All Hamsters, Go Here...

http://cpc.grijalva.house.gov

This will take you to the Congressional Progressive Caucus website where you can read/download The People's Budget. I am challenging each of you to read it and offer your comments either here or via email (potterblog09@gmail.com) or mvpotter@socal.rr.com or on facebook. I really want to know what you folks think of this proposal.

Thanks, and I look forward to hearing from you to discuss this.

HP

4-21: Ramblings from the Wheel

Does anyone else find it ironic that the Republicans hate welfare for people who need it and in favor of welfare for corporations and the wealthy who obviously don't? I mean, subsidies for the largest corporations in the world, tax loopholes and breaks for the corporate crowd, and tax breaks to the upper 2% all while eviscerating social programs, education, and services for the poor. Ridiculous.

Nice to see Obama take on the futures market as regards to the gas prices. Now, put some teeth to it and get it done.

Trump can sound as presidential as he wants, he'll never run. Why? Because he would have to disclose his wealth, or lack of it, and he's not about to do that. The last thing Trump wants is for folks to know the facts of his finances and business dealings. Every aspect of his life will be investigated and I'm pretty confident there are as many skeletons in his closet as there are in mine, and I can't run for President, either. Making noise to try and keep his show on TV, that's all this is.

Did you catch former RNC Chairman Michael Steele on Ed Schultz tonight? It was classic! Ed brought on two public sector workers, one a fireman from Florida and the other a policeman who had both been life-long Republicans until their respective Republican governors began their campaigns against them and the middle class. It was amazing to watch Steele trying to deflect and plead ignorance of the issues. He was even called out for his pandering by the firefighter. When Steele started the segment, he thanked them for their service as first responders. The firefighter responded by saying that he was tired of Republicans always starting the conversation with a "thank you, but...", which caused a visible reaction by Steele. Both of these stalwart Republicans have switched sides, and yet Steele's only answer when pressed as to what the Republican Party should do to regain their votes was, "Let me be clear. I no longer speak for the Republican Party." Fabulous.

If an overwhelming majority of your constituents do not support your policies and you continue to push them anyway, then are you not proving that your constituents are not the voters, they are the checkbook holders? Yes, you are. And that's exactly what the Republican Party is doing. You aren't going to win any elections with 400 votes.

And finally, a bartender in Wisconsin was offering free shots to anyone who would sign his petition to recall one of the Wisconsin 14. No such tactics were necessary for the Republican petitions, which have 140% more signatures than needed. And, there will be an recount for the Supreme Court election AND an investigation of the clerk who "found" 7500 votes that tipped the election in favor or her former boss.

Sleep well, Hamsters!

HP

4-20: Wheel Ramblings

After The Donald throws Michele Bachmann off the Birther Train, he jumps off for a couple of stops to make sense...what? After telling an interviewer that there was no need to raise taxes on the rich, he goes on to say that we need to bring jobs back to America. Really? A Republican suggesting that we bring jobs back? Not the same thing as job creation, but this is unheard of. This is so anti-Chamber of Commerce talk that he may likely have cut off any financial support he might have otherwise gotten.

Five of the eight Republican Senators in Wisconsin that can be recalled are about to face the voters. Let the process begin! And in other Wisconsin news, Paul Ryan went home to boos at town hall meetings largely attended by his OWN supporters. Huge numbers of people in this country oppose his ideas (including a majority of + Partiers), and he's finding his own constituents don't like what he's proposing.

Nothing else to present tonight. I have a couple of other things I need to get done, so I will be back as soon as possible. Until then, stay safe!

Hamster Prez

4-15: Ramblings from the Wheel

The Tea Party is not new. It's the re-branded evangelical right we all remember from the '90's. These morons were willing to shut down the government and make us the laughing stock of the world over Planned Parenthood. That has nothing to do with budgets or deficits or fiscal responsibility. From now on here at the Hamster Paradigm they will be referred to as the + Party because it's all about their practice of religious myopia.

Speaking of things having nothing to do with budgets, did you catch Scott Walker's grilling on Capital Hill today? Dude got beaten up. Had to admit that his collective bargaining fight had nothing to do with money, except the money his benefactors expected. He even got nailed on his hiring of donor's kin, known as cronyism, and the punk'd Koch brother call. It was not at all what he was expecting 'cuz his face was the very definition of defeat. Pretty sure that's not the new face of the Republican Party.

Obama sounded pretty fired up tonight in Chicago. Good, I say. I want him a little pissed off and, like the rest of us, a little afraid. Maybe, just maybe, he might be starting the realize he's the President of the United States and he needs to lead, not be led.

Don't ever forget what Paul Ryan said when he introduced his Medicare destroying budget proposal: "This is not a budget, it's a cause." Oh, and it takes 75 years to attain it's goals. Yep. Won't be around to see that.

Comedians everywhere are mourning the passing of Glenn Beck's Traveling Sideshow. Oh, he'll end up somewhere, but I bet it won't be following Olbermann on Current this spring. Love Keith, but that was a pretty obscure place to re-surface. Then again, he might just be the thing that puts it on the dial. Beck's too ego-maniacal and maniacal in general to fade into obscurity. He's not done being kicked around.

The Governor of Montana, Democrat Brian Schweitzer did an amazing thing today. He vetoed every single piece of Republican legislation that had passed with a series of "veto" branding irons on the steps of the capital building. “These bills are either frivolous, unconstitutional or in direct contradiction to the expressed will of the people of Montana,” said Governor Brian Schweitzer. I copied that from his own website. Grandstanding? Yep. But effective. You Tube has the video, as does Rachel Maddow's bog.

That man, folks, is a Big D Democrat.

Good night, Hamsters,

Hamster Prez

Obama's Legacy: Missed Opportunities

President Obama spoke today, his campaign kick-off speech if you will, by sounding like he may have finally found out where they keep his balls. Now we'll have to wait and see if they let him have them. I believe that his greatest failing as a politician and, more importantly as President, is his unwavering need to be liked. He wants all the kids in the sandbox to play with him and hold hands and sing songs. He had both houses of Congress and his own office and the last thing he needed to do was negotiate. He would only play by the rules of bipartisanship with an opponent who made up the rules as they went along.

Medicare for all turned into a life vest and rope for the health insurance industry. Wall Street reform became nothing of the sort. Not only were the criminals responsible for a global financial meltdown never prosecuted, they've been rewarded time and time again. He creates a Consumer Protection Agency and puts in charge probably the most sensible person in the country, and I've heard virtually nothing about it since. He puts in charge of a new commission to explore economic and job growth the CEO of a company that got a $3.5 billion dollar tax refund on over $14 billion dollars of profit. Huh?

Immigration reform disappeared from the conversation after the mid-terms. A Congresswoman gets shot in the head and no real move on gun and/or ammunition control is taken. Protecting the environment lost out to the monied interests in the energy business. And less than a year after the worst environmental disaster in this country's history, his administration is issuing new deep-water drilling permits to the very same companies that caused it. Worse, they're doing that before their investigation is complete and against the recommendations of an independent Dutch engineering firm who reported that the blow out-preventers currently in use simply do not work.  

He did nothing to repeal DADT except start the conversation. Secretary Gates, Admiral Mullin, and the brave service members who spoke out like Lt. Col. Farenbach, Lt. Dan Choi and others deserve all the credit. He did not close Gitmo. He allowed the inhumane imprisonment Bradly Manning. He not only didn't end two wars, or demand a means to at least pay for them, he committed military resources in a third.

Did he do the Libya thing right? That depends on whether or not you can say military intervention and bombing in the same sentence with "for humanitarian reasons" and reconcile that in your head. Maybe I'm old fashioned, but killing people doesn't seem humanitarian to me and is not justifiable. Especially in a case where you only really need to kill one.

He has so far failed to put on the "pair of comfortable shoes" and march in the protests like he said he would if there was an assault on the unions and middle class. In fact, he's said virtually nothing at all. Huge majorities of the people in this country are against what is happening in their states, and the national party is staying out of it. The country wants you and all you do is stand there smiling.

Missed opportunities all. And there are many more. The worst of all, and this goes back to the beginning, he lost control of the conversation, the message as the pundits like to put it, and has never gotten it back. The right wing media machine always has been bigger and more powerful than the lefts, who can't even keep a radio network alive, and he either completely misunderstood that or he thought that being reasonable would make more people like him more. Yes, I meant to say it that way.

I hope that what I heard today is what he'll do tomorrow. I hope he means it and stands straight and to the left of Anthony Weiner and Bernie Sanders...but still somewhat right of Alan Grayson. Barack Obama has to stop protecting us from the bully by giving him his lunch money. Doing that doesn't give the bully any reason to stop being a bully. In fact, it incentive's him. Look how many times the end zone got moved in the budget battle. He gave them $6.5 million more in cuts than they asked for and ultimately that amount is spread out over years, so the immediate impact of all this hand-wringing amounts to less than 1% of the cuts. Who really won that?

And saving Planned Parenthood only cost a billion dollars.

I want to believe. I really do. As a Denver Broncos fan, I've seen many a first quarter that sucked only to have the team shake it off and play better. Mr. Obama is John Elway and it's time for a spinning tackle near the goal line of the Super Bowl. It's time for The Drive. More often than not it's one player on a team that sparks a comeback and more often than not the person is the team leader.

Mr. Obama, it's time to unite your party and get out with the people if you want a second term. Take the lead on the issues that matter to us. If you're going to use the (D) behind your title, start acting like one. And the next time you have the opportunity that you missed today, use a tone that sounds more like you mean it. Stop trying to be the bully's friend and kick a little butt. You kicked sand in their faces and they immediately cried. Good. One thing I learned a long time ago and in a very painful way was that when you stand up to the bully or fight back, win or lose the bullying stops.

Mr. President, it is time for you to lead.

Sincerely,

Hamster Prez

And the Tug of War Begins 4/6/11

On one end of the rope are the Money and on the other the People. I have no omniscience about the outcome, but I sure hope it's the latter. After all, there are 400 of them and 300 million of us. It all really comes down to money and their belief that they can buy the system, the process, and us with it.

We can't let that be our future.

Next, I want a viable Democrat to run against Obama. I mean a real damn Democrat, not the Social Republican we have now. Short of that, I'll take a majority in both Houses again and maybe we can actually get some stuff done. But I'm losing more and more faith in the President as the guy who can fix the messes we're in. He is without question a very smart man, and perhaps the only adult in the room in DC. But he doesn't know diddly about how to do capital P Politics.

A Rolls Royce with a driver named Boehner just pulled up to the White House and handed a silver tray with a box and beautiful bow on it that contains the keys to the government next year. And they don't know what to do with it. Or at least they haven't indicated that they do. Stupid Democrats.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court race was a blotch on our legal and political systems. Yes, I'm glad the liberal one won. But I'm not happy about the why. See, it means that if Walker's illegal bill makes it to that once august body it means that it will likely be overturned. And while that's a good thing, what it really means is that I wanted the other candidate to lose because he would do the opposite and that is not what a Supreme Court is supposed to be about. It's supposed to be the final check in the balance of things and it has been perverted by the political process and financial gain.

Citizens United, anyone?

But the alternative, appointment, isn't any better. It does however provide one thing that elections don't, which is a thorough investigation by the other branches. Sometimes they get in because one party has enough votes to approve them easily, like Justice Roberts.

But they are both corrupted by money.

I have said this before, and I will keep on saying it: It has to be about what's right, not who's right. It has been pointed out to me that "right" is subjective and while that's true, I think the majority of us have a pretty good sense of fair play and that what we really want is to just be left alone to enjoy whatever time we have on the planet.

Corporations are not, regardless of the Supreme Court's opinion, people. And as such, they have no compassion or sense of fairness. They have but one objective and that is to post profits, no matter what it costs. There was a segment on Rachel Maddow tonight that talked about this, and I urge you to go check it out at msnbc.com

As a Midwesterner, I am shocked by the outcome of the court race in Wisconsin. The new head of Milwaukee is a Democrat who beat his opponent by almost 2/3. A mere couple of hundred votes difference in the court race is fundamentally incongruous. The values of the Midwest have changed, it seems from when I was a lad there.

I apologize again for the intermittent posts. I find that I require more mental health days lately as the stupidity levels increase.

And the realization that when one looks at the bigger picture, all of this seems pretty petty. The bees are dying in rapid number. The earth is literally falling apart. And we're fighting over imaginary money and perceptions of power.

It's really become rather pathetic.

Maybe we could just start over. You know, replace every last one of our elected officials with people who aren't bought and paid for and who have but one goal and that is to return this country to its core principles and values. You know, where all People are created equal, have the same rights and protections, and where the public and private sectors actually worked together instead of this cat/mouse game they're playing now.

Can we give this country its soul back? I think so, if we haven't collectively lost our own.

Hamster Prez

Comments welcome, here or on facebook. Thanks for reading.