01/10/14
Here We Are in the Years
HOW THINGS ARE LOOKING from my corner of the universe: So it's a brand new year. I like New Years, they always bring us hope. Did you make any New Year's Resolutions? Okay, you're a moron. What about the rest of us? Let's go to the political world, since that's our favorite form of non-physical combat. I will give you my fearless observations and predictions; you can look this column up in a year and have a good laugh. Why wait until then? Start chuckling now.
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OFF-YEAR ELECTIONS are terrible for incumbent Presidents, especially second-termers. Bill Clinton picked up seats in 1998, but the Republicans were trying to impeach him over a consensual affair with another adult. And the guy leading the charge was boinking an aide at the time. Had to resign not only his speakership, but had to exit Congress completely. Ah, for the good old days! The only other time I'm aware of is Monroe in 1822, but I don't dismember why. Perhaps the medical community liked his Doctrine. So by all accounts the Republicans should pick up seats, right? Not so fast. They need to start offering alternatives instead of just knee-jerk badmouthing the President. They also need to seriously distance themselves from the Tase Party. The country disagrees with their entire social agenda. Heard the latest? The social conservatives in California want to get a measure on the ballot dictating where transgender kids can and can't go to the bathroom. This is a group that already suffers from a high degree of alienation and loneliness that leads as far as suicide. Let's pick on THEM! Mike Huckabee suggests he would have done just about anything to have had an excuse to get his rotund tush into the girls' bathroom, so Decent People should be appalled by this concept. Must confess I've never been in a female bathroom, but I'm guessing they don't go in there to have strip shows. Of course none of these folks talk about women going into the men's john. Really? The social conservatives have descended to this? Huckabee was also the one who's argument against same-sex marriage (now legal in 15 states, with more coming) had to do with that being equivalent to having to lower the hoops on the basketball courts because not everyone would be able to reach them (huh?). Let's not forget Rick Santorum's argument that if two men could marry, why not a man and two or three women? Or Bill O'Reilly's notion: How about a goat? How about a child? Gay marriage has nothing to do with polygamy, bestiality, or pedophilia. And how do they explain the documented existence of homosexuality in the animal kingdom? This is only my personal favorite of where the conservative movement has lost their way. What about gun control? Immigration? Republican states on an all out campaign to deny uppity types the right to vote (apparently gerrymandering all the state districts to ensure Republican victories wasn't enough --- save your arguments about the Democrats doing it too; the Dems never played it this dirty. Although if they get the House back in 2020, all bets are off)? The Conservatives are finally beginning to get the idea that the Affordable Care Act really IS the law. It may be the worst thing that ever happened, although history doesn't support that notion. The establishment interests always oppose everything that smacks of progressivism. They did it in Canada when that country created national health care. They did it with Social Security, Disability, Minimum Wage, Unemployment Insurance, Medicaid, Medicare, and Romneycare. But let's suppose you're right about the ACA. What are your ideas? And why don't you behave fiscally like Republicans? More on that in the next paragraph. Meanwhile, the country needs two vibrant political parties. The best way to pick up seats is to tell us what you propose to move us forward together instead of a bunch of rhetoric that further fragments an already divided populace.
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THIS BRINGS US TO THE DEMOCRATS. Things aren't starting off well, but there are areas of hope. The deficits are coming down faster than at any time since WWII. Of the last five Presidents, the Republicans have spent like drunken sailors. The Dems have exhibited far more restraint. Why aren't you screaming this from every rooftop? You passed an immigration bill thru the Senate. The Reps refused to go along with it unless hundreds of miles of fence and 1000 border guards were added to the deal. Who's outspending whom? Your Red buddies want to give the Pentagon an arm and a leg, then the rest of the torso --- even the the Brass Itself says it doesn't need or want it!
Yet none of you point this out. I call this stuff low-hanging fruit. Why aren't you exploiting it? Next, regarding transparency: Mr. President, are you capable of an apology? It would do you a lot of good to go before the American people and say that, under your watch, the NSA has gotten completely out of hand. Accept personal responsibility for the situation, no explanations and no excuses. Thank Edward Snowden for performing an important service and tell him he is welcome in the USA, no strings attached. Continue your successful policy of not negotiating with the Republicans over debt ceilings or continuing resolutions. Put together a list of projects (cutting defense spending, closing corporate tax loopholes, establishment of a livable minimum wage, getting rid of about 50% of Farm Subsidies without cutting Food Stamps, instituting a national plan to rebuild our crumbling infrastructure, propose a jobs plan) and dare the Republicans to act on it. If they don't, pull a Truman --- call them into special session this summer and force the issue. In other words, don't be a wuss --- you were elected to LEAD.
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WHAT ABOUT OUR FAIR CITY? Housing is the overriding issue. I've never been a fan of this so-called "affordable housing" garbage. We set aside something like 20% of new developments as affordable. The number of residents needing this service is more like 75%. An affordable apartment should cost about $700 a month (about 40% of your wage). A condo should be perhaps $150,000. The City relies heavily on working class income folks to support out tourist and hi-tech industries. Mayor Ed, you have an opportunity for eternal fame and a solid place in history if you will provide something other than lip service on this. We've had problems here for better than 30 years. Willie Brown famously claimed twenty years ago that you shouldn't be in Ess Eff if you made less than $50,000 a year. Things are much worse now. Art Agnos is the only mayor we've had with the cajones to stand up to the real estate interests who've been calling the shots without any enforceable oversight. KNOCK OFF THE LIP SERVICE --- TAKE CARE OF YOUR RESIDENTS. The proposed Warriors stadium is a great idea; the Embarcadero area south of the Bay Bridge could use a shot in the arm (just don't mess with Red's Java House). But no housing or retail crap and don't violate the height limits. We already sent you a message with the 8 Washington fiasco. You have a lot of good qualities, sir, but we could really use some forward-looking leadership. Please don't let us down.
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AN OLD GREEK PROVERB: "A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in."
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Let me tell you of a story 'bout a man named Jed;
A poor mountaineer barely kept his family fed.
And then one day he was shootin' for some food
And up through the ground came a bubbling willschneider7648@gmail.com
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