Remember Mike Dukakis: He Didn't

After reading my last post on Richard Gephardt one could easily be upset, mortified, shocked and certainly one more step along the path about being cynical themselves. Toward preventing this feeling I offer this remedy. Micheal Dukakis.

We all remember the former Governor of Massachusetts, the failed candidate of the Democratic party for President in 1988. Much is written of Dukakis in the same Richard Ben Cramer book I spoke of earlier and though I am only halfway through it is easy to see that the seeds in the Governor's personality that would prevent him from playing well to the nation as a whole.

However as the main point of my last article about Gephardt was not his accomplishments in office but what he has done in retirement from political life I would like to offer this positive example in Mr. Dukakis. After leaving office as Governor in the early nineties Dukakis had ample opportunity to cash in if you will. Never for a moment did he consider it. The Governor has always known who he is and while it might not have been a prescription for victory on the national stage it has been a fine example for anyone who cares to notice.

The Governor has taught classes at both Northeastern and UCLA. He has spent a great deal of time in efforts to keep young people involved in politics, believing in the system and working to change the system from the bottom up. When we saw pictures of the Governor and his wife Kitty Dukakis campaigning door to door for Senator Elizabeth Warren on the last Saturday before the election in November it was not a cute photo op. It was what he does and would have been doing with or without the cameras. This is a good and decent man who, as the son of immigrants, has never lost his belief in the American dream and the decency and ability of America.

Looking at the craven run for the cash Gephardt has taken and the quiet life of still giving to his community the ex Governor has taken one can see the difference between the two men. George Bush was and is a good man but it does go without saying that America gave short shrift to a very good man in Micheal Dukakis. A fine man. A fine example. He lived the life he touted for others, in the end, is not that what we should ask of all our public servants.

Remember Richard Gephardt: He Sold His Soul

Does anyone remember Richard Gephardt. He probably hopes you don't or if you do that you pay no attention to what he is doing today. For those who do remember Gephardt they will remember that he was the long time Congressman representing St. Louis. Gephardt ran for the Presidency twice, credibly in 1988 and a short candidacy in 2004. While in Congress Dick Gephardt was always a friend to the working man. He consistently received the highest support of America's unions, was strongly against NAFTA, and at one point in 2004 was floating his own,very viable plan for National or Universal health care.

Gephardt retired in 2005 with accomplishments to make any man proud. I speak about Gephardt because I am currently reading the seminal political book What It Takes by Richard Ben Cramer. This book, telling in depth, very in depth in fact, the story of the 1988 Presidential race is a work of art for political junkies like me. As I am about half way through I am reading about Gephardt a great deal as he was a strong candidate. After finishing my reading one evening I was curious to find what the former Congressman was doing these days in his retirement.

When reading a description of what he has been doing since leaving office a person can feel nothing but disgust and like he has been punched in the stomach. Gephardt for reasons that I certainly do not know has turned into a political whore, a hack lending his name and good faith to causes which go against everything he stood for in his political career.

A sample of his efforts. As a lobbyist for the country of Turkey he has lobbied the United States congress not to pass a resolution calling the Turkish actions against the Armenians in 1915 genocide.

Worse the former Congressman in 2009 advised one of America's largest health insurer's on how to fight any public option in the pending health care bill. This labor friendly Democrat who had campaigned for Universal health care worked against a public option.

Gephardt also has worked with pharmaceutical companies lobbying for the extension of patents and against the release of generic medicines. Certainly this does nothing to benefit his former constituency.

As a final insult Gephardt works as a lobbyist for Boeing and sits on the board and works as a lobbyist for Spirit Aerosystems going so far in that role as to lead an agressive anti union effort against employees there.

Reading Cramer's book and seeing this eager, earnest and energetic young Congressman run for President and comparing the person with this jaded, cynical, lobbyist we see today we see perhaps the greatest illustration of the corruption of the soul that takes place in Washington.

I do not know what changed Richard Gephardt but I hope and pray that it has indeed been a change, a sell out, and that we were not always being played from the beginning.

Richard Gephardt is today's biggest dirtbag.

Sending Testosterone to the President

The fiscal cliff looms next week and while I still have the strong sense that some sort of deal will be worked out I, for one, am hoping that, for once, our President will understand that he holds all the cards.

Here is what will happen if Obama just holds in check his overwhelming urge to compromise.


The Bush tax cuts will expire for everybody.

The payroll tax cut will expire.

Massive cuts to defense spending will have to begin.

The Estate tax will revert to a higher rate.


What I need the President to do is to tell me how any of this is a bad thing. We all know that the on their first day in session the Senate can pass what will be then, an Obama tax cut for the portion of the electorate that they wish and then challenge the Republicans in the House to not act on it. Should the house not do so they would be in a position of holding the wide swath of the middle class hostage to a tax cut for the wealthy. Any tax bill can be retroactive. People will not be harmed.

The President won the election. The majority of Americans agreed with his vision of tax fairness. This is not the time to embolden the Republicans. This is the time to break them. President's are feared by Congress if they are successful. This President even after winning reelection is still not feared.

Mr. President you cannot win if you call the game when you have the lead. It is silly and sad that our politics has become a game of standoff, but it is, and if you are in the game you have to win. This President needs to win. To win he needs to put the pedal to the floor, put a stick against the gas, jump out of the car, and drive over the cliff.

Trust me Mr. President you will bounce.

Driving Over the Cliff with John Boehner

Poor John Boehner. Seriously. As Speaker of the House he has an almost untenable job trying to hold his pragmatic Senators with his far right nut jobs.

Last night, just in case we needed any illustration of how little ground he has under his feet, Boehner was forced to pull a bill last night that would have only raised taxes on those with incomes of over a million dollars. The bill which would never pass the Senate was meant by the leader to put the Republicans on the record of supporting a bill that would keep the tax cuts for the middle class. Even with taxes only being raised on millionaires the Republicans in the house would not vote for his bill.

So the Republicans are going home. They are taking their ball and going home. Of course it is all posturing and they will be back at it after Christmas.

On the Democratic side The President seems to have forgotten that he won the election. The Democrats hold all the cards. One only needs to consider that the Democratic wish list is to remove the Bush tax cuts and cut defense spending and if the President does nothing, nothing at all this will happen. On January 2nd the Democrats can put a bill in play that cuts taxes on only the middle class and dare the Republicans to vote against it.

With all this in place what does the President do. He puts forth a bill to raise the tax cut threshold to 400K and cut entitlements. I do not mind the latter, I realize things have to be done but there should be no raising of the tax package cut off.

Watching Morning Joe this morning we saw a fine illustration of what is wrong with the right, what Speaker Boehner has to deal with. Some Kansas knucklehead Congressman advised Joe that he would not support any tax increases whatsoever no matter how many budget cuts accompanied it. Next he told Joe and Mika that he would favor no limitations to gun rights none whatsoever. It is not so much his opinions but his refusal to even entertain negotiation. After saying he would consider nothing save his own lunatic positions he said we still had ten days to solve this. According to his own statements however the only thing he could work out was to have everyone do things his way.


Finally Steve Rattner and Joe Scarborough discussed Boehner's last ditch chance to get a positive vote on his bill. He offered Conservatives an opportunity to protect the defense spending that will be cut in sequestration. What did he offer. Listen to this. To protect the bloated Defense budget he offered cuts or the discontinuation entirely of Food Stamps, Mortgage Relief Programs, the Child Tax Credit and Obesity Prevention. This is what Boehner has to offer these red meat reactionaries to try to get them on board.

The next time you want to feel bad for someone in politics you might want to acknowledge that agree with him or not John Boehner is a pragmatic man. Having that little piss-ant Eric Cantor as his second in command and stabbing him each time he turns around, having men like Steve King of Iowa to placate, John Boehner becomes almost a tragic figure. He probably deserves better and at least needs our prayers.

The Honorable Daniel Inouye

Senator Daniel Inouye died this week. Inouye had been serving in Washington for over fifty years and had been a Senator since 1962. Often underrated in the Senate at the time of his death he chaired the Appropriations Committe and previously chaired the Senate Intelligence Committee.

If one wants to they can find plenty of obituaries and articles about the Senator's life and I urge you to do so.

What I want to point out and comment on, however, are a few thing I found remarkable in this man's story.

Bob Dole in commenting on his friends death talked about meeting his future fellow Senator in a rehabilitation hospital in Michigan after World War II. Both severely injured, both with arms that were basically non functioning, both injured in Italy within miles and days of each other, the two served in the Senate together for decades and never let their differing political viewpoints stand in the way of their friendship and Dole who has had his own health crisis recently was very moved at his passing.

A couple of items to know about Senator Inouye is that he might well have been one of the last Senator's to campaign for a fellow Senator of the opposite party. This used to be a fairly common occurrence but is verboten in today's climate. Inouye however refused to take part in this division campaigning for Mark Hatfield of Oregon in the nineties and Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska as recently as 2007. For the Senator honor meant standing by ones friends.

I also read how when competing for the Senate Majority leader against Maine's own George Mitchell in the eighties Inouye was favored but as Mitchell's chances of victory seemed to be rising Inouye made a decision. His advisors told him that he should check back with some of his promised votes, Inouye however would not question his fellow Senator's honor by repeating a previous question and or questioning a previous commitment. In the end that failure to apply pressure might well have cost him the position but Inouye never regretted his decision. The Senator lived by a code of conduct that he never would refute.

Our own current legislators would do well to model themselves after this great American hero.

Truly our Senate, our country has suffered a great loss.

Bushmaster Weapons For One And All

My wife teaches first graders how to read. She loves her kids and enjoys helping her students each day. She is wonderful at what she does and always strives to do what is right for her kids. She is not, however, probably a person that you want to arm with a handgun to keep other people safe.

I understand that we are all traumatized and frightened by the never ending list of shootings at schools and public venues. I am as well.

When I hear Rick Perry, the Governor of Texas endorsing teachers being armed I think it is the most ridiculous thing I have heard.

Let's just talk about not if students would be ostensibly safer with their kindergarten teacher packing heat. Ask yourself is this what we want? Do we want to be the society that tells our little children that they are so unsafe, that the world is so unpredictable that even their schools are not safe. Can there be anywhere that our children can feel safe? Do we really want to be the country that throws are hands in the air and says we cannot stop these gun shows where anybody can buy any kind of gun so the best way to protect ourselves is have our schoolteachers armed with weapons.

It just makes no sense.

Here are some things we can do.

Lets stop saying that people have a right to assault weapons. What about the public good.

Lets understand that to drive you have to pass a test. To be a securities analyst you need to pass a background check and a drug test? Why not to own a gun.

What happened to the NRA being responsible.

Lets stop giving lip service to mental health and make it available for everyone who needs it.

There are ways to make this better, we do not have to give up. And we do not need to arm our teachers. The message that sends to our children and to our society as a whole is catastrophic.

Want to be made sick? Look at total gun deaths in other Western Countries per year. Numbers of less than 100 prevail. In America 10,000 or more. There is no justification for this. None. Zero.

A School I Know

When my children were little they went to small neighborhood school. K through 3 were the grades in it and if anything was ever said about that school that was not positive it did not come from me.

I would frequently pick my kids up in the afternoon and I remember marveling with wonder at how the Principal of the school knew every child's name. She said good bye to each child as she made sure they were in the right line or got on the right bus. If a child did not come through the line she would recognize it and send a message to that child's teacher asking where they were. The kindergarten teacher that both my children had was amazing. She, like all kindergarten teachers nowadays I suppose, gave her kids hugs constantly. She would get her bus kids on the way and then she would bring her charges that were being picked up and make sure each child was safely in the hands of the parent or person who was picking them up.

It was an amazing place to me, the caring, the organization, the nurturing, loving environment. My primary school experience was a solid one but it was a different time, there was not constant hugging, and any interaction with the principal was surely a negative thing. Times have changed and certainly for the better.

We went to chorus concerts, PTO meetings, Jack O Lantern and later Fall Jubilee's. Our children in second grade all did a biography night and my step son who entered our family with my wife a bit later is tired of hearing about how wonderful biography night is and how he missed out.

I remember asking my third grade son about the school, if anyone ever felt sad or was picked on and he said " Dad no one would ever want to be mean at 14th street school." He was perhaps naive but he was absolutely sincere. It was , in short, a little piece of heaven.

My suspicion is that this school in Sandy Hook , this school was the same type of place. A little bit of heaven where these kids felt safe and loved. If what happened could happen there it could happen anywhere. It is a thought that has made me ill and upset for the last two days. This is not, however, about me, it is about this awful thing that has happened and how we all have to move past our sadness and consider how to prevent these events.

What I know is this. Every child should have a place to go to school where " no one would ever want to be mean." There is nothing more important than providing for our children's education and fear can never be in the equation of a successful education.

I read a column by Buster Olney where he talked about greeting his little boy off the school bus Friday. It made me cry. I watched a children's choir sing Silent Night on Saturday Night Live last night and I cried. I watched a video of my daughter at seven years old giving her biography night speech in the gym of her school, her safe haven.

And I cried. We always imagine how we would ever cope with such a thing and we pray we would never have to. I cannot fathom what these people are going through. Then my seventeen year old son and I have a tiff over whatever silly thing it is we are debating about and I feel stupid and small and imagine him in kindergarten laying down on his mat for rest time. And I cry. I feel like the Indian in the littering commercials we all remember from our childhood, with that silent tear on his cheek.

I am tired of crying. And yet I have lost nothing. Can you imagine...

McCain's Hypocricy or A Pound of Flesh, A Pound of Rice

John McCain. The straight talk express. Remember when McCain was every Democrat's favorite Republican. McCain the maverick.

McCain has been in the U S Senate now for onto thirty years. Usually a Senator of his experience, of his age, would be one who was respected for his clarity. A pet position, a source of expertise, perhaps a chairmanship.

What is not expected is a Senator chasing headlines and modifying positions for the headlines. Unfortunately since losing the election for the Presidency in 2008 McCain has been on a downward slide. First he had to move himself to the right to get by a primary challenge in 2010. That, forgiven by most as something he had to do, was understandable to most. However he has not really come back to the center in his now comfortable Senate seat.

Yesterday Susan Rice withdrew her name from consideration for Secretary of State. Widely known to be the President's first choice to replace the retiring Hillary Clinton Rice has fallen victim to the Benghazi attacks and Republicans subsequent protestations of a cover up. Rice was the State Department official who first advised the press of hte attack and the origination of it as a result of the controversial Mohammed video that had gone viral.

I do not know if Rice was lying in her statement, my guess is that in a time of confusion the wrong information was assumed to be true. Of course it was all complicated by the pending election. The Republicans, looking for anything to politicize to hurt the President's reelection chances latched onto the issue.

Leading the pack was Senator McCain. McCain wanted investigations, independent counsels, hearings, when truthfully McCain being a member of the Armed Services Committee certainly was and is privy to what the CIA's real mission in Libya. He knows the story and he has just become nothing more than a mercenary to try to expose or weaken the administration.

It at one point has become so ridiculous that at one point John McCain missed a breifing for Congressional leaders on the Benghazi attack, and who knew what when and other issues. Why did he miss the meeting? He was holding a press conference stating his anger at not being able to find out more information about Benghazi.

I think John Kerry would be a better Secretary of State so this is not skin off my nose. The right has its scalp and perhaps now they will move on. Certainly one would think that Kerry would not be a controversial choice. Perhaps McCain should mirror his pal John Kerry on how ex Presidential candidates should act with decorum and gravitas after returning to the Senate.

Rick Snyder's Chart Move As Told by Casey Kasem

If Casey Kasem was still doing American Top Forty this week he would tell us in his world famous voice that this weeks big mover, moving all the way to number one on the anti union charts is Michigan Governor Rick Snyder. As Casey would say Snyder jumped legends Scott Walker, John Kasich, and of course that world famous duo The Koch Brothers to take the top spot with his recent ramming through the legislature of not one but two anti union bills.

These bills deal with the collecting of union dues in both the public and private sector. What it basically does away with is the closed shop. In the past in many heavily unionized industries if one joined a union shop they had to join the union. The theory of course is that if one is enjoying the benefits that the union gains for it's members that it would be wrong to not force them contribute.

Now it is easy to blame Snyder and Republicans and certainly he is the bad guy of the moment but the truth is Republicans have not changed. They always have been and always will be anti union. The difference is that while in the past in heavily union states a Republican would be punished at the polls for such acts the fact is that this no longer is the case.

People have changed. The populace has lived through recessions and heard anecdotes of union abuse. Moreover we as a people no longer aspire to be as successful as the next guy, to gain the benefits that someone else has. Now in our culture we when seeing people with benefits and wages we do not have our first thought is to blame them and want to bring them down to our lower level. Perhaps it is easier on the ego, if you take away someone else's benefits then perhaps you do not have to feel bad if you do not attain your goals.

I simply do not understand it. So while Snyder and Walker and their brethren might be easy to hate, the real fact here is that people have changed. If unions ever want to have power again and I do not know if they can, they need to make sure that they educate the public. Moreover they need to make sure that any union member or union sympathizer who considers voting for a Republican knows what that means.

Simply put it is now out in the open. Republicans are not the power of the working man. They are the party of the rich. If you live in a union state and you vote for a Republican you are risking it all. If you belong to a union and you vote Republican you need to have your head examined.

It is paramount to self destruction.

Solidarity went underground for years before it emerged. It should be kept in mind that during the Gilded Age unions were abused and punished by the government. Or as I read today the state of Michigan and the government of China have something in common today, a strong anti union law pending.

Just do not let Republicans tell you that you are now free in Michigan and that this is pro worker. It is not any of those things.

I grew up in Maine and watched the manufacturing jobs in shoes, chicken, and textiles move South, out of union areas. The South then, even though they did not unionize eventually lost those jobs to foreign countries. The difference is now that we have people who proclaim to be against greedy corporations and executive pay craziness but then they applaud union dismemberment. This causes lower wages across the board.

I am done preaching. I need a drink. Is there a pro union brewery anymore.

Syria: Nice To Meet You

I must admit I am confused about what is going on with our relationship with Syria. Certainly President Assad, the eye doctor from hell apparently, is a scoundrel who the world will be better without. Today we hear reports that he is firing scud missiles at rebel groups inside his own country.

Yesterday we were told that the United States has formally recognized the major rebel group in Syria. I am not certain which group that is, or how many of these groups there are.

What is troubling, or confusing at least, is that I read over the weekend that the State Department, our State Department, the very one who has apparently just recognized the Syrian rebels as a legitimate government entity, placed the Syrian rebels on the list of terrorist nations or forces in the world.

So unless my math is wrong that means that we have placed a group on the terrorist list and recognized them within days of each other.


I would like some clarification on this Mr. President.

Do Drones Equal Terrorism

Now that the election is over it is clear that the President will never be that comfortable with the liberal wing of the Democratic party. This is interesting for many reasons, first and foremost the Republican right believes him to be just to the left of Lenin and yet he does not support unions the way he should and he sends drones across the world to kill terrorists.


Last night I had a conversation with my kids about if the United States was correct to be using drones to kill suspected Al Queda targets around the world, primarily in Afghanistan and Pakistan. My children did not believe it to be the case. There answers were straightforward, of course it was acceptable, these were bad people. I re-framed the question, who says there bad people? What right did we have to fire weapons into a sovereign country to kill a private citizen, not convicted in any court..

While they agreed this was concerning they felt that in the end that the United States was doing what was right to protect themselves. Except my daughter. She said that for us to proclaim ourselves as the bastion of equal rights, fair trials and as a shining light on the hill that what we were doing was hypocritical.


Let me be clear, I shed no tears for any people killed before they can strap a bomb on something and blow up Americans. The question is more theoretical. It illustrates however that nothing is as simple as a one sided argument. If you are in a country other than the United States and some other country sends a bomb into your country to kill a person they proclaim to be a terrorist you are not going to think that is a good thing. Your sovereignty is at risk.

I personally do not think anyone should be comfortable with a President of the United States going over a list of potential drone targets and certifying certain targets for removal. Do you want a President to have this power. I do not believe the executive order against assassination has ever been rescinded.

I think it is assumable that every time we kill a target in a Muslim nation we radicalize ten men to replace him. I know and realize that we are being proactive, we are attempting to take these people out before they harm us or our friends. Still when one considers what would happen were an Islamist group send a drone into the United States to take out, say, for example, that kook who made the Mohammad video. By their opinion he is a bad man and should be sentenced to death. Why is this different.

Of course it is not. Of course it is. We are the United States, they are just some third world country that does not even have a real government with a real justice system. It is not hard to see why other countries hate us.

Perhaps it is a cost of being who we are. Still President Obama who is hated by the right for his apology tour, who proclaims to have improved relations with most countries, still has Guantanamo open, still has us in Afghanistan, and still sends armed drones into foreign countries to kill foreign citizens. As the most liberal President in our history as some say, this is more than slightly ironic.

I want my children to think for themselves. This is a complex question, this question of drones, but one is never too young to remember to consider things from both sides. We talked further about if the Boston Tea Party was a terrorist act. While we have a knee jerk reaction that it was not let us consider how the United States would act, for example, if in Guam a group of separatists started protesting and one night went into the harbor and sabotaged loads of food, fruit, and oil, creating losses in the millions.

Remember history is written by the winners. Barack Obama is doing what he thinks he must, this is not always what he should. I do not know how to combat terrorism. I do have a strong sense that what we are doing however is nothing more than holding back the tide of American hate by punching elementary students in the nose. Sooner or later those kids grow up and they remember. They never forget.

Stop the Drones. They go against American principles.

Obama Sells Out the Inauguration, Shame on Him

Inaugurations Matter. They set the tone. For students of history they are a measure of the expectations set, and later the expectations met. Lincoln in his second inaugural talked about the healing of the country, our better angels, Kennedy asked us famously what we can do for our country, Reagan brought optimism back to America, Clinton had us singing " Don't Stop" until we could stand it no longer. Barack Obama's first inaugural all made us feel like we accomplished a part of history by electing our first black President.

For this the second inauguration it is expected that Obama will set a course for the second term, one that hopefully is successful in achieving some of those things that only a second term President with no fears of reelection can achieve.

Unfortunately for me the first thing that we can remember about the second inauguration of Barack Obama will be his decision, his, to me, inexplicable decision, to reverse course and accept unlimited corporate contributions to cover the costs of the inauguration.

There is no real sense to write a whole dissertation about how hypocritical this is. This President, this party, that rails against the Citizens United case, that talks about the negative effects of money in politics has decided to accept unlimited corporate money to cover the cost of the inauguration.

The reasoning is simple enough one supposes. It saves Washington money, it is budget friendly. It also gives validity to those that give money, it gives the appearance of access and it proves that, in the end, perhaps money does mean everything.

No matter how long you think about this second inauguration, no matter how great a speech he gives, to me this will be inauguration that Barack Obama sold. He is still my President, he still can do great things, but it just to me makes it that much more unlikely that he can stand for anything. Anything at all.

Bob Costas Said What

Last Sunday night during halftime of the NFL game being shown on NBC Bob Costas made a big mistake. He addressed the issue of gun violence in the United States through the lens of the awful incident that had taken place in Kansas City last weekend.

Stating that it was likely that if no guns had been present in the home both the killer Jovan Belcher and his girlfriend might still be alive.

The reaction was swift and predictable. Costas was a sports guy who dare he comment on such an issue? Costas should keep his mouth shut. Guns don't kill people, people do.

I think that we need to recognize a few things in America.

The NRA when I was growing up was a wonderful organization. When my older brothers were growing up it stood for the rights of hunters and sportsmen and stood for responsible gun ownership. Often times the NRA sponsored and supported gun restrictions.

In the mid to late seventies however it was discovered that values voters could be manipulated with fear. After that everything changed. Soon we had Charlton Heston claiming they would take his guns only from his cold dead hands.

Soon the right to own an Uzi assault weapon was clearly stated in the Constitution.

This week Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn sponsored or suggested a bill that would allow mentally ill veterans to buy firearms.

That sentence should tell you all you need to know about how things have changed.

Fifty years ago that would have never happened, the NRA would have been against it tooth and nail.

Now the NRA fights for guns in churches, voting booths, national parks, anywhere people want.

Two of the best, most honest and reputable, people I know, my best friend and his brother are staunch gun rights advocates. They believe as many good people do that if everyone carried a gun these mass shootings would never happen. They are most likely right. What that does not address however is the danger of letting a child play with fire.

We all know that many if not most of gun deaths are emotional decisions made in the spur of the moment. We know also that if people do not shoot each other, they can stab, strangle or maim in any way possible. We also know however that with a gun present in takes only a momentary lapse of reason. Jovan Belcher was a 300 pound man, he could have killed that woman with his bare hands. The fact is however he did not, he got angry, went into another room, got one of his eight gunzzz that had jokingly been texting about only an hour earlier and shot this woman nine times.

Some things to make sure are said.

People can own guns if they like. Most gun owners are responsible.

The question is why do the responsible gun owners stand up for the rights of morons, felons, the mentally ill, and others to get a gun. Why does a responsible gun owner have an issue with a waiting period to get a gun.

Let me tell you about a discussion I had with my son. He said what if the end of the world comes and you need a gun. I told him I doubted zombies would appear anytime soon. He countered that what if the government started getting out of control and we had to protect ourselves.

This, the militia argument, we have to be able to protect ourselves from the government argument. Explain this to me, why is it that ninety nine percent of the people who do not want to have a waiting period for guns because they do not want the government to know who has guns are the same people who are for The Patriot Act and other intrusions against civil liberties. These same people have no problem with the illegal search and snoops allowed under the act, they have no problem with the phone tapping and email sifting that takes place on anyone the government wants. Often I hear them say I am not doing anything wrong let them look, which is ok if that is your thought, but you do not want them to know you have a gun.

One thing needs to be made clear. Our government can send a drone half way across the world with a camera and find, aim and kill anybody they want. Do you think your three guns holed up in a cabin in the woods is going to keep the goverment from you if htye want you. You are fooling yourself.

I made my wife mad a few weeks ago. We were talking about DWB. That is Driving While Black. She said that if she were black and got pulled over all the time she would be very angry. I said I understand that I would too, but I also would be angry at other black men for committing so many crimes.

She and I am sure society thinks I am wrong. I am a numbers guy. The numbers do not lie. To me if a high percentage of those people who do certain things are a certain race, or certain profession, or a certain anything I think not profiling on that nature is a mistake.

I think if I had a brother who kept committing a crime and I kept getting stopped I would be frustrated but I also would tell my brother to knock it off.

For this same reason I would like the NRA and gun rights advocates to not have a knee jerk reaction against any reasonable gun laws and restrictions. By eliminating the psychos and crazies these responsible people will only increase the rights and respect of those who do the right thing.

Our culture celebrates violence. Football players, rappers, and other heroes of the modern culture, the often times black led culture, flash gang signs, talk about guns, and caps, and of course bitches and hos.

110 pound white boys sitting in my living room wear their pants so low I know what color the stripes on there underwear are and we laugh at their foolishness. We do not however question why this is so. The same people wearing there pants so low carry guns and talk about bitches and hos.

So this woman went out too late for this mans taste. So he shot her. Should we be surprised. No, life is not a vacuum. What we are exposed to if we have no way to filter it gets into us an sometimes comes out in unpredictable ways.

When I talk to my kids about rap music, and my middle son about his pants, they tell me I am being silly. I do not think I am.

When I tell my friends that they should want to restrict gun use to people like them they tell me I am being silly. I do not think I am.

Jim Demint to Leave the Senate

Right Wing Hero Jim Demint has announced he is leaving the Senate to accept the Presidency of The Heritage Foundation. Not much to say on this point. He was a sycophant to extreme right causes in the Senate and will continue to be a mouthpiece for the Limbaugh's and Hannity's of the world.

The only potential good thing to come out of this is if a primary fight for his seat brings out, wears out , and exposes all the right wing crackpots before they can challenge Lindsay Graham from the right for his seat. In a one party state Graham is about as good as one can expect to be in the Senate from a rationality standpoint.

Michigan Power Play over Unions

Whatever you think about unions,and increasingly American opinion on Unions is becoming transparent, what happened in Michigan yesterday should indicate how little power they now wield.

Yesterday after repeatedly stating it was not on his agenda Governor Rick Snyder and the lame duck Republican legislature rammed through bills limited union rights in Michigan. Democrats had no recourse. Republicans had greased the skids by passing rules calling for only a majority ( which they already had ) needing to be present to have a quorum for voting.

Elections count. In Michigan Republicans control the House, the Senate, and the Governorship. They can do what they want. If people do not like it the presumption is they can vote them out of office.

What is most galling to not just Democrats but anyone interested in representation is that in November, as in one month ago November, a ballot initiative to make the same limitations on union rights failed miserably to pass. Yes, that is right, one month after the will of the Michigan people was made known, the state legislature passed a bill thwarting that will.

It is not illegal. It is however beyond reproach.

Unions day might well be done. Call me a lover of lost causes. If I could go back and choose a profession again I would be a union advocate, a union lawyer, a union organizer. I can think of nothing that is so important and as it becomes more and more clear more and more obsolete.

Rick Snyder is today's worst, most cynical politician of the day. You can be anti union if you must, but to disavow a ballot decision by your state's citizens. What a skunk.

Paul LePage plays Grinch

Paul Lepage must be sitting in his bunker sending anonymous checks to the committee to elect John Baldacci Governor. Certainly he knows that his only hope of being reelected comes with the prospect of a legitimate candidate for Governor from the left to split votes with Elliott Cutler.

Cutler has been quiet, I saw him at a commencement exercise last spring and urged him to run again, he was non committal but seemed to have a gleam in his eye at the thought.

Mr. LePage however has a tough two years ahead. It all starts next week when he must submit a curtailed budget. By this process he will be executive orders for immediate spending cuts in the budget to get us through the fiscal year. This could be in many different areas but certainly education and programs for the poor would seem to be the first to be cut. We certainly know it would not be those tax decreases he made before he did anything else two years ago.

With all that on his plate it was a surprise that LePage made a grandstanding move this week refusing to meet with the states Democratic Caucus leaders until they stopped having his public appearances and speeches taped. Being Governor can be a challenge but LePage's hissy fit over this has become typical. It is common practice for both sides to employ runners to tape any appearance by the other side. For LePage it is especially dangerous for the obvious reason that he never knows what he is going to say and certainly does not want it on Youtube.

Two years ago my stepson went on a school function to Augusta and when meeting LePage suffered the embarrassment of the Governor ridiculing his short stature in comparison with his age. Perhaps a videotape of that would have been helpful.

In short Governor. Grow up. Smile for the camera and do something worthwhile. Fix the problems of the state with more than bluster and bellowing. Work with your counterparts on the other side. It is your job. Maybe if you did that you would not need to pray for rain and spaghetti dinners coming to a town near you.

In Egypt 39 Parties and They All Are a Problem

In Egypt President Morsi is starting to show his true colors. With his power grab being self evident to the Egyptian citizenry and with his government never having the true endorsement of the military no one knows where this will end.

Yesterday 39 of the forty major parties outside the Muslim Brotherhood spoke out against the newly formed government of Mr. Morsi. Thousands of protestors have stormed government buildings and yesterday three were killed and hundreds wounded as Morsi's followers used tanks and teargas to disperse or hold back the citizenry.

It should be noted as our friend Joe Scarborough did this morning that the Muslim Brotherhood stayed on the sidelines, primarily, during the street protests that led to Mubarek's ouster, that the Brotherhood promised they would not run for election, then promised not to take the Presidency, then promised to not limit constitutional powers of the people.

As I heard quoted last night with a nod to Roger Daltrey " Meet the new Pharaoh, Same as the old Pharaoh.

We do not know what will happen but we have to know the importance of Egypt and what happens there cannot be underestimated. We really can have little influence on the outcome, perhaps we should just make sure any actions we take speak to the freedom we claim to be so in favor of.

How Republicans Control the Terminology

You have to give the Republicans credit. They have changed the terminology of politics. The importance of this cannot be understated. Just look at the previous post I just wrote.

Of the three easy tax proposals that I hope the President holds firm to all of them need a clarification from the terminology most often used today, terminology that Republicans introduced and have succeeded in making prevalent.

Stating that small businesses that make over 200 K will be punished with the revoking of the Bush tax cuts. The repeal of the Bush tax cuts would affect taxable income over 200,000. With the expanse of write offs for small businesses over 90 percent do not meet this taxable income level. Even then the increase is only on the amount over 200 K.

There is no such thing as a death tax. There is an estate tax. It has always been called this prior to Republican marketing strategies.

Lastly the carried interest or capital gains rates allowing the Romney's and Buffet's of the world to pay a lower tax rate than you or I. Democrats just need to say they want the income of the rich man to be taxed at the same rate as the income of the working man and this issue would be easily understandable.

It is as if the right hires Mad Men's Don Draper and the left hires Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum for their media consultants.

Boehner and The President Sitting in a Tree

Word this morning that Congressman John Boehner has asked the President to negotiate with him on the fiscal cliff issues behind closed doors with just the two of them present. This is a positive development or at least could be.

Look The President won reelection. He needs a victory and frankly he has all the cards. No matter what Republicans say he can take us over the cliff and in many ways we would be better off for it. Republicans could never vote against a middle class tax cut that stood independent of the Bush tax cuts, automatic defense cuts would be a blessing in disguise and Republicans would be blamed.

Boehner knows this. Of course for Boehner the Tea Party is the worst friend he has. As in with friends like these who needs enemies. With Limbaugh and other Conservatives urging him to walk away, to not blink, the Speaker at least is wise enough to know that sometimes you have to blink. We would have had a deal a year ago if he had not been beaten down not by Obama but by his own fire throwers.

It is not rocket science. It is clear what has to happen. I have more belief in Boehner's ability to see reality however than I do in the President's ability to use his power. In that regard we may be in a position where no one leads.

I also think it should be noted that a cap on deductions might be the most important thing and one that would raise more revenue than an actual tax rate adjustment. To me it is simple, remove the Bush tax cut for taxable income, not income taxable income, over 200,000, bring the estate, not the death tax, the estate tax back to pre Bush rates, and most importantly count all kinds of income the same for tax purposes thus removing the advantage for carried interest and all the other Romney tricks. 95 percent of Americans would support this and he could easily get this passed the day after we drove over the fiscal cliff.

Mr. President you have all the cards. Don't fold.

Republicans Slap American Hero Bob Dole

Imagine Bob Dole yesterday. Having been in the hospital just a week ago, the eighty nine year old former Republican everything described as infirm and unwell, made his way with his wife Elizabeth Dole to the Senate Chamber yesterday to be present when the Senate voted on the ratification of a United Nations treaty to protect disabled people worldwide.

What did Mr. Dole witness from his wheelchair? He witnessed Republican after Republican making a vote against the ratification of the treaty. Particularly he watched moderates such as Bob Corker of Tennessee and whoever the clown is in Kansas that currently hold Dole's former seat vote against this treaty. It is interesting to note that several of the Republicans that did vote in favor of this bill were lame ducks, they either were retiring or had lost their recent elections.

What does this mean? It apparently means that if you wish to vote your conscience it is a good idea to be leaving office. The Tea Party has so radicalized the Republican party that the great fear of Republicans in office is not losing to a Democrat but in facing a primary challenge on the right. This happens because as we become so firmly red and blue in most states more and more of these states are becoming one party. Your fear then is only that you will not throw enough red meat to the base.

This is not only the case with the right, the same applies to the left, however the Democrats do seem to do a better job of being, in most cases, more moderate by nature.

Somehow the United Nations has become the great bugaboo of the right. The fear that we will lose our sovereignty. I am not always a proponent of the UN and all things internationalists. I spoke just the other day in a negative way about the Nobel Prize and think that the European Union is bad policy and will lead to bad things, but we are talking about a treaty that benefits disabled people. Who can find fault with that. If that is not enough it is the United States standards that are being placed in the treaty. That is this a chance for us to proselytize our values to the rest of the world, something one would think that everyone blue and red would be in favor of.

To show you how far off track we have gotten. One of this bills sponsor in Congress ended up voting against the treaty. I would think that this would be a symbol of how untrustworthy a candidate is, how few standards he has, but for the tea party right this tells them only that they own a politician lock stock and barrel.

Maybe what we need to do is dress our politicians like Nascar drivers. Everytime they issue a press release they can say " Well it was a good day out there, the Citibank, Exxon, Medical Insurance company team worked well today.

Does it seem so far off from where we are currently. At least it would be truth in advertising. When a hero like Bob Dole cannot get a bill for the disabled through the United States Senate, when a Republican legend is rebuked, for you can call it nothing less than that, is rebuked by his own party on the floor of the Senate, it is time to realize that these clowns are all bought and paid for. Bob Corker I expect you to be wearing your flame retardant suit the next time I see you on television.

Bob Dole : Get Well Soon

Word was received yesterday that Bob Dole was at Walter Reed hospital. Varying accounts reported him as having " a routine procedure" to being "infirm and not well."

There might well be a generation of people that do not even know the Bob Dole story. Bob Dole born in 1923, a son of the prairie, raised during the depression, witness to the dust bowl, war hero, seriously injured, Congressman, Senator, Vice Presidential Candidate, three time Presidential candidate, the party's nominee in 1996, and later in retirement Viagra spokesman.

That certainly sounds like a full life. It is a full life. A life to be honored and yet the description above only gives one a few brief highlights of this amazing life. A coincidence of fate had me currently reading the book What It Takes by Richard Ben Cramer. Some people are born with a drive, a spark, Bob Dole growing up in Russell, Kansas was one of those people. Good. Dole was just good.

We all hope that he recovers from this sickness. We all know however that soon, in a few years. Dole, along with his longtime rival George H W Bush will no longer be with us in except in spirit and memories of incredible lives lived to the fullest.

The World War II generation is fast leaving us, in another ten years our ability to hear firsthand memories from these men and women will be all but gone. The loss of Bush and Dole will be a symbol of that. It will be a sad day and you would be hard pressed to find two better men to be a symbol of that greatest generation.

A statement well used, overused, " The Greatest Generation." However for any generation of people that includes Bob Dole and the former President no other word can apply.

Egypt On the Edge Again

It is hard to believe that almost two years later Egypt is again having large scale protests in the street. As we all know last summer the " free " elections took place in Egypt and the Muslim Brotherhood candidate was declared the winner. This was not something that the military was pleased with.

It even, once he was declared President, an uneasy peace. Much of the judiciary that is still in place are judges that were placed by the Mubarek regime. The military certainly is used to being in control. The government on all levels has been run as a corrupt enterprise and the Islamists taking over certainly should not alleviate that in any way.

If one wants to look at Egypt and try to find a correlation you probably need to go back to Iran at the end of the regime of The Shah. You have a Muslim nation with a strong secular portion of the population, if anything Iran had a larger group of secularists, and a recently deposed dictator who had been supported by the West as a placeholder for Western interests. It has become apparent that as we learn more and more about the rule of Mubarak that his corruption and treatment of dissenters was equal to or close to that of the famed Shah.

Egypt being the largest country in the Middle East and the country that controls the Suez Canal has to be a country that concerns the West. Last week the new President made a power grab that would give him powers over the judiciary, thereby eliminating one of the checks and balances that the democracy movement had desired.

The result. For the last few days protests have been building in Tahir square in Cairo. What will happen. No one really knows. It all, as in all things in Egypt, depends on which side the military comes down. At this point no one knows.

One thing is for sure. There is nothing, Nothing, that matters more to the long term security of the Middle East than what happens here. Stay tuned.

Once The Nobel Prize Meant Something

There was a time when the Nobel Prize meant something. Certainly we appear to be fast moving beyond a time when it does. For some reason the committee has decided that the United States is to be disdained and disregarded. Even the awarding of the award recently to Barack Obama seemed as much a provocation to America as a genuine acknowledgement of anything worthwhile. I am certainly not saying awards should come to America each year or even very often. Not at all. However you will have to go to some extreme explaining to tell me how the European Union qualifies for this years Nobel Prize.

This the same European Union who has struggled all year under German hegemony, watching Prime Minister Merkel dictate terms to Greece and threaten other countries in Europe with economic ruin should they not put into place budgets of extreme austerity so that they might be able to pay back their loans to their creditors.

This the same union who promotes peace by standing aside for French neo nationalism policies that disallow women from wearing a burka. This is not a big issue on my plate but certainly has to be a factor on a peace prize.

A peace prize? When has Europe ever done anything to deserve a peace prize. Do not get me wrong. I love Europe. Strong safety net, nationalized healthcare, strong unions, I am on board saying that in many ways America could do much worse than to copy Europe. However a peace prize for the European Union has no basis in fact or believability.

While we are on the subject of Nobel Prizes lets take a detour and talk about the prize for literature. I try to read as much as I can and certainly feel like I keep up pretty well. This year the prize went to a Chinese author who I had not yet heard of. This was no great surprise, it certainly did not mean that it should not be awarded as such. However I, in the interim, have read a few stories and while entertaining I, perhaps I am too provincial, found nothing exceptional in it. Year after year one hears that Americans Phillip Roth and, my favorite choice, Cormac McCarthy will be the winner for literature and at least compared to recent winners certainly that day needs to be now.

The Nobel Prize does not need to be American based, even Western based, it does however need to be something that does not recognize a Chinese author in the interests of nothing but balance.

Everyday of the Year: Walmart Wins

Our crazy friend Keith Olberman used to have a feature on his show called The Worst Person of the World. The typical winners would be Conservative politicians, with multuple awards going to the Limbaugh, O'Reilly set.

I occasionally will note a business that I believe deserves negative scrutiny. The truth is however that despite whatever some silly pizza maker might say on any given day, what union is being broken by Caterpillar for example, the winner of the worst business in the world is always Walmart.

The list goes on an on. I always tell my wife do not shop at Walmart. I am the worst kind of consumer however, I pretend to have morals yet my wife goes to Walmart to save money and I just go along with it. I guess I am going to have to tell her that it is ok to spend more and stay away.

To write what Walmart does wrong would take longer than my hands can hold out. Here are a few highlights.

- By paying there workers a wage that one cannot live on they do more to contribute to the lower standard of living in this company for folks who actually work than any other company.

- By being such a large retailer and by paying bottom tier wages they reduce the wages for certainly other retail workers but in reality for all unskilled labor in a community.

- Anti Union Activities

- Consistent Discrimination of Women in Advancement Opportunities

- By having such a disproportionate share of the market Walmart has the ability to make or break any business that supplies them or does not supply them. Entertainers cannot have a successful recording without selling at Walmart. Other companies are forced to sell to Walmart at such incredibly low margins that they are in a Catch 22. Either sell to Walmart and then be in such financial straits you then have to lower your costs, labor costs primarily, or do not sell to Walmart and go broke for lack of sales. For an example look up the Vlassic pickle story. It is one of thousands.

` Everytime you hear someone speak of the Chinese trade deficit or imbalance remember that the biggest reason is Walmart. Walmart buys more from China than most countries an certainly more than any other company in America. This might save you fifteen cents on a shirt but it also means that an American worker is not making the product and God forbid you consider the conditions of the workers whose products you are buying.

One could go on an on and statistics can be presented to make one see how much wealth has been amassed.

Here are just a couple.

The Walton family, Sam's descendants, have an accumulated wealth that is equal to the wealth of the bottom forty one percent of households in America. Think about that number while you eat your lunch today. It should also be noted of course that great preponderance of those people in that forty one percent do much of their primary shopping at Walmart.

It is the modern day equivalent of a sharecroppers or company store in a coal town.

What does it mean. On the way to our families Thanksgiving party my son, I must have been doing my Wlamrt spiel, said why are they so bad. Two hours later, actually five minutes, after hearing my brief highlights of the evil they do he said " But they are winning, they are getting all the money they want, so they do not care what people like you think." He was no being rude he was just stating it from his understanding, that is, money is good, they are making lots of money, and most people seem to think what they do is a good thing. "

It was a depressing day for me. When I was seventeen I was an idealist, Now in my forties I also am an idealist. My son, however, he only sees the winners and losers and wonders in an unvarnished answer why being a winner is bad. My Dad used to tell me that he hoped " I would be rich enough to be a Republican." For me watching my son grow up with, what I think, is an unhealthy desire for material things, I hope someday he is rich enough to be a liberal. Perhaps that is where we are for the most part in this country. It is only the very well off, not a group I am part of, who can truly afford to be liberal.

That in itself might be the saddest statement of all.

Final Thoughts on Mitt Romney and the Forty Seven Percent

Mitt Romney made some appearances in public last week. In this age of cell phones and social media when Mitt Romney pumps his own gas it is news. A trip to Disneyland is an even bigger occurrence. I do not know who was with Mitt at Disneyland but the pictures of him on a couple of the rides all by himself struck me as a little sad. Maybe Ann does not like rides but if a picture could show how irrelevant losing candidates can be just two weeks later Mitt Romney sitting alone on the Matterhorn might be the one.

Romney should be given a pass on some of the comments he made right after the election. Disappointment and frustration make losing athletes, losers of all types, and certainly losing Presidential candidates say things they would like to take back.

Does Mitt Romney understand how the average middle class family lives? No it would seem not. When Mitt Romney spoke infamously of the 47 percent did he mean veterans, retirees and the like. No it seems likely he did not. Romney speaking before and after the election spoke clumsily and ungracefully about those that might vote for Obama because of gifts or handouts. He was not wrong. For example I am disabled and certainly without those checks we would be in a tough position. I have not written in a week as my hands have not been working. Being disabled is not fun. Most do not see you at your worst, they see you on your best days and then make false assumptions. Mitt Romney simply does not understand the daily struggles of people.

Does it make him a bad person. Of course not. My guess is that on a single person to person level he is probably one of the most generous people you would meet. It is for him, like many of us, easy to make generalities about people in faceless statistics. In the end I give Romney a pass, I do not think he would have been as terrible a President as we feared but I do think he was the wrong choice. There has to be a bit of karma or whatever you choose to call it in the fact that this weekend it became finally confirmed that Romney's vote total will sink into the 47 percent number. It does not make him a bad man, it makes him a not strong candidate, but it is hard to see that number and not think that it is some kind of higher power postulation on his divisive comments.

In Other Maine News

In other news around the state of Maine the city of Bangor continues it's slide into the drug capital of the state. An area now extending from lower Ohio Street across to Walter street up to Hammond street and recently the convenience stores of Union street has become a crime zone. Further out in Capehart the area of Bolling Drive has become a hotbed of not just petty crime but serious violent crime.

This has citizens concerned, talking about crime has not been a pastime folks in Bangor often spent much time with. It is increasingly becoming a concern. With the methadone clinic, Shaw house, being a service center for a large geographic area and providing shelter for a large homeless population there is little Bangor is doing to reduce the strain on it's police force. The question could be asked as well if the police force is equipped to deal with what is becoming a constant quandary. When one sees the panhandlers on every street corner in the area it is our responsibility as Christians to feel bad for them but we also have to be realistic enough to know that this is a symptom of some very big concerns for citizens of the area.

Down the highway a bit in Newport the school district has got itself into serious financial trouble. Evidently some kind of bookkeeping error occurred over a few years and some of the towns in the district were not billed correctly. This led to a large shortfall upon discovery. An emergency loan was proposed and voted down on election day. This led the Superintendent to make drastic cuts the next day, all extra curricular activities were cut except Varsity teams, several teachers were cut, and much of what makes a school more than just classes was gutted. He had no choice.

In Frankfort the citizens have completed their two stage voting to leave their school district and join Hampden's. This makes geographic sense but will not be a cure all. The rest of the towns in that RSU, including the largest of Belfast, is said to have groups pondering their retreating from the district as well.

Closer to home the debacle in the Orono, Veazie, Glenburn school district shows no sign of abating. Money concerns are the primary problem there.

What does this mean. Simply put that the consistent failure of the state to meet it;s constitutional obligation to pay a certain percentage of the cost of education. Towns are at a point where they can do little but cut services or raise taxes. Raising taxes is not usually an option.

Down in Sullivan an eighth grader found some brownies in the kitchen and took them to school to share with his friends. Unbeknownst to him they were pot brownies his Mom had made. Mom claims she has a health issue which the pot helps, she has not had the funds to get the medical marijuana use certificate. Look it is not something we want to have happen, that is a kid taking pot brownies to school, but the state has gone overboard by taking the child from his Mother and even after an initial hearing continuing to do so. If we are going to start taking kids from parents who use a little herb now and again we better improve our foster care system by a great deal. That will cost money.

The real point in this discussion is Maine needs, all states need, to just grow up on this issue. Like gay marriage, the citizens of the country are ahead of the government on the issue of marijuana. Legalize it, Tax it, and get on to stopping real crime. I would like to be able to send my daughter to the local Rite Aid without worrying.

Thanksgiving will soon be upon us. It might not seem like it but we should all remember we have much to be thankful for. More on that later.

The Sad Mind of Charlie Webster

As election season winds down Maine things have gotten quieter but there is still news hear and there to be commented on.

State Republican Chairman Charlie Webster of Farmington seems determined to go slithering out of office with everyone thinking he is a crackpot. Two years ago Mr. Webster was concerned about college students committing voter fraud in large numbers. After his subsequent investigation, costing who knows how much, we saw no proof to justify his worries.

It should then have been no shock to see him yesterday claim an investigation was needed to look into " large numbers of unrecognizable black people who appeared to vote on election day"

When pressed as to where this took place Webster stated " in rural areas." I suppose it is possible that there was a concerted effort by out of state groups to ship in large numbers of black folks to vote in Maine, presumably to alter the state senate races and such. Anyone worth his salt knew far in advance that Obama's victory was not in doubt. Still it seems unlikely. A look at the Maine Senate races shows that for the most part Republicans win up north, were these the Republican races these black folks were tampering with.

The Maine Republican party has some fine folks in it. My guess is that several of the folks, such as Nichi Farnham who were voted out, will rue their strict allegiance to Governor LePage and hopefully make efforts to gain reelection at a different time. Maine needs a strong, rational, Republican party. Maine politics have never been in the extreme on the right or the left. Paul LePage's thirty nine percent election changed all that. We can hope for that to change.

One capable person the party has put in a position of power for the upcoming legislature is Ken Fredette of Newport. He is a fine, decent, man who is, while naturally conservative, fair minded and pragmatic. I expect that he will be a key delegate to this coming legislature accomplishing anything and having known him for twenty years I believe this is a name that we will be hearing and seeing for the next twenty years or more.

Certainly he would not be one to call incoming presumed Maine State Senate Leader Justin Alfond a socialist. Charlie Webster " we are NOT going to miss you. " It is clowns like you that give all politicians a bad name.

The Middle East Again, Still, Always

This morning we are made aware that the continual state of low grade war between Israel and the terrorist group Hamas has heated up again. Yesterday Israel killed the Hamas military leader and today rockets fired into Northern Israel have killed three civilians.

In protest Egypt has recalled their ambassador to Israel. When one considers that Egypt and Israel has been the bond that kept the Middle East together this is very problematic. Egypt makes up almost 40 percent of the arab population of the world and the United States has no real idea in what direction the Muslim Brotherhood is going to take the country.

In Jordan street protests and street fighting is gaining everyday. Is it possible to foresee a future in Jordan without the royal family.

Syria's Civil War has not slowed at all, a recent cease fire was not honored, and while things have been a little quieter the last weeks one senses that is more a reflection of a reduced Western coverage than an actual reduction in violence. We are told that Syria has a unique ability as a Civil War to spread throughout the region. With Sunni and Shia fighting each other, with President Assad's government part of a small Alewite minority. This country is on edge but the damage it's trouble could do to is even more significant. Already trouble has spilled into Turkey and Lebanon.

Iran continues to be a problem no one really knows how to deal with. Afghanistan is a disaster that we cannot get out of soon enough. Pakistan has nuclear bombs and no real government and Iraq continues to have daily bombings and violence.

Added to this we have Libya who recently killed our ambassador and our United States Congress wants to get bogged down in an investigation. From some recent in depth articles I have looked into it appears that it is quite possible the CIA was running a gun running operation in Benghazi to get weapons to the the Syrian rebels. Who we do not claim to be arming, but of course we are.

And who are we giving those guns in Libya too? Al Queda. Here is the other news we do not like to think about. The elements who drove Quadaffi out were widespread in Libya. Still the main group of fighters were based around Benghazi and much of those high level fighters were Al Queada. Who are the leaders of the groups trying to take out Assad in Syria. Al Queada.

This is the problem. It is easy and right to criticize the United States for working with or backing despots. However what we must understand is that if you take out a despot American style democracy, at least in the Middle East, does not replace it. What does? Whoever has the most power and in most cases is the most ruthless. And who are those people. Look at Egypt. Look at Libya and imagine who it might be soon in Syria. Al Queada led groups.

Al Queda in this case means Western hating, terrorist or terrorist sympathizing groups, that in most cases believe in a fundamentalist violent Islam.

It is a situation with no easy answers. None. Whatsoever. There is nobody in the Middle East that is our natural ally except Israel. Anyone else who works with us does so because we are buying their loyalty. Nothing more, nothing less.

Think about Israel. Should they be giving up some of the territories. Yes. However in the next year they are faced with Islamists in control in Syria, Egypt, Jordan, and of course Hamas in Lebanon.

Being President? Not an easy job.

My first suggestion to Senators Lindsay Graham and John McCain. Please shut sit down and shut up. This is not the time to score cheap points.

Where Was That Cliff Again?

So it took about three days after the election before something shiny appeared to distract us from the task at hand. The scandal involving David Patreaus, another general, his biographer, and evidently many others only deepens and frankly gets weirder and weirder. Shirtless and suspended FBI Agents, protocols of Congressional notification not being followed and on and on it goes.

Frankly I could care less. The General could not be as good as he was made out to be and it has been proven. When I look at the pictures of his wife, all grandmotherly looking and you know she just loved to make cookies and one gets the sense that the General deserves just a bit of the discomfort he is feeling. Do I think all of the resources of the government and the media should be looking at this with all the important things going on? No I do not.

We have all been told about the fiscal cliff that will hit on Jan 1 without some sort of agreement. What happens in this instance will show much of how the next four years, or at least the next twelve months are going to go. Frankly it will show if the President plans to govern with a little more force than he has before.

The first thing to understand about this cliff is that Obama, at this time, holds all the cards. He does not need to be reelected, the debt ceiling fight is not going to take place until spring and if he does nothing at all the Bush tax cuts expire.

It would seem to this naive observer that the smart thing is to let the cuts expire and then to bring legislation to reinstate them for incomes of less than 250,000. Even should the Republicans play ball on this we again will know what kind of President Obama plans to be. He should press for more. He should press for the Buffet rule. When you have power you must use power and if he accepts a small tribute from the right than he will never get as much done as he should.

A grand bargain is talked about and I personally hope that entitlements, taxes, and all the other issues that have been kicked down the road are dealt with. The President must understand that first and foremost, the best way to start is to increase revenue by losing the Bush tax cuts on the wealthy. This must not be made part of any deal, any time buying exercise of even a couple of months will allow the President's power to slip away. He will never be as strong as he is right now.

He must hold the Republicans feet to the fire. I am sad to say that I am not sure he has it in him. The truth is that if he thinks he will lose power to the right if he messes up here he need consider this. There is nothing more ineffective than a Democrat that loses the respect of his own party. If the President does not stand up to the Republicans in the first six months of his second term and use his power he will become a lame duck before the year is out, but because of his own party. Too many promises and too many dreams are tied up in his two election victories. He has the power to make the right angry but he has the power to disappoint the left just one more time. If he does, he will be effectively done.

I sincerely want this country to succeed and make progress on all of these issues that are holding us back. Compromise is not a dirty word. For either side. Elections however do matter, as divided as the country is, the people have spoken, they agree with the President's tax plan and he must enact it and his grand bargain very soon.

John Boehner's Olive Branch

Much credit has to be given to the Speaker of the House John Boehner who has made clear that he is ready to work with the President on solving the problems of this country, with " the fiscal cliff" fast approaching.

Mr. Boehner has been conciliatory on the issue of Obamacare and stating that " the election has shown that it is the law of the land." He also has stated that he can work with the President. It should also be noted that the President and the Speaker were microscopically close to a grand bargain 15 months ago before Mr. Boehner's tea party caucus revolted on him.

There is a great deal of distance to cover and Mr. Boehner's position is not a strong one, not with the extremes of his party willing to toss him overboard at the first sign of concession, but it is seems to be a sure thing that Boehner understands the moment he is in and is prepared to act as necessary to move this country forward.

Mr. Boehner, just as much as President Obama, deserves our credit and our good wishes.

Nate Silver is Smarter Than Ever

The Republican war on math ended with a huge thump on Tuesday. After complaining about the books being cooked and Nate Silver having an agenda it should be noted that Nate Silver was right about the winner of 50, that is right, fifty states. It should be noted that there are fifty states.

This means that Mr. Silver got Florida, Virginia, and all the other swing states correct.

There is really nothing more to say on this subject. I would like to see just a few of those that criticized his analysis as flawed and skewed be man, or woman, enough to apologize.

A stunning result and a clear vindication of his methods and ethics.

The Rebuke of Paul LePage

The hard realities of Presidential politics came home to Governor Paul LePage. After sneaking into office with just 39 percent of the vote and having the good fortune to come into office in an off year election and thus to be greeted with Republican majorities in both houses life just got a bit more difficult for our Governor.

As President Obama won a large majority of the ballots cast last night to earn Maine's four electoral votes Maine Democrats also had a night of stunning success. As of this morning with a few battles yet to be called it is clear that LePage in January will find himself facing both a House and Senate controlled by the opposition power.

The days of bullying his way through are done. The days of having a rubber stamp Senate are long gone.

This does not bode well for Maine necessarily. Unless of course LePage can change course. He has thus far shown himself to be a big blustering buffoon of an executive who most often when he cannot have his way would just as soon not play the game at all. That said one must suppose that realities can change a persons outlook. The vision that LePage had for his second term is dead. In the water. It cannot be resuscitated. He can however if he is willing to work with the Democrats accomplish much. Realistically his chances of reelection are non existent unless he does something dramatic to make himself more attractive to independents and moderates. The question is does LePage want to be reelected or will he be living in his " wife's " Florida home comfortably in four years. We do not know.

I do not want him to be a failure. On a national and a local level I want our leaders to lead, and lead means to work together. If Mr. LePage chooses to stand firm in his ideology he will be a hero to those who elected him but he will accomplish nothing from this point forward. It will be his choice and his choice alone.

For those Republicans who were brought into office in the off year election of 2010 in the legislature and were swept out with the Obama tide there is no reason to think they will not return. The question is, and this is a question that all our representatives need to ask themselves is when you find yourself in control of all branches of government do you want to behave like a fat kid loose in a candy store or do you want to attempt to govern in such a way as to change government for longer than it takes for your constituents to throw you out in two years.

The Republicans got through their tax cut for the rich in LePage's first two years. It should be noted this was the first thing LePage did, long before he announced the budget to have a huge shortfall. Let there be no misunderstanding what the number one item on the LePage agenda was. The question is does he want this to be his only epitaph, that and of course removing a mural that will be returned the first day a Democrat takes office in two years.

Lepage's legacy will be written in the coming months. Is there any hope of him surprising us and making it anymore than a short note about the failed administration of a flawed candidate who won in a three way race and was emasculated in the mid year elections and finished out his term blustering to no effect. Time will tell.

The Way Forward

As I talk to my good friend who happens to be a Conservative to my Moderate I hear frustration, worry for the country, concern for the future of his kids. I feel the same feelings. If we two who disagree on many issues can have the same feelings of concern and worry one must realize that there is a path forward. Those who share the same worries should be able to work toward an answer.



At some point both Liberals and Conservatives have to realize that digging in and refusing to work together is not acceptable. Not all will get this message. Republicans have a real worry in this example. With the tea party in place it is likely that many Republicans that compromise will face a challenge on the right. I do not have an answer for this except to say that progress in some form of a grand bargain might well be the only remedy.

Lets look at some realities. Women make up fifty four percent of the electorate. America is not pro abortion. A great percentage of people do feel that it should be limited and concerning. Still candidates getting caught up in the abortion in the case of rape arguments are stupid. This issue is decided. If you want to stand on that principle I respect you, but you should not expect to be elected. And if you have a moralistic feeling against abortion in all cases try this for an answer. Don't talk about women's bodies and biology. Just say that I hate rape. It is awful. My spiritual beliefs however believe life is life. I simply cannot advocate abortion in any case. Period. If you do not try to justify your position in some legalese stupidity you will not lose as many votes. It is these weasel words which keeps it as an issue. Just state your opinion, do not fudge it, and move on.

The fiscal cliff. The Bush Tax Cuts need to be repealed for the wealthiest Americans. Republicans can no longer continue to stake there futures on millionaires and billionaires.

In terms of a large scale proposal for our budget we must understand that depending on who you speak to the Dems agreed to at least five dollars in spending cuts for every dollar in revenue raised. The Republicans would not agree to this. There has to be some level of sanity in this.

Defense needs to be cut. It is currently a jobs program for military hardware makers and profiteers like Haliburtion. Our soldiers are the greatest in the world. We cannot afford a military the size that we have and we do not need one.


Obamacare is the law of the land and it is not going anywhere. I am not a fan. For me thought my feeling is that every tear that you see an insurance company executive crying is a crocodile one. The mandate requiring citizens, which will be predominantly young, healthy, people to get coverage will bring them many healthy payers of premiums.

Republicans are never so hypocritical as they are on Obamacare. One can be against the plan if they wish but when they choose to make the individual mandate the main sticking point it is ridiculous. The individual mandate was the idea of Republicans for solving the health care issue as early as the nineties. The party of individual responsibility, once the President signed onto their mandate idea, an idea he originally did not favor, suddenly thought the mandate was the worst idea in the world. In terms of loss of credibility there has been nothing so diminishing to the Republican cause as their flip flop on the mandate issue. It showed them at their basest level.

Those on the right would be wise to just move on from that issue.

Social Securty can be fixed. It is not unfix-able. There are issues but any thought of privatization is not going to work and will not pass. All we really need to do is change a few numbers in the formulas such as Ronald Reagan did in the nineteen eighties and we can buy another thirty or forty years and the fact is once the baby boomers start dieing in thirty or forty years the formulas will come back into line.

Medicare is another story. It has a problem. Obamacare will not solve it. The fact is I do not know of an answer until you go to single payer. We are not there yet. Obamacare however with it's focus on preventive care could help the numbers around the edges.

Jobs. Economy. Mitt Romney was right. We need to be serious about China and their currency manipulation. We need to realize that any trade war with China will be easily won by us and we need to have it now before they get stronger. I do not expect anyone to do that. When it comes to issues of trade and the economy I am a populist and I never seem to understand why my point does not make sense.

We need to solve immigration. If the Republican party cannot find a way to control it's jingoistic, fear mongering and fear feeling wing they will become a non entity.

It will not be easy, but we should never forget that the silent majority always exists in America, and with that, we always have a chance to succeed.

The Republican Civil War

It is coming and it is obvious. For those of us as moderates we hope that they will soon determine their course so that we can all move forward but this will be a determination that only the Republicans can make.

The question is who does the Republican party want to be. Watching the interviews and conservative commentators over the last few hours when I hear folks talking about the fact that Mitt Romney lost because he was not Conservative enough you have a strong sense that the lesson has not been learned. It is possible that a charismatic conservative can win a national election but what is clear is that nominating a presumably " electable" moderate and then dressing him up in conservative clothes will never work. Mccain, Romney, they are all the proof you need.

Any discussion of the future of the Republican party cannot go forward without an examination of the Tea Party and the influence this group has had on the success of the party. The list of Republican Senate opportunities that have been lost due to the tea party is long. In 2010 Delaware and Nevada, Harry Reid's seat, should have gone Republican, it was expected and anticipated. However like a bolt of lightning from the Democratic Gods the Tea Party candidates won primaries and displaced the expected Republican candidates. This year as the Democrats again control the Senate the right only needs consider that Richard Lugar, Olympia Snowe, and whatever rational Missouri Republican was to be nominated before Todd Aikin rose to prominence, would easily have won Republican seats. Clearly the tea party is doing no favors for the Republicans in Congress. In Presidential politics that tipping to the far right that the tea party requires brings defeat to Republicans.

What is the answer. Cooperation. Realism. an understanding of the Demographic time bomb which threatens to annihilate the Republicans. Let me be clear. This country needs a viable Republican party. Richard Nixon himself said long ago that if one party became the party of liberalism and one party became the party of conservatism the country would never recover. He was, to this point, correct. Fifty years ago there were Conservative Republicans and Democrats and there were both Liberal Democrats and Republicans. This is no longer the case. It is no mystery, it is a direct result of the gerrymandering of political districts to all but allow for guaranteed party representation. There is no esy fix for this however, the establishment politicians like it this way.

It is easy to get discourgaed. However we have no option but to improve. I will address these issues soon with an eye to how this can possibly be affected.

Barack Obama: Four More Years

So, it is over. In what turned out to be no where near as close an election as it was assumed it would be President Barack Obama was reelected President last night with, once Florida goes into the President's victory column, will be over 330 electoral votes.

What does this mean. It means a few things and I will address these issues in as concise a way as possible over some upcoming posts.

The first thing we need to do though, all of us, and take a deep breath. I have great friends who are distraught this morning. It is hard for them to understand that, for one night at least, they are in a minority. I totally understand their feelings. Those on the winning side last night should take care not to gloat, they should remember that if the race last night had come out the other way they too would have felt the same way this morning.

The question we need to ask ourselves is what do we do to change the fact that so many people feel that going to Canada if the other side wins is an option, even one discussed jokingly, rather than a feeling that we will have to work together to make things better.

This is a challenge for everybody. There is no room to gloat, there is no room to dig in and be obstructive. We need to see both sides working together with an absence of malice and rancor.

If this cannot change we will have a significant problem.

Dastardly Tweets from Tim Tebow

I am a big fan of Tim Tebow. He may or may not someday be a good quarterback, the jury is out on that, but he is certainly a good human being. While we might disagree with some of his Conservative Christian political views on an individual level I do not think anyone can really denigrate the genuineness, the sincerity, the absolute caring with which this man carries himself and treats others.

This is why I was so sad to see a tweet from him last night that I saw forwarded on Facebook. The tweet was a prediction on the election stating that he ( Tebow ) expected to see President Obama lead early in the voting but that when all the people got off work and voted that Mr. Romney would take the lead. The inference is obvious and divisive.

Fortunately I follow Tim Tebow on Twitter and in checking his twitter feed soon realized that this was a fake tweet. The saddest part of that of course was that a person of a right wing persuasion had re-tweeted this as fact, as an actual statement coming from Tebow.

If I am Conservative Christian I want as many people in the public forum as I can to proselytize my faith and win converts. Tim Tebow may be the best ambassador of Christianity in the secular world. Why would you want to sabotage his validity in this role by foisting a very divisive sentiment on his part. Clearly he is a smart young man and he would never say something so divisive.

You are not doing Gods work, you are not helping Gods plan, when you take one of God's most likable disciples and diminish him in the eyes of those he could hope to set an example of behavior and conversion for.

Voting By Color

Everyone in the United States has the right to vote. Everyone should vote. When you vote you get your sticker that says you voted, just like when you were little and you got a sticker from the Doctor.

What is concerning to me, and should be concerning to you, is the fact that more and more in this country we vote in blocs. It is just not healthy for a country to be as divided not just politically, but also geographically, and increasingly demographically like the United States is.

Look at an electoral map after this evening's election. The amount of red across the bottom and up the middle of the country will far surpass the blue that you will see on the West Coast, Northeast, and West Coast. I do not want to be alarmist and I am certainly not thinking that we will have any armed battles anytime soon but it is not a stretch to see that in looking at that map it could easily be a series of borders between countries. Soon with the changing demography of the Western United States this could well be the case.

An examination of the various voting blocks is troubling. Much has been made of the fact that white men now are voting at a rate of seventy five percent for Republicans. There are many theories as to why this is but the answer with the most likelihood of having the truth behind it is the combination of general frustration and isolation that white men are feeling. As low skilled labor disappears, as women now outnumber men in college, and the wage gap between men and women continually shrinks men feel threatened. Just as damaging to white men is the ever present fact that white men are the butt of all the easy jokes in our culture. It is easy to joke at this, to say that in the collective white men have had all the advantages of the last 300 years, a fact that is true. However if you are a white man today your perception is affected by your experience and that experience is consistently diminishing unless you are of a select few who have had the advantages of a strong education in a high demand skill.

While people are gnashing their teeth over this solidarity in the white vote it is interesting to note that few have anything negative to say about black citizens voting in a stronger majority for Democrats. We hear that it is natural for them to vote for President Obama, with the inference that he being black he of course deserves their votes but when you think about it this is demeaning to the very people it claims to be defending the actions of. The question is why are white men and black citizens voting in such a large bloc for one party. The answer, as it usually is, is pretty simplistic. Fear. Our political candidates have become expert on manipulating people's fear to influence there vote. These two groups are, at this time, the most easily influenced by the smallest amount of actions.

Interestingly if white men vote in a large bloc consistently and if African Americans are a vote that does not to be earned by Democrats then they will lose the ability to have legislation made for their benefit.

It is the same with swing states, that is states that swing between voting for Democrats and or Republicans. A perfect example is shown you every week when you gas up your car and see a sign that says that the gasoline you are pumping is ten percent ethanol. This is the result of one thing and one thing only. Iowa is the first state that votes in the Presidential season and Iowa where corn is king likes ethanol. Without that influence and the necessity of a candidate for President needing a good showing in Iowa this would never have happened.

Could this country become balkanized is an often asked question. For me I do not think that the answer is hard to come by. It has already happened.

Tim Whitehead in Maine

I have defended Tim Whitehead for years and will continue to do so. He is a good man, a great family man, a respected member of the community and should in no way be judged as a person for the success or failure of the hockey team under his direction.

I think these folks who criticize him and call him terrible names and disparage him in a personal way are morons and that they should be ashamed of themselves. I would ask the question would you rather have someone like John Calipari or even Jack Parker running this program. Take a look at the news articles about the Boston University hockey teams off ice exploits in recent years if you want to feel better about what is going on here at Maine. The sad answer is that for many of these fans the answer would be yes, yes we would much rather have a winning program and if there are a few assaults, players ineligible, tainted victories, misogynistic treatment of women by our players, well that is the price to pay.

That might well illustrate why more and more sports and the enjoyment of it has been clouded for me.

Still at this time I think that it is time for Tim Whitehead to go. He certainly should not be fired midseason. That is not what is done in college sports and certainly not to a man of Whitehead's character but for both sides it might be time to part. Tim needs a fresh start where he will not have the shadow of his predecessor hanging over him still, eight years later and Shawn Walsh still hangs over the program like a not always benevolent ghost, and Maine needs a coach who will have a fresh start and quiet the Hallelujah chorus that has made the Coach their whipping boy for factors that perhaps any coach will have a hard time overcoming.

I will admit it will be interesting to see a new coach. The fans want someone who will wave his arms, and put his foot up on the dasher screaming at the refs. They want someone who will motivate players who have different career paths and motivations than those that were here twenty years ago. Shawn Walsh will not be among the applicants to replace Tim Whitehead, and that will be a disappointment. Here is hoping however that a new coach will be given a couple of years to rebuild the program before the vultures suck the life out of him.

As for me I will be rooting for Maine to rebound and for Tim Whitehead to land on his feet as well. It will be sweet retribution for Tim if he in landing someplace with no shadow on his shoulder he can show what he can do and has done in the past.

For all concerned however the time for parting is this spring. Let us hope it is handled in as classy a way as is possible.