“The Average American Has Been Had”

Well, folks, the “sequestration” is now in effect. I don’t know about you but, frankly, I am sick and tired of bearing witness to all the people in this country who are getting royally screwed without benefit of kiss.

Anyone who is naïve or simply living in a state of self-imposed ignorance, and who would believe one word that emanates from the mouth of Barack Obama should seriously consider professional help. He is about as much a Democrat as Vladimir Putin. He is one of the “insiders” who is as beholden to big money, big corporations and the military/industrial complex as anyone who has ever sat in the White House. He knew, full well, what he was going to “cut” from essential programs the average person depends on, in order to endear himself to the Republican Neanderthals who pretend to act from virtue and appear to know what they are doing. He is like the Pied Piper who leads all those who want to believe he is the personification of the Second Coming by his lofty speeches and who will lead us all to the Promised Land. Many of those of a liberal bent will always follow him into the bowels of hell, with stars in their eyes, and knowing with certainty that he is what he professes to be. With just a modicum of effort, all one has to do is carefully listen to what he says and watch what he does to know he is doing exactly what the oligarchs, plutocrats, corporate capitalists and all those who are raking in millions from the favored positions they covet through largesse and political favors given. They are the very ones who have managed to convince all those who act from a base of “tell me only what I want to hear; not what I need to know.” What a bunch of bull crap.

Republicans and “faux” Democrats that comprise the elite among the “fat cats” that continue to rape the country for their own material gain have no shame, whatsoever. They are completely devoid of any sense of decency, honor or service. At the end of the day they are nothing but a bunch of political whores. Those with whom they have cast their lot ply their multi-faceted sides of sheer evil and operate within the triangle of unbridled greed and avarice that extends from Wall Street, to the “hallowed halls” of government within the boundaries of Washington, D.C., to the suburban environs of Virginia. It is where secrecy and questionable motives hold our fate in their hands, and that work overtime to convince us that the “boogey man” is just waiting to rob us of our freedoms and our way of life.” Guess what, folks? It is they who are doing a number on us, not the mystical evil forces we are led to believe we need to fear into perpetuity.

What we have fallen victim to since John F. Kennedy was assassinated is a government, an economic elite and a compliant news media that are the most amoral enterprises one could possibly imagine. How many times have any of those who are sworn to serve us made an honest effort to actually consult with some of the best economic minds that reside among us? How many times have they availed themselves of the wisdom of great philosophical, social and intellectual minds that might just give them better advice and counsel they need to make honest decisions on our behalf? Instead, they look to their political cronies who are totally bought and sold by the likes of the bankers, corporate capitalists and the oligarchs who have destroyed our economy. How many of that ilk have been indicted, convicted and sent to the slammer for their criminal plunder of what rightfully belongs to all the good and decent people of this country. Instead, they just continue to sap the life blood from the national treasury, enabled by agencies of our government and with the skilled assistance of the Federal Reserve.

There are a few dedicated members of Congress who sincerely strive to act on our behalf with dedication, honor and integrity. There is a distinct minority who is constantly engaged in an uphill fight to do what is simply right and just. They deserve all the help and support we can give them. They are the ones who know there is no crisis in national spending that requires what “King” Obama has wrought, aided and abetted by the court jesters in the Republican Party that keep trying to wring every last bit of life from those who labor in their service and yet try to be all that patriotic Americans strive to be. They are the ones, who deplore, with all the fervor in their dark souls, in what we have been taught to believe is a solemn responsibility to be shared by all of us. But those they seek to destroy are, also, the ones who have been demonized and marginalized. They are the ones who are labeled “socialists,” “rabble-rousers,” and “deadbeats.” They are the ones who have been reduced to a lifetime of living on the edge and consigned to a life of poverty, all because of those who have snookered us out of our vote so they can take care of their cohorts in crime at our collective expense.

There is far too much secrecy in Congress, the White House, the Pentagon and the vast bureaucracies that comprise the intelligence agencies that profess to serve us. They keep us under surveillance in the interest of all the elite institutions, and their pursuit of an insatiable greed; an appetite that can never be satiated. They are the once who keep growing, not for the common good, but to suppress those who go to the streets in protest against what is being done to us. They are aligned against all those who engage in nonviolent protest with a never-ending hope and a valiant dedication in order to make things right for our mutual welfare and the least among us.

I have absolutely no confidence in a government that is aligned against the majority of those who simply ask for what is fair. I have no faith in either of the two major political parties that have managed, rather effectively, to marginalize any challengers to their monopoly on the political process. There is no crisis that warrants what is called “sequestration.” It is nothing but a ruse that gives our illustrious President, the House of Representatives and the Senate all they need in order to cut back on programs that are paid into by and serve the common people. They seek to shift ever more of the nation’s wealth to the most evil and rapacious among us; the very ones who continue the plunder of all that rightfully belong to the American people. But, the tide ebbs and flows. I cannot help but believe that the day of reckoning is not far into the future.

The malady of congenital greed is chronic. They never get enough. It is that which will lead to their downfall and, eventually, that which will bring them to justice, albeit at a horrendous cost to this country and to those who believe in it. The chickens do come home to roost. When the tables turn, as they always do, I believe that it will bring out the best in all who have never given up hope. We will become a nation of better people. That seed of goodness is not to be found in the Tea Party. It is not to be found in institutional religions that hold out false promises, and make the most spiritually fragile become demagogues. It is not to be found in all that is beamed to us from corporate news media and the entertainment industries. It is not to be found in a government that has worked overtime to seduce us into believing they really do subscribe to the wisdom of the Founding Fathers and all that this republic was founded on. It is not to be found in the darkest corners of corporations, banks, and other institutions that want nothing more but growing their share of the nation’s wealth at the expense of our environment and the common welfare. Rather, it is to be found within all who believe in and are willing to fight for what is fair and just, for all those who subscribe to a code of decency that makes it possible.

I honestly believe there are better days ahead, but we must become actively involved in making the changes that will bring that about. We must remain vigilant against the hucksters who never give up on a two-class society. It is they who thrive by feeding on the flesh of those they deem to be inferior and expendable.

So, let us never acquiesce to the dark and dangerous forces aligned against all those who seek to make this a better country for everyone. Let us join in a common effort to truly make this a country “of the people, by the people and for the people.” Let’s open the doors to all the genuine political parties that may just have better ideas and values that were abandoned, long ago, by the two major political parties that euphemistically call themselves “democrats” and “republicans.” Nothing could be further from the truth. Let’s get money out of politics and give back to the people the power that is rightfully theirs to define what we expect from those in power.

The time has come and it is long overdue. Always believe, not in what you may hear, but only in what you can clearly see.

Cowboy Bob
The Sagebrush Philosopher
March 1, 2013

"Why, mr. president, Why?"

When you gave the Keynote Speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, you really captured my attention. I thought I was witness to an event that would surely change this country for the better. It came as no surprise to me that you captured the nomination for President and went on to win the election in 2008. I was convinced that, after all those dark years from Ronald Reagan up to and including George W. Bush, we were finally going to see sweeping changes that would even out the playing field between the “haves” and the “have-nots,” and which would blur the color barrier so long a blight on the fabric of this country. Boy was I and untold millions of Americans completely snookered by that performance!

Since then, your oratory (which comes in at a mere third compared to FDR and JFK) has been most impressive. As Hillary opined during the campaign, “Barack can always be counted on to give a good speech.” A rather lukewarm endorsement for one who is seeking the highest office in the land. But what really knocked our socks off was the progressively more “Romanesque” staging of your speeches leading up to the acceptance of the Democratic nomination for President, followed by the grand finale in Grant Park in Chicago. Hell, they made the biblical epics of Cecil B. DeMille look like second-rate Hollywood back-lot productions. You really did yourself proud!

But, now that the dust has settled are we beginning to see the real Barack Obama, or the morphing of the “second coming” you promised into the “real screwing” we are getting? By any measure, it sure ain’t pretty.

With your indulgence, let me proceed with a few unanswered questions I have and which, I am sure, are shared by millions of others who were taken in by your chicanery.

1. At what point in your evolution, culminating at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue,
did you decide to get in bed with the cast of characters known
affectionately as the Clinton Administration?

a. Why did you stack your Cabinet with the key players that aided and abetted Phil Gramm and the Senate Banking Committee in the total deregulation of the financial industries on Wall Street? I am
referring to the Harvard and Goldman Sachs Alumni, examples of
which are Larry Summers, Timothy Geithner, Robert Rubin and others
of similar ilk. Why does Goldman Sachs seem to have an iron-fisted
grip on the Treasury and the Federal Reserve? Meanwhile, you
deliberately ignored or marginalized some of the best economic and
financial minds in the country. Kind of looks like you were
stacking the deck in favor of an agenda to which we, the voters,
were not privy.

Why have you given carte blanche to your “economic advisers” and the Barons of Wall Street who brought this disaster down on the heads of
the American taxpayers, to fleece the taxpayers for an additional
sum estimated to be between 11 trillion and 24 trillion dollars,
without any oversight whatsoever, and carried out in secret by
Timothy Geithner and Ben Bernanke? Yet, you fake fiscal
responsibility by blowing smoke up our asses about the cost of a
national health plan. Even one of the better choices you have made,
in the person of Paul Volker, seems to have faded into the
background. Is he, also, a bit too clean for the likes of you
and your happy band of thieves, mr. president?

b. Why have you found it necessary to conduct the bulk of the
discussions regarding the nations’ finances in secret and behind
closed doors? What is the true identity of your constituency in
matters of this nature? This just doesn’t square with all the
rhetoric we heard about “transparency” during your campaign. Are we
missing something here?

c. Why have you given the bandits in all this the opportunity to
practically write the regulations and oversight that will govern
their conduct in the future? Isn’t that rather like putting the fox
in charge of the chicken coop?

d. Why do you appear to be resisting any meaningful oversight of Wall
Street? Elizabeth Warren is doing an outstanding job and is one
bright lady. However, isn’t she spread a bit thin given the
responsibility she carries for the House? If Billy “the Blowjob”
Clinton could have his image burnished, why can’t the same be done
for Eliot Spitzer whose reputation is no more sullied and whose
sterling record of accomplishments in the regulation and oversight
of Wall Street is legion? Seems to me he would be a good adjunct to
the efforts of Dr. Warren in terms of a meaningful set of
regulations governing the activities of those “too big to fail,” on
Wall Street and the banking industry in general.

e. Perhaps the following figures on the list of the top contributors to
your 2008 presidential campaign, obtained from OpenSecrets.org, will
shed some light on these questions:

* Goldman Sachs $994,795.00
* Citigroup, Inc. 701,290.00
* JPMorgan Chase & Co. 695,132.00
* Morgan Stanley 514,881.00
* UBS AG (Swiss Bank) 543,219.00
* Sidley Austin LLP 588,598.00
* Wilmerhale Llp 542,618.00
* Skadden, Arps et al 530,839.00
* Latham & Watkins 493,835.00

Other than their deep-seated patriotic interest in seeing you get
elected President, what, if any, other interests did they have in
your being elected? I will leave that to the reader. As for me?
Your role in the “bailout” and continued cozy relationship with
those “too big to fail” suggests there is much more to the unholy
alliance between the Barons of Wall Street and the White House. It
would be a shame if they didn’t get their money’s worth, wouldn’t
it? Blue collar workers and the economy be damned.

f. Just as an aside, mr. president, with Paul Volker being the notable exception, what does the band of white-collar thugs you have
gathered about you to provide advice on the economy have to offer
that could even remotely compare with the credentials and wisdom of
those listed below?

1] James Galbraith - University of Texas
2] Simon Johnson - MIT
3] Paul Krugman - Princeton University & Nobel Laureate
4] Robert Reich - University of California at Berkeley
5] Nouriel Roubini, New York University
6] Joseph Stiglitz, Columbia University & Nobel Laureate

g. If you are genuinely dedicated to getting us out of the depression
we are in, and rebuilding our economy, you need the best and
brightest among us to advise you, not the most cunning and corrupt
in the business dedicated to pursuing their own vested self-
interests to the detriment of the nation.

2. The whole issue of “healthcare reform” is your second most glaring and
egregious performance as President.

a. According to OpenSecrets.org, you received a total of $19,493.801
from the healthcare industries leading up to your election to the
Presidency. The next highest contribution was to John McCain in the
amount of $7,403.173. Quite a difference, which suggests that the
heavy hitters in private healthcare were betting, big time, on you
and the largess they expected to receive once you were comfortably
settled in the Oval Office.

b. In keeping with your professed commitment to “transparency,” early
on you set about meeting behind closed doors with representatives of
private health insurance companies, drug companies and other private
purveyors of goods and services designed to alleviate human
suffering. Meanwhile, those advocating a single-payer option or a
strong public option were deliberately excluded from those
discussions. It is common knowledge that you assured the healthcare
insurance companies that there would be no single-payer or public
option in any of the proposals coming out of Congress. You, also,
guaranteed to the drug companies that they would not have to
negotiate with the government in terms of the cost of prescription
drugs, carrying on the tradition established by the late, great
George W. Bush.

C’mon mr. president, level with us. Lobbyist Tom Daschle was
lurking in the shadows somewhere during all this, wasn’t he?

c. Given the bullshit, packaged as a “healthcare reform bill,” coming
out of the House, I would say all those vested interests you serve
so faithfully got their money’s worth. The common American and blue
-collar workers be damned. If you and I share one common
perception, I suspect it is in knowing that what will come out of
the Senate and any subsequent reconciliation effort will be even
more favorable to the private sector in healthcare. Then we can
watch your campaign treasure chest swell to levels that are even
more lucrative. Wow! Gotta make sure we have enough money to
purchase the office again in 2012, don’t we?

d. You have elevated talking out of both sides of your mouth and
figuratively screwing the electorate without benefit of kiss to new
art forms. Nice job. We all wait with baited breath to see what is
yet to come.

3. You promised to prosecute criminal behavior by members of the previous
administration. I can’t see that happening any time soon, given your noble
desire to look to the future rather than allowing our national vision to be
clouded by the past. If I understand correctly, that translates to “Now
that I am a member of the Club, I see things differently and might
inadvertently be putting my own neck in the noose.”

4. You assured us that you were going to close “Gitmo,” but we haven’t seen any
real movement on this issue. Does Goldman Sachs hold the lease on
Guantanamo, mr. president?

5. You assured us that you were going to end the “warrantless wiretapping”
program but instead you seem to have strengthened it. Gotta be careful.
God only knows what all those rabble-rousers might be up to!

6. You said you would restrict the use of the state’s secrecy programs. I sure
don’t see any evidence of that either, mr. president.

7. You seem to be dancing around any decisive action regarding the wars in Iraq
and Afghanistan. Clearly, it is a poor man’s war but, on the other hand,
you gotta do something to keep all those poor folks employed and off the
streets.

There are other unkept and implied promises too numerous to mention, but enough for the moment. Suffice to say, I am probably more disillusioned than most of my compatriots labeled as “Progressive Democrats,” many of whom seem to keep hoping that there will be some miraculous change in your style and the fabric of your person. From my perspective, integrity and character appear to be more elusive now than at any time in recent history.

Community Organizers lead through consensus, which means the end result is always some form of compromise. The last thing we need in times of crisis like the one this country now faces is compromise. We are urgently in need of and are looking for real leadership. That means the absence of fear and the courage to make the tough decisions required by the temper of the times. Frankly, I fail to see any of that in your performance to date.

What are we to believe? Are you the “Commander in Chief,” or the “Panderer in Chief?”

The nation and, indeed, the world waits.


Cowboy Bob
November 9, 2009