I'm with Dennis

The right-wing media is having a field day over Dennis Kucinich's vote on health care.  They shiver with ecstacy over his "flip flopping" on the issue. This drivel doesn't really deserve comment. 

What I really want to talk about is why I'm still with Dennis.  He was my #1 choice for President in 2008, and he's still one-half of my dream ticket (Sanders being the other).  And his speech on why he chose to vote for the health care bill shows why.

Like Kucinich, I was a hardcore hold-out for single payer.  For months I've been saying "Hell no!" to the current bill, because it doesn't do nearly enough.  Big K and I fought the good fight against "something is better than nothing."  But in the end, he realized how critical it was that he vote for this piece of crap that we have. Because at the end of the day, something is better than nothing. 

This is not a flip flop.  Kucinich believes in doing what's best for the American people.  And what's best is single payer, but when it became clear that that was not an option on the table, he was faced with a difficult decision.  He described his dilemma most eloquently in his press conference announcing his vote.  He recognized that at this point, it was time to put aside the Good Fight (for a few moments) and at least get the protections of the current bill in place.  And I have no doubt that he -- and Bernie Sanders and Alan Grayson -- will resume the Good Fight once the vote is over.  (Bernie has made some great statements this past week on that -- Google it).

So, while I think the current bill is a piece of crap compared to what we COULD have (had the Dems had any balls enough to propose it in the first place), I'll get onboard because Dennis decided it was best.  He's earned my trust that way.  And it's just so obvious and boring that Faux and Friends are attacking him for it. 

Oh, and the icing on the cake?  Kucinich is giving back campaign contributions to people who expected him to vote for single payer health care!  He feels he must do this, because he did not do what they "paid" him to do.  How many elected officials would do that? 

Whichever radio host I was listening to at the time said it best: Kucinich is a man of honor.  How rare that is today, in any field -- but certainly so in politics.  We need more people with that kind of integrity.  Think how great our country would be if we did!  And that's why I like Ron Paul -- he and I are completely opposite in ideology, but he has integrity and honor.  It's just those pesky Tea Baggers that are the problem. 

Kucinich has a bright future, if we can get more of the populace to see it.  Imagine this:  a Sanders/Kucinich ticket (cuz Bernie's older and so should go first) for 8 years....then a Kucinich and....I don't know...Grayson?.....for another 8.  Now I'm shivering with ecstasy. 

So encourage any conservative types you know to look past the bullshit of Faux "News" and look at the man.  Regardless of your politics, Kucinich is a man of honor.  And as such, we all have something to learn from him, and we would all be served by keeping him in our government.

Left Wing, My Eye!

I am really, really tired of hearing right-wing nutjobs call Obama and other elected Democrats "liberals."  I am tired of hearing tales of the mythical Liberal Media, which allegedly brainwashes us with left-wing bilge.  And today, I heard the coups de gras: some dorkwad (O'Reilly or Hannity, I think) called Obama a "left wing radical."

Please.  Let's just take a moment people.  Left wing radical, seriously?  Now, I know that the people spewing this crap day in and day out know darn well what a REAL lefty radical is like.  But the poor, ignorant masses don't.  They lap up this sh*t like a kitten drinks milk.  And then they vote these idiots into office because they are afraid of the "crazy muslim black man" running our country. 

What's the matter with Kansas?  I'll tell you what: they believe this baloney, and they would soil their drawers to discover what a REAL leftist radical wants. 

Of course, they would soil themselves because they have been brainwashed (by corporate, not liberal media) to be very, very afraid of people like me.  People who believe in the common good, who understand that taxes are the way a society pays for that common good.  People who actually read books instead of watching non-reality tv night after night.  (Do we really care what happens to the Gosselins?  Really?)

Knowing many people who actually live in Kansas (and others who fit the bill), I believe that they just don't know better.  That they are not skeptical enough -- either by nature or upbringing -- to distrust what they see on tv.  After all, CNN seems pretty reputable, right?  Heck, even I used to think O'Reilly wasn't so bad --- until I discovered what a lying liar he is.  But one only learns such things by reading dark, evil, lefty literature.

But I digress.  My beef is not with the masses.  It's with the talking heads who repeat this same boring mantra day in and day out.  I am tired of hearing Obama's centrist ideas being called radical.  I guess you could say I'm feeling a bit left out.  After all, if Obama is a lefty radical, what then am I?

This is why I've decided to take up the mantle for true left wing radicals.  No, I'm not going to accept the current Senate health care bill because "it's better than nothing."  No, I'm not going to sit quietly as we continue to bail out Wall Street.  No, I'm not going to let the O'Lie-lly's (TM Al Franken) of the world defame my good lefty name.  I believe in calling a spade a spade.  Obama and most of the current Democrats are nowhere near being Left.  They are maybe, just maybe, a tad left of center.  That's all.

You wanna see true Left?  Listen to Bernie Sanders and Dennis Kucinich.  Read yourself some Marx.  Watch some Michael Moore movies (Sicko, anyone?).  These are the Real Lefties.  And they are proud to say it.

Don't believe me?  Well of course, why should you.  I'm just another Lefty Radical myself.  But Thom Hartmann is the most reasonable, balanced human being I have ever encountered, and I have heard him repeatedly assert that "there is no Left in America today."  Look up today's broadcast in fact, and you will hear him say just that! 

I can agree to disagree.  I can respect a True Conservative's ideas (hail George Will and Andrew Sullivan).  But I cannot tolerate the bigoted, bullshit scare tactics of the Right Wing Lunatics any longer.  They aren't even the fringe any more;  they are the mainstream of the Republican Party.  Sad, but true.  I dearly hope the True Conservatives splinter off and form their own party.  Because the teabaggers aren't doing anybody any favors.  Oh, except the rich, Wall Street fat cat corporate businessmen.  You think Glenn Beck, who lives in a gated community, gives a shit about you, worker bee of the American blue-collar "middle" class?  Think again.

All I ask is that we get real.  Let's discuss reality, not this fantasy world Fox News has created for us.  Obama is not a left-wing radical.  From where the teabaggers stand, sure, he's pretty left.  But just because they are far out in right field doesn't make the Center left.  In fact, most of Obama's decisions thus far have only supported right-wing corporatist ideals (anyone remember the Wall Street bailout of last year?  Anyone know anyone who's benefited?  No?  Well gee, I do: the mega banks have posted record profits since then).

So please: can we stop listening to crazy teabaggers (btw, the lamest name ever -- don't they know what it means?) and start listening to actual facts?  F-A-C-T-S.  Google it.