Biting the bipartisan hand... has consequences

File this under 'fool me once...' From the Huffington Post:

In a meeting with House Republicans at the White House Thursday, President Obama reminded the minority that the last time he reached out to them, they reacted with zero votes -- twice -- for his stimulus package. And then he reminded them again. And again. And again.

A GOP source familiar with the meeting said that the president was extremely sensitive -- even "thin-skinned" -- to the fact that the stimulus bill received no GOP votes in the House. He continually brought it up throughout the meeting.

Obama also offered payback for that goose egg. A major overhaul of the health care system, he told the Republican leadership, would be done using a legislative process known as reconciliation, meaning that the GOP won't be able to filibuster it.

Health care reform is coming -- at last!

Jon Stewart: The Death of Hope

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I cannot be impartial

Anger or hatred is like a fisherman's hook. It is very important for us to ensure that we are not caught by it.

-His Holiness the Dalai Lama

Anger... or anguish? Or does one morph into the other? Are there times when anger is appropriate, and if so, how to keep it from eating us alive? How to remain impartial when the issues at hand are the survival of our democracy, the sanctity of our Constitution - and the survival of life on our planet? When faced with very real abuse of power and a total lack of regard for the will and the good of the people... how can one remain unmoved?

Some days anguish, some days anger. I am tired of this emotional roller coaster. The biggest drawback to digging deeply into current events, and given my background in history, is that I find myself very afraid for my country. I know Lincoln experienced these feelings, and I'm sure many other American citizens - and congressmen - also experience them today.

How do we deal with this anxiety, fear and yes... outrage? How do we overcome these growing partisan hatreds and divisions between us, and pull together again as one nation? When is anger simply 'flailing around' or 'ranting' and how can it instead be funneled into positive action?

Or is it already too late? I wish I knew.

Lately I've felt an eerie kinship with those who lived through WWII. The gnawing worry, the necessity of living every day without any guarantee of a happily-ever-after ending. History is being created and lived as we speak. We are history, and it is unfolding all around us. But it isn't history yet: it is the now. History in many ways is 'safe,' because the outcome is already ascertained. Real life is much more frightening.

After the 2000 election, I confess that I was so horrified - and felt so betrayed - that I turned my back on government and politics. I felt, and I have heard others echo this sentiment, that perhaps we deserved what we would get. I was angry with Al Gore for not demanding a total recount in Florida, and felt a very real darkness closing in on our nation. I couldn't perceive the nature of that darkness at the time, but I did know that our election process had been gravely compromised; and that this election process is the basis, the vehicle, for our participation in our 'government of the people.' I was disgusted; most especially by our media.

And so I walked away.

Katrina brought me back, and with a vengeance. I was outraged, but more than this... I was wracked with guilt. I saw the residents of New Orleans standing on their rooftops waving American flags, and holding signs that said "save me" and I saw the faces of America: the people who were paying the price, and no, they did NOT deserve what they got.

Since Katrina, I have tried to make up for lost time; first by angry blogging (I deleted my first ongoing blog because I decided it was turning into a partisan rant, and this is not who I am or want to be.) I signed petitions, I wrote weekly, sometimes daily letters to my representatives. I started digging out whatever 'real' investigative journalism I could find online. I vowed to make a difference, somehow, if only in some small way.

But I underestimated how painful, how hard it would be to look deeply into the state of our government today.

The truth is a nightmare. It now appears that every one of our mechanisms for citizen protection and corporate oversight has been compromised: FEMA, the Department of the Interior, the Department of Justice, the FDA, the EPA, the USDA, the Department of Agriculture... all are now run by partisan Bush insiders and corporate cronies.

Americans are still living under a misconception that we are 'safe' and protected by this government, and with collective memories of greater presidents like FDR and Eisenhower, we still believe our government actually cares about our best interests and wellbeing. As each of us awakens to this new reality, one by one, city by city, state by state, I wonder -- what will remain in the wreckage?

Lincoln once said:

"If once you forfeit the confidence of your fellow-citizens, you can never regain their respect and esteem."

Will we ever trust again? Should we ever trust again?

One minute fear. Then anguish. Then anger.

It is impossible to be impartial. Too many have died and are dying -- and too many ancestors have a stake in what we do or allow to happen on our watch.

I often find myself remembering an evening a few years ago, when I happened to arrive at the Antietam battleground just before sunset.

No one else was there; not a park ranger in sight, and so I started walking out across the fields, through the gathering dusk.

A feeling of heaviness, of gloom hung over the place, and it was unnaturally quiet and still. The air was thick, and it was hard to breathe. I actually felt the hair rise on the back of my neck, as though someone was watching me. I have to admit, the place gave me the creeps; and yet I felt no danger there. The sensation of the place is hard to capture in words. Perhaps a great sadness; or perhaps an endless grief.

I wandered over to Burnside's bridge, through a silvery mist that was rising from the banks of Antietam creek. I walked out onto the middle of the old, stone bridge and stood there for a long time in the growing darkness, watching the swirling mist form shapes in the shadows under the hanging branches of the trees. I waited there for some unknown length of time, lost in thought, until a lone park ranger emerged from the present, and told me I would need to leave the park at dark.

As we walked back to the parking lot, he told me stories about his experiences as a battlefield 'local;' a long time resident of an old, Civil War home on the battlefield grounds. He spoke of soft, unintelligible voices murmuring under his window, occasional shouts and horses whinnying. He told me how he, and apparently many locals, would find some excuse each year to leave the area on September 17th, the anniversary of the great battle.

It would seem that he, and many from that area, shared personal experiences and a connection with those who fought and died on that ground. I pondered that idea... that perhaps the Union and Confederate solders who bled and died on those fields were in effect fighting there still; locked in endless, mortal combat in some other twilight dreamscape. War without end.

At the time and in that place, these stories didn't really surprise me. To walk the fields of Antietam at dusk, is to feel the presence of the dead.

I cannot seem to shake that memory. It rises up in my thoughts these days, unbidden but not unheeded.

When I ponder our Constitution and our freedom as Americans, I think about the sacrifices that these 23,000 men made in the course of one September day, on the fields of Sharpsburg, Maryland. They died for an idea: soldiers on each side fought for freedom and for liberty, for themselves and for future generations.

We owe them something... our best, our citizen oversight. I think at the very least, we owe them our vigilance.

My own question is, simply... how to do this without succumbing to grief, or without being torn apart by anger and partisan hostility? How do I walk away from partisan attacks when words of warning are (obviously) unwelcome? These are the questions that I struggle with daily.

I don't want to be an angry person, I have never been a partisan 'hater,' and it is not my nature to be endlessly sad. At times I walk away from the computer and say, NO MORE.

Then I recall the ravages of Katrina, and my shock when days, then weeks went by without any apparent Federal aid or presence other than the heroic efforts of our Coast Guard; not even water bottles. I remember watching Harry Connick Jr. walk into the New Orleans Convention Center and pray by the body of an elderly woman in a wheelchair. I recall watching an anguished and outraged Anderson Cooper, no longer able to sustain his journalistic impartiality, demanding an answer to the lack of Federal response.

How could this have happened in America?

I cannot forget what I have seen, and I cannot shake my sense of shared responsibility. As I type these words, American soldiers and Iraqi citizens are bleeding and dying... and for what? Certainly not to 'make us free.' Not while habeas corpus is suspended and the Patriot Act remains in effect, mocking the sacrifices and unheeded warnings of our nations' founders.

I'm tired of arguing with hate-filled, partisan hardliners; I believe that all of us are victims of a hostile, government takeover. It is in the best interest of those who remove our freedoms that we fight amongst ourselves. What a waste of time... we should be working together for our common good.

We sink or swim together. Unfortunately - even under a flag of truce - we cannot talk to one another if everyone is screaming and no one is listening. We are, once again, a house divided; this time along partisan lines. Apparently the media fear-mongers and religious intolerants were quite effective.

I cannot walk away from my belief that each of us has a responsibility to speak out in a free society, if there is any hope that we are to remain a democracy. And so I stay, I grieve and I write; an unwilling participant in a dark and living history. And I try each day to find a little solace, a little hope and patience, and a little common ground with my neighbors as I await some sign of light at the end of the tunnel.

I am loathe to close. We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.

Abraham Lincoln, First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1861

Bring out the Subpoenas

Speaking justice to power

Dear Mr President:

I have to ask, although I'm sure you won't tell... why the continued secrecy if you haven't broken any laws? You say - and warn that this is the best deal you will make - that you will allow your minions to speak only in a secret, un-taped meeting, and only before the Judiciary Committee, and only if they don't have to take an oath. The American people be damned... right sir?

“We will not go along with a partisan fishing expedition aimed at honorable public servants,” the president told reporters in a brief and hastily convened appearance in the Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House.

We have no reason to love Alberto Gonzales - he has systematically attacked our rule of law and has been dismantling our Bill of Rights ever since you took office. I'm sure you know this, sir.

You accuse the Senate Judiciary Committee of conducting a partisan witch hunt as they attempt to investigate the obviously partisan firings of well reviewed prosecutors in the middle of their terms - on the basis of their loyalty to you, and only you. At least one prosecutor was in the middle of a high profile case of Republican corruption. I can see why this was distasteful to you.

This is an issue of law sir - not of partisanship. I know that this may be an alien concept to you. Law... not partisanship. As an Independent - not a Democrat - I must protest your obsession with all things partisan. I, for one, would like to know what is going on. What about country, sir? What about America? What about truth, law and justice? This is not the United States of Republican... not yet.

Scott Lilly, a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress, wrote:

It is clear that of the four administrations that controlled the executive branch of government during the past quarter-century, only the current administration has held the view that U.S. Attorney can or should be removed absent serious cause. In no instance is there any indication of a removal because a U.S. attorney failed to meet certain political criteria, such as prosecuting cases that were considered too sensitive to partisan issues or failing to prosecute cases that would be helpful from a partisan perspective.

The innovative philosophy of the current Bush administration with respect to the service of U.S. Attorneys is worthy of the attention it is now receiving. Those eight forced resignations threaten the very basis of our justice system-to quote the words written above the pillars on the west front of the Supreme Court, "Equal Justice Under Law."

Really sir - do you expect anyone to believe any testimony not given under oath? Do you expect us to believe, that this time - out of the blue - no one will lie to us, and justice will be served?

When was the last time anyone in your administration actually told the truth? You lied about the war, you lied about domestic spying... you lied about the levees, about torture, and the Patriot act. And you lied about these prosecutor firings when you said they were not 'politically motivated' (the emails have already shown that they indeed were.) No wonder you don't want Rove and Miers to be sworn in. As long as they are never under oath, they can lie their way right out of everything. Business as usual - right Mr President?

But what am I saying... if you have your way, we'll never hear a word of this 'oath-free' testimony anyway. You'd like to cut the American people completely out of this process, keep the entire thing a secret from us. 'For the Senate Judiciary ears only'. Mr President... where's the love?

As I recall, you loved us once... but that was when you courted our votes. As soon as you assumed the throne, you systematically undermined our Constitutional protections, hacked away at our Federal programs by cutting education (all children left behind) and Medicare, slashed all manner of other Federal programs for the poor and middle class while giving tax breaks to the richest of the rich, and putting corporate cronies in charge of all our watchdog agencies. You kicked us in the teeth.

It really is all about loyalty with you, isn't it sir? By the time you were sworn in, in 2001, we had already broken your holiest of cardinal rules. The majority of the American people did not vote for you. As we had already proven our disloyalty, you saw no need to serve and protect our rights as citizens or obey our rule of law. And thus, your vendetta against the American people began in earnest.

You are right, of course - we were disloyal. To you. But never to our Constitution. Never to our country. So why are you spying on us without any court orders? Is it any wonder we now believe that 'we' have been your real enemy all along? The proof is in the pudding, sir.

Absolutely - by your standards - we should be sacked, not your loyal sidekick Alberto Gonzales. And yet... it is not so easy to sack the citizens of the United States of America. In reality sir, you report to us. As Mr Lincoln so eloquently put it, "The people of the United States are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution, but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution." Did no one mention that to you when you were sworn in?

Congress represents the people, as stated in the Constitution (no wonder you've been trying to dismantle it.) The Senate Judiciary is working on our behalf when they investigate these partisan firings - they aren't doing this for their own, Democratic revenge or entertainment. And as their employers, we demand our own oversight in this process. We demand a public record. We have the right to know that no one in your administration is lying this time. This means they must testify under oath, and on the record. I'm sorry sir - I am afraid we must insist on this. Because you see, fool us once... shame on you...

Democracies are a real drag, aren't they sir? Its a wonder you keep trying to install one in Iraq - what you really want (both here and there) is a dictatorship. You have told us, time and time again, that you don't care what we think about your war, your decisions, your ethics or your choices of minions. You also don't care what we think about our rule of law. You forget one very important point, Mr. President: our democracy is built upon this rule of law. We will fight to keep it, sir.

By the way - this strange new activity you are seeing in the Senate? This sir is called oversight. I know it has been so long since any of us have seen it, that we're all shocked and awed. In your formerly, Republican-controlled Senate, everything you wanted was handed to you on a platter - when you bothered to consult with them at all. I'm sure that is how you think the Senate should operate - at the (what is that phrase? At the 'pleasure of the President?')

We respectfully insist that this time, sir, everyone will be serving at our pleasure. Oversight belongs to the people, sir. Yes - the great unwashed... the 95% to whom you didn't give tax breaks, the 95% you have been watching with distrust, spying on and lying to.

This gig is up. We're fed up with the lies, the corruption and your administration's blatant distain for the law. We want the truth. No president is above the law. Just ask Richard Nixon.

Respectfully yours,

Citizen Maire

My Declaration of Independence

We are not all cut from either 'right' or 'left' cloth

I now consider myself an Independent, after a lifetime of believing myself a Democrat (based on ideology, which I now realize doesn't jive with actuality.) I wasn't asked, the last time I registered to vote, which party affiliation I now hold... so I never had the opportunity to formally announce my declaration of independence.

One of the main things that drove me away from politics, was partisan lock-step. So often politicians and their supporters appear to be strong on emotion and short on logic. Thus the partisan extremism, mudslinging and personal attacks that have become so common during election years. I am so turned off from that kind of behavior, that I generally boycotted all politics until Katrina. Partisan politics is tearing this country apart, and both sides lose in the end because we all need each other if we are going to survive.

As a result of rediscovering myself as an Independent, I am noticing partisan talk much more than I ever have in the past. Every article I read is slanted one way or another - I didn't notice to what extent until I divorced myself from this broken Democratic party. From my experience, people just don't fit comfortably into categories. These two parties have become much too strong, and much too polarizing. And neither one has remained true to its base. There is a lot of talk, a lot of ideology tossed about, but behind the scenes both parties are sticking it to us in favor of money - money in their own pockets. Lincoln would call this 'capitalists acting harmoniously and in concert, to fleece the people.'

Both extremes - the far right and the far left - are so determined to have things their way, that they appear to run almost entirely on emotional intensity. 'Winning' becomes more important than finding common ground, negotiating, and finding solutions that benefit everyone. And this is just within our American society - never mind when we go out into the rest of the world and start trying to inflict our demands on everyone out there.

No one party's interests should trump the interests of the nation as a whole. Everyone from the individuals, to large businesses should be represented - and could be represented - if we were simply willing to compromise and be reasonable.

I have undoubtedly been something of an Independent in my thinking all along. I may lean more towards Democratic ideology, but the Democratic platform isn't what it used to be. I have no idea what they represent now... but I know what they once represented, or said they represented.

The Democratic platform used to profess to represent me, and those less fortunate than myself. I believe, for example, that unions exist for a very important reason: to serve as oversight on those businesses that care more about money than their workers. In a perfect world, we wouldn't need unions. But ask any coal miner and he will tell you in a heartbeat - this is no perfect world. Coal miners work hard, and they deserve to be able to feed their families and have good health care. God knows they need it. That said, unions can go overboard as well, and make unreasonable demands that would bankrupt many companies. When I think of union extremism, I think of professional sports. A livable wage - even a good wage - for an athlete is reasonable. Mega millions of dollars - just for hitting a ball with a bat - is frankly crazy (ARod... sorry buddy, you're wildly overpaid.) Balance. Reason. Both sides having a say, and compromises hashed out.

The Democratic platform promoted themselves as the party of corporate oversight, especially where food, drugs and the environment are concerned. Oversight is logical. We have to live on this planet. We have to drink the water, breathe the air and eat the food. It is totally illogical to sacrifice any of these life-giving necessities so that some corporations can become lazy, 'bad neighbors,' just to save money.

Balance... corporations aren't 'bad' unless they - like anyone or anything - become so powerful that they become a tyranny in our midst. With good oversight to counter their total focus on money, corporations play a huge role in our strength as a nation. But now they have run amok, and are even abandoning our country and moving their headquarters out of the U.S. so they can make even more money, basically enslave the populace in countries that have even less regulation than we do, avoid paying US taxes (what little they paid anyway...) its shameful. That should tell you all you need to know about corporate 'ethics.' It doesn't exist.

There must be oversight to protect the people (and that includes those who work in that corporation.) The corporations will never police themselves, not when their entire existence is based on making a profit at all costs. A corporation will generally only behave in a moral fashion if there is profit in being moral. That is just a fact of business.

I am a firm believer in oversight, because (having worked in business - I was an IS professional for 18 years,) I understand the beast pretty well. I saw and worked in some excellent working environments that were ruined when - in the interest of 'making more money' - an outside reformer would be brought in, rounds of layoffs would take place, and the resulting company would be so broken in spirit that in the end, the entire company went under. Everybody lost.

I learned from experience that people are the business - just as the middle class is the driving force behind our country's productivity.

I believe this 'attack on the middle class' that Lou Dobbs espouses started early in my IS career, with all of the 'reorganizations' that forced many of us to change jobs constantly, just ahead of the lay-off ax. I did enjoy a few great workplaces and I recall that I did my best work - my most productive work - in those nurturing environments. It seems completely illogical to me that someone would actually believe it possible to improve profits by destroying these great working environments. Every single time I went through it, the business suffered. Turns out, the productivity was the profit, and the workers were the productivity. Treat the workforce with respect and productivity will soar. People want to do a good job, but angry people lash out any way they can. I've seen this scenario over and over again.

People will give you 100% if they believe they are seen and appreciated. If they feel attacked, marginalized and used, they will rebel and productivity will plummet. Small businesses learn this quickly: if you want to provide good support to customers, ensure repeat business, and provide a consistent product -- you must keep your employees happy.

What I see in this new, 'Enron Republicanism' (not to be confused with old school Republicans and conservatives - there are many flavors;) is that same 'hack and burn to make more profit' philosophy. Anything for a buck, and not much thought going into the part played by the workers in assuring that profit. In other words -- profit over people.

Our middle class is very important to this nation - the middle class has been the pool, the fountain of our creativity, industriousness and new ideas for generations. You could say it was the middle class that made this country what it is today. The very wealthy may have funded it, but the middle class was the melting pot out of which came the ideas, scientific research, engineering, and entrepreneurial spirit that gave us the Internet, personal computers, the pharmaceuticals we use today, and modern medicine.

It is absolutely insane to wipe out our middle class - and especially crazy to deprive their children of the education that will ensure our future competitiveness as a nation. We can't possibly hope to keep our status as a world power without an educated and productive middle class. And yet it is true: the middle class is under attack from every direction now and education expenses are so high that soon we may lose this vast pool of intellect and creativity that has been a driving force in our national success for generations.

We need to find our balance again. We need a strong economy, a strong business world, a strong middle class. We also need to solve the problem of poverty in this country, as it diminishes all of us. That was very apparent in the aftermath of Katrina. We must salvage our reputation in this world - close down these illegal and immoral secret camps and ban torture again, restore habeas corpus and once again become a country that adheres to the rule of law.

I honestly believe that we have to move past partisan politics and find common ground. There must be a way for us all to work together and thrive together as a nation.

Compromise. Balance. An environment where both the corporate world and the average worker can thrive, where pollution is checked, where our food is protected, and health care is available to everyone who needs it. Our country will be stronger for it. Perhaps we need a bipartisan ticket after all... or maybe a third party. Its obvious something has to change.

I believe we also need to look deeply at the roots of crime in this country... why are our prisons so over-crowded? What can be done to address the underlying reasons for this problem? I watched a fascinating documentary on Nixon, and was stunned to see that he was doing just that... he actually sent someone into the prisons to find out why they were so crowded, found out it was due in great part to heroine addiction, and so he implemented a rehab program utilizing methadone. No one ever accused Richard Nixon of being stupid. Paranoid maybe, and vindictive... but not stupid. It is this sort of thinking - logic - that will help us overcome our problems. More logic, less knee-jerk emotion.

We all need each other. Its that simple. We can continue to tear each other (and thus our country) apart with partisan politics, or we can pull together and work out solutions that benefit everyone. I'd prefer the latter.

The Army is ordering injured troops to go to Iraq

An open letter to the Honorable Senator Lugar of Indiana, from a constituent:

Dear Senator Lugar:

This is unbelievable. I cannot stand this anymore.

How did our government become this sociopathic? Please... do something. This isn't a partisan issue!

I'm so sick of partisan issues I could tear my hair out - that's one of the chief reasons I became an independent, and am a fervent supporter of Senator Hagel. He continually promotes bipartisan cooperation and tolerance. He is speaking out against this madness. I can't imagine how the rest of you can keep quiet!

While the House and the Senate argue 'partisan politics,' these men and women are being abused - literally abused - for their country. I thought things were bad during the Vietnam war (I grew up during that war, and it has affected me - through the vets I have known - ever since I was four years old and my best friend lost his father over there.) This is just... unfathomable. Please make this stop.

If we don't have the troops to occupy Iraq, we have to get out. This is obvious. This is logic. This is called 'the writing on the wall.' I really don't care how embarrassing it is to this administration. Or how much money the independent contractors are making over there, and how much lobbying influence they have in the White House, the House and the Senate (yes, I'm cynical -- but shouldn't I be? Really, shouldn't I be?)

This is flat out wrong, and as an American citizen I am now well beyond outraged. I'm ready to get into my car and drive to Washington, and stand on the steps of the Capitol building with an American flag... to remind you that this isn't a banana republic, this is the United States of America, formerly the greatest democracy in history.

Unfortunately, I don't think even millions of people on the Capitol steps with flags would break this Congress out of its partisan deadlock. Apparently Chuck Hagel telling you all to consider 'selling shoes' didn't get your attention. I can't decide who I am angrier with - the president for his abuse of power... or all of you for allowing it to continue. The elephant in the middle of the room is starting to knock down the walls... can you see it now?

How on earth... are we going to catch Bin Laden if we have no army? We continually hurl them on the rocks of Iraq, in a losing war. Yes, we are wasting them!! This is no 'war on terror.' This is suicide. This is madness. (We are still looking for Bin Laden... aren't we?)

And what about just plain old ethics? What about honor? Do these concepts even exist in Washington anymore?

Ethics. I'm not talking about religion. I'm talking about who we are as a people, as a country, as a democracy. Sending injured troops back into Iraq is wrong! The abandonment of New Orleans was wrong. Secret camps and torturing prisoners - and denying them Geneva rights - wrong wrong wrong. Spying on American citizens is wrong.

When will you representatives of the people join together - yes, across party lines and in the face of the lobbyists - and end this national nightmare?

I am baffled as to why you are allowing this to continue on your watch. Impeachment charges were brought against Clinton for lying about sex, and against Nixon for being paranoid (basically, and yes he broke laws too, like Bush and Cheney.) And yet... this president is getting a free ride to blast away at our rules of law, our ethical standards, our reputation as a nation and a democracy - even our Constitution. This trumps anything Nixon could have dreamed up. And it is far from over. Bush and Cheney won't even take nukes 'off the table.' They reserve the right to attack Iran without warning, and without permission from Congress. This administration scares me to death.

As I've said before, I believe you are an honorable man. There comes a time when honorable men speak out. Lincoln, who I greatly admire, said "To sin by silence when they should protest makes cowards of men." I would follow Senator Hagel anywhere, because he is doing his job. Please stand with him. We need you. These troops need you. Take back your powers of oversight, sir. Your country needs you.