Indeed ever since John McCain was told to select her as Vice-President giving her a national presence she’s been preaching hate against those who don’t meet her standards of what constitutes a “real Americans” yet the press continues to cover her daily as if she has anything of value to offer or contribute to resolving the problems facing “all” Americans.

On March 23, 2010 Sarah Palin posted a map of 20 congressional districts identifying the incumbents in the crosshairs of a rifle scope prompting one of the targets, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, to observe that “When people do that, they’ve got to realize there are consequences to that action”.

One week ago Rep. Gifford’s was gunned down in an attempted political assassination and Sarah Palin responded by releasing a professionally staged eight minute video casting herself in the role of victim blaming the press for manufacturing a “blood libel that serves only to incite the very hatred and violence that they purport to condemn.” She then claimed the actions of the press were reprehensible.” Oddly enough the speech occurred after she tried to propose the laughable explanation that the crosshairs were actually surveyor symbols which her base didn’t question but not those but who are so easily fooled by a demagogue wearing a dress.

The questionable use of the anti-Semitic term “blood libel” is better explained by those who have an historical connection to the term but while they’re at it “reality” demands they mention that when those in the press trot out Alan Dershowitz to invoke an appeal to authority by presenting him to the public as a “Jewish Liberal Democrat” who took no exception to the use of the term they are only telling the public half of the story because Alan Dershowitz is the same “Jewish Liberal Democrat” who took no exception to the use of torture committed during the Bush Administration thereby removing universal condemnation from the morally indefensibility of “blood libel” as well as torture.

That Palin timed the speech for the morning of the memorial service in Tucson was obviously tacky because her claim of victimhood didn’t have to be given on that particular day. She certainly knew that President Obama was scheduled to give a speech in Tucson that evening but based on her past actions it isn’t a stretch to consider the strong possibility that she was intent on injecting herself into the head lines of the Tucson tragedy narrative and in the process crowning herself the flag bearer of the opposition party.

The sheer utter rank and shameless hypocrisy was as glaring as the reflection of the teleprompter shining off the lens of her glasses when she quoted the icon of the modern day Republican Party, Ronald Reagan, “It’s time to restore the American precept that each individual is accountable for his actions.” The other half of that story which even with the freedom of the press too few dare mention that Ronald Reagan also said government is not the solution, government is the problem and then acted accordingly to prove the self fulfilling prophecy of that anti-government prophet who today’s right likes to quote to those of us who still know it’s nothing more than “do as I say, not as I do.

Reason dictates that it must certainly take some degree of hatred to draw someone on a map in the crosshairs of a rifle scope and the reality of Tucson proves that it only takes the steady squeeze of a finger to commit an act of violence for life to imitate art. But it really takes balls to quote President Reagan’s “…individuals should be held accountable for their actions” and then blame the press for inciting hatred and violence. Now that is really reprehensible.

At the end of the day when the target on Sarah Palin’s map became one of the real victims fighting for her life then Sarah Palin should “man up” by realizing that putting someone in the crosshairs of a rifle scope is a form of malicious and reckless speech that has consequences whether this particular anti-government true believer saw her artistic map or not. Until then only the press will be able to hold Sarah Palin accountable by covering those who engage in more rational forms of political discourse that addresses the concerns of the nation and exposing the hypocrisy of those like Palin whose words reflect nothing more than “do as I say, not as I do.”

Once sent that letter which contained a clear threat to influence government policy it violated Title VIII of the USA PATRIOT Act which defines “domestic terrorism” as those activities which are intended to “influence government policy by intimidation or coercion” and to “intimidate or coerce a civilian population” that are “dangerous to human life”. The word “dangerous” is defined as that which exposes one to risk, harm or peril and “dangerous’ definitely describes the policy pursued by the minority party in the Senate.

It would seem that our society is suffering from a serious case of mass cognitive dissonance characterized by a collective need to ignore the reality that the policy position of these 42 reactionaries in the Senate that helped create the conditions of our current recession, the same policy that claimed would create jobs but didn’t mention the jobs would be created overseas to increase profits for those who would benefit most from this policy, the same policy that will add billions of dollars to an already over extended national debt which would be paid for by slashing the budgets of social programs intended for the “general welfare” and the same policy that resulted in a widening gap between rich and poor that now approximates the same gap which existed during the great depression and provides an example of that which is “dangerous to human life”.

Unless there’s a statute of limitations which already expired then someone in a position of power still has the responsibility to uphold the Constitution by taking advantage of the opportunity to insure that we are indeed a nation of laws and not men. As such those 42 Republican Senators should be charged as “terrorists” by committing an act of “terrorism” because when they threatened to influence government policy they violated U.S. Federal Law 28 C.F.R.Section 0.85.

The act of terrorism that occurred on 9/11/01 generated the question “why do “they” hate us” which was eventually relegated to the dust bin of history without satisfactory resolution. The threat to influence government policy on 11/29/10 begs the question: why are those who committed an act that meets the definition of “terrorism” as defined in U.S. law not charged and prosecuted as terrorists?

I’m going to exercise my First Amendment right “to petition the government for a redress of grievances” by writing to my representative in the “people’s house” and request that he suggest in the strongest terms possible to the chair of the Government Oversight and Reform Committee, Rep. Darrell Issa, to investigate how 42 Republicans violated the
U. S. PATRIOT Act yet no one was ever charged, no one was held responsible, no one was subjected to the applicable forfeiture law and no one was held accountable by the Obama Administration for the act of terrorism committed on 11/29/10.

I’ll post my letter and the response if in fact I receive one from Sen. Schumer, Sen. Gillibrand, or Rep. Tonko. I’m hoping one of them offers a reasonable explanation for this glaring difference between rhetoric and reality. I won’t be surprised by any response which amounts to nothing more than a clever rationalization for the rule of law legitimized by a corrupt political system that attempts to preserve a status quo in which the center can no longer hold but I will be disappointed if not one can explain why they think President Obama said that “the middle class tax cuts were being held hostage” to tax cuts for the wealthy.

I’m just leaving a state of initial shock after spending several Saturday hours watching MSNBC and even Fox, albeit in small doses, coverage of the attempted political assassination of Democratic Representative Gabrielle Giffords in Tuscon AZ this weekend.

I know the narrative of mainstream media that I watched, including Fox, was to portray the assailant as a “deranged killer” and bent over backwards to avoid the strong possibility that the killing spree was politically motivated even when the evidence showed that the accused mentioned “intention” “assassination” and “Giffords” in the same sentence.

Mainstream media can repeat ad nauseum the mantra that the killer was “mentally disturbed”, “emotionally unbalanced” or whatever other psychobabble catch phrase they want to use to describe Jared Loughner but at what “sane” person ever goes on a killing spree?

Of course Mr. Loughner was mentally disturbed but his intention was made and his writings reflect his “reason” or rationalization for the killings as such I use the term “political assassination” based on existing facts that computer documentation supports a finding of a relationship between right wing ideology and the accused. Evidence released a day later reflects an “intention” to “assassinate” Rep. Giffords written the accuser’s hand writing.

In essence no matter how mentally disturbed or deranged, Mr. Loughner’s attempt to assassinate a U.S. Representative whose political views were not in line with his can be considered nothing more and nothing less than an attempted political assassination committed by someone who only needed his partisan passions to be inflamed by those who preach division and hate on a daily basis.

Puma County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik took the cap off the tooth paste when he squeezed this statement “When the rhetoric about hatred, about mistrust of government, about paranoia about how government operates and to try to inflame the public on a daily business, 24 hours a day, seven days week, it has an impact on people, especially those who are unbalanced personalities to begin with”.

Sheriff Dupnik blamed “the vitriolic rhetoric that we hear day in and day out from people in the radio business and some people in the TV business” for this tragedy. Without naming names it’s certainly no mystery as to who he was talking about.

Locally we have radio entertainers Paul Vandenberg who exercises his freedom of speech to openly express his contempt and “hatred” of Democrats at all levels of government, followed by the smug Dennis Praeger who divides left and right from noon to 2:00pm five days a week or one can turn the station and tune in to Rush Limbaugh who on a daily basis wants this President, the one who represented the will of the people in 2008, to fail and by extension “the will of the people” to fail as well.

Fair and balanced vitriol from television was primarily yet constantly provided by Fox News represented by hate mongers, Sean Hannity and Glenn Beck who pumped the animosity during town hall events addressing health care reform, promoted then reported on anti-government rallies where people carried threatening signs during most so-called “freedom rallies” and in some locations people even openly carried weapons as if the events were conducted by patriots.

Meanwhile today some politicians cry crocodile tears over the tragic events in Tuscon yet not one member of the Republican Party ever uttered a word of objection or repudiation to those who preached fear and hate on radio or television to their base or had the courage to remind them that their divisive words had consequences.

In the complicity of silence not one member of the Republican Party expressed any outrage over the diabolical darling of their party, Sarah Palin, who “targeted” Rep. Giffords in a rifle scope mock up ad during the 2010 mid terms. Ironically Sarah Palin didn’t say anything to the supporters at her rallies in 2008 who yelled “kill him” when she mentioned Barak Obama other than claiming not to hear those words.

Not one member of the Republican Party dared to dispute Sharon Angle’s suggestion that the people resort to “Second Amendment remedies” to change government. And not one Republican held Michele Bachmann accountable when she claimed she “wanted the people of Minnesota armed and dangerous.

This week when Congress comes back in session no doubt there will be numerous tributes to those who were killed in Tuscon, the standard “our thoughts and prayers are with (fill in the blank) will be repeated by politicians on both sides of the aisle, concerns will be mentioned about the safety of political figures even by Republicans who were outraged over a 2009 bulletin from the Secretary of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano, that outlined the coming wave of right-wing domestic terrorism.

While talk radio and Fox News are not solely responsible for the events in Tuscon AZ they are indeed part of the problem of a coarsening of our political discourse. If Congress is indeed serious about doing something to address the disturbing state of political discourse in this country that inflames the passions of those prone to commit unspeakable acts it seems only reasonable to address the primary sources which perpetuate fear mongering and hatred by reenacting the “Fairness Doctrine” so that each time a Rush Limbaugh or a Glenn Beck appeals to man’s baser instincts and blood lust by preaching the politics of fear and hate equal time is given to those who appeal to that which separates us from other animals – our ability to reason and expose the public to alternatives to resolve our differences through means other than violence.

Here’s an idea – the legislation can even be named the “Christina-Taylor Green Act” after the 9 year old child who went to that Tucson strip mall to meet Rep.Giffords and learn how government works only to become a part of the carnage that followed that Saturday in Tuscon when a disturbed man emptied four bullets from the gun he legally purchased into her young body while attempting to commit an act of political assassination.

Failing to at least propose legislation intended to counter the daily rhetoric of fear and hate from right wing radio and television such as the Fairness Doctrine increases the probability of more senseless carnage yet to come. If our politicians really want to honor those who died such legislation is a starting point anything less and we may as well bow to Arizona, the Mecca of prejudice and bigotry and chant that Jared Loughner was merely exercising his god given right to bear arms and repeat the lie long enough until it is believed to be the truth.

In essence Willie Nelson’s liberty was taken away by instrumentalities of the very same political system that will decide his fate, make him pay with money or time or both and call it justice in the process of holding one accountable for one’s actions.

That the recent arrest occurred in Texas is somewhat ironic given their bravado about that special independence unique to Texans exposing another American myth about being the “home of the brave” because not one macho individual from any branch of law enforcement in the “Lone Star” state not even “The Lone Ranger” himself has dared to arrest George W. Bush for the war crimes that he admitted committing in his book.

While Willie Nelson is held accountable for possessing 6 ounces of cannabis sativa George W. Bush has the liberty to go on nationwide television and promote his book that contains his confession about authorizing torture without fear of being charged with or arrested for the crimes he committed against humanity.

So far George W. Bush hasn’t been held accountable for his actions which had more serious real life and death consequences on us as a nation than did Willie Nelson’s action of merely living his life as if he had the liberty to pursue happiness that he was free to define and qualify it as long as it didn’t harm another life or take or cause damage to another’s property.

Perhaps the biggest myth to be shattered by reality is that America is the “land of the free” when we make up 5 percent of the world’s population yet we also comprise 25 percent of the world’s prison population thanks in large part to the over 750,000 people arrested yearly for mere possession of marijuana.

Finally, in addition to exposing the most cherished of American myths Willie Nelson’s arrest was a glaring example of the shameless hypocrisy characteristic of a banana republic where someone is held accountable for possessing a plant while no one was held accountable for 9/11, no one was held accountable for waging an unjustifiable war in Iraq, no one was held accountable for war crimes and no one in Washington or on Wall St. was held accountable for the financial collapse in 2008.

The war on drugs costs American taxpayers 40 billion dollars each year. What did it cost for the three helicopter flights conducted by the Army National Guard and the NYS Power Authority including the salaries of all involved from ground control to Major Tom, as well as the fuel?

What is the total cost of prosecution and incarceration for the six people charged with “unlawfully growing marijuana” including all related expenses e.g. meals, corrections officer’s salaries, the courts etc.?

Sheriff Desmond claims there were about 500 pounds of marijuana and he didn’t know what the drugs seized were worth but the sheriff didn’t mention and the reporter didn’t ask how much of the 500 pounds was actually the marijuana that one could smoke.

Simple math indicates that if an ounce of local marijuana could be sold for say an extremely liberal estimate of $300.00 per ounce would be $4800.00 per pound and 500 pounds would be two and a half million dollars. That this substantial figure wasn’t mentioned is a good indication the 500 pounds seized was substantially less than 500 pounds that could have been smoked.

The sheriff said they collected 15 large garbage bags which would be destroyed and he stated such searches would continue but never said why, the reporter is conditioned to spread the message: “another battle in the war on drugs” was won without mentioning the war on drugs has now been waged for 80 years and most of this articles readers lacked the intellectual curiosity to ask why are we spending all that money on a plant only to destroy it.

In response to Sheriff Desmond’s request to the public to provide any information about drugs he seized I offer the following information: that he visit the aptly named NORML wed site (National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws) or peruse any one of several good books including the Bible which more or less wraps it up in Gensis 1:12 and 3:18 as well as Psalm 104:14.

Meanwhile our nation’s war on drugs drags on for another year at the cost of 40 billion dollars that could be better used for the common good and our constitutionally protect freedoms are further eroded by those who are supposed to “protect and serve”.

The media often describes Newt Gingrich as the intellectual heavyweight of the Republican Party. I pain myself not to use any descriptive adjective when referring to “the media” because whatever label I apply e.g. “mainstream media”, “corporate owned media”, “left wing media”, “right wing media” would be construed as code by one group or another and color the reader’s perception of reality and the reality is “there is no “left wing media” because “left wing media” is in fact the lie that has been repeated more than a thousand times since 1980.

One only need scan their AM dial to find any number of talk radio stations all of which reeks of “right wing” bile based on distorted half truths or outright lies based on fabrications rather than facts and peppered with a baseless jingoism such as one propagandist claiming we are “the greatest nation on God’s green earth” without qualifying the term “greatest”.

I didn’t forget “lame stream media” but that’s only a phrase coined by a charlatan to express her utter contempt for the freedom of a press that made her a media sensation enabling her to receive millions of dollars while most of America is just getting by from pay check to pay check.

To be sure all the major networks and major newspapers are not only “mainstream media” but they are also all owned by corporations that’s not to say they are “right wing” but based on personal experience I haven’t seen any “left wing” media as I understand “left wing” describe the former Speaker at all begging the question just how do those who claim there is a “left wing media” define “left wing”.

Case in point: while covering the recent Republican Governors Association meeting the “mainstream media” and the “corporate owned media” reported that Newt Gingrich’s speech was “full of biting comments at Democrats and full of ides for the conservative governors”.

The example of “biting comment” provided was that Gingrich said the challenge is for Republicans to be a party of “jobs and paychecks that replaces “a Democratic Party of bureaucracy and food stamps”.

A “left wing media” would have pointed out that while Mr. Gingrich failed to explain exactly what policies he would advocate to create “jobs and paychecks” and a “left wing media” would have noted that what Mr. Gingrich did advocate by implication was replacing a Democratic Party bureaucracy with a Republican Party bureaucracy that would not provide food stamps to the already over 42 million Americans who currently need them to survive.

The “mainstream media” and the “corporate owned media” mentioned a few of the ideas from the so-called intellectual heavyweight of the Republican Party. One such “idea” was to turn unemployment benefits into a job-training program begging the questions only a “left wing” media would dare ask: how would the over 5 million people currently receiving unemployment benefits get by without any income in a consumer based society and if the over 5 million people who currently receive unemployment benefits suddenly have no money to spend wouldn’t that adversely affect the economy by causing more businesses to close, add to the existing number of unemployed and increase crime committed by those trying to survive.

In addition a “left wing” media would point out that the “real idea” from Gingrich is to stop unemployment benefits because we already have job training programs and that is certainly something the “intellectual heavyweight of the Republican Party” should know as such the deceit of Mr. Gingrich’s “idea” is exposed.

Yet the most disturbing idea produced from this demagogue was to “…insist on the teaching of “American exceptionalism” in all public financed schools. A “left wing” media would have mentioned that so-called conservatives were incensed and outraged by President Obama’s nation wide welcome by to school speech in 2009 because they felt he was going to press a “partisan political agenda on impressionable young minds”. The reality was that the alleged “partisan political agenda” was a speech that placed an emphasis on the value and importance of education.

A real “left wing media” would have pointed out that this “intellectual heavy weight of the Republican Party” was in fact proposing that “propaganda” replace “education” to breed conformity by requiring that these “impressionable young minds” be conditioned to accept the belief and display the concomitant conceit that the United States holds a special place in the world and that we are superior to all other nations because after all God is on our side or so says American myth makers.

In an article by Laurence Britt describing the 14 common characteristics of fascist governments Newt Gingrich’s views expressed at the Republican Governor’s meeting were best reflected in that characteristic wherein a fascist government disdains academic freedom and considers the freedom of ideas and the expression associated with them to be subversive to the patriotic ideal implied in Gingrich’s “American exceptionalism” and the logical conclusion is that for Gingrich and his followers education should serve the national interest or it has no right to exist.

If indeed there really were such a thing as the “left wing media” rather than describe Newt Gingrich as the “intellectual heavy weight of the Republican Party” Gingrich would be described as a dangerous demagogue whose reactionary views are anti-American and they pose a serious threat to the future of freedom in this republic.

“People need to hear what I have to say. There’s no one else who can say what I can say. It doesn’t matter what I live.” – Newt Gingrich – (the megalomaniac of American exceptionalism)

In this country’s recorded history there were bloody riots between workers and the state militias and state police who provided the coercive force for big business against labor in the struggle for the American workers to have the 8 hour day, child labor laws, a living wage, job security and a strong middle class.

In referring to the recent labor unrest the right wing media at Fox and Republican Radio the storyline is that public unions are responsible for the demonstrations which occasionally have gotten ugly and threaten social stability in France. The facts ignored are that in France the demonstrations are being carried out by public sector unions and private sector unions. In addition 70 percent of the French public supports the union position.

Furthermore, the riots in France are occurring for the same reasons that exist here – governments are broke but support tax cuts for big business and the wealthy which are to be financed by slashing spending on social programs. The government in France can’t afford to pay benefits at age 60 so they’ll raise the age to 62 in order to afford those tax cuts for the wealthy. In the U.S. raising the retirement age to 69 is one of several proposals to reduce our deficit and more importantly insure tax cuts for the rich.

One difference though is that in France labor unites for a common purpose and takes to the streets with overwhelming public support while in America workers roll over because fewer workers belong to unions and among those who belong to a union there is no union solidarity.

In addition the American public has been conditioned to be anti-union reinforced by the corporate message of big business which has been repeated on a daily basis ad nauseam since 1980 – unions i.e. workers organized for a better standard of living are bad for the business profit margins when workers demand more pay and more benefits.

It isn’t that difficult to understand that having 20 people applying for every job gives business the opportunity to decrease wages. “united we stand, divided we fall” the American worker buys the bullshit that competition is good too dumbed down to realize who it’s good for let alone entertaining the notion that cooperation might be a better way
to attain the American dream. Competition in a free market capitalist system such as ours breeds the contempt of “I got mine, fuck everybody else.”

Furthermore it shouldn’t go unnoticed that it was Ronald Reagan who made it popular to be anti-union in this country. After 30 years Ronald Reagan’s trickle down economics has proven that the wealthy kept most of the money, the jobs they created went overseas at the expense of the American worker, and the lack of government regulation and/or oversight during the Bush Administration led the American economy and by extension the global economy to the verge of collapse.

Today in corporate America the politicians of both major political parties talk about raising the retirement age, decreasing benefits and even proposing to privatize Social Security and the American worker is silent. In this country workers are too divided and too dumbed down to know that by voting for either of the two major political parties they are giving their consent to be governed by a political system which is up for sale to the highest bidder that represents the interests of the few at the expense of the many. So much for that “home of the brave” bravado.

The biggest difference however is that in France as in most other European countries workers can unite in a common interest while in America workers participate in of their own demise by voting for politicians who do the bidding for their corporate masters to legislate approval of corporations to ship American jobs overseas without fear of any financial accountability, open up more tax loopholes for those who currently pay less taxes proportionally, insure the continuation of today’s corporations that don’t even pay a dime in taxes or better yet even get tax breaks in some cases and removing any and all regulations of the free market so that financial risks can be taken, obscene profits can be made and when it all falls down the safety net of a bailout will be enacted by their representatives in the people’s Congress.

The irony is that while workers should be angry at a government that’s bought and paid for by big business many of those same workers are willing to “vote them out” only to replace them with the same political party that waged a war in Iraq claiming it would “pay for itself” and passed tax cuts for the wealthy while claiming that they would create jobs for the American worker so dumbed down they just gave to consent for more of the same.

Thanks to the Supreme Court that gave us Citizens United corporations did and will be buying politicians outright who will legislate on behalf of those multi national corporations in order to insure their taxes aren’t cut, their business is conducted unfettered by regulation and their profits can be increased by shipping jobs overseas for cheaper labor while convincing the American voter that this same failed ideology that was responsible for our financial collapse in 2008 is now going to act in the best interest of the middle-class. All made possible by a people too dumbed down to understand that they only get to choose from the top two fund raising political parties to maintain the status quo where the rich are getting richer and the rest of us are getting poorer.

The labor unrest remains in France even though the government passed legislation to raise the retirement age it certainly wasn’t due to the lack of effort on the part of organized labor. The struggle continues between those who have an insatiable desire to accumulate wealth and those who just want a better standard of living one in which they can afford the mortgage or the rent, never want for food nor fear of losing it all due to ill health and be provided an equal opportunity to succeed in the pursuit of happiness.

The labor unrest has spread to Great Britain where 500,000 public employees are expected to lose their jobs, their income and their ability to provide. Meanwhile student tuition is being raised on most who will no longer afford to be educated. The reasons mirror those of France and the U.S. A consumer based society driven by the free market of capitalism is widening the gap between the rich and the rest of us worldwide on a path we’ve been down before unless we stop the madness of a system that profit’s the few at the expense of the many.

President Obama’s Deficit Reduction Commission recently released some proposals such as raising the retirement age, decreasing retirement benefits, and doing away with the mortgage tax credit. In addition those Bush tax cuts which only increased the wealth of the already rich and created jobs abroad but not at home are set to expire as are unemployment benefits for millions of Americans begging the question: is the labor unrest in Europe headed for our shores?

These are some of the realities that exist in America today:

At a poverty rate of 14.3 percent we now have the highest number of people living in poverty in over 50 years.

One in five children and one in ten senior citizens is poor.

One in every six workers is unemployed or underemployed placing the real unemployment rate over 17 percent.

Over three and a half million people are homeless and one third of those are children.

Nearly 3 million people received a foreclosure notice and one in four home owners owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth.

Income disparity in the U.S. today is now as bad as it was at the end of the 1920s and right before the great .depression.

Since Ronald Reagan took office his trickle down economics resulted in over 90 percent of total income growth going to the top 10 percent leaving 9 percent to be shared by the bottom 90 percent resulting in he greatest redistribution of income in our history that didn’t receive any mention in the press.

When Reagan took office the average CEO earned $27.00 for every dollar paid to a typical worker and by the end of the Bush Administration that ratio had grown to $275 for every $1.

In addition, the U.S. today has the greatest inequality between the rich and the rest of us among all Western industrialized nations.

Finally one last fact – given all those facts without a strong labor movement there will be no organized unrest in this country where a dumbed down public cannot grasp the concept of “united we stand, divided we fall.” and unwittingly gives its consent to a political system that will only perpetuates the great divide between the rich and the rest of us by slashing social programs so that the rich can become richer and the rest of us become poorer.

WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON!!!

It’s now a matter of historical record that our recent mid-term election was paid for by those who prefer the status quo and bought by those ill-informed voters influenced by the non stop fair and balanced propaganda of Fox and Republican radio who were easily convinced that this was the “change” that would best serve their interests.

That most of those who voted Republican because the Party of No convinced these morons that our national deficit was a problem is a testament to the absolute ignorance of the American voter having forgotten that when former Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill raised objections to a second round of tax cuts for the rich he was chastised by Vice President Cheney who reminded him that Ronald Reagan proved that “deficits don’t matter”. A month later Cheney fired O’Neill.

Banks holding foreclosed homes. The mortgage mess affecting more people. Ten percent of Americans un or underemployed more if we care about statistical integrity. Corporation’s profits rising while big business isn’t hiring. Jobs being shipped overseas and they’re never coming back home. The rich are getting richer and the rest of us are getting poorer.

These are but a few problems that demand urgency to address an ailing economy which according to recent polls reflect that most of the public wants resolved through cooperation rather than watered down by compromise or ignored by partisan bickering. Failure to do so will have long lasting consequences that won’t be pleasing for the rest of us.

The initial responses from each of the major political parties involved is disquieting and equally disturbing. The new Speaker of the House, Republican Representative John Boehner, went on a crying jag and said that his party will not compromise their principles. Other Republican leaders, Mike Pence and Eric Cantor, were just as emphatic when demanding it’s their way or the highway. Meanwhile that sinister stone faced Senator from Kentucky, McConnell, claimed that his primary focus for the next two years would be to make Obama a one term president.

The solutions provided by the extremist Republican Party calls for tax cuts to everyone especially those earning over 250k a year in order to stimulate our economy, provide an opportunity for job growth and with the help of less government regulation the American economy will thrive. In essence they propose the very same failed policies that created our present economic conditions will now magically cure it. In addition, Speaker Boehner wants to work on repealing Health Care Reform without mentioning how many jobs many jobs will the repeal of Health Care Reform would create.

The Democrats meanwhile have already extended a hand across the aisle and expressed a willingness to compromise compelling me to think of Yogi Berra’s famous “it’s like déjà vu all over again”. Isn’t that what the Democrats did on Health Care Reform and while there are some benefits to most people we still could have had Universal Health Care like the rest of the civilized world if only Democrats weren’t so prone to appease. The process of legislation was delayed and dragged out at the expense of addressing more pressing economic issues and if memory serves me I recall when President Obama visited leading Republican to discuss Health Care Reform they told him before he arrived that they weren’t going to support it.

Given the first reactions of leaders from both major political parties a strong possibility exists that the political party that had no new ideas and obstructed those who did will continue on this path to insure there is no economic recovery and count on the sheer stupidity of the American voter so embarrassingly evident in the 2010 midterms to give their consent 2012 to be governed by a right wing political ideology ushering in a dark age where our form of government is overthrown by big business.

Indeed that the winning candidates have offered absolutely nothing to address the foreclosure crisis, unemployment, outsourcing, Wall St. reform etc. is ample evidence that Republicans are not serious about or interested in addressing the problems facing most Americans today but they are very serious and with malicious intent about making sure that when the economy worsens it will be President Obama who takes the fall and the corporate controlled media will package the lie then feed it to a nation of sheep “Bah! Bah! Bah! – god bless America – bah, bah, bah.

Today our economy teeters on the brink of another recession perhaps even depression which can, as we have seen, affect the global market. Unless the economic issues facing our nation today are resolved in favor of an America whose greatest years were those years when we had a strong middle class i.e. the 40s through the 70s the inevitable social instability and upheaval caused by the widening of the gap between the rich and the rest of us will create the fertile ground for a demagogue to take advantage of the depressed economic situation, instill fear in the people and appeal to the ignorance of the American voter.

We have an extremist political party not willing to compromise on its principles which favor the rich and a party that claims it represents the rest of us but is too willing to appease the rabble on the right rather than confront the madness of those wrapped in the flag and carrying the cross who claim that going backward is going forward.

Foreclosures on the rise from coast to coast. Poverty on the rise. Unemployment twice as high as the government tells it citizens. Jobs outsourced, shipped overseas to someone who will be paid less to do the same job and produce a larger profit than last year. Failed educational systems for all who cannot afford a quality education. Supporting the troops – at least until they come home where they comprise an increasing number of people living on the streets. A military-industrial complex budget that exceeds the budgets of all the other nations combined. Threats of doing away with the minimum wage. Claims that unemployment is unconstitutional. Balancing the budget on those who work for a living. A return to trickle on economics. An economic stimulus of tax breaks for the wealthy where the rich get richer and the gap widens between rich and poor. All the attending social problems that follow and the cost if we have not yet lost our humanity. A return to the free market with little or no government regulation that resulted in the near crash our economy and the world’s as well in 2008.

A recent poll claimed that 58 percent of Americans think our economy is going in the wrong direction. When the Republicans claim the House in 2011 is anyone supposed to believe nothing other than as a people we want our country to go back to the good old days where government acted on behalf of the free market casinos on Wall St. at the expense of the American people and then had the unmitigated gall to require the people to pay for a party at the country club to which they weren’t even invited. The banks were bailed out by the Bush Administration, Main St. was given the bill and it was only made possible by the appeasement of the Democratic Party.

My suspicions were confirmed because I woke up on 11/3/10 a sane man in an insane society that rewarded the political party which created our current economic morass and obstructed any meaningful attempts to clean it up were returned to power by enough people who preferred rhetoric to reality and sixty second sound bite slogans to solutions of substance.

During the 2008 presidential campaign Barak Obama claimed that America’s best days are ahead of us and while politicians from both major political parties echoed that same nostalgia for yesterday the reality is that the best days of the American Empire was when we had a strong middle class and those days are far behind us.

How we respond to that reality will determine our future and since enough Americans were convinced that going backward is going forward the results of the midterm elections in 2010 is a strong indication that America remains in a state of a denial that the decay within is spreading.

The consequences of these actions will be evidenced by further economic crisis that will decrease the middle class and widen the gap between rich and poor. By going backward we are creating the very conditions that will provide an opportunity for the best of demagogues to rise in 2012 and impose a tyranny of the few on the many.

It is written that the Buddha once said “do nothing” and while I think I am somewhat aware of the context within which he said “do nothing” in the present moment I’m more aware of me following that sage advise by responding to today’s midterm elections by “doing nothing”.

That’s right. I did not exercise my right to vote because I remembered that to do so would be to recognize the legitimacy of a system designed to maintain the status quo and I willfully withheld my consent to be governed by a government that is bought and paid for by multi-national corporations.

The choice Americans had on 11/2/10 was between a Democratic Party that lacked the courage of their convictions except when turning against their base and the Republican Party, the party of big business that never had any intention of doing what was right for the American public by obstructing any meaningful change to the mess they created.

That a majority of those who bothered to participate in their own oppression by voting out of fear, hatred and ignorance for a political party that caused so much suffering in this country in the past deserves nothing but contempt and disdain especially from those of us who refused to vote once again for the lesser of two evils where the outcome only perpetuates an endless cycle of more suffering or less suffering – better to “do nothing” than participate in a way of life that requires a new way of living.

No anger. No outrage. To be sure there were demonstrations, I should know I was there waving my upside down American flag, but no one was exercising their second amendment rights to take our country back.

In the end America couldn’t wait. We needed a president. Al Gore thought he was performing some sort of noblesse oblige for the good of the country when he acknowledged George W. Bush to be President.

The reality is that he didn’t act honorably. In fact he chose the path of least resistance; go along to get along, the defining characteristic of enough members of the Democratic Party to render it useless as an opposition party and prone to appeasement as a response to political conflict.

During his first four years an imminent attack against the United States was ignored. No one was held accountable then and a Democratic President has taken no action to hold anyone accountable now. Then again we’ve been told often enough that we are a nation of laws and not men to the point where the American public can no longer distinguish between rhetoric and reality.

After the first attack on American soil in over a century the Patriot Act which limited a number of individual liberties was passed by Republicans and Democrats alike. Most admitted they never read the bill. Who had time after all it was less than 45 days since 9/11. The extension of the same Patriot Act was recently approved once again by Republicans and Democrats alike and without reform in order to appease the opposition.

Cherry picked intelligence and outright lies about mushroom clouds over Ohio used a pliable media to stoke the required amount of fear and hate needed to generate American public support for a war that violated international law, the Geneva Convention and our own Constitution. A war that the Bush Administration said “would pay for itself” was given approval by the lock step Republicans and weak kneed Democrats to afraid to look weak.

In the process war crimes were committed by George W. Bush and members of his Republican Administration yet today’s Democratic President doesn’t go after the war criminals that are free to roam the country clubs but promises to enforce federal law if marijuana is legalized in California especially the ghettos – so much for a nation of laws and not of men.

In addition during his first four years in selected office President Bush proposed tax cuts for the rich not once but twice which were approved through the reconciliation process both time in the Senate the same reconciliation process that the Republicans accused Democrats of trying to use to pass health care as if it were a slight of hand that offended them.

The purpose of the Bush tax cuts was that those who received the biggest breaks i.e. the rich would invest this financial windfall in the economy thereby creating more jobs. This was the Republican approach of stimulating the economy. The reality was that the rich used most of that money to enhance their financial portfolios and if they did create any jobs most of those were overseas.

In 1933 Congress passed the Glass Steagall Act to control the kind speculation that resulted in the great depression and regulate banking somewhat was repealed in 1999 with a Republican majority in both houses and signed by a Democratic president who chose to appease the party that was being funded by the banking industry rather than represent the American people who would and now suffering the consequences of Bill Clinton’s failure to stand up to the growing tyranny of the minority.

The result of the Republican economic stimulus i.e. less taxes and less regulation was a nation on the verge of economic collapse which threatened the global economy. Two years after he left office the results of supply side economics are evident by the abundance of foreclosure signs from coast to coast, the increase in unemployment and a middle class that dwindles and swells the ranks of the working poor.

When President Obama entered office he inherited a trillion dollar debt from the previous administration that started with a 235 billion dollar surplus. The opposition was immediately evidenced by right wing Republicans (are there any other kind remaining after the tea party purges?) publicly claiming they hoped Obama failed.

In essence Republicans hoped that the change America voted for in 2008 failed and did everything in their political power that the wealthy could afford to buy to insure they and not the common good of America succeeded. It is of little consolation knowing that this transgression was made possible by the appeasement of the Democratic Party.

During President Obama’s first two years he proposed legislation to reform the same Wall St. actions that led to economic collapse in this country and sparked global economic crisis. He appeased the Republicans and gave the country a watered down version of Wall St. reform insuring that the shit will indeed hit the fan again.

In addition the Obama Administration proposed legislation to close the tax loopholes for corporations that shipped American jobs overseas to increase their profits which trickled down in larger dividends to their share holders. Once again Republicans stood in the way.

It took George W. Bush and the Republican majority 6 years to take this country to the edge of the abyss with less taxes and less regulation then gave Barak Obama and a Democratic majority two years to fix it while they stood in the way and obstructed every piece of major legislation intended to stop the bleeding and make this a more stable society.

Albert Einstein was said to have defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over again while expecting a different result. If Americans vote the Republicans back into office as they are expected to do today it will be nothing more and nothing less than insurmountable evidence that we are an insane society and If the polls are right, tomorrow I’ll be waking up a sane man in an insane society where past is prologue and the centre cannot hold.