Being a Republican requires that you have a bad memory

As I have watched the rise of Newt from the ashes, I am reminded of the words of our favorite whipping boy.  You know the one, the fat guy.  Back when Bill Clinton was running for president, his mantra was 'character counts'.  That was of course before he had so publicly displayed his own lack of character.

So on one hand you have Mitt Romney, who finds nothing wrong with putting thousands of people out of work so a small group of people can make a quick buck.  We are not talking about taking a dying company and salvaging what's left.  We are talking about taking a profitable company, one that perhaps treats it workers too well, not squeezing every last drop of blood they can out of them   Or perhaps they are good citizens of their community, and don't take illegal shortcuts on disposing of toxic material.  You get the idea, there is a little more to be profit squeezed out of them so the Romney's of this world move in to dismantle it.  It is the quick buck verses the long view.

And on the other hand you have Newt Gingrich, a man who resigned in disgrace from his position as Speaker of the House of Representatives.  A serial adulterer and deadbeat dad who is so convinced of his own infallibility that he is still beating the faith and family values drum.

Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.

Names and Faces

I have a stepdaughter who has been active in the Occupy movement, and she talks to us about what goes on in the meetings they have discussing strategy and tactics.  My wife and I were talking about it the other day, and during that conversation my wife made what I think was an excellent observation.  A big difference between the Occupy movement and the earlier anti-war movements has been the lack of a specific target.

We knew who was responsible for committing American lives and treasure to the ill-conceived war in Iraq.  It was Bush and Cheney and their ilk.  The current financial mess we find ourselves in has also those who were responsible also, but who are they?

Put it this way.  A lot of people made a shit load of money driving our economy into the ground.  So far, none have gone to jail for it.  What they did that was legal, and what was illegal, I am not going to debate here.  In any case, what they did was wrong.  Whether or not any of them go to jail, they should be exposed.

This would be a great next step for the Occupy movement.  Identify who did what, how much they made, and put names, faces, amounts on the signs of the next series of demonstrations.  Call these people out in public, let their names and faces appear on television.

This will not be easy.  A lot of the decisions were probably made by people we have never heard of.  But I don't see the Attorney General doing this, so it is being left to the rest of us.  I am not even sure how I would start looking.  But it is what the movement needs right now.

Make no mistake, these are the architects of our decline.  It was done for personal gain without regard for the impact it would have on you and me or the nation at large.  It is time that you, and the rest of the nation, knows who they are.

Do as I say, not as I do

Well they Iowa caucuses have come and gone and we have learned two very important things about the Republican party.   One is that they do understand how a democracy is supposed to work, as the recent caucuses were a fine example of an open, fair, transparent electoral process.   The other is that while they understand that, they do not believe that is the way that America should be run.  The spate of laws being rammed through be Republican controlled states are the complete antithesis of the way they behave when only fellow Republican are present.

How were the Iowa caucuses run? 

• You could register on the same day. 
• No picture ID was required to participate.  They wanted all Republicans, even the elderly that do not drive and for whom getting a state sponsored ID would be a burden.
• Paper ballots were used so there is a verifiable record of each vote cast.
• The votes were counted, in public, at the polling place.
• The results were announced at each polling place, so that it would be possible to compare the individual precinct number with those published at the state level.

The is the way a democracy is supposed to work.

Contrast this with the laws they have been passing for the rest of us.

• Restricting mail-ins ballots
• Doing away with instant registration
• Requiring a picture ID to register or to vote
• And the ever popular electronic voting machine, which leaves no paper trail so there is no way to detect tampering.  (OK, both sides of the isle are guilty of this one, but so far only the right side has done any tampering)

You see, if it is just them, they want everyone to vote and they want to be sure that the voting is fair.  But if you mix in any opposition, then all of a sudden they are concerned with non-existent voter fraud.  It is plain that their goal is voter suppression, they just proved it.