I feel that the subject matter covered by my previous article is too important to just be addressed by the written word which can't express my outrage at the liberties that our electeds have taken with the Constitution. As proof that even a short form radio program is worth a thousand words, just consider the latest show on my Listen Here! page to be a sidebar to the previous article! Add Comment  Chained CPI Helps The "Children" Of This Neighborhood. What makes even less sense than the standard GOP "lets do it for the children" sales pitch for Social Security cuts? How about some Democrats who insist on coming up with rationalizations for every single wrong move that Obama makes. I thought that I've heard everything from those hopeless sycophants until I heard some defending his proposed chained CPI Social Security cuts with "let's do it for the children." To hear what I have to say about that nonsense, visit my Listen Here! page.  Much to my frustration and disgust, it looks like Barack Obama is continuing to use Social Security cost of living adjustments as a bargaining chip to induce (read that grovel and beg) the GOP to return to the bargaining table. The sad thing about the whole situation is that Obama is using inflation to effectively cut Social Security, hoping that no one will notice. Well, I notice and I hope that you will notice and speak out about it before it is too late. To protect your future retirements, I ask you to ignore the brainwashed and just look at the raw facts. To be enlightened, visit my Listen Here! page.  During his press conference on Monday, President Obama let the GOP know, in no uncertain terms, that he wasn't going to put up with their obstructionist tactics that use the debt ceiling to impose their questionable agenda on us, whether we like it or not. I hope that the President's words are followed up by strong actions and mean an end to his seemingly endless attempts to "compromise" with GOP politicians who are only interested in bringing down, or weakening his administration. As I've said before, an administration that tries to be all things to all people winds up being nothing to everyone. The GOP continually mistakes President Obama's conciliatory approach for a lack of political conviction. In other words, they mistake kindness for weakness. The Republicans are trying to use the bogus debt ceiling to coerce Obama into compromising away years of Democratic social programs. That's why Obama's brand new tough talk has to be followed up by strong action. The question now is, will FDR's legacy be obliterated on Obama's watch, or will he step up to the plate and be a real Democrat? The choice is his. For America's sake, I hope that he chooses wisely.  The road to social justice for every American is a long, circuitous one. Over the years, those who have chosen to travel down that road, despite the roadblocks put up by many Republican politicians, have given us many things that we take for granted today. Franklin Delano Roosevelt fought tirelessly to give America Social Security which helps scores of Americans retire with dignity and lets many more know that a severe disability isn't a one way ticket to starvation. Lyndon Baines Johnson used his political prowess to shepherd Medicare through Congress and the Senate, giving seniors and the disabled a healthcare safety net that should be given to everybody. Social Security and Medicare as rights are both measures of our evolution as a society, much as the elimination of debtors' prisons and the passing of child labor laws were for earlier generations. There was a common thread that ran through all of those steps that brought America forward. That thread was the strong Republican opposition that each of those Democratically supported socio-economic advances elicited. What turned those dreams into reality was that politicians like FDR and LBJ had the will, integrity and political courage to take a stand and fight for them! Voters weren't shy about letting FDR and LBJ know that they wanted Social Security and Medicare. Today's Democrats seem to forget that their party is the party of FDR and LBJ, a party that has helped us evolve as a society. Many of today's Democratic electeds seem to prefer to pay homage to Ronald Reagan, the father of trickle down economics, something that has lined the pockets of the rich and emptied ours. They would rather compromise with (sell out to) the Republicans than fight for programs that protect our interests. In short, the real Democrats of the past wouldn't call them Democrats. Programs like Social Security and Medicare have withstood the test of time, the bush tax cuts have only been around since around 2001 and have helped put us in the fiscal mess we're in today. I become disheartened when President Obama and other Democrats call making cuts to Social Security and Medicare or raising the eligibility age in exchange for eliminating the Bush tax cuts for the rich a "Grand Bargain." That's hardly what I would call a "Grand Bargain", in reality, it's a fool's bargain! I want to thank the people of Wisconsin who put up an epic struggle to recall Scott Walker. Organized labor put in their best efforts to help, but got outspent by what is becoming America’s corporate shadow government and their massive propaganda, oops, I mean advertising campaigns. The fight to oust the man who wants to destroy unions could have been won if Wisconsin's Anti-Walker people had the unreserved support of the national Democratic Party and Barack Obama. Many of you think that we are seeing an all too familiar pattern of Obama's indifference to the plight of unions and union workers, but it's more than that so read on. President Obama has a tendency to play it safe, regardless of the consequences. He seems to analyze almost every move that he makes for potential voter loss or gain. That's why many of his 2008 campaign initiatives were watered down or abandoned. That's why he waited almost three years to come out in favor of giving gays the right to marry. That's why he never made a personal show of support in Wisconsin to help the dump Walker effort. That's why the only help that he gave Tom Barrett in his campaign against Scott Walker was a lousy last minute tweet on Twitter. Many people fought long and hard to get the required signatures for a recall vote and all the President could muster was a last minute tweet?? Someone should tell him that being “all in” is a two way street, he can't expect union people to be “all in” for him, if he's not “all in” for us! Our “two” party system very effectively limits our right of choice to the lesser of two evils. I don't know about you, but if I were given the chance to choose from a wider range of candidates, from a wider range of parties, I would vote for the guy or gal who does the right thing, regardless of the political consequences! Well folks, looks like when it comes to military spending, the U.S.A. Has money to burn. Juxtapose that with John Boehner planning to do the patriotic thing by bringing our economy to the brink of collapsing by instigating yet another budget crisis and we have some solid food for thought. The ironic thing is that the austerity measures that his party supports call for cutting various kinds of domestic spending, but makes damn sure that not a penny is cut from the war-making part of the budget, otherwise known as “defense.” If recent pat history is a guide, the Democrats will offer up various domestic spending items on the table to placate the mean, nasty Republicans and get them to come to an agreement before Moody's lowers America's credit rating. The thing that ticks me off about that Republican/Democratic comedy act is that budgetary allocations for the corporate war profiteering machine A.K.A.“defense” are a sacred cow. President hope and change extended our stay as "advisers" in Afghanistan to 2024 with little objection from the Republicans who would do the same thing if their guy was in the White House. The best way to sum up this situation is to say that our electeds want to take away the Social Security and Medicare money that's saving the lives of our seniors and spend it to take the lives of whoever is the enemy du jour overseas! Don't we, as taxpayers get a say in how our money is spent or is that reserved for corporate lobbyists and shady corporate shill organizations? Look that is only my opinion, everyone is entitled to one. If you agree or disagree with me, please let me know. These days, I get the strong feeling that I am talking to myself. The President likes to give the impression that he is actually doing something about the unemployment problem by touting exporting and "green" jobs as the panacea that will breathe life into our economy and put people back to work. I feel that he is being disingenuous at best when he expects us to believe that those economic band aids are going to make up for the thirty year hemmorhage of jobs caused by the corporate offshoring of manufacturing and white collar jobs to places like China and India. I suppose that he wants working people to be grateful to him for pushing yet another job killing "free" trade agreement that will supposedly increase our exports and create a few measly jobs in comparison to the vast job loss caused by offshoring. Would you be grateful if someone robs your house and decides to return an item or two? I suppose there are a few Opologists that think that I'm being an ingrate by not thanking the President for thinking of us and working so hard to increase our exports. I'll let the corporations that are going to increase their bottom lines by simultaneously exporting and offshoring thank him becaues he's really working for them, not us. For those of you that are not Opologists, your assignment is to start Googling to get a better picture as to who the bulk of Obama's advisors on job creation actually are. I could name them but it will make a stronger point if you discover them and their connections for yourself. If you are a union member, you're probably noticing that lately almost every word out of the President's mouth seems to conjure up the spirit of Ronald Reagan. To find out what happened to the man we voted for, visit my Listen Here! page. Our two party system in it's present state can be compared to old time comedy pairs like Abbott and Costello. The Republicans are the political version of Lou Costello, they say and do inane things like screaming for severe budget cuts while demanding tax breaks for the rich. Incredibly, the mainstream media actually gets many people to take them seriously and vote for them. The Democrats are the Bud Abbott, straight man half of this political comedy team, they give our political system credibility by saying all the things we want to hear like how they are against tax breaks for the rich, etc. Oops, didn't they extend tax cuts for the rich as a concession to the Repuiblicans? The point of all this is that the same corporate lobbyists visit the politicians of BOTH parties. Democratic blue and Republican red always gets mixed with corporate green! The Republicans are the corporate shock troops that promote the wildest of corporate ideas, bouncing them off the wall to see which ones stick. The Democrats fit into the corporate big picture by acting as the Judas goat, telling us what we want to hear then compromising with the Republicans, giving the corporations what they really wanted in the first place. They tell unions that they are pro union, then support job killing "free" trade agreements that would make Reagan blush. Hey union people, did the Democrats get The Employee Free Choice Act passed yet? Didn't think so! I am writing this article exactly three hours before President Obama's State Of The Union speech. I am going to go out on a limb and say that he will proudly tell the world how the South Korea US Free Trade Agreement will create new jobs. Many union people have carefully examined this agreement and realize that it is another NAFTA! The President will also abandon many of his original supporters by saying things that establish him as a newly minted centrist President. Ladies and gentlemen, after carefully examining both parties, I think you'll want to establish a third party and do it before the middle class no longer exists! Flash!!! This Just In!! As of 8:26 PM EST, I have had a chance to look at the President's prepared State Of The Union speech. I want to take issue with his false assertion that Labor approves of the South Korea US Free Trade Agreement. Only a few unions approve, the AFL-CIO, labor's national organization strongly opposes it! Shame on you, Mr. President! |  AuthorI am just an average middle-class guy who is convinced that there's no one on Talk Radio who speaks for us. I want to change that situation.  Proud To Be On:Proud To Carry:Workers Independent News
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