Bad Deeds for 9-8-2010

Confused Tea Party People – The Tea Party people say they’re angry about socialism, but maybe they’re really angry about capitalism. If there’s a sense of being looked down upon, it’s that sense of failure that’s built into a system that assures everyone they can make it to the top, but then reserves the top for only a tiny fraction of the strivers. Capitalism is also a system that lives off of change. When people say this isn’t the America they grew up in, they’re right. Nobody gets to grow old in the America they grew up in.

During the last election, I noticed that at the Republican town halls, people complained constantly about immigration. But what they complained most about wasn’t the possibility of lost jobs, or crime. It was that when they called their bank, a recorded message told them to press 2 for Spanish.

They are only vaguely aware of this value system. It is so entwined into their very nature, they cannot step back and define it. But they feel it weakening.

It might be possible for a responsible person to tap into this sense, but none has, so Glenn Beck has.

The Republican Contract on America for 2010 – Republicans promise to not invest in America’s infrastructure. They promise to not spend on anything that will increase America’s ability to compete in the world. No to improvements in roads, railroads, Internet, airports, air-traffic control, etc.

Since the Obama administration’s effort to create jobs was too small to have the large effect that people were hoping for, Republicans promise to end any projects that create jobs.

Republicans promise to extend the Bush tax-cuts for the super–rich (remember that cocaine is expensive), thus adding to the deficit.

Republicans promise to bring back the financial policies that gave us the great recession.

Republicans want to start more wars (Iran, anyone? North Korea?)

Republicans want to mess around with the Constitution.

Some Republicans want to use guns if the vote doesn’t go their way.

Republicans Want to Eliminate Immunizations and Health Screenings from Health Care Law – A new amendment introduced by Senator Mike Johanns (R-NE) would critically weaken key provisions of our new health care law, cutting $11 billion that is allotted for preventive care such as immunizations, health screenings, and elimination of health disparities.

We can stop this amendment in its tracks, but we have to act fast. Please send a letter to your senators and urge them to vote NO.

Republican Role Models – In 2008, Michael Brown, founder of the Brown Hand Center, was awarded a Republican Congressional Medal of Distinction, which included a lunch with Vice President Dick Cheney and a dinner with President George W. Bush. In 2002, he was charged with and later convicted of beating his pregnant third wife with a broken bedpost and pulling her down the stairs by her hair. In 2006, the Texas Medical Board revoked his license after he tested positive for cocaine. He’s been treated for narcissistic personality disorder, bipolar disorder and depression and spent time at an addiction rehab center and court-ordered anger management counseling, according to the medical board and other public records. Two weeks ago, he was charged with felony assault and accused of twisting his fourth wife’s arm behind her back and then, three days later, he forfeited in court any rights to see his children from his third wife.

Another recipient of the Republican Congressional Medal of Distinction is former Springboro, Ohio, city councilman Michael Hemmert, 53, who at the time of the award was undergoing drug treatment in lieu of conviction for cocaine and marijuana charges. As the Dayton Daily News reported, a county judge ordered Hemmert to “abstain from alcohol and drugs, submit to random drug tests and follow other restrictions while on probation for three years.”

Details of Arizona Governor’s Son’s Court Case Mysteriously Sealed – Something funny’s going on with Arizona Governor Jan Brewer’s son’s court case. On January 9, 2009, in a very unusual move, his criminal case files were sealed. Ronald Brewer, 46, was deemed criminally insane in 1990, following a July 1989 arrest and subsequent indictment for the sexual assault and kidnapping of a Phoenix woman.

Those details are not available for public inspection at county Superior Court — even though in a typical criminal case, they probably would be. On January 9, 2009, Superior Court Judge Pendleton Gaines sealed the entire case file at the request of Ronald Brewer’s attorney.
On December 1, 2008, President-Elect Barack Obama nominated then-Governor Janet Napolitano to be the head of Homeland Security. Her successor? Secretary of State Jan Brewer. Brewer assumed office as governor on January 21. The timing is curious.

This marked the first time that Ronald Brewer’s entire file was sealed. Previously, his mental-health files were sealed, which is typical. Criminal cases are rarely sealed, and then, only parts of such a case would usually be kept from the public.

Phoenix Newspapers (a.k.a. the Arizona Republic) filed a motion in July asking the judge to reconsider his January 2009 sealing order. That motion also is under wraps.

Regards,

Jim