Blame It On The Pigs

If we go off the cliff, blame it on the on the pigs.

The House Republicans, of course, for all intent and purposes, represent the know it all pigs of George Orwell's Animal Farm.

 They claim to believe in "equality for all," but secretly believe that some -- depending on the balance in the bank account, on or offshore -- are "more equal than others."

 If a deal isn't struck it will be the fault of the fattened fiscal pigs, self-obsessed House Republicans – best buddies with all the rest of the detached, loft-dwelling fat cats – who have attempted to brainwash the rest of us that tax breaks for the rich are crucial to helping the little guy.

 But the poor and the middle class know better. Let's hope President Obama's sense that a deal is within reach this day, is well founded. So, we can start off this new year right! 

Henny Penny is in Heaven

 Still seems so impossible to conceive. My sweet, beautiful, fun loving, game loving niece Henrietta – fierce Tiddly Winks competitor – won’t grace our family and friends with her physical presence this Christmas.

 I call her Penelope. She just looked like a Penelope to me from the time she was a little girl. “Merry Christmas Penelope,” I would greet her each Christmas Eve at my brother Brian’s in South Philly. She would always smile and give that warm, little Hen laugh of appreciation, “Hmmm, Merry Christmas, Uncle Kevin.”

On this earth, Henrietta also went by “Henny Penny,” ”Rigotta” or simply, "Hen" -- just a few of the seemingly endless affectionate nicknames that her father, Brian and mother, Mary had for their beloved baby girl.

 Older sisters, Jessica and Angela had their own little names for their baby sister. In fact, I’m not sure anyone has ever had more pet names – each one a touching example of how love exhaustively looks for new, endearing ways to express itself.

“Uncle Kevin, we’ve been playing Clue,” I can still hear Henrietta saying in her excited, scratchy little voice. One year, I had given the board game Clue to the family for Christmas. We played into the night Christmas and most of the next day. We’d play when I visited. And they’d play as a family, from time to time. 

 I’m not sure how it started, but each year I would buy Henrietta some little nick-knack game for Christmas – a barrel of elephants, a mini bowling game, a mini sure shot basketball game, Tiddly Winks, and so it went.

 Now, is as good a time as any to make a confession. In part, I gave Hen these simple little games because I knew that I could rely on her to play them with me on Christmas Day.

 Little Miss Penelope, Henny Penny, the Henster and I were kindred spirits like that. Along with her Dad, my oldest brother Brian, we appreciated the simple things. We loved the family fun and good natured competition. Sometimes we’d play for hours on the family room floor or dining room table.

 When it came to Tiddly Winks, forget about it. Henrietta had her father’s genes. Allow me to digress. In case you weren’t aware, my brother Brian was the Tiddly Winks champion at Bonner High School many moons ago.

 He informed my younger brother Brendan and I of that undisputed fact one day in the family room when we were kids. Brian laid out the bath towel on the coffee table and placed a shallow white glass cup in the center. He dumped the colored tiddlies, or winks, on the towel and the rest is history. He proceeded to give Brendan and I a good thrashing and a valuable lesson in the art of Tiddly Winking.

 Over the years, Brian and I would get engrossed in serious Tiddly Wink tournaments, typically at Christmas time, that would nearly threaten our brotherly love for each other. For the most part, Brian reigned as champ.

 Then Henrietta showed up on the scene. Sure, we can let little Hen try to play. But remember honey, this is an adult’s game, big man’s game, really. Henrietta’s first shot from the sidelines was all cup.

  Brian and I looked at each other, amazed. Hen, wide-eyed, was just as surprised and looked as if she had done something wrong. Needless to say, Hen would knock me out in the early rounds. From then on it was father – daughter, all the way. 

  “Oh, my gosh,” Hen laughed, when I gave a her giant deck of playing cards for Christmas once. She took the cards out of the box and tried to shuffle them, laughing. “Look how big these cards are, Mom. So funny.” Mary would join us for a game of fish, or crazy eights, laughing along with Hen.

  So, here we are on Christmas. And what comes to mind is John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. For whoever so loved him would have eternal life.” Christmas celebrates the birth of Jesus, God incarnate, who came to save the world.

 Henrietta was just 22 years old. Way, way, way too young, of course. But God’s ways are not our ways. He has a plan. In the same way that God loved us enough to send his only son as a sacrifice for us, God so loved lovely Henrietta that he decided it was time for any pain to end. He wanted her to be with him in the kingdom of kingdoms in the sky.

  I’m convinced – scratch that – I know, that God finds ways to reach out and comfort us in such indescribable times of sadness. And somehow he allows our departed loved ones, now by his side, to lend a hand in the healing process.

 A couple nights after Hen’s passing, I found myself watching a movie with a relatively unknown Spanish actress who reminded me of Henrietta. It was somehow comforting. Next night, I popped in another movie. Same actress, some years later.

 For all I know, they were the only two movies this actress made. Yet somehow God made sure I watched them back to back nights – because they reminded me of Penelope and gave me comfort. “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.”

 The thing about it is that even though Henrietta is with God, she’s also somehow close by. We don’t know how it all works. God is multi-dimensional. We may not figure it out even after we’ve crossed over ourselves to that better place in the sky with God and Hen.

 It should simply be enough to know that, “With God all things are possible.”

 And that “God will even take what the devil means to destroy us with – and turn it for our good.” The timing of Hen’s passing and memorial was incredibly sad, but held special meaning, somehow. It was said by Hen's little nephew Gregory that God needed Hen pronto as a babysitter for the 20 kids who lost their lives in Newton, Conn.

 Henrietta’s memorial send off was December 21, 2012 – which also happened to be my Ol’ Da’s 10th birthday anniversary since he passed. He would have been 84. Then, within days of learning about Henrietta’s passing, we got the sad, sad news that our loving and generous Uncle Ted from my mother’s side of the family had gone on as well. He was memorialized the same day as Hen.

  Uncle Ted was a long sitting Common Pleas Court judge, longtime holder of  “favorite uncle” status, and exemplary family man to his four lovely daughters, sons-in-law and ever growing brood of grand kids.

  The way I see it, Henrietta had a fatherly figure as an escort into heaven – a man familiar enough with the limitations of the law in this world to unflinchingly believe and advocate in the authenticity of the true Supreme Court in the sky.

  As he was so good at doing for all his extended family, Uncle Ted would assuage any possible anxieties Hen had, and the two would walk through the pearly gates together. Mom, aka "Mamby," my O’l Da’ and Aunt Betts would be among a host of departed loved ones to greet them.

  I can’t begin to know the deep sense of loss that only my brother, his wife and my two beautiful loving nieces feel. But I know I hurt. And if I hurt, their pain is that much greater. But there is hope. Always is.

 Last night, family and I sent up a sky lantern to Henrietta. In the boatyard where I live, I lit the burner and held the lantern. We watched as the flame grew and the hot air quickly expanded the red paper lantern with silver snow flakes.

  I held it tight until I felt a gentle tug and was sure it was time to let go. The lantern immediately lifted up in the cold Christmas Eve eve night air to an array of ohh’s and ahh’s. Even a nearby seabird in the marina called out with a screech as the mini hot air balloon-like lantern launched. Better than fireworks.

  Like a hot air balloon it rose rapidly, wasting no time heading for the Atlantic Ocean. It happened so fast. Soon it looked like the flashing light of an airplane high overhead. Even from such a great distance though, it visibly flashed and glowed red a couple of times, prompting more ahh’s.

 Then, within a couple minutes, it became a bright twinkling star in the eastern sky. A star in the east – two days before Christmas. Henrietta was smiling down. God was winking.

 Finally, the lantern was so far away, that we couldn’t see it anymore. It was invisible to the naked eye. But we knew that it was still out there somewhere – soaring higher and higher towards Heaven. Free at last.

Time For New Gun Laws

 What's it going to take?

 Semi-automatic military assault rifles belong on the battlefield -- not in Ma and Pa's cupboard, where crazy Johnny can get a hold of them.

 We need tighter restrictions on gun purchases now. The fact that mentally imbalanced individuals have such easy access to these military style assault weapons is almost as insane as the devastating tragic acts committed with the weapons.

 Updated gun regulations are long overdue. But every time there is a tragedy like the one in Newton, Conn., the National Rifle Association fights tooth and nail against these much needed reforms. No more.

 We need to pray. And we need to Act. To fight back and take action, check out this link: 
http://act.boldprogressives.org/survey/survey_gunpromise/?source=link-auto&referring_akid=a12452630.956868.ZYP70G

House GOP Bunch of Scrooges

To paraphrase Bruce Springsteen's Grammy-nominated song, the House Republicans continue to "take care of their own."

 So much for John Boehner and the House Republicans willingness to compromise with the President. If Boehner and his fat cat loyalists in the house truly gave a dam about the American middle class -- and small businesses -- they would have signed off on preserving tax cuts for the middle class by now.

 But nothing's changed. Boehner sounds like a broken record -- expressing his willingness compromise, but never backing up his words with action.This phony play that the wealthy House leaders are simply looking out for small business doesn't wash. Not when the overwhelming majority of small businesses would continue to get a tax break under President Obama's proposal.

 Clearly, the American public isn't buying this feigned concern for small struggling businesses. By refusing to budge on allowing the Bush era tax cuts for the rich to expire -- or agreeing to some form or fashion of an tax increase on millionaires and billionaires -- the House Republicans are
proving themselves to be true-to-life Scrooges and Mr. Potters.

 We need a Jimmy Stewart to emerge on Capital Hill.
 
  

Obama Win Renews Hope

It's over. And it's just beginning. Barack Obama's victory last night for a second term as our President scores a decisive blow in defense of truth and justice -- and against the dark forces that tried so desperately to rip them from us.

 We dodged a bullet. Now, the hard work begins. The past four years, has laid the groundwork for what could be four years of real change. You want to believe, like the President said in his victory speech, "the best is yet to come."

 So much to address. So much potential for real positive good. What lies ahead? That largely depends on the people. The same folks who saw through the right's deceptive fog and sleight of hand -- and voted Obama back in the White House --  have to stay alert.

 There's been a lot of talk about reaching across the aisle. We'll see. House Republicans kept their majority. It's going to be up to the people to continue doing the same things they've done the past several months -- to ensure Obama's second term.

 We can't afford to fall asleep after election day, thinking our work is done. Through phone calls, emails and even physical protests, we have to make sure our voices continue to be heard.  

Forecast Favorable For Second Term

 Like a confluence of two powerful atmospheric forces, ala Superstorm Sandy, Mitt Romney's last minute desperate lies about President Barack Obama's Jeep jobs record and the President's own high profile, proactive response to Sandy's devastation, forecast favorable conditions for a second term.

 While Romney can do nothing but pose, smile weakly and attack, the President is busy being the president -- and doing a good job. So much so that even one of his biggest critics, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is embracing him. This should be the turning point in the election. Just watch the poles.

  

"Past Four Years" of Betrayal

  As far as the "past four years" go, this really is all you need to know.

  The night of newly-elected president Barack Obama’s inauguration on January 20, 2009, amidst a devastating recession at the hands of Wall Street recklessness, a group of 15 key Republican Party players were summoned to urgent business at a pricey restaurant in Washington D.C.

  The mission? Betrayal.

  The cozy cluster, made up of Republican lawmakers like the eventual vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan and old time connivers like Newt Gingrich, needed to map out a plan for the next four years.

  And man, did this country need a plan. Some 750,000 Americans were losing their jobs each month. Millions had lost their homes, millions more would follow suit. Personal savings vanished into thin air.

  But, turns out, this group of conservatives wasn’t so concerned with all that. They long ago had conveniently tuned out the desperate cries of Main Street to heed the demands of Wall Street.

 After three hours of strategizing at that secret meeting, Republicans had resolved a simple goal: Make President Barack Obama a one term president.

  And the rest is – almost history. At every turn, the Republicans (mostly House Republicans) agreed they would conspire to obstruct President Obama at every turn – even as it meant further penalizing the people at a time their constituents needed them most.

 Then, with the economy still struggling to recover from the devastation – largely endorsed, even orchestrated, by the corporate-controlled right – Athe Republican leadership would corruptly and childishly point a finger at the president, laying all the blame for any failures on him.

 The seedy details of that private dinner convened at the Caucus Room in Washington the same day President Obama was sworn in, were revealed in Robert Draper’s book, “Do Not Ask What Good We Do: Inside the U.S. House of Representatives” released this past April.

  Amidst all the partisan vitriol and blatant fabrications, some of us may have missed that pertinent news. Many of us need to be reminded of that dastardly scheme borne out of sheer, power-hungry partisanship while our country teetered at cliff’s edge.

  So here’s your reminder. It’s the height of hypocrisy for Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney to stand before the American people and blame any lack of bi-partisanship on the President over the “past four years.”

 For the "past four years" House Republicans haven't seen their main duty as serving the people. Stemming the rise of foreclosures or passing job creating legislation or giving folks a helping hand took a back seat to tripping up the President whenever they got the chance.

 Take the President's American Jobs Act -- meant to create infrastructure jobs, offer tax credits for working Americans and employers and provide aid to state and local governments so they can avoid further layoffs of teachers, firefighters, police officers, and other public safety officials.

The American Jobs Act still awaits approval along with the American Veterans Corps Act, Farm Act, Violence Against Women Act among other bills, while House Republicans are taking a rare two month vacation that won't end until after the election. Surprised?

 For more than a year, House Republicans have consistently blocked President Obama's job legislation. Hey, partisanship is nothing new. But the extent the Right has pushed its agenda in these dire times encroaches on the side of criminal.

 It should be crystal clear to anyone paying attention that the unprecedented obstructionist House Republicans played an intricate role in any stagnation in Washington over the “past four years.”

 President Obama time and time gain over the “past four years” tried to reach across the aisle, only to get his hand smacked away by Speaker of The House John Boehner and his pals. Even the strongest of swimmers can get only so far with a ball and chain clasped around his ankle. 

  

 Americans are on the verge of being grifted again. The same crooks that robbed tens of millions of Americans of their homes, jobs and savings are now promising us the moon and the stars.

 

 Just because the Massachusetts Governor has made millions for himself and a privileged few as a big time investor, doesn’t make him fit to be president of the United States. Quite to the contrary. He’s got “Wall Street” written all over him.

 So, as you vote, keep in mind that privileged private meeting among Republicans “four years” ago and realize that for the “past four years” they’ve been working against progress just so they can insert a Big Money man in the White House.

 Realize that the Republicans not only have betrayed the President. They’ve betrayed the American people.

Winner and Still President ...

Same old lines. Same old lies. Same old underhanded tactics. Of course, "Past four years" is Mitt Romney's and the Republicans' catch phrase battle cry. Conservatives like to talk about the turbulent past four years as if they weren't intrinsically linked to them.

Like the first two presidential debates, Governor Mitt Romney in the third and final presidential debate Monday night may have put on a good show, but that's about it. 

 President Barack Obama was in control. He appeared informed, sincere and resolute. He looked like the president. Romney, on the other hand, didn't. The Governor simply came off as a poser -- a guy trying to attack and trip up the president in the same way the unprecedented House Republicans have made that their goal over the "past four years."

 The more Romney harped about "peace" and "strength" for America Monday night, the more he sounded like George W. Bush in his first debate with John Kerry in the Fall of 2003 -- when Bush kept repeating how the presidency was "hard work."

 To boot, Romney's persistent mention of peace in discussions of foreign policy matters seemed forced and hence, brought to mind another Bush moment in the spring of 2002 when the then president declared to the American people: "I have no war plans on my desk."

  No, they were in the desk drawer. We later learned, thanks to the Downing Street Memo, that just two months later Bush had decided to invade Iraq. The only hitch was -- he needed a good reason.

  But, more than any barbs over foreign or domestic policy, what was most revealing Monday night, and what really spoke volumes, was the clear difference between Romney's and the president's presence, if you will. Obama simply looked like the real commander in chief.

Biden's Righteous Anger Wins Out

Sometimes righteous anger is feisty and relentless in its defense of the truth, and in expression of complete and utter intolerance of puffed up, disingenuous, phony fabrications designed to fool the American people and ultimately destroy their democracy.

 Last night, in the first and only vice presidential debate in Kentucky with the younger self-important right wing windbag Raul Ryan, vice president Joe Biden represented that righteous anger. And we best see more it next week in the second presidential debate.

Goldman Shuns Obama, Says Much

 The powerful and greedy Wall Street giant Goldman Sachs' abandonment of Barack Obama should tell you all you need to know when it comes to casting your vote this November.

  If you're one of the rich, greedy and powerful, then perhaps you'll want to cast your vote for Obama's challenger, corporate crusader Mitt Romney. But if you live among the rest of us, Obama hands down is the clear choice.

 In 2008, Goldman executives and employees were the largest backer of the president. But they aren't so pleased with some of the new regulations the president put in place in hopes of curbing the wheeling and dealing with the people's investments that led to the 2008 crisis.

 While this country still needs even more restraints put on our big banks and mortgage companies, the folks at Goldman don't think that's such a good idea. 

 So they are working on getting one of their own, Mitt Romney, elected. So far, Goldman as a whole has dumped $900,000 into Romney's Super-pacs and another $900,000 directly into Romney's campaign coffers.

 Meanwhile, Obama who got $1 million from Goldman in 2008, so far has received only $136,000 in Goldman support for his re-election campaign.

 The power that Goldman wields is truly scary. Former Goldman Sachs CEO, Henry Paulson, was named Bush's Treasury Secretary towards the end of Bush's term -- just in time to down play the crushing impact of the looming economic crisis. And Obama still has a number of Goldman execs in his administration.

 The prevailing logic should be, if Goldman or any Wall Street giant deems something a bad idea, then it's likely in the best interest of the people.

Just Round One; Two More To Go

 The first presidential debate was reminiscent of a heavyweight boxing title match.

 Like any smart title holder in a heavyweight championship bout, President Barack Obama and his handlers decidedly settled on a defensive strategy for round one.

 Challenger, Mitt "Roundhouse" Romney predictably came out desperate and swinging -- as if it were the last round of a title fight and he needed a knockout to win.

 Chances were Romney would end up stumbling over his own shoelaces. That didn't happen. Just the same, Obama was aware -- and most seasoned fight fans would realize -- that when it comes right down to it, Romney has got nothing. He's all show. 
  
 Sure, the Massachusetts's Governor may have impressed the ringsiders with his empty baseless taunts. He may have even wowed the judges by throwing more punches than the President in the first round.

 But he landed nothing of any consequence because he has nothing of any consequence. 

 Let's face it -- both the Republican and Democratic parties are unsteady on their feet as far as standing up for Americans. But if one party by far doesn't have the people's interest's at heart. That's Romney's Conservatives, led by the obstructionist House Republicans.

 That's what makes Romney's meaningless flurries and phony taunts absurd -- as if he really gave a damn about the middle and lower class. He's stands with a party that really encouraged lawlessness on Wall Street -- through deregulation -- during George W. Bush's War of Terror against the American people.

  Those devastating eight years under the Bush administration made the Mafia's meddling in professional boxing look like child's play. The resulting 2008 crisis, was only the most tangible evidence of an endless list of damaging policy decisions that crippled this country and left much of the middle and lower class broke.

 Knowing all that, coupled with Romney's Wall Street-like record at Bain Capital -- where he made millions for a few close pals while bankrupting scores of Americans -- should give the president all the firepower he needs to lay out Romney flat on his back.

 In the meantime, Obama's appears to have been earnestly trying to pick up the pieces ever since he took office. While he hasn't been faultless, there's no fail safe blueprint for reassembling all the parts and fixing this mess in just a few short years -- a mess that took so much longer to create.

 Of course, the obstructionist House Republicans over the past two years did all they could to stonewall the president, keeping their guards up and their chins tucked in to their chests -- but never fully engaging him like the professionals they are paid to be.

 The president's reserved, but focused approach in the first presidential debate, was akin to that of legendary middleweight champion Bernard Hopkins, who was known for his overly cautious, defensive approach in the early rounds.

 Hopkins' early rounds were reserved for studying his opponent, spying openings to exploit in the later rounds. And it should be noted, that inevitably Hopkins punctuated those later rounds with a classic knockout punch or at least, a clear victory. 

 But the president should keep the corporate crusader off balance by consistently jabbing Romney's Bain Capital days in his face. Maybe then, Obama will set up a jarring straight right cross -- asking the corporate crusader directly: What makes him any different than the Wall Street robber barons that nearly destroyed this country?

 Predictably and absurdly, professional loudmouth ringsiders like Rush Limbaugh are insisting that the battle for the oval office is over already and victory belongs to Romney. That would be laughable if it weren't so pathetic.

 Obama does have to be on guard for an "October Surprise," surely still to
come. And while the president can't underestimate the desperation of the greedy and the power hungry, the truth is we may have already seen the best Romney has to offer.

 And, as long as we Americans are watching closely, it will never be enough to win the fight.

Romney Video Offers Nothing New

 Sure, lask week's secretly-recorded fundraiser video of Mitt Romney disparaging and writing off nearly half of Americans, gave us a candid glimpse of how the Republican presidential candidate really views the average American.

 But all the hubbub almost felt overblown, for it only confirmed what the average fifth grader already should have known.

 No matter what Romney claims for the TV cameras, his priorities will never lie with the people.

 While neither political party is immune from the growing corrupt influence of Big Money, it's long been clear that Romney and his state-of-the-art obstructionist House Republicans celebrate an unprecedented cozy allegiance to Wall Street.

 We've known that Romney is the guy who was great at raking in millions of dollars for himself and a handful of fellow executives at the investment company Bain Capital -- while leaving a trail of bankruptcies, layoffs and outsourced jobs.

 And he's the guy hoarding millions in a Swiss Bank account and off shore in places like the Caymen Islands and Bermuda to avoid taxes. Maddow: Romney's tax return is a mess for the campaign 

 Last, but by far not least, Romney represents a party which made its number one priority the past four years, to block President Barrack Obama's every attempt to improve the economy. Just so conservatives can claim the president is failing us.  

It's been the one glaring hypocrisy of the past four years and this whole election season. And it that should provide voters with all they need to know to make a smart choice come November.

Better Yet, Forget 'Better Off?'

This notion that Americans should be better off four years after President Barrack Obama took office is inherently corrupt, for it blatantly ignores the devastating conditions under which he took office.

 The recently-departed author/activist Gore Vidal once described America as the “United States of Amnesia.” We seem to have such short memory spans. And that’s the way the sideshow barker republicans like it.

 So, in typical condescending fashion, the phony conservative party leaders insist that Americans need only to base their presidential choice on an oversimplified, disingenuous question: Are You better off than four years ago?

 Never mind that this country was already losing hundreds of thousands of jobs a month in the wake of the most disastrous and crooked presidency in history, when Obama took the reins at the White House.

  Of course, the House Republicans planned it this way. After the last two years in particular of obstructing the president’s every attempt to address our economic woes, they childishly and hypocritically point the finger at Obama and insist: “He did it!”

 

 Even the most powerful swimmer can only get so far in stormy waters – with a ball and chain clasped to his ankle. At least, President Obama hasn't gone under and taken this country with him. To the contrary, he may just be finding his rhythm.

Kevin McKinney

Hurricane Timing Illustrates GOP Damage

Torrents of disingenuousness breaching the boundaries of truth. Then anything goes. Partial truths are melded with blatant lies and peddled as gospel.

In the midst of it all, conservative mouthpieces desperately cling to their trickled down and trickled out message that the rich and influential must be ferried to safety first if we are to survive this storm.

Ravage the middle class; shelter the privileged few. Despite what they say, that’s clearly what they intend to do. That’s what they’ve been doing. And it will never be enough.

Of course, no sly sleight of hand – no matter how deft – could make Hurricane Isaac disappear. In a timing that was indeed eerie, if not flat out prophetic, Isaac made landfall in Louisiana and Mississippi gulfcoasts just as Republicans unveiled their plan to further wreak havoc on the struggling masses.

Will Americans pay heed to that nagging feeling in their guts that tell them the Republicans’ overly confident, slickly-packaged message of hope, is in actuality layered with lies and just as wanting as our troubled economy?

As Democrats face their share of challenges this week with rainy weather in Charlotte, NC, the irony of Isaac arriving on the seventh anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, targeting the same vulnerable Gulf Coast states, shouldn’t be lost.

It was as if an awesome all knowing force – infinitely more intelligent, powerful and justified than the robber baron brotherhood – was speaking. But, the looming question remains: Was anybody listening?

Kevin McKinney

(Wildwood Leader, September 6, 2012)

Like Hurricane GOP Full of Hot Air

   
 Interesting how, for the second Republican convention in a row, a hurricane threatened to drown out all the pompous windbags bent on further ravaging the middle class, while sheltering the privileged few.

 And appropriately enough, as the ponderous, slow-moving Hurricane Isaac made landfall in New Orleans, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie took the stage and attempted to hog the spotlight.
 

 He spouted much about his own perceived accomplishments in the Garden State, but like his metaphorical meteorological counterpart a few hundred miles west, Christie was mostly full of hot air. For a while there, it appeared the governor's delusions of grandeur got the best of him, and he thought he was the guy running for president.

The result was that Americans got a good look at the arrogance, indifference and single-mindedness that define the Republican Party. Such disingenuousness across the board - tearing down the president and blaming him for the devastating mess their own party leader left after eight disastrous years in the White House.

 Little wonder George W. Bush and his puppet master Dick Cheney were nowhere to be found at the convention.

 Fact checkers are clear. Talk of President Barack Obama raiding Medicare is a joke. As many as 10 million jobs were created in the private sector and public sector through Obama's stimulus and bank bailout programs. And the Congress (including the unprecedentedly obstructionist House Republicans) is to blame for the drop in the U.S. credit rating, not the president.
 

 Really, all this reflects just what the Republican Party thinks of the American people. The party strategists clearly consider Americans a naive and shallow bunch - easily swayed by blatant lies packaged as convincing sound bites.
 

 Let's really hope and pray that Americans wake up and prove themselves smarter than all that come this November.

 Kevin McKinney

(The Press of Atlantic City, Voice of the People, Sept. 7, 2012) 

Big Money Blues

Who says you can’t buy the White House if you got the dough? And as a down payment, why not slap down a million bucks or so from the untold millions bilked from the American people over the last several years?

 Essentially, that’s what presumed Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, his band of Big Money manipulators, and the complicit Senate Republicans are banking on doing. And nothing less. All in much the same reckless, shady manner by which our financial industry nearly bankrupt this country.

 The conservative party once again demonstrated its self-obsessed indifference to democratic fairness by recently blocking the Disclose Act that simply would have alerted citizens as to where some of this nation’s most powerful and influential corporations are placing their bets this election year.

 For reasons that continue to become increasingly clear, obstructionist Republicans in Congress, intent on playing by their own set of rules, would rather you not know who their sugar daddies are.

 That singular, inexcusable, corrupt move to deny transparency by Republicans, is so pathetically revealing, and should tell middle class Americans all they need to know about the true priorities of the once inaptly labeled “moral majority” party.

 As if we really didn’t know already, by Congressional Republicans’ persistent refusal to budge on those tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires, as far as they’re concerned, the corporate elite takes precedent over the people.
It’s not as if the Disclose Act would have prevented mega corporations – like Wall Street banks, health insurance and drug companies – from funneling tens of millions of dollars through outside fundraising groups largely endorsing Romney.

The goal of the Act was to introduce some desperately-needed transparency into campaign fundraising, at a time when scandalous daily headlines reveal more and more about the unwieldy influence and criminal practices in the financial industry. Transparency was something even Republicans have long claimed to favor. Not anymore.

 Of course, there are so many things wrong with this picture that it literally makes you sick to your stomach if you stare at it long enough. Little wonder why Americans would simply rather tune out and opt instead to follow the race for the next American Idol.

 For the first time in American history a presidential challenger is on pace to out raise a sitting president. In June alone, just one of Romney's super PACs raised $20 million. In the meantime, millions of children in this country go to bed hungry. Millions of folks have lost their homes to the 2008 economic crisis. Millions more could still follow suit. And the future of the economy?

 We should know by now that no one man has all the answers. And as a country, we need to spend more time formulating the questions. President Barrack Obama has made some mistakes, but he's also done some things right. He's certainly not immune from the corporate influence and has a good deal to answer to. But to think of yanking him from office just as he's hitting his stride is flat out dumb.

 As Americans, our duty doesn’t begin and end on Election Day. We need to pay attention all year round.
Now, thanks to some screwy legal loopholes exploited by notorious right wing schemers like Karl Rove – an “outside” group like American Crossroads can spend millions of dollars in anonymous contributions to run ads promoting Romney for president.

 What that means, in theory and most assuredly in practice, is that the Wall Street robber barons responsible for nearly bankrupting this country can legally dump the same millions of dollars they stole from Americans over the years, into brainwashing campaigns designed to insert one of their very own as the next president of the United States.

 Ain’t that America. Capitalism at work, baby. Home of the brave? Land of the free?

Kevin McKinney

(Wednesday, July 25, 2012, Opinion, Shore News Today)