A Progressive Option?

Are progressives now an option in Congress? It has been within progressives control since January 20th if not Election Day last year. By “it” I mean their ability to influence national policy on some issues, the biggest and most important of which is arguably health care reform. But they don’t seem to have done it.

The first draft of yesterday’s blog contained the question “Where are the progressives?” I took it out Monday night because progressive Democrats drew a “line in the sand” on Monday (and we all know how solid and unmovable sand is) about the public option being included in anything that comes out of Congress and goes to Obama’s desk.

Being pro-active is very helpful to get what you want. This may be a gross generalization, but I think most progressives are so passive and peaceful that they even think fighting for what’s right is wrong. Get some cojones! Get your knuckles bloody if you have to!

Today I called the police at the building I manage because the problem-causing guest of a less-than-admirable tenant molested one of my tenants. Yesterday the guest caused another problem which brought everything forward. Now it is a matter of building the case against the tenant which will legally force him to leave because he did not believe he had to control his guest which allowed the guest to molest the tenant. Drugs were involved, of course. Containing and removing threats to other tenants’ peaceful enjoyment of their premises is part of my job and doesn’t happen if I just sit in my office and wait for things to resolve themselves or complain that I have no control over my building.

This is what progressives must do continuously from health care forward because I don’t think most mainstream Democrats have enough cojones to stand up to Republican bullying.

What may help progressives and Democrats in general with regard to public support of health care reform is to define the terms being used in the bills in Congress and the plans Obama has in mind.

At first hearing, who would know what a public option is just from hearing those two words? That sounds like public offering of a stock purchase. A co-op. What the hell? That’s a real estate term to most people. Couldn’t the brains behind Obama’s election and his campaign slogans not have invented terms which makes the specifics of health care reform easy to understand.

Perhaps like politics, landlord-tenant law in California does not always follow common sense or logic. But there is a framework with which I can protect my tenants.

Teabaggers and Astroturfers defined and owned health care debate in this country for a good month through town halls until last week when Obama finally came out of his cave and began to refute the outrageous myths which many Americans believed were true. Republicans defined the game while Obama and the Democrats were on the sidelines warming up. Playing catch up is not good politics.

Progressives need to get ahead of the scare tactic-question of health care reform providing free health care for illegal immigrants.

Should progressives not have started earlier to take control? Hell yes! Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi are simply not fighters. Don’t wait for them to do anything.

I don’t care if this is a recess or not. Reid needs to be on the phone to Max “Raucous” Baucus and Kent “Been had” Conrad and reign them in. I hope they have learned their lesson for agenda items in the future. As the Republicans become more and more controlled by the far right, doesn’t that not also mean that, conversely, lefty liberals should move to take control of the Democrats just to balance things out in America?? Maybe I’m nuts.

The work of the Democrats in the 2010 election, before they become the Dem-o-craps, should be to focus on defeating Grassley, Coburn, DeMint and Vitter.

If the Dems allow Stormy Daniels to be Vitter’s only challenger I will be move to Louisiana and vote for Vitter myself.

HEAVY AGONIZED SIGH

Are Lobbyists Doctors Too?

On January 29, 2002, during his State of the Union speech, George Bush stood before the American people and proclaimed that Iran, Iraq and North Korea were the “axis of evil” and accused these countries of helping terrorism and pursuing weapons of mass destruction. We all know how that turned out.

The only true axis of evil George Bush ever really knew (but wasn’t fully aware of) was he, Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld.

However, there is another triad of troublemakers who I call the “ass kiss of evil”. They are the insurance industry and American Medical Association, various congresspersons, mostly Republican, and these fake grassroots people screaming at congressional presentations. Thankfully, this Ass Kiss of Evil doesn’t have nukes.

Members of Congress (Senate and House) have excellent health insurance, US soldiers have government-run health care (except for Veterans) and yet many Members of Congress of the American people are siding with the enemies of the American people on health care reform despite the fact that the Constitution they are sworn to uphold makes our government, as Lincoln said in the Gettysburg Address, “of the People, by the People and for the People.”

The lobbying industry needs to be regulated. They have a python-like stranglehold on our democracy if they can invade sessions for public discourse on health care reform and disrupt it to the extent they have in recent days. If our government’s job is to first serve the people who elect them and then industry and commerce, lobbyists are cutting in line and usurping that process by calling out these groups of thugs and hooligans to prevent a public from being informed by their congresspersons..

With scenes of fake grassroots outrage at government all over our TV screens in the past few days, I have become inspired. I think to insure lobby reform, groups of citizens should flood Congressional offices and whenever insurance industry and pharmaceutical industry lobbyists begin selling their wares in congressional offices we should shout them down, call them liars and start chanting “Just Say No”.

Under our laws, persons who prevent others from receiving what is their due are in violation of either criminal or civil laws, or both.

Excessive lobbyists like the ones behind the thugs and hooligans are guilty of impeding the process of representative government. This should be illegal on some level and to some degree. There should be a well-drawn and restrictive line that lobbyists cannot cross which respects the needs of the people more than it presently does.

I’m sure if I use the word “people” one more time I’ll be accused of being a socialist.

America is the most rabid capitalist country in the world. What did Atticus Finch do to the rabid dog coming down the street in “To Kill a Mockingbird”? He shot and killed it.

That’s what needs to happen to the rabid aspects of American capitalism. They need to be shot like a dog on a dirt road. Swiftly. And the remains burned, not buried.

Greed is the rabies in the diseased minds of these raging capitalist dogs. Lobbyists are the infected foam dripping from their mouths.

And while our focus is now on lobbyists and the Republicans, it may well be Blue Dog Democrats who will destroy health care reform. Damned Blue Dogs. Those Democrats are rabid.

Where is Atticus Finch when we need him?

Congressman Christ: Episode One

Christ has returned to Earth for his Second Coming. In 2008, he ran for and won election to the U.S. House of Representatives from the 27th Congressional District of Texas in Corpus Christi.

In Episode One, we find Congressman Christ is being sworn in.

The air was tense as the other Congresspersons standing before Speaker Pelosi for their swearing in condemned Christ’s presence in secret whispers to each other at the ceremony because not one politician or news organization believed he was really Christ.

The world, with some exceptions, believed that Congressman Christ was a fraud, although fairly and legally elected by the people of Corpus Christi—a natural place for Christ to show up for his Second Coming, don’t you think?

In fact, in a 1999 PTL Club survey of the places Christ would appear for his Second Coming, Corpus Christi ranked just above Messiah, Indiana.

January 20, 2009 was a cold day in Washington as the newly-elected Congresspersons arrived in a steady procession of black Lincoln Towncars. Congressman Christ, however, just seemed to appear from out of the clouds.

The media was obsessed with Christ’s election, given that he ran as Christ and was elected as Christ. But because he was elected by a bunch of right-wing, Bible thumping, secessionist Texans, no one seriously believed he was Christ. The media viewed him as a fraud to be disproved with more fervor than they used when they blindly accepted and echoed President Bush’s call for war in Iraq. Perhaps because Texans elected Bush as governor, which led to him running for president, the country believed those Texans in Corpus Christi fell for another fraud.

CNN’s Wolf Blitzer ran a report titled “From Ezekiel to Electiel”. MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow interviewed Rick Warren who said he believed Congressman Christ was shorter than the “Christ” imprinted on the Shroud of Turin, and Fox News’s Julie Banderas proclaimed Congressman Christ “looked like he needed a bath and a haircut”.

As Congressman Christ ascended the steps of the U.S. Capitol, the reporters shouted at him questions, asking if he was really Jesus. And Congressman Christ turned to them and said, “An evil and adulterous generation shall seek after a sign, but there shall no sign be given unto it, except that Bill O’Reilly shall be cancelled.”

And lo, the media was skeptical. But Congressman Christ did not care. He quietly blessed all the children who joined Speaker Pelosi at her rostrum while John Dingell, the Dean of the Congress, administered the oath to Speaker Pelosi so that she, in turn, could swear in the new Members of Congress:

“Do you solemnly swear or affirm that you will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic, that you will bear true faith and allegiance to same, that you will take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion and that you will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which you are about to enter, so help you God.”

At that point many turned to see how Congressman Christ would respond. He simply said, “I do,” just as all the other newly-elected Congresspersons did.

“Congratulations, you are now Members of the 111th Congress,” Speaker Pelosi responded. Raucous applause and cheers followed.

Moments later, while Congressman Christ waited to have his photo taken with Pelosi (see above) a few Members of Congress came to ask if he would bless their careers. One of them was Michelle Bachmann, who asked Congressman Christ to expose the anti-Christians and anti-Americans. Congressman Christ obliged, which drew snickers from some of those assembled.

Finally, Congressman Christ was face to face with Pelosi. A nervous smile streaked across her face and a trembling, “You know I am Catholic,” crept from between her lips.

Congressman Christ nodded silently.

Pelosi sputtered, “Are you real?”

Congressman Christ nodded silently again.

Pelosi muttered, “I’d be happy to let the Pope know you’re here.”

Congressman Christ just looked at her. Finally, she could not control her nervousness.

“Am I…am I going to hell for…voting against the partial birth abortion ban?”

Congressman Christ looked away. Pelosi trembled, her knees weakened.

“What did I say about abortion the last time,” he queried.

“I—I don’t know. Thou shalt not kill?”

“That is what our Heavenly Father said.”

“What are we, uh, what are…we supposed to do, uh…about it—abortion?”

“That is why I have returned,” He said. They posed for the photo. The camera flashed and they turned to each other.

Pelosi looked at him with a hint of disbelief. Suddenly, Pelosi and Congressman Christ were in the desert. Pelosi was shocked and she turned to Him.

Suddenly, Newt Gingrich stepped before her and smiled. Horns protruded from his head. Pelosi was baffled then Gingrich made her see the whole world as if from a high mountain.

“All this I will give you if you will bow before me and, uh…give me your gavel.”

Pelosi looked at Congressman Christ, shaken and bewildered. Suddenly, they were back in the House Chamber.

Congressman Christ looked at her. “Satisfied,” He said. Pelosi was still shaken, but tried to maintain her composure knowing all eyes were on her. He looked at her, then turned and walked away.

Others, noticing Pelosi was visibly upset, became concerned. Soon, those who overheard their exchange started a flood of whispers about it as Congressman Christ walked up the aisle to the door, where he turned and said:

“Fear not my children. I have come to set the world right in the eyes of God.” And with that, He turned and left. Light laughter ensued, some nervous.

Join us next week for another rapturous episode of “Congressman Christ” when Jesus meets Michele Bachmann and gets his committee assignments.