Wednesday, 10/30/13, Public Square

Friday, 4/6/12, Public Square

Jeb Bush: The GOP’s Man in 2012?

Yep!  Read it here.  If you’ve gotten this far and still could stomach more, see ten reasons why someone thinks this should happen here.  🙂

To the Stars Through Difficulties!

Wichita calls itself the “Air Capital of the World.” That was certainly true during and after the Second World War, but increasingly, Wichita is in danger of becoming the Detroit of the Aircraft Industry.

Recently, after taking a hard line with the Union, Cessna management announced a layoff of 700 employees days after they approved a new contract, through a technicality. Hawker-Beech is going to layoff another 300, all the while working on plans to move to Louisiana. Boeing/Spirit may choose, in the end, not to even bid on the tanker contract.

Like the auto plants in SE Michigan, aircraft plants may be a distant memory in Wichita in another decade.



This past weekend, my family and I attended the Wichita Air Show, at McConnell Air Force base. While it was an exciting and enjoyable show (despite the hours-long waits for shuttle buses to and from the base) one had to wonder what is happening to the American manufacturing industry in general and aircraft manufacturing specifically.

Some will try to blame it all on the Unions, but that is hardly the reason that so many manufacturing jobs are headed south, literally and figuratively. The union man has been vilified by the Right for more than a quarter century, for his supposed greed and alleged lack of sufficient work ethics.

In Europe, the union and company work together to a mutual benefit. Japan has recovered from their “lost decade” and is working back to where they were years ago. Despite dire warnings to the contrary, American workers can still provide a productive work force for American companies.

In the end, America has become a nation that produces very little. It doesn’t have to be this way. Greedy company CEO’s and Senior Management have been focused on the wrong issues and now are blaming the workers for their failures.

The Air Show was a great spectacle, but it may be a dieing event.

William Stephenson Clark

(Blog header and thread photos by the author – yes, I will change the blog header back.)

It’s All Okay Now!



Well, at long last, the Republican Party of No! has delivered their master plan to fix all that ails America. The newly minted “Pledge to America” (not to be confused with the Contract on America) promises that all will be okay if we just elect a majority from the GOP.

The Republicans, after exhaustive research, have determined that our problems are all the fault of the Democrats. Taxes are too high (despite being the lowest that they have been in over fifty years) and spending is too high, also. The solutions are simple – make the Bush tax cuts permanent and freeze spending at 2008 levels.

Now, Republicans and Tea Baggers have been telling us for two years now that debt and deficits are the reasons for the Great Recession, so you would expect that their plan takes a huge bite out of spending and deficits.

If you did, you would be wrong. The grand plan from the Republicans would save an astounding $100 billion per year, before the tax cuts kicked in. Taking the tax program into consideration continues annual deficits for the foreseeable future and adds nearly $4 trillion to the debt over the next decade.

The Republicans should be congratulated – in two years they have taken a scalpel to the budget  and come up with areas to be cut totaling $100 billion. Of course, they can’t tell us where they are going to cut, but we should trust them, right? After all, they did a bang up job the last time around.

The GOP has assured us that they will not be cutting Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, defense or veterans benefits. They are going to freeze Congressional expenses. Great!

The GOP also plans to save America by repealing HCR and replace it with something that they have yet to develop. Whatever it is, you can be assured that it is going to be as good as all their other great plans they have come up with over the years.

So, breathe easy, it’s all okay now, the Republicans will soon be in charge once again. So far, they haven’t announced any plans to start a war with anyone that isn’t a threat to the US, but they have plenty of time to drum up a case for going to war with Iran.

Don’t you feel better now?

William Stephenson Clark

The New Party of Hell No!

For the past two years, I have TRIED hard to be a reasonable observer of the national political scene. Politics are politics and sometimes you need to take it with a grain of salt. Sometimes, it takes a truckload of salt to get through the day. Republicans = good, Democrats = bad seems to be the minority party’s mantra, regardless of facts and logic.

After today’s lack of vote in the Senate, I am seriously pissed off. The majority of Americans want to see DADT repealed, despite an ongoing dismissive attitude towards gays and lesbians. By any logical reasoning, gays should be allowed to serve in our all-volunteer Armed Services without having to lie about their orientation.

Today’s non-vote was the last straw for the Republican’s “Party of No!” agenda. Granted, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is a political idiot and he handled the repeal vote very poorly, as he has with many procedural and political issues.. That is hardly an excuse for not dealing with a fundamental right for gays and lesbians in a manner that would discard an antiquated and unnecessary statute.

The Democrats are going to be the minority party in at least one of the Houses of Congress come January. The first order of business for the Democrats must be to replace Reid with someone who can play the game of politics with an equal measure of skill that the Republicans have done.

The next on the agenda is to obtain a spine – either grow one, steal one or pick up one on eBay. The time for playing nice ended long ago, but the Democrats have never shown the nerve to fight fire with fire. The Republicans have no compulsions about taking an obviously partisan stance, defying logic and fairness.

The Democrats need to become the “New Party of No!” despite any misgivings about appearances. Largely, the Republicans have not suffered ill effects from their obstructionist policies. When the Republicans are in charge, the Democrats must take a page from the Republican playbook.

When the Republicans push their right-wing agenda, every Democrat must stand united, as the GOP has, and resist any and all attempts to push through a new version of the same old platform that got us into this mess in the first place.

After all, if it is fair for the Republicans, it is fair for the Democrats.

William Stephenson Clark

Football, Politics and Life

 

Autumn is my favorite time of year. The days get cooler as we approach winter, the leaves change color, kids are back in school and life just seems to be more invigorating. That, and the football season begins on college campuses and pro stadiums.

Metaphorically, football is much like politics and life in general. The “good guys” don’t always win, sometimes it isn’t even very fair and the “right team” can be easily upset, even when they have the  lead. In football, it seems that any team can knock off another on any given day.

In life, the same is true. Life is rarely fair, and the bad guys seem to win more often than the good guys.

Four years ago, the Democratic Party seized control of the House and Senate from the Republicans. Two years ago, Barack Obama was elected president in an Electoral College landslide. It looked like the “good guys” were finally in control and a progressive agenda would be realized. Everything seemed to be in place for a bright future for the Party of “evil liberals.”

Everything except the economy – the Great Recession changed all the rules.

Like the winless football team that rises up and smites the champions, the recession handcuffed the progressive agenda. The Republicans seized the initiative from the Democrats and backed the “good guys” up to their own goal line. Republicans have a unique ability to shamelessly ignore their past failures and pass off their “new” agenda as somehow being different from their “old” agenda. Unfortunately, the voters are incapable of seeing through the deceit.

In 2010, the Democrats are likely to lose both the House and Senate. President Obama may well be  one term president. The progressive agenda appears to be dead and a return to a far right philosophy seems inevitable. In football parlance, we had a big lead at half time and blew it all in the second half.

Now what?

Well, in football, the schemes of championship teams are frequently copied by the lesser teams. The Democrats need to take the playbook of the Republicans and recognize that there is more than one way to cross the goal line.

The Democrats have to learn to play the game with the Republicans. They have failed miserably, especially over the past two years. Now is the time for a new game plan.

 

William Stephenson Clark 

 

Imagine……………. Part III.

Your’e not happy. I’m not happy. Most us are not happy. The only ones that seem happy are those on the far right that see our current struggles as a means of returning to power without having to admit to previous failures.

Imagine a world if the progressives and liberals, the rights activists and supporters, the liberal commentators and bloggers were to concede to the right.  Imagine, if you will, if we were to give up the fight – the daily fight – and allow the other side to win.

Has Barack Obama been a perfect president? Of course not. For starters, he begin Day One with most daunting set of circumstances of any president since Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Add to that mix a politically inept Senate Majority Leader, the worst environmental disaster imaginable and an attack dog mentality opposition.

It’s difficult to be a liberal these days, but it is not impossible. It is difficult because it is just so easy to say “no” and critcize those that say “yes.”

Spending? Of course it looks bad, and it is difficult to explain to the “Tea Party” mentality why the spending is necessary, even though it has not produced many jobs.

The Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan? We are pulling out of Iraq on schedule, but you would have a hard time getting the GOP to admit that. Afghanistan? Obama listened to his Generals – COIN was their plan – yet the “armchair generals” have a better idea since they got “anti-war religion.”

The list goes on. McCain wanted the administration to listen to the military leaders regarding “DADT” right up to the point when they expressed an opinion that it should be repealed. Cut taxes? Obama did cut taxes for a great number of us, yet the right wing machine insists that he has raised taxes and is doing in again in January, despite the “sunset” provision in the original Republican bill.

We have to imagine a better world than this one, but that means will have to be willing to stand up and be counted as a progressive that is willing to fight for our principles.

Politics is a full contact sport – it’s not for the faint of heart or the easily discouraged. “It could be worse” is scant consolation for those hit hard by the Great Recession or the lack of progress on social issues, but the fact is, it could be much worse.

Just allow yourself to imagine it.

William Stephenson Clark

Imagine……….. Part I.

Well, I have heard the continual banging of the drum from the Left, saying that President Obama hasn’t done this, hasn’t done that, isn’t committed to this, isn’t committed to that.

Imagine that the Democrats had not taken control of Congress in 2006. Imagine that they had not extended their margins in 2008.

Imagine President McClain and Vice President Palin.

Well, some of you think that we would be better off, since President Obama hasn’t done enough. The reality is that a continuation of Bush II policies would have led is to destruction, economically and socially.

Let’s look at a world if the Republicans had won the Congressional and Presidential elections.

Start with the Supreme Court nominees under President McClain? Sotomayer and Kagan? More likely twins of Scalia and Thomas. Seven to two – every SCOTUS decision.

Wanna go there?

Do you really want to go there? Repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell?” Not only would “DADT” not be repealed, it would be reinforced under a McClain administration. Gay rights would be, at best, a fleeting memory – a “wish list” for gays and lesbians. The hostility of Republicans towards gays and lesbians would be the law of the land, with no exceptions. One of the central planks of the GOP is opposition to gay rights.

Wanna go there?

Under President Obama there is hope for the gay and lesbian community. Under President McClain, there would be no hope, but a high probability of government sanctioned, continued discrimination against gays and lesbians, in the military, in the government, in business and in their private lives.

Wanna go there?

Let’s go back to 1987. The SCOTUS ruled that sodomy laws were constitutional and that average Americans, homosexual and heterosexual, could be arrested and prosecuted and jailed for those crimes. Under a conservative president, the rightward slat of the Court would be even more pronounced and laws such as that might pass “constitutional” muster.

Wanna go there?

Well, the question is rhetorical – the election was won – but it could have happened in 2008, and it may happen in 2012.

Before the progressives of America turn our backs on President Barack Obama, think about what could have been and what yet may be.

William Stephenson Clark

What Rand Paul said…

It was a terrible example that Rand Paul used but his point has merit.  I will use this example to explain what he was really trying to point out and the point he was trying to make.

It is the picnic to celebrate Steven and it has been said that anyone wanting to celebrate knowing Steven and his life is invited to come to the picnic.  As we are joining together, there is a knock at the door.  It is George Walker Bush!  Along with him is a Federal attorney and they have a copy of a federal law that states that you can not refuse G.W. Bush to come in and join you.  You can not refuse to allow him to eat any of the food even.  It is not a matter of Bush being hungry and there is no where else for him to eat.  It is that he simply wants to eat at your house and you have no right to deny him or refuse to allow him to come in.

Does the Federal Government, and should it have, the power to tell you who or what you can not refuse to allow into your private property?  Do they have a right to tell you who you have to be tolerant to?

Where does your civil rights ends and those of everyone else start?

It could be argued that your bias toward Bush is not based on real and factual issues, that you hate him enough to deny him access because of your perceptions of what he has done. What kind of person he is and what he may do while on your property.

That is the kind of issue that Paul was trying to point to as being Government intrusion into your property and life.

This is focusing only on one issue but Woolworths was not refusing to feed blacks when they were hungry and there was no where else they could go eat.  If the Federal Government has not funded the lunch counter or the food being served should they have a say on who is served or not served?  Likewise if the Government is not paying for the picnic or the food there do they have the right to tell you that G.W. Bush should be allowed to come?

These issues are a part of the Libertarian believe system and is a reason I am not a Libertarian though have some leaning towards its stances.

Intraparty battles between Democrats?

It’s been open season on the right for primary challengers, with bids to unseat incumbents like John McCain and establishment favorites for open seats like Charlie Crist. But despite heightened tensions on the left between progressive and conservative Democrats, there has been little to no corresponding electoral pressure from the base to keep members in line—until now.

A major primary battle is developing in Arkansas between one of the Senate’s most prominent conservative Democrats, Blanche Lincoln, and progressive-backed Bill Halter, the state’s lieutenant governor.

continue reading here.

If the GOP had carte blanche to run the country

With Republicans positioned for major electoral gain in 2010, Newsweek is taking a look at how the party would govern if they were in power. The center of any Republican agenda would be tax cuts, tax cuts, and more tax cuts, but the article notes that anti-spending and anti-taxation fervor among the party’s faithful could make it near impossible to address the deficit without touching Social Security and Medicare, which are extremely popular. “Small-government Republicans come down squarely on the side of smaller deficits…Sounds great. Except that no one in either party has figured out how to do that in a way that won’t cause a rebellion among the voters,” the article reads. The article notes that there’s significant agreement between Obama and Republicans on both foreign policy, with the president presiding over an increase in troops in Afghanistan, and education, where the president’s support for charter schools and providing incentives for school reform on a state level has GOP roots.

How effective will the ‘tea partiers’ be?

They came from as far away as Hawaii, Maine, and Texas – an overwhelmingly white, middle-aged army of angry conservatives, furious with government spending and influence, and ready to do whatever they can to stop it.

The first national convention of the Tea Party movement drew around 600 people from all walks of life.

Workshops included “US Govt Bankruptcy – Facts for Citizens Who Don’t Have Finance Degrees,” and seminars such as “Comparisons between the current administration and the Marxist dictators of Latin America.”

Most tea partiers say they do not want to form a new political party, but change politics from within the existing structure.

“The goal is to take over the carcass of the Republican party and reform it according to its original principles. They were good principles, ones we all believed in.”

“The party left those behind and went off in the wrong direction. We’re going to use the Republican party to take back control of Congress and re-establish the constitution as the law of the land.”

Are they more than sore losers?  What effect do you think they will have going forward?

fnord

Looking ahead

With President Obama’s ratings getting lower on a daily basis, I’ve heard everyone is pretty much in agreement that there will be a competitive race in 2012 and reappointing Obama president by acclamation now seems very unlikely.

So, who is passing the purity tests, looking good, and will make the race competitive?  Should we trust the math presented by Fox News?

fnord

IT’S OFFICIAL: THE REPUBLICAN PARTY HAS SELF-DESTRUCTED!

New York’s special election is now split three ways, and I’m not talking about a Ménage à trois. It appears the Republican Party has officially split into the GOP and the Conservative party, with people like Sarah Palin endorsing the Conservative candidate. No surprise there. Poll numbers  show Democrat Bill Owens with 33%, Republican Scozzafava with 29% and Conservative Hoffman with 23%.

This section of New York is heavily Republican, and if they joined forces, would gain a Republican seat easily.  But with the split, could lose the seat. This split has gone so far as to put out a call for all Conservatives to refrain from sending any money to the RNC. The Democrats could win huge on this split if they can get their collective together and figure out a plan to use this to their advantage. I have my doubts about their being capable of it, though.

With the Republican Party’s numbers the worst they’ve been in over 25 years, a split sounds like a losing proposition. Meanwhile, Rush is saying Obama is ruining the Democrats . . . Rush fiddles while Republicans burn.

What’s your thoughts?

jammer5