The slow release of documents exposing the inhumane and illegal interrogation policies of the CIA under the Bush administration have confirmed what human beings have learned over the centuries through the practice of torture.

In summary, torture inflicts more harm on the perpetrators than the victims.

The contents of these documents, as well as the testimony of dozens of participants and victims have confirmed the following truths about torture.

Torture produces virtually no actionable information, as the victims will say whatever they think will stop the pain.

The frequent and prolonged use of torture has cumulative psychological and physiological effects on the victim, rendering them useless as sources of information, or even caring for themselves.

Once torture is sanctioned, but allowed only in certain, high risk situations, it quickly becomes a standard practice.

While initially it may be reserved for high-value detainees, eventually women and children will be victimized in order to reach high-value targets.

Medical authorities and mental health professionals can easily be persuaded to participate in torture, even though it is, of course, in direct violation of their ethical oaths.

Those called upon to inflict torture suffer severe mental damage from their direct responsibility in inflicting pain and suffering on another human.

When authorities are incorrectly convinced that a prisoner has valuable information, they will repeatedly increase the severity and the frequency of the torture, the inability of the victim to provide the information or a convincing lie only increasing the certainty of the torturers that he is withholding the information.

Knowledge that torture is occurring is one of the most effective tools in recruiting resistance fighters and volunteers for suicide missions.

The use of torture destroys the credibility of a nation that uses and denies it, and erodes any claim to moral authority, the corrosive effect lasting for decades or even centuries.

Specifically, in the case of the United States, in our "war on terror", we tortured innocent persons, including children. We repeatedly lied to the world and our own citizens about our actions. We murdered prisoners during torture.

Under international laws, we do not have a choice not to prosecute those who sanctioned or those who participated in torture.

This includes officials in all branches of the federal government. It includes the agents who were ordered to participate, the doctors and psychologists who enabled and advised and excused.

This country will continue to rot from the inside until this disgraceful period of our history is excised and the guilty identified and punished. Only then can we speak to the world with authority about human rights in other countries.

It took a couple of weeks, but after President Obama released his budget plan last month, the Republicans came up with their response; (sing it with me now) "It spends too much, it taxes too much, it borrows too much."

House Republicans went so far as to predicted a doomsday scenario of crushing debt and eventual federal bankruptcy.

From the Washington Post, March 18, "Republicans are howling about the proposal to expand health coverage and tax greenhouse gas emissions without their input, warning that it could irrevocably damage relations with the new president."

"That would be the Chicago approach to governing: Strong-arm it through," said Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.),

Finally, last Thursday, Rep. John Boehner(R-OH) gathered the press to reveal the Republicans' alternative budget proposal.

OK, guys, let's see your numbers.

“Here it is, Mr. President,” Boehner crowed, looking exceptionally pleased with himself.

Here it is indeed.

To say that the Republicans' "Road to Recovery" that Boehner distributed was underwhelming would be satire.

Fascinatingly, the Republican's budget contains no actual numbers. None at all.

It is all of 19 pages, five of which I am reproducing below:

 

 

 

 

I think you can sum up the entire "Republican Road to Recovery" document with this helpful image:

 

 Nice work, guys.

 

 3. The Bank Bailout

It's not surprising that Wall Street loved the plan revealed today. As I understand it, hedge funds and big brokers (the folks who got us into this bubble by taking absurd bets on an ever-expanding mortgage market) are being "asked" to buy back those "toxic assets" at $7 on the hundred, with the Feds (us) picking up the rest.

Then, if the assets increase in value (the goal), these guys make out like - bandits. If they don't, we are on the hook.

Having serious doubts about Tim Geithner.

Word to Barack: Better be ready with Plan B, better be ready to go to it, and better be transparent, dude.

2. Afghanistan

While I applaud the new emphasis on street-level diplomacy and infrastructure projects, more troops is more troops. We know what that means.

And these unmanned drone attacks on Pakistan (I'm sure they happen on both sides of the border) may, in fact take out some bad people, but the United States should not be vaporizing entire households to get a bad guy.

These attacks are terrorist acts. They create counter-terrorists. They have to stop.

Word to Barack: Terror by robot is still terror. Make friends with the enemy while you find the exit.

1. War Crimes

Torture is not a policy issue. It is illegal. It is a war crime. We have the evidence. We have the testimony of witnesses. We have the pictures.

We do NOT need a "truth and reconciliation" commission.

We need to stop discussing the political and security implications, and enforce the law.

Word to Barack: You are abetting war crimes by standing in the way of the law. You better get out of that position before you become the target.

 

NOT a fan.

It is now 6:48 and I have been waiting since 5:55 to hear what the President of the United States has to say about whether or not he thinks he can keep the economy of the United Sates from collapsing.

It was Hemmingway who said "There are only three sports: bullfighting, motor racing, and mountaineering; all the rest are merely games."

I would add that the only one worth watching is road-course motor racing. Circle racing sucks, too.

Basketball is a dam game.

What is wrong with the corporate-owned, profit-driven, short-attention-span, lowest-common-denominator, right-wing pandering, moronic media in this country?

Thank God for John Stewart.

I wish he had his own network.

 

Let's just ban short selling.

Why should we allow people to bet against companies by "buying" stock that they never intend to own, panicking "regular" investors who buy stock anticipating that it will go up.

These "short sellers" don't actually want to own the stock and help a company grow by providing a needed product or service. They want to borrow the stock, drive the price down, then actually pay for their purchase when the price is lower.

Why should this be allowed?

This only forces the price of a share of a company down, causes a "run" on the stock, and ruins companies that otherwise may succeed in the marketplace. Companies that would employ people to build their products or provide their services.

The federal government should ban short-selling.

If you want to buy a stock, you should have to pay for it. Up front. With real money.

OK, you can charge it, but if you don't pay for it by the end of the month, you get hit with 30% interest and an obscene "late" fee, just like we do with our credit cards.

The so-called "free" market is nothing of the sort. It is stacked in favor of those who already have capital and against those who actually work for a living and want to invest in companies that provide quality products and services to share in their success.

It's time that we impose some serious controls on the market that level the playing field for working class Americans.

It is clear that AIG and CITI and perhaps a score of other "too big to fail" companies should be nationalised.

It is the only way to get these renegade corporations under control. It is the only way to guarantee that our (the U.S. taxpayers') investments in these companies will be used to the benefit of the U.S. taxpayers.

Here is why it has not happened.

If the Obama administration does assume control, the Republicans and the TV networks will scream "Socialist!" "Socialist!" "Obama is a socialist!"

(Let's remember that the first person to bail out these "Too big to fail" companies was that corporate submissive George W. Bush.)

Obama needs to stop worrying about the mainstream media and take control of some of these "too big too fail" corporations and put the fear of god into the captains of capitalism.

While Republicans childishly root for "Obama" (by which they claim to mean not the duly-elected President of the United States and Commander in Chief of a nation at war, but just his "socialistic" leadership of the country) to fail, I question whether they have gone beyond such wishful thinking.

If, in fact, Obama's attempts to prop up the existing financial institutions, prime them with cash, and get them functioning - lending and borrowing - fail, and if Obama's economic stimulus package(s) do not create millions of jobs and rebuild our crumbling infrastructure, and do not improve "consumer" confidence so that individuals begin spending again, and if the various incentives to home buyers are not enough to regenerate some demand for housing stock, and if that lack of demand continues to prevent builders from starting to build new homes... and so on. If that fails to happen...

How do those Republicans see that coming out in their favor?

Will Americans still go to their jobs and exercise their legendary work ethic and productivity when the companies they work for can't pay them? Will the shell of the former economic system remain erect, with people buying and selling stocks in companies that have zero value?

Will the military industrial complex continue to build ever more expensive and effective death machines when the government has no money to buy them? Will the beloved troops continue to risk their lives when the "volunteer" army really is volunteer?

Will you enjoy the opportunity to buy any one of the many houses for sale on your street - as long as you can pay in cash?

Will illicit drugs replace worthless paper money as our currency?

If you are such a cheerleader for the policies of Obama (not, of course, the President) to fail, I'd really like it if you could sketch out the scenario that results in a better, freer, less "socialistic", MORE capitalistic America - with the grateful American people voting to put Republicans back in charge.

Please.

But I digress.

Even if the policies of President Obama succeed spectacularly, I hope that no one is under the illusion that things will ever return to the way the were say - last summer. Thank God.

Not going to happen. Never again are you going to be able to refinance your house every year to supplement your income.

Never again will you be able to thoughtlessly "consume" any piece of plastic or circuitry or fake wood that the Chinese can manufacture without a thought to your budget or the consequences to our environment. Never again will you be able to buy a 3-ton vehicle that consumes fuel at the rate of 15MPG and belches ridiculous amounts of carbon into the world's atmosphere when you could just as easily haul yourself around in 2,000 lb vehicle. Or take the train.

Never again will you be able to just jump on a plane to someplace warm halfway around the planet and put the entire trip on your credit card, just because you're sick of waiting for spring.

My point is that the era of constant growth in the U.S. economy is likely over. Our rate of consumption of the world's resources has been unsustainable. Our rate of borrowing from the Chinese and the Japanese and others cannot be maintained. Our lase-fair, free-market, unregulated brand of capitalism - the buying and selling of superfluous objects, and of wasteful, unnecessary consumption of natural resources has come to its logical conclusion.

We have used up all of the earth's goodwill.

Welcome to the Disruption.

It won't be so bad. I'll post about our brave new world soon.

 

Really, REALLY, HUGE NUMBERS!

Yeah, so?

I am really tired of people being shocked, SHOCKED(!) at the size of big numbers.

Yes, President Obama's budget is a big number. A HUGE, STAGGERING, IMPOSSIBLE FOR HUMAN MINDS TO CONCEIVE, number.

Guess what. We have the largest economy in the world. Every number having to do with our economy is HUGE.

Fourteen point three trillion dollars last year. Yes, yes, that's 14 followed by a ZILLION zeros!

There are 303,824,640 of us!

My God!

That's over 300,000,000 of us!

Do you have ANY idea what the wars are costing us?

The total cost of the U.S wars could surpass one trillion dollars.

Let's see that's 1,000,000,000,000.

Dollars.

Off the records. Off the books.

Stop the wars and balance the budget. It is that simple.

I remember hearing, a few years ago, that a manned expedition to Mars would never happen because it would cost FOUR BILLION DOLLARS!

 

 

The Republicans are just about out of minorities to throw on the fire.

The latest sacrifice to the burned out ideology of Ronald Reagan was Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal.

Jindal, the son of Indian immigrants, is by all accounts a very smart guy. I wouldn't say that the Republicans are trying to convince Americans that they are not a just bunch of cranky old white guys, but if they had someone - anyone - who could serve as a national spokesperson for their party other than Jindal, perhaps putting him forward wouldn't look so pathetically obvious.

Unfortunately for Jindal his poor oratory in the Republicans' response to Obama's address to Congress last night came immediately after Obama, who is a world-class speaker, had both sides of the aisle out of their seats more than in.

But Jindal's poor delivery was not the problem. It was his message.

Incredibly, the Republicans are still trying to ride Reagan's horse even though it is lying dead on the ground.

"We don't need no stinking government" is not exactly what the American people want to hear right now.

I find it impossible to believe that what is left of the Republican Party is oblivious to the fact that the American people blame them for the current global economic crisis. They have to know this.

These are the explanations that come to mind.

1.) The Republican ideological core actually believes that trickle-down economics never got a fair trial. These folks will happily go down with the ship - martyrs to the cause of radical capitalism.

2.) They think that we are stupid enough to continue to idolize the rich, and dream of someday having our shot to swindle the taxpayers, the shareholders and the middle-class suckers out of millions of dollars, too.

3.) They actually believe that if Obama fails to pull the economy from the flames, that they will be embraced by the American people and rewarded for their righteousness by being swept back into government - the government that they hate.

Or -

4. They are preparing for a coup, like they tried to do during the last depression.

 

Last week Newsweek's cover declared that we're all socialists now.

This confirmed all the worst fears of knee-jerk conservatives who go into apoplexy whenever the S-word is mentioned.

Please don't try to tell them that it was George Bush who had to nationalize Fanny and Freddy to keep the house of cards from collapsing before Obama took the oath.

Even while each and every day of the Obama administration seems to deliver unprecedented events, today was something really remarkable.

In the White House press room, where, for eight years, the president made himself scarce and dodged every question to the best of his ability, President Barrack Obama invited not only the press, but leaders of business and, amazingly, members of the House of Representatives, including the Republican opposition.

For 45 minutes, the President stood before the American people and took every question that was thrown at him, much as the Prime Minister of England does on a regular basis.

The first questioner who was called upon? Senator John McCain of Arizona. McCain, ironically, complained about excessive spending on defense. Specifically, he was upset that the White House had ordered a fleet of 21 next-generation "Marine One" helicopters for the use of the President and his staff.

What Sen. McCain failed to mention is that the helicopters were ordered not by Obama, but by the previous holder of the office, George W. Bush.

It was actually disorienting to watch the President stand up in front of the world and answer questions from the media, business, and the other party.

Call it change, call it transparency or call it a sideshow.

At least we have a President who is not afraid of his own constituents.

President Obama has taken an historic and important change of course, standing to protect the rights of homosexual persons here in the U.S. and around the world.

Last December the United Nations General Assembly held a symbolic vote on a statement calling for the universal decriminalization of homosexuality. France sponsored the resolution "to ensure that sexual orientation or gender identity may under no circumstances be the basis for criminal penalties, in particular executions, arrests or detention."

The United States, under former president George W. Bush, voted against the resolution, ostensibly for "technical" reasons.

In other words, the United States stood in support of the criminalization of homosexuality.

Joining the U.S. in voting in favor of legal discrimination against homosexuals last December were the Holy See (why the h*** do they get a vote?) and members of the Organization of the Islamic Conference.

Strange bedfellows, indeed.

Last week, at the UN's "Durban Review Conference" on racism and xenophobia underway in Geneva, according to UN Watch, "Europe again put forward language condemning all forms of discrimination and all other human rights violations based on sexual orientation.” "The Czech Republic on behalf of the E.U., with the support of New Zealand, the United States, Colombia, Chile on behalf of the South American states, the Netherlands, Argentina and a few others, took the floor in support." (emphasis mine)

It is intolerable and it is shameful that here in the United States federal law does not prohibit discrimination against homosexuals.

It is sickening that those who lay claim to the high moral ground - Christian and Muslim fundamentalists - continue to actively support and practice discrimination against our friends and family who are gay and lesbians, and would go so far as to write their bigotry into state and local law.

President Obama, as he said he would, is taking steps to eliminate the legal discrimination against LGBT people.

Thank you, President Obama.

 

 

I know. Sounds like the setup for a joke.

This post was inspired by my previous one about an online survey (NOT a scientific poll) that showed that more Americans spontaneously named President Obama as their hero than Jesus Christ. Captain "Sully" Sullenberger, the pilot who ditched his airliner in the Hudson and saved 150 people aboard, was well within the top 20.

I'd like to start with Sullenberger. Within 24 hours of his dramatic, but picture perfect crash landing, I knew that this was an extraordinary man who did not think of himself that way at all. It seems to me that it was three days after the crash before I saw or heard anything about this man other than his official portrait.

No TV clips. Not even a quote. I assumed Sullenberger was still absorbing the possible consequences of his actions, basking in the relief that everything after the birds strikes went perfectly, and wondering what the effect would be on the rest of his family and his life.

Finally, Sully emerged into the public eye. The ravenous media was ready to digest him. He was prepared.

In the calm, rational manner of a pilot of great experience, he answered questions carefully and thoughtfully, without emotion.

When asked by a certain famous TV persona on a prime-time special report, if, when his ship was descending towards earth at a precipitous rate, he had prayed, Sully dodged the question.

"I left that to the passengers." he said in his consistently serious manner.

What I heard was that Sullenberger, as a pilot - a scientist - didn't consider prayer to be good use of his time. Not just while crashing an airplane, but at all.

I believe that he has been consistent in saying that he did not pray during this event. If you don't pray to your God when you are gliding a powerless airliner with 150 people into the ground, you probably don't pray.

Obama, on the other hand, has indicated and demonstrated a strong commitment to religion. He has maintained the Office of Faith Based Initiatives, though changing it's name and attempting to insure that all denominations are eligible to participate. He is at least a semi-regular church goer, and although I don't know that he claims any denomination, he is obviously a Christian.

He routinely closes his speeches by requesting that "God bless America."

I have no reason to believe that Sullenberger is a Christian, or that Obama is not.

Sullenberger worked what many have called "a miracle", apparently without the help of God, or at least he did not ask for it.

The task ahead of President Obama and his crew is actually far, far more difficult - landing the entire country - nay, the world economy - without destroying us all.

It's a shame that so many who believe in the power of prayer are praying for him to fail.

 

 

There's an interestingly weird poll out today by Harris Interactive.

Apparently more people hold up President Barrack Obama as their personal hero than do Jesus Christ. (Hat tip to John Lennon.)

At least more people among the 2,634 adults Harris surveyed online from Jan. 12-19.

Jesus, formerly number one, had to settle for runner-up.

Ranking behind Obama and Jesus, in order, were Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and two ex-presidents: Ronald Reagan and George Bush.

Wow. I really don't know what to make of that.

Abraham Lincoln in sixth place? - behind Bush, who was recently ranked by eminent historians as the seventh worst president in the history of the republic?

Respondents were asked to write in their personal heroes, with no list to choose from.

Obama, Jesus, Dr. King, Reagan. Bush, Lincoln.

While this finding is a perfect example of a non-scientific survey masquerading as a poll, I think it does expose the crack that runs right down the middle of America's skull.

One comforting note; Captain "Sully" Chesley Sullenberger finished 12 spots ahead of Sarah "Barracuda" Palin.

What a country. God bless our pointy little heads.

A few days ago, I wrote that in their delaying tactics and partisan rejection of the economic stimulus bill, the Republicans were acting irresponsibly.

I made a case that if the current free-fall of the economy is not arrested quickly, that our national security could very well be affected. I referred to the social unrest and resulting political instability that can accompany a severe and prolonged economic recession/depression. I pointed out that other countries are already experiencing violence, and failure of support for political institutions.

Some readers thought that I was engaging in hyperbole, and that "economic terrorism" was too strong a description of the hostage-holding of American jobs by the Republicans.

Yesterday Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair held a briefing for Congress, in which he identified the intelligence community's top five threats to our national security.

Number one on the list was "The Economic Crisis."

According to the Director, "Time is probably our greatest threat. The longer it takes for the recovery to begin, the greater the likelihood of serious damage to U.S. strategic interests." (emphasis mine)

From U.S. News: "The one-two punch of a prolonged financial crisis and global recession is "likely to produce a wave of economic crises in emerging-market nations over the next year," Blair said. "Roughly a quarter of the countries in the world have already experienced low-level instability such as government changes because of the current slowdown."

"Although two thirds of countries in the world, including the United States and Western European nations, have sufficient financial or other means to limit the impact for the moment, the DNI told the Senate Intelligence Committee, "Much of Latin America, former Soviet Union states, and sub-Saharan Africa lack sufficient cash reserves, access to international aid or credit, or other coping mechanism. Statistical modeling shows that economic crises increase the risk of regime-threatening instability if they persist over a one-to-two-year period."

This kind of economic distress - leading to political instability - was the objective of Osama bin Laden on 9-11. "We are continuing this policy in bleeding America to the point of bankruptcy," he allegedly said.

Even a threat to national security is not enough to overcome the partisanship of the Republicans in Congress, with the House passing the compromise bill a few hours ago without a single Republican vote.

I will say again that the actions of the Republicans in Congress are irresponsible, and yes, dangerous.

They are doing no less than what they have said; trying to cause the failure of the President's plan to rescue our economy, hoping that his failure will return them to power. The question is - if the plan fails, what kind of a country would they inherit?

Now, I'll go out on a limb, and say that the country they would inherit would likely be a totalitarian one, which would suit their style of governing just fine.

But I don't believe that they are smart enough to see that far ahead.

 

This morning's economic news brings some slender rays of sunshine;

Bloomberg: U.S. Retail Sales Unexpectedly Halt Six-Month Slide
AP: Ford, GM execs see auto industry sales stabilizing
CNNMoney: Jobless claims dip - remain at high level

And:

Reuters: Obama nears win on stimulus plan to boost economy

Could it be that anticipation of the stimulus bill is already bending the psychological funk induced by eight years of Republican rule?

Could Americans, beaten down by two terms of right-wing administration, already be feeling the love?

Is it possible that America will get it's act together after the nervous breakdown that was Bush?

Obviously, things could still go terribly wrong, and some things certainly will.

But the competence and credibility of the President - his ability to pass an historic bill within weeks of taking office, and his smack-down of Republican obstructionists - virtually all of them - has been an amazing thing to watch.

When Republicans, led by Rush Limbaugh, began making their distracting noises via the right-wing echo machine, Obama did what leaders do.

He led.

He pushed back.

He took his case to the people. And not some hand-picked bunch of litmus-tested political loyalists like Bush used to pull together. People who asked him tough and sometimes critical questions. Which he answered thoughtfully and to the best of his ability.

He was honest in saying that he is not sure if this stimulus package will work. But he said that too many Americans are suffering to stand around and watch while this recession slides into a depression.

The Republicans, only three of whom had the audacity to vote for the bill, have missed the bus. Obama reached out to them in in a way that we have not seen in Washington for years. He offered them a ride back into credibility and the respect of the American people.

They said "No, thanks."

 "We'll just sit here and stew in our own partisan juices, if it's all the same to you, you grubby Socialist."

Barrack Hussein Obama is driving the Republicans absolutely crazy.

Oh man. I am enjoying the heck out of this.

 

 

Republicans in Congress are hoping to accomplish what Osama bin Laden failed to do; collapse the economy of the United States in order to change the U.S. government.

Several have publicly admitted - proudly proclaimed - that they want President Obama to fail.

What they will never admit is that they are willing to sacrifice the well-being of you and your family to bring it about.

The loss of your job - the loss of your house - your economic calamity - is key to turning you against your President and his party.

They are working, day and night, to put the mistakes and excesses of the previous administration onto the backs of working people by shoving this country into a depression.

If that's what it takes to bring down the President of the United States, and regain control in Washington.

Let's call these people what they are - terrorists.

Tom Daschle screwed up by "forgetting" to pay taxes on a service that he received at no charge. For a number of years.

You know, a lot of people "forget" to tell the tax collector about gifts, "forget" to pay sales tax for online purchases, or take cash for "side" jobs, which, ironically (and maybe someone can explain this to me) are sometimes referred to as "government jobs".

But for a man in Daschle's position: no excuse. As fine a man as he may be, as strong an administrator as he may have been for a national health care program, he has disqualified himself, and denied his country the benefit of his service by his failure.

He screwed up.

He tried to explain.

Barrack did not.

"I screwed up. I take responsibility for this mistake." That was the President speaking.

It is so refreshing to have an adult serving as President.

[UPDATE]

Of course, Stephen Colbert said it better than I; "If we can't have a perfect bill to stimulate the economy -- you'd rather have no economy at all."

You should watch this. 

[/UPDATE]

When George W. Bush took early retirement several weeks before the inauguration, threw his hands - and 350 Billion dollars - into the air and finally slithered off into the Texas sagebrush, the Republicans were a flock of sheep in search of a shepherd.

Apparently they found one. Rush Limbaugh is now calling the shots for the Rs. (Who knew - even Sarah Palin is smart enough not to volunteer for sacrificial lamb.)

Limbaugh, of course, is not an elected official, but merely some jerk who makes a living saying stupid things into a microphone. To a large group of stupid people who consume a lot of whatever Rush is selling. (If it weren't for his drug and legal problems, I could see him on the ticket in 2012.)

For example; “I disagree fervently with the people on our [Republican] side of the aisle who have caved and who say, ‘Well, I hope he [the President of the United States] succeeds.’”

"I hope Obama fails"

Right on cue, the good dittoheads, including a couple of LLC's own bloggers have picked up the bleat, "We want Obama to fail, too! For the good of the country, of course!"

So, without leadership in Congress, the Republicans all have their ears up to their radios, waiting for Rush to tell them how to bring down the President of the United States. (The rest of the country? Collateral damage.)

In lock-step, the Republicans voted against the best plan devised by the President's economic team, and which incorporated some of their own ideas - to prove a point. We listen to Rush. Rush tells us what to do. Rush is great, Rush is good. Let us thank Rush for telling us what to do.

They are terrified by the possibility of Barack Obama's success. Let's face it. If Obama makes any progress at all in turning this country's economy around - even slowing it's decent significantly - putting a million or so people back to work - the Republicans will remain wandering the desert for quite some time. And Rush will grow old and die.

(The bigger fear - which they can't even confront is: What if "Socialism" succeeds in creating a healtheir, happier society for all Americans?   AAAGGHHHHHHHH! Don't think about it, don't think about it...)

With the utter and across-the-board collapse of the neoconservative ideology - at unimaginable cost to the country and the world - there is a very, very good chance that Obama will succeed in improving our nation on all fronts if the American people continue to support him.

The Republicans know this, and - like domestic terrorists - they are working to bring down this country from the inside. They are actively working to destroy our economy to make a point. They are working to throw you out of a job, and cut off your unemployment benefits. They want you to lose your house, to live out on the street. They want you to get pneumonia so they can deny you medicine.

That'll show you.

They want to kill you for voting for Obama.

More for us. The "REAL" Americans.

 

By the time Barrack Obama was sworn in ONE week ago(!), I will admit that my expectations had already peaked.

During the campaign, it's always a matter of comparing your guy to the other guy, and in this match-up that was just ridiculous.

As I have said before, I had, and have issues with a number of Barrack's positions, particularly with regards to increasing military operations in Afghanistan. And I was very disappointed in the drone strike in Pakistan that likely killed several civilians a few days ago.

Since his inauguration, I have been focused on this and other concerns, and wondering if his plan for economic recovery will be enough to save what's left of my 401k.

THAT SAID, I find myself just bubbling with Obamania this morning.

The actual trigger for my excitement was waking up to the news that Citigroup will not be taking delivery of their $50 million corporate jet. Citigroup has, of course, under the previous administration been the recipient of $45 Billion (with a B) in taxpayer IOUs, made "necessary" due to their gross mismanagement, and unregulated speculation.

Yesterday, these same mis-managers were talking about how the company was selling two of its other jets, and this purchase would actually increase their collective efficiency.

Barrack told them: "Fix it."

This morning, they announced that they will be refusing delivery of their sweet ride.

Holy crap! I mean, I can hardly believe it. Obama says "Make it so!" and captains of industry fall down as if blown over by the winds of righteousness? It's a miracle!

But my excitement has apparently been building beneath the surface for days.

Yesterday, President Obama granted his very first television one-on-one to Al Arabiy, and reached out to the world's Muslims. The first international call he made was to Palestinian President Abbas. Mr Obama also spoke to President Mubarak of Egypt, Ehud Olmert, the Israeli Prime Minister, and King Abdullah of Jordan. Special Envoy George Mitchell is already on his way to meet with leaders across the region.

SO, in one week, President Obama has taken concrete steps (not accomplished, by any means, but initiated the process) to:

• Plan for the withdrawal of American forces from Iraq in 16 months
  
• Close down Guantanamo Bay and other black prison sites
• Restore habius corpus
• Ban torture
• Institute new ethics rules on lobbying
  
• Increase the Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards for cars and trucks
• Allowed states to set more stringent pollution restriction on vehicles
  
• Reached out to the Muslim world in a symbolic way
• Dispatched our Special Envoy to the Middle East
  

And probably some stuff I can't think of right now.

The other thing that has amazed me, is that the President is all over the TV. Yesterday alone, I believe he appeared before the American people three times! And took questions at two of those events. When Bush was president, you might have thought the Press Room was located on a different planet from the White House.

Finally, Obama has reached out - seriously - to the Republicans. Yeah, we'll see.

So, while my skepticism remains fit and in fine health, I will admit to a moment of sheer giddiness this morning.

Plus, Karl Rove was subpoenaed by Congress again :-)

In the midst (we hope it's the midst, rather than the cusp) of a financial crisis that is rivaled only by the "Great Depression" of the 1930's, which by all reports is continuing to drag the world into the first global recession, our new President has a plan.

The plan involves the traditional, time-tested means for pulling the U.S. economy out of a slump - spending by the federal government and cutting taxes.

[Disclaimer]
I am not sure this is necessary, but let me say right now that I am no macro-economist. Thanks to the saving and spending habits taught by parents who lived through the Great Depression and who internalized the conservation and rationing of resources expected of the American public during the Second World War, which were passed onto me, I am in reasonable shape. But this fortunate circumstance should not infer any formal education or practical experience in managing budgets with more than six zeros.
[End of Disclaimer]

So, President Obama has a plan, which he put together with some of what are considered to be pretty fair economic minds, which leans in a somewhat - but by no means entirely - different direction from the previous, Republican-dominated administration. That would be the one that drove the economy to where we find ourselves now.

President Obama's plan, unlike the unconditional gifts to the banking bosses by Bush  - which we learned were spent significantly to enrich those same bosses, rather than used to "free up" the "stuck" credit market by making loans to people to buy houses, cars and such - Obama plans for accountability of the funds by funneling most of them through the federal government. (Skepticism duly noted.)

Hsitory tells us that this method was quite helpful in bringing us out of the Great Depression and yielded some wonderful benefits such as new school buildings, national parks, electrification of rural areas - and art that is considered a high point in American culture. I highly recommend spending a few minutes reading about the Works Progress Administration and the Civilian Conservation Corp (Corp- not Corporation). These programs, with millions employed directly by the federal government, including WWI veterans, living in work camps all around the country is a story of true American ingenuity and spirit, and was a great source of pride for generations. The useful and truly beautiful work of these men and women is a under-appreciated legacy of these hard-working Americans, and frequently denigrated by Republicans as socialism.

Obama's plans for this "massive" (a relative term if there ever was one) federal spend include some of the same actions as the post World War programs - rebuilding schools and public buildings, and dealing with our critical failng infrastructure, but also the first significant federal effort - ever - to end our dependency on fossil fuel - a dirty, non-renewable fuel - and produce thirty times as much clean, renewable energy as we do now within four years. And, yes, a few dollars for public art.

In addition to the government spending, Obama is proposing allowing President Bush's massive tax cuts - the ones that benefit primarily our wealthiest citizens - to expire as planned, rather than to cut them off now, as he promised during the campaign. Other tax cuts, and possibly rebates - these favoring the middle class - are also planned.

He is talking about spending a "lot" of money on these ambitious plans to pull our economy out of the nose dive we are in. The numbers are not final, and experience says that numbers on this scale are never measured within any real precision, but we could be talking about a trillion dollars. Most of this would need to be borrowed. (And so ends the trail of my knowledge of macroeconomics.)

Obviously, borrowing a trillion dollars is not on anyone's list of things to do. But sometimes you have to spend to earn. Deficit spending by the government has been an effective technique in reversing national economies, and has actually resulted in eventual surpluses at least once - Bill Clinton was president, as I recall.

I have read several economists who claim that the Obama plan is actually several orders of magnitude too small (!) to have an immediate and significant effect on the worldwide (yes, this is our first truely global recession) economy.

SO - this leads me to the Republicans. Ahh, the Republicans. The ones who got us here.

As was completely to be expected, the Republicans don't like the new President's plan to try to save us all from watching our 401k funds circling the drain, and the remainder of American jobs being eliminated or shipped over to where ever labor is cheapest at the moment.

"Oh. My. God." was the reaction of John Bohner, R- Ohio House Minority Leader.

The Republicans don't think that paying American men and women to rebuild our crumbling infrastructure and help convert us to clean, renewable energy should be a function of the government. If that happens, their friends, the CEOs in the oil, construction and banking industries might be cut out of the loop! They may be told to back away from the public trough!

Rather than funding these wasteful government programs, the Republicans prefer the much more efficient and proven method of transferring wealth to them and their friends: Let them stop paying taxes. Forever.

By exempting the rich from taxes, we solve all of their problems. With the possible exceptions of actually being on a bridge when it collapses or getting a case of lung cancer from polluted air. But, for the good of the country, those are risks they are willing to take.

God love 'em.