A Political Rant

Two years ago, I would have found it hard to believe that, just a fews days before the midterm elections, the Democrats would find themselves in danger of losing both houses of Congress. They had just swept the national elections, and had elected a new, dynamic leader, who appeared (to me) to be the bold, intelligent leader we so desperately needed.

The Republican Party, on the other hand, seemed destined for hard times. They had presided over the worst economic debacle since the great depression and had lied their way into an unpopular and economically disastrous war in Iraq. Fewer jobs were produced during the Bush Administration than in any other administration since the Hoover Administration. The average American Family had found itself poorer at the end of the Bush Administration than they had at the beginning. When Bush had taken office, America was enjoying budget surpluses. By the time, Bush left office, we were facing record budget deficits. According to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, these deficits are largely attributed to three factors: the cost of the Iraqi War, the Bush tax cuts, and the great recession. (The great recession was, in turn, caused by the failure to properly regulate financial institutions, and the failure of the legal and accounting professions, more on this in subsequent posts). While Average Americans were suffering, the Bush Administration and the Federal Reserve bailed out the very same same corrupt financial institutions whose malfeasance had caused the financial crisis in the first place. Those corrupt financial institutions promptly turned around and used some of their bailout money to pay enormous bonuses to the very same individuals who had designed and implemented these schemes .

Sadly, the Democrats have squandered their chance to lead, and as a result we are threatened with Government by rabid Mob. By Rabid Mob, I mean the Tea Party. The tea-baggers, as they have chose to call themselves, are mad, and they are not going to take it anymore. By “it” they seem to mean government spending, bailouts for the unemployed, and people with too much melanin (especially those who live in a big white house in Washington D.C. or know some Spanish). I don't understand. There is plenty to be angry about. But this anger is misplaced. Excessive Government spending and over regulation is not what caused this massive unemployment, nor was it caused by brown people. It was caused by a failure to regulate the financial industry.

And who blocked the efforts to regulate the financial industry?

I Can't Help Myself

I just have to link to Professor Krugman.

Well, I’m back, with a new version of an old, unsuccessful blog. I figure if Wall Street and the politicians can keep spewing out the same, old nonse

Well, I’m back, with a new version of an old, unsuccessful blog. I figure if Wall Street and the politicians can keep spewing out the same, old nonsense year-after-year, Why not me?

Anyway, the new Fineline will be quite different from the old. It will cover a wider range of topics. I will also do most of my posting on the weekends, since I am so busy during the week. I encourage my readership, and I mean both of you, to participate, to challenge my assumptions, to educate me and, of course most importantly, to provide frequent praise and adoration.

I'm back with a new, even worse attempt at blogging.

The Democrats and Iraq

The Democrats have Bush right where they should want him. Unless Congress allocates more funds, Bush won't have the funds to continue military operations in Iraq after July. But the Democrats act like Bush has the upper hand. OY!

Our presence in Iraq does nothing for the Iraqi people: they want us out, ASAP. Our presence in Iraq harms our national security. We would be much safer here at home if we left. The American people want us out too. The American people voted Republicans out of Congress, mainly because they wanted out of Iraq.

But it looks like the Democrats in Congress are going to knuckle under to Bush and let him keep fighting his foolhardy debacle in Iraq. Bush and the Republican frame the issue in terms of supporting the troops and many Democrats run from cover. How is letting the troops die (and keeping them from their jobs and families)in a lost cause supporting the troops? Was it the troops' idea to go to Iraq? Why won't the Democrats take on this illogical argument?

Why? Why are the Democrat's committing political suicide? They were sent to Congress the clean up corruption and get us out of Iraq. The only way they can get us out of Iraq is to cut off funding. Now Congress' approval ratings are falling, especially among Democrats and Independents.

Right now a minority of the Democrats in Congress are bringing their party and much more importantly, their country, down. Its a profile in cowardice.

Gov. O'Malley Comes to HoCo

Last night I attended the Howard County Democratic Central Committee's Annual Jefferson-Jackson Day Dinner. As always the company was great. And for once the food was good. But in an evening of highlights, the highest and lightest highlight was the speech by Governor O'Malley.

I was especially heartened to hear the Guv's straight talk on Maryland's fiscal situation. The Governor correctly noted that his predecessor left him a mess and acknowledged that the Democrats will have to fix it. He noted that we need to cut waste, but also noted that our present fiscal circumstances, an expected 1.4 Billion shortfall, are largely the result of Governor Glendening's 10 percent income tax cut.

So let's do the right thing, roll back the Glendening tax cut for all but the poor and lower middle class and raise the INCOME taxes of the upper middle class and the wealthy.

Oh, and one other thing, Sen. Obama won the straw poll! Sen. Clinton took second, and Sen. Edwards took third.

Maryland's Budget Woes

Gov. O'Malley is seeking 200 million dollars worth of spending cuts. Why isn't he considering raising taxes, especially on the rich?

When will Americans learn? If you want good roads (or mass transit), schools, firefighters and first responders, police protection, environmental protection and to take care of the poor and disabled, you have to be willing pay for it. We are not spending enough on any of these needs.

This will be a test of the Governor, the Legislature and the voters of Maryland. For or kids' sake, lets hope we all pass this test.

Another Drunk Driving Victim

I hate this.

First people know better than to drink and drive and yet it still happens, often.

Second, why does it matter that the killer was an illegal immigrant? His lack of a visa did not kill that young man, his inability or unwillingness to use alcohol responsibly did.

Oy!

Al Gore was at UMBC Tonite

Wow was he ever powerful. Wow is our planet in trouble.

Gore gave an updated and much funnier version of the presentation that appeared in an Inconvenient Truth. It was one of the best presentations I have ever seen. far superior to the movie, which I recommend. Al was in great form too. I suspect he will run for President. His presentation was very political and made for a great campaign speech. Very, very impressive. He would make an excellent President.

And just think, he's the guy the American People chose to be President, which goes to show that we are much smarter and wiser than 5 of the justices who heard that case.

Belated Congratulations! To Columbia's New Political Dynasty

To my friend Evan Coren who is now Kings Contrivance's representative to the Columbia Council. While I agree with Evan more often than not, I don't always agree with him, especially about some issues concerning Downtown Columbia. But I do know that Evan will work hard to understand all sides of the issues he will be deciding and he will do what he thinks is best for Columbia, rather than what he thinks is best for Evan.

Congratulations are also in order for Evan's Mother, Ann Coren, who won the Election for the Owen Brown Village Board.

Belated sympathies are extended to almost every other local blogger. Since it seems all of them ran for office (with less fortune than Evan).

I'm Fine and I'm back.

I've been very very busy.

I stopped posting but people kept visiting the site. Thanks! And for those of you who asked about my well being, thanks for your concern.

There is so much to blog about: we are living interesting and scary times.

The Democratic Presidential Candidates Discuss Universal Healthcare

CNN's take.

The Post's take.

It disturbs me to see the discussion center about Universal Healthcare center around taxes.

Yes, we might have to raise taxes to enact Universal Healthcare. But every major industrialized nation but us has UHC. And they pay much, much less for healthcare than we do and have better results. In Europe and Asia, they pay about a fourth to a third of what we pay for healthcare and get better results. So while we might end up paying higher taxes, we won't have to pay health insurance premiums anymore.

Our Sad State of Affairs

Right now the United States Government is torturing people, spying on its citizens, and detaining people indefinitely without pressing charges or allowing representation by an attorney. Right now the President of the United States is contending that Congress has no oversite powers over the Executive branch. Recently, evidence has been revealed that indicating that the president's top aides, and maybe the president himself, plotted to press phony criminal charges against the opposition party.

Does this sound like an advanced, modern democracy to you?

Kudos to the House Democrats

The bill they passed forces Bush to either accept time limits for his debacle in Iraq or cut off funding.

Smart Move Democrats!

Watergate 2.0

The right-wing has successfully succeeded in diverting the media from the real issue raised by the firing of 8 U.S. Attorneys. Much of the discussion has centered around Bush's right to fire these U.S. Attorneys or on the ensuing cover-up (which is newsworthy in and of itself). It is clear that Bush had the right to fire them. Its also clear and newsworthy that the Attorney General and other high ranking Justice Department officials have been caught lying to Congress about this matter.

But the real issue concerns the reasons these U.S. Attorney's were fired in the first place: because they either refused to file trumped up charges against Democratic Congressional or, in the case of Carole Lam, were about to investigate the relationship between Duke Cunningham's bribers and the Vice President of the United States.

We can't lose sight of these facts, they are the real key to this scandal.

Are We Going to Get a State-Wide Smoking Ban?

The issue goes to the full Senate.

Governor O'Malley Makes a Gutsy Call

A good one too.

Thats the kind of decisive and wise leadership Maryland needs.

The Dots are Connecting

Fired San Diego U.S. attorney Carol Lam notified the Justice Department that she intended to execute search warrants on a high-ranking CIA official as part of a corruption probe the day before a Justice Department official sent an e-mail that said Lam needed to be fired, U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein said Sunday.

The whole article is here.

Read Up On the Subprime Scandal

Its very bad news for the economy and the average American.

Get ready for the right-wing noise machine to blame it on too much regulation, when just the opposite is true.

Sen. Clinton Shows Some Leadership

The mortgage market is going to be the savings and loan crisis of the 2000s. Its time that our political leaders take note, and action.

I'm glad to see Sen. Clinton is on top of this issue.