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Three cheers for Harry Reid!!! I agree with Marc; this makes up for everything else ole Harry has done… and I might add, hasn't done.
The impact this has had on my feelings towards our president are something else again. I view Obama's efforts to shove this past Congress to be a loathesome, contemptible act of treason. For Obama to pontificate about restoring the middle class while pushing for "NAFTA on steroids" goes beyond hypocrisy; it is betrayal to the nth degree. And since the TPP would strip us of our sovereignty as a nation, it is indeed treasonous. Nothing would please me more than to see that bastard impeached and thrown in the slammer, along with Bush and Cheney and all those war criminals he's let off the hook.
Regarding the lack of media coverage the TPP, a matter of such momentous importance, has received: "Humm, I wonder why" sez ScottFromOz... heh-heh. Yeah Scott, you know the answer as well as I do. Like I've said, we have no media; just a worthless, lying sack of shit.
We're still suffering the consequences of NAFTA, which shoved so many of us into poverty, into debt, homelessness and worse. It has raped our labor force, depriving tens of millions the most basic right of any human being: the means to earn a decent, honest living and feed one's family. It leaves millions of young adults twisting in the wind with bleak prospects for any semblance of financial security to work towards. I think it will be a long time yet before the damage caused by NAFTA has faded into history… if the human race even lasts that long.
Reflecting back on the presidents we've had in my lifetime, I can think of one who has not screwed us in a major way. Of all the presidents since Kennedy, only Carter stands out for me in this regard… but it would not surprise me if someone came up with a strong argument against Carter's nose being clean. (Through the years I've heard various people judge Carter for having been "ineffective" as president, although I've always regarded such comments with suspicion, considering the source. Those who judge Carter that way tend to be conservatives whose world view I've no use for anyway. But Carter is the only president I can recall who didn't get us into a war... or throw us under the proverbial bus.)
The TPP is a huge threat to what little remains of the so-called "American dream". It's already been cut to shreds by Reagan, Bush #1, Clinton, Bush #2… Now Obama, if he had his way, would deliver the coup d'etat, killing that dream forever. I really hope Harry Reid stands his ground here. I never expected this from Harry; I didn't think he had it in him. Occasionally people can surprise us, and not all surprises are bad. - Aliceinwonderland
Aliceinwonderland ~ Well said. I remember that it was Carter who mandated registration for selective service when I turned the age. If it were any other clown in office who mandated such I might not be here right now. I trusted the man and as such here I am. We do owe President Carter much as a nation. I fully agree with your assertion that little has happened in the realm of leadership in this country since JFK.
mrbrannon68 -- I think most people on this blog would agree that the most significant first step we need to take is the one stated again and again by Thom and Bernie; that is, go to movetoamend.org. If we succeed with that then we may be able to perform the other key ideas of Thom -- roll back raygun tax cuts, raise tariffs to a protectionist level and enforce the anti-trust laws.
I think a more possible solution is to have overwhelming majority of dems in the house and the senate. If this were to happen, then just repass most of the 390 bills passed by the Nancy P house and were filibustered by the repugs in the senate. My favorites are card check, grant no waivers to the Buy American Act of 1936, no tax credits for moving jobs and factories out of the country, and penalities on China for currency manipulation.
??? yup! so why is it that i live in beautiful sunny southern california and just north of me are miles and miles and miles of rich yummy goodness, nuts, oranges, grapes, artichoke, maters, onions, garlic and who knows what other cornicopia of yummy good things are growing out there that i have yet to see, and yet? i go to my local grocery store and all the produce is from mexico? hmm, go figure, free trade i guess!!! and by the way? I AM SO SICK OF ALL THE JUNK MADE IN CHINA! YOU BUT IT. YOU PLUG IT IN. YOU USE IT. IT BREAKS IN 2 YEARS...hmmm, food for thought....
No kidding? It's not about us..but about getting Google's bots to jack up the spammer's popularity...is that related to SEO? sneaky! Itsy bitsy Spider, climbing up the spout....
Here in Oz, we would be delighted if the TPP was killed off. Our lower house here have taken it upon themselse to signal that they will unilaterally sign the TPP without even letting our senate look at the agreement first. Nor are they going to give the "great unwashed" the opportunity to view the enslavement document that we will be signed up for. It is all being conducted under great secrecy at the behest of the organisations behind the deal. Of course they want it kept secret as otherwise the general population might revolt against it.
Although it will have profound implications for working people in this country, our media hardly ever mention it. Hmmm, I wonder why....
Good for you Harry Reid. You may have just made up for everything else you've done.
I don't know how feasible it is, given the overall mood of the public at large, but the only way I see us seizing the reins and reclaiming the government that is rightfully ours is to make use of the one power source we possess: our numbers. We outnumber the elites by a ratio of thousands-to-one; tens of thousands, in fact! They still depend on our labor, our tax dollars, and (despite election fraud) our votes. If we ever manage to set aside our differences and mobilize into a unified force, engaging in massive strikes, and fill the streets with our protests, and bring the wheels of this machine to a grinding halt, there is much we can accomplish. And if enough of us refused to pay our taxes - more of us than they could find room for in their jails - you can bet these fascists would feel the impact in a hurry. But this would only work if enough of us were committed to participating in a mass movement, of a magnitude that couldn't be thwarted by oligarchs via their usual devices. If it was organized and unified and large enough of a movement, I think that perhaps we could even pull it off nonviolently. We have to let 'em know we mean business and we're not backing down. It might take awhile, and it would be very messy and disruptive to our lives, and there would be sacrifices and hardships along the way, but I don't believe anything less than a huge mass movement like this is gonna dethrone these self-appointed kings. And I don't see the people being ready to pull it off. Too much infighting among us; not enough shared vision or mass consciousness. I hate to say it, but I think we're not hurting enough yet, individually or collectively, to be sufficiently motivated. - Aliceinwonderland
I don't give a damn if we are left alone in the world without a trading partner. I don't want to be enslaved by any corporate plutocracy.
My comment got completely messed up in editing. I'm giving up trying to fix it.
Wm. Jennings Bryan, Thomas Dewey and Richard Nixon were at least 3 that won nomination and lost, and then sought and won the nomination a second (or third) time.
Back to the original points mentioned by Thom in the second paragraph that I am for some reason unable to quote with the built-in tool:
With the recent disclosure out of the NSA files, doesn't this make two occasions that James Clapper is on public record of having lied to Congress?
Although those cases are probably small potatoes compared to his admission of wanton negligence in the release of all those NSA documents (and now he's even claiming that his negligence has damaged U.S. security) how is it that he is still allowed to be in charge of what we are told is important information that we have spent oodles on?
It's like the way the P.R. firms and Media got us to actually reward Bush/Cheney for letting 9-11 happen instead of taking them to task for putting so much of their attention on putting tax cuts through and disemboweling environmental regulations and just generally being too busy working on money-for-friends-and-selves than paying attention to the intelligence warnings.
I agree with your post more than others I have read. I am now 70 years old and have been warning people for more than 30 years about what was and is happening in our governments. I majored in History and Political Science and have continued my studies and interest in both. People of my generation have failed to protect posterity by not recognizing what was happening and doing something about it. Even now many of my friends have joined the right wing rhetoric; standing up for what they think is capitalism and the war on the poor, while at the same time receiving the benefits’ of Social Security, Medicare and real pensions. They do not seem to recognize that when they are talking about “takers”, they are talking about themselves! The question now must be what are those of us who do understand, going to do to change our governments to represent the needs of the people? I would like to know the thoughts and ideas on those on this blog.
Kend!
The Mexicans who love NAFTA are the same ones as the Americans who love NAFTA, the rich ones - who are a substantially smaller portion of their population than ours are to our population. It has helped rich Mexicans' economy but absolutely TRASHED the economy of average, working class and poor Mexicans. NAFTA is the reason we have so many undocumented immigrants in the United States. We had some before, of course, but since NAFTA we've had four or five times as many at any given time. NAFTA has caused peasant farmers in Mexico to be run off their land by the tens of millions thus causing them to migrate north to seek jobs.
The price of corn would've helped those farmers, instead, trade provisions in the treaty that hurt Mexican tomato farmers, for example, ruined their livlihood.
American factories had moved out of Mexico and into China by the early 2000's as Mexican workers got organized, gained power and got better deals. Mexican communities also won environmental regulations.
So the purpose of moving to Mexico was defeated, might as well have stayed in California, but China held some golden prospect for the manufacturers in their rapacious ambitions. China had a police state and its autocratic masters were looking to industrialize so there was no place more assuring that no workers' or peoples' social movements would interfere with those ambitions.
Those freedom loving, or rather, privilege loving conservatives!
I knew Obama was not at all for real as the guy he campaigned as the minute I heard he appointed Rahm Emmanuel his chief of staff. Chicago effectively has a one party system. It's like the Old South. People who would be Republicans elsewhere are Democrats here.
State of the Union address:
POTUS bragging about all the evil shit being accomplished, and lying about getting some good things done
disgusting
state of the unions:
pathetic
(D)balled
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The APT: American Political Terms
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I must say that the NSA spying program is against the law. They have no right to spy like this. what is the guarantee of people’s privacy here?
The President's State of the Union was mostly predictable, much akin to a campaign speech, but missing the pizzaz! Remember his first acceptance of the nomination speech in Denver? The ground shook when he emphatically said, "Enough!" Everyone in America heard call line drawn in the sand.
Unfortunateely the passion soon dissipated to his analytical analysis along with the appeal - or lack of - of Rodney King's utterance, "Can we all get along." After eight years of Bush and Cheney taking the country oftour ethical and economical cliff, President Obamba is dearly welcomed. I
there is "something" in his delivery that both communicates - but creates an impression, a feeling of weakness; a kind of pleading for congress to go along. i am reminded of listening to the Senate Majorrity Leader, Harry Reid, trying to convey something when he is upset. It just doesn't come through.
The President does not have the option to be "firm" or give the appearance of being "demanding" or "assertive." (What would happen if he delivered the emotionally charged Denver speech in Congress? Black men cannot get angry!
Republicans got him where they want him. Breaking out could be risky. Just ask JFK, MLK, and Robert.
These are desperate times,
I hear ya, Johnnie. Bacon, anyone?
I compare the fascist Republicans to the fascist Confederacy. An economic system based on slavery and the good life being only for the rich one percent. That means that if things keep going as they have been, there will be another American civil war. At this point, after losing so much of what I had after Reagan and his Neo-cons infiltrated our government, I wouldn't mind seeing a war start against the fascist pigs right now.
Kend, we could both be right where Mexico is concerned. If I recall correctly, it was American corporate farming that introduced cheaper corn to Mexico, putting tens of thousands of Mexican farmers out of business. I don't know for a fact that your claims are correct but they certainly sound plausible (or at least feasible), in light of the corporate-friendly politics of our times. However I question how "unintentional" any of these consequences actually were. In their relentless pursuit of the Almighty Dollar, corporate interests don't give a flip who gets trampled or hurt. They are predators, and that's what predators do.
Branski, we can't afford another Republican president. For poor and working class folks to withhold their votes is just plain stupid. It would flush this country beyond the toilet bowl, right down the sewer pipes. (Wow, that was poetic! tsk.) With all my heart, I pray your prediction is wrong. - AIW
With all due respect, this is inaccurate. The ONLY inequality acknowledged by Democrats/lib media is between the better-off and the rich. President Obama stressed last night that ONLY those who are of use to employers are deserving of food and shelter. The shocking gap between those fortunate enough to be able to work/have jobs and all those who have been left behind, continues to be ignored, and it has taken a very heavy toll since Clinton.
The President/Dems have dramatically narrowed the discussion about poverty, focusing only on those who are fortunate enough to have jobs. At the same time, Dems (again) target the elderly, disabled and poor. It is too dangerous to vote another Democrat into office.
The Clinton Democrats targeted the poor and disabled, giving us 8 yrs of Bush. The poor didn't vote for Bush, but simply withheld their votes. The Obama Dems now target the elderly, disabled and poor. The next president will be a Republican.
Alice I think a lot of US manufactoring jobs went to Mexico. What hurt Mexico more was forcing oil companies to add ethanol to fuel. The cost of corn sky rocketed Down there driving food costs up for the poor. It was totally unintentional but it happened. Here our wheat, barley, and oats fields are replaced with canola. Farm prices tripled. It didn't effect us because our food is so abundent here but we ship massive amounts of wheat to China every year. It's unfair that the poor people world wide seem to always pay the price. Geez what the hell is happening to me. I am starting to sound like a lefty a little.