Res Publica: Elections 2010: Texas Red: Politics as usual…because some things just don’t change….

Even a casual glance at the headlines without going further into the article tells it all---nothing changes.

You can read the words of gifted and talented pundits everywhere. The opinions of political geniuses are online, on your IPad, IPhone, Twitter, Facebook and etc. There are geniuses who by the way have never blockworked (and don’t know what that is) have never run a campaign (and wouldn’t know where to start) but know exactly what’s going to happen in November.

This is as tragically ridiculous as it is unlikely. What you as a citizen of the republic can benefit from is a little insight and information you are unlikely to get anywhere else.

It took individuals such as Samuel Gompers and legions of committed workers to force the oligarchs to accept a 40 hour work week, weekends off , paid holidays and etc. The history of labor in America is as tragic.

Left to their own devices the oligarchs prefer to have the machinery of capitalism humming night and day 24/7/365 to the detriment of the worker that the machinery of capitalism chews up and spits out all day long.

For the entire history of this republic the worker has received at best a tiny fraction of the wealth created by them for the oligarchs.

Recent events and efforts should be sufficient to prove even to a largely unengaged and very disconnected American public that the oligarchs, the top less than 1% of the population, aren’t about to share any part of their wealth with the general population.

The oligarchs own it all. Today in what is sold as “the beacon for the world” “the great democracy” and its “free market economy”, four transnational corporations own every major television station, radio station and newspaper. By it’s very definition that means we hear what those four corporations want for us to hear. It is critical to find free-thinkers.

For example, the entire year leading up to the vote on improving and sharing healthcare insurance for all the trillion dollar insurance industry paid out approximately $1M daily and had six lobbyists for every member of congress (House and Senate) working to maintain the status quo. Talking heads, John Boehner and Mitch McConnell read directly from talking papers given them by their owners, the oligarchs. The talking papers of course vilified the effort to provide healthcare insurance for all.

So why would you think that if the GOPers are back in either their old form or in their latest iteration, the Tea Party, that things would be different?

Benjamin Franklin and a few of the other founders would be disappointed but not surprised that Americans have been unable to keep the republic the founders gave us.

More tragically yet, despite my best efforts I can’t understand what there is about any of those seeking office under the banner of compassionate, conservative Christian that is---well compassionate much less Christian.

See for yourself…..

GOP plans to replace health-care overhaul if it controls Congress, but with what is unclear
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/19/AR2010091904982.html?wpisrc=nl_politics

Census: 1 in 7 Americans lives in poverty
WASHINGTON – The ranks of the working-age poor climbed to the highest level since the 1960s as the recession threw millions of people out of work last year, leaving one in seven Americans in poverty.

The overall poverty rate climbed to 14.3 percent, or 43.6 million people, the Census Bureau said Thursday in its annual report on the economic well-being of U.S. households. The report covers 2009, President Barack Obama's first year in office.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100916/ap_on_bi_ge/us_census_poverty

Poverty Rate In U.S. Climbs
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129914145

1 in 7 Americans Lived in Poverty in 2009, New Census Data Show
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2010/09/poverty-uninsured-rates-rise-as-recession-continues.html

Mid-turmoil on Climate
TAJ: Actually several of these Republican candidates have gone a step further and are actually questioning the science of climate change, not just the policy proposals to solve it.

YOUNG: So, I noticed Christine O'Donnell and a lot of the Republican candidates have signed on to something that's called the 'no climate tax pledge.' What's that all about?

TAJ: That's a pledge to taxpayers that says basically 'I'll oppose any climate change legislation that increases government revenues.' And, so far, some six hundred politicians have signed onto the pledge. And the group behind it, Americans for Prosperity, is funded by David and Charles Koch, two brothers who run a big petrochemical conglomerate called Koch Industries. And, they've been very active in supporting the Tea Party movement and also in funding opposition to environmental regulations. The green group Greenpeace reports that Koch has spent fifty million dollars to help kill regulations on green house gasses. And, Koch industry's response is that it's just promoting economic and intellectual freedom and not opposing any particular piece of legislation.
http://www.loe.org/shows/segments.htm?programID=10-P13-00038&segmentID=2

Legislation aiming to lure Hispanics
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local_news/legislation_aimingto_lure_hispanics_103257609.html

say it isn’t so….it’s not as if law enforcement has ever really needed an excuse….
FBI overstepped terror link probes after 9/11
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100921/ts_alt_afp/usattacksjusticeprobe

Powell says illegal immigrants do his home repairs
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100919/ap_on_bi_ge/us_powell_illegal_immigrants

Colin Powell says he doesn’t hire illegal immigrants
http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_upshot/20100920/us_yblog_upshot/colin-powell-says-he-doesnt-hire-illegal-immigrants

elected representatives? Please…
Inside C-Street, The House That Hoped To Transform America

C-Street has been described as a spiritual frat house. It’s run by The Fellowship, the secretive Christian organization whose mission is to transform the world by offering spiritual guidance to American and world leaders. But recently, members of The Fellowship have been scandal-plagued and the organization has faced media scrutiny.
http://www.hereandnow.org/media-player/?url=http://www.hereandnow.org/2010/09/rundown-920/&title=Inside

C-Street, The House That Hoped To Transform America

http://www.hereandnow.org/media-player/?url=http://www.hereandnow.org/2010/09/rundown-920/&title=Inside C-Street, The House That Hoped To Transform America&segment=2&pubdate=2010-09-20

C Street: The Fundamentalist Threat to American Democracy
http://www.amazon.com/Street-Fundamentalist-Threat-American-Democracy/dp/0316091073

Special Election Series: San Antonio Congressman Lamar Smith

Rep Smith says that regarding the economy; “San Antonio is doing better than state---the state better than country” but if that is really so, it is also only marginally so and that’s with all the freebies to conglomerates including tax breaks, cheap labor, chump change to workers, and the poor and/or hostile working conditions of a misnamed “right to work state” more appropriately termed “a free to fire at will state.” Now that’s sad.
http://www.tpr.org/programs/thesource.html