ox they’ll Gore”. I guess they were hoping it would go viral or something.

Anyway, I’m so glad that Oregon didn’t go down the way Massachusetts did…. Whew!

Currently, Oregon charges a FLAT TAX on all forms of businesses that reside within the state of Oregon.  Arguably, an obscene amount of tax – yet, the Republicans still hated it. How small? Are you sitting down?

TEN DOLLARS PER YEAR

The Republicans tried their almighty best to frighten everyone into believing that taxes would go through the roof if these measures passed.  The ads were incredible. But people ignored them, anyway.

Yesterday, Oregon voters passed “yes” on Measures 66 and 67, which allows for an increase on taxes for corporations that reside within the state.  Actually, it is a small tax increase on all forms of businesses that reside within the state.

And now with this increase in the flat tax rate, the annual amount will jump from ten dollars to… (drum roll, please)

ONE HUNDRED and FIFTY DOLLARS PER YEAR

That’s it — $150 is all Oregon businesses will have to pay.  And it’s a FLAT TAX.  That’s  .41 cents per day.  And it has no bearing on how big or small you are.  Large corporations will pay exactly the same as a small mom and pop business.  Frankly, large corporations should be paying WAY MORE than that obscenely amount.  Especially compared to the even more obscenely low rate of $10 per year (which is bank-busting rate of… .02 cents per day).  And they complained about that, too.

But is there any celebration by the neocons on having to pay so little? Of course not.

One right wing idiot said on the radio that “Republicans will work even harder to reign in out-of-control spending.” Like? “.excessive benefits given to employees for child care.” (uhm.because taking care of employees’ kids is simply not a good idea.???) and my favorite “.wasteful spending on energy saving windmills.”.

And they really do wonder why they’re so unpopular in this part of the country.