An Associated Press article in The Times-Reporter, followed by my comment.
http://www.timesreporter.com/news_mobile/x1837749794/Ohio-unemployment-rises-for-2nd-straight-month
Typical results from conservative, republican policies. This is purely a result of Kasich and the conservative majorities in the State Senate and State House. From their first day, ramming through legislation, with little or no debate, little or no public hearings. A governing style, more akin to totalitarian fascists dictatorships, than a Constitutional Republic, that should be abhorrent to all Americans.
Conservative policies and methods have and continue to hammer public and private Ohio workers, consumers, schools, students and children, retirees and working seniors, and others. Oh, lest I forget, elimination of every environmental safeguard they can. All in the name of budget restraint and fiscal responsibility.
Incredibly, at the same time transferring more and more of the 'savings' to corporate, Wall Street, and other financial cronies, engaging in sweet heart state deals with campaign contributors and their companies, all with promises of growth and employment and a golden age for Ohio. These benefactors rarely, if ever, have used this conservative government largesse, provided by federal or state conservative government in states across the country currently or anytime in our history, and turned it into job creation and better wages, safer working conditions, or better benefits. You know, those things that were promised and most often guaranteed will happen, otherwise known as scamming the American people. Can you imagine the largesse actually being used for job creation? Boy, that'll be the day.
In less than a half a year the republican Governor and republican run statehouse have managed to return this state to rising unemployment, increased poverty, falling wages, threats to clean air and water, threats to our freedom and civil rights. Two years of consistent falling unemployment rates in Ohio since the Bush Cheney recession began and that were falling as a result of President Obama, Congressional Democrat's, and Governor Strickland's policies.
Kasich and conservative state legislators have brought us to this. All as a result of tired old republican and conservative policies that have failed every time they are trotted out and sold to the public, only to wreck the economy, whether in Ohio, Wisconsin, Florida, Texas, or the country, take your pick, name a conservative run state. The results.....are always the same: more people out of work, more families and children needing public assistance, increased homelessness and hunger, decreasing wages, greater and greater disparity of wealth, increased poverty and despair, attacks on education and science, women and minorities, civil rights and personal liberty.
Conservative policies and philosophy do not provide anything, none, nada, nothing toward the betterment of our society; Conservatives provide nothing, nothing toward any remedies to our state and nations debt or sputtering economy. What conservatives offer is truly un-American, treasonous behavior, uncompromising, willful sabotaging of the American economy and sovereignty ... and here we all are again, a conservative manufactured catastrophe that is only being made worse by conservatives. That is the Republican model for America's future.
Friday, August 19, 2011
Friday, August 12, 2011
viva la revolution
This bullshit article was in the local paper, but they don't publish the column on its website, this is from the Chicago Tribune, followed by my commentary.
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2011-08-09/news/ct-oped-0809-thomas-20110809_1_credit-rating-credit-score-s-p
Cal Thomas continues to support and defend the wealthiest Americans and the wealth and power of Corporate America from contributing anything to America's fiscal mess. Defending those who are, in fact, the real free loaders of our society. Thomas and arguably all conservatives and republicans do everything they can to prevent the very wealthy and corporate America from contributing and sacrificing anything approaching their fair share to get the country through this economic mess. A mess, that was largely and in most part a result of conservative and republican majorities during the Cheney/Bush administration. Remember...two unfunded wars, unfunded trillion dollar tax breaks to the wealthiest 2% of society, and hundreds of billions and trillions of dollars given away to corporate America, particularly pharmaceuticals, energy, and health insurance, just given to them, not loans, not bailouts, but gifts, largesse from the American treasury, taxpayers money mind you, handed over to corporate America by the elected members of the conservative movement holding power at the time.
Now Romney says that "corporations are people, my friend". Well you know what Mitt? When is my community or state going to give me, a person, a ten year tax abatement to induce me to stay in the community or state, or give all of us persons, tax abatement's to stay in the community and state? when is it going to happen? You know what Mitt? you know what Cal? Real people pay taxes, corporations get out of paying taxes and pay far less (and some amazingly pay none) as percentage of income than real people do. The same for the wealthiest 2%, as a percentage of wealth and income they pay far less than an average real person. And simply ending tax loop holes are off limits. Boy, I tell you, the tax loop holes wouldn't be off limits if they existed and were used by real people, by real people consumers, by real people working men and women, by real middle class people. You can be sure the republicans would have eliminated those loop holes in an instant and then transfer the "savings" to the very wealthiest and corporate interests.
Real Americans know and understand this, they recognize unfairness, injustice, greed and avarice.... and there will be a reckoning, there will be an accounting. You know what else? It will happen worldwide, as people every where will overthrow and tear down the evil that is modern capitalism. The disparity of wealth is getting greater and greater all around the world and the anger against it and the groundswell of billions of oppressed people, real people, will exact justice and change.
Sunday, August 7, 2011
Intransigence And Reckless Governing Of And By The Contemporary Conservative Movement And The Fanaticism Of The Tea Bag Cult Are The Biggest Threats To Our Country
Boehner, McConnell, Cantor, and the entire News Corp presence in the United States, particularly Fox News, last week - "Yes, we forced a bad debt ceiling bill on America WE ARE THE WINNERS. Watch us do this victory lap."
Then this week after S&P’s downgrade of America’s AAA rating- "I swear we had nothing to do with it."
President Obama had a 4.7 trillion dollar deal that Boehner walked out of. It's deplorable that the GOP submitted to being lead around by the nose by the tea baggers and created this crisis by attaching deficit reduction to the full faith and credit of the United States. The intransigence and recklessness of and by conservatism and the fanaticism of the tea bag cult are the biggest threat to our country.
Friday, August 5, 2011
Chesapeake Energy ready to drill in Tuscarawas County
My comment to the following article: http://www.timesreporter.com/topstories/x919513385/Chesapeake-Energy-gets-commissioners-green-light-to-drill
'Chesapeake agreed to reimburse Tuscarawas County for any additional costs associated with the maintenance of roads as a result of the company's activities during construction, drilling and completion of wells. This includes any dust suppression needed during peak activity periods' How nice. Hey, wait a minute...... hey commissioners, how about our potable water supplies? for God's sake, where's the guarantee from the industry for that? Or guarantees for environmental reclamation and restoration?
The article and those identified explained it very well, this isn't about producing energy but it is clear it is all about making money; It is about profits before people and planet.
The industry tells us fracking was and is safe so it must be safe, right? And we all know corporations are looking out for people, right? That the energy industry is honest with the public, right? That's why the industry writes the legislation that gets passed into law by their flunky politicians that guarantees them unrestricted access to the resources, free from regulations, and protection from litigation. It's because they're looking out for people!
Well now; there our countries that are now banning the process and states are as well, New Jersey is the first, others are beginning to stringently regulate fracking and still others are reviewing and including environmental interests for input in strengthening, reinforcing and applying regulations to the process that provide protection to aquifers and water tables, streams, forests, and air quality. How could this happen? My God, the poor drilling and energy industry!!
Wow! who would have thought that any of us would live to see the day where Americans citizens would have to fight to ensure that our water stays drinkable. And that their efforts are beginning to make a difference to boot! Freaking A right! Reasonable, intelligent, logical people, rural and urban folk, from all walks of life, can still prevail, that's a good message for America's future. Ensuring water quality before profits, wow, what a concept.
It's not a message that has reached Ohio though, at least apparently not yet. In Ohio, once again, the bottomless lust for short term profits trump the long term (or even short term) health of our community, region, state and country.
Still the industry continues with misinformation and lies of the safety of its methods. The energy industry and their advocates, as well as those who would make great profits from this, would just as soon destroy the water supply and environment as to make a few bucks.
So, once again...It seems so obvious, we, that is you, I, all of us, need clean drinking water to live. So why would we allow private industry to mess with it...it is not like they have the best track record when it comes to the environment. No fracking! We, all of of us, need clean drinking water more than we need cheap natural gas.
 |
| WELL WATER AFTER HYDRO-FRACKING |
My comment to the following article: http://www.timesreporter.com/topstories/x919513385/Chesapeake-Energy-gets-commissioners-green-light-to-drill
'Chesapeake agreed to reimburse Tuscarawas County for any additional costs associated with the maintenance of roads as a result of the company's activities during construction, drilling and completion of wells. This includes any dust suppression needed during peak activity periods' How nice. Hey, wait a minute...... hey commissioners, how about our potable water supplies? for God's sake, where's the guarantee from the industry for that? Or guarantees for environmental reclamation and restoration?
The article and those identified explained it very well, this isn't about producing energy but it is clear it is all about making money; It is about profits before people and planet.
The industry tells us fracking was and is safe so it must be safe, right? And we all know corporations are looking out for people, right? That the energy industry is honest with the public, right? That's why the industry writes the legislation that gets passed into law by their flunky politicians that guarantees them unrestricted access to the resources, free from regulations, and protection from litigation. It's because they're looking out for people!
Well now; there our countries that are now banning the process and states are as well, New Jersey is the first, others are beginning to stringently regulate fracking and still others are reviewing and including environmental interests for input in strengthening, reinforcing and applying regulations to the process that provide protection to aquifers and water tables, streams, forests, and air quality. How could this happen? My God, the poor drilling and energy industry!!
Wow! who would have thought that any of us would live to see the day where Americans citizens would have to fight to ensure that our water stays drinkable. And that their efforts are beginning to make a difference to boot! Freaking A right! Reasonable, intelligent, logical people, rural and urban folk, from all walks of life, can still prevail, that's a good message for America's future. Ensuring water quality before profits, wow, what a concept.
It's not a message that has reached Ohio though, at least apparently not yet. In Ohio, once again, the bottomless lust for short term profits trump the long term (or even short term) health of our community, region, state and country.
Still the industry continues with misinformation and lies of the safety of its methods. The energy industry and their advocates, as well as those who would make great profits from this, would just as soon destroy the water supply and environment as to make a few bucks.
So, once again...It seems so obvious, we, that is you, I, all of us, need clean drinking water to live. So why would we allow private industry to mess with it...it is not like they have the best track record when it comes to the environment. No fracking! We, all of of us, need clean drinking water more than we need cheap natural gas.
Monday, August 1, 2011
The People's Burden
The "deal" between The White House, the Congressional Republican leadership, and the Democratic leadership, is nothing but another pitiful example of the Democratic Party's ineptness and incapability of defending their own principles and of being bullied by the extremism on the right that was the cause of the crisis in the first place.
This agreement, if it comes to pass, will finally after nearly a decade, begin to pay down the reckless unfunded spending and tax cuts of the concurrent years of the Bush/Cheney administration and the total Republican control of Congress, of which they have never taken any responsibility for. It will be paid down in the way republicans have always wanted, on the backs of the middle class and all others that are not at the very top of our society. Make no mistake, it is the Democrats that have yielded their principles and the most extremist element of the right sustaining and strengthening their own.
Who is now responsible to pay to for the two unfunded wars, the prescription drug debacle that simply turned over 550 billion plus dollars to the pharmaceutical industry, and the multi-trillion dollar tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans? Who do think? Why, the American middle class, unemployed and working poor, seniors, students, the poor and disabled, you get the picture, right?
The republican party at the behest of its most extremist wing, insisted on, and the Democrats, including the President, folded like a deck of cards to their demands that the debt be the sole responsibility of the least able to cover it, the millions of Americans who are already struggling and at the breaking point.
Once again, the rich and powerful get a free ride, a pass. Those that benefited the most from the policies that sank our economy get a pass. No shared sacrifice by the wealthy; remember, they're wealthy, having them contribute to the burden is an outrageous proposition, and an offense to their being wealthy, their wealth protects them from such indignant things as being part of any shared sacrifice. My God, the outrage that must have been on display at Country Clubs across the country at such a thought. And the relief, now, that their political investments and political lackeys appear to have come through for them. The President and Congress of The United States have the backs of the most rich and powerful, and their actions indicate it is simply damn the rest.
This agreement, if it comes to pass, will finally after nearly a decade, begin to pay down the reckless unfunded spending and tax cuts of the concurrent years of the Bush/Cheney administration and the total Republican control of Congress, of which they have never taken any responsibility for. It will be paid down in the way republicans have always wanted, on the backs of the middle class and all others that are not at the very top of our society. Make no mistake, it is the Democrats that have yielded their principles and the most extremist element of the right sustaining and strengthening their own.
Who is now responsible to pay to for the two unfunded wars, the prescription drug debacle that simply turned over 550 billion plus dollars to the pharmaceutical industry, and the multi-trillion dollar tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans? Who do think? Why, the American middle class, unemployed and working poor, seniors, students, the poor and disabled, you get the picture, right?
The republican party at the behest of its most extremist wing, insisted on, and the Democrats, including the President, folded like a deck of cards to their demands that the debt be the sole responsibility of the least able to cover it, the millions of Americans who are already struggling and at the breaking point.
Once again, the rich and powerful get a free ride, a pass. Those that benefited the most from the policies that sank our economy get a pass. No shared sacrifice by the wealthy; remember, they're wealthy, having them contribute to the burden is an outrageous proposition, and an offense to their being wealthy, their wealth protects them from such indignant things as being part of any shared sacrifice. My God, the outrage that must have been on display at Country Clubs across the country at such a thought. And the relief, now, that their political investments and political lackeys appear to have come through for them. The President and Congress of The United States have the backs of the most rich and powerful, and their actions indicate it is simply damn the rest.
Sunday, July 31, 2011
The right wing generated debt ceiling debate and government default.
If the President and Congressional Democrats cave into the extremists right wing of the Republican Party, I see no point in continuing a two party system. There is no use in arguing on the behalf of and defending Democratic, liberal and progressive philosophy and policies, arguing on behalf of and defending Social Security, Medicare, environmental protection, new and alternative energy sources, education, labor rights and labor safety, the elderly, students, and all the other progressive, enlightened programs and laws that have, yes, that have, made this country great and the envy of the world, only to see Democratic congressional leaders and a Democratic President give it all up to a minority extremist fringe on the right with nary a bit of fight to prevent it, simply caving in to their demands.
It will be no more defending the Democrats when it is clear they will not, that they will not, defend us, the people. There is, by all indications, overwhelming public support for the very programs that Democrats are prepared to gut or, indeed, outright eliminate in their negotiations on the debt ceiling. Democratic politicians will have, if this comes to pass, will have have abandoned everything their predecessors fought for, everything that the people have gained over multiple generations and 50, 60, 70, 80, 100 years.
And, God knows, the answer is most certainly not in moving to the right. My beliefs and philosophy will not change. The Democratic Party has abandoned its own philosophies and has no longer any reason to exist, The Democratic Party needs to just be honest and honestly subscribe to the conservative philosophy and end the ongoing scam perpetuated on the people with spin and lies that they are the people's party and have the peoples back.
There must, therefore, be another party that truly speaks for the disadvantaged, infirm, the poor and working poor, worker's rights and safety for the environment, health care for all, education, the American middle class (what's left of it) and, consumers. Call it what you will, The Labor Party, The Progressive Party, The Liberal Democratic Party, whatever, but the Democratic Party is no longer representative of workers, consumers, minorities, women, students, environment; they are at best moderate republicans, and many more are full blown conservatives and all are beholden to the rich and powerful rather than the people.
It will be no more defending the Democrats when it is clear they will not, that they will not, defend us, the people. There is, by all indications, overwhelming public support for the very programs that Democrats are prepared to gut or, indeed, outright eliminate in their negotiations on the debt ceiling. Democratic politicians will have, if this comes to pass, will have have abandoned everything their predecessors fought for, everything that the people have gained over multiple generations and 50, 60, 70, 80, 100 years.
And, God knows, the answer is most certainly not in moving to the right. My beliefs and philosophy will not change. The Democratic Party has abandoned its own philosophies and has no longer any reason to exist, The Democratic Party needs to just be honest and honestly subscribe to the conservative philosophy and end the ongoing scam perpetuated on the people with spin and lies that they are the people's party and have the peoples back.
There must, therefore, be another party that truly speaks for the disadvantaged, infirm, the poor and working poor, worker's rights and safety for the environment, health care for all, education, the American middle class (what's left of it) and, consumers. Call it what you will, The Labor Party, The Progressive Party, The Liberal Democratic Party, whatever, but the Democratic Party is no longer representative of workers, consumers, minorities, women, students, environment; they are at best moderate republicans, and many more are full blown conservatives and all are beholden to the rich and powerful rather than the people.
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