The Filibuster

Whichever party is is control at the moment has always hated the filibuster. Boy do I remember the crowing when Bush II was in. The idea of it was to circumvent the tyranny of the mob; justice for all, every voice should be heard.

All it’s led to for us is the tyranny of Joe Lieberman. We’ve had a Republican run congress with a Democratic majority.

Republicans have united to obstruct instead of even trying to improve conditions for Americans. The fact they have 41 hasn’t changed a thing.

Why can’t we get anything done with a majority? Let’s get real! We don’t have a majority. Joe and the blue dogs have made that quite clear.

I used to think if we let Republicans run things for a while the voters would see what’s going on and things would change. I thought that was what Obama’s election was all about.

War, economic collapse (brought on by the legacy of Reagan), and now a Supreme Court that went to great pains to make sure liberal nominees respected stare decisis or precedent, but just handed corporations “individual citizen campaign contribution status” hasn’t been enough to convince the American voting public how reckless their actions can be.

Wow, check out the length of that sentence.

I suggest we hand Republicans the whole ball of wax, try to restrain ourselves from filibustering their next ridiculous proposal, and end the practice of filibustering once and for all.

Filibusters have been used for evil purposes anyway. Most notably by southern senators against civil rights legislation.

Obama's War

Either I have a rich fantasy life or I can see exactly what’s going down between Obama and the banks. I was beginning to think he had his hand in their pockets like everyone else on the hill. Now I’m not so sure.

Maybe he’s waging a very methodical war.

He wants to tax the biggest banks. This would usually seem ridiculous but its populist appeal is undeniable.

Biden has already used it against Scott Brown in Massachusetts in an email that starts. “Yesterday, Scott Brown showed his true colors.”

The Republicans can’t seem like they’re on the side of the evil banks (they are, of course).

In spite of the billions in TARP money the banks got they still won’t ease lending to small businesses. Job creation and economic recovery can’t happen without it. Everyone knows our economic problems have nothing to do with small business loans. The banks are holding out to hurt Obama. They want to kill any thoughts of regulation. It doesn’t matter what happens to the rest of us.

Unfortunately these banks really are too big to fail without dragging us all down. To me this means they’re part of our economic infrastructure. They are part of our government. They should either be broken up into smaller pieces that can’t hurt us or nationalized!

I was beginning to think Obama was in cahoots with them with his pandering but maybe he was dealing with the reality of how truly powerful they are.

We have to find a way to lobby our representatives without money.

A lot of Americans think our national foundation is capitalism. It is not. We are a democratic/republic hybrid. We are about justice for all and the pursuit of happiness.

By the way, if Scott Brown wins in Massachusetts it will kill the health care fight. It would be an ironic gesture to Ted Kennedy that it should happen in his state.

All I can say is that the Democrats better have the balls to make the Republicans actually stand up and physically filibuster.

Treason

We are going to have to get realistic if we’re going to survive as a country. There’s no denying our government is sick. We have posturing little politicians who have stopped even pretending they represent us. The Senate is a total joke.

The only people with the energy to be outraged are the tea party rednecks. I’m not above name calling. These people are racist, ignorant, and easily manipulated by fear.

They’re convinced that the real evil in the world is big government. What we really have to fear is big banking. We need better government.

I’m not really sure how these people can call themselves patriots and call our government evil at the same time.

The leveraging of derivatives is dangerous and complex and has to be regulated. Bank lobbyists buy off Democrats and Republicans confusing matters every time our representatives try to enact reform.

Reason gets so watered down by the end of the bickering the banks end up with more power and we lose more control.

TARP money tax payers spent was supposed to keep money in the system. Banks were supposed to make small business loans necessary to keep our economy rolling. They sat on the money and they still won’t make loans. Small businesses aren’t what got them in trouble. Getting rid of bad debt in swaps did. Finding ways around current regulations did.

As soon as they realized rules would be imposed on the banks that accepted our money they did everything they could to pay it back.

The big banks are making huge profits right now. They’re playing the world money markets and driving down the value of the dollar in the process.

They only way this country can produce new jobs is through small business lending. The banks won’t do it and they don’t have to.

I submit they’re deliberately killing our economy to get rid of Obama and anyone one else who would try to impose regulations on them. I believe it is treason.

Big Brother is not the government, Big Brother is big money!

Check out this link to a campaign contribution/lobbying chart of TARP recipients.

http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2009/10/total-campaign-contributions/

Quality of Life

Is the pursuit of happiness something we just give lip service to? Among the many reasons religions break my heart is the notion we must suffer in this life to truly enjoy the next. I honestly believe this is at the core of my differences with my ex.

Another is the idea that if we don’t believe, what’s to keep us from running amok and killing or exploiting each other? I contend that atheists have the moral high ground on this. We don’t have a fear of retribution from some vengeful God. We are empathetic and responsible for our own actions.

We live in a corporate driven society that uses this kind of thinking to their advantage. Big Money’s purpose is to squeeze more and more production out of people for less and less money. If they reach a wall where our laws get in the way they find a country that still allows exploitation.

They use all the forces in their powers to keep these people oppressed. Every social change our country aspires to is fought tooth and nail. Every time quality of life is brought up the charge of socialism is fired. We’d still have slaves and probably will again.

As civilized people we have a right to health care, education, firemen, cops, infrastructure, and real defense (not this sick corporate monster we’ve created).

The fear mongers point out the taxes necessary for these things would be oppressive in themselves.

Studies conducted by UNESCO, the CIA, the New Economics Foundation, the WHO, the Veenhoven Database, the Latinbarometer, the Afrobarometer, and the UNHDR have all concluded that countries with health care and access to education were happiest in spite of high tax rates. The U.S. didn’t make very happy in any of these studies.

Just imagine the freedom from worry. Quality of life is more important than wealth.

Check out these links----

http://www2.le.ac.uk/ebulletin/news/press-releases/2000-2009/2006/07/nparticle.2006-07-28.2448323827

http://worlddatabaseofhappiness.eur.nl/

Oh I almost forgot—The 5 to 4 conservative slant of the Supreme Court is about to remove campaign contribution restrictions from corporations. They contend that corporations should have the same rights as individuals. If you think government is determined by money now, just wait!