Richard Calderhead
The Fighting Liberal
The Fighting Liberal
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Richard Calderhead
The Fighting Liberal |
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QUOTE OF THE DAY: "The detestable Wyly Brothers just got NAILED by the SEC!" - Itsez The Battle for a Better America. But wait. THAT was way back in 1991. After the Cold War ended…America finally began to dismantle its huge Military. As we've ALWAYS done, historically. Then came 9/11. Which was not a failure of our Military…but of our Intelligence. It was none other than Bush & Company who left the door ajar on 9/11. America immediately attacked the Taliban and al Queda in Afghanistan. Uh…with just one little problem. With Victory in the palm of our hands…Bush George W. Bush should be doing time for this. Cheney, ditto. Because of Bush/Cheney Lies …America "changed course"…and diverted our Military to Invade Iraq. A Sovereign Nation that had NOTHING to do with 9/11. If you know ANYTHING about Current Events…you know…plain and simple…that Bush Flat Out Lied. There WERE no Weapons of Mass Destruction…anywhere in Iraq in 2002. But Bush's Team lied though their TEETH about it. Let's add it all up: OK…now what? Obama asked the Generals (and the Admirals, to be sure)…for a Plan. "How can we end the War in Afghanistan?" They waffled and toyed with their PowerPoint Presentations and stared out the window. They only get more Ribbons if they have more…Wars…so our NASCAR Decorated Generals they have an abiding interest in…Perpetual War!
Hmmm? The Pentagon consumes approximately 25% of ALL US Tax Dollars!!! So…What's The Plan, Stan? How do we finally…END IT? Some Unavoidable Complications: Again I have to ask: Why does AMERICA have to carry this burden? Eventually, we return to the unwelcome (and potentially Lethal) subject of Israel. Plus…we simply can't AFFORD the Bloated Military we're saddled with in 2010. Just ask yourself these 5 Questions: Puppies...we can't SOLVE this problem until we TALK about it! Readers: President Obama just keeps on Winning! Itsez Who? A long-time Itsez follower and contributor said it was about time QUOTE OF THE DAY: "Shirley Sherrod IS a Racist!!!" - Rush...AFTER the Full Tapes were Played The Battle for a Better America. We expect this from the Obscene World of Breitbart/Fox/Beck/Rush…but to You'd think the guy has spent his time vacationing on his Texas Fake Far! The Shirley Sherrod Case is a perfect example: Where ARE we…after all that? We're having The Racism of Old slammed in our Teeth, all over again. The fact that Shirley's own Dad was slaughtered by White Racists in Georgia has slipped into History. (I can imagine just how much Ink THAT story will get in the Texas Re-Write of the History Books!) Some are asking why Obama hasn't been more of a…"Black" President. The Poster Child for THAT MindSet, is, of course…Clarence Thomas. Thomas is a Big, Sour, Silent Lump on the Roberts Supreme Court. Imagine just for a moment, that Martin Luther King had survived the Memphis Shooting. Now imagine that Dr. King had been appointed to the Supreme Court!!! But that wasn't to be. History (or a God that truly DOES move in Mysterious Ways)…saw to it that we got…not King…but Thomas. Meanwhile, why am I still reading emotional screeds (sorry Bob)…by the esteemed NYTimes Columnist Bob Herbert…on the Sorry Plight of African Americans Today??? Hmmm? No…we just PASSED THROUGH it all. And then, none other than William Jefferson Clinton was thoughtful enough to Change Welfare As We Knew It. This, of course, minus any meaningful effort to actually change the lives of MILLIONS of Americans…some of who STILL to this day sit in dilapidated, falling down schools in the Carolinas…where the White folk absolutely still don't GIVE a Damn!
Why? Because the White Union Members were not ABOUT to throw open Real Jobs in Construction…to their "Black Brothers." Too bad. Obama's attempt to Fix The Economy is an effort to Lift All Boats. I am…and I will remain…On Board…for the very hard work ahead. Shirley Sherrod: "It's a Friggin' WAR out here!" QUOTE OF THE DAY: "75% of Government work has been...Privatized!!!" - Itsez The Battle for a Better America. Obama has just Won…again! (And yet the F*** Retards on the Left can only By now, we all "know what happened". The VERY Ugly Story emerged (from the Bowels of FoxWorld)…showing Sherrod saying some truly appalling things. Reacting to actual taped comments…Team Obama reacted. Too fast, it turned out. Instead of a protracted silence like the BP Horror Show…where Ken Salazar was Missing for DAYS…in this case, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack moved instantly to request her immediate resignation. Boom! Done. Errr…there was just one little problem. In this case, the Facts were the TOTAL OPPOSITE of the Monstrous Lies spewed out by Breitbart & Fox. Sherrod was talking about an event that happened 25 years ago…when she was just learning how to deal with Black AND White Farmers who were being crushed by The Banksters. I ask you now...just how long do we have to go on reading THESE HORROR STORIES??? about the Bankster Monsters? Hmmmm? Sherrod related how she had learned, On The Job, as it were…that it was NOT a matter of Black or White…but of Poor vs. Powerful (and Mean)…Rich People. Who have now turned into her Biggest Defenders!!!
Here's the Insta-Email I sent to Vilsack: You made a Mistake...now fix it! Then, the next day…here's what I sent Tom: Yes, you made a mistake… As for FOX…You Go To Hell!!! This snapped me back to…Gitmo. I've been saying that Gitmo should have been closed on Day One of the Obama Administration. He SAID he would. But he hasn't. Why drag your feet on Gitmo, of all things? "Oh, NO, they screeched…we cannot have 'Alien Terrorists' on U.S. Soil!" Now we just sent back one of the last few people at Gitmo…to his country of Origin EVEN THOUGH HE DIDN'T WANT TO GO! They've been refusing him entry! My Liberal Friends and I often discuss the Democrat Wimp Factor…and why there isn't a viable, hard-hitting Rebuttal to the Perpetual Lies and Distortions from the Hard Right Echo Chamber? (Rachel Maddow touched on this Thursday night). Well…the Sherrod Case is a perfect example of FAST REBUTTAL…led by Rachel, thank you very much. She was On It…like Fly to Flypaper…just HOURS after the Despicable Breitbart had done his worst! That's more like it!!!! Final note: I find it fascinating how the FoxBots are trying to make this story about how...Team Obama threw Sherrod under the bus! Unbelievable. Truly. QUOTE OF THE DAY: "Taxpayers bail out Detroit...which then sends Jobs...to Mexico?" America: The Battle for a Better America.
Believe me…the now Holy Status of "Shareholders"…and Imperial CEOS… started well before the Boomers were in Power. Bus ask yourself this: Was So it was NOT the Bubbly Baby Boomers (1946 to 1964)…who "destroyed" America! It was well under way before they ever got into anything like Positions of Power. What Did happen…was that the Boomers…and especially the Yuppies…took Inequality to Stratospheric New Heights when the "Me" Generation finally had their turn in the C-Suites. But when Reagan became POTUS, the War on Liberals became a Sport! To become President, all he had to do was knock down Jimmy Carter. The worst of which was the Iran Hostage Crisis…which Crystalized the notion that Carter was a totally Inept, hapless President. So Reagan Won. And began to overturn every vestige of The New Deal. Get this, Morons. (I use the term loosely to encompass those "Mainstream" Americans who simply cannot get over the John Wayne version of America …you know...the Gunslingin' Cowboy in the 10 Gallon Hat...who draws down That ain't where it's at, Dudes. Today, the Dollar Mentality is so ingrained into Business that we have the Jaw-dropping Lunacy of the most recent 4-page Memo from none other than The Chamber of Commerce to Obama, including such "breakthrough" Ideas as: I can knock down every single one of these…in a single sentence! Net this out: Do what Big Business wants…and we are Perpetuating and Enshrining Corporate Greed In America…Forever & Ever. This goes straight back to the KEY ISSUE of our Time is…Wealth Inequality. America is absolutely FINISHED if The People cannot/will not come to terms with it.
But the Good Old USA will be FINISHED, forever. As things now stand, the absolute TORRENT of Wealth that's flowing to the Upper 1% is simply unprecedented. I'm just penciling in for myself when we actually might see the first...$ Trillionaire! This Trend seems unstoppable and irreversible. Meaning that your "Average American" is hopelessly outgunned in terms of Public Policy. As for the real "Small People"...they are already Toast. I'm also compiling a list of people...men and women...who have had the misfortune to..."Fall Out" of the $$ Rat Race. What happens to them? They simply...disappear. One day they're In The Swim (with Corporate Perks and limousines, etc.,) but then "something happens" and they are Out. Nobody cares about these Invisibles. Meanwhile, Rushbo "Cashes Out" of NYC..."What...ME pay all those TAXES?" And NOBODY Personifies the GreedMeister Mentality MORE…than the now dead George Steinbrenner! I became a Genuine, NYC Steinbrenner Hater. When I first arrived in NYC...you could go catch a Yankee game (or subway it to the Dodger's really Quaint Ebbets Field) for about $4. Now? SkyBoxes anyone? Did this creep actually use Taxpayer Money to tear down the House that Ruth Built? Yeah. Unbelievable. Stoneman actually DID make some nice, Charitable moves once in awhile...now and then. But that doesn't change the basicfact that he was one of the Point Men in the horrific change in America...to The Land of the Rich...and all the rest of you LOSERS can go suck Lollipops. America: The Battle for a Better America. I avidly followed Sydney (Syd) Shanburg's stories on 'Nam, etc., and was truly dismayed when he was sent packing by the TooTame New York Times. In later years, I laughed along with Russell Baker (I still have a book of his collected columns and they are a fine read even now.) And I gnashed my teeth in frustration at William Safire's stylish version of Conservative Truisms. OK…so what about TODAY'S Lineup? Ladies First: I never miss Miss Dowd. I call her MauDowd…which is tame considering that Bush II called her The Cobra. Maureen…the "Debate Dominatrix"...never misses a chance to give her shiv a "clever" twist. In the Reader Comments, I've cautioned her about being too Snarky regarding Obama. She, after all, tagged him with the O'Bambi Moniker! Then there is Nobel Prize Winning Paul Krugman. Pretty savvy fella. For an Economist, he's a damn sight better than the White Water School Free Trade Bunch. For me, Paul still leaves to many Unanswered Questions. I yearn for a tougher SuperK…to REALLY ruffle some Right Wing Feathers! Bob Herbert is another Must Read. His Pain is Palpable; his topic is the Huge and Growing American Underclass (which, seen one way…is 90% of us not included in the Happy Affluent Circle of Posh Suburbs, the legendary Ivy League Buddy System, et al.) Frank Rich pops up on most Sundays…except yesterday where he is on Nicholas Kristoff is a Serious Read. He brings us Real Stories of very Real People…all too often victims of Brutality and Mayhem in Far Off Foreign Lands. Tom (FlatWorld) Friedman is…problematic. He had an entire column recently where he extolled Day Laborers in India/China…who are underbidding uncounted numbers of US Jobs…and giggling about it. A New Face is Charles Blow (unfortunate name, that)…who has been tossing in some telling Facts and Figures on the State of the Electorate and so on.
David Brooks has long been the Nominal Conservative… Finally, there is Stanley Fish. I don't know from which Prelapsarian Pond they dragged him…but they can toss him back, sooner rather than later. The Times…through Thick and Thin, has offered plenty of Food For Thought. Yeah…fine. But if they go PayWall I will Go Away. But these days…it's not as if Oh...and the Times Crossword Puzzle Answer? You hadda ask: Courtesy Keith Olbermann...the 5 letter word meaning "Idiot"...is...P A L I N! QUOTE OF THE DAY: "BP called them the 'Small People'. American Conservatives calls America: For Better? Or for Worse? It's the Gut-Hatred of Obama because he has the temerity to take the side of…the Small People! Why would Obama ever need to actually do THAT? RepUglyCons are simply Mouthpieces for…the Big Money Guys. Period. Think of it as a Charlie McCarthy sort o' thing. Understand: MOST of the Wannabe Money Crowd will ALWAYS be Wannabes. But they'll spend their LIVES trying to Climb that Mountain…only to slip back and fail…over and over again. As they say..."It Takes Money To Make Money". Money HAS Money. Money MAKES Money. Money always has and Money always will. So now what? Understand that the 2 Key Words in the RepUglyCon Lexicon are: In this Moronically Simplified World…the Earners are the Hard Working Men of Vision…who are smart enough to actually Make Lotsa Money. Now for the Next Step: Not to…"Level the Playing Field"…but to Take from the Rich and Give to the (undeserving) Poor. It's never about a playing field that is tilted forever AWAY from Poor People. Always assume that the Poor are ONLY POOR because they are so Stupid or Lazy not to be Affluent on their own!!! The RepUglies claim to SEE IT EVERY DAY! For RepUglies...Unemployment is a DIS-INCENTIVE for laid off workers to find a Job...any Job. The Stimulus was wrong...because everyone is supposed to have a Financial Cushion, against Hard Times. (They do...why not everyone else?) Detroit? Shoulda let them Crash. That would have killed off those horrible Unions...whose Fat Contracts made Detroit unprofitable. Healhcare? Don't be absurd; America has the Finest Healthcare In the World! Ironically, this Worldview fits hand in glove with the Old South's Ante-Bellum Attitude…those Darkies and born LAZY…and they have to be…"encouraged" Amazingly…the Southern Po' White Trash actually buy into this concept! Louisiana is a Poster Child for this mentality: The Few and the Connected get all the Real Money in that benighted State; the Po Folk get table scraps. So they end up with their Ruined State. (Most of the land-loss erosion, and sinking land in the state is because La is being RAPED by Big Oil.) But wait! The Question is…Are RepUglyCons actually…Evil?
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THAT has caused Harm and Destruction…and Misfortune…to countless numbers of people. (The turnover rate at Walmart is atrocious!) The Ginormous Fiscal Footprint of the UberRich serves to drive up the price of Luxury Goods…pricing the Ivy League, is just one example, out of the reach of all but the Very, Very Most Affluent. There is the cosmetic Scholarship here and there; any clear-eyed assessment knows this is merely PR Cover for their Greed. I have personally sen what happens when the Few (Wall Street)...overpay astronomically. They raise the price for everyone. Manhattan is now literally unaffordable for the Middle Class. But it sodesn't stop there. Ditto everywhere the Rich go to Vacation, for example. Bye, bye, Long Island. And now even the Berkshires! In the Old Days...who cared if Palm Beach Florida was "unaffordable?" I will close with this: Apparently, even the (Hissss) "B" Schools are somwhat shocked to find that their Eager Wannabes are missing the Ethics part of Life. When challend on "Moral and Ethical Issues"...they simply draw a blank! "We're here to Make Money...WHAT ELSE MATTERS?" God Bless America. America: For Better? Or for Worse? Another Pundit is...Mort SugarDaddy (Zuckerman, to you). All this, 24/7/365…as the Pundit Klass…it has reached the point where…other than a few quickie Google-Ups in the a.m., I'm just starting to pass it all by. Why? Endless Repetition, that's why. Toss in the Old Media (newspapers and magazines)…and we are literally DROWNING in what passes for…"News." But stop! Itsez is destined to end up in some University Archive…a testament to one Citizen's actual, day-to-day experience LIVING the History of this (brief) moment in Time, in the (dis)United States of America. And, based on that…what do I find? I'm LIVING THROUGH ALL THIS…and half the time I feel like I haven't the FAINTEST idea what The Truth Is! Take the Deepwater Catastrophe. Very quickly, that New Sheriff in Town…that is, Ken "Big Hat" Salazar…hit our radar screens. WHAT WAS HE DOING? Plenty of Pundits started calling for his scalp… right from the get-go. But…he stayed on. The Denver Post carried a laudatory story on him…yesterday! It assured us that Well, also on Sunday, Frank Rich linked us to a DEVASTATING critique of Salazar in Rolling Stone. Tim Dickenson's story is the Polar Opposite; Salazar is described as a Fawning Toady of Big Oil and a Rubber-Stamper. According to Tim…Salazar has been asleep at the switch…and worse. So…what are we to believe about our New Sheriff? Hmmm?
Only guess what? We quickly find out that those vast deposits of Ore and Gems have been known since Ghengis Khan's Hordes first rode into Kandahar! There's absolutely no NEWS here at all! Instead…this appears to be a carefully calculated PENTAGON "Leak"… This is the very same New York Times, I might remind you, that was a Prime Booster for the TOTAL LIE that Saddam had Nukes, etc. As I say, Puppies…we are LIVING through all this…and yet it is difficult to know Which End Is Up! And it's not that I and you are not TRYING to "understand" what's going on. 1% of Americans own over 1/3 of All our Wealth! January 16: As the SuperFab Theatrics of Barack Obama's Inspirational Inauguration Roll Forward, Number 43 was last seen slinking out of town… and into a History that is surely going to be most unkind to him. This is CRUCIALLY important; With only 14 days to go, it's still Nail Biting Time...and it reminded me of the big song from The Man from La Mancha: "To dream the Impossible Dream
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WWII ended 65 years ago. At that time…it was truly a Global Struggle between Good and Evil. Then we spent nearly 50 years battling our way through never- ending Cold War…which didn't end until Gorbachev Tore Down That Wall. 
American (that I know of) who was eye-witness to both Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, and the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center in 2001.
When I was a kid...everyone I knew respected and admired FDR. Sure...there were a few "Republicans" who sniffed at The New Deal, but we forgave them for their Silly Old Ideas. Who would have ever guessed that, led by Ronnie Reagan in 1980, those honorable Republicans would morph into Raging RepUglyCons??? One of my key tasks with Itsez is to point out the Sheer Stupidity and Core Mean Spiritedness of what used to be...that Grand Old Party. What we're seeing right now...is an unparalleled display of Corporate Greed...fighting Tooth and Nail to resist Change. 
I've listed more than once the LONG List of Actual Legislation Passed…in the mere 20 months since Obama was elected. And? And nothing. 
But suddenly, Our Side Kicked Some Butt! It's the Shirley Sherrod Case...the 
Stop! There has always been a Conservative Wing of American Politics. 
Quantify - the multitude of Voter Blocs in America. They range from Blue-Sky Greens all the way to the NRA's Militia Thugs. 
Tomorrow will be All Obama…but today Itsez wants to put the Final Nail in George Bush's Coffin.
