Midterm: Further Right Lays Waste to What is Left

Re: Obama says he’s out of touch, but offers no concessions

President Obama’s first reaction to the republicans after the midterm results: Let us find “common ground.”  Absolutely amazing – but not surprising.  Everything he gave them for the last two years only further empowered their resolve to destroy him – and any possible remaining chances for Progressive change.  The “common ground” during that span was incessant corporate (Blue Dog) appeasement, which reflected Obama’s actual standing/commitment.  Consequently, his original base was torn – in stages of revulsion.  Anything learned? : “What the American people want is for us to mix and match ideas.”  Wrong!  The majority of citizens wanted the “Change” they were promised – not the same status quo, step-by-step sellouts prevalent since the Reagan years, or updated methods of watering down every measure to the point where the industrial/financial/military circle (neo-cons/neo-liberals) may as well have put forth/planned them themselves – yet openly.

“He noted that he engaged in closed-door, backroom deal-making to get his health care bill through Congress, but said it was necessary and the end justified the means.”  The “end” was a Mandate (during a worldwide Recession/don’t dare call it a Second Depression) – without a Public Option: “If a mandate was a solution, we could try that to solve homelessness by mandating everyone buy a house.”  The “means”: “These are the stock-in-trade tactics of the ‘power elite’ that C. Wright Mills wrote so poignantly about back in the 1950s.”

“It’s an ugly mess when it comes to process.  That is something that really affected how people viewed the outcome.  That is something that I regret . . . but I think the outcome was a good one.”  The “process” was assured as one that would be renewed, to an honorable level.  Instead, the “ugly mess” of corruption, behind closed doors, while being sold as something else, on stage, continued – and this, undoubtedly, “affected how people viewed the outcome” – but not just on health care; it “affected” how everything was “viewed” – overall.  Moreover, since Obama’s  degree of “regret” leaves him thinking “the outcome was [still] a good one,” and leads him to seek even more “common ground,” our society can be assured of what is on the horizon:

Senator Reid: “the biggest takeaway from this election is that the American people want compromise across party lines.”  Yes, that’s the answer: more “compromise” – in one direction.  And, those true colors never cease to reveal – as they continually dye each and every surface.

A “thanks” to Rahm Emanuel, Larry Summers, Timothy Geithner, Ben Bernanke, Robert Gates, and all other summoned advisors for the relevant midterm “outcome” – and all that is soon to follow – due to our president’s “out of [a certain] touch” choices, without (leftist, professional or otherwise) “concessions.”

Update (11/10): “President Obama’s . . . deficit reduction commission just proposed slashing Social Security.”

In relation to narratives created by Fox/Koch Brothers, etc., and what was the continuing mindset of the remaining Bush II minority, Obama appointed a biased Deficit Commission – during a Second Depression.  At the same time, he “Put Social Security on the Table.”  Then, the Deficit Commission’s (predetermined) recommendations were put off until after the midterms.  Now, with a new House, Obama and the remaining Blue Dogs will seek even more of that (veil of) “Common Ground,” and “Compromise” – while we hear more about sacrificing.

Re: What Happened to Change We Can Believe In?
Individual Mandates Bootstrap the Homeless
Foreclosure Fraud? Obama Looks Forward
Obama Put Social Security on the Table

[If FDR and his related Congresses had reacted as Obama and the last Congress, what is going to be (within two decades, maximum), would have already been – by 1945.

Prediction: The 2008 election was the last chance to turn a certain tide.  Since it, instead, served primarily to expose who factually rules and whose side Congress and any President will stand on, we can now look forward to a never-ending series of corporate waves.]

Re: What Happened to Change We Can Believe In?

Re: (Frank Rich’s) What Happened to Change We Can Believe In?

Aside from midterm talking points/apologetic slants which obscure warranted levels of intense criticism (leading to actual “change”):

“President Obama, the Rodney Dangerfield of 2010, gets no respect for” . . . telling us to “look forward, not backward” – after instilling the “forward” as what would be on election day, instead of the opposite.

“President Obama, the Rodney Dangerfield of 2010, gets no respect for” . . . blocking the  release of a second set of torture photos – after promising the opposite.

“President Obama, the Rodney Dangerfield of 2010, gets no respect for” . . . human rights, as he continues the same abuses of his predecessor, with excuses of “possible future threats” (based on Minority Reports?), and information gleaned through torture – after inspiring a hopeful opposite.

“President Obama, the Rodney Dangerfield of 2010, gets no respect for” . . . bailing out Wall Street, without prompting a restoration of the Glass–Steagall Act, or providing relative relief to all the commoners who were purposely plundered – after portraying himself as a special interest opposite.

“President Obama, the Rodney Dangerfield of 2010, gets no respect for” . . . making secret deals with corporate executives, selling out the Public option, then signing a Mandate – after campaigning on the opposite.

“President Obama, the Rodney Dangerfield of 2010, gets no respect for” . . . “the dark cloud cast by” his willingness to defend extensions of unemployment checks, but not a National Jobs Program with teeth (i.e., one that is not $50 billion compared to $700 billion and loaded with even more Cheneyish tax cuts) – after attacking Bush II as his opposite.

“President Obama, the Rodney Dangerfield of 2010, gets no respect for” . . . failing to get his (supposed) party to use the slightest of backbones in letting the Bush II tax cuts expire for the wealthy – after guaranteeing the opposite.

“President Obama, the Rodney Dangerfield of 2010, gets no respect for” . . . appointing a Deficit Commission, dead-set on gutting Social Security as “austerity”/”self-sacrificing” measures (put off until December to guard the midterm results) – after championing privatization’s opposite.

“President Obama, the Rodney Dangerfield of 2010, gets no respect for” . . . refusing to implement a moratorium on foreclosures – after reams of documents and fifty state attorneys general make it certain that those Institutional denials of conspiratorial Fraud actually seal the opposite.

So, yes, within this “relentless drag on a chief executive who promised change we can believe in,” there is a “fatalistic sense that the stacked economic order that gave us the Great Recession remains not just in place but more entrenched and powerful than ever.”  And, within this environment, who gets “punished” “for bad behavior”?  The “Professional Left.”   But, “Should those [Other] forces prevail, an America that still hasn’t remotely recovered from the worst hard times in 70 years will end up handing over even more power to those who greased the skids.”  True, “[President Obama] sometimes looks as if he’s fronting for the industry.”  Yet, “Voters [somehow] are . . . failing to give the White House credit for its . . . successes,” and “finding it guilty of transgressions . . .” (since the “White House is hardly innocent”).  As a result, how could there be an Enthusiasm Gap?

Re: FBI Raids on Anti-War Activists

HR 4789: Quell the Individual Mandate with Medicare

Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL): “We all know the health care bill is missing one important thing – and that’s the public option.”  The “Medicare You Can Buy Into Act,” HR 4789, currently has 80 co-sponsors.  “It’s a simple 3-and-a-half page bill that would let everyone have access to Medicare if they were willing to pay for it.”

After all the secret deals, can we overcome the Individual Mandate without a Public Option (one of the largest corporate betrayals in U.S. history, which Rep. Grayson was a part of)?  This, at least, should be a start.  The new TAX and “Criminal” weight may remain.  Yet, actual Competition and a partially acceptable Choice (while being forced) would result.

An Open Letter to Michael Moore

The Worst Thing About the Health Care Law That Passed?
It Bootstraps the New Homeless (An Open Letter to Michael Moore):

To Michael Moore, a (former?) champion for the commoners (03/22):

“Thanks to last night’s vote,” an Individual Mandate without even the slightest of a Public Option is a Reality.  “Thanks to last night’s vote,”
it will be a Criminal Act if we do not buy a private policy from a corporation – whether or not we can afford one.  “Thanks to last night’s vote,” during a Second Depression, we will have to spend 8% of our income toward coverage.  But, we are not allowed to call that a new TAX (for those making less than $250,000).  Yes, “It’s truly a banner day for these corporations.”  As a result, many millions of us who were cheering you on for years are wondering why you are so enthusiastic over the flogging we (regular people/progressives) suffered on Sunday evening?  This was not a “Canadian-loving,” “independent,” Victory.  As written months ago, this was something the last administration would have rammed through.  Remember those “13 problems with the current health care bills” you and Rose Ann DeMoro organized last September?  The list remains – unfulfilled.  Remember calling this bill a Joke?  It still is (while a more proper term would be “Hoax”).  What happened to you?  Is this the answer? : “Pass it because, if President Obama takes a fall on this one, I don’t know if he’ll be able to get back up.”  Now, you toe the party line — for politics’ sake?  “A good night it was — important little steps were taken to bring our country into the civilized world.”  Mr. Moore, most of the other “steps” within were not “little,” and they set us a major notch toward a total corporate state.  Is that (accepting another broad redistribution of the bootstraps-mentality for the commoners by way of fascistic coercion) what you are presently considering as necessary modes of becoming more civilized?  Before Rep. Kucinich succumbed, he also had a list:

“If this is the best we can do, then our best isn’t good enough and we have to ask some hard questions about our political system: such as Health Care or Insurance Care?  Government of the people or a government of the corporations.”

As opposed to yours, his is only inches away from being fulfilled (“Thanks to last night’s vote”).

Regretfully,

Update: You and MoveOn.org are teaming up to promote “Capitalism: A Love Story.”  03/25: “MoveOn.org is launching a huge new campaign to take back democracy from the corporations and lobbyists.”

Considering the last two posts, and the timing of this letter/association, my head is still shaking.

MoveOn Sells (Us) Out (Again)

MoveOn.org organized against Rep. Kucinich.  Why?  Because he [was] standing up to this administration’s/the corporate democrats’ insurance company giveaway (unneeded bailout).  View “Is This The Best We Can Do?” – and, remember the following statement, for it is one which should ring in every American’s ears: “If a mandate was a solution, we could try that to solve homelessness by mandating everyone buy a house.”

MoveOn allied itself with a (sold out) center (NDC) – so far to the right that it would be considered republican/conservative in the year 1996.  They are now agents/actors of/for the elite establishment (status quo).  Any waves their organization purports to make will henceforth be highly projected – yet, only result in ripples (as intended).  MoveOn asked ‘Which Side of History Will You Be On?‘  We responded: “May as many members of that organization as possible wake up to what this revealed, then renounce their associations – in Droves.”  “Kucinich [wasn't] holding out for a boondoggle, or a minority vendetta.  He [was] staking a claim for a policy most people [wanted]” [the Public Option].  If a majority of the Majority had as much spine . . . ?

(The same reactions apply to any of the other groups who threatened those of us who were fighting against this Health Care Sham.)

Update (it’s over): On 03/17, Rep. Kucinich’s switch marked the end.  There will be an Individual Mandate – without a Public Option.  We supported people like him and Sen. Sanders for standing out.  They failed us by not following through.  Soon, people “will be herded like rebellious cattle into a ‘mandated’ slaughter by way of corporate pens (Policies).”

POLITICS (The Democrats Need to Call This a WIN!):
Dennis Kucinich: “We have to be very careful that the potential of President Obama’s presidency not be destroyed by this debate.  And I feel, even though I have many differences with him on policy [Ring a bell? :  "Policy Differences"], there’s something much bigger at stake here for America.”

POLITICS (The Democrats Need to Call This a WIN!):
(Even) Michael Moore: “Within days, the House of Representatives will vote to pass the Senate health care ‘reform’ bill.  This bill is a joke.  It has NOTHING to do with ‘health care reform.’  It has EVERYTHING to do with lining the pockets of the health insurance industry.  It forces, by law, every American who isn’t old or destitute to buy health insurance if their boss doesn’t provide it.  What company wouldn’t love the government forcing the public to buy that company’s product?!”  Yet, “Pass it because, if President Obama takes a fall on this one, I don’t know if he’ll be able to get back up.”

Again: Let us not accept pure spin, while we’re being sold out, as
“the good.”  Let us not forget that what was absolutely possible –
in a present tense, is now referred to as “the perfect” –
in a past tense.

Update II (Hidden Reality Confirmation):
NY Times Reporter Confirms Obama Made Deal to Kill Public Option

Response to Miles Mogulescu: Your work reveals what should be Front Page news, nationwide – resulting in a long-term scandalous exposition.  Yet, of course, it won’t.  Since the Reagan era, objectively independent and investigatory journalism has been erased so far from the mainstream that the few controlling conglomerates would finally proclaim victory, openly – if the internet (and alternative venues like Democracy Now) were somehow quelled.  This confirmation of another grand, secret deal (in a series) exposes the sheer level to which the public was “bamboozled” and “punked.”  On stage: “I’m a champion for the common people.  Corporations, lobbyists, and power brokers will not tell me what to do.”  Backstage: “Ladies and gentlemen (of the corporations, lobbyists, and power brokers), tell me what you are wanting to do.  Then, after a selling period (mixed with some populist posturing) I will make that happen.”  Norman Solomon, Zero Public Option + One Mandate = Disaster: “a stunning, deeply structural transfer of humongous power and wealth that would greatly boost the leverage of an already autocratic corporate state.”  Exactly.

Individual Mandates Bootstrap the Homeless

“Today, default/delinquency/foreclosure rates continue to skyrocket and soon there will be more prime mortgages in arrears than subprime ones. More than 25% of all homes are now ‘under water.’  Millions more families are at risk.  Foreclosures continue to rise.  The housing crisis at the center of the financial crisis has not been ‘fixed.’”

Continue to think about that figure: “25% of all homes.”  In this (undeniable) Second Depression, what would happen to the individuals and families in those homes if they were hit with an additional (Mandatory) Monthly BILL?  If 14 million are headed to (or already on) the streets now because of this (ENRONesqued) crisis, how many more millions might end up there because of an Individual Mandate (without a “Robust” Public Option to compel meaningful competition on the private insurer monopolies)?  Moreover, regarding the “new homeless” that are still working, how might they feel about not only getting run out of most public areas (“no camping”), but also having to face new IRS fines and “criminal” labels for not fulfilling their personal/family health care purchase responsibilities (8% of income / NOT A TAX)? : “Hey kids, we may not have a house or enough food to eat, but, at least we have the comfort of forced coverage by Blue Shield!!”  Too fat?  Canceled.  Too skinny?  Canceled.  Homeless?  We just increased your subprime premium by 189%.  Why?  Because there are special diseases out there for people who live like that (not enough showers), and simply, because we can.  Petition your government for another subsidy, and we will be happy with the difference.

“These are the stock-in-trade tactics of the ‘power elite’ that C. Wright Mills wrote so poignantly about back in the 1950s.”
Again, Thank You, New Majority.

[“If a mandate was a solution, we could try that to solve homelessness by mandating everyone buy a house.”]

 

Re: Bob Cesca Pissed Off About Health Care Reform

Bob Cesca: “I’m pissed off at health care reform.” (Well, maybe it’s more like frustration?)  “I’m pissed off that President Obama ‘thanked’ the independent senator from Connecticut even though the senator nearly killed health care reform this week.”  (But, I won’t go any further in criticizing the President  — who campaigned on “If a mandate was a solution, we could try that to solve homelessness by mandating everyone buy a house” — even though he set the stage for this outcome with sabotaging statements, after the election, like “the Public Option is just one sliver,” has refused from the beginning to stand up for anything remotely progressive, and, was still coddling other corporate sellout senators after they repulsively propagandized the entire nation with “Death Panel” assertions.)  “I’m pissed off at the Senate,” “cable news,” “Rahm Emanuel,” and “the Republicans.”  (Yet, I’m not going to allow my positive view to be swayed by reality.)  “I’m pissed off that I can’t, in good conscience, allow my anger to coerce me into believing that we should ‘kill this bill.’” (Unlike Rep. “Is This the Best We Can Do?” Kucinich, Dr. Howard Dean, Rolling Stone’s Matt Taibbi, and Michael Moore, I refuse to make a “final straw” stand – no matter how far this goes.)  (Like the former Single-Payer champion Rep. Anthony Weiner, who transformed into a dissembling preacher for the administration,) “I have no other choice but to settle for what is.  For now.”  (True, I could make other choices, like not putting lipstick on pigs.  Regardless, I will hold out for anything that passes, and call it a win.)  “Lack of insurance,” “medical bankruptcies and deaths” will be overcome.  (How?  By mandating that everyone buy private policies ["it makes them criminals if they don't"] — which they cannot afford Now — or, especially Later).  Let us not accept pure spin, while we’re being sold out, as “the good.”  Let us not forget that what was absolutely possible — in a present tense, is now referred to as “the perfect” — in a past tense.

Olbermann: Ruined Senate Bill Unsupportable

HopeOver, HopeLash, HopeBreak

Boycott Over Joe Lieberman

Update:
Rep. Kucinich, Dr. Dean, and Michael Moore Caved for Politics’ Sake.

Kill the Health Care Bill, Save 31 Million

Partial Reality: Howard Dean: “This is essentially the collapse of health care reform in the United States Senate.  Honestly the best thing to do right now is kill the Senate bill, go back to the House, start the reconciliation process, where you only need 51 votes and it would be a much simpler bill.” Corporately-Compromised Response: Sen. Durbin: “I disagree with Dr. Dean.  I think if he would sit back and look at 31 million Americans who would have health insurance as a result of this bill.  How do you say to them: ‘Sorry you can’t have health insurance.  We think this bill can be better.’”

Yes, “31 million [additional] Americans . . . would have health insurance” – because, as voiceless and powerless serfs, they would be Compelled into buying Private Plans/Coverage.  Right now, you could say to them: “Sorry you can’t have health insurance” – because you cannot Afford it.  And, when we are done, it will cost even more.  Yet, that’s not a problem with the Corporately-sponsored Senators or Representatives.  That’s your problem, “because, hey, [they’re solving] the health care crisis!  Everyone will have health care!”  No Single-Payer.  No Public Option.  No allowance for people between 55 and 64 to buy into Medicare.  No competition for private insurers.  No re-importation of drugs from Canada (because of another secret White House deal with Big Pharma).  Then, finally, Senator “I can be bought, often” Lieberman and his allies can be pleased with the outcome.  “Is This the Best We Can Do?”  Again, no.  But, since a majority of the New Majority have revealed themselves for what they actually are, and who they really serve, we can take a step back and see more Truth of how “the meek” and their circumstances are regarded by the elite.  Mantra: Kill the Health Care Bill, Save 31 Million.  Kill the Health Care Bill, Save 31 Million.

Postscript (as an Open Letter): Senator Lieberman: “I think my colleagues know . . . that I’ve been opposed to a government-created, government-run insurance company.”  Why do you hate Medicare, Sen. Lieberman?  Is it because of the “Socialistic” focus on providing medical insurance as well as prescription drug coverage for people who are older, and/or those who have certain disabilities – like Veterans?  Would you prefer them to be subject to “personal responsibility” mandates – even if the result was exponential agony on the streets?  Does this quote from Darwin often ring in your mind? : “We must therefore bear the undoubtedly bad effects of the weak surviving and propagating their kind.”  Why do you love private (corporate) insurance monopolies – whose focus is not on providing health care, but on denying as much treatment as possible and on canceling policies – according to a Wall Street profit model?  Did you also envy Enron?  Further, did it bother you that so many lost their life savings in that worldwide scam?  Or, was the latter plundering their own fault for not being the fittest at the top of the chain in a dog-eat-dog survival game (pyramid)?  Why do you hate regular people (us)?  Is it because we did not pull up our bootstraps far enough to have stored $3 million in the bank for medical emergencies?  Or, is it because our stature in life was preordained – according to you and your kind (the elect, prosperous, and chosen), whose laws are sealed within Social Darwinism?

Thank You, New Majority

“Aetna Forcing 600,000 to Lose Coverage in Effort to Raise Profits”: “Officials at Aetna announced that in an effort to improve on a less-than-anticipated profit margin in 2009, they would be raising prices on their consumers in 2010” (“ensuring that each customer is priced to an appropriate margin”).  Thank you, President Obama, Sen. Majority Leader Reid, Speaker of the House Pelosi, Corporate Blue Dogs, and all other appeasers, for what we can now look forward to – on a never-ending basis.  Thank you for, during a Second Depression, delivering us right into the hands of these vultures.  Thank you for giving us an additional (mandatory) monthly bill – and basing the yearly cost on spending up to 8% of our income – while still proclaiming that no new taxes will be imposed on those making under $250,000.  Thank you for, like the “Healthy Forests Initiative” and the “Patriot Act,” making “Affordable” the first word of the “Health Care for America Act.”  Thank you for all the faux posturing, then purposely taking us “from Single-Payer to a Public Option to a fragmented Option (‘Opt-Out’) to a Trigger” (or even further, to a “Hammer”).  Thank you for, with a new Majority, accomplishing exactly what the republicans under Bush would have rammed through -  had they been on a mission to “reform” health care (you know, just like they “reformed” overtime and the Justice system?).  Thank you for proving to us that, especially in the U.S., corporations rule and control policy – regardless of who holds the greatest number of seats.  But, most of all, thank you – for helping those of us who still had Hope to be able to finally see the True Light.

Update: Not even a “Hammer.”  Not even a buy-in to Medicare if you are 55 – 64.  Since there will mainly, and only, be an Individual Mandate – citizens can be assured that businesses all across the nation will take advantage of this by dropping their coverage as a means to push them toward their new “responsibilities” (while further solidifying bottom lines).

Health Care Sham: “Is This The Best We Can Do?”

Headlined as “History In The Making” and “Historic: House Releases Health Care Bill,” Ryan Grim promoted a tone of celebration – as if we should be overlooking facts/fates – and rejoicing: “The ceremony . . . marks the greatest progress toward the Democratic Party’s top domestic priority goal in more than half a century.”  How much more insult are we to endure – even from our (supposedly) progressive (and objective) press/media?  As written previously, we went “from Single-Payer to a Public Option to a fragmented Option (‘Opt-Out’) to a ‘Trigger’” (still not enough for the likes of Sen. “Money Talks” Lieberman).  Once the final combined bills are stripped further – in order to placate a minority -  there will be nothing “robust” left of what the (True) majority wished, fought, and voted for.  Under the guise of needing 60 votes (with spines, 51 votes would have sufficed), we have been “bamboozled.”  (Remember Obama using that term last year?)  This constant watering-down has already set us up for realizing “the cost of health care” as  “increasing” – in direct opposition to what would have resulted from a Single-Payer focus.  Consequently, the “Affordable” reference in the “Health Care for America Act” is just as Orwellian as the “Freedom” in McCain’s “Internet Act.”  Does this sham of “reform,” which mainly just mandates us into private insurers’ hands, really equal “the greatest progress” that could have been made?  No.  But, the answer as to why is explicit in another HuffPost title from today: “Big Pharma Ready For ‘Hand To Hand Combat’ To Defend White House Deal.”

Congressman Kucinich: Is This the Best We Can Do?

“Is this the best we can do?  Forcing people to buy private health    insurance, guaranteeing at least $50 billion in new business for the insurance companies?

“Is this the best we can do?  Government negotiates rates which will drive up insurance costs, but the government won’t negotiate with the pharmaceutical companies which will drive up pharmaceutical costs.

“Is this the best we can do?  Only 3% of Americans will go to a new public plan, while currently 33% of Americans are either uninsured or underinsured?

“Is this the best we can do?  Eliminating the state single payer option, while forcing most people to buy private insurance.

“If this is the best we can do, then our best isn’t good enough and we have to ask some hard questions about our political system: such as Health Care or Insurance Care?  Government of the people or a government of the corporations.”