Archives for December 2011 | The Local Christian Town Hall Magazine

Ben Nelson … We Can’t Wait

December 29, 2011 By Verian Leave a Comment

Ben Nelson’s farewell could be especially fond. The Gentleman from Nebraska was more known for his obstructionist anti party stances and unholy legislative alliances than he was known to be the gentleman who represented the ideological interests of the people whose political well being he was elected to act as broker for.

During his tenure, Senator Nelson, supported the Iraq war, voted against marriage equality for all, voted against minimum wage hikes, supported Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, voted for the right o f the government to tap and intercept the privacy of citizens via the Patriot Act, voted to make filing bankruptcy harder for individuals with less assets than Donald Trump, voted against Pell Grant increase, voted against immigration reform, voted against the health care provision of planned Parenthood, approved of water boarding, voted to establish English as the official language of America- the land founded on the backs of immigrant labor.

Then this elected Democratic Senator, obstructed his President, by voting against the stimulus package, voted to remove billions from State aid packages to support Republican austerity, supported the watered down health care Public Option which has no bearing on the Universal Healthcare we all anticipated. He even went back on his support of financial reform, once he realized that is president was relentlessly pushing that agenda.

Now, in the twilightyears of his Senate tenure this alleged Democrat, who has done more ideologically to distance himself from his party than any politician with matching tenure, has been billed to command anywhere from four hundred thousand to one million USD as a K Street Conserva Dem Lobbyist.

There is a difference between cunning and astute that is not so subtle. Ben Nelson is a cunning politician who used his background in the insurance industry to propel him into the senatorial arena. Once there, nelson did the Trojan Horse trick and wooed Republicans with his anti Democratic ideological stances, thereby setting up an image that would have made him prime choice for the lobbying industry. This cunning politician sits on the Agriculture, Armed Service, Rules and Administration and Appropriations Committees. This resume makes for a great spring board for an ambitious lobbysist.

Though Nelson’s announced intention to exit may give Harry Reid and those of us who are anti conservative some cause for concern, we need to look at the silver lining here. For all intents and purposes this Blue Dog was more Republican than blue. With his exit, there is an opportunity for voters to elect a representative that will vote their ideology more than 82% of the time, which is the reprehensible record of obstructionist Ben Nelson’s votes with his party.

I could be could be cruel and talk about his obvious toupée but then why kick a man as he goes through the door. I’ll just shut it gently and standby to welcome the next Democrat to take the seat that Nelson has so fortuitously vacated.

What Christmas Cheer?

December 23, 2011 By Verian Leave a Comment

For many, Christmas 2011 is hardly about the Chimney and whether Santa would be able to fit with his bulging gut and bulging bag of goodies. The problem is, Santa is a part of the unemployment line like the rest of the ten million Americans he would have been delivering for over this season.

And naughty and nice are now more than alliterations in a simplistic Christmas ditty. There are some very naughty men in the US Congress, whose names sound like McConnell and Boehner. And there is one, Congressman Cantor whose verbal gymnastics and disingenuous political stances reiterate that Republican politicians remain grotesquely out of touch with the political needs of the masses.

This entire year has been one of brinksmanship and political gamesmanship by Republican Conservatives who seem bent on transforming the lives of Americans to a cult like existence of socioeconomic servitude to the nation’s2% filthy rich. They have devised diabolical machinations, through a devilish entity called Tea Party and Grover Norquist to implant retrograde type of governance that would categorically disenfranchise the unfortunate 99% of our population by limiting their social benefits to an amount determined to be a meet and right by the Conservative plutocracy.

And as if to underscore their mission to transform the middle and poorer sectors of our society, they have unleashed a lineup of Presidential candidates who are pledging to continue their Conservative sociopolitical assault on an electorate who expects their best interests to be represented by these elected officials.

We have to be wary this Christmas, for every ho ho ho is not one that is filled with Christmas cheer. Conservative Republicans are bearing gifts for their base and are toting bags of tax breaks for their corporate sponsors. Goodies from this group constitute ridiculous obstructionist politics for the current administration, irrespective of how it affects we, the people, who depend on elected officials to represent our collective interests at the governmental level.

It’s been another tough year for many of us who were depending on our politicians to create bold legislation to arrest the US department of Commerce’s practice of exporting jobs through incentivizing job creators with ludicrous tax breaks. It’s been another tough year for those of us who were hoping that the constant Conservative clarion call to “repeal Obama Care” would have given the current Administration pause to retool this public option which falls way short of the health care plan we were promised during the 08 campaign. It’s been another tough year for many of us as we watched our President defer bold, aggressive decisions to what he perceives as shared governance by inviting the Republicans to weigh in on crucial decisions.

Nothing much has changed this year. The same people remain unemployed and prayerful that Congress will extend their benefits. The same people who were facing foreclosure because of a system created by government to lure them into toxic loans are still nursing their anxieties, if they haven’t yet been foreclosed against.

And our middle class, now part of the poorer class is invading the dollar store to top up on hot chocolate for their Christmas toddy and cheap Chinese toys that are too toxic for the rich Chinese kids to play with.

To Know Newt Is Not To Love Him

December 10, 2011 By Verian Leave a Comment

When is a historian a rabble rouser? When he spins the history of disenfranchisement of the Palestinian people into a web of rotten propaganda, to prop up a political bid for office that is hanging from rotten rope.

A mouthful? Maybe. But when it comes to Newt Gingrich, a mouthful is usually necessary to counteract the carefully crafted, acerbic, rhetoric that this politician has used to make him the darling of polling conservatives dedicated to making President Obama a one term president.

It is no secret that Gingrich is of the neo, neo- con ilk. His agenda is peppered with plans to remove social gains, create social chasms and establish a ruling class that is dominated by the plutocracy.

In the mind of Gingrich, any person who does not have plutocratic propulsion is not worthy of the citizenship his birthright bestows upon him. To him, these are the people who should be herded into pens with certain coded labels and then shipped to various low end work sites to raise their work ethic. This was true social engineering and if his principles were applied, there would be an end to social misfits.

So, it comes as no surprise that Gingrich has a social engineering fix to the Israeli Palestinian problem. Only a historian of his caliber would have the unmitigated gall to invoke Palestinian lineage to support their inhumane and atrocious treatment by the US backed Israeli government. Only the bigoted mind of Gingrich would conjure up a label like ‘invented’ to refer to a race of people who are in the throes of struggling to establish their identity.

Newt is the latest performing seal in the ring of GOP presidential bidders. By some potion in the cauldron of GOP politics, he has bubbled to the top and is now filling himself with enough hot air to stay afloat long enough to be, at least, one of the top three contenders for the coveted prize of GOP presidential nominee.

Judging from Newt’s placement as leader we could all agree that GOP pickings are extremely slim and even more so when this historian, author and man of many religions publicly states that Palestine is an invention of politics and not a place of geographic origin.

Newt, I hate to challenge your claims of intellectual prowess but please see the simple reference of 1611 KJV Bible Joel 3:4 to dispel any notions you may have of Palestine as a political invention and the Palestinian people as Arabs from the Ottoman empire.

If that was not enough,Sir, please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottoman_empire for a quick over view of what you, as a historian and an intellectual must have come across in your extensive readings.

We understand that you are performing to impress your conservative base that you are the true Conservative who will preserve the tyranny of Israel at all costs.

The problem is Newt, we have to vote for you first and then you have to approved by the leaders on the world’s stage.

From where I sit Newt, your chances of becoming leader of the free world is as great as the Ottoman Empire making a resurgence.

Donald Trump – Apprentice Moderator

December 2, 2011 By Verian Leave a Comment

For those of us who like our Christmas with comedy, this season will be very giving. On December 27^th2011, Donald Trump will host a Republican debate amongst what’s left floating in the barrel of GOP presidential hopefuls.

Of course Trump’s credentials make him the obvious choice. He can relate to most of what’s left floating there. Like Newt, he has made the trip down the altar three times. Like Herman (who, sadly may not be there) he is a serial philanderer. Like Rick P, he has risen to his level of incompetence. Like Mitt, he pivots and parlays to suit the politics du jour.
Like Michele he is lost on foreign policy. Like Rick S, he longs to be taken seriously. That leaves Ron and Jon whose intellects are so well above Donald’s that one cannot imagine him asking them a question, even if it’s scripted.

It’s crunch time for the GOP. We understand that, of necessity, they have to nominate a contender to go up against President Obama. January 2012 will be very critical for this. With the Iowa Caucus, the New Hampshire Primary and the South Carolina Primary all set for January, the RNC is well aware that a viable GOP candidate is vital, as these dates draw imminently near.

But creating a circus to usher in a presidential hopeful by using a personality best known for political foibles, social misdemeanors and a game show to find apprentices, illustrates, dramatically, the depths to which the GOP must stoop to convince its electorate that they actually have a viable candidate.