December 13, 2010….what a difference a year makes.

Last December was when Republicans claimed $800 billion in tax cut extensions didn't need to be paid for. This December, Republicans in the House went down to the wire insisting that payroll tax cuts totaling $120 billion over 12 months had to be paid for.

Valentine's Day, 2011

February is when the new GOP Speaker, John Boehner, responding to a question about huge numbers of federal job losses predicted by cutting $59 billion from the 2011 budget, said "so be it." The Republican TEA House campaigned in 2010 on "jobs, jobs, jobs"…..yet never proposed any jobs legislation and when the House Leader was asked about the job losses predicted as a result of cutting federal government spending….Boehner responded "so be it."

May, 2011

My pup turned 16 this year….which means in human years she's like 800 years old, or something. And talking about old, May was when the neanderthal, Alan Simpson, former GOP senator from Wyoming went in front of cameras mouthing off about American geezers cashing their Social Security checks and rushing to Denny's in their Cadillacs for the senior citizen breakfast. It's the month when WAPO columnist Robert Samuelson told us that Social Security wasn't meant to finance geezers extra cable channels. May was the month when supply siders went after Social Security and Medicare. An exercise in compassionate conservatism, no doubt.

August is snapping turtle egg hatch time. A big snapping turtle lays eggs every year in one of our flower beds. One tiny turtle found it's way into the garage.

August was also the month when fantasy overcame reality with S&P downgrading U.S. debt for the first time in our history. S&P's downgrade immediately prompted investors to buy even more Treasuries…sending important 10 year Treasury yields to historic lows. The rating agency which completely blew the call on the mortgage meltdown in 2007 was at least consistent. They also blew the debt downgrade. Putzes.

October is birthday month at The Reverend household. Yes, the cake was delicious. One of my daughters made this chocolate cake with raspberry filling and gargantuan raspberries on the top.

October was the month when the Ohio Tea Party was alerted of the danger to Republicans if SB5, Kasich's union-busting bill, was rejected at the ballot box. You may remember the e-mail from Mr. Zawistowski, TEA Party executive director. Zawistowski confessed to members that SB5 was all about damaging union funding for Democratic candidates….a sentiment The Reverend alerted readers to in the spring of 2009…that's right, 2009.

Halloween. Thought you might like this one.

November. Election day…..and TEA Party signs at The Reverend's precinct.

Thanksgiving.

November was the month when overweight, courage-in-a-can wielding rent-a-cops calmly sprayed toxic pepper down the throats of non-violent protesters associated with the Occupy Wall Street movement. Police state storm troopers in many cities coordinated their attacks on Occupiers, shredding tents and dumpstering Occupiers belongings….I guess, in a marvelous and poignant display of how free Americans are.

Christmas, 2011

That picture is a reminder of just how silly the U.S. Congress acted in 2011. House TEAs made it impossible to accomplish much of anything, resulting in congressional approval numbers around 10%. Yes, the House acted laughably….and deserve all the mockery and derision they received.

And finally…..

The Reverend and the young fighter in the picture above are prepared to duke it out with our conservative opponents once again this year.

Happy New Year to everyone. Here's to a prosperous and productive 2012. And in the immortal words of Angus Young of AC/DC…."have a drink on me."

Because of WikiLeaks, and only because of Wikileaks, we know this about Libya….

“Those who dominate Libya’s political and economic leadership are pursuing increasingly nationalistic policies in the energy sector that could jeopardize efficient exploitation of Libya’s extensive oil and gas reserves,” the cable concluded.

I have no love or admiration for Libya's soon to be former leader Muammar Gaddafi….just as I had no love or admiration for Iraq's former dictator, Saddam Hussein. However, that does not change my opinion about why both of these countries were attacked by western powers (the U.S.).

I firmly believe that the U.S. military's world presence, at the cost to U.S. taxpayers of $1 trillion per year, is primarily for the purpose of protecting the flow of goods and services at the behest of huge multi-national corporations. American citizens are continually misinformed that the purpose of that huge worldwide military presence (over 700 worldwide military bases) is to defend the Homeland from our enemies….most recently identified as the Mighty Less-Than-2-Dozen al-Qaeda leaders.

Neither Iraq nor Libya has ever posed a threat to the….Homeland….despite the fact that one Bush administration spent an entire year claiming just the opposite about Iraq. Knowing that these countries posed no threat to America….the second best way to justify the dropping of U.S. freedom bombs on these two countries is to repeatedly misinform us that the U.S. had to get involved to "liberate" the citizens from a ruthless dictator…who had, or was currently, butchering his own people.

No one is in favor of a nation's leader slaughtering his own citizens. American leaders know this moral and emotional dynamic….and that's why in both Iraq and Libya, claims of citizen slaughtering were often repeated to gain popular support for dropping those U.S. freedom bombs.

But let's not kid ourselves. Iraq and Libya have a lot of oil under their ground. Ask yourself this question: Do you really believe that American and European leaders and their multi-nationals care about the slaughter of innocent civilians in oil-rich countries MORE than they care about gaining access to the valuable oil under the ground in oil-rich nations?

Yes, I'm cynical….but thanks to WikiLeaks….my cynicism has been vindicated.

NY Times..

Colonel Qaddafi proved to be a problematic partner for international oil companies, frequently raising fees and taxes and making other demands. A new government with close ties to NATO may be an easier partner for Western nations to deal with. Some experts say that given a free hand, oil companies could find considerably more oil in Libya than they were able to locate under the restrictions placed by the Qaddafi government.

Washington Post..

In late February 2008, (ConocoPhillips chief executive Jim) Mulva was “summoned to Sirte for a half-hour ‘browbeating’ ” from Gaddafi, according to a U.S. State Department cable made available by WikiLeaks. Gaddafi “threatened to dramatically reduce Libya’s oil production and/or expel . . . U.S. oil and gas companies,” the cable said.

….the promise of billions of barrels of oil have been dashed by the fighting and Gaddafi’s refusal to relinquish power. Much is at stake; oil industry executives say companies such as ConocoPhillips and Marathon have each invested about $700 million over the past six years.

“Oil companies were extremely excited to move into a territory that had been neglected for 20 years,” said Geoff D. Porter, a political risk and security consultant specializing in North Africa and the Sahara. He said experts believed that only 30 percent of Libya had been explored and that there was “much more oil to be discovered.”

By the time Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visited in 2008, U.S. joint ventures accounted for 510,000 of Libya’s 1.7 million barrels a day of production, a State Department cable said.

The big oil companies, several of which had drilled dry holes, felt that Libya was not making the best exploration prospects available.

To me it's clear why U.S. planes began dropping all those freedom bombs on Iraq and Libya. Not because citizens were being slaughtered…Saddam's mass butchery was over ten years old when W. launched Operation Oil Recovery….and claims of Gaddafi's slaughtering of civilians have yet to be verified…..but, instead, because very powerful and influential multi-national oil companies wanted better and freer access to the now very valuable crude oil in those countries.

Both Saddam and Gaddafi refused to allow western powers dictate how their countries' oil resources should be exploited, and for who's benefit. This stubbornness in the light of $80-120 per barrel oil prices could not be tolerated by anxious multi-national oil companies. And thus, regime change was in order.

I'm glad Saddam and (allegedly) Gaddafi are gone from power. Good riddance. But let's try to be less pollyannish about the justification for the dropping of those U.S. freedom bombs in the future. It's about the oil…..and that means that in our near term future, both fossil-fuels-rich Iran and Venezuela will undoubtedly be accused of slaughtering their own people in order to justify the dropping of even more U.S. freedom bombs.

But don't dare call it imperialism.

A few short months ago, the new Tea Party controlled House of Representatives voted on Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan's budget plan, a plan called "Road to Recovery"….the same plan I immediately labeled as a "Road to Ruin." Ryan's plan cut taxes on America's wealthy, and paid for those tax cuts by turning Medicare into a voucherized, privatized program in 10 years…paying for those tax cuts for the rich with the "savings" from abolishing Medicare as we know it.

Ryan and the all-but-five Republicans (zero Democrats) who voted to pass the "Road to Ruin" budget in the House immediately faced the backlash from the 3 out of 4 Americans who simply hated Ryan's plan. New polls were quickly taken and the verdict came in….Americans, by almost an 80-20 margin, didn't want cuts to Medicare as part of some deficit-reduction deal.

Democrats, as expected, quickly ramped up 2012 election ads and strategies to bash House Republicans over their vote to abolish Medicare as we know it. Dozens of Republican House members faced the dissatisfaction of their constituencies during heated townhall meetings…..and a clear path for Democrats to retake the House next fall had made itself plain. Democrats would use every opportunity between now and next November to remind voters of the Republicans vote to abolish the very popular Medicare program.

Republicans, their apologists in tow, tried desperately to reframe their blunder. "We're not abolishing Medicare…we're saving it"….GOP'ers deceitfully argued. Many corrupt corporate journalist-types defended the GOP "adults" for being "courageous" enough to offer plans to abolish Medicare….further lying by insisting that Medicare is "bankrupt" or would be shortly. (If nothing is done, Medicare would still be able to pay 85% of it's obligations.)

The distortions and the lies and the deceit just didn't take with Americans….so the stage was fully set for Republicans in both the House and the Senate (40 GOP Senators voted for Ryan's plan) to have their electoral asses handed to them come next November….and especially so in all important swing states and districts.

So desperate was the political situation Republicans created for themselves over their vote to abolish Medicare that Droopy Dawg himself, minority Senate GOP Leader, Mitch McConnell (R-KY) went on the Sunday morning "news" shows….vibrating jowls and all….to place Medicare cuts in the debt ceiling ransom note….

“To get my vote, for me, it’s going to take short term [cuts, via spending caps]… Both medium and long-term, entitlements.,” McConnell said. “Medicare will be part of the solution.”

To clarify, I asked “[I]f [the Biden group] comes up with big cuts, trillions of dollars worth of cuts, but without substantially addressing Medicare, it won’t get your vote?”

“Correct,” McConnell said.

Having successfully extorted tax cuts for his top 2% base last December during the previous serious GOP hostage-taking event….Mitch saw a way to negate Democratic attack ads over abolishing Medicare by placing the gun of the debt ceiling to America's head and threatening to pull the trigger if Democrats didn't agree to plunder Medicare too.

If Democrats agreed to slash Medicare, McConnell and the Republicans calculated, voter anger over Republican votes to abolish Medicare as we know it in the Ryan budget….would then be spread to both parties' candidates. It was a classic case of "yes we did…but so did they" political posturing.

The stage was set. Republicans had to get Democrats to vote to slash Medicare in the debt ceiling hostage-taking negotiations. If Democrats refused…then Republicans would vote no on raising the debt ceiling…our Treasury would default on it's creditors….and Americans could wallow in the dust of a new Great Depression.

Then, yesterday, along comes Bipartisan Barack…with his new kind of politics.

President Barack Obama has offered to raise the Medicare eligibility age from 65 to 67 as part of a larger deficit-reduction package….

It is unclear what was discussed between the two sides at a meeting at the White House Monday, but two sources outside the White House confirmed to FOX News that Obama, during an earlier meeting with lawmakers Sunday night, offered to raise the eligibility age. There was also discussion of moving to a system that ties the Medicare qualification age to actuarial tables rather than a determination by Congress.

I suppose Obama felt sorry for the predicament the Republicans had purposely got themselves into by voting to end Medicare as we know it…..in the same way that Obama felt sorry for Republicans and their difficult dealings with their demanding top 2% constituency last December. Then, President Obama offered the olive branch of estate tax cuts to Republicans…Republicans who weren't even demanding estate tax cuts….I suppose in order to prove that he was a new kind of genuinely bipartisan president.

Yesterday, in the most limp-dinghus kind of way, Obama apparently offered up another sympathy gift to the Republican anarchists. Obama, fully cognizant of how Republicans had set the stage for Democrats to benefit from the GOP vote to abolish Medicare, quickly and inexplicably took that Democratic advantage off the table yesterday by offering to raise the Medicare eligibility age to 67.

Just like that….and singlehandedly….Bipartisan Barack stepped in to assist Republicans in next fall's election by agreeing with Republicans, against the American peoples wishes, that Medicare had to be a part of the deficit reduction package.

Bipartisan Barack…the best friend a corrupt, deceitful, Medicare abolishing, pimping for the rich, bunch of Republicans could ever find.

One major difference in the two political parties has typically been found when comparing the two parties' policy positions on the issue of the separation of church and state. Obviously, the 1st amendment says that our government should write no law which establishes religion. However, many of today's conservatives simply reject that portion of the 1st amendment…simply ignore it altogether….much as those same conservatives reject the words "in order to maintain a well-regulated militia" in the second amendment.

But the words….in either amendment…are still there.

Government and god…..don't mix. Jefferson, Madison and the fellas didn't want them mixed in the new America they helped to form…..and so they established a wall of separation between the two.

The 1st amendment begins…..Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or
prohibiting the free exercise thereof;

Texas Governor Rick Perry…..now being touted as the GOP's only hope in next November's presidential election…..doesn't think Jefferson and Madison and the fellas knew what they were talking about back then. Perry has announced a national day of prayer and fasting on August 6th.

Gov. Rick Perry has proclaimed Saturday, Aug. 6th, as a Day of Prayer and Fasting for our Nation to seek God's guidance and wisdom in addressing the challenges that face our communities, states and nation.

Perry derives his day of prayer from the Judeo-Christian Old Testament book of Joel….

"I believe it is time to convene the leaders from each of our United States in a day of prayer and fasting, like that described in the book of Joel."

Here is what Perry is referring to….

14 Sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the old men and all the inhabitants of the land unto the house of Jehovah your God, and cry unto Jehovah.

15 Alas for the day! for the day of Jehovah is at hand, and as destruction from the Almighty shall it come.

So, what we have here is a state governor calling for a special assembly of the "leaders" of the United States for the purpose of praying (or crying) to someone named Jehovah…..praying for help. Other than pandering for potential evangelical votes in a hypothetical Perry run for the presidency….why is the secession-talking Texas Governor calling for a national day of prayer and fasting?

"Given the trials that beset our nation and world, from the global economic downturn to natural disasters, the lingering danger of terrorism and continued debasement of our culture,…..I urge all Americans of faith to pray on that day for the healing of our country, the rebuilding of our communities and the restoration of enduring values as our guiding force."

My favorite Perry "trial" is the "continued debasement of our culture". For a Texas governor like Perry that could mean "abortion is still legal", or "gays are marrying in some states",….or it could mean "watching porn on your wireless device makes Jesus cry." Perry doesn't give us any specifics to go on.

What National Pastor Perry knows is that from "global economic downturns" to "natural disasters" to the "danger of terrorism" to the "debasement of our culture"……if everyone would fast and pray on August 6th to Jehovah, the invisible Judeo-Christian god….we could "rebuild our communities" and "restore" Jehovah's "enduring values."

Here's the hoot line….

His (Perry's) call to prayer on Aug. 6th is a non-denominational, apolitical, Christian prayer service to seek forgiveness, healing and blessing for our country.

Not only is Rick Perry violating the spirit of the 1st amendment by using his political office to promote the Christian religion…..but Perry is also demonstrating what kind of national leader he would be should Americans lose their collective minds and vote for him for president next fall.

How will Perry approach thorny national and international problems, if elected president? Why, he'll gather all of us Americans together for days of fasting and prayer to Jehovah, the invisible Judeo-Christian god figure. When you think about it…..that's quite a policy.

Everyone gets together and talks (either to themselves, or out loud) to a person or being or whatthehellever…..that no one has ever seen or heard from in all of human history. Jehovah, whoever that is, won't respond, won't answer, and will not make any special appearances on that day either…..but we should ask this god-being to forgive us for apparently doing something we shouldn't have done (I'm looking at you New York)….so that the invisible and mute god-being can "heal and bless" our country.

Make no mistake. Even though you will never see or hear from this invisible god-being…and from all empirical evidence this god-being has never intervened in anything in all of human history….Rick Perry wants you to believe that this specific invisible god-person, Jehovah, the god of Judeo-Christianity…is the specific invisible god-being Americans should be seeking advice from…..advice to deal with our numerous national and international problems. When it comes to invisible and silent god-beings….Rick Perry is selective.

This is GOP Governor Rick Perry's official government policy. Let's call it the Tooth Fairy policy. Asking invisible, mute god-beings for leadership in our dealings with national and international problems. Honestly now, does that sound like a serious approach to national political leadership?

Given that…..tell me again why Republican voters are so anxious for Perry to jump into the presidential race.

Tom Ridge and Tommy Franks co-wrote a short op-ed recently which concerned itself with a yet-to-be-completed memorial in Shanksville, Pennsylvania where Flight 93 crashed on 9-11-2001.

Here is a portion…

Just as important as what happened on board Flight 93 that day is what did not happen. The plane was only 18 minutes in flight time from the U.S. Capitol, the likely target, where thousands of people work every day. Yet, thanks to the courage of 40 men and women, thousands more were saved.

Today, a bronze plaque in the East Rotunda of the Capitol lists their names — but nothing more. The men and women of Flight 93 were not trained in combat, battlefield tactics or operational strategy. They were not Navy SEALs, soldiers or generals. They were 40 ordinary people who in a moment became extraordinary heroes — and delivered us our first victory in our war on terrorism. So we ask, this Memorial Day, will the men and women of Flight 93 be remembered? Until we finish the funding of the Flight 93 National Memorial, the answer to this question remains in doubt.

All passengers on board Flight 93 died…yet Ridge and Franks tell us those 40 passengers "delivered us our first victory in our war on terrorism."

There's something very odd about that statement. 4 hijackers intent on giving up their lives to kill Americans were perhaps prevented from killing even more Americans than they did by 40 American passengers willing to give up their lives to stop them. There's strange irony there. Just something to think about.

No country wages more war than the United States. Because America is the police force for the world, America is rarely not in the middle of a military operation. It is who we are as a people. In our role as cop of the world, there is no expense we will not obligate ourselves to pay in order to "protect" the U.S.

We can no longer afford to educate our children, provide medical care for our sick, or take care of our elderly….but we can always…always, find enough money to wage wars in faraway lands.

As a military state, we love to memorialize our fallen military members as heroes, true patriots who have fought and died to protect our freedoms. At least that's what we're told. And yet, as we honor the fallen….we dishonor them as well by being so willing to give up freedoms that we say our heroes have died to save. Freedoms that used to help make us a unique nation.

Today, many Americans will honor fallen warriors from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars of occupation. By publicly honoring our military heroes with parades, speeches and flag waving, we infuse these wars of occupation with some righteous purpose, we justify and vindicate our soldier's deaths by reminding ourselves that they have all died in "defense" of the rest of us.

This is what our brave and valiant soldiers are doing in Afghanistan…..how our military members are going about keeping us safe……what has been going on now for almost 10 years…..

Afghan officials said Sunday that a NATO airstrike had killed 14 civilians, most of them women and children, in the southern province of Helmand on Saturday night.

…..

Witnesses said that an unknown number of bombs fell about 11 p.m. Saturday, landing on two family compounds in the Salaam Bazaar area of Now Zad District, a small farming community about 50 miles north of Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand Province.

Five girls, seven boys and two women were killed as they slept, the provincial governor’s office said in a statement. An additional six people were wounded.

Should Americans today be memorializing the dead children whom our U.S. occupying soldiers accidentally murdered Saturday night in some botched mission to "keep America free?" Do you think Afghanis will remember the children we killed? Would you?

The way to honor our military members today is to call for the end of our numerous wars of occupation in and around the middle east. In spite of our nation's admiration for military conquest and war machinery…..war doesn't really solve anything…it only kills people.

War kills women and children….it always does.

By all means, salute our military members today……but also remember, our biggest enemy is war itself. What is it good for? Absolutely nothing.

Countering the recent batsh*t crazy WingerPalooza frenzy over the audacity of our American Dark Knight to speak in clear, accurate and understandable language…..

There has been a lot of attention paid to the president’s statement that “the borders of Israel and Palestine should be based on the 1967 lines with mutually agreed swaps.” This exact language may be new for a U.S. president, but the sentiment it describes is not. George W. Bush himself made a similar reference to ’67 in a 2005 speech.

……

This really shouldn’t be as controversial as it probably will be. Treating the 1967 lines as a basis for negotiations in this way represents the overwhelming consensus of the international community, enshrined in multiple UN resolutions. That anyone should be confused or surprised about this probably goes to the success that Israeli leaders have had over the years in obscuring it, and the indulgence that American leaders have often shown toward those efforts.

"Indulgence" by "American leaders", like this….

“President Obama has thrown Israel under the bus,” Mitt Romney charged in a statement. “He has disrespected Israel and undermined its ability to negotiate peace…"

Michele Bachmann said Obama had “betrayed our friend and ally Israel.”

“Obama’s call for 1967 borders will cause chaos, division & more aggression in Middle East and put Israel at further risk,” Bachmann said

Tim Pawlenty called a return to 1967 borders "a mistaken and very dangerous demand."

The oh-so-golly gee whiz-Orrin Hatch (R-UT)….

Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) issued a press release today stating his intention to introduce a resolution next week disapproving of the policy concerning Israel that President Barack Obama announced on Thursday. “Israel is the United States’ strongest friend and ally,” Hatch said in the statement. “By calling for a return to the pre-1967 borders, President Obama has directly undermined her.”

Instead, Hatch said, “President Obama is rewarding those who threaten Israel’s very right to exist.” “This is not only ridiculous, but dangerous,” he said.

What President Obama stated about the Israeli-Palestinian situation was not extreme or unusual in the slightest. But because Jewish influence on American media has been so successful,…and because the conservative right in America has basically lost their goddamn minds about everything…..the commonplace, the normal….the simple truth is met with wingnut rage and frothing at the mouth.

Sean Hannity invited the certifiably insane Pam Gellar onto his radio show yesterday to talk about this issue. It truly is impossible to describe the sh*t storm of wingnuttery which ensued. It was a Category 5, at least…..I nearly lost control of my vehicle.

Obama, whether the Tea-addicts in America understand it or not, was looking out for Israel's interests by speaking so clearly the other day about the ongoing occupation in Palestine. Without an Israeli recognition of the 1967 borders (plus swap adjustments) as the starting point of a two-state peace agreement…there will be no agreement. Without an agreement and a two state solution, and with a continuation of radically extreme Israeli leadership, like Netanyahu…..Israel will be the eventual loser.

Netanyahu, while basking in American wingnut approval, is not so appreciated back home in Israel. Bibi openly criticized and lied about Obama's peace process speech. Netanyahu, while visiting the U.S., condescended arrogantly in his response to Obama. That provoked Obama to restate his wording yesterday…in effect backhanding the radical little man for his misplaced petulance.

Other leaders in Israel, even if U.S. Republican leaders do not, recognize the failings of Mr. Netanyahu….

Tzipi Livni, leader of Israel’s opposition Kadima party, also backed Mr Obama’s two-state solution and accused Mr Netanyahu of putting Israel at risk in order to save his right-wing coalition.

“The prime minister has violated relations between Israel and the United States,” she said, speaking after Mr Obama’s speech but before the Oval Office meeting. “He has endangered the security of Israel and its power of deterrence.”

Notice the dissonance. American opposition leaders say Obama is endangering Israel….Jewish leaders say that Netanyahu is endangering Israel.

The only way for Israel to remain a secure Jewish nation, is to accept the 1967 parameters with some adjustments….recognize defined borders which encompass two distinct states, Israel and Palestine, and stop the incursion of "settlements."

If Israel refuses, which it looks like they will under the radical and obnoxious Netanyahu, then Israel will only have itself to blame for it's continued isolation in the world. The violent aggression on Gaza and the murderous raids on the flotillas have left a bad taste in the mouths of world citizens over Israel. The decades-long Israeli occupation of Palestinians, much of it under intolerable circumstances, is becoming more and more unacceptable in light of the "Arab spring."

Netanyahu should embrace this opportunity being laid out by President Obama. Instead, Bibi is acting just like the conservative extremists in America act, bashing Obama for stating widely accepted truth.

Israel deserves better leadership.

Also read this from a Jewish American who knows a few things about Israeli-Palestinian relations and history.

Ron Paul (R-TX) announced this week that he is running (again) for the GOP presidential candidacy in 2012. Paul is the original Tea Partier. The Tea Partier of all Tea Partiers. A Tea Party member's libertarian.

Immediately, Paul was interviewed by cable "news" anchors. Anchors anxious to find some new controversial and stupid thing to replace Trump's now-boring racism and self-obsession.

So, Dr. Ron Paul, father to radical Rand Paul (R-KY), was quick to remind viewers that…yes….he is still as nutty as he ever was, just like his son.

"Yeah," he told Matthews when asked if he would have voted against the (1964 Civil Rights) act in Congress. "But I wouldn't vote against getting rid of the Jim Crow laws."

Dr. Ron….in a line reminiscent of his son Rand's earlier claim about civil rights, told Chrissy Matthews why the Civil Rights Act of 1964 wasn't necessary.

Paul says that the Jim Crow laws would have ended without the Civil Rights Act anyway, a view held by many libertarians who believe the free markets solve social problems.

Once again, according to Paul, it's the libertarian view of the divine (yet invisible) hand of the free market which should have been relied upon to vanquish discriminatory behavior by white shop and business owners against black Americans…..and not the tyrannical power of a fiendishly evil federal government.

This is one of the very reasons why I cannot take libertarians seriously. Sure, libertarianism, a radical anti-government viewpoint, can make a good discussion topic, especially while kicking back on the way to getting inebriated. But libertarianism is not realistic…..it's simply an ideological dreamscape.

Paul's viewpoint is that business owners should be able to exercise their "right" of discrimination against any class or race or sex of people they please. Refuse blacks access to their places of establishments…..deny Hispanics employment because they're Hispanics, etc. The Pauls believe that to deny businesses this "right" to openly discriminate is to deny them their "freedom."

While the Pauls' claim they abhor racism….and they most likely do….their cure seems ridiculous. Does anyone really think that free market choices would drive racists out of business? Did racists in the south during Jim Crow go out of business because righteous consumers rejected those shopkeepers racism…refusing to patronize all-white only establishments. Of course not.

There is no righteous divine hand in the marketplace. If anything, what's at work in the marketplace is greed and selfishness or greed and fear. Both unsavory in their implications.

But Ron Paul couldn't leave well enough alone, as it were….and so he went to Wolfie Blitzer over on CNN…..and embarrassed himself a bit more….

BLITZER: On the whole issue of FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, do you want to see that agency ended?

PAUL: Well, if you want to live in a free society, if you want to pay attention to the constitution, why not? I think it’s bad economics. I think it’s bad morality. And it’s bad constitutional law.

FEMA? Paul asserts that FEMA violates his freedom? Really?

This is the problem with libertarianism. Libertarians do not accept the concept of the "United" States of America. The collective. Instead, libertarians see the U.S. as 308 million individuals on their own…..308 million individuals whose freedom is violated every time a law is written. Taken to it's logical conclusion, we couldn't have any governance at all…..or at best, only the governance libertarians wanted.

Think about what Ron Paul, the captain of the Tea Party, is saying about what America should look like. A nation which openly accepts hateful discrimination of any kind and calls that ugly discrimination "freedom." Even further, a nation which celebrates the fact that it's citizens are free to openly express their hate of others who don't look like them.

A nation which would stand by and allow tens of thousands of U.S. citizens caught up in some calamity to drown or starve or whatthehellever….all because it's "bad economics", "bad morality" for the federal government to step in. A nation of libertarian teanuts thumping their chests and shouting that they aren't truly free if hurricane or tornado victims are being assisted by federal tax dollars.

Libertarians….who look at the Constitution….and conclude without breaking a straight face, that the freedom intended by our Founders was meant to include praise for, and defense of, open practices of hatred and division among it's citizens. Libertarians stare into the Constitution and claim that freedom cannot be truly free if Emergency Management bureaucrats are spending tax monies on saving victims of hurricanes, tornadoes, fires or famines.

That is why I cannot have anything to do with libertarian freedom.

It isn't freedom at all.

Christians celebrate their highest holiday this weekend. Today, Good Friday, commemorates the crucifixion of a 30-something Jewish man at the hands of Roman authorities.

As the story goes, Jesus was a friend of the downtrodden, the poor, and the marginal in Jewish society. He is alleged to have angered the religious leaders of his day by often pointing out their hypocrisy and evil double dealing. Jesus was a populist…..telling fellow commoner Jews what they already knew to be true….that is, the establishment Jewish leaders preyed on common Jews. Jewish leaders interpreted the Torah to feed their greed, self-importance and lust for power…..and they did so at the expense of the average Jewish practitioner.

If the Gospel accounts are to be believed, Jewish authorities, at their wit's end over what to do about this troublemaking, truth-telling, populist, finally turned Jesus over to Roman authorities who eventually crucified him.

And so it goes.

While obviously an imperfect comparison, the Jesus story is representative of what Americans have been experiencing in recent years. In a way, average Americans….those who have no clout, riches or positions of power…..have been handed over to the rich and the powerful, to do with us what they will.

It is true today that those in positions of power in America….politicians, wealthy industry leaders, religious establishment figures, celebrities and the like are not held to the same level of accountability as the rest of us are. We find that the powerful folks who carry out, or order to be carried out, the most ugly and heinous acts….national and international fraud, astounding acts of nation-plundering thievery, cold-blooded acts of torture, bloodlusting wars of choice, covering up for waves of child abuse….are never held responsible for their crimes.

At the same time, one third of our 2 million prison population is made up of average Americans doing time for minor drug-possession charges.

While Wall Street titans bathe themselves in their new and improved bonuses, and politicians continue to cash campaign checks from the same bonus-babies they aided and abetted in their national conspiracy to steal us all blind…..regular working folks are being told they are getting paid too much, must share in some contrived "sacrifice", and oh yeah, by the way….you no longer have any more rights to negotiate for your future.

At the same time that corporate trough hogs posted their highest profit margins in American history…..American seniors are being told that the way forward is for 80 year old granny to "shop" for her own health care insurance from a list of insurance con-men operations. Why? Because the elderly simply have it too good….and they're going to have to, you know, "share in the sacrifice" so that their fellow millionaires and billionaires can get another tax cut.

While political leaders initiate new and expensive wars in foreign lands we will never visit nor know anything about……..the poor, the sick, the disabled, the children and the elderly here at home….those specifically designated by all world religions as a moral obligation to assist…..are informed that they will have to get by with less.

We live in an age where the powerful no longer experience shame when they exploit the weak, deceive the masses or extract more from the have-nots. To the contrary, today's rich and powerful take pride in turning over the commoners to be crucified, as it were…..it's what they deserve, we're told.

The masses must be sacrificed for the sins of the few in order for the few to have life more abundantly.

It is America's new upside down Christianity.

I have always thought there was something odd about Mitt Romney, former and future presidential candidate for the Republican Party.

He seems like a nice enough guy. Smiles a lot…..kind of a handsome man….tall….nice family…..very rich. And after all, Romney was the governor of Massachusetts when that state adopted and implemented a universal health care plan for the state….so how extreme could the Mittster really be?

I realize that November, 2012 seems like a long way off….but as the Village has made clear, the 2012 presidential campaign began a month ago…..and Mitt Romney is well aware of that fact.

The Reverend believes that there is only one scenario in which Barack Obama loses his re-election bid. Part of that scenario has already been in place and working smoothly since November, 2008. That would be the part the corporate-whore media plays. From Obama's election victory in November, 2008…..Republican-wired media has been coyly, yet consistently, showcasing Republicans and denigrating Obama.

Corporate-whore media are slick at what they do. Cable shows, even the so-called liberal ones, give nightly coverage to whatever Republicans are saying, demanding, suggesting, complaining or threatening. It doesn't matter how goddamn crazy the substance of what Republicans are saying is……corporate-whore media is covering it….every day.

The other integral part of my 2012 scenario in which Obama is defeated is the GOP matchup. If Mitt Romney is paired with Sarah Palin as VP….and the corporate-whore media continues to do exactly what they have been doing since Obama was elected, and they will…..then Republicans can take back the White House in 2012.

Nov, 22….

While Palin trails President Obama quite significantly in a putative matchup, Romney is the only Republican candidate to poll ahead of the president, according to Quinnipiac's findings. Respondents said 49 – 43 percent that Obama does not deserve re-election–an improvement since July, when respondents answered the same by a margin of 48 – 40 percent.

No doubt the Mittster was well aware of those recent polling results when he typed out an op-ed for USA Today just the other day.

Romney, I suppose motivated by a few cups of TEA, called the compromise on tax cuts, "a disappointing agreement."

But why Mittster?…

…because the extension is only temporary, a large portion of the investment and job growth that characteristically accompanies low taxes will be lost.

Romney's first complaint about the 'compromise' is that the two year extension on deep tax cuts for the richest should have been made permanent. The reason? Those mighty investors out there who have been enjoying 9 plus years of low taxes, "characteristically", will still not invest and create jobs because the compromise only agrees to extend those tax cuts on the richest for another 2 years…..making a grand total of 11 years in which those mighty investment patriots were just so "uncertain" about higher taxes….and so they just couldn't move and shake their entrepreneurial booty, as it were. Too much uncertainty.

Mitt goes on in his op-ed, echoing fairy tales….

In many cases, lowering taxes can actually increase government revenues.

Classic supply side nonsense, naturally……lowering taxes has never resulted in increased tax revenues. When you reduce the amount you take in…..the amount you wind up with is less than when you started. The concept is stupid and ridiculous on it's face….and that explains why G.H.W. Bush called it, rightly, "voodoo economics."

But the Mittster goes on in his opinion screed to actually make news. Wingnut news….but news….

The indisputable fact is that unemployment benefits, despite a web of regulations, actually serve to discourage some individuals from taking jobs, especially when the benefits extend across years.

No matter how many times the truth is stated that for every available job there are 5 people trying to fill it……conservatives, and Tea Party wannabes, like Romney….continue to tell us how lazy the unemployed are, and how unemployment checks just make those already-lazy unemployed…even lazier. It's, you know, reprehensible…..and especially so when very rich people say it.

The Mittster has a solution for our high unemployment, however. Workers simply need to pay for their own private unemployment insurance…..

…we need a very different model, perhaps establishing individual unemployment savings accounts over which employees would exercise direct control when they lose their jobs,

Isn't that just so extra-special? See, for Tea Bagger wannabe Mitt Romney, the fact that there are not nearly enough jobs to satisfy the millions looking for one…means that it's the fault of the unemployment compensation system we operate under. And since, according to Mitt, it is the fault of the unemployment compensation system, then…ipso-facto…it needs to be privatized, putting the entire burden of being laid off on workers.

Which brings me to my summary. A Romney-Palin + corporate-whore media combo platter in 2012 can defeat Obama. Not saying it will happen, but it could. Palin will bring out the nuttiest winger voters, and "liquid plastic" Romney can bring out the moderates and independents, but only if he convinces the Kochs and the Murdochs that he believes and practices "voodoo."

Why "liquid plastic", you ask? The Mittster self-molds his policy beliefs and his political philosophy to fit the requirements of the hour. He pours himself into whatever seems popular at the moment.

From my Thanksgiving 2008 blog post….

The nation will experience over the next 2 years the most depressed economic situation we've witnessed in at least 30 years….and I'm afraid it will actually be worse than is now expected. Thursday, when we gather our loved ones together, we won't know how our individual circumstances will change by this time next year. 401 K's have been ravaged for many, jobs have been, and will continue to be, lost, health care as well, lifestyles will be downsized, purchasing will be in a state of retraction, uncertainty will abound.

Extended families will be forced to consolidate their assets, many moving in together. The frivolous consumption pattern we're addicted to will, of necessity, be altered. While prices will be low and it will be a buyer's market……uncertainties and fears will keep purchasing practices in check. This time will be recorded as the first great recession of the 21st century.

I'm not sure that America will ever fully recover. I'm not quite as hopeful as President-elect Obama. It just could be that this period will mark the beginning of America's permanent, albeit slow, decline in standard of living.

That was two years ago, a few weeks after the historic election of Barack Obama.

In 2010 we are worn out with Recession Fatigue, exhausted. This Thanksgiving, we don't need, nor want, solemn warnings about how much worse things are going to get.

So, without further ado…here's my not-as-dire 2010 list of political stuff to be thankful for this Thanksgiving.

1) I'm thankful that the U.S. government has not attacked the nation of Iran….yet. Although there is little doubt in my mind that the U.S……with or without Israel…..will eventually attack Iran as part of the neo-conservative plan to remodel the middle east to "protect our interests in the region"……we haven't done it yet. For that I am thankful.

2) I'm thankful for the influence of Sarah Palin on our political scene. Because of the direct influence of Sarah Palin in senatorial races in Nevada, Delaware and Alaska…..Republicans failed to take back the Senate. If Palin would have endorsed the GOP primary candidates in those three states, Republicans would control the Senate come January. She didn't….they don't…..I am thankful.

3) The Reverend is extremely thankful this Thanksgiving season for the impeccable work of our nation's largest media sources. Over the past year, corporate media has bent over backwards in what can only be described as an attempt to prove that they are neither objective nor unbiased….nor actually, deliverers of news. I really appreciate that kind of honesty and frankness, and so I give thanks.

4) I'm grateful this Turkey Day for the Tea Party. Before the Tea Partys, I never knew what had become of the remains of the old John Birch Society and various and sundry white supremacy movements scattered throughout the country. Now I know…..and I'm thankful for the education.

5) Most of all, The Reverend is thankful for the veritable flood of accountability I've witnessed this past year. Do we live in an age of accountability, or what? From the Pope of Rome, to offshore oil drillers, to attacks on humanitarian aid ships, to humble and altruistic Wall Street Patriots, to "just say no'ers" in the U.S. Congress…..I'm relatively sure that many will join with me in declaring 2010, The Year Of Accountability. For that unprecedented exhibition of accountability by our most powerful…..I give thanks.

______________

This Thanksgiving season at The Reverend's World Headquarters, we are serving 10 Thursday and 11 Saturday. Typical fare…..turkey, mashed taters, gravy, stuffing, corn, green beans, rolls….and of course, my world-famous cranberry salad concoction. I would tell you about the desserts, but then you would want to come over….so I can't.

What's up for you and yours this Thanksgiving?