POLITICAL ASSASSINATIONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY

OK, you got your extended Bush tax cuts for the rich, and you have established control over the House of Representatives, and you've been Speaker of the House for 8days. NOW, WHERE ARE THE JOBS, MR. BOEHNER?
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Ours is a violent country. We TRY to be a nation of laws, but in many cases over our history we have descended into mob rule. At the very height of it all lies a very unhealthy obsession with guns. We are not only the world's biggest-ever arms merchant, but we have far more guns per capita than any nation on earth. The National Rifle Association constantly opposes any effort by sane-thinkers to roll back availability on almost any kind of automatic or semi-automatic weapon or to place restrictions on the types of person who can own a gun. Their paranoia about nonexistent government attempts to confiscate all guns to enslave us all into a one-world government is absolute craziness, yet they are nearly always successful in their efforts. We have the most pro-gun government anywhere in the world, and, in spite of our overwhelming obsession, we call ourselves a civilized people.

Today's post is dedicated to all the political assassinations our country has endured. In light of the recent near-assassination in Tucson of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, I though it would be interesting to lay these all out for you. Read it and weep, my friends.

1. Alexander Hamilton (1804) - this former Treasury Secretary was shot in a duel with the SITTING VICE PRESIDENT Aaron Burr!

2. Solomon P. Sharp (1825) - this Kentucky State Senator-elect was stabbed in front of his home.

3. Charlie Brent (1847) - this Governor of New Mexico Territory was killed by arrows and scalping.

4. James Strang (1856) - this Michigan State Representative died from gunshot wounds.

5. ABRAHAM LINCOLN (1865) - our 16th President was shot in the head in Ford's Theater at the conclusion of the Civil War by actor and southern-sympathizer John Wilkes Booth.

6. John P. Slough (1867) - Chief Justice of the New Mexico Supreme Court, he was also killed by gunshot.

7. Thomas C. Hindman (1868) - U.S. Rep from Arizona, died from gunshot.

8. James M. Hinds (1868) - also a U/S. Rep from Arizona, he died from gunshot from a Ku Klux Klan member.

9. Edward Dexter Holbrook (1870) - a delegate to the U.S. House from Idaho Territory, he died of a gunshot wound.

10. JAMES A. GARFIELD (1881) - our 20th President, he was fatally shot by Charles J. Giteau, a deranged political office seeker, only 4 months into his presidency.

11. John M. Clanton (1889) - gunshots claimed the life of this Congressman-elect from Arkansas.

12. Carter Harrison, Sr. (1893) - Mayor of Chicago. Death by gunshot.

13. Ed King (1896) - Mayor of Mount Pleasant, IA. Was killed by gunshot at a city council meeting.

14. William Goebel (1900) - Governor of Kentucky. Killed by a gunshot to the chest.

15. WILLIAM McKINLEY (1901) - Leon Frank Czolgosz shot our 25th President in the abdomen as he stood in a greeting line at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, NY.

16. Anton Cernak (1933) - Mayor of Chicago. He took a bullet fired in the direction of President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt in Miami, FL.

17. Huey Long (1935) - This colorful and reviled Louisians Senator died in a fusillade of bullets fired while he was visiting his state capitol.

18. Albert Patterson (1954) - Alabama Attorney General-elect was murdered by gunshot.

19. JOHN F. KENNEDY (1053) - This popular first-ever Irish Catholic President, our 35th, was murdered by a gunshot to the head while driving in an open limousine in Dallas, TX.

20. MALCOMB X (1965) - this civil rights leader was killed by gunfire from a rival faction at a Black Muslim meeting in New York.

21. George Lincoln Rockwell (1967) - the founder of the American Nazi Party was killed by gunshot.

22. Dr.Martin Luther King, Jr. (1968) - This popular and eloquent civil rights leader was killed by gunfire as he stood on the balcony of a Memphis motel.

23. Robert F. Kennedy (1968) - Brother of assassinated President John F. Kennedy, this popular Senator from New York was killed by gunfire moments after winning the 1968 California Democratic primary.

24. Harvey Milk (1978) - San Francisco City Supervisor. Was killed by bullets to the chest and head.

25. George Moscone (1978) - Mayor of San Francisco was killed by bullets to the abdomen and head.

26. Leo Ryan (1978) - This California Congressman was killed in the massacre at Jonestown, by a hail of bullets.

27. John H. Wood, Jr. (1979) - U,S, District Court Judge. Gunshot.

28.Russell G. Lloyd, Sr. (1980) - Mayor of Evansville, IN. Was shot 4 times with a handgun by an irate citizen.

29. Alfred K. Lowenstein (1980) - this former representative from New York was killed by a deranged gunman in his office.

30. Robert Smith Vance (1989) - U.S. Federal Judge. Was killed by a letter bomb.

31. Tommy Burks (1998) - Tennessee State Senator. Killed by a gunshot to the face.

32. Derwin Brown (2000) - Sherriff-elect of De Kalb County, Georgia. Killed by gunshots.

33. James E. Davis (2003) - New York City councilman who was killed by gunshots to the chest.

34. Bill Gwatney (2008) - Chairman of the Arkansas Democratic Party. Was killed by cunshot.

35. John Thorton (2010) - Mayor of Washington Park, IL. Was killed be a gunshot wound to the chest.

36. John Roll (2011) - U,S, Federal Judge. Shot to death by a gun-wielding madman during the attempt on Rep. Gabrielle Giffors' life.

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This is just a list of the successful attempts on political figures' lives. There have been many, many other unsuccessful ones as well, from attempts on President Andrew Jackson all the way up to the attempt on Ms. Giffords last Saturday. In recent years, there has always been a tendency to begin a discussion to adopt stricter gun control laws right in the immediate aftermath of a shooting. Yet after a protest from lobbies like the ultra-paranoid National Rifle Association, these discussions are always dropped after a short time and we go right back where we started from.

This is nothing to be proud of!

So who is next? God only knows, but it is a certainty it WILL happen again. We never seem to learn in this country...

SARAH PALIN MUST BE TAKEN TO TASK!

I got this in an email this morning from CREDO Action, and I agree fully!:


Sarah Palin has a special responsibility and opportunity in the wake of the attempted assassination of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. For it was Sarah Palin and Sarah Palin alone who earlier put the crosshairs of a gun on Rep. Giffords. And so far, Palin's response has been Facebook prayers for the victims and an official denial that her widely distributed map involved gun sights at all. This is obscene duplicity at best.

Let us be clear. We do not know why the shooter targeted Rep. Giffords. Sarah Palin did not arm him or pull the trigger. We do not know if the shooter admired, loathed or ignored Sarah Palin. We will eventually know, and that will be a different accounting.

But only Sarah Palin put 20 Democratic members of Congress in her crosshairs, and only Sarah Palin bragged that 18 are now gone, leaving Rep. Giffords and Rep. Nick Rahall of West Virginia.

Someone has to say it. There has been an astonishing acceleration of violent right wing rhetoric. At the same time, the mainstream media has come to accept armed revolution (second amendment remedies) and violence as legitimate political discourse instead of calling it out as behavior that crosses a very dangerous line. In the past week alone, incendiary devices were received at the offices of the Democratic Secretary of Homeland Security and the Democratic Governor of Maryland.

This is what Sarah Palin and others like her have wrought with their violent and vitriolic rhetoric that literally places gun sights on people who don't agree with their extreme views.

Apologists on the right are already saying that while tragic, this event was simply the result of an isolated act by a deranged individual. There have always been deranged individuals. But they have not always had easy access to guns nor have they always lived in a 24-hour-a-day media machine that promotes a toxic soup of violent attacks on political opponents.

We are heartbroken by these events and our hopes and prayers are with the victims and their families. But prayers and broken hearts are not enough.

How can anyone not be haunted by the prophetic words of Rep. Giffords herself in March 2010, after her office was vandalized, threats received, and her name and district identified by Sarah Palin in her infamous crosshairs:

"Sarah Palin has the crosshairs of a gun sight over our district and when people do that, they've gotta realize there are consequences to that action."

Will there be consequences?

Imagine the consequences if Palin were to apologize for her use of targeting imagery, pledge never to demonize her opponents in such a way again, call on all of her passionate followers to pledge to do the same, and promise that she will call out those in the media who do not follow her lead.

Will Sarah do more than offer her condolences? She might sell fewer books and have fewer Facebook fans. But the consequences would be enormous.

Tell Sarah Palin: Renounce use of shooting images in political rhetoric immediately, and stop using your platform to promote and validate violent calls to action on the right. ...
What happened in Arizona...was not an isolated incident, but rather the culmination of a long stream of threats and attacks, most in response to the Congresswoman's support for health care reform.

In November of 2009, a staffer fearing for Rep. Giffords' safety called authorities after a visitor dropped a handgun during another "Congress on your Corner" event at a local Safeway in her district.

And on March 22, 2010, just hours after Rep. Giffords cast her vote in favor of health care reform, a vandal jumped a gate and smashed the glass front door of her Arizona office.

It was just days later that the now infamous map featuring Rep. Giffords' district in the crosshairs was posted by Sarah Palin's PAC. In announcing the map, Palin issued a chilling tweet urging her supporters "Don't retreat. Instead — reload!" Incredulously, through a spokesperson, Sarah Palin is denying that the crosshairs on her map targeting 20 Democrats who voted against health care reform represents gun sights.

As if the crosshairs weren't clear enough, Jesse Kelley, Rep. Giffords' Republican opponent in a hard fought race for reelection held an event two months later that makes the stakes all too clear. He asked supporters to donate $50 in order to "shoot a fully automatic M16" to "get on target" and help "remove Gabrielle Giffords." Sarah Palin subsequently praised Jesse Kelly on Fox Business News saying: "I don't feel worthy to lace his combat boots."


Tell Sarah Palin: Threats of violence have no place in our democracy. End the use of shooting images in rightwing political rhetoric and stop validating political figures who use violent metaphors in their political calls to action...
We agree with Keith Olbermann who said last night that "Violence, or the threat of violence, has no place in our democracy."

Our hearts are heavy for the victims of this tragedy. We must put a stop to the escalating hate rhetoric of the right and its very specific calls to armed violent action. Lines of decency have been crossed.

Michael Kieshnick and Becky Bond
CREDO Action
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OK, you got your extended Bush tax cuts for the rich, and you have established control over the House of Representatives, and you've been Speaker of the House for 6days. NOW, WHERE ARE THE JOBS, MR. BOEHNER?

NICE JOB, FOX "NEWS", SARAH PALIN, SHARRON ANGLE, AND YOU OTHER RIGHT-WING NUT CASES!

Aeizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was senselessly and needlessly shot by a young, anti-government assailant earlier today. The shooting occurred as she was doing her job meeting constituents outside of a Safeway grocery store in northwest Tucson, during her first "Congress on Your Corner" meeting of the year.


22 year old Jared Lee Loughner shot Giffords and some 12 others, killing a small child, 4 others, and US District Judge John Roll, who joined the federal court in 1991, and for part of his tenure, had served as chief judge. He had received prior death threats for his decision to let an illegal immigrant sue a wealthy rancher. Loughner allegedly shot the congresswoman "point blank" in the head and may have come from inside the store to do so. Like most gun-toting, trigger-happy cowards, he attempted to flee after running out of ammunition but was tackled by one of Giffords' staffers and is now in police custody.

Loughner’s YouTube account, which is full of anti-government language, an obsession over currency and language standards, and the usual far-right paranoia, is revealing.

It reads, in part, “in conclusion, reading the second United States Constitution, I can’t trust the current government because of the ratifications: the government is implying mind control and brainwash on the people by controlling grammar,” he writes in one video posting. “No! I won’t pay debt with a currency that’s not backed by gold and silver! No! I won’t trust in God!”

Every United States Military recruit at MEPS in Phoenix is receiving one mini bible before the tests,” he writes in one video. “Jared Loughner is a United States Military recruit at MEPS in Phoenix. Therefore, Jared Loughner is receiving one mini bible before the tests."


Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has issued this statement:

“This senseless attack today in Tucson is a national tragedy, and all America mourns those who lost their lives in the very act of public service. I join the entire Congress in condemning this horrifying act of violence, and on behalf of the entire Senate family, Elaine and I extend our deepest expressions of sympathy and heartfelt prayers to Rep. Giffords and the families of those who have been killed or injured. The U.S. Capitol Police are joining local, state and federal officials in this investigation. We appreciate their quick response and stand ready to assist in their efforts."

Senator John McCain (R-AZ) put out this statement:

“I am horrified by the violent attack on Representative Gabrielle Giffords and many other innocent people by a wicked person who has no sense of justice or compassion. I pray for Gabby and the other victims, and for the repose of the souls of the dead and comfort for their families. I beg our loving Creator to spare the lives of those who are still alive, heal them in body and spirit, and return them to their loved ones. Whoever did this; whatever their reason, they are a disgrace to Arizona, this country and the human race, and they deserve and will receive the contempt of all decent people and the strongest punishment of the law.”

Rep. Giffords had just won election in a tight 3 way race in November. Her vote totals were:

Democrat Gabrielle Giffords 138,280 48.76%
Republican / Tea Party Jesse Kelly 134,124 47.30%
Libertarian Steven Stoltz 11,174 3.94% +1.48%

Giffords was one of the 20 Democrats who were elected in 2008 and voted for health care reform and were then targeted for defeat by Sarah Palin in a "takebackthe20" campaign that included a map showing each congressional district in cross-hairs -- as in a gunsight. Rather incendiary.

Fox "News" and Sarah Palin have long bandied about terms like putting opponents in the "crosshairs", and today we got the end-result of their hateful, inciteful language. Defeated Nevada Tea Party Senate candidate Sharron Angle quipped that voters may get so upset with Washington that they'll take "second amendment solutions" to redress their grievances.

Well, I hope they are all happy, because today, their wholly immature and utterly irresponsible advice was acted upon - for REAL! I HOLD EACH OF THESE RIGHT-WING NUT CASES PERSONALLY RESPONSIBLE FOR TODAY'S SHOOTING!

This isn't just reckless hyperbole designed to get attention anymore. SIX REAL PEOPLE LOST THEIR LIVES NEEDLESSLY, and a number of others will now face the rest of their lives with varying degrees of trauma and physical impairment.

IT IS COMPLETELY DESPICABLE!

THERE IS NO PLACE FOR THIS KIND OF VIOLENCE IN A DEMOCRACY LIKE OURS!THESE PEOPLE HAVE GONE WAY TOO FAR OVER THE EDGE---NICE JOB, FOX, SARAH PALIN, SHARRON ANGLE, AND YOU OTHER RIGHT-WING NUT CASES!
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OK, you got your extended Bush tax cuts for the rich, and you have established control over the House of Representatives, and you've been Speaker of the House for 4 days. NOW, WHERE ARE THE JOBS, MR. BOEHNER?

SOME VERY ERRANT SUPPOSITIONS!

OK, you got your extended Bush tax cuts for the rich, and you have established control over the House of Representatives, and you've been Speaker of the House for 2 days. NOW, WHERE ARE THE JOBS, MR. BOEHNER?


We hear Republicans, their Tea Party faction, and Blue Dog Democrats all telling we we've got to cut back on spending and "we don't have the money" for further stimulus programs to create jobs. Free market enthusiasts all tell us with the Bush tax cuts for the rich now extended two more years private industry will once again be creating jobs.

I say that is errant supposition number 1, and a lot of poopycock!

By looking at the chart below, you'll see we have PLENTY of money! The only problem is, it is very disproportionately in the hands of our country's richest 1% elite, doing NOBODY else any good! And keep in mind the chart only goes through 2007---the situation is even more extreme now!

Source: mybudget360

That's right, people. As of just under a year ago, the richest 1% owned a whopping 42% of all of our national wealth. The next highest 4% controlled 27%; the following 5% controlled another 11% of our wealth; the next 10% controlled 12%, and THE BOTTOM 80% CONTROLLED ONLY 7%!!! That figure of the top 1% has risen noticeably over the past ten years. As of 2001, the top 1% of households (the upper class) owned 33.4% of all privately held wealth, and the next 19% (the managerial, professional, and small business stratum) had 51%, which means that just 20% of the people owned a remarkable 84%, leaving only 16% of the wealth for the bottom 80% (wage and salary workers).

In addition, consider these facts:

1. An estimated 37% of the country is on food stamps!
2. Many wait until midnight on the last day of the month so their checks will clear to buy food at Wal Mart!

If we break the data down further we will find that 93 percent of all financial wealth is controlled by the top 10 percent of the country. That is why these people are cheering their one cent share increase while layoffs keep on improving the bottom line. But what bottom line are we talking about here? The Wall Street crowd would like you to believe that all is now good that the stock market has rallied 60+ percent. Of course they are happy because they control most of this wealth. Yet the typical American still has negative views on the economy because they actually have to work to earn a living (from mybudget360).

It is a sad fact that whenever anyone even broaches the subject of higher taxes for the wealthiest 1% he or she is immediately branded with trying to engage in "class warfare."

I say that is errant supposition number 2!

The REAL perpretators of class warfare have been the richest elite themselves! Ever since 1981, they have fired salvo upon salvo on the middle class and poor, and today the richest elite are bolder and more contemptuous of those beneath them than ever before! They want it all to themselves and will now do anything to get it. It began with their ridiculous and now discredited "trickle down economics", then came freezes in pay scales, and then it regressed to deliberately outsourcing millions of good-paying American jobs to cheap, foreign slave-labor markets, and also to the importation of cheap, illegal labor to break the very backbone of any vestige of unionism. Today, the middle class is rapidly shrinking and may soon disappear altogether. They are not content with even all of this: now they want to repeal the estate tax and are trying to turn public opinion against it by calling it an unfair "death tax" and insinuating that the government will try to grab everyone's estate for taxation, not just those over $5 million. But that should surprise no one, really. Time and again they have lied and distorted any pro-people government measure into one that is somehow, someway "bad" for the general public.

Errant supposition number 3: The government does not create jobs.

During the Great Depression, the New Deal launched a LOT of jobs! Some of the buildings, parks, dams, and roads exist to this very day! Postal workers are government employees. So are many teachers, policemen, and firemen. The truth is, the government DOES create jobs, and they are jobs HERE, not outside of our borders. In addition, they pay relatively good wages, unlike the outsourced jobs now so in favor among conservative and Tea Party Republicans, huge corporations, and free marketers, and we could use a lot more of them to help rebuild our decaying infrastructure.

If the rich send jobs overseas to increase their profits and protect their holdings, that's just "good business". But if workers try to unionize or go on strike to protect their wages and benefits, they are greedy---errant supposition number 4.

We have employed a double-standard in this country for far too long when it comes to workers' vs. businessmen's rights and income levels. It is inherently unfair to always give those in business all the advantages and rights while neglecting or diminishing those of evertday working people. And the implied attitude that an employer can do what he or she damn well wants just because they have capital invested in a particular endeavor places all the advantage in that person's favor, and that is not fair, either. Although many Republicans may disagree, money does NOT guarantee supremacy! Not only that, but we Americans tend to believe that a business-owner can set his or her own pay scale, but all the workers' pay rates must be controlled and limited. There should be a limit or common sense used for BOTH extremes - not the sky is the limit for one and pay as little as you can get away with for the other.

Errant supposition number 5: The government should stay out of the affairs of business.

Those who argue for such insanity are foolhardy indeed. For it was the LACK of government involvement in the economy which helped create the Great Depression as well as the mortgage meltdown crisis which brought on our current Great Recession. It was lack of proper government regulation that brought about $4.00 per gallon gasoline, too. Government must ALWAYS have a say in what goes on in the economy, for government is the only buffer ordinary people have to protect themselves against the excesses of greedy, organized capital!





And the sooner Dick Armey, Michele Bachmann, Sarah Palin, and the rest of those laissez-faire Tea Party types learn that, the better!

WHERE ARE THE JOBS, MR. BOEHNER?

OK, you got your extended Bush tax cuts for the rich, and you have established control over the House of Representatives. NOW, WHERE ARE THE JOBS, MR. BOEHNER?


Happy New Year, everybody! Well, today marks a new era in the Obama administration: shared power with the Republican party of no. As such, I begin my commentary on our new 112th Congress on a sour note. That hopeless crybaby drunk, John Boehner, will begin his reign as Speaker of the House, and his little yuppie parrot boy Eric Cantor will now be House Majority Leader.

Shocked at my disrespectful tone, readers? What I say about them is absolute truth. Boehner has spent many a minute crying before House microphones (who does he think he is? Glenn Beck?), and his propensity for leaving the House as soon as he can for Washington bars is legendary. Having seen him numerous times making slurred speeches at the mic, I'd swear the guy keeps a little backup bottle on his person at all times!


Plus, I have never seen any political figure shamelessly argue his party's talking points, no matter how ludicrous, more than Eric Cantor. Repetitive talking points are not a suitable blueprint for governing, especially when those talking points are echoes of old, tired, worn-out policies which have failed us many times in the past! These are the buffoons the voting public put into high places of government as a result of the last election, and I am sorry to say I have absolutely no confidence in either of them.




On the Senate side, we have the worthless Minority Leader and chief obstructionist Mitch McConnell now within 4 votes of becoming Senate Majority Leader, and I have no confidence that he will be able to produce much of value for anybody but billionaires. He is thoroughly uninspiring, and it remains to be seen how he will control and keep in line the vast contingent of ultra-conservative Tea Party activists which were elected in November.



There you have it, folks: three of the Republican leadership for the 112th Congress. It will be interesting to watch the next few years. It will be REAL interesting to watch when Congress has to vote to extend the debt ceiling in March! Will the Tea Party crowd remain resolute, dig in their heels, and say NO? Or will they learn to compromise and join the rest of the old Washington crowd? Keep your eyes and ears peeled---I think we're going to be in for one tumultous ride after another!

I just hope the Republicans will understand one thing: IT WAS THEIR flawed economic model which caused this economy to tank in the first place! It was THEIR reliance on excessive deregulation which caused all of our problems, from overly expensive gasoline to the mortgage meltdown crisis. And it was THEIR favoring of the rich over everybody else which has led to the squeezing of the middle class and the fact that 1% of the richest people made 59% of all the income in this country last year! THE MIDDLE CLASS AND POOR NEED GOOD-PAYING JOBS, and they need them NOW!!!

SO I REPEAT: WHERE ARE THE JOBS, MR. BOEHNER? YOU AND YOUR PALS HAD BETTER GET DOWN TO WORK!

2010 YEAR-END MUSINGS:

It has indeed been a very full year. As I think about all that has transpired, I am overwhelmed by the speed at which political events seemingly turned on a dime. After the disastrous Bush economic policies steered the country very nearly into another Great Depression, the richest 1% of the country got an extension of their Bush-era tax cuts. This happened even after the President who campaigned all through 2007 and 2008 on a platform of promising to end those cuts was elected two years before. In January, 2009, it looked like the Republican Party was on the way out. It had seemingly lost all relevance and was only representative of the rich, some business owners, and that was that. But lo and behold, they resurrected themselves, at least temporarily, by manufacturing the astroturf Tea Party. By allying themselves with libertarians and other ultra-conservative fringe groups, they hijacked the tax issue by lying and scaring the public into thinking that EVERYBODY'S taxes would be raised if the top-tiered's taxes were raised. Consequently, they won back the House of Representatives and came within a whisker of taking the Senate as well. For a time, it looked like the President's agenda was dead. But as I look over this past year, in spite of those events, I realize that the 111th Congress was incredibly effective and passed a gigantic amount of far-reaching legislation. In spite of constant Republican Senate obstruction, it, with varying degrees of Presidential help, enacted the most legislation in many, many decades. Let's look at some of what has been accomplished:


Health Care Reform

I was not initially too happy with the failure of the President to push for and get a single-payer option for health care. And, while not completely universal in coverage, the plan he passed DOES extend coverage to 32 million more Americans while actually REDUCING the deficit by $1.3 billion over the next 20 years. It also makes it illegal for the health insurance industry to discriminate against people by denying them coverage. That in and of itself is a big accomplishment. It makes health care coverage a basic right for all Americans. The plan is still flawed in many other respects, but it is a starting point that can and will eventually be improved upon.

Successful Economic Stimulus

When Barack Obama began his Presidency, our economy was heading straight down the tubes due to the distrous policies of George W. Bush. The previous summer gasoline rose to over $4.00 per gallon due to reckless speculation. Obama signed the stimulus into law and it has helped to stem the job losses. and most economists say that over one million jobs have been either saved or added due to it.

The Repeal of DADT

I am still amazed at this. It appeared that the utterly ridiculous "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy regarding gays in the military was dead in the water. But somehow, at the very end of this year's session, Congress overwhelmingly repealed this discriminatory policy and the President signed its repeal into law.


Supreme Court Vacancies filled

In spite of token Republican opposition, two new Supreme Court Justices were confirmed by the Senate. One became the very first Hispanic on the court, and both were women.

Credit Card Reform

The credit card reform bill that Obama signed in May of 2009 has helped to provide new protections for customers. It prevents credit card companies from raising interest rates on existing balances and restricts how much credit card companies can charge in penalty fees.

More Successful in Anti-Terrorism Than Bush

Early in the year, Liz Cheney and her father DICK both tag-teamed on President Obama, saying that our anti-terrorism efforts were weak and uncoordinated and put the country in danger. This turned out to be a bunch of deliberate Republican anti-Obama poppycock, as the President launched more attacks on terrorists in his first two years than did Bush in the last four years of his Presidency combined, with a much higher net yield, too.

START Treaty ratified

Adter a load of needless Republican grandstanding at the very end of the congressional term, the START Treaty with Russia was ratified by the Senate. It will provide for much-needed supervision over the status of Russia's nuclear arsenal.

Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act

Congress overturned a Supreme Court decision which had limited a female's right to sue over unfair pay discrimination. This should go a long way toward balancing out the difference in male vs. female pay rates, and its enactment was way overdue.

Wall Street reform

Just as in the case of health care, this bill was watered down and goes nowhere near far enough in actually regulating sordid Wall Street practices, but it is a starting point for future congresses to build on.

Student Loan Reform

Instead of private banks issuing loans guaranteed by the government, the government itself will now become the originator of the loan. It will essentially eliminate the banks as a middleman and allow students a more streamlined and easier process for getting loans.

Health Benefits for 9/11 responders

Congress also passed a much-needed law giving aid to the courageous 9/11 responders, many of whom had been denied health care aid from their private insurers.




As I look at all these accomplishments, I am grateful for them. My only bone of contention is that many have not gone far enough. But, as the Tea Party faction will soon learn starting January 3, 2011, politics is the art of compromise and change. I will meantime continue to press for additions and changes to what has been passed. But all in all, this was a pretty darn effective Congress and first two years of an administration, and I am anxious for more, especially in the area of the Dream Act and overall immigration reform. When we will get these things is anybody's guess. My own belief is that we'll see movement after the congressional and presidential elections in 2012, but we shall see. In the interim, it will be very interesting to see how the differences between the current Republican establishment and the newly-elected Tea Party faction will turn out...

LINK TV: TELEVISION WITHOUT BORDERS!

About 40 years ago, I became aware that we in the United States weren't necessarily the be-all and end-all of all countries on the globe. I noticed that Sweden, for one, did not approve of our Vietnam policy. I thus became less of an ethno-centrist and began to pay attention to what others were saying about us. I also became aware of the fact that our government can and does lie to us, and that just because they may issue a particular statement as fact does not automatically guarantee it will be so. This uncertainty led me to question our government and look for other more factual sources of information than, say, CBS News.

One of my earliest intriguing sources of information was a delightful little magazine called World Press Review. It featured articles written by those outside our borders about us. These articles came from Tass, the then-official Soviet news agency, as well as Izvestia, the London Times, and many, many other official and state-run press agencies from all across the globe. This same coverage is now provided by the website www.Worldpress.org, but in the late '70s and early '80s there was no internet to go to, so World Press Review was invaluable.

Little by little, our media has changed. Like the rest of the country, our television and radio has become slowly more corporate. Clear Channel has turned what was once a bunch of independent radio stations with their own unique format into a mass of BORING stations from one city across America to another. Playlists have narrowed from a format of top 40 a generation ago to a mere dozen or 15 songs today, and a whole host of mainly right wing, mindless and often hysterical talk radio stations has emerged as a result. On the television side, various corporate buyouts and mergers have narrowed the field of major players to include only six, and has led to a dummying-down of what is offered to the public. Whereas the History Channel, for one, used to provide us with near-scholarly documentaries 15-18 years ago, today we find shows like "Ice Road Truckers" and "Pawn Stars", or "Modern Marvels" as the main offerings, and very little has anything much to do with history. They, and many other channels which showed promise years ago, have taken to showing mainly little vignettes that are primarily entertainment, rather than topical or educational,-oriented. That, my friends, is what corporate America is doing to our airwaves. IS IT ANY WONDER OUR STUDENTS ARE STARTING TO SLIP SO BADLY?


As it stands today, there are six main players which own virtually everything we see on TV. The U.S. media is completely dominated by these huge corporations who have basically gobbled up everything we see and hear. They have managed this, through a history of mergers and acquisitions, to concentrate their control over what we see, hear and read. In a number of cases, these companies control everything from initial production to finalized distribution. In the process, we are being horribly shortchanged!

Below is a list of these 6 major U.S. media players and which networks they control:

1. GENERAL ELECTRIC
***2009 revenue: $157 BILLION. Owns NBC Networks; USA; Oxygen; The Weather Channel; Sci-Fi Channel; others.

2. WALT DISNEY COMPANY
***2009 revenue: $36.1 BILLION. Owns ABC; ESPN Networks; Lifetime; oA & E Networks (A & E, History Channel, Military Channel, Biography Channel, History International); others.

3. NEWSCORP
***2009 Revenue: $30.4 BILLION. Owns FOX "News"; Wall Street Journal.

4. TIME WARNER
***2009 Revenue: $25.8 BILLION. Owns CNN; Headline News; TNT; Cartoon Network; TBS; others.

5. VIACOM
***2009 Revenue: $13.6 BILLION. Owns MTV; BET; CMT; VH1; others.

6. CBS
***2009 Revenue: $13 BILLION. Owns CBS; Showtime; the Movie Channel; others.

Even PBS has been polluted by corporate influence over the past 10 years. But there is still one network that is still 100% viewer-supported and COMPLETELY FEEE FROM CORPORATE INFLUENCE. This network is called LINK TV!

Formed in 1999, Link Media owns and operates the broadcast channel Link TV and www.linktv.org. Link is the first nationwide television channel and website dedicated to providing global perspectives on news, events and culture. Link’s programs provide a unique perspective on international news, current events, and diverse cultures, presenting issues not often covered in the U.S. media. They connect viewers with people at the heart of breaking events, organizations in the forefront of social change and the cultures of an increasingly global community.

You will find documentaries and programs you'll NEVER see on mainstream media networks. Programs like Amy Goodman's DEMOCRACY NOW, English language broadcasts from AL JAZEERA and other Middle Eastern news agencies, as well as interesting films like THE CORPORATION, Howard Zinn's magnificent YOU CAN'T BE NEUTRAL ON A MOVING TRAIN, Greg Palast Investigates, Bill Moyers on Media and Democracy, American Radical: The Trials of Norman Finkelstein, as well as intriguing World Music and foreign music videos.

THIS IS INTELLIGENT TV, UNLIKE ANYTHING YOU'VE EVER SEEN BEFORE!

You can see Link TV on the following satellite stations:

DIRECTV - channel 375

DISH NETWORK - channel 9410

It is also available on a number of cable stations. For a listing, go to their website at www.linktv.org and click on "About Link TV." But don't just stop there: peruse the site and you'll see what a valuable addition this channel can be to your viewing. Should you wish to contribute, just key in www.linktv/contribute, or phone in your TAX DEDUCTIBLE pledge at 1-866-485-8848!


Yes, Virginia, there is an alternative to BBC America! Urge others to watch LINK TV too, as a VERY welcome alternative to boring, uninformative mainstream programming---you will NOT be disappointed!!!