9/12-ERS, TEAPARTY AND FREEDOMWORKS FRAGMENTATION

A Mother Jones article sheds light on the confusion and dissent, confusion and infighting the disparate grass roots organizations trying to form one cohesive group.  It seems unlikely that can happen when there is not a cohesive platform.  Glenn Beck made a plea on his radio show for unity.  It would be a miracle of Beck's whining could achieve that when so many opf the key players are narcissists who want the limelight and major role for themselves.

The Mother Jones article  click for full article, written by Stephanie Mencimer, is quite a comprehensive presentation on the subject.  She writes: " If nothing else, conservative activists will have plenty of opportunities this summer to publicly vent their frustrations with the Obama administration. On the afternoon of September 12, FreedomWorks plans a repeat of last year's march on the National Mall. Another group with ties to Beck's National 9.12 Project has decided to get in on the action as well, putting together a three-day extravaganza that weekend that includes a "liberty XPO" at a swank DC hotel and a march on the Mall on the 9^th anniversary of 9/11. Then there's the "Restoring Honor" spectacle planned by Beck himself for the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on August 28, on the 47^th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech on the same spot. That rally will be followed the next day by yet another protest march, this one sponsored by the Tea Party Patriots."

We Americans who voted for and appreciate Obama's presidency, though we may not agree or sufficiently understand all his choices,  do not appreciate the revolutionary and hostile rhetoric spouted by these groups and their political supporters.  Personally, I view it as treasonous, having been around during WWII when no one felt such hatred for our country and government...when we were all proud of our flag as a symbol and saluted it with our right hand over our heart, and revered and sang the Star Spangled Banner, our National Anthem.  The only people who overtly plotted to overthrow our government were enemies of it as I see many of the ones who are openly stating they are trying to make Obama fail and that they are planning to 'take back the government'!

Hopefully there are more citizens who care for our country than these people who weren't elected to office but believe they could run the country better.  I, for one, do not believe they are being led by people who care to save the United States but are being led by people whose interest is a self-interest to destroy what we had fifty years ago as we were coming out of the last of the 'real' wars.  We were attacked and knew who attacked us.  Countries and their leaders were visible and there to sign their defeat and agreement to end the war.

WILL SOMEONE EXPLAIN THESE?

Who is writing Sarah Palin's speeches.  There is no way she has learned to think empirically in less than 2 years.

She gives (and for $100,000 a pop) a logical, if deceitful, plea.  The Teapartiers are an enigma to me.  Grassroots movements need 'fertilizer' just as lawns do to stay alive and healthy.  Yet, we, the public, aren't being shown leaders.  We are told that 70% voted for McCain and are Republicans but that, if one listens to accounts, varies with everyone who describes tham.

Most who know more than I do, on the inside of the Beltway , know that most people don't understand what the party to which they belong really stands for.  For a complete article on what seems to define them, click here.

 The most prevalent beliefs are that they are being run by Fox and Corporate America.  Some of the News channels, or at least some of the talking heads, tell us a great deal about who is behind many things.  It would be helpful to all citizens and voters if more of that kind of exposure could be augmented.  I, for one, would like to know what is done with the product from Think Tanks.  Where do their monies come from?  Having watched the low profile Cheney run the last Administration, how many other low profile evil people are making the decisions that have just about ruined the country?  Whom can we trust for the truth?

OBAMA: A RARE PRESIDENT WHO REMEMBERS HIS CAMPAIGN PROMISES

Michael D. Shear wrote in the Washington Post: Gay visitation order shows how Obama brings big change with small actions.  "President Obama's decision Thursday night to grant same-sex couples hospital visitation rights is the latest and most visible example of a strategy to make concrete steps toward equality for gays and lesbians without sparking a broad cultural debate or a fight with Congress."  Click here if you wish to read the whole article.

95% of Americans have lower taxes this years than they have had since before Reagan.

Politifact,com tracks his campaign promises.  They have been tracking 500.

THOSE ABUSING DECORUM IN CONGRESS SHOULD GO INTO A PENALTY BOX

An article was written about the teabaggers.  For the full article, click here.  Mentioned was:

"According to the poll, it “has more women than men; is mainly white and Republican and voted for John McCain, and strongly supports Sarah Palin.” They (85%) also feel that the government is doing too much."
“The Tea Party movement is mostly made up of people who consider themselves Republicans,” said Brown. “They are less educated but more interested in politics than the average Joe and Jane Six-Pack and are not in a traditional sense swing voters.”

The people fanning the flames do not see their responsibility to what will inevitably end up in innocents getting hurt.  Today the brother of the targeted politician had the gas line cut to his house.  It seems fortuitous that no one was physically hurt .The law should pursue the senders of hate email , faxes and phone threats.  Their names and faces should be made public.  Those who claim to be pro-life do not see the hypocrisy of their actions when those who are threatened are beyond their fetal stage.

As for those who misbehave in the Congress, they should be given 'time out' just as one does with small children or adult hockey players.  If they can't behave or do their job (as McCain is threatening to do for the rest of his term) they should be suspended (without pay) for a period determined by someone appointed as a parliamentarian.  Any one who has ever raised children knows you can't moderate or modify behavior if you do not force accountability.  Our judicial system had once known it.  The witch hunts were an abuse of good judgment when good people feared the people who were considered law. and did nothing to save these women in their own ignorance, much like the misinformed teabaggers today.

THE MAJOR QUESTION OF THE DAY

Is our government broken? That is the question most in everyone's mind today. Allowing the obstructionists to win would be like allowing the one ring 'to rule the world' in the Lord of the Rings. Power, in the manner in which the Republicans are wielding by their passive aggressive, pathological performance is what has stood in the way of progress in the past and present. The naysayers, those fearful of change, the fear of loss off control, those who would stop HealthCare for millions because of their own misguided rule that women should not have choice over their own procreation, and all the single minded gridlocking going on in Washington today by so few are but a few of the elements keeping the country divided and failing.

How should the average public understand 'teabagging' as compared to 'tea partying'? Newt Gingrich should be ashamed of the ploy he uses to make people think that wanting what is best for everyone in the country makes one a Socialist. Cheney has been caught in lies many times. How long will he be protected? His fall would not break the economy of our country. Why is he not brought to task for his sins? Instead he is lauded as a public servant. In reality, the public has been his servant.

What is uppermost in the minds of many with whom I speak is whether Tarantino will continue to rob the country of the right to vote on bills, or whether the gridlock can be broken so that the 290 stalled bills can be voted on in up or down fashion. How is it that so many un-Americans have been voted into office as Representatives and Senators? The perks and reimbursements of those bodies should be revised and brought more into proper perspective as to the little worth of the jobs they are doing. Lining one's own pockets is not why CEOs or Legislators should be so greatly reimbursed.

Lastly today, while I didn't like anything said Scott Brown said he stood for during his campaign, I must applaud that he voted against his pre-election rhetoric and voted in favor of the wishes of the majority of Massachusetts constituents, rather than acting as a partisan sheep along with so many colleagues.