Bad Ass

That is George Bush in the flight suit that he wore to fly onto a US aircraft carrier to announce "Mission Accomplished."

So, explain to me exactly what is the difference between conservatives and liberals?

The Goose That Laid The Golden Egg

It should be obvious from the fact that Osama Bin Laden has been living a very comfortable life for the last 5 years in a mansion nestled in a very comfortable region of Pakistan that he was a well kept prisoner of the Pakistan Military.

No one can build a million dollar mansion in such a tight knit community that Abbottabad, Pakistan represents without the military being aware of 'what, when, where, how, and why.'

Let us not forget that Osama Bin Laden represents 1.25 Billion dollars in annual aid to Pakistan from the United States.  Without Bin Laden, that aid stops and Pakistan finds its self falling back onto the list of states that have failed.  With Bin Laden they had guaranteed themselves continued aid, they had guaranteed themselves the ability to meddle in Afghan affairs, and they found themselves with better leverage in the dealings with their age old nemesis, India.

What better way to ensure your income and prestige than to capture "the goose that laid the golden egg?"  What better place to keep the Osama than right next to your own military academy and amongst the retired generals of your own military?  Who would ever have looked in such a place?

International relations, or the games that nations play.....

From 9/11 to 2008 Pakistan received over $11 billion dollars in aid from the United States with the vast majority of the sum going to the Pakistani military.  We probably paid to build the mansion that Bin Laden was living in!

Then former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf is quoted as saying:

Former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf on Monday accused the U.S. of violating his country’s sovereignty by sending in special forces to kill Osama bin Laden.

“American troops coming across the border and taking action in one of our towns, that is Abbottabad, is not acceptable to the people of Pakistan. It is a violation of our sovereignty,” Mr. Musharraf told CNN-IBN, an Indian news channel.

He added that it would have been “far better if Pakistani Special Services Group had operated and conducted the mission. To that extent, the modality of handling it and executing the operation is not correct.”

Sure, Musharraf, turn the capture of Bin Laden over to a group of people who butter their bread on two sides.  We did that for most of the last 9 1/2 years and it got us nowhere.

The State Of The Nation

The News for April 27th, 2011:

After remarks by the Fed chief, the Dow closed at its highest level since May 2008, while the Nasdaq hit its highest point since December 2000.

Then you have this:

Walmart CEO: Consumer Under Pressure

Shared Prosperity

The Washington Post has just released its poll that pretty much sums America up:  Most Americans do not want to cut Social Security, Medicare, Medicad, or the Defense budget, and they are against across the board tax increases but they favor taxing the rich more.

58% of Americans disapprove of how the President is dealing with the deficit and 64% disapprove of how the Republicans in Congress are dealing with the deficit.  Then you come to this:

Congressional Republicans maintain a narrow edge over Obama when it comes to taking a “stronger leadership role” in Washington, 45 to 40 percent. And political independents side with the Republicans on tackling the burgeoning debt. But Obama maintains a key, double-digit advantage among independents when it comes to “protecting the middle class.” 

So 64% of Americans disapprove of how the Republicans are dealing with the problem of the deficit but 45% believe that the Republicans are taking a stronger leadership role.  Then independents side with the Republicans on tackling the debt but the give a double digit advantage to the President for protecting the middle class.

As confusing as that all may be it can easily be translated to:  Americans want what Obama proposes but they want him to LEAD on the issue and protect the middle class. 

I know lots of liberals don't really understand Americans and they find the "average joe" to be stupid, religious, anti-science, and racists.  The reality is most Americans are scared and fearful of the future and are looking for leadership.  Leadership:  That which seems so alien to liberals.

Can anyone claim they understand what is going on with the economy?  Can anyone promise that the future will be better and we a more prosperous nation?  We keep hearing about how the government is all for creating jobs and then all we see is where McDonalds is hiring 50,000 people!  Those are jobs that pay $7.25/hour and average 18 hours a week.  THINK!  An unemployed construction worker with a wife and three kids applied for one of those jobs and exactly how does anyone expect him to make do with that?

He really has no idea exactly what the government does but he is starting to suspect that it isn't going to benefit him.  All of this talk about the wonders of science and technology and what potential it offers mankind really doesn't seem to make much of a difference to someone who is trying to get by on a job at McDonalds. 

Yeah, he's not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but he did his job, he followed the rules and all he knows now is that he is being left behind.  For 30 years he heard all the politicians and their promises, he heard all the experts with their theories and opinions, and he figured these political and intellectual elites knew what they were talking about and were doing what was best for the country.

Now he realizes that the more they did the further behind he fell; $7.25 an hour for 18 hours a week.

Teachers and government workers are protesting the loss of their collective bargaining rights and most likely this guy lost his house and he is to give a damn about somebody losing something he never had?  Funding for NPR, Planned Parenthood, and PBS?  Like he really cares as he spends most of his days trying to dodge his creditors.

The violence in the middle east?  Iraq?  Afghanistan?  Libya?  None of it really matters when you have to tell your kids that daddy can't buy them a new toy.

Social Security, Medicare, retirement?  Who can think that far into the future when you are struggling to live day to day.

America was a great country at one time; at one time we prided ourselves on a shared prosperity and now all we talk about is a shared sacrifice.  As long as we continue to drift without leadership, without a rudder, the anger, the frustration, and the stupidity of the masses will continue to haunt this country.  Most Americans realize that politics has nothing to do with their lives and that is a shame that both parties share. 

Its A Conspiracy....

....or just a bunch of drama queen bloggers who got themselves worked up over nothing!

From the National Journal:

Among Democrats, Obama's job approval is about 5 percentage points away from where he needs to be. Three-fourths of self-identified liberals approve of Obama's performance to date. He needs these numbers to be higher. Liberal white Democrats and African-Americans are solid Obama supporters. But Obama's approval rating has dropped significantly among Latino voters (73 percent when he was elected; 54 percent now, according to Gallup), and slightly among younger voters (ages 18 to 29) who were hardest hit by the economic sluggishness. While 55 percent among this group is stronger than it was half a year ago, according to a huge Institute of Politics poll released last week, it needs to be higher. Still, in the absence of a Republican foil, these are generally sufficient numbers for the president. At this point in 1995, more than 4 in 10 Democrats wanted a primary challenger for Bill Clinton; fewer than 2 in 10 do for Obama. 

Among Democrats Obama has nothing to fear in regards to a primary challenger and without an obivous Republican challenger Obama's 'base' is holding steady (except among Latino voters and that is a problem considering that they turned out strong in 2008 and 2010).

So, "The Left," "The Progressives," and "Young Whiny Democrats," are nothing more than the result of an over active imigination on the part of Obama Loyalists!  Doesn't surprise me because outside of normal trends I didn't see much to show that a whole bunch of Leftists stayed home in 2010!

Now, thanks to the Ryan, "Path To Prosperity" the Democrats can rally the base and reach out to the moderates; too bad they always have to wait for the Republicans to come up with something to which they can then define themsleves by!

Speechless in DC!

Helplessly Hoping...

Ah, Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young....Helplessly Hoping...

Today Barack Obama will present the democratic proposal to counter the republican "Path To Prosperity."  So, liberalism 2.0 boils down to adding tax increases to  conservative budget cuts.

Of course the mellodrama on the left, because they now realize that Obama is going to cut their benefits or because "THE LEFT" has sold the democrats upriver, or just due to the fact that the republicans have successfully divided and conquered the masses, will raise in pitch and frequency but the reality is our country is in a transformational deficit and we are at a loss of ideas and leadership. 

Of course voter turnout dropped from a surprising high of 57% in 2008 to a disappointing 38% in 2010.  Regardless of ones political beliefs it obvious, after factoring in all the Tea Party anger, all the blogging about the Founding Fathers, Ayn Rand, and 'taking our country back' that the American voter is NOT reactionary nor conservative.  With all the energy expended by the right to capitalize on what they perceived as an opportunity to benefit from the creation of a "..non American born, muslim, socialist president" they were only able to get voter turnout, with lukewarm support of the democrats to 38%!

So much for the concept of America as a "right of center" nation. With all the effort expended by the right in 2010 they only increased voter turnout by 1% over 2002 and less than 1% over 2006.  Its obvious that the issue is not that the republicans are successful at dividing and conquering but rather that neither party truly appeals to the vast majority of Americans.

While voter turnout was high in 2008 historically it was not all that impressive when compared to voter turnout in 1960, 1964, or 1968.  If we reflect, just superficially, we will note that the democratic party in those prior years was much more 'liberal' than it is today and there was an obvious distinction between the two parties then, both of which are lacking today.

As the right wing malcontents pull the republicans off the cliff of reactionary irrelevance the democrats are finding themselves being pulled to the right also.  For all the talk of bipartisanship and compromise on the part of President Obama the reality is, that most of his efforts in this regard were with members of his own party!  

If we take the average voter turnout for the three most recent presidential elections and compare them with 2008 we will note that 2008 represents a 5.1% increase in voter turnout, or right at 10% of the historical average.

That represents the desire of American voters for a more left of center government!  That is an indictment of our two party system and its neo-liberal bias to represent the true wishes of the voters.

Whatever President Obama proposes this evening is really irrelevant in the long term.  The reality is that a huge gap has opened up, on the left, for a third party and if the democrats refuse to offer policies that are nothing more than neo-liberalism as liberalism then this opening will be filled by a third party.