Monthly Archives: May 2011

Trump to the Tea Party – “Thanks Suckers”

May 18, 2011

Phineas T. Barnum, the great showman, businessman and entertainer of the 19th century has falsely been accused of the phrase “There’s a sucker born every minute”. But Barnum loved a good hoax and making money off of it. He never saw himself as a shyster assuming that people were willing to be fooled if it was done in dramatic fashion. He made a lot of money doing this and left a legacy for himself that carries his memory beyond his value to the society that fell victim to his carnival dealings.

Donald Trump has taken this tact and for the last few months has been drawing in the gullible element within the GOP, especially Tea Party members. Because he saw an opportunity to exploit a fabrication created by a handful of anti-Obama con artists and heard murmurs among their ranks to throw his hat into the political ring, he pounced on this sensation to not only stroke his huge ego but to hawk his fairly successful TV farce, The Apprentice.

In the end it was this realty TV fare that held Trump’s greatest interest and now those whose hopes were riding on his carnival act are left wondering if they were taken for a ride. Some will not be able to see the writing on the wall even still because they simply choose not to.

Believed to have a skillful hand with money and how to make it grow, Trump is seen by overly ambitious types as someone to emulate, someone to guide them in their quest to be rich and famous. What most people don’t see is that Trump’s success revolves around his ability to play up investments and getting other people to finance schemes that may or may not succeed.

With such visions running through their head some people are gullible enough to believe that wealthy people like Trump are smart and wise, not just in matters of money but in all things, including an ability to govern wisely and fearlessly. Trump’s true skill it appears now is simply to listen to the fantastical claims others make about him and the views they hold and do what Barnum did – create the illusion of their fantasies and profit from it.

If this isn’t clear now to most of those people who thought Trump was nearest thing to the second coming then it never will be. People will believe what they want and not even the obvious facts can dissuade them. Such was the case of the Cardiff giant hoax, one of the greatest hoaxes of the 19th century that P.T. Barnum was an accessory to.

In trying to get what seemed like otherwise intelligent people to believe the giant granite figure found unearthed on a farm in upper New York state was an impostor, Andrew Dickson White, co-founder of Cornell University discovered that “in spite of all scientific reasons to the contrary, the work was very generally accepted as a petrified human being of colossal size” by seemingly reasonable people. One “bright-looking lady”, White noted “was heard to declare, ‘Nothing in the world can ever make me believe that he was not once a living being. Why, you can see the veins in his legs.’” SOURCE

These are the kind of people today who will not allow themselves to be a victim of Trump’s hoax to gain notoriety for himself at the expense of their gullibility and whimsy. Nothing in the world can ever make them believe what Trump hyped about Obama’s American citizenship because they are zealots in the cause of hating everything Obama.

They, like Trump are unperturbed by how everyone else sees them because to such buffoons, it is everyone else who is lost and deceived with their “idol worship” for the Socialist Muslim. It is the rest of mankind that are blind to the fact that Obama has robbed us all of some ideal of theirs of the U.S. Presidency. The one singular difference between them and their own idol is that Donald Trump is laughing all the way to the bank while his supporters are left to find other ways to castigate Obama.

It wouldn’t surprise me if Trump were watching closely this next fabrication of theirs so he can once again swoop in to claim for himself that bit of false bravado that will keep him in the public eye and perhaps even generate a certain amount of revenue he can add to his perceived wealth. P.T. Barnum would be proud.

Posted by lbwoodgate in 2012 Presidential Elections, Society and Politics Tags: Andrew Dickson White, Barack Obama, Donald Trump, Obama's birth certificate, P.T. Barnum, Republican, Tea Party, The Apprentice, There's a sucker born every minute, Trump's ego

3 comments

Antibiotic Use by CAFOs Increases Our Health Care Costs

May 17, 2011

A subject I’m close to is one that affects how inhumanely we treat animals. Not only domestic pets but the farm animals who feed those of us who have yet converted to a vegan way of life.

I am a strong animal rights activists and donate routinely to the SPCA organization. You know, the one that shows those heart-breaking commercials of abused animals with those big dark sad eyes looking into the camera like those in this video: WARNING: Could evoke sympathy for the plight of abused animals

But I don’t get equally involved in the cruel way corporate factory farms treat cattle, pigs and chicken confined in CAFOs (confined animal feeding operations) as the they attempt to increase production by crowding more into pens and cages and using antibiotics in order to fatten them up quicker to get them to market. I do support some of those organizations who do fight this battle with their e-mail alerts and sign off on them to encourage those in our state and federal legislatures to combat the abuses that go on at these CAFOs. Sadly though, little is ever done because the support these legislators get from these corporate factory farms in terms of campaign donations has more sway over them than preventing the cruelty that occurs as these meat sources are processed.

And though the general public may be touched and angered upon hearing of such cruelty, little thought is given to it beyond that moment they are made aware of it. Most people are simply too busy with their own lives and in such economic hard times. Donating to such efforts isn’t practical nor are most consumers able to boycott such producers who process these low costs foods which are derived from these abused animals. More expensive open-range, organically fed meat sources simply are out of reach of many low and middle-income family budgets

Yet I wonder if more of us wouldn’t take that step to purchase these meat sources NOT raised in CAFOs if they were made aware that their health costs could subside significantly by going organic. In a recent UCS Earthwise newsletter I discovered that use of antibiotics on otherwise healthy animals in these CAFOs make up 80% of all antibiotic use in the U.S. The frequent use in these animals means they get past on to us as we consume these food products.

The Earthwise report notes that “these data are particularly distressing because many of the drugs used in CAFOs are needed to treat humans who get sick from bacterial infections. Doctors are increasingly frustrated in their efforts to treat such patients because numerous bacteria have developed a resistance to one or more antibiotics.”

The report further notes that a “recent study found that health care costs related to antibiotic resistance total between $16.6 million and $26 million annually. Parents fighting resistant infections are sick longer, and subjected to increasing powerful and more expensive drugs with more serious side effects.” (p. 3 Volume 13, #3)

If most people could make a connection between the toxic effects of such actions like this and the water and air-borne pollutants from industrial fossil fuel and chemical waste we ultimately absorb in our bodies and how it impacts our health, the costs of eliminating and finding alternatives to them might not be so frightening to those who think they can’t afford to do so.

There is some action being taken by more humanitarian legislators in the U.S. Congress to reduce the use of antibiotics on healthy animals. It’s called The Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act H.R. 965 and would “require the FDA to review its previous approvals of antibiotic use in animal feeds and cancel those found to be unsafe from a resistance standpoint.” The Bill is currently being referred to the Subcommittee on Health and has the backing of the AMA and American Academy of Pediatrics

Contact your Congress person and find out where they stand on this bill. Raise questions about the high cost of health care and how preventing such abuses with antibiotics could lower overall health care costs. See if you get a response that reflects a concern for their constituents or a hackneyed defense of why antibiotics at CAFOs “are necessary to promote needed food sources to supply a growing population”. Then ask “Do we want a population which will in effect have shorter, unhealthier life spans while having larger portions of their income drawn from them by health care providers and higher insurance premiums?”

Posted by lbwoodgate in Health Care Reform, Social Discourse Tags: animal cruelty, Animal rights, Animal welfare, Antibiotic resistance, CAFOs, Factory Farms, Food, Food and Drug Administration, Livestock

6 comments

In Memory of Those We’ve Lost

May 16, 2011

Something you have yet to see me talk about much here on my blog is my tour of duty in the Marines back in the late 60’s. Sometimes I think there is a bit too much military exhibitionism that displays itself by too much flag waving. I don’t begrudge those who make their service known but for those of us who saw the ugly side of war, there is something about being reserved in public that seems proper.

About half of my time served was spent overseas away from home and a lot of what I experienced in Vietnam is not something I want to share because like most people who have seen the ugly side of war, it’s not something we care to revive. No one relishes in the thought that they killed another human being or saw one of their own die tragically from being ripped apart by the weapons of war.

I saw very little combat compared to some so my experiences were less traumatic than the grunts who fight the close encounters with opposing forces. I may have seen none of the brutality of war had it not been that my deployment was timed just before the whole country exploded following the massive Tet offensive of January 1968.

But experiencing the death of another human being, whether they are the “enemy” or not makes us all aware that we are all the same on the battlefield; fathers, mothers, brothers, dads and wives who have family back home. Anyone who talks up a storm about their “battle” experiences probably never got close to one and usually filed paperwork safely back at headquarters. But even that job duty in the current wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are no longer safe where any suicide bomber can walk in and take out a large number of people.

I dropped out of high school in my junior year to enlist. That was May of 1966 and was honorably discharged following my tour of duty in Vietnam in December 1968. I had volunteered for service because I wanted to serve in Vietnam. I was caught up in the political saber-rattling of the time to stop Communism’s spread before it reached our shores. It would be a few years later when I educated myself about the causes that led to this war that created a hurt inside that my country had gone to war for less than honorable reasons, unlike that generation who fought in perhaps the last virtuous war we have engaged in to this day, the Second World War.

Men and women who have been in combat and risked their lives and seen their friends perish in battles are a part of brotherhood that is unlike any other I think. What my dad experienced in the jungles of Guadalcanal in WWII were similar in many ways to what I experienced in the jungles of Vietnam. Military combat troops become close when they encounter near death experiences that combat brings. The horrors of bodies being torn apart or even obliterated is psychologically devastating and the generation that fought in WWII saw such brutality on perhaps the largest scale ever.

The aging veterans of WWII are dying at a rate of 1000 each day and there is a move afoot to get as many of these survivors to the WWII memorial in Washington, D.C. before their time expires. The movement is simply referred to as Operation Resolve and is explained in this short clip.

I was moved by the three aging vets who are shown at the beginning of the film as they describe what it means to lose friends in war. It’s a feeling that is kept deep inside for years and when it is brought out, can be very emotional for those who have held it in all those years. I can identify with this emotion even though I lost no one close to me while serving in Vietnam.

There was a time nearly twenty years ago when a miniature of the Vietnam War Memorial was traveling around the country and stopped at a community just north of where I now live. My two other brothers and I went up to see it and as we looked at the many names on the wall my older brother reminded me of an acquaintance of his who died over there about the time I was serving. I knew this person and his family since we all went to the same Catholic Church and school when we were kids. We located his name in the register and found its location on the wall. I was surprised that I was overcome by grief when I saw and touched his name and broke down crying at the thought that this was someone who was a part of my life who died in that war I was also a part of.

The same emotion overcame me when watching the movie “Saving Private Ryan” at the end of the movie where the aging Ryan asks his wife in that cemetery where his comrades were buried if he was a good man, feeling remorse I suspect that he had survived while others he fought with had died. I wasn’t crying quite as hard as the younger man in front of me who most likely was a vet from the recent wars in Iraq or Afghanistan.

We are all connected, those of us who are sent to wars, and the memorials that have been erected are a way that we reconnect. I would love to see this movement succeed where every WWII veteran who wants to go gets to see that Memorial erected in honor of those friends they left buried over in Europe or the Pacific.

I am glad we can celebrate warriors without celebrating war. Wars are not glorious and should be avoided in every way possible. But people who fight them, though they might not always do so with conviction and heroics, are worthy of respect and recognition because they survive these holocausts they are sent to for whatever reason that is contrived. How much more meaningful for those who fought in WWII knowing that civilization as we knew it then may have perished had they not stepped up.

Posted by lbwoodgate in Social Discourse Tags: military sacrifice, national WWII Memorial, paying homage to those who served, Tet Offensive, United States, Vietnam, Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Washington D.C., World War II

4 comments

Why Can’t We Fix What Needs Fixing?

May 14, 2011

The ability to repair Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid is more a matter of will and compassion, not know-how.

If we’ve heard it once we’ve heard it a hundred times. “If we can send a man to the moon why can’t we fix ________”? – fill in the blank. This of course is the American know-how to get difficult things done. But this reference to the space program is a micro look at making things happen compared to more grander, complex issues that need fixing. Case in point: Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid.

The news from the Social Security Administration this week comes as no surprise but is bleak none the less and indicates a failure on our part that the “can-do” spirit that created the means to propel men past earth’s gravity and reach the surface of the moon over 40 years ago is somehow sputtering. According to the SSA:

The financial conditions of the Social Security and Medicare programs remain challenging. Projected long-run program costs for both Medicare and Social Security are not sustainable under currently scheduled financing, and will require legislative modifications if disruptive consequences for beneficiaries and taxpayers are to be avoided. SOURCE

It’s less clear that this problem with one of the most successful and necessary federally funded programs can be easily fixed than it is on how to deal with those who deem it unsuccessful and unnecessary and obstruct the ability to make necessary corrections to it; corrections that require those better off in our economy to pony up some of the excesses gained through measures that left the rest of us with lower incomes or none at all. With more demands being put on these programs due to retiring baby boomers and a higher rate of jobless people due to the Recession, payments at current levels cannot be sustained as long as they were earlier estimated to do.

Medicare’s Hospital Insurance Trust Fund – which pays for hospital, home health, skilled nursing and hospice care for the elderly and disabled – will run out of money in 2024. That’s five years earlier than last year’s trustees report projected.

Social Security has enough cash to cover benefits for 25 more years, but will become insolvent in 2036 when revenue no longer will cover full benefit payments. Last year’s trustee report projected the Social Security Trust Fund would go broke in 2037. Longer life expectancy was the main cause of the year-to-year change. SOURCE

The efforts needed to address this issue are continually being kicked down the road, primarily by conservative forces in Congress and the private sector who feel such programs are not the responsibility of the government. Yet the fact that they exist at all is clear evidence that the free market system in this country has failed to address the needs of millions, who for reasons not always under their control, are unable to provide for the aging and health issues that are expensed beyond the reach of many seniors , poor families with children and those with mental and physical disabilities.

Clearly we have a moral obligation to “help the least of those” amongst us. This fundamental view is inherent in a religious philosophy by some who claim that America is a Christian nation. It’s always been a part of the idealistic view that neighbors help neighbors in times of strife; a view held by many of those conservative-oriented people who are often the obstructing force in establishing and sustaining social programs that help their neighbors.

These humanitarian views evolved from a time when there were fewer people who required our help and where aid was often nothing more than meeting basic needs of food, clothing and shelter. Incorporated within these noble gestures was the understanding that this assistance was intended to get people by until they could get back on their feet unless of course your age or physical condition worked against this.

Families worked together within their small tribal existences to care for the elderly. children and disabled. Seldom if ever do we hear of cultures that wrote these people off or assumed they could fend for themselves. But this idea is being stretched as we ask people to express the same concern for their fellow human beings who they will never come into contact with. The idea that small clannish concerns could be extended beyond this level were never really considered because up until the Industrial Revolution some 250 years ago populations trends were pretty much the same as they had been for centuries.

With the means of production creating more abundance for people, life expectancies increased and populations began to grow exponentially. And with this growth came the same conditions that required a certain amount of care for the least powerful within society to survive. Though opportunities abounded and still do, not everyone can be expected to achieve financial success on their own. The need to help certain groups still exists but at a greater level that apparently hasn’t settled in with many who had no trouble with it on the smaller scale.

We cannot ignore that if we are still expected to live up to those values we once held so high that we must be willing to invent and carry out a process that achieves this in this newer age. That is what we have done with the creation of Social Security in the 1930’s and later in the 1960’s for Medicare and Medicaid. These systems still basically require us to share a portion of our financial resources, time and energy to care for those who simply cannot do it alone.

In order to do this we must have a large enough structure in place to meet the demands of this need. There exist none in the private sector. The private sector is more wrapped up into the self-interest philosophies of market capitalism. Entailed in this philosophy is the essential driving force of making a profit. Clearly there are no profit motives in monetary terms that encourage people to help others who cannot pay them for their time and services. Thankfully though we do have a structure in place with a certain mandate to provide for the “general welfare” of those people who fall outside of self-interest concerns found within the private sector.

The government is essentially there to insure security and economic progress for its citizens but unless there is also a system in place to provide for the education and good health of all of its citizens, prosperity becomes a task more difficult and more expensive for all of us. Unless we lose our moral compass and simply refuse to help those at a meaningful level who need our assistance we have to take necessary steps to ensure that those who have depended on us historically as family and neighbors are still taken care of.

The means to address shortfalls with Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid can be found in revenue sources. With more people out of work now the loss of tax revenue hurts our ability to sustain these programs at current levels. That means the more wealthier should be called on to alleviate our shortfalls until more prosperous times return. The sacrifice this entails for this income group does not diminish their ability to provide adequately and sufficiently for themselves and their families.

Spending cuts should be viewed only in terms of their effect on how they do or don’t remove basic needs of adequate health care and nutrition. Go after those who abuse these programs to line their own pockets. Ask the wealthiest who have ample pension retirement funds to forego the services of these programs aimed to help the poorest of the poor. Billions could be saved here to correct the projected deficiencies the SSA speaks to.

Seniors shouldn’t be forced to forgo necessary medications to sustain their health and children shouldn’t be expected to survive and fully develop without adequate nutrition and education. Nor should the disabled be expected to sit in some facility out of sight and waste away and until they are robbed of their will to live.

That same can-do spirit that enabled this nation to become one of the most economically successful and powerful nations in the world still resides within us. But we need to confront the reality that our social structures are not what they were a couple of centuries ago. Life expectancies are now greater than they were because of advances with medicine and nutritional food production processes. If we are to be a society that truly values every life then we must take the necessary action to promote that life and enable it to contribute to our continued success.

Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid are now the manifestation of our compassionate actions that existed when we lived in small tribes and when essentials were fewer. If we come to the conclusion that our culture can only advance by methods that were adequate for tribal living then we are setting ourselves up for failure. We need that continued concern for the least powerful amongst us if we wish to claim we are a civilized society. This will of course entail some sacrifices by those better able to handle it in tough economic times.

Rather than complaining about what it’s going to cost in terms of our own personal treasures let’s look at what it’s going to cost us in terms of moral integrity if we don’t meet the challenges needed to sustain Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid. There are doable plans out there where minimal sacrifices will allow us to keep these social programs viable for future generations. We just need to get past that belief that this is bigger than we can deal with. If we don’t then the systems of belief that advanced us to this point are no longer meaningful and become hypocritical when compared to our actions.

Posted by lbwoodgate in Budget Crisis, Health Care Reform, seniors/aging, Society and Politics Tags: Disability, fixing Medicare, fixing social security, Medicare, moral responsibility, social safety nets, Social Security, Social Security Administration, Social Security Trust Fund

22 comments

Left vs. Right: The Inhibitive Affect of Extreme Views

May 12, 2011

Today’s blog was inspired by fellow blogger spinnyliberal in her piece “Sometimes the Base Drives Me Crazy”. It struck a nerve with me as perhaps it has with other political junkies who are aware that amongst us are fringe elements that make the rest of us look out of step with reality. I can’t count the number of times I’ve been accused by conservatives of holding “liberal views” that were real or imagined, but that I shared no part with.

Spinny’s issue is with her objection for allowing federal funding being used for abortions except in the case of rape, incest or the mother’s safety. This created some flak from those on the ultra-liberal blog, The Daily Kos, where she made this belief known. It is taken as gospel by many on the Left that federal funding for abortion is acceptable across the board and so spinny felt some extremist wrath as she was called a “troll” or “not a very good Liberal” by people who she would likely be in agreement with on most other issues.

I think all Liberals and a lot of moderates were outraged at the Supreme Court’s decision to stop the Florida vote count in 2000 and by default put what now appears to have been the more incompetent man in the most powerful seat in the world. Eight years later we’ve had an economy that’s been this nation’s worst since the Great Depression partly as a result of taking a budget surplus and turning it into an historical deficit at the time by borrowing money to pay for two wars, tax cuts for the wealthiest 2% and the Big Pharma-friendly prescription drug bill.

Our image abroad has perhaps been damaged beyond repair by the imperialistic attitude of Bush and Cheney and the corporate friendly legislation that was railroaded through GOP majorities in the House and Senate has created the widest income gap in our history between the haves and have-nots.

The anger that this aroused in many Liberals took a direction for some that still today lives in the vitriol that they can sling at people like spinny, who is in their own camp, but who disagrees with a popular liberal view. It’s much like the Tea Party who represents a right-wing reaction to conservatives who would dare compromise with the opposition Party. Somehow the notion that we must dig our heals in and oppose anything that seems to align with the other ideologies out there has overridden a sensible approach to creating bridges for that which divides us.

I know most who engage in serious political activity often get inundated with e-mails from political action committees that urge us frantically to act and donate now to “stop the terrible destructive actions” of our political adversaries. The pressure is great for those of us on the Left because there is still that sense that we must never again fail to prevent groups like the neoconservatives who did serious damage to that part of our government that serves the general welfare while opening the floodgates for war profiteers and their like.

Over the last few years I have learned to shut out such pressure from these liberal groups, primarily because I only have so much financial resources, time and energy to give. Like the pressure I get from legitimate charities I have to pick and choose those interest I not only feel are more important than others but are the ones I know the most about and can defend in a rational debate with those who hold an opposing view.

For me there are basically three areas that I focus on and give of my money and time to promote – the effects of man-made global warming from fossil fuel use, health care and since I am now at that age, the needs of the elderly. In a lot of ways they are related and by fixing these I feel we can also fix many of the other important areas like job creation, increased income for middle class families and education.

But defending them often runs up against concerns raised by opponents who feel that the free market should address these issues and that governments should steer clear. To many people the notion that government is more bad than good and tends to be the source of our problems is an idea that has some legitimacy. Yet there is a case to be made that governments can equally serve our social and economic needs as it works with free market to achieve a balance where more people benefit than if they depended solely on capitalism or pure socialism.

Liberals tend to support a “good government” philosophy while conservatives fear more an over reach by government. The radicals within both mainstream ideologies lock into their worst fears of the other and draw lines in the sand that no one should cross or even consider as a meeting point.

I have come to learn that no one ideology has the all the answers. We need to rethink what is most basic to our survival and utilize that brain trust from all perspectives who share a common goal that is realistic and attainable.

“Humanity is our business” Ebenezer Scrooge told others after he became aware that self-interests are the most hurtful to even those who seem to have it all. Our views on how we achieve this may be disparate but ultimately our goal should be to work towards a healthier, nourished and peaceful world.

Sometimes that may entail a little generosity on the part of those who have more to give and sometimes it requires a willingness by hardliners to extend a level of trust where none existed before. But always our focus should be to establish a process by which each truly has the opportunity to provide for themselves.

A give and take on both sides needs to occur routinely to achieve this. Too often we get stuck on issues we decide will hurt us rather than allowing sensible efforts we are uncertain or suspicious of to move forward and make changes as circumstances dictate.

In spinny’s case I would defend her right to hold the view she does and challenge those who would berate her by asking, “What can you do to ensure that any woman doesn’t have to face the painful decision to abort an unwanted pregnancy?” It ought to be clear to everyone that we haven’t allowed federal funds for abortions since 1976. Yet both sides feel this isn’t sufficient, where one side wants to include federal funding for all abortions and the other doesn’t want the right for this choice to exist at all.

If we listened more to each other and spoke respectfully to all views it’s possible that we could distance ourselves from the narrow-minded people at both extremes that hold us back as a civilization? Let’s be honest. The haters will always be there. I’d like to think however that our cynicism has not reached a level yet that inhibits our social evolution, or worse, kicks it into reverse.

Spinny did the right thing by standing up to what she felt was an assault on reason even with those she shares much with. We all need to do that more so some of those extremists will come around to a more amenable approach of working with their perceived enemies or else face the possibility of fading away as an ineffectual group.

Posted by lbwoodgate in Society and Politics Tags: Abortion, Conservatism, creating political barriers, Daily Kos, Ebenezer Scrooge, extremist in politics, GOP, Great Depression, Liberalism, political differences, Politics, radicals

8 comments

Crazy in Texas

May 11, 2011

Like native Texan Gary Busey, the state of Texas has gone from an enviable position of having a lot going for it to one where it has people wondering what gutter we rolled out of.

It appears fellow liberal Texas blogger Neil Aquino and I were on the same thought wave for a blog today but Neil got his on-line first at his Texas Liberal website. So rather than duplicate some of what Neil’s said about the sorry state of Texas politics I‘ll just latch onto his and offer examples of why the Red State mentality here in Texas is the butt of jokes around the country

Texas is one of the top five states that has the highest per capita incarceration rates, has one of the higher rates of churches per capita with the city of Lubbock having “more churches per capita than any other place in the nation” and the highest rate of uninsured citizens. All that worshipping and nothing to show for it but unhealthy people and a large criminal base.

Texas has the highest number of public school districts and the 2nd highest enrollment rate in the nation, yet it ranks near the bottom with verbal and math SAT scores. It also has less nationally recognized research institutions than other populous states and has only one private institution, Rice University, ranked among the nation’s top 50. SOURCE

I really do love my home state and was once typical of the braggart Texan that so many other Americans ridiculed, or as most Texans felt, were just simply jealous of. But the migration of ultra-conservatives to this state beginning in the late 80’s and early nineties has changed the populist character of this state to one where radical fringe groups now predominate and anti-intellectualism exceeds anything ever seen here before.

There use to be a comfortable coexistence between homespun conservative thought and progressive grass-roots democracy in this state, with conservatives for the most part being the stronger of the two. But it was a conservative type that was anything but anti-intellectual for the most part; one with a comprehensible view of things. That no longer exists and instead we have what appears to be the result of the insane asylum occupants being released and taking over the cultural and political leadership roles in the state.

Examples of mindless prattle from the wing-nuts in this state abound and many can be found in the Letters to the Editor column in our local newspaper,the Denton Record-Chronicle. In just the last couple of days some of my fellow Dentonites, who claim to be American (I’ll just have to take them at their word on that) have spouted off some of the worst ruminations that, if one didn’t know better, would have thought came from a 3rd grader.

There’s a couple of characters who constantly begin their tirades with chicken little rantings about how the world is going to hell in a hand basket and it all started when Obama and the Democrats wrested control from the Republicans a couple of years ago. All the ugly budgets numbers are thrown out there and the likely consequences that will affect future generations if we don’t get them under control NOW.

I’ve been reading and contributing to this editorial page for years and I do not recall a single lamenting comment from the likes of these people when their Party of preference took a trillion-dollar deficit under Clinton and turned it into a $500 billion deficit in 4 short years. But this is politics as usual. What continues to amaze me is how Obama can do nothing right in the eyes of these people, even when he does.

Here in Texas they’ve been going after what would normally be viewed as a positive thing – the killing of the outlaw Osama bin Laden. Yet one contributor chastised the President who made this call while sitting “safely and comfortably in the Situation Room, living vicariously while SEALs eliminate Mr. bin Laden.” He then goes on to complain that our mission in Libya looks more like a personal attack on Muammar Gaddafi than protecting innocent civilians. Would many people in Obama’s position that night have had the courage to send those SEALS into harms way knowing in all likelihood some if not most of them may not make it out? And when did Gaddafi take on a certain glow with these weirdos? After Reagan sent his missile strike to kill this North African dictator and terrorist promoter back in 1986?

Remember the “shock and awe” campaign Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld boasted about as they began their war in Iraq, where bombs destroyed numerous buildings thought to house Saddam Hussein but killed more innocent civilians than military personnel? Clearly this modern day right-wing peace-nik in his assault on Obama has changed from one that a few short years ago would have viewed our actions in Libya as the hazards of war and what some euphemistically refer to as “collateral damage”.

And how are we supposed to take these unbelievable comments from this writer; “Is anyone godlike enough to know who is in hell? And why would the editorial stoop so low as to call Donald Trump a ‘blowhard’?” The first comment refers to Obama’s reference to bin Laden’s new location after the bullet-to-the-head shot and the latter comment was in reference to an excellent editorial in the Record-Chronicle about the idiocy of the birther King. If there really is a hell, why would any bible-thumpin’, red-neck Texan think bin Laden was not there and who other than a blowhard would think Donald Trump is not one?

On the same page, the very same day is another fellow Dentonite who clearly demonstrates that he gets all of his misinformation from the FOX cable airheads. Here’s my interpretation of how he gets things wrong. You be the judge:

Obama has cancelled all oil drilling in the Gulf and is opposed to drilling anywhere in the U.S.
Despite making record profits, oil companies must have tax payer subsidies to keep cheap gas at the pumps
Subsidizing new start-up businesses is the same thing as subsidizing highly profitable ones. Also, federal outlays to help low-income people with health insurance and nutritional meals for their children is equal to subsidizing very wealthy corporations who use our taxpayer dollars to pay share holder dividends and executive bonuses.
A lot of G.E.’s profits last year came from selling CFLs
Bush is not to be held accountable at all for our current economic mess.

It’s usually only one day a week that the insanity is published in the Letters column but it seems we were cursed with one more irrational thought in today’s pages. A former police officer who I have known slightly in the past and who is now retired contributes regularly to the editorial pages. And though most of his conservative views differ from my progressive perceptions, his thoughts and comments are usually cogent and reasonable.

As a law officer I have to appreciate the man’s concern for justice being properly dispensed in all situations but there are of course exceptions to this norm and in the case of Osama bin Laden, I think most people would agree that his is an exceptional case. Yet this writer wants us to believe that the President has committed an impeachable offense by killing the man responsible for the deaths of some 3000 innocent Americans on that September morning back in 2001.

The retired police officer, Tillman Uland, complains that due process was not extended to bin Laden and that his killing was illegal. This from a man who supported Bush’s invasion of Iraq to get one man who never posed a direct threat to the U.S. and who told all America that bin Laden must be brought to justice “dead or alive”. Many innocent Iraqis died in George Bush’s attempt to get even with the man who tried to assassinate his father years earlier, yet I don’t recall seeing a similar letter from Mr. Uland on the editorial page of the Record-Chronicle calling for Bush Jr.’s impeachment for the many war crimes he has been accused of.

Clearly, perception is reality for many people and there is no exception to this premise by those on the Right. But the reality that often comes across from these people is one that is unfamiliar with most of us, unless of course you were ensconced in an insane asylum at one time. Is it any wonder then that we see bizarre laws that lowers prices on cancer causing tobacco from tax cuts and offering deeper tax cuts on yachts while school districts in this state have to fire teachers and crowd more students into classrooms for lack of funding?

It’s not easy to ignore jokes about Texas as I was able to at one time thinking the joke-makers were just jealous of what we truly had in this state. Now I have to shrug and simply nod agreeably that there are indeed clowns in this state that have some of us envying those who live in Mississippi.

Posted by lbwoodgate in Texas/Local stories Tags: Barack Obama, Denton Record-Chronicle, fanatics, George W. Bush, Osama bin Laden, Politics, Republican, seccesionists, Texas, Texas conservatives, texas crazy

14 comments

Creating the “Everyman” Fantasy Lulls Voters into a False Sense of Security

May 10, 2011

Lately I found myself thinking again how the GOP had fooled many again as they duped voters to vote for them in 2010 with the idea they would correct much of what they created themselves, unemployment and financial ruin for millions of working Americans. Their Pledge to America emphasized jobs and deficit reduction. The jobs situation was a real concern where the deficit problem was more a manufactured one that Republicans have successfully connected to unemployment in the minds of some voters.

Sure, there is a serious deficit issue but there has been for years but this may not be the time to ignore unemployment with the false notion that lowering our debt will make the bogeyman go away anytime soon.

In their Pledge to America, Republicans and Tea Partiers had a whopping four item plan to restore jobs. They have ticked off two and claim they are still fighting to achieve the other two.

The two items they’ve claimed victory for are keeping tax cuts for the wealthiest 2% and the overbearing, job killing mandate where the IRS would require businesses to report any purchases over $600. Say what? Elimination of all that added IRS paperwork is going to create jobs swiftly, how?

They don’t mention that the Democrats were ready to approve extending the Bush tax cuts for 98% of American tax payers and how the GOP refused to allow that many Americans to benefit from this unless they could bring their millionaires and billionaires buddies along too. Who says Republicans are unfeeling?

One of the two “job creating” ideas that they have yet been able to get past the talking stages is what they refer to as “reining in red tape”. The only other one is allowing small business owners to take a tax deduction equal to 20 percent of their business income. Killing red tape boils down to Congressional approval of any federal regulation that has an annual cost to our economy of $100 million or more. It really isn’t all that clear how this is a job creator in the near term but then you expected a rational plan of action from a Party who spent and borrowed us out of a $1 trillion surplus into a $500 billion deficit in four short years? And as for that small business tax deduction, well … there still working on that one.

In cutting deficits they have achieved the following:

With the passage of H.Res. 22, House Republicans saved $35 million annually by cutting their in-house spending by 5%

That’s it. They do have some “bold pans” to cut billions more but that has run into a voter backlash as they attempt to cut most spending in areas that affect our most vulnerable citizens. But be patient. Remember those extended tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires? The trickle down effect ought to be kicking in any decade now.

Let’s look at what the GOP House has passed on deficits. One bill eliminates federal grants to states to set up health insurance exchanges and another would repeal a section in the 2010 health care bill providing funding for the construction of school-based health centers. Notice these are areas that impact low-income families with children and the elderly on fixed incomes.

If your saying to yourself, where’s the cuts in a bloated defense budget and elimination of federal subsidies to profitable oil companies, don’t hold your breath on such sacrifices coming from the wealthy sector of the American economy. Besides, Republicans and Tea Partiers are too busy passing redundant legislation that anti-abortionists activists have clamored for. The bill that has taken up a lot of their time is one that doesn’t allow federal funds to go towards any abortion except in the case of rape, incest or danger to the woman’s life; pretty much what the Hyde amendment has been in force to do since 1976. Jobs, schmobs. They’ll get it done at their own pace.

Not only have GOP conservatives and Tea Partiers done nothing to effectively create jobs, they have boondoggled legislation that takes from the weakest and neediest while sustaining those advantages for the wealthiest whose drive for many of them to satisfy their own self-interest made them even richer as people’s health care, wages and homes were taken from them.

Once again I am amazed how so many voters keep voting against their own self-interest. Part of it lies in an ideal that if it ever existed at all, it did during a brief time when the nation was rapidly expanding its economic base back in the early 19th century. An article by Chrystia Freeland best describes the mentality of Americans who just can’t let go of the myth that there really is a shot for them at being the next millionaire in this country with just a little “grit and gumption”.

“Aside from faith in American national excellence, the other main reason Americans seem so unperturbed by the widening chasm between the rich and everyone else is what I like to call the lottery effect”, Freeland asserts. It’s an irrational act but one that many believe will bestow “fabulous rewards on the Everyman”

“[T]he problem with lotteries”, Freeland reminds us “is that there are only a few winners. That is the story the numbers tell us about American capitalism today — and unless that underlying reality changes, [many will realize too late that] they live in a winner-take-all society, and that most of us aren’t winning.”

The GOP capitalizes on this fantasy and as long as they can we will continue to put them in positions of power that props up the wealthiest with a false narrative that “everyman” has an equal opportunity.

No Money for the Unemployed but Plenty for a GOP Lawyer (woodgatesview.wordpress.com)
A Real Path to Prosperity (woodgatesview.wordpress.com)

Posted by lbwoodgate in 2012 Presidential Elections, Budget Crisis, Jobs, Society and Politics Tags: american dream myth, Barack Obama, Chrystia Freeland, Deficit, deficit reduction, GOP, income gap, job creation, Tea Party, unemployment, United States

3 comments

Bogus Anti-Tax Ad Opposes Big Oil Subsidy Elimination

May 9, 2011

There’s a new $1.25 million television, radio, and online advertising campaign making the rounds with misinformation intended to stave off efforts by grass-roots organizations and those in Congress who are trying to eliminate the billions in government give aways to big oil.

In their current ad, the National Taxpayers Union (NTU) is suggesting that energy companies are facing threats of “new taxes” and relying on “foreign oil” to address our energy crisis, a crisis that has become more apparent since higher gas prices at the pump have arrived. What struck me odd about this ad was it’s claim about new taxes being proposed in Congress for the oil industry. My suspicions were confirmed when I did a little back ground check on NTU and what their comments in this were based on.

To call these “new taxes” is laughable unless you use fantastic stretches of the imagination. The oil subsidies Congress allows for Big Oil have become more public recently. They are part of some 7 year-old legislation that was intended to provide tax breaks for many companies for use in building and strengthening their businesses.

It’s a tax break created in 2004 under the Bush White House that essentially was intended to help start-up companies and to keep existing companies competitive during tough economic times. Unfortunately, such government largesse can continue when businesses become highly profitable and no longer need them. Apparently there was no wording in the legislation this came from, section 199 of the American Jobs Creations Act of 2004, that would trigger a need to stop them at a certain point.

The claim by the NTU ad on this is woefully misleading. At a time when major oil companies are making historic profits and gas prices for consumers are also at historical highs, there is no longer a need to use taxpayer money to prop up this corporate special interest. Removing these subsidies for profitable oil companies is not likely to have any direct impact on lowering gas prices but it is money that can be redirected either to lower the deficit or be applied to other start-up businesses that do need it, such as clean, renewable energy systems like solar and wind turbines.

The NTU ad also makes the bogus argument that this “tax increase” will affect consumer prices and jobs. This is a typical scare tactic by the industry to affect people on what most concerns them – their job and their paycheck. Yet the only way this increases the costs of good and services for oil and oil-related products is if the industry refuses to pass this revenue adjustment on to their historically high profits rather than on to the consumer. If they are unwilling to help control costs for most Americans during these tough economic times by ensuring that their stock holders don’t suffer, it is disingenuous to blame this on efforts to remove a tax payer gift as a source of these cost increases.

When industries complain about losing their tax credits and how it will affect consumer prices they fail to mention that their tax credit was in effect a “cost increase”. When we lose Treasury revenue through tax cuts and tax credits, the bills and interest on the national debt still need to be paid and that means someone else has to shoulder that responsibility. That “someone else” is usually American working families

Many entrepreneurs benefit from this deduction as they produce products that create jobs. But there are other large profitable companies who, like the oil industry, no longer depend on it to stay competitive. Corporate profits from agribusiness are enhanced with this deduction to the tune of $4.9 billion each year. No doubt G.E used this tax write off that allowed them in all likelihood to pay little to no taxes and perhaps even get some back in the form of a “tax benefit”.

And lastly, perhaps the most blatant distortion/deception of the ad was NTU’s claim that the White House has “banned production on most American oil and gas, costing the U.S. billions, and making us more dependent on foreign oil”. The banned oil production myth was dispelled shortly after Michelle Bachman falsely claimed this at CPAC earlier this year.

At that convention Bachman said that only ONE new drilling permit had been allowed “under the Obama administration since they came into office.” The truth, as Politifact.com’s checkers found out, is that 39 shallow-water permits for new wells have been issued since June 8, 2010 and “six deepwater well permits issued since Oct. 12, 2010, when the gulf moratorium was lifted. Five of those were for projects that were under way prior to the moratorium.” If that claim is inaccurate, which it is, then that would most likely mean the claim that it was “costing the U.S. billions” is also not very credible.

The sad part is that we do have to buy foreign oil but not because our own oil production rates and capabilities are down or ineffective. It has more to do with the fact that we simply don’t own enough of the world’s oil reserves to meet our economic needs. We possess as a nation only 3% of global oil reserves yet use nearly 25% of that global total. Thus out of necessity we depend on oil from other “foreign sources”.

Some of those foreign sources are not on our “A” list of friends like Iran, Venezuela and Saudi Arabia. But people like Brazil and Canada are, so Obama’s claim in the ad about wanting “to be a major customer” of Brazil’s oil is a good thing, not one we should become irate over. If you want to get irate over something try getting mad about the support many in Congress continue to give the fossil fuel industry in comparison to the renewable energy sources that ultimately will carry us into the 21st century.

NTU has been around for about 40 years. It seeks to reduce taxes across the board but has often aligned itself with corporate interests like Big Tobacco’s Phillip Morris. According to Sourcewatch.org a “1991 Philip Morris Communications presentation indicates the company’s intent to utilize its corporate Contributions Program to develop NTU as a ‘strategic vehicle’ to advance PM’s corporate objectives”. Grover Norquist was also associated with NTU in its beginning years. Norquist is the head of his own tax reform organization, Americans for Tax Reform, that works religiously to eliminate social welfare programs like Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid as well as eliminating taxes that solely benefit the wealthiest 2% in this country.

NTU’s ad is only one example of corporate friendly political ads that get away with information intended solely to distort the reality and gain public support for wealthy self-interests. I would love to see a true grassroots ad campaign that would have rapid response ads to such distortions but the amount of money needed to fund such efforts often falls way short of the $1.25 million that corporate-funded organizations like the National Taxpayers Union collected for this recent misrepresentation.

Related Article:

Big Oil’s Good Deal

Posted by lbwoodgate in Budget Crisis, Business/Jobs, Energy Tags: Big Oil subsidies, Big Tobacco, energy costs, National Taxpayers Union, oil consumption vs. oil production, Petroleum industry, record oil profits, Subsidy, u.s. oil reserves, United States Congress

11 comments

New Texas Pre-abortion Law Needs Balance

May 7, 2011

It should avail both views of giving birth for women who have unwanted pregnancies.

“EL PASO, Texas — A new Texas law is waiting to go into effect after it is signed by Governor Perry that will require doctors to perform a sonogram at least 24 hours before a woman gets an abortion. Once the doctor conducts the sonogram the woman are at the very least mandated to listen to the physician “describe what the sonogram shows, including the existence of legs, arms and internal organs.”

The opposition says this instills guilt into women and may force them to have an unwanted child but supporters like Dolores Sambrano, of west El Paso. says it is intended to prevent women from making “rash decisions”

“I don’t think it forces them into having children, but it definitely makes them think about it rather than making a decision and then just quickly going into it, it gives them a little more time for it to sink in,” said Dolores Sambrano, of west El Paso.

“Women are going to do what they are going to do,” Sambrano says, “but at least it gives somebody a last chance to think it over, so it’s probably a good thing,” she said.” SOURCE (paraphrased)

Is this not a clear example of government over-reach; something conservatives Tea Party types rail against in this country? How much different is this from what many on the right opposed about the public mandate with the health care reform bill? Either way it looks like the nanny state dictating private behavior.

Why is a moral issue seen as legitimate territory by the religious right where governments should intervene? Shouldn’t they be as concerned when it comes to the health and safety of its citizens from toxic pollutants being emitted into our air and water instead of fighting a government oversight agency (the EPA) to reduce these health risks?

I don’t berate anti-abortion people who feel as they do because there may indeed be those women who don’t think their decisions out clearly before seeking an abortion. But I do berate them for looking too dismissively at the conditions why some women honestly feel they have a right to end an unwanted pregnancy.

The 14, 15 or 16-year old student who was overcome by her more aggressive boyfriend, or worse, taken advantage of by a trusting uncle or brother is now forced to alter her young life to meet the needs of a child she wasn’t ready for. Instead of finding ways to prevent unwanted pregnancies, so-called pro-life advocates are working to eliminate existing rights for women who seek legitimate abortions.

The U.S. House recently passed the redundant HR3 legislation that reiterates what’s already on the books about providing no federal funding for abortions. They ran on the deficit and job creation last fall but so far have generated nothing on job creation while proposing a budget plan the seeks to put the burden on the elderly and low-income families. While large corporations have been provided the means through tax loopholes to pay no taxes, low-income women and young girls are being victimized by the GOP for terminating pregnancies they are ill-prepared to handle.

Lacking a Balanced Perspective

The anti-abortion crowd are always ready to cite case studies of those women who changed their mind at the last moment to terminate their pregnancy, expressing gratitude and satisfaction for choosing life. I suspect most of these are honest testimonials. Yet there are never any examples of those young women pressured to go full term with the pregnancies and how it negatively affected not only their lives but the unwanted child they were pressured into bringing into society. There has to be an equal or greater amount of these stories and yet the silence regarding such women is all to apparent.

There is also the hypocrisy of “pro-lifers” who are guilty of violating their own beliefs about abortions because they convince themselves that their unwanted pregnancies are unique.

In the spring of 2000, Joyce Arthur with the Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada collected numerous anecdotes directly from abortion doctors and other clinic staff in North America, Australia, and Europe that presented stories in the providers’ own words about women who would stand on anti-abortion picket lines the day after attending that very abortion clinic to terminate their own unwanted pregnancy. Two such stories expose the twisted mindset of many who punish women for decisions they make about their lives when faced with an unwanted pregnancy:

“I have done several abortions on women who have regularly picketed my clinics, including a 16 year old schoolgirl who came back to picket the day after her abortion, about three years ago. During her whole stay at the clinic, we felt that she was not quite right, but there were no real warning bells. She insisted that the abortion was her idea and assured us that all was OK. She went through the procedure very smoothly and was discharged with no problems. A quite routine operation. Next morning she was with her mother and several school mates in front of the clinic with the usual anti posters and chants. It appears that she got the abortion she needed and still displayed the appropriate anti views expected of her by her parents, teachers, and peers.” (Physician, Australia)

“I’ve had several cases over the years in which the anti-abortion patient had rationalized in one way or another that her case was the only exception, but the one that really made an impression was the college senior who was the president of her campus Right-to-Life organization, meaning that she had worked very hard in that organization for several years. As I was completing her procedure, I asked what she planned to do about her high office in the RTL organization. Her response was a wide-eyed, ‘You’re not going to tell them, are you!?’ When assured that I was not, she breathed a sigh of relief, explaining how important that position was to her and how she wouldn’t want this to interfere with it.” (Physician, Texas) SOURCE

You won’t hear about such women from El Paso Representative Dolores Sambrano or any other legislator that supported this bill, including Governor Perry. These stories are testimony to the fact that the stress of having an unplanned pregnancy overwhelms young women who have laid out their futures that didn’t include motherhood at an early age. Yet thanks to many anti-abortion zealots this stress will be increased as women now are forced to listen to information intended to make them feel guilty about their condition.

The belief put out there by the likes of Rep. Sambrano that has forced this legislation onto Texas women is an age-old one that claims that all, “or a large percentage of, women who have abortions of their own free choice will have subsequent serious psychological/emotional problems directly caused by the abortions”. Yet one abortion provider (who clearly wishes to remain anonymous) informs us that “Extensive surveys and objective psychological studies have firmly established that the vast majority of women who have had abortions adjust well and absolutely do not subsequently suffer significant psychological or emotional problems”. SOURCE

I offer the comments by Joyce Arthur and the anonymous doctor not as proof positive that anti-abortion activist are wrong in their take on this critical issue but that their view is only part of the narrative that too often gets heard over those other legitimate views

Solomonesque Action Required

People have a right to address how their tax dollars are spent but do we always have to be subjected to the rule of a majority? Surely we have the capacity to look at each social policy and weigh its pros and cons and allow room for those who favor one over another to see some of their tax money go to those policies they support. Divide the revenue proportionately to the vote in legislative bodies or along public poll numbers that reflect the will of the people. I don’t always like what the majority chooses to spend my tax money on but neither do I like that they get to decide what it CAN’T be spent on.

The majority are not always on the right side of history and when it comes to actual preferences most within majorities simply want to “live and let live” and not impose their will on others. But not political and religious extremists like the majority in our state legislature. These people panic and draw unfounded conclusions that some how traditional ways of life are threatened if you make room for non-traditional ones. This suggests that “traditional” values are only as strong as those who favor them yet fear that others who disagree with them might alter their views.

The least the government over-reachers can do to balance out this invasion of privacy into the lives of often vulnerable and naive women is to point out what the consequences are if they DO choose to have the child.

These women, after being forced to watch a sonogram of their unborn embryo, should then be queried as to whether they understand and are willing to give most of their young lives to nurture these children and make them socially responsible to enter into society. Do they understand that unless they have wealthy parents or have inherited a large some of money that they must now put their education on hold and find work to feed, clothe and house this new baby. Are women who have unwanted pregnancies willing to devote long hours, large portions of a meager income and do everything in their power to raise responsible children after guiltily choosing life for their embryo?

I suspect that this perspective will not be part of any legislation pushed by the religious right because then that “rash decision” Rep. Sambrano was so concerned about will now have a logical element to it that may have negative consequences for hers and other’s subjective efforts to prevent abortions.

Posted by lbwoodgate in Education, Religion/Science, Society and Politics, Texas/Local stories Tags: Abortion, forced sex, GOP, government over-reach, Physician, pro-life, Republicans, sonograms, teen pregnancies, Texas, Unintended pregnancy

6 comments

Monthly Archives: May 2011

Trump to the Tea Party – “Thanks Suckers”

Left vs. Right: The Inhibitive Affect of Extreme Views

Crazy in Texas

Creating the “Everyman” Fantasy Lulls Voters into a False Sense of Security

Bogus Anti-Tax Ad Opposes Big Oil Subsidy Elimination

New Texas Pre-abortion Law Needs Balance

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