OUT-TRUMPED – TOP BIRTHER STILL IN DENIAL

The Donald has been out-trumped.  President Obama yesterday released his much sought after long form birth certificate showing that, “yes, he was indeed born in Hawaii” just as he has said for all these years.  But, wait, not to be foiled, birthers have not given up on the game and have, instead, yanked those goal posts out of the ground and huffed and puffed and carried them to a different yard line.

First, it was the constant yapping to see the birth certificate.  Then, when that was produced way back in 2008, the birthers threw down the yellow flag and screamed foul.  They shouted that it was a fake and not the real birth certificate.  Never mind that almost all states do not provide long form birth certificates for proof of birth but rather, upon request and payment, provide a condensed version with basic information included.

Indiana has three types of birth certificates:  the long form (a copy of the actual birth certificate completed at birth), a standard size (a condensed version with relevant information on it), and a wallet size (a condensed version with the relevant information on it).  Neither the standard size nor the wallet size contains the information contained on the full birth certificate.

Despite his “boots on the ground” cloak and dagger act, Trump failed to come up with anything tangible.  His “you won’t believe what they are finding” must have turned into “I don’t believe it, they haven’t found anything.”   Trump has decidedly lost some punch on this issue now that President Obama has produced the certificate that has caused so much angst.

But no sooner had the President released the birth certificate, then Trump turned his comb over in another direction.  Now, the Donald says, the President’s grades need to be placed under a microscope for review.  And, his student loans.  After all, the fact that President Obama graduated Magna Cum Laude from the Harvard Law School and the fact that Obama was President of the prestigious Harvard Law Review – why those just have to be mistakes and somehow undeserved accolades.

The only mistake that has been made is the relentless, unfounded Trump-eting by the Donald.  With an ego larger than the Trump Towers, and, in classic Trump style, he took to the microphones to stoke himself on the back for being the only one in America who could have accomplished this non feat.  No doubt he just wasn’t able to admit that, after weeks of demands and weeks of self-aggrandizing statements, he was out-Trumped by President Obama.

President Obama - Born in the USA

REPUBLICANS SHOOT THEMSELVES IN THE FOOT – HOBBLE OFF INTO THE SUNSET

What was supposed to be a unified Republican uprising against the “socialist” agenda hidden in President Obama’s speech to schoolchildren has turned into a full rout of Republican antagonists.  Tucking their tiny little tails between their crooked little legs, Republicans have found little comfort in the non-issue that was to be their battle cry of indoctrination of our “poor, impressionable youngsters.”

In Allen County, nine – count ’em – nine students were kept out of school by paranoid and close-minded parents intent on protecting little psyches against the big, bad presidential wolf.   Others – 85 to be exact – opted out of having their little tykes’ ears bombarded by Obama’s urging to stay in school, graduate, and contribute to the betterment of this country.  Those parents, rather than depriving their children of their day in school, wrote notes to teachers to have their kids sit out the speech.

What Republicans – and in particular, conservative Republicans – hoped would be an overwhelming protest against Obama’s speech to students to stay in school and get their education turned into one of the year’s biggest boondoggles for the ever-hopeful Republican obstructionists.

Now Republicans are trying to label the speech “conservative” in nature.   This strategy is laughable, and, to be quite honest, leaves me almost speechless.  I said almost because I am not totally speechless – just trying not to roll over laughing at what the Republicans are now trying in an effort to dig themselves out of a situation that makes them look totally assinine.

I guess the Repubs completely forgot about what a political speech to school children looks like.  But never fear, here is Ronnie Reagan’s entire speech to the school children of this country.  Perhaps Republicans should educate themselves in their party’s propensity to indoctrinate before they cry wolf – or would that be sheep.  Baa!

Remarks and a Question-and-Answer Session With Students of John A. Holmes High School of Edenton, North Carolina May 13, 1986

As you know, my remarks are being broadcast live over radio and television to high school students throughout the country. While I was in Tokyo at the economic summit, I found myself thinking about all of you, and I decided that when I got back it’d be good to report to you — share some thoughts that I’ve been having about the future.

In general, conditions in our country are about as bright as this very bright afternoon. I was worrying when I put that line in there that it might start to rain, and I’d have to say something else. [Laughter] We’ve been working to take an economy that was in bad shape and get it moving and growing again; take our national defense and make it first-rate again after a long period of decline; and to restore reason, respect, and reality to our foreign policy. And I think it’s fair to say that we’ve made a good deal of progress.

Only 5 years ago our economy suffered from high inflation, high interest rates, mushrooming government spending, and steadily increasing unemployment. A lot of people couldn’t find jobs, and people on fixed incomes were finding it harder to buy the basics, such as food and shelter. Well, we got inflation down, interest rates down, and our economy created over 1\1/2\ million new jobs just last year alone. The poor are now increasingly able to dig themselves out of poverty, and that’s been good economic news.

The good news in defense is that our Armed Forces, which were suffering from neglect and low funding, have now made a comeback. Morale is up in the services, and the quality of our men and women in uniform has never been better — and I mean never. As a matter of fact, we have the highest percentage of high school graduates in uniform today than we’ve ever had in the history of our nation, even back when we had the compulsory draft. In addition, our nation has encouraged a more realistic sense of defense needs.

In foreign affairs we’ve kept our friends close and the lines of communication with our adversaries open. We’ve tried to give the world the sense that the United States has a coherent and logical foreign policy that reflects our respect for freedom and our opposition to tyranny.

The point is that all we’ve done has had, and will continue to have, a direct impact on your lives. And the fact is, it’s your future, not ours. And all that we’ve done, we’ve done with an eye toward how it would impact you. We want to make your future better, because tomorrow belongs to you. And since you’re the leaders of tomorrow, I wanted to talk to all of you as a friend about the things you’ll have to do to ensure a prosperous nation and a peaceful world. And I’m sure that peace and prosperity must be at the top of your agenda for the future.

You have some special responsibilities ahead of you — very important responsibilities. America is back, yes, but we still face major challenges in the world. And it’s your generation that will have to accept the primary responsibility for tackling these challenges. It’s important that you’re fit for the future and that you be all that you can be. So, go for it! In the area of education you have a responsibility to try to learn and care about scientific and intellectual inquiry. The world is an increasingly competitive place. And if we’re to compete, we’ll have to do it with brainpower — your brainpower. So, keep learning and hit those books.

We have to remain economically competitive, and that means being aware of two things: first, what makes economies tick, and second, what works in other societies. We’ve been trying very hard in Washington to make America even more economically fit by really overhauling our entire tax structure. When we came into office, the top personal tax rate that the Federal Government could put on your income was 70 percent. Now, you can understand, I think, that if you were getting up in those brackets — there were 14 different tax brackets, depending on the amount of money in each bracket you earned. And when you could look and say, “If I earn another dollar, I only get to keep 30 cents out of it,” you can imagine the lack of incentive there. Well, we lowered it to 50 percent, and the economy really took off. Now we’re trying to lower it yet again so that families can keep more of their money and so the national economy will be lean and trim and fit for the future.

And it’s your generation that will defend freedom from its adversaries. The biggest contribution you can make to that quest is to become a good citizen. Good citizenship is vitally important if democracies are to continue. Good citizenship means trying to understand the issues and great questions of your day. It also means voting. To vote is to take part in this grand experiment called democracy in America. It’s your right and your responsibility to take part. Good citizenship also might mean considering going into teaching as a profession. There’s a teacher shortage, as you may know. You could help ease the situation and give to others the advantages you’ve been given if you become a teacher yourself. And it’s also important that you stay in school. That diploma counts. And I just want to personally congratulate those who have overcome some disadvantage and who stuck it out and will graduate this year.

And part of being a good citizen, part of being fit for the future so that you can meet America’s agenda for the future, is seeing to it that you live your life with a clear mind and a steady intellect. And that means saying no to drugs. Nancy has traveled across the country talking to young people like you. And many of them have talked to her about the allure of drugs, about the drug culture, and the kind of peer pressure that you come under to experiment and try out drugs. But when you come right down to it, drugs are just a dead-end street. They have nothing to offer you. I think you also ought to remember we only get one set of machinery. If you wear this set out, you can’t take it and trade it in someplace for a used one or a new one. So, what you do now and early in your life decides how able you’re going to be to enjoy yourself when you get to be my age.

And I want to tell you, I’m enjoying myself. I’ve talked to young people from China to Europe to the islands in the Caribbean. And let me tell you, they’re incredibly bright and talented, and they’re going to create quite a future for themselves. And you can’t keep up or catch up if you allow your mind to be clouded by drugs.

Well, that’s more or less what I wanted to say to you today. I’ll be talking to many young people over the next few months, and I’ll be expanding on certain points and amplifying certain themes. But for today, before your questions, I just want to let you know that I have been thinking about you very much. You are a special generation, and you’re facing special challenges. And the biggest is to be ready for a future that will prove to be demanding and exciting. Soon, we’ll enter the 21st century, a time that’ll have more than its share of great wonders. The next 10 or 15 years may well be the most exciting and challenging in the history of man. There’s the continuing revolution in technology, the possibility of curing diseases that have stalked us from the caveman era. There’s the marvelous conquest of space, a rich frontier whose riches we’ve barely glimpsed. And there’s the struggle between the democracies and those countries which are not democratic.

All of these possibilities bring with them questions. And it’s your generation that will have to answer them. That makes you all very important, indeed. You have much before you. And all I can say is that you’ve begun brilliantly. Continue to pursue excellence. Be proud of your country and its heritage, and be proud of yourselves, as we are proud of all of you.

The President. Thank you all, and welcome to the White House, and thank you for coming. I want to congratulate all of you from John A. Holmes High School in Edenton, North Carolina, on your great achievements this year and on your upcoming graduation. And a special greeting to Rob Boyce, the principal of this fine school.

If you would like to read the question and answer session, here is the link.  Talk about indoctrination of our students – but, of course, since it was a Republican that presented this speech, the naysayers find it acceptable.  What hypocrisy.  But that seems to be the only thing the Republicans are good for these days.

President Obama delivering his speech of hope and encouragement to students at Wakefield High School, Arlington, VA (AP Photo)

AND SO, MY FELLOW AMERICANS: ASK NOT WHAT YOUR COUNTRY CAN DO FOR YOU – ASK WHAT YOU CAN DO FOR YOUR COUNTRY.

I would imagine most Americans of any age would recognize the above quote from John F. Kennedy’s inaugural address of January 20, 1961.  Amazing isn’t it that such a quote holds so much meaning to so many and has been and still is often repeated.

Yet, almost 50 years later, our President is being maligned and disparaged for daring to speak to students and to ask them the very same thing.  For those who continue to despise Obama and criticize every step and every move he makes, I am providing the text of the speech, long as it is. 

But, I imagine there will still be those who will find a hidden “agenda” somewhere in the words Obama will deliver tomorrow in Arlington, Virginia.

Prepared Remarks of President Barack Obama Back to School Event Arlington, Virginia
September 8, 2009
 

The President: Hello everyone – how’s everybody doing today? I’m here with students at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Virginia. And we’ve got students tuning in from all across America, kindergarten through twelfth grade. I’m glad you all could join us today. 

I know that for many of you, today is the first day of school. And for those of you in kindergarten, or starting middle or high school, it’s your first day in a new school, so it’s understandable if you’re a little nervous. I imagine there are some seniors out there who are feeling pretty good right now, with just one more year to go. And no matter what grade you’re in, some of you are probably wishing it were still summer, and you could’ve stayed in bed just a little longer this morning.

I know that feeling. When I was young, my family lived in Indonesia for a few years, and my mother didn’t have the money to send me where all the American kids went to school. So she decided to teach me extra lessons herself, Monday through Friday – at 4:30 in the morning.   

Now I wasn’t too happy about getting up that early. A lot of times, I’d fall asleep right there at the kitchen table. But whenever I’d complain, my mother would just give me one of those looks and say, “This is no picnic for me either, buster.”

So I know some of you are still adjusting to being back at school. But I’m here today because I have something important to discuss with you. I’m here because I want to talk with you about your education and what’s expected of all of you in this new school year. 

Now I’ve given a lot of speeches about education. And I’ve talked a lot about responsibility.

I’ve talked about your teachers’ responsibility for inspiring you, and pushing you to learn. 

I’ve talked about your parents’ responsibility for making sure you stay on track, and get your homework done, and don’t spend every waking hour in front of the TV or with that Xbox. 

I’ve talked a lot about your government’s responsibility for setting high standards, supporting teachers and principals, and turning around schools that aren’t working where students aren’t getting the opportunities they deserve. 

But at the end of the day, we can have the most dedicated teachers, the most supportive parents, and the best schools in the world – and none of it will matter unless all of you fulfill your responsibilities. Unless you show up to those schools; pay attention to those teachers; listen to your parents, grandparents and other adults; and put in the hard work it takes to succeed. 

And that’s what I want to focus on today: the responsibility each of you has for your education. I want to start with the responsibility you have to yourself. 

Every single one of you has something you’re good at. Every single one of you has something to offer. And you have a responsibility to yourself to discover what that is. That’s the opportunity an education can provide. 

Maybe you could be a good writer – maybe even good enough to write a book or articles in a newspaper – but you might not know it until you write a paper for your English class. Maybe you could be an innovator or an inventor – maybe even good enough to come up with the next iPhone or a new medicine or vaccine – but you might not know it until you do a project for your science class. Maybe you could be a mayor or a Senator or a Supreme Court Justice, but you might not know that until you join student government or the debate team.

And no matter what you want to do with your life – I guarantee that you’ll need an education to do it. You want to be a doctor, or a teacher, or a police officer? You want to be a nurse or an architect, a lawyer or a member of our military? You’re going to need a good education for every single one of those careers. You can’t drop out of school and just drop into a good job. You’ve got to work for it and train for it and learn for it.

And this isn’t just important for your own life and your own future. What you make of your education will decide nothing less than the future of this country. What you’re learning in school today will determine whether we as a nation can meet our greatest challenges in the future. 

You’ll need the knowledge and problem-solving skills you learn in science and math to cure diseases like cancer and AIDS, and to develop new energy technologies and protect our environment. You’ll need the insights and critical thinking skills you gain in history and social studies to fight poverty and homelessness, crime and discrimination, and make our nation more fair and more free. You’ll need the creativity and ingenuity you develop in all your classes to build new companies that will create new jobs and boost our economy. 

We need every single one of you to develop your talents, skills and intellect so you can help solve our most difficult problems. If you don’t do that – if you quit on school – you’re not just quitting on yourself, you’re quitting on your country. 

Now I know it’s not always easy to do well in school. I know a lot of you have challenges in your lives right now that can make it hard to focus on your schoolwork.

I get it. I know what that’s like. My father left my family when I was two years old, and I was raised by a single mother who struggled at times to pay the bills and wasn’t always able to give us things the other kids had. There were times when I missed having a father in my life. There were times when I was lonely and felt like I didn’t fit in. 

So I wasn’t always as focused as I should have been. I did some things I’m not proud of, and got in more trouble than I should have. And my life could have easily taken a turn for the worse. 

But I was fortunate. I got a lot of second chances and had the opportunity to go to college, and law school, and follow my dreams. My wife, our First Lady Michelle Obama, has a similar story. Neither of her parents had gone to college, and they didn’t have much. But they worked hard, and she worked hard, so that she could go to the best schools in this country.

Some of you might not have those advantages. Maybe you don’t have adults in your life who give you the support that you need. Maybe someone in your family has lost their job, and there’s not enough money to go around. Maybe you live in a neighborhood where you don’t feel safe, or have friends who are pressuring you to do things you know aren’t right. 

But at the end of the day, the circumstances of your life – what you look like, where you come from, how much money you have, what you’ve got going on at home – that’s no excuse for neglecting your homework or having a bad attitude. That’s no excuse for talking back to your teacher, or cutting class, or dropping out of school. That’s no excuse for not trying. 

Where you are right now doesn’t have to determine where you’ll end up. No one’s written your destiny for you. Here in America, you write your own destiny. You make your own future. 

That’s what young people like you are doing every day, all across America. 

Young people like Jazmin Perez, from Roma, Texas. Jazmin didn’t speak English when she first started school. Hardly anyone in her hometown went to college, and neither of her parents had gone either. But she worked hard, earned good grades, got a scholarship to Brown University, and is now in graduate school, studying public health, on her way to being Dr. Jazmin Perez.

I’m thinking about Andoni Schultz, from Los Altos, California, who’s fought brain cancer since he was three. He’s endured all sorts of treatments and surgeries, one of which affected his memory, so it took him much longer – hundreds of extra hours – to do his schoolwork. But he never fell behind, and he’s headed to college this fall. 

And then there’s Shantell Steve, from my hometown of Chicago, Illinois. Even when bouncing from foster home to foster home in the toughest neighborhoods, she managed to get a job at a local health center; start a program to keep young people out of gangs; and she’s on track to graduate high school with honors and go on to college.

Jazmin, Andoni and Shantell aren’t any different from any of you. They faced challenges in their lives just like you do. But they refused to give up. They chose to take responsibility for their education and set goals for themselves. And I expect all of you to do the same. 

That’s why today, I’m calling on each of you to set your own goals for your education – and to do everything you can to meet them. Your goal can be something as simple as doing all your homework, paying attention in class, or spending time each day reading a book. Maybe you’ll decide to get involved in an extracurricular activity, or volunteer in your community. Maybe you’ll decide to stand up for kids who are being teased or bullied because of who they are or how they look, because you believe, like I do, that all kids deserve a safe environment to study and learn. Maybe you’ll decide to take better care of yourself so you can be more ready to learn. And along those lines, I hope you’ll all wash your hands a lot, and stay home from school when you don’t feel well, so we can keep people from getting the flu this fall and winter.

Whatever you resolve to do, I want you to commit to it. I want you to really work at it. 

I know that sometimes, you get the sense from TV that you can be rich and successful without any hard work — that your ticket to success is through rapping or basketball or being a reality TV star, when chances are, you’re not going to be any of those things. 

But the truth is, being successful is hard. You won’t love every subject you study. You won’t click with every teacher. Not every homework assignment will seem completely relevant to your life right this minute. And you won’t necessarily succeed at everything the first time you try.

That’s OK.  Some of the most successful people in the world are the ones who’ve had the most failures. JK Rowling’s first Harry Potter book was rejected twelve times before it was finally published. Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team, and he lost hundreds of games and missed thousands of shots during his career. But he once said, “I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.” 

These people succeeded because they understand that you can’t let your failures define you – you have to let them teach you. You have to let them show you what to do differently next time. If you get in trouble, that doesn’t mean you’re a troublemaker, it means you need to try harder to behave. If you get a bad grade, that doesn’t mean you’re stupid, it just means you need to spend more time studying. 

No one’s born being good at things, you become good at things through hard work. You’re not a varsity athlete the first time you play a new sport. You don’t hit every note the first time you sing a song. You’ve got to practice. It’s the same with your schoolwork. You might have to do a math problem a few times before you get it right, or read something a few times before you understand it, or do a few drafts of a paper before it’s good enough to hand in. 

Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Don’t be afraid to ask for help when you need it. I do that every day. Asking for help isn’t a sign of weakness, it’s a sign of strength. It shows you have the courage to admit when you don’t know something, and to learn something new. So find an adult you trust – a parent, grandparent or teacher; a coach or counselor – and ask them to help you stay on track to meet your goals. 

And even when you’re struggling, even when you’re discouraged, and you feel like other people have given up on you – don’t ever give up on yourself. Because when you give up on yourself, you give up on your country.

The story of America isn’t about people who quit when things got tough. It’s about people who kept going, who tried harder, who loved their country too much to do anything less than their best. 

It’s the story of students who sat where you sit 250 years ago, and went on to wage a revolution and found this nation. Students who sat where you sit 75 years ago who overcame a Depression and won a world war; who fought for civil rights and put a man on the moon. Students who sat where you sit 20 years ago who founded Google, Twitter and Facebook and changed the way we communicate with each other.

So today, I want to ask you, what’s your contribution going to be? What problems are you going to solve? What discoveries will you make? What will a president who comes here in twenty or fifty or one hundred years say about what all of you did for this country?  

Your families, your teachers, and I are doing everything we can to make sure you have the education you need to answer these questions. I’m working hard to fix up your classrooms and get you the books, equipment and computers you need to learn. But you’ve got to do your part too. So I expect you to get serious this year. I expect you to put your best effort into everything you do. I expect great things from each of you. So don’t let us down – don’t let your family or your country or yourself down. Make us all proud. I know you can do it.

Thank you, God bless you, and God bless America.

Notice, the bolded words follow pretty much the same message delivered by a great president nearly 50 years ago, a message that has been held in high regard and seen as one of the greatest remarks made – oft-quoted by Democrats and Republicans alike.  Fifty years ago, the urging by President Kennedy was seen as something good and right – what can you do as a citizen of this great Nation to help her.

Now, 50 years later, the same message is being labeled as socialistic in nature – a march toward dictatorship – a flirting with communism – all because it is asking the youth of this Nation to think about their future and what they can do to help our country.

Because President Barack Obama has the audacity to ask the same question of millions of students in thousands of classrooms across one great Nation, he is drawing the wrath of many Republicans in all corners of this Nation. 

He is asking that students take ownership of their education – something that many have been preaching for decades.  He is asking that the responsibilities of citizenship of this Nation not wait until the ballot lever is pulled.  He is asking that our youth recognize how much it takes to build and improve our great Nation and take ownership of contributing to its success and good fortune.

Imagine that – the audacity of hope in our young people   – – the audacity to think that students should and will be encouraged to understand the importance of education  —  the audacity to ask that students think about their education and how they, too, can ask  “Not what my country can do for me, but what can I do for my country.” 

Imagine that.

President Barack Obama will deliver a message of encouragement to students across the Nation on September 8, 2009 (Photo Credit: Boston.com)

REPUBLICAN IDIOCY CONTINUES OVER OBAMA ADDRESS TO SCHOOL CHILDREN

President Obama is planning to address the nation’s school children next week.  Of course, Republicans are having a hissy fit and throwing out all kinds of statements accusing Obama of potential indoctrination of the millions who may be allowed to listen to his remarks.   Heaven forbid, our children may just be inspired to continue with their education and realize how important graduation can be.

How quickly the Repubs forget – or simply ignore the fact that Bush 41 (Daddy Bush) did the very same thing in 1991 during his presidency.  The full text of his speech can be found preserved in the George H.W. Bush Presidential Library for posterity – or should I say for embarrassment of the now-whining and crying Republicans.

The fact is that there is a hatred in this country for President Obama, and the right-wing nuts are fanning the flames of that hatred by screaming at everything the president does or doesn’t do.  Blogsters like Michelle Malkin post misleading articles and her duped readers spit out their hate-filled comments without even bothering to check out that this isn’t the first time in history a president has addressed the school children of this country with a message of the importance of education.

Let’s face it – the Repubs look like twits since one of their very own took to the airwaves to deliver a speech about the importance of education to millions of school children – wow what an awful thing to do!  Sure, the Democrats criticized Bush 41 for what they believed was a political ploy and a poor use of eduction money.  But their criticism in no way comes near the level of the plain downright hate-filled rhetoric being spewed by today’s clutch of whiners – likening Obama’s purpose to Nazi tactics and the implanting of a socialistic agenda in the minds of all the school children who will listen to the speech.

Let’s hope that the hundreds of school systems around this country don’t cave to the fear-mongering and name-calling that have become such intrinsic characteristics of  the Republicans.

President Obama will address the nation's school children on Tuesday, September 8th

DELUSIONAL DOBBS

Lou Dobbs has become delusional in his old age.  Despite the fact that the election is going on 9 months old, and Obama was clearly elected president, Dobbs continues his fanatical harping about Obama’s birth certificate.  CNN, placed in a delicate position, has put the kibosh – kinda – on Dobbs’ unending banter about Obama’s birth.

CNN checked out the story and found it wasn’t much of a story.  Dobbs was told to explain CNN’s findings and then end his constant twittering about the issue.  But Dobbs continued to talk about the story that has given rise to what has become known as the “Birther Movement”,  a fringe movement that is dedicated to the conspiracy that Obama really wasn’t born here in the good ‘ole US of A and, is, therefore, ineligible to be president of the United States.

Seems some sore losers just can’t get over the fact that Obama won the election.   But Dobbs may just have shot himself in the foot.  During the month of May, according to an analysis of Nielsen data, Dobbs’ 7 p.m. program on CNN averaged 657,000 total viewers and 181,000 in the key 25-to-54 demographic—numbers that were down a whopping 29 percent and 27 percent, respectively, as compared to May of 2008.

Perhaps his audience is just plain tired of Dobbs and his grandiose delusion that Obama really isn’t the president.

CNN talking head just can't get over Obama victory

WOMEN – 50% OF THE POPULATION AND ONLY 11% OF THE SUPREME COURT

Finally, after the Bush farce of selecting Harriet Miers in 2005 as his appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court to replace Sandra Day O’Conner, we now get the chance to have a woman once again claim a rightful seat to the high Court.  Bush and his advisers knew that selecting a less-than-qualified woman who would be bounced would allow Bush to argue that “see, I tried.”  And then he could go to his original plan of selecting a male to fill the seat emptied by Sandra Day O’Conner.

While women make up just a tad over 50% of the population, they have continuously been relegated to second-class status when it comes to seats on the Supreme Court. Currently, the Court has only one woman – Ruth Bader Ginsburg – for a whopping 11% of the Court’s composition.  Even when two women sat on the high court, the percentage remained at only 22% – far below the 50% of the population represented by women.

A number of  presidents have looked to good ‘ole males to fill Supreme Court seats despite the fact that many qualified candidates could have been found.  But now President Obama has selected a woman, Sonia Sotomayor, as his pick to replace retiring justice David Souter, ending the guessing game and the trash-talking about women’s weight and health as criteria to sit on the high bench.  Simply assanine.

What a dilema for Republicans.  On one hand, Sotomayor represents the “pull-yourself-up-by-the-bootstraps” philosophy about which Republicans are so want to preen and crow.  She was born in the Bronx and grew up in a public housing project.  Her mother worked six days a week to raise her and her brother.

Sotomayor later graduated summa cum laude from Princeton University and went on to attend Yale law school, where she was editor of the Yale Law Journal – probably under one of those oh-so-dreaded affirmative action quotas about which Republicans nash their teeth.

Republicans will be forced to find something wrong with her even though she was appointed to the federal bench by George H.W. Bush – a Republican.  This could be interesting.  Yes, indeed, Republicans may just be forced to confront their “speak-with-forked-tongue” philosophy.

CATHOLIC HIERARCHY OUT OF TOUCH – OBAMA REACHES OUT TO SOOTHE

President Obama was warmly welcomed at the University of Notre Dame – proving that many Catholic students, parents, friends, and relatives were able to keep a saner and calmer mind than the 35% of the Catholic hierarchy who decided to equate President Obama’s presence with Judas-like treachery.

Apparently, the 35% have forgotten that Pope Benedict had issued a position paper saying the death penalty “is not only a refusal of the right to life, but it also is an affront to human dignity”  and went right ahead and hosted George W. Bush – fondly known as the Texecutioner.  Ah, where were those protestors then?  Or could it be that many of the so righteously indignant cherry-pick which tenents of the Catholic faith to uphold?

Despite alumni attempts to coerce Father John Jenkins to retract the University’s invitation to President Obama, Father Jenkins remained steadfast in upholding the University’s tradition – beginning in 1960 with then-President Eisenhower delivering the first such address – of hosting the President of the United States as its commencement day speaker.

And, President Obama did not disappoint.  Even those who originally objected to Obama’s presence and receipt of an honorary degree were pleased with his speech.  The President refused to duck and weave and dodge the issue of abortion and, instead, confronted the uncomfortable topic head on, urging respect and civility with”open hearts, open minds, fair-minded words.”

Protesters in the crowd sporadically interrupted Obama’s commencement address before they were shouted down by the rest of the graduates.  Imagine that – the very idea that many of the soon-to-be graduates really wanted to hear what the President had to say.

Obama – with grace and courage – faced the task of stepping onto a stage knowing full well that a tempest was brewing outside the University stirred by the likes of outsiders Randall Terry and Alan Keyes – the perennial political candidate who was drafted to challenge Obama in the 2004 Illinois Senate race despite never having lived in Illinois.

But despite the efforts of Terry and Keyes to turn the graduation ceremony into a fiasco, the tempest remained in its teapot, the Catholic hierarchy remained out of touch, and Obama reached out to those with opposite views.

Photo Credit:  University of Notre Dame

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OBAMA TO GO AFTER CORPORATE OFFSHORE TAX HAVENS

In what will be a test of his ability to stave off powerful lobbies, President Obama will go after offshore tax havens used by corporations.  Originally established to ease a double tax burden for companies that set up operations overseas, the tax laws have provided havens for corporate avoidance of their fair share.

The top corporate tax rate is 35 percent, but the U.S. Treasury Department estimated that in 2004, the most recent year for which data is available, American multinationals paid $16 billion in taxes on $700 billion in foreign income — an effective rate of 2.3 percent.  Oh, snap – I can just hear the whining of the corporations about how much they pay in taxes.

Of course, the corporations have the right to set up business anywhere they believe they can exploit the local economy and environment.  That isn’t going to change, but if that is what they want to do, then there is a price to pay.

The proposals would especially hit pharmaceutical, technology, financial and consumer goods companies — among them Goldman Sachs, Microsoft, Pfizer, and Gamble Company – that have major overseas operations or subsidiaries in tax havens like the Cayman Islands.

Here is my take – too bad.  Move your company business overseas, taking American jobs, and you deserve to pay double taxes.  I am sure the lobbying efforts of the corporations; however, will result in tempering President Obama’s efforts to plug the tax haven loophole.

Map of tax havens

Image credit:  Google Images and Transnationale.org

REPUBLICANS – UNITED THEY STAND BUT STILL THEY FALL

After eight years of disastrous deficit policies – six of those years under complete Republican domination – Republicans have now decided that party unity trumps all else – hey, they’ve got their groove on again.    They have turned into a bunch of whining, sore losers using their pulpits from an oft-empty congressional chamber to sputter their righteous indignation at the stimulus plan and its efforts to stimulate the economy.   Not one single Republican in the House voted for the Plan, and only three voted for it in the Senate.

They have determined that no matter what, they will not support the policies of President Obama.  But given the numbers, it doesn’t look like Republicans are really needed for most legislation.

Ironic isn’t it how Republicans watched and cowered for six years as their party’s president virtually ignored their own touted fiscal conservative policies.  Now that their backs are up against the wall, they have decided to fly home to roost on those policies,  railing against the stimulus plan as if their lives depended on it.  And, perhaps they do – their political lives that is.  They are hedging their bets that the stimulus plan won’t work and that the failure will lead to a comeback in 2010.

The danger, of course, is that if the plan works even partially, the Republicans stand to garner the continued wrath of the American voter – as was reflected in the last two election cycles which saw both the House and Senate revert to Democratic control – a repudiation of the Republican party and its posititons.  They could lose even more seats and could very well see the historical writing on the wall.  Republicans have become the obstructionists, and I am betting they will pay dearly for their new-found party unity ploy.

AN ARTICULATE, INTELLIGENT, AND REASONED PRESIDENT – I LOVE IT!

I listened to Obama’s first press conference last night, and I was taken aback.  Why?  Well, after eight years of a man who could barely string a coherent sentence together in desperate attempts to explain his imperialistic view of the world, we now have a president who can string together whole paragraphs that actually make sense.

While I do think sometimes Obama took a tad too long to respond, I imagine it is because he actually has a thought process going on in his mind – something Bush sorely lacked.   I bet Obama’s ability to address press questions with ease and directness irritates the Republicans who are so intent on deep sixing his plans for our recovery.

After all, Republicans are backed into a corner.  They no longer control anything, let alone their futures.  If they continue to oppose Obama, they run the risk of losing even more seats in 2010 – especially if Obama’s stimulus plan salvages this nation from eight years of an imperial presidency intent only on restructuring the Middle East rather than paying attention to his own constituency.

Photo Credit:  Google Images

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President Obama at first news conference

Photo Credit:  New York Times