What are we focused upon: U.S. Democrats vs. Republicans

Three current examples (of 'what's the focus'?), available via linked, published articles. (New windows open.)

1.) (Re jobs:) National Democrats: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/17/obama-jobs-plan-no-division-delay_n_967404.html 

vs.

The Party of 'No': http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/gop-defeats-obamas-jobs-bill/2011/10/12/gIQAl3ZDeL_video.html


2.) (Re 'Occupy Wall Street' economic/social justice protests:) National Democrats: http://articles.cnn.com/2011-10-06/politics/politics_occupy-wall-street_1_protests-tea-party-financial-crisis?_s=PM:POLITICS

vs.

The Party of 'No': http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-10-11/cantor-drops-mobs-description-of-wall-street-protesters.html


3.) (Re focus upon perceived realities of our present world:) National Democrats: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2011/oct/12/hillary-clinton-iran-plot-video

vs.

The Party of 'No' (clue): http://www.theonion.com/articles/us-back-on-top-as-gas-prices-drop-slightly,26335/ 



"Exalted reality"; Republican-style:

An indecorous Republican shill

Link to news article from the NY Daily News (opens new window):http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2011/09/09/2011-09-09_president_obamas_jobs_speech_gop_rep_jeff_landry_of_louisiana_holds_sign_drillin.html?

Jeff Landry: There's no 'gray' area here... His pathetic little sign was indecorous...and disrespectful. (Check out unscientific poll results in the above-ref. story.)  

Republicans would be yelling for someone's head if the other party pulled this 'crap' on them.

Favor the resourceful individualism of America's days of yore? Consider making a personal commitment to greater energy independence - both yours and the country's. Blunt the oil barons' grip upon today's largely bought-and sold Congress -- at the same time : Drive a fuel efficient vehicle. Encourage others to do so as well. Overall, you are helping yourself and your country. (And the world. Except OPEC.).

Drilling is not a panacea (eh, Mr. Landry?)..... We know that oil is a fungible, worldwide commodity, subject to market vicissitudes no matter where it is extracted from. (Also, two words: Deepwater Horizon.)

Link to one of ex-CIA director James Woolsey's cogent statements re U.S. energy security (new window): http://articles.cnn.com/2011-05-06/politics/al.qaeda.energy_1_foreign-oil-bin-attack-oil-installations?_s=PM:POLITICS 

(Oil drilling platform, by Andrew Schmidt. This image is in the public domain.)

Wild-eyed Bachmann: Newsmax.com's perfected unflattering shots

Link to Slate.com blogger's view re Newsweek magazine's laughably unflattering cover photo of Michele Bachmann: (link, new window)  http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2011/08/08/is_newsweek_s_michele_bachmann_cover_sexist_.html?GT1=38001


To this WWW user, it seems like about every third web page or so has a 'Newsmax.com' advertisement prominently displayed on it. (I know I'm not alone with this...) The conservative website appears to try its level best to portray Democratic leaders (usually) in a harshly unfavorable manner -- via its largely unobjective/fake polls, questions, etc. (on such ads).

Just two recent examples:

Of course much is in the "eye" of the beholder......But I believe many would acknowledge that neither of the newsmax.com photos above are (anywhere near) flattering. 
This conservative "news" org. (which is widely read - if briefly) has been liberally distributing such web ads. for several years ....

None of the (photo) antics are constructive.

"Not one red cent of revenue": Nancy Pelosi's galvanizing speech

“Of course, we must all reduce the deficit. But is it our best to say we are going to use the debate to reduce the deficit to destroy the public space? Look at their Appropriations bills they’re bringing before us, destroying the public space of clean air, clean water, food safety, the education of our children, the health, financial security of our seniors through Medicare and Medicaid. That’s what they are doing...."

and,

"...but not one red cent of revenue while we are saying kids should pay more for their student loans." (re Boehner bill, which was defeated - as expected by Mr. Boehner himself.)

- Minority leader Nancy Pelosi, House of Representatives floor speech (excerpts), July 30, 2011

Per the linked website: It may have been Ms. Pelosi's "finest hour". Link to the site, which includes video and text of the hard-hitting speech. ((Which apparently was) time-limited via rules imposed by the Republican majority.) (Opens a new window:) http://thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/pelosi-speaks-on-debt-ceiling-bills-possibly-her-finest-hour-video/politics/2011/08/01/24712


Newly-minted deficit "hawks": Where were you from 2000 through 2008? Answer: Many were voting for/supporting deficit-increasing spending measures/tax-cuts-for-the-wealthy... throughout the Bush administration. (Including the expensive, charge-in-the-wrong-direction Iraq war.)

"This image is public domain."

 Most Americans (link) want common sense and real compromise in Washington.

 
Somebody needed to say it....Despite what is repeatedly broadcast from a strident minority, Ms. Pelosi speaks for many....

This is what oligarchy looks like: Koch-Tea Party war on workers

 Link to 2/23/11 Jason Linkins (Huffington Post) report about Wisconsin Tea Party dupe Scott Walker unwittingly revealing "his" strategies to undermine public employee unions, to Buffalo Beast editor Ian Murphy. Who successfully reached (call dodger) Walker by posing via a Skype call as "conservative" billionaire (read: Tea Party agenda major supporter/funder) David Koch.  (The Exec.VP of Koch Industries, second largest privately-held company in America.  No public shareholders to answer to...  "...(O)ver my dead body" (re ever offering public shares), one of the Koch brothers is attributed to have said.))


Link, including audio/partial transcript of The Beast's call (opens in a new window) http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/23/scott-walker-buffalo-beast-phone-prank_n_827058.html 

If it wasn't already painfully clear before the call, make no mistake: Koch - and his brother Charles - are Scott Walker's bosses....bankrollers....prime constituents...masters....divine leaders.... -- you name it.

Thanks for that, Tea Party chumps/voters. The individuals mentioned above - and those like them - care about one exclusive group: Obscenely compensated CEO money men, and other privileged, wealthy clients .
Not you. Not me. Not most Americans....

(screen cap, also a link to the website ...."The World's Only Website")


 

New York Times Nobel-winning columnist Paul Krugman had just previously written about the same general subject here (link to 2/20/11 article):
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/21/opinion/21krugman.html?

Democratic National Committee Chairman Tim Kaine: "Governors and others in state houses across this country on the Republican side have decided what they want to do is wage a war against their own employees," Kaine said (Saturday night). "Against public employees who are teaching our kids, who are caring for our parents in nursing homes, who are patrolling our neighborhoods." 

(Read more: http://nation.foxnews.com/politics/2011/02/21/dnc-chairman-wisconsin-governor-waging-war-public-workers#ixzz1Ep5zwgEv)

Update: "America's Finest News Source" (the Onion) gets this story right (link to 2/24/11 article): http://www.theonion.com/articles/governor-walker-should-be-flogged-for-his-inabilit,19309/

(If needed:)

ol·i·gar·chy  –noun

1.
a form of government in which all power is vested in a few persons or in a dominant class or clique; government by the few.


2.
a state or organization so ruled.

 

oligarchy. Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/oligarchy (accessed: February 23, 2011).

"Can OPEC come to the rescue?" Pathetic...

Screen graphic recently seen on CNBC as their anchors push the panic button over Libya's oil disruptions:

"Can OPEC come to the rescue?"

Just go ahead and add (to that) : "So spoiled Americans (many) can still gas up their humongous SUVs and pickups, the vast majority of which are not regularly used for their (alleged) utilitarian purpose(s)." 

(Most are poseur-mobiles, in other words....)


OPEC/terrorist oil-dependent America is weak and vulnerable. And even if the U.S. extracts more of its own oil, it will still be subject to repeated shocks/cartel whims in the global oil market.

Author: IFCAR
"I, the copyright holder of this work, release this work into the public domain. This applies worldwide."


I didn't say this, the former director of the CIA did: "I have a bumper sticker on the back of my Prius that reads, 'Bin Laden hates this car.'"

If we want to beat Bin Laden and oil-owning regimes (generally) hostile to the U.S., it's our patriotic duty to drive fuel-efficient vehicles. To better insulate, and wean (convert) our houses from heating oil....ETC.

Read: BP's oil is not gone from the Gulf

The giant oil company would like you to think otherwise (link), but...

Link to 2/19/11 AP story by Seth Borenstein: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110220/ap_on_sc/us_sci_oil_spill_lingers

Deepwater Horizon oil spill at Chandeleur Islands LA
Author: Jeffrey Warren, Grass Roots Mapping project.
Source:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeffreywarren/4590976462/sizes/l/in/set-72157623910039211/

Video: Who's the 'idiot'?? (Ohio governor motivates and inspires)

Current YouTube video of Ohio Republican governor - that's right, he actually got elected - John Kasich:


(YT link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=KF0_Qe4zNrE )

Part of a subsequent statement from the Ohio Fraternal Order of Police: 

"Police officers in Ohio already do difficult and dangerous work, so it doesn't help when the governor calls an officer doing his job and protecting the public an 'idiot,' " said Ohio Fraternal Order of Police president Jay McDonald.

There's more via this link to a 2/16/11 story by Reginald Fields of The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer: http://www.cleveland.com/open/index.ssf/2011/02/ohio_gov_john_kasich_calls_pol.html
 This guy (Kasich) wants to end collective bargaining in Ohio (for state employees, I believe).

Another state worker-hatin', union hatin' Republican, it appears. And he launched his weird tirade in front of a group of Ohio state agency employees. (The Ohio EPA -- I'm sure Kasich just loves them, also...) 

This is leadership?? It's like he's lecturing a bunch of wayward first-graders or something (per the video segment) -- and then Mr. Governor careens straight off the deep end. All by himself...

Not being from that state, I'll bet teachers are in the cross-hairs, too. We'll be watching this guy. From this video he appears a bit unhinged. (At this point Kasich has not apologized. His response just belittled and badgered state employees a little more....) 
 2/17/11 update: Gov. Kasich has apologized, in person. But this (linked) article doesn't make the meeting (with the officer) sound very "friendly". Will further note that the traffic stop was for - I'll call it - a slightly "technical" reason. Plus, as the officer is speaking with Kasich in the included (police) video (article), several cars pass by via the lane closest to the stopped vehicles. I.e., they did not 'move over'. Apparently the reason Kasich was stopped. 


Glenn Beck should love him.



(Here's another view of Mr. Kasich: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmilAJEOdLM )