Self-impeach: Time for Florida governor and legislature to go!

by Stephen L. Goldstein, author of Atlas Drugged: Ayn Rand Be Damned!

       Florida Governor Rick Scott and the tea party/GOP members of the state Legislature should "self-impeach." But because they haven't got a scintilla of integrity among them, for high crimes and misdemeanors against representative government, I'll start the process myself. And I know I'm not alone: If impeachment or a recall were permissible citizen initiatives in Florida, the whole gang would already have been swept out of office like pond scum, no offense to algae. Here are my charges against Scott and the Legislature:
       1. As legitimate as removal from office for voter suppression is, Rick Scott's active role as a card-carrying member of the national conspiracy of Republican governors to keep likely Democrats from voting is just his most recent, obvious, and egregious abuse of power. The governor became the governor but has never been the governor. He must have had his fingers crossed when he took the oath of office. In his nearly two years in office, I can't think of a single instance when he has acted on behalf of the citizens of Florida. Instead, he practices unprotected commerce. He sees himself as the leader of corporate interests, the CEO-in-chief of Florida, Inc. If he had his
way, public assets (bridges, schools, roads, hospitals, etc.) would be sold to for-profit companies, and public services would be converted to point-of-purchase transactions. Your kid is drowning? Pay the lifeguard on-the-spot or he won't swim out to save her. He's the original "privatize FEMA" guy. Next to him, Mitt Romney at his most mean-spirited looks like Mother Teresa.
       In addition, in the ultimate cynicism of power, the governor has used "the people's" money to deprive Floridians of their rights, most notably suing the Feds to overturn Obamacare--even refusing to implement it after the Supreme Court upheld it. Finally, his support of the partisan removal of three state Supreme Court justices is the pièce-de-résistance in an unblemished record of his executive branch gone wild.
        2. Ditto for tea party/GOP members of the Florida Legislature for going along with so much of the governor's bad stuff. They actually have the power to impeach him, but won't, of course--because in some ways, they're even worse than he is. If all 11 Constitutional Amendments the tea party/GOP members of the Legislature placed on the November ballot had passed, they would have constituted a bloodless coup that would have destroyed the separation of church and state, diminished the power of the judiciary, violated women's rights, robbed state government of critical resources.
        The lesson here is neither to forget nor forgive, but to act. Sad fact is: No matter what candidates say they'll do if elected, once they're in office they can do whatever they please--or what pleases lobbyists. Floridians are powerless to do anything about elected officials guilty of abusing their power--except vote them out of office, which is usually too little too late: They can do too much damage in the meantime, and too often even the worst incumbents are re-elected.
        "The people" of Florida need to put a Constitutional Amendment on the November 2014 ballot to allow the recall of all elected officials. Otherwise, we'll be guilty of  "self-impeaching" and continuing to let the bad guys win.#
     

       

The anti-Reagan: Mitt Romney

By Stephen L. Goldstein, author Atlas Drugged: Ayn Rand Be Damned!

            Turns out, Mitt Romney is the anti-Reagan. With his “honesty”—Suspend your disbelief!—he may unwittingly have propelled the Gipper onto the ash heap of history, where he belongs. CEO Romney, who admitted relishing the chance to fire people, went a sweeping step further when he proposed eliminating FEMA, turning its responsibilities over to the states, and ideally privatizing all relief efforts. He was positively Reaganesque in his insistence that government (especially the big, by definition bad, federal government) is not the solution but the problem. Romney, who knew his audience at one of the presidential primary debates would lap it up, was in his glory.

            That was then; the weather was good. This is now—after Hurricane Sandy devastated the Northeast and sandbagged Romney. To federal, state, and local officials struggling to coordinate massive, complex relief, search, and rescue efforts, Romney’s vision of businesses charging dazed victims for goods and services on-the-spot is sinister and bizarre, not to mention impractical: Would everyone who uses a road in a neighborhood have to pay before it could be cleared? And how would anyone know who they were? Not to be macabre, but business is business in Mittland. Would there be a discount for removing two dead bodies? Would they take a check or only cash or credit card? Anyone with even a modicum of empathy recoils from such illogic and obscenity.

            In typical fashion, Romney walked back his words after the press pounded him. As president, he promised FEMA would receive the funds it needs. But which Romney should Americans pay attention to? As it turns out, both! And we should thank both of him, too. With Romney’s doubletalk about FEMA, he has done the greatest service to the nation of his entire political career. Make that his life! Since Ronald Reagan declared government persona non grata, the country has been engaged in a debate over the proper role(s) and limitation(s) of the public sector. And the anti-government faction has been winning hands-down. Grover Norquist has arm-twisted countless members of Congress, as well as members of state legislatures, to sign no-tax pledges to starve “the beast” of government. Even Bill Clinton once declared the era of big government over.

            Thanks to Romney, no one is gonna listen to such garbage talk any longer. Hurricane Sandy may have been a perfect storm. But Mitt’s words may have been more consequential, forever turning the tide of public opinion. His hot air may have warmed the otherwise cold hearts of Americans by revealing the absurdity of dismantling and privatizing the federal government. The weathercock is finally about to swing in the direction of appreciating the role of government, if it hasn’t already.

            When we fully come to our senses as a nation, we’re sure to reaffirm that we don’t live in an either-or world. The reality is: It isn’t either that government does everything or that the private sector does; it’s both. In some areas they overlap; in others, they are complementary; in still others, there should be a firewall between them. We need to restore our lost balance, no longer tolerating political hacks who want to gut government and redistribute its proper roles so business can bag bucks when Americans are hurting. If not, keep trying to “win one for the Gipper” and see how Mother Nature gets even next time.#

           

Scary: Paul Ryan's Toxic "Day 1" ALREADY BEGUN

by Stephen L. Goldstein
Op-Ed columnist, author of Atlas Drugged: Ayn Rand Be Damned or "America according to Paul Ryan"
Follow on Twitter @drslgoldstein
Email: trendsman@aol.com

       No "Day 1" for Mitt Romney! No fear that he'll be able to undo all of Obama's "good." He can superintend the building of his car elevator--or fire the workers, just for the fun of it. Or maybe he can watch one of Ann's horses dance so he can deduct the dollar equivalent of his doing so as a business expense. Whatever! We have nothing to fear from a politically defanged Romney. He'll probably lick his wounds and take out what's left of his aggression by taking over a company and moving it to China.

       Not so for Paul Ryan. HIS "Day 1" has ALREADY begun. To be sure, he has to deflect whatever blame he'll get for the Romney/Ryan defeat: He only branded 30% of Americans moochers and deadbeats, compared with Romney's 47%. But he was as mean-spirited as Mitt in suggesting that the federal goverment should have little, of any, role in disaster relief. Ryan's "days" promise to be toxic for average Americans. His ideal America is New Orleans after Katrina--Hurricane Sandy without Sandy: a free market paradise for profiteers to scalp victims.
       Ryan is the consummate example of an adolescent whiz kid who was drugged on Ayn Rand’s Kool-Aid but never weaned from it, fancies himself John Galt—and grew up to be a second-tier technocrat on the taxpayer payroll, who is now raised to national prominence by a third-rate candidate for the presidency. There’s abundant evidence to poke holes in his-delusional and frightening dystopia for the nation. “The Ryan Plan” (aka the GOP federal budget) is a roadmap for disaster, a war on the poor and the middle class. The Koch brothers couldn’t have written it better—probably tweaked the draft. The case against Ryan is laid out by ThinkProgress (thinkprogress.org). 
       Here are highlights from it

            1. Ryan wants to raise taxes on the middle class, cut them for millionaires.

            2. He would extend the Bush tax cuts, but not President Obama’s for those with the lowest incomes.

            3. Ryan would virtually eliminate programs that benefit the lower- and middle-classes.

            4. He would end Medicare and replace it with a voucher system, raise eligibility to 67, cost enrollees more than $5,900 annually by 2050.

            5. Ryan thinks Social Security is a “Ponzi scheme” and wants to privatize it at the mercy of stocks and bonds, which he apparently believes are always safe bets.

            6. The Economic Policy Institute estimates Ryan’s budget would result in 4.1 million lost jobs in two years.

            7. He wants to eliminate Pell Grants for more than 1 million students.

            8. Ryan supports $40 billion in subsidies for big oil.

            9. He co-sponsored a “personhood” amendment, which would outlaw abortion, some forms of contraception and in vitro fertilization.

            No one in his right mind would want to live in the America of Paul Ryan, except Mitt Romney. Many of Ryan’s supporters deny biological, survival-of-the-fittest Darwinism, but embrace dog-eat-dog social Darwinism, where unbridled greed is the greatest virtue and morality is determined by a dollar sign. But sadly, Romney isn’t trying to appeal to all Americans. Ryan, Mitt hopes, will make his candidacy acceptable to the tea party. He may fool them, but most Americans know “the fruit” of both those lemons “is impossible to eat.”

            "Atlas Drugged: Ayn Rand Be Damned!" is available in bookstores nationwide, through www.barnesandnoble.com,www.amazon.com, and other online booksellers. Order it NOW from Amazon (paperback or Kindle):http://www.amazon.com/Atlas-Drugged-Ayn-Rand-Damned/dp/1555717098/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1344306781&sr=8-1&keywords=atlas+drugged+ayn+rand+be+damned

No to atheistic Atlas Shrugged/Yes to Judeo-Christian Atlas Drugged

by Stephen L. Goldstein, author of Atlas Drugged: Ayn Rand Be Damned!

Ayn Rand was a twisted sister--and Mitt Romney's Paul Ryan is her nephew. She left Bolshevik Russia, pissed that her family's property has been confiscated. Can't blame her. But instead of seeking psychiatric help, she went on a literary and philosophical tirade, most famously in Atlas Shrugged--a tiresome, 1100 page heap of some of the worst-written in the English language. She glorified people she felt were the REAL drivers of the economy. She vilified others as moochers. She railed against government. She became the prophet of "greed is good."

Had Rand lived she would have been astonished at how many people fell for her pseudo-thinking. Published in 1957, the virulently anti-Communist/fiercely pro-Capitalist message of Atlas Shrugged pandered to the chauvinism of its day--and well into our own. But had she lived any longer, she might have had to backtrack a bit on her hatred of government intrusion/squelching of individual's lives and initiative: The poor dear--who am I to call her a raging hypocrite?--depended on Medicare and Social Security in the last years of her life.

Like other impressionable, narcissistic, self-serving adolescents, Romney's VP Paul Ryan fell for Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged--and NEVER outgrew its twisted philosophy. The case AGAINST its mean-spirited message and FOR Judeo-Christian morality is made in Atlas Drugged: Ayn Rand Be Damned!

"Atlas Drugged: Ayn Rand Be Damned!" is available in bookstores nationwide, through www.barnesandnoble.com,www.amazon.com (paperback and Kindle), and otheronline booksellers. Order it NOW fromAmazon:  http://www.amazon.com/Atlas-Drugged-Ayn-Rand-Damned/dp/1555717098/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1344306781&sr=8-1&keywords=atlas+drugged+ayn+rand+be+damned

Bestselling dystopia PREDICTED US w/o FEMA a la REAL Romney: "Victims of Sandy, to hell with the 47%"

Of course he now denies it, but Mitt Romney called federal disaster aid "immoral." He said he would do away with FEMA, "return" its responsibilities to "the states." Ideally, he said it should be privatized. That's right, for-profit businesses would provide disaster relief--but only to those who could pay for it.

Well, there's an uncanny account of the "American without FEMA" Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan, who idolizes Ayn Rand, want to create. In the dystopia Atlas Drugged: Ayn Rand Be Damned! (See below) by Stephen L. Goldstein. Florida is totally devastated by a monster storm. But there's NO help from the government/FEMA. USA has become Corporate States of America, government is dismantled, services are abolished or privatized--and average Americans are left completely helpless.

During a press conference, the governor of Florida and president of the Corporate States of America emphasize that government has NO role to play in assisting victims of natural disasters. Here's the give-and-take between a reporter and the governor:

Malcolm Scott of Floridanews.com: "Governor Cott, four days after the most devastating hurricane in U.S. history has destroyed at least two-thirds of Florida and left an estimated twelve million people homeless, destitute, and cut off from the rest of the country, no help has been forthcoming from the state. Victims are desperate. There are reports of riots and looting in affected areas. What is your plan of action to help them?"

Governor Cott: "Mr. Scott, your question suggests that help in some form should be coming from the state, that whenever and wherever there's a problem, government is going to come to the rescue. So, I'm delighted to be able to set the record straight: Government has no role to play. Anyone who think it does is guilty of a pre-Galtian, socialist, inhibiting, looter mind-set. The overwhelming majority of the country has evolved way beyond it. You and others who think like you are a tiny minority of reactionaries. Storm preparation is a personal matter for families and individuals, which they can address by being responsible and buying appropriate good and services from for-profit businesses. The same applies to the aftermath of any disaster. It's the law of the marketplace. The state has no role in it."

"Atlas Drugged: Ayn Rand Be Damned!" is available in bookstores nationwide, through www.barnesandnoble.com, www.amazon.com (paperback and Kindle), and other online booksellers. Order it NOW from Amazon:  http://www.amazon.com/Atlas-Drugged-Ayn-Rand-Damned/dp/1555717098/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1344306781&sr=8-1&keywords=atlas+drugged+ayn+rand+be+damned

83 outright lies Mitt Romney's told you

Hard to believe ANYONE would vote for this lying SOB.

32: Here are 32 outright lies PolitiFact verifies from the mouth of Mitt Romney:
http://www.politifact.com/personalities/mitt-romney/statements/byruling/false/

Here are the 5 biggest lies Romney told during the first debate, as verified by Rolling Stone:
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-first-debate-mitt-romneys-five-biggest-lies-20121004

12 Mitt Romney lies analyzed by Politicusa:
http://www.politicususa.com/12-lies-mitt-romneys-debate-performance-mostly-fiction.html

7 biggest debate lies of Romney--from The Nation:
http://www.thenation.com/blog/170623/romneys-seven-biggest-debate-lies

27 myths Romney told in 38 minutes--from ThinkProgress:
http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2012/10/04/958801/at-last-nights-debate-romney-told-27-myths-in-38-minutes/?mobile=nc

CEOs (Romney!) make GREAT fascists/BAD presidents

            by Stephen L. Goldstein, columnist/author of Atlas Drugged: Ayn Rand Be Damned!, dystopia that warns about threat/horror of corporate takeover of America (Look it upon on Amazon.com)

            The United States is in the middle of a devastating epidemic of “Obsessive CEO Syndrome” (OCS), a debilitating condition in which victims’ are deluded into thinking that the chosen people at the top of organization charts have the best minds, all the answers to all of our problems, and, should they choose to abandon the rarefied air of their boardrooms, make the best public servants/elected officials.

            In other words, OCS is borderline insanity. So, in order to return the nation to mental health as early as possible, all of us need to be able to recognize the bizarre logic and assumptions of people who may suffer from OCS and know the best protocols to save them—and us, from them. Here are examples of some of their most twisted thinking:

            1. Government can do no good: Most victims of OCS fell under the noxious spell of actor-turn-presidential-impersonator Ronald Reagan—or others who did. For eight years, the best gig of his career—no matinees!—he repeated the mantra that his corporate cronies gave him. But the last time I checked, NASA, the U.S. military, the National Institutes of Health, and the National Hurricane Center were government agencies, among others. Would anyone say they are “no good”?

            2. Business can do no evil: Eve is the patron saint of business. It’s not just a few bad apples; season after season, business reaps harvests of illegalities that are the stuff of daily newspaper headlines: Medicare and Medicaid fraud; securities, investment, and banking crimes; consumer rip-offs; ponzi schemes. Remember Enron?

            3. The Founding Fathers were capitalists who framed the Constitution to promote corporate interests: Contrary to the Sarah-Palin-made-up-classic-comic-book version of America history, our FF’s were largely former British royalist-loyalists, land-and-slave-holding aristocrats who never envisioned this country serving business interests on a scale they could never have imagined.

            4. The government should be run like a business by businesspeople and for the benefit of businesses: Calvin Coolidge observed, “the chief business of the American people is business.” But that doesn’t mean that the government should be taken over by business interests. The proper role of government is to provide a supportive environment in which business can thrive—but not at the expense of the public interest. No matter what they think, the Koch brothers don’t own America.

            5. The private sector creates job, but the public section doesn’t: Hogwash! Most major businesses “create” jobs through government contracts (taxpayer money). Historically, the public sector creates jobs—police, fire, and fire rescue personnel; teachers; members of the armed forces. Believing the unproven claim that for-profit businesses can provide better services more cheaply than government, proponents of privatization want to give them guaranteed revenue streams. More hogwash!

            6. Markets should be self-policed and free of regulation: 1929 & 2008: Nothing need be said!

            7. CEO’s make the best public servants/elected officials: Former CEO-governor Rick Scott has not created the jobs he promised and has violated his oath of office by routinely putting business interests above those of “the people.” When CEO-governor Mitt Romney left office, Massachusetts was 47^th in job-growth, burdened with a $1 billion deficit, and had seen an increase in state and local taxes.

            The cure for OCS is facing reality: Businesspeople know nothing about running government. CEO’s should stick to business, succeed or fail, and stop messing with “the people’s” bottom line.#

                          

BREAKING News: Hurricane Sandy: Tea party/GOP want GVT Handout

by Stephen L. Goldstein, columnists/author of Atlas Drugged: Ayn Rand Be Damned!

     Hurricane Sandy threatens much of the East Coast. So, I'm waiting for all the government-is-the-problem-not-the-solution hypocrites to start SCREAMING for help from FEMA. The Virginia governor has already declared a state of emergency, no doubt so he can get federal dollars. It's EVER the SAME.
       In Atlas Drugged: Ayn Rand Be Damned!, I describe what could happen if corporate interests eventually take over the whole country COMPLETELY. There's a devastating account of a hurricane, Florida is ravaged, but the governor and U.S. president say no help is coming for average people (i.e. "Go to hell)--unless you can pay for it. Yesterday, I read in The New York Times that, as a result of mismanagement and cutbacks, we don't/won't have the weather satellites to warn/track storms as we've had in the past. It's the dystopia of Atlas Drugged: Ayn Rand Be Damned! ALREADY! Too often, people don't see how bad things can get--until it's too late. Atlas Drugged will show them--or they'll regret not opening their eyes.
       Here's the link to Atlas Drugged: Ayn Rand Be Damned! on Amazon.com. It's what's happening to us now--and how much worse things can get: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_13?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=atlas+drugged+ayn+rand+be+damned&sprefix=atlas+drugged%2Caps%2C0.#

President Paul Ryan: Scare YOU Sh*tless?

by Stephen L. Goldstein, columnist/author of Atlas Drugged: Ayn Rand Be Damned!

       Here's something to destabilize you--and make you want to tell EVERYONE to vote for President Obama! Romney/Ryan are elected, which is horrific enough. But then, at some point, for some reason, Romney can't serve--and extremist Paul Ryan becomes president. Imagine HIS Supreme Court nominees, HIS assault on women's rights, HIS voucherizing of Medicare and privatizing of Social Security, the list goes on. He'll foist Ayn Randian economics/greed-is-good on all of America.
       If you don't believe me, read my scathing indictment of Ryan/Rand, Atlas Drugged: Ayn Rand Be Damned! It's a fast-paced, well-written novel that is "eerily prescient" (a reader's comment) about where we are today and where people like Romney/Ryan might take us. I'm not just plugging my book; I'm trying to get people to see beyond their noses--and to smell the stench that's out there. There's lots about Atlas Drugged at www.aynrandbedamned.blogspot.com --and still time to get its message to people BEFORE the election.
       Here's the link to Atlas Drugged: Ayn Rand Be Damned! on Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_13?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=atlas+drugged+ayn+rand+be+damned&sprefix=atlas+drugged%2Caps%2C0  It's in paperback and on Kindle. Before the election, please read it and try to get as many others to do so as you can. It may sway voters to keep the bad buys from taking over the country.#

"7 Deadly Sins" of Mitt Romney

by Stephen L. Goldstein,, author of Atlas Drugged: Ayn Rand Be Damned! (See below)

            Floridians are canaries in the coal mine. And Rick Scott and Mitt Romney are birds of a feather. With whatever breath we have left, we should warn the rest of the nation about just how lethal a Romney presidency would be. By a razor-thin margin, former CEO Rick Scott became governor on a Mitt-like platform: “I can produce miracles; I know how to create jobs.” No sooner was he sworn in, however, than voters woke up to his draconian devices, had buyers’ remorse—but were stuck. Floridians have to suffer for two more years under Scott, but the country never has to endure Romney if enough people wake up. Here are Scott’s “7 Deadly Sins” that you can keep Romney from committing:

            Sin 1: Selling economic snake oil. CEO Scott claimed he had the magic formula for stimulating the economy. It turned out to be GOP failed policies: reducing and eliminating taxes, downsizing government payroll, eliminating programs and services. They’re Romney’s too. Scott fooled us once; shame on him. Let Romney fool us a second time, shame on us!

            Sin 2: Pretending to know how to create jobs. Florida voters fell for Scott’s “jobs, jobs, jobs” mantra and his pledge to create 700,000 jobs. Twenty-two months into his term, he’s failed. Florida’s unemployment rate has declined—thanks to Obama’s economic policies—but it’s almost a full point above the national average. Romney boasts he’ll create 12 million new jobs; but when he was Massachusetts governor, the state was 47^th in job creation. Forewarned is forearmed: Don’t believe a word Mitt says.  

            Sin 3: Putting corporate profits before people. Scott has declared war on Romney’s slothful 47% for almost two years. He’s Santa Claus to businesses, Scrooge to average Floridians. He never met a company to which he didn’t want to give taxpayer dollars or a public service he didn’t want to cut. Romney will do the same.

            Sin 4: Privatizing government. Scott wants to turn tax-supported services and agencies (schools, prisons, etc.) over to private businesses “to save money.” Romney would do the same to Medicare and Social Security. The former CEOs think alike: Privatization guarantees that favored companies will make gazillions.

            Sin 5: “Right-winging” the courts. Rick Scott has peppered the lower courts with conservative judges. Now, he wants to replace three Florida Supreme Court justices with right-wing fanatics. Like Scott, if Romney is elected, he’ll stack the U.S. Supreme Court with ultra-conservative ideologues. We’ll get more decisions like Citizens United, and Roe v. Wade will be overturned.

            Sin 6: Putting false faith in markets. Scott has led the fight against Obamacare and refuses to implement any of its provisions, even after the Supreme Court decision upholding it. He’s offered no alternative but the “market,” and never will. Romney would do the same, no matter how much more consumers will have to pay.

            Sin 7: Destroying the separation between church and state. Bible-thumping, Scott has been a five-star general in the wars against same-sex marriage, abortion—and women. Expect a President Romney will give you more religion and less state, the Constitution be damned!

            The devil is in Scott’s and Romney’s details. Tell the rest of the country that they don’t want an America under Romney that looks like Florida under Scott—or [you’ll ITAL] be guilty of the greatest sin of all.

            Email Stephen Goldstein: trendsman@aol.com. Follow him on twitter @drslgoldstein
            "Atlas Drugged: Ayn Rand Be Damned!" is available in bookstores nationwide, through www.barnesandnoble.com, www.amazon.com, and other online booksellers. Order it NOW from Amazon (paperback or Kindle): http://www.amazon.com/Atlas-Drugged-Ayn-Rand-Damned/dp/1555717098/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1344306781&sr=8-1&keywords=atlas+drugged+ayn+rand+be+damned

                       

Republicans DEAD as national party

Stephen L. Goldstein
@drslgoldstein
Email: trendsman@aol.com
Author of Atlas Drugged: Ayn Rand Be Damned!

       The Republican Party is over, finished, kaput. How do I know? Tampa tells me so--and demographics. In politics, the headbone's connected to the shoulder bone; the past prelude to the future.          
       At what should have been the culmination of four years of relentless plotting against President Obama, and in an election cycle that was its to lose, the GOP self-destructed, staging a convention that never got off the ground. It started and stopped and sputtered in between. But it wasn't because of Tropical Storm Isaac. The rain or shine outside had nothing to do with the climate inside, where conditions were inclement at best. Fact is: hardly anyone really likes Mitt Romney, even people who say they do--and it showed. He's everybody's Cracker Jack box without a prize, the kid to whose birthday party no one wants to be invited, even though his house has a swimming pool. He's the would-be head of the richest and most powerful nation on earth, from whom you wouldn't buy a vacuum cleaner without a money-back guarantee. It appears the only way he could get anyone except his wife to speak on his behalf was to let them unofficially launch their 2016 campaigns for president--and barely mention him.
      But that's not the worst of it. Pick an issue, any issue. The Elephant Party has become the Ostrich Party--burying its head in the sand, refusing to face reality and build bridges to millions of potential supporters. This year's convention was an apotheosis of all the mean-spirited attacks the tea
party/Republicans have been waging against women, gays and lesbians, healthcare reform, China, Russia, undocumented immigrants, Iran, Iraq, Social Security, Medicare--without so much as a
single, realistic, workable, compassionate solution to attract undecided voters. The GOP today is
largely a party of rabid, old, white men in the unhappy dusk of their lives, railing against a nation in
which they are no longer the dominant players. It is sad to watch--and sadder to be one of them. You can smell the mothballs of their memories and memorabilia (hats and banners resurrected for the
convention), read the rage in their eyes.
       And then, there was Romney's desperate pandering to thespians. Clint Eastwood lost every vestige of dignity and respect he might still have had by talking to an empty chair, undercutting what was supposed to have been Romney's shining moment. And inconceivably, Romney, ever the kid no
one wanted to play with, actually made the executive decision to allow him to speak without vetting
his remarks, just to show people he had a friend. But it backfired miserably. If Ronald Reagan
vindicated the role of thespians in society, Eastwood set it back for at least a generation.
       And finally, you could see it in every picture of the Tampa convention, especially contrasted
with those from the Democrats: The undeniable truth is that the Republican Party is on the wrong
side of demographics, which means it's on the wrong side of history. Tragically for our political
system, which depends on a vigorous, healthy two-party system, it has chosen to assume the role of
permanent obstructionist, ignoring the inevitable changes in population diversity that will eventually bury it.
       So, unless the GOP wakes up, it will become the party of Romney, which no one will want to
attend, no matter how enticing the swimming pool--if it isn't it already.#
     

We are in the middle of an undeclared CIVIL WAR

Email Stephen L. Goldstein: trendsman@aol.com

Follow him on Twitter: @drslgoldstein

 from The South Florida Sun-Sentinel, August 19, 2012        

            We are in the middle of an undeclared civil war. And no matter who wins in November, it appears that hate speech, fueled by unlimited Super PAC and billionaire dollars, is never gonna stop, and the divisions that it stokes in the country will grow wider and more toxic than ever—to what end I’m afraid to imagine.

            Sadly, we live in a post-Pandora’s box world, in which bad is the new good, vile is the norm, and there’s little or no hope things will change for the better. It’s gotten so bad, that some career-level haters are “eating their own.” Recently, leaving Sean Hannity speechless on his own show, a totally unglued Ann Coulter demanded Romney (never her favorite candidate) fire his spokesperson Andrea Saul (“the moron,” her word) for praising his Massachusetts healthcare plan in an attempt to deflect a negative, pro-Obama ad, thereby exposing Mitt’s Achilles heel. (Where would we be without Greek mythology?)

            So, imagine the verbal volcanos—and who knows what else?—that will likely erupt after one of the following possible outcomes of the election:

            First: Obama wins and Democrats achieve significant majorities in both houses of Congress. The entire FOX (it isn’t)News organization undergoes emergency psychiatric therapy. Republicans demand the resignation or impeachment of Eric Holder for overturning voter suppression laws that should have been able to prevent Armageddon (their word). In an attempt to overturn the election, birthers Donald Trump and Orly Taitz file lawsuits alleging Obama isn’t a U.S. citizen. Trump “goes native,” undercover in Kenya in search of documents and testimony proving Obama was born there. In states where the GOP remains in control of government, elected officials will redouble efforts to pass legislation to thwart federal law and initiatives. There’s talk of secession, especially in Texas and South Carolina. So what’s new? No matter: Obama and Democrats seize the day and pass the most progressive legislation in recent memory before the mid-term elections, stoking the fires of discontent.

            Second: Obama wins, Democrats lose the House and maintain a majority in the Senate, but it isn’t filibuster-proof. With possible Supreme Court nominations at stake, Harry Reid uses the “nuclear option,” lowering the number of votes needed to invoke cloture. Republicans go wild, scream “Dictatorship!” “Unconstitutional!” The GOP-dominated House votes to impeach the president, but is thwarted in the Senate. Gridlock and the war of words are worse than ever. Routinely, en masse, Republicans walk out of the Senate chamber and vilify Democrats on the steps of the Capitol.

            Third: Romney wins, Democrats have a majority in the Senate and the House. Washington grinds to a halt. Democrats vow to make Romney a “one-term president,” and Republicans cry foul. MSNBC has a field day replaying quotes of Mitch McConnell vowing to make Obama a “one-term president.” Right-wing commentators go ballistic and insist that “elections have consequences” and Romney should be able to implement the programs and policies he promised “the people.” MSNBC runs endless interviews of Republicans’ blocking Obama’s initiatives during his first term.

            Fourth: Romney wins, Democrats have a majority in the Senate but Republicans maintain their lead in the House. Democrats block Romney’s Supreme Court and federal judicial nominations. Tea party/GOP efforts to overturn Roe v. Wade, undo Obama progressive social legislation, and enact an ultra-conservative social agenda lead to mass demonstrations by affected groups.

            No matter which scenario occurs—and there may be others—expect no relief from the political equivalent of a barroom brawl for the next four years. I just don’t see the mechanism or mindset for accomplishing anything that even approaches minimal civility, truthfulness, or well-intentioned consensus-building. It’s as though the only payoff comes from stirring the pot. Our leaders have absolved themselves of responsibility for solving the nation’s problems through the normal give-and-take of politics. In fact, the more extreme and unyielding their positions, the more millions pour in to their campaign coffers. The public seems evermore eager to watch a fight.

            So, our airwaves and public discourse will remain poisoned. Some family members will stop talking to each other. People will stop doing business with people of whom they are politically wary—or at least will proceed, agreeing to disagree and avoid open and honest discussion. Minds don’t change.

            Of course, we have always been a divided and contentious nation. The Civil War was brutal. But it had a beginning, middle, and end. Now, we are embroiled in a battle that seems endless—and unendable. In mythology, after all the bad stuff left Pandora’s Box, only hope remained inside. If only we could access it#

Romney can't make lemonade out of Ryan lemon

from The South Florida Sun-Sentinel, August 17, 2012

email Stephen L. Goldstein: trendsman@aol.com

follow him on Twitter: @drslgoldstein

            Poor Mitt Romney: He can't make lemonade out of his Paul Ryan lemon. I’m thrilled that he chose extremist Ryan as his VP.

            I’ve had Paul Ryan on my mind for ages. My recently released novel, “Atlas Drugged: Ayn Rand Be Damned!,” is a dystopia that paints a picture of free markets gone wild and the United States turned into the Corporate States of America by mean-spirited “captains of industry” who put profit over people. While I was writing it, I thought of people like Ryan, who idolize Rand and accept her preposterous (and poorly written) fiction as gospel truth. He used to give out copies of “Atlas Shrugged” as Christmas presents and try to make his Congressional interns read it. Never in my wildest dreams did I think Romney would feel so desperate, that he would choose as his running mate so toxic a partner.

            Ryan is the consummate example of an adolescent whiz kid who was drugged on Ayn Rand’s Kool-Aid but never weaned from it, fancies himself John Galt—and grew up to be a second-tier technocrat on the taxpayer payroll, who is now raised to national prominence by a third-rate candidate for the presidency. There’s abundant evidence to poke holes in his delusional and frightening dystopia for the nation. “The Ryan Plan” (aka the GOP federal budget) is a roadmap for disaster, a war on the poor and the middle class. The Koch brothers couldn’t have written it better—probably tweaked the draft. The case against Ryan is laid out by ThinkProgress (thinkprogress.org). Here are highlights from it:

            1. Ryan wants to raise taxes on the middle class, cut them for millionaires.

            2. He would extend the Bush tax cuts, but not President Obama’s for those with the lowest incomes.

            3. Ryan would virtually eliminate programs that benefit the lower- and middle-classes.

            4. He would end Medicare and replace it with a voucher system, raise eligibility to 67, cost enrollees more than $5,900 annually by 2050.

            5. Ryan thinks Social Security is a “Ponzi scheme” and wants to privatize it at the mercy of stocks and bonds, which he apparently believes are always safe bets.

            6. The Economic Policy Institute estimates Ryan’s budget would result in 4.1 million lost jobs in two years.

            7. He wants to eliminate Pell Grants for more than 1 million students.

            8. Ryan supports $40 billion in subsidies for big oil.

            9. He co-sponsored a “personhood” amendment, which would outlaw abortion, some forms of contraception and in vitro fertilization.

            I can’t wait for Ryan to debate Joe Biden, point by point on these and other equally sinister positions. He has all the suppleness of a bowling pin. Crafty Biden will deliver strike after strike against him, score a perfect 300.

            No one in his right mind would want to live in the America of Paul Ryan, except Mitt Romney. Many of Ryan’s supporters deny biological, survival-of-the-fittest Darwinism, but embrace dog-eat-dog social Darwinism, where unbridled greed is the greatest virtue and morality is determined by a dollar sign. But sadly, Romney isn’t trying to appeal to all Americans. Ryan, Mitt hopes, will make his candidacy acceptable to the tea party. He may fool them, but most Americans know “the fruit” of both those lemons “is impossible to eat.”

            "Atlas Drugged: Ayn Rand Be Damned!" is available in bookstores nationwide, through www.barnesandnoble.com, www.amazon.com, and other online booksellers. Order it NOW from Amazon (paperback or Kindle): http://www.amazon.com/Atlas-Drugged-Ayn-Rand-Damned/dp/1555717098/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1344306781&sr=8-1&keywords=atlas+drugged+ayn+rand+be+damned

                  

Supreme Court has made US into country of LIARS!

email Stephen L. Goldstein: trendsman@aol.com
Follow on Twitter: @drslgoldstein

            When The History of The Rise and Fall of The American Republic is written, its author will no doubt present, as an overarching thesis, that we “did it” to ourselves—sadly fulfilling former Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev’s prediction during the Cold War that we would be “destroyed from within.” And he will surely point to 2010 and 2012 as decisive years in the collapse and brand the United States Supreme Court as a major agent of our self-destruction.

            In 2010, in Citizens United, a majority of the Court ruled that, under the protective halo of the First Amendment, the government could not limit the amount of money corporations and unions spend on “electioneering contributions.” In federal races, they still may not contribute directly to candidates’ campaigns and parties, but that hardly matters. As a result of the decision, a new mantra has entered popular speech—“Corporations are people”—and “a terrible [reality] is born”: our democratic republic has been turned into a plaything for plutocrats and a cash cow for political candidates. There can no longer be any pretense that our government is not for sale—regularly bought and sold.

            In 2012, in a lesser known, but no less seminal a “free speech” ruling, the Court struck down the Stolen Valor Act, signed into law by President George W. Bush in 2006, which made it a federal crime for anyone to claim having received any U.S. military decoration or medal. Of course, that didn’t stop Californian Xavier Alvarez, a former member of the Three Valleys Municipal Water District governing board in eastern Los Angles County, from claiming he was a retired Marine with 25 years of service and a recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor. As unthinkable as it may sound, the Supreme Court actually overturned Alvarez’s lower-court conviction, affirmed his right to lie about his military service, and denied the government the power to stop him—or anyone else from lying.

            Either ruling by itself is bad. But taken together, these two Supreme Court decisions, reached, of all things, on the basis of our most cherished Constitutional Amendment, create a moral climate that will bring us to the lowest point in our history, perhaps to our demise—if we aren’t there already. Today, we are treading water in a sea of filthy lucre, lies, and filthy lucre funding lies. It won’t be long before we drown.

            Now, let me make one thing perfectly clear: Of course, I’m for free speech! I’m a columnist. I couldn’t possibly be against it. I accept the fact that from the earliest years of our republic, politics has always been a nasty business. I’d like to, but know I can’t, wash Illinois Cong. Joe Walsh’s mouth out with soap for saying that his opponent, double-amputee Tammy Duckworth is not a “true” military hero, California Cong. David Dreier for saying that insurance companies should be allowed to discriminate against people with brain tumors, Florida Cong. Allen West for calling Social Security disability “a form of modern 21^st-century slavery,” and Maine Gov. Paul LePage for calling the U.S. Internal Revenue Service “the Gestapo.” Instead, I defend their right to say such atrocious things, confident in the wisdom of “give ’em enough rope and they’ll hang themselves,” that their words will come back to haunt them.

            But what I’m completely against—and what I think everyone should want outlawed—is the license the Supreme Court has given to use unlimited money to finance unlimited, calculated, systematic lying to turn the government of the United States over to a small group of the richest of rich individuals and corporations at the expense of average Americans. Behind closed doors, Karl Rove, the Koch brothers, Sheldon Adelson, and others have to be laughing at the stupidity of the American public—and the complicity of the Court.

            In addition, I don’t know how we can continue to protect lies, just because they happened to be used in political campaigns. Surely, if we don’t have the right to yell “Fire” in a crowded theatre, we shouldn’t be able to speak when our pants are “on fire.” Today, words travel at lightening speed. There is almost no time to correct errors and misinformation, let alone to counter intentional falsehoods. Someone needs to knock some sense into the Supremes.

            Perhaps, it isn’t too late for our collective American spirit to prove Khrushchev wrong and save ourselves from within. If not, he’ll be dancing on our grave from Communist heaven, and we will have helped write the closing chapter of The Decline and Fall of the American Republic.#

OUTED: Jeb Bush!

email Stephen L. Goldstein: trendsman@aol.com

Follow on Twitter: @drslgoldstein

            This column answers three questions: Will wonders never cease? Does hypocrisy know no limits? Can you fool all of the people all of the time?

            Extremist Jeb Bush is now parading as the self-proclaimed voice of moderation—and the press is letting him get away with it. During his recent appearance before a Congressional committee, the same man who as Florida governor swore he would never raise taxes had the chutzpah to say that, had he been president, he would have accepted the hypothetical deal that every ITAL tea party/GOP presidential candidate rejected when it was proposed to them during one of their debates: $10 in spending cuts for every $1 in tax increases.

            In addition, uncompromising Jeb now has the gall to posture himself as the leading GOP spokesperson for bipartisanship—and against take-it-or-leave-it, my-way-or-the-highway ideological rigidity. Meeting with reporters and editors recently in New York, he has been quoted, in garbled sentence structure, lamenting the loss of an alleged GOP spirit of “working across the aisle”: “Ronald Reagan would have, based on his record of finding accommodation, finding some degree of common ground, similar to my dad, they would have had a hard time if you define the Republican Party—and I don’t—as having an orthodoxy that doesn’t allow for disagreement.” He also said: “Back to my dad’s time or Ronald Reagan’s time, they got a lot of stuff done with a lot of bipartisan support that right now would be difficult to imagine happening.”

            Don’t ever be taken in by Jeb’s political equivalent of “Kumbaya.” The heir apparent to the tattered Bush Dynasty speaks with a forked tongue. As Florida governor, he was partisan, divisive, and autocratic. He set out to recreate the Sunshine State in his image—and let no one stand in his way. He relentlessly attacked government as the cause of our problems, was the sworn enemy of unions and public education. When he told Marco Rubio to jump, the former Florida House Speaker asked, “How high?” In 2010, he got tea-party favorite Rubio elected to the U.S. Senate, helping to radicalize it. Even now, behind-the-scenes, Jeb pushes an activist, fiercely ideological agenda in Florida: Constitutional Amendment 8, which would destroy our historic separation of church and state and allow unlimited tax dollars to flow to religious organizations—for any purpose. In other words, Jeb is still an example of the rabid partisanship he claims to be against.

            The obvious question is: Why is Jeb speaking out now? Why has he not been the voice of compromise and moderation during most of the Obama years—and especially after Sen. Mitch McConnell said his chief goal was to make Obama a one-term president? Obviously, because the strategy has boomeranged! Being anti-everything-Obama has made the tea party/GOP anti-women, anti-immigrant, anti-a-lot-of-good things. Jeb now realizes he and his party opened a Pandora’s box of political mischief, created and indulged the tea-party Frankenstein that has taken over and is destroying them—and he’s lost any chance of becoming president.

            “All the world’s a stage”—and Jeb and the members of the tea party/GOP don’t know it, but they are acting out a Greek tragedy. Their rigid ideology, which they have all clung to as their strength, is now the source of their own undoing. They are losing long-time, moderate party members to extremists. It’s the fulfillment of 30 years of misplaced thinking: The Ronald Reagan whom Jeb called “moderate,” set in motion the radicalism that has destroyed the GOP. According to Grover Norquist, the Gipper asked him to start Americans for Tax Reform, as the head of which he bullied Republicans into signing the extremist no-tax pledge, which Jeb now derides.

            As in any Greek tragedy, the tea party/GOP is deaf to choruses that have tried, and continue to try, to save them from their clueless course of self-destruction. Of their own doing, they are twisting in the wind. Greek tragedies are not about “Forgive them for they know not what they do,” just the opposite: the Law of Karma, “what goes around comes around.” In Greek tragedy, characters are responsible for their own downfall, caught in a vice of their own making, unable to free themselves from themselves. They don’t slip on banana peels and crack their skulls. Fatal “character” flaws do them in.

            So, the answer to my initial three questions should be obvious: Wonders will never cease. Hypocrisy knows no limits. And you can’t fool all of the people all of the time, though people like Jeb Bush will never stop trying. They just can’t help themselves.#

Where there's a Bush, there's a debacle: DyNasty has ruined America

email Stephen L Goldstein: trendsman@aol.com
Follow on Twitter: @drslgoldstein

            Where there’s a Bush, there’s a debacle—too often, with Florida at the center of it and the rest of the nation wondering what’s wrong with the Sunshine State. I wish the nightmares could be wiped away with the shake of an Etch A Sketch. But unfortunately life doesn’t follow art. Instead, the dynasty continues relentlessly to pursue its agenda of imposing its self-righteous will on the rest of a nation—and what’s wrong with “us” is that too many of us are slow to connect the dots.

            Past Bush Debacle One: In 2000, the eyes of the world were on Florida during the torturous recount of presidential votes. That bruising fiasco featured George W. Bush in the foreground and Jeb Bush in the background, pulling the strings of then-Secretary of State Katherine Harris. Who can forget her Sunday-evening rush to take center stage to “certify” the results of the Florida vote—or the consequences of that suspect election? The lack of integrity of the voting process in this country was exposed, to our collective shock. Even the most cynical among us never imagined the degree to which ballots were routinely tossed or otherwsie compromised. In its politically tainted decisions in Bush v. Gore, the U.S. Supreme Court lost all credibility, from which it has never recovered. And the course of history was changed. George W. entangled us in a war in Iraq and put Roberts and Alito on the Supreme Court, setting in motion some of the worst decisions it has ever made. Al Gore wouldn’t have done any of that.

            Past Bush Debacle Two: From 2003 to 2005, the brothers Bush muscled the power of the state into a devastating family matter. The heart-wrenching case of the brain-dead Terri Schiavo kept alive on a feeding tube was turned into political theatre—and posturing. An aide’s legal memo written to then-Florida Republican Senator Mel Martinez even crassly suggested that the case would resonate with the GOP’s political base. Who can forget the legal appeals and stays, press conferences and pronouncements, an extraordinary weekend session of Congress, George W.’s interrupting his vacation to return to Washington to sign a misguided bill at 1 a.m. transferring jurisdiction of the Schiavo case to federal courts? Jeb Bush orchestrated the torturous affair. Ultimately, it rightly backfired on him, but it divided the country and destroyed a family in the process.

            Current Bush Debacle: And now, there’s the murder of Trayvon Martin, another tragic tale on the public scene in which Jeb’s political judgment is transparent, but his moral judgment was clouded. During a 2005 photo-op, with a lobbyist for the National Rifle Association by his side, the-then governor signed (what is commonly referred to as) “The Stand Your Ground Law.” It gives Floridians who feel threatened the right to shoot to kill anyone anywhere—and ask questions later.

            Critics predicted that it would lead to disastrous consequences. Former Miami Police Chief John Timoney has been quoted saying, “Whether it’s trick-or-treaters or kids playing in the yard of someone who doesn’t want them there or some drunk guy stumbling into the wrong house[,] you’re encouraging people to possibly use deadly physical force where it shouldn’t be used.” Since the law was passed, through June 2010, “justifiable” homicides in Florida have tripled. If only Jeb had listened to the warnings and had stood up to the NRA, Trayvon Martin might be alive. At the time of this writing, he’s found words to endorse Mitt Romney and recommend Marco Rubio for vice president; but none for Trayvon Martin.

            Future Bush Debacles: What disasters could loom from the policies of The House of Bush? Lives destroyed because of ill-advised Medicaid reforms? A building collapsed because a charter school conglomerate built a facility on the cheap? Floridians devastated by a hurricane because budget cuts have dismantled emergency services? I don’t have a crystal ball to predict—or an Etch A Sketch to make it go away: Just hope against hope that it never happens, but gnawing fear that it might.#

U.S. ain't "exceptional": It's hypocritical!

email Stephen L. Goldstein: trendsman@aol.com

           The phrase “American exceptionalism” has given rise to another one of those specious litmus tests that right-wingers have concocted to (dis)qualify candidates and officeholders. Next to Grover Norquist’s anti-tax, no-tax pledge, it’s conservatives’ sine qua non of loyalty tests—though the founding fathers knew nothing of it, would never have presumed to invoke it or have approved of it. In fact, two foreigners (Alexis de Tocqueville and Joseph Stalin) coined it, but for dramatically different reasons. (Of course, President Obama’s enemies have declared him an apostate to “American exceptionalism” and, therefore, unfit to be president. But that’s another matter for another time.)

            Briefly put, the chorus of yea-sayers alleges that the United States is “exceptional” because our country is superior to every other one, bar none. From an unimpeachable moral high-ground, they claim a unique role in the world. In the words of historian Gordon Wood summarizing the syndrome, “Our beliefs in liberty, equality, constitutionalism, and the well-being of ordinary people come out of the Revolutionary era. So too did our idea that we Americans are a special people with a special destiny to lead the world toward liberty and democracy.” Neoconservatives enhance the notion of “exceptionalism,” claiming the nation rises to the level of the biblical “shining city on a hill,” which sanctifies our doing just about anything with impunity—at home and abroad—simply because we are who we are.

            Well, I beg to differ. I’m not buying any of that high-flying, self-righteous folderol—at least not in these perilous, hypocritical days in America, Augean Stables with no Hercules coming ’round the bend. These days, we are more reprehensible than exceptional—for touting our ideals while trampling them. Exceptionalism is as exceptional does. Everywhere, our collective actions undermine the foundations of our much-ballyhooed republic “of the people, by the people, and for the people”! We have stooped so low to conquer, there’s no chance we can straighten up anytime soon. We don’t follow our own “rules of the democratic road.”

            Every 10 years, “the shining city on the hill” sinks deeper and deeper into the ditch. The reapportionment mandated by the Constitution we hold up as a quasi-divinely inspired document and model for other nations has been turned into a sham: the incumbents’ guaranteed re-election scheme. No matter how hard “the people” try to get districts drawn without partisan bias, gerrymandering continues to maintain the status quo, putting the vested interests of political parties over those of “the people.” It’s no wonder so many voters don’t bother to go to the polls: They figure the system is rigged so their votes barely count—or don’t count at all.

            In addition, every election cycle, we belie our “exceptionalism” by redoubling our efforts to deny Americans from exercising their constitutional right to vote. Especially in recent years, more and more of us know first-hand the humiliation African-Americans felt for generations at polling places. We have lost any claim to the moral superiority to ensure elections around the world are fair and democratic, as long as voter suppression (masquerading as efforts to minimize virtually non-existent voter fraud) is rampant here. Campaigns play dirty tricks (jamming phone lines so supporters of candidates can’t reach their offices) and say dirty words (lies and disinformation) in the name of protected, political, free speech. It is exceptionally ugly.

            Furthermore, the “shining” Supreme Court on Capitol Hill has tarnished its image once again, sinking even lower than Bush v. Gore, when it absurdly ruled that corporations were people in Citizens United. The court’s unexceptional, ideologically driven majority could have saved itself from ignominy and the nation from being sold to corporate plutocrats if it had followed the unimpeachable logic of the syllogism: People bleed; corporations don’t bleed; corporations are not people.

            Crony capitalism and unbridled greed, violations of civil rights through state laws and constitutional amendments, constant assaults on the historic separation of church and state, shady legal justifications for domestic surveillance and treatment of alleged terrorists—we are a nation suffering a schizophrenia of our collective soul.

            “Exceptionalism,” no! Hypocrisy sí! Until we put our own house in order, at the very least live up to the sanctimonious words by which we profess to live and govern, we have no right to claim superiority over anyone or anything. We have met the enemy to our lofty ideals, and he is us.

            So, the next time you hear anyone professing to believe in our “exceptionalism” and/or condemning someone else for not doing so, remember how great we can be—but choose not to be.#

           

People WITH Guns Kill: Yesterday, Aurora, Colorado; Today, Wisconsin; Tomorrow ?

email Stephen L. Goldstein: trendsman@aol.com

            Until this afternoon, the memory of the senseless bloodbath in Aurora, Colorado had faded for everyone, except the hapless victims and residents of that otherwise anonymous town. TV crews moved on to their next breaking-news assignments—or waited poised to pounce. Some empathetic, mindful, opportunistic editor may yet send a resourceful reporter to sniff out a residual human-interest story in Aurora—a victim emerging from a coma, the marriage of two people shot, whatever.

            Until the shooting spree in Wisconsin, for all practical purposes, Aurora was old news. Like Columbine and the shooting of Cong. Gabrielle Giffords, it already became a minor footnote in history, if that. The predictable, national soul-searching that erupts after every sweeping disaster is over. Publicly, we soon stop asking “How could it happen?” and “Why did it happen?” and “How can we keep it from happening again?” And because we stop asking, we think it CAN'T happen again. Americans have the historical perspective of fruit flies and the moral conscience of mites: We are willful amnesiacs, especially when it comes to the bad stuff. And nothing is going to stop it, or us, for two reasons.          

            First, the National Rifle Association owns elected officials throughout the country. For decades, it has wielded more power than Grover Norquist and Citizens United combined. In the aftermath of Aurora, once again, at its headquarters, it’s party-time. Literally and figuratively, spirits are running high. Executives and their lobbyists will no doubt have high-fived and popped more than one champagne cork, toasting to their continued success at keeping the U.S. safe even for assault weapons. Especially in an election year, no one running for Congress or president is going to buck them. President Obama felt morally bound to tell his Urban League audience, “I also believe that a lot of gun owners would agree that AK-47s belong in the hands of soldiers, not in the hands of criminals; that they belong on the battlefield of war, not on the streets of our cities”—but he didn’t pledge to take any action. And typically, Mitt Romney, who once was for gun control, is now against it.

            Second, the NRA owns the U.S. Supreme Court. In tortuous stretches of language and logic, in its 2008 decision in District of Columbia v. Heller, a majority of the justices twisted the restrictive language of the Second Amendment (“A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed”) into an individual’s right to possess a firearm. For that decision, the Court deserves an A+ for NRA advocacy, an F for reading comprehension, and a second F for moral leadership. In Heller, the Court affirms the constitutionality of certain prohibitions and restrictions on firearms-possession, but that is not enough to redeem the immorality of its overall decision. Like too many others, the Supremes drank the Kool-Aid that “guns don’t kill; people do”—ignoring the overarching truth that “people with guns kill.”

            So, nothing will happen to bring sanity to gun laws and ownership in America until “people pressure” gives our elected leaders the cover they need to stand up to the NRA. Predictably, there has now been a next Aurora, Columbine, and Giffords tragedy--this time in Wisconsin and a Sikh house of worship. So, 24/7 TV coverage, hand-wringing and soul-searching continues again—and predictably forgetting will soon set in. The framers of the Constitution wrote the Second Amendment to protect us from government tyranny. But they should have included one to protect us from ourselves.

Semi-profile in Courage: Chief Justice John Roberts

by Stephen Goldstein, email: trendsman@aol.com

            When the unthinkable happened, U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts defected from his soul mates in the right-wing Supreme Court cabal and voted with his liberal colleagues to declare “Obamacares” constitutional, all hell broke loose. “Holy Oxycontin!” Rush Limbaugh allegedly screamed in private. George W. Bush almost rolled over in his golf cart. And John Boehner jumped out of his tanning bed half-baked. Justice Scalia may already be in therapy.

            In Florida, ground zero for opposition to health system reform, the news went down even harder. Former state Attorney General Bill McCollum, who initiated the lawsuit that led to the Supreme Court decision, looked like a teenager who hadn’t told his parents he dented the family car when I saw him interviewed by Greta van Susteren. Rick Scott, who funded a PAC to fight what became the Affordable Care Act and ran for governor so he could stop health system reform, is lucky he’s bald, or he would have torn out his hair. Word has it that the Roberts family has been permanently scratched from the Koch Brothers’ Christmas card list. 

            In disbelief, everywhere in Rightwingdom, the shocked were asking, “How dare Roberts break ranks? Where did he come off having an independent thought? Didn’t someone make him swear an oath always to do what Scalia says?” In the hollowest of hollow gestures, Speaker John Boehner announced that the U.S. House of Representatives would vote to overturn the Affordable Care Act. And in the spirit of bad losership, the tea party/GOP’s putative leader Mitt Romney announced, with bravado bordering on the absurd, that he would “repeal and replace” “Obamacares” within a nanosecond of his taking the oath of office.

            Predictably, the enraged Right everywhere—How dare Roberts do this to us?—is following Romney’s lead: promising without being able to deliver. They’ve got nothing to replace “Obamacares” with, except the current, unworkable status quo in healthcare delivery, sufficiently tweaked to ensure private interests can make bigger billions at the public expense without accountability, limitation, or conscience. “Romneyscares,” Mitt’s as-yet unexplained but certain to be horrific alternative to the now reaffirmed law of the land, depends on an alleged infallibility of “the market” to make healthcare “all better”—like it’s ever done so. It’s Rick Scott’s preferred solution on steroids.  

            Meanwhile in Florida, thrown for a loop by the supreme decision and violating his oath of office, Gov. Scott still won’t act like a grown-up, face reality, and follow the law of the land. He’s refusing even to implement a health insurance exchange, which allows individuals to compare plans and prices—a market-based feature of “Obamacares” which benefits consumers. He’s also committed to not expanding Medicaid. Expect the tea party/GOP Legislature to continue to try to wiggle out of “Obamacares,” even though doing so hurts millions of Floridians.

            Chief Justice Roberts is the master of doing the unthinkable—and redeeming himself. He flubbed administering the oath of office to President Obama at the Capitol and had to do it a second time in the Oval Office. With his vote upholding “Obamacares,” he’s set the stage for a second decision on health system reform. If Obama wins a second term with large enough majorities in both houses of Congress, Democrats should pass “Medicare for All.” And Roberts with equal judiciousness should uphold its constitutionality.#