Ablogination

During the darkness of the Bush/Repig majority era, there was a light. Dim as it may have been, light just the same.

Republican Senator Arlen Specter of PA. The one and only Republican who tried to work with the Democratic minority all those years. His friendship with Pat Leahy of VT was public and consistent. Specter chastised his own party numerous times for shutting out the Democratic voice.
Now, Mr. Specter IS a Democrat.

Arlen Specter has switched parties in a move that absolutely sends shock and awe through the ranks of an already reeling and destitute Republican party.

From the BBC:

Mr Specter, 79, had held secret talks with Mr Obama, along with other senior Democrats including Vice-President Joe Biden, ahead of his decision to leave the Republican Party, according to officials.

The BBC’s Richard Lister in Washington says the news has sent shockwaves through Capitol Hill, where the president’s power has been blunted by the votes of Senate Republicans.

The move should make it easier for Mr Obama to pursue his ambitious agenda, our correspondent adds.

Mr Specter was facing a tough challenge from conservative Pat Toomey, in a primary election to decide who would run as the Republican candidate for Mr Specter’s Pennsylvania senate seat in 2010.

Polls suggested that Mr Specter’s decision to vote for the president’s economic stimulus package earlier this year had been unpopular with Republican activists in the state.

“I saw the stimulus as necessary to lessen the risk of a far more serious recession than we are now experiencing,” Mr Specter said.

Since then, he added, “it has become clear to me that the stimulus vote caused a schism which makes our differences irreconcilable".

Now, with Al Franken, the Senator Elect for MN, adding a 60th voice to Specter’s 59th and Biden as the tie breaker. We now have the lube we need to hopefully, fully pass the agenda and put this nation on the right course.
Senator Specter, a Moderate, is still far too Right Leaning for us. But if he’s true to his words, he’ll vote with the majority and embrace the people oriented politics that have taken control of the country’s path.

Residuals?

Joe Lieberman just became obsolete.
We haven’t forgotten you, Joe.

So, welcome Senator Specter into the fold and give him a chance to prove just how “Democratic” he thinks he is.
Embrace him with open arms. Because if he fucks us, we’ll use those same arms to squeeze the political life out of him. We’re all he has now.

Sen. Pat Leahy D-VT and Sen. Arlen Specter D-PA

It only makes sense that one of the few Democratic Senators with any semblance of courage would have the cohonies to speak the truth and speak it freely.

Yep, speaking strength to cowardice is often futile, but this time the language comes in a clear wrapper and 100% uncensored.

Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.), famed soldier and feared Senator, has always held justice and corrections reform high on his list of priorities. Sen. Webb has come forth to state, in no uncertain terms, that the legalization of drugs, yes, outright legalization, should not be overlooked as one of the possible cures for our rampant judicial system problems.
Indeed, it’s the foremost aggrivating factor as far as irresponsible incarceration is concerned. People simply don’t deserve to be relieved of precious freedom for getting high. That’s all there is to it.

The simple fact is that good people… hard working, honest Americans are languishing in jails and prisons for merely possessing or selling small amounts of drugs.
Meanwhile, our pedophiles, murderers, thieves and other various and assorted vermin walk free. Why? Because drug offenders are the most politically expedient of “law” violators.
“Drugs” have been blamed for the evil that men do for decades now. So jailing the druggies is always the political stepping stone De Jour. Make the public think that if we’re fighting drugs we’re fighting all crime….

Bullshit.

People do drugs, drugs don’t do people. Control and regulation is wisdom because it takes the crime (money) out of the issue, empties our prisons for more deserving residents, and insures safer druggage and safer environments in which to indulge.

Heroin addicts are safer in a clinical environment than a shooting gallery any day.

The fact is, the US has more people in prison (or systematized) than any other nation on earth. The majority of those incarcerated are in for drug related, non-violent crimes.
The sheer stupidity involved in this nation’s handling of the drug issue is almost beyond comprehension.
Most politicians know these facts. Trouble is, they’re too cowardly to tackle “controversial” issues. Least of all the most controversial issue of our time.

From a fine article by Michael O’Brien at The Hill:

April 23, 2009
Webb: Pot legalization ‘on the table’ in prison reform effort
@ 10:24 am by Michael O’Brien

The leader of a congressional effort to reform the criminal justice system said Thursday that all issues — including drug legalization — need to be on the table.

Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.), who has made criminal justice and prison reform a signature issue of his this year in Congress, is the most high-profile lawmaker to indicate openness to drug decriminalization or outright legalization.

“Well, I think what we need to do is to put all of the issues on the table,” Webb said this morning on CNN if asked if marijuana legalization would be part of his criminal justice reform efforts.

“If you go back to 1980 as a starting point, I think we had 40,000 people in prison on drug charges, and today, we have about 500,000 of them,” the first-term Virginia lawmaker said. “And the great majority of those are nonviolent crimes — possession crimes or minor sales.”

Webb joins several other lawmakers who have called for the exploration of legalized pot, amidst a drug war in Mexico fueled by revenues from American drug sales.

“I think they should examine every aspect of drugs policy to see what’s working and what’s not working, and where the consistencies are and, quite frankly, where the inconsistencies are in terms of how people end up in the system with similar activities,” Webb explained, reiterating his call for a high-level blue ribbon commission to reform the criminal justice system.

“Nothing should be off the table,” he said.

Thanx, Big Jim. There are good people sitting in cells missing their families and not contributing to society that will appreciate the love.
I know I do.

A strong voice in the wilderness. Imagine that.

Hi, Democrats. Can you say “backbone"? Sure, I knew you could.

Just wanted to chime in.

We support , Margaret Feierabend and David Shumaker.

Both of these fine citizens have worked hard to support and develop commerce in the city while being as careful as possible to preserve our fragile environment.

There is no reason, other than Republican greed, to vote otherwise. If you love Bristol, you will vote accordingly.

That is all, carry on.

UPDATE:

I decided I needed to add more to this…

People, Bristol, TN is a beautiful place. Small, easy going city that’s far enough away from the freeway to limit the number of miscreants that tend to follow the system.

Not perfect, but I know what shit for a city looks like and it ain’t pretty.
I’ve lived in Houston, LA, Orlando…
What’s been done to some of the most beautiful areas of the nation in the name of “development” is nothing short of sin. There’s a balance that must be observed between progress and nature. Cities that have disregarded the necessity of natural surroundings have paid the price.
Houston is an arm pit. They mowed down everything and now even the weather has changed there. Hotter due to the excessive concrete.
Dirty, smoggy, crime riddled….

If you don’t appreciate the aesthetic value of communities like ours you’ve never been anywhere to see the damage.

There is an element in Bristol that aims to over-develop the area. That element has been trying, once successfully, to install it’s minions into the city council for their own personal gain. That wouldn’t be such a big deal if not for the fact that their gain equals the decimation of our local environment. It does.
Not enough evidence to name names. But they’re there.
Feierabend and Shumaker know who they are.
That’s why we strongly suggest supporting them when you vote if you haven’t already.

The threat is real. If you’ve ever been to Houston you know exactly what I mean.

Today is our day. Today is the day we reflect on those who have suffered and died because of those who oppose Marijuana.
Those who have died for lack of medication, those who have died while anti-Marijuana laws, and those who support them, make drug cartels richer and more powerful.

We remember this day those who languish in jails and prisons for no reason whatsoever and those who lay in sickness as we speak without access to the medication that relieves their suffering. Those who are persecuted for daring to change things for the better.
Those who are murdered in cold blood in the name of “Drug Intervention” and those who are cannon fodder for merely possessing Marijuana.
LINK

We are tens of millions in America. Hundreds of millions throughout the world. Today is the day we renew our resolve to continue the fight for our rights and our well being.

If you have not yet taken a stand for Marijuana in your life, today’s a damn good day to start.

We at TN420 salute all those of our culture as well as those who do not indulge or need, yet help us anyway just because it’s the right thing to do.

We love you all.
Peace!

So much stupidity, so little time.

Obama Defends Meeting Hugo Chavez:

It’s sad testimony to this country that Obama would feel he has to “defend” his decision to meet with the great leader of Venezuela. Republican Sen. John Ensign of Nevada took exception to Barack’s comradery with Chavez.
Which states very clearly just what an asshat Ensign is.
Nobody cares what you think, Senator Ensign. That’s why you’re a member of the VAST MINORITY in this government.

I enjoyed seeing two great leaders like Obama and Chavez getting along well and in this instance, the egg was on Chavez’s face.
Chavez, in the past, referred to George Bush as “the Devil". Maybe not, but damn close. Cheney would be the more deserving recipient of synonymy with Satan.
But I can dig it.

Chavez also referred to Obama as an “imbecile". Obama’s campaign remarks about Chavez “exporting terrorism” were exactly that, imbecilic.
But Obama, in his un-Bush-like wisdom, took the high road, shook it off and remedied the problem.
He propagated mutual understanding.
Chavez knows now that it was political rhetoric and I’d bet my left nut he gave Barack a sincere apology even if the media won’t say so.

You want to be free of Arab oil? Embrace old friends.
I’d rather see Obama hugging Chavez than Bush coddling the Bin Laden’s any day.

Good job, Mr. President.

GOP to Obama: America is Less Safe.

Obama to GOP: Yo Mamma.

Former GOP Rep. Dick Armey, the Neo-Con traitor who also happens to be the organizer of these “Tea Party” circuses, has a problem with Obama releasing memos about torture.

Well, fuck you, Dick.
The word of traitor carries no authority. And all Neo-Cons are traitors.
Armey was the rube who was stupid enough to believe Cheney, another Dick, when the VP told him that “Iraq was inventing miniature Nuclear weapons".

There are few dumber in the annals of American Representatives than the clown from the most pathetic district in Texas (26th).

Which reminds me….

Tea Party? I’ve got your Tea Party swinging you bunch of intellectually challenged, backassward, sexually frustrated fucktards.

Have you seen the pictures of some of these turdlets floating around these Tea Parties? The biggest collection of Fourth Grade American History flunkies in history.
As my good friend, Tim Valentine, so aptly put it. The Boston Tea Party was about Taxation Without Representation. Not about whining about paying taxes.
These low to no intellect humanoid losers can’t even get their elementary school history right. They have elected officials, in my area all of them Republicans. You are “represented” you blithering idiots.
Not only that, morons, but most of you that attended these Tea Parties are amongst the 95% of Americans who will be receiving, listen closely, TAX CUTS.
I saw people on social security who will be getting bigger checks because of Barack Obama wandering around in some sort of haze, or daze, or whatever, completely and totally oblivious to why they were there in the first place.

How funny, how unmercifully hilarious.
It’s clear Republican voters don’t need Rush Limpballs to make them look stupid. They do just fine by themselves.

My view? Dump the Republicans in the harbor and make a nice, piping hot cup of tea.

Thanx again for the unbridled asshattery, Republicans.
Keep up the good work. Every time you do something this asinine, the Left gets that much closer to four more years.

Heh, how fucking cool this is.
The largest annual shindig the White House has and the President does it in style.

Is there writing on the wall there for all to see? Maybe. Fills me with hope, no doubt about that.

Garance Franke-Ruta at the Washington Post brings us a story of hope on a beautiful Easter Sunday.

You gotta love it. As I looked at the picture below my first feeling was one of being creeped out buy a rabbit that rivals the Burger King and Dick Cheney for unabashed ewwww.
But then it dawned on me like the first rays of the new rising sun. Barack had gone psychedelic. It’s about time.

Alice is missing her rabbit

Obama invited the rabbit from Alice in Wonderland and Ziggy Marley to the Egg Roll.
I realize those are Tulips growing in front, but couldn’t we just say they’re Poppies for now? I don’t want to abandon this great view of the event quite yet.

Now, who knows what that freaky bunny had to say or how many kids it traumatized, but Ziggy at the White House draws the crystal clear conclusion that legalizing Marijuana, at some point, became a topic of discussion.
Ziggy, like his great father, is an unyielding proponent of ending prohibition and would not allow the opportunity to escape him. They talked about it. You know they did.
And with all those brightly colored eggs and lush green grass. The kids in their colorful Easter raiment…. the setting was perfect for the discussion.

Wish I’d been there. A bag of shrooms and a couple of joints and that would have been an event to remember.

Ziggy Marley at a White House function. It’s getting better. I don’t care what anyone says.

Need a bong load asap….

Centrism is a disease. It is a form of political self-immolation that has cost the party a great deal of credibility both nationally and locally. The Democratic “Center” exists for one purpose and one purpose only, to uplift and pander to the Republican party and other Right Wing entities.

Some will suggest that in a state so full of Right Wing and Right-Leaning voters that it’s necessary to practice “pragmatism” and embrace those who seek to harm the State of Tennessee and her people.
There is no truth to this. Voters vote Right because the “Center” displays weakness and confusion.
The Democratic party has become weak in the eyes of Tennessee voters because of our seeming lack of ability to take a principled stand and fight, tooth and nail, to implement that stand.
“Pragmatist” is just another word for coward.
How can we claim to offer a better way when we consistently and predictably seek to appease those we spend our money and resources lambasting for the errors of their ways? Centrism is a hypocrisy that tells the people of this state that “Democrats only stand firm while campaigning". But once the campaign is over, with it’s hyperbole and aggressive message of “they’re bad and we’re good", for some untold reason we embark upon some sort of Idiot Outreach Program and betray the very principals we ran on.
This confusing and weak-kneed feel-sorry-for-Righty behavior must stop if we are to ever appeal to those searching for steadfast resolve in their choice of political leadership.

A shining example of this type of political fellatio can be seen in Democrats such as Harold Ford Jr.
When Ford, one of the most prolific Centrist Jellyspines in Tennessee politics, ran against Bob Corker, Ford completely and totally abandoned his natural base and attempted to pander to Corker’s constituency. The results were epic failure as Ford saw his base abandon him at the voting booths. Myself included.
You build a dedicated base by standing up for the principals that base stands for. New voters and those disenchanted with Republican politics will be attracted to strong, unwavering leadership.
Instead, they are treated to an essay in flip-flopping which makes the TNDP seem insincere in it’s convictions.

Tennessee voters don’t want a Democratic party that acts like the Republican party. They want a Democratic party that is strong, firm, and takes no shit from the Right Wing fringe.

The people of the state of Tennessee want lucrative jobs. We want universal health care, an end to the abuse of our environment, an end to the influence of religious extremists and greed-laden corporate entities. We want Medical Marijuana, small business opportunity and freedom of choice and equal rights for our women and our minorities.
Democratic Centrists enable all the ills we want to remedy.
People like Harold Ford Jr., Jim Cooper, Gordon, Tanner…These people are not on our side and their actions and voting records often reflect that. Jim Cooper has done all he can to oppose our President’s implementation of our agenda. Harold Ford Jr. has stood firmly against Liberal/Progressive interests his entire career.
We do not need these Right-Leaning Democraps. We need candidates who will plant both boots firmly in the Republican candidate’s asses and do the Moon Walk. The future of the TNDP lies in the youth of this state and our ability to make them see that our way is truly the best way. Green, freedom loving, honest, responsible. That is the vision of future Democrats. If the party does not share that vision we will fail.

As we speak the TNDP is in danger of monumental failure once again. One of our candidates for Governor is one Ward Cammack. Are we really going to run a candidate that has contributed funds to the likes of Lamar Alexander and Bill Frist?….

From Klienheider:
“In 1994, the year of the Republican Revolution, Cammack gave extensively to both Bill Frist and Fred Thompson who were victorious in grabbing both of Tennessee’s U.S. Senate seats that year.

Cammack also gave heavily to Lamar Alexander contributing to both his Presidential run in 1996 as well as his initial 2002 Senate run.”

This is the kind of political face-plant the TNDP has no choice but to avoid if we are to gain any credibility amongst new voters especially the youth that comprises our future. Cammack is a joke and is wholly unacceptable as a candidate regardless of the consequences. No such back-stabber should ever even be considered for any political office with Democratic support.
It’s got to stop.

If we intend to build the Democratic party in Tennessee, it will require us to seek out, educate, and endear ourselves to NEW voters. Trying to out Republican the Republicans will not accomplish that goal. It will only make Republicans look better.
New voters want to see conviction and resolve. Strength impresses, weakness repulses.
The Democratic party’s strength is found on the Left, it’s weakness, in the “Center". Before we can find our strength we must find and groom candidates to replace our weak links.
Strong Progressives who will not bend knee to those who wish to harm our state. Only then will we be able to lift Tennessee out of the dark ages and into the light.

I hate seeing normally good bloggers do electronic face-plants, but David Sirota kinda crossed the line and I have no choice but to examine his lyrics.

Thanx to our collegue, S-townMike at Enclave, for bringing this to our attention.

I have no problem with Dave Sirota. But neither do I have a problem with challenging obscure, if not obtuse rhetoric about our President.

David Sirota, a very good blogger at the “Our Future” Organization, decided to level an attack on President Obama over the Auto Industry Bailout and his not-so-great choice for overlord of the action, Steve Rattner, that contained uncharacteristically absurd accusations.
Granted, Steve Rattner is a corporate-whore punk. But the Sirota article was an attack on Obama, not Rattner.

Sirota went off into wingnut land and we can’t have GOP type fantasy attacks against the President unless they’re based on fact.

His rant assumes that Obama’s appointee (Rattner) will be able to act on his own and has an agenda of destroying the UAW (United Auto Workers). Steve Rattner will do what the President tells him to do and nothing else.

First, Sirota cites the Wall Street Journal. A Rupert Murdoch tabloid.
Basically FOX News in print.
Not that the physical facts involved aren’t correct, but the assumptions and assertions are unrealistic.
Funny how Sirota constantly attacks Wall Street big shots yet draws conclusions from their own News Rag.
That’s not good credibility, nor is childish references to movie characters like Gordon Gekko.

….It was a movie for chrissake.

The UAW supported Obama for a reason.
LINK

Ask yourself, why would Obama alienate one of his strongest voting blocks by seeking to destroy them? If Rattner attempted to “crush” the UAW, Obama would be disowned by ALL unions and much of his voter and money base.
Hey, it could be a problem. Sirota could be right.
But in order for him to be right, Obama would have to have already ruled out running again in 2012. I don’t see that as being the case.

The union has made concessions in the past and they know they will have to make more due to the fact that we’re dealing with a global economic crises. Not because someone is trying to fuck them. Obama will (should) insure that the UAW make fewer concessions than anyone else, but that’s how this game is played. Concessions. And there is such a thing as temporary concessions.
The objective is to keep the companies afloat, fix them, make them profitable again and give people back their jobs and then some.
The company goes down, the jobs go with it. The union knows this and they know the difference (hopefully) between necessary concession and being abused by the greedy.

“DETROIT – President Barack Obama’s recovery plan for General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC appears to take aim at union retirees,”

They used the word “appears” because they don’t know. That’s ok, they worded it right. Just pointing it out.

“As the Wall Street Journal reports, Rattner’s strategy is to use the government’s leverage to try to specifically crush auto workers and force them to accept even more contract concessions than they’ve already agreed to”

Firstly, since when does the WSJ care about unions enough to uncover such a dastardly plot and warn the world?
Did anyone stop to think that the President may not allow Rattner to have a “strategy” other than his own? Was Barack going assign Rattner and just forget about it?
Please…

Secondly…
What “leverage” is this that will be deployed against one of Barack’s strongest political allies? This I gotta see. Just the run-of-the-mill “leverage” or some special, never before seen mega-leverage with the kung fu grip?
Must be the latter because it’s going to “crush auto workers".
I’m sorry, but I think the “auto workers” would take exception to such an effort. Being “crushed” is such a drag.
“Force them to accept"? Sirota doesn’t know the average union member.
They will accept concessions if it’s necessary and won’t be “crushed” or “forced” to do anything.
Whatever the proposal, the union body will vote on it. If it amounts to “crush", they will vote it down.
Fact is, the only thing that’s going to “crush” auto workers is not having an industry to work in. That’s why it has to be salvaged. And that will take a lot of money and a lot of concessions on all sides.

Barack Obama is not Ronald Reagan as Mr. Sirota would have us believe, nor is he George Bush or any other such piece of shit. And until I see a “crushed” UAW these accusations against the President are simply chin music and nothing more. The UAW will let us know if the President fails to keep the promises he made to them to win their support away from Clinton and McCain.

None of Sirota’s assertions concerning the President “wanting to crush unions” make any sense whatsoever. At least not at this time.
Again, unless Barack Obama has decided not to run in 2012, he will protect the UAW and honor his pledge to support American labor.

- captainkona