A Symphony of Thoughts on a Tuesday Morning and a Plug for Roy Zimmerman

A Symphony of Thoughts on a Tuesday Morning and a Plug for Roy Zimmerman-

I am summarizing President Obama's speech last night on Libya: "We figured doing this no-fly thing was better than doing nothing -- but it was a difficult choice. Now we're figuring out what to do do next." President Obama in his speech last night outlined new US policy - "Sometimes we can help. And if we can, maybe we will, if all the stars are aligned right." But the Headlines still read: "Obama intervenes to stop massacres by pathological lunatic North African tyrant - Nobody Happy. Except some guy in Ben Ghazi." And I wake up every morning glad that President Obama is our President.

The Republican response to this action is predictable even though they were very vocal and loud in calling for intervention: too soon, too late, too big, too small, too slow, too fast, not enough, too much, too simple, too complicated, too rigid, too flexible, too salty, not salty enough, overdone, underdone, too rare, too well done, too tall, too short, too nice, not nice enough, too French, not French enough, too nuanced, not nuanced enough....... It doesn't really matter what the issue is either. The criticism remains the same: too soon, too late, too big, too small, too slow, too fast, not enough, too much, too simple, too complicated, too rigid, too flexible, too salty, not salty enough, overdone, underdone, too rare, too well done, too tall, too short, too nice, not nice enough, too French, not French enough, too nuanced, not nuanced enough.......

And Republicans in Congress, by not demanding a vote of Congress on this action, are thereby reserving their right to criticize anything and everything about it: too soon, too late, too big, too small, too slow, too fast, not enough, too much, too simple, too complicated, too rigid, too flexible, too salty, not salty enough, overdone, underdone, too rare, too well done, too tall, too short, too nice, not nice enough, too French, not French enough, too nuanced, not nuanced enough.......

What do Libyans want? As one of the rebels says,“We want democracy. We want good schools, we want a free media, an end to corruption, a private sector that can help build this nation, and a parliament to get rid of whoever, whenever, we want." These are honorable aims. But to expect that they will be achieved easily is to deny the cost of decades of insanity, terror, and the deliberate eradication of civil society which Ghadaffi undertook in his pathological cult of personality.

A recent Congressional Budget Office report says that the much criticized stimulus spending of the previous year created 3.7 million new jobs and the economy is on the rebound. Undeterred by this evidence and all facts in general everywhere, the Republicans aim to stop this economic growth in time for the 2012 elections and are working very hard to stop this economic recovery on a 24/7 basis. When the Republicans campaigned on Jobs, Jobs, Jobs, I thought they meant create them not eliminate them...... My bad. They are dead set on eliminating jobs for teachers, police officers, firefighters, state employees everywhere, county and city employees taking care of our roads, sewers, libraries, parks, the very skeletons of our public infrastructure. Anything "public" is bad. Anything "government" is bad. And anything "union" is bad -- having virtually eliminated private sector unions, the Koch brothers are now pulling the strings of their Pinocchio Governor Scott Walker in Wisconsin and plenty of other Governors to eviscerate their public unions..... When Republicans campaigned on Jobs, Jobs, Jobs, I thought they meant create them, not eliminate them. My bad...............

By the way, I've got an idea. Instead of balancing the budget on the backs of the poor, children, education, working people, medicare, and social security, let's cut military spending by getting out of Afghanistan and Iraq, end the tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires, and corporations, stop subsidizing oil companies, and raise the social security tax income limit. And you can't tax cut your way to a balanced budget.

Meanwhile back at home: I watched a CNN Special about Murfreesboro, Tennessee's fight to stop a Muslim center from being built on the outskirts of "their" community. While Muslims risk their lives against the oppressive regimes in the Middle East, we are treating our own citizens in this ugly fashion..........It's depressing. Murfreesboro believes they have the right to worship as they please; but other people don't.

And House Republicans did claim victory in their battle against Socialism - Car Talk and Big Bird were defunded. The issue now goes to the Senate for further action.

On public education that is now a target of Republicans: I am a strong supporter of public education, but my problem is that it appears Michele Bachmann graduated from a public high school, Anoka High School, in Anoka, Minnesota. Something's obviously wrong........

Best line of the week about Glenn Beck goes to Ed Schultz on the Ed Show: "Glenn Beck is a liar running an ignorance marathon."

On US Nuclear power: early on, US nuclear energy boosters were characterizing the troubled Japan Nuclear facility as a "confidence booster." I don't think so.

I ran across a folk singer/political satirist, Roy Zimmerman. Youtube his name and listen to a few of his songs. One of my favorites is "God Bless America - It Just Might Work!" Great stuff!

By the way, I've got an idea. Instead of balancing the budget on the backs of the poor, children, education, working people, medicare, and social security, let's cut military spending by getting out of Afghanistan and Iraq, end the tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires, and corporations, stop subsidizing oil companies, and raise the social security tax income limit. And you can't tax cut your way to a balanced budget.