New Reality Heating Up

Well, readers. I'm back, and apparently with some new set of parameters to explain.

On the top of the list is the recent amount of petitions I've recieved during and after the shutdown. What the +House Republicans were thinking they could accomplish by shutting down the government is still outside my comprehension, as I'm sure it is with many of yours. Anyway, the resolution isn't perfect, but if they try this same stunt early next year, when they have to recampaign for office (it'll be the lead-up to the midterm in 2014), rest assured the +Republicans will take the biggest beating in their history. Then again, it happened to the Democrats at the end of the 1960s, and again at the beginning of the 1980s. I'm very sure the +GOP will bounce back and a more dynamic form, but it will be some time until the civil war between the liberal-moderate & conservative wings is over.

Another debacle I'll give to everyone is the debt crisis (more like the manufactured crisis by the +Republicans upon the +Democrats to make them cough up +Obamacare). This was a losing strategy from the start, since the +House Democrats and +Senate Democrats, along with +Barack Obama, were not going to give that law up. If this kind of politics failed back in 1995-6, chances are it would fail again in 2013. In fact, in 1996, then-President, +William Jefferson Clinton, was re-elected dispite the fact that the +Republicans retained control of the newly elected 105th US Congress. I think that's what's going to happen this time in 2013-4, only without +Barack Obama being on the ballot, but the battle over who will have full, or partial control, of the 114th US Congress, which is on the ballot next year (2014 being a mid-term election).

I think it's safe to conclude that whatever happens, the +House Republicans and +Senate GOP will come out weakened thanks to the intransigence of +The Tea Party.

BART Strike #2

Hey all in the Bay Area, from talking to a transit worker handing out fliers warning riders that BART workers are about to go on strike for a month starting on Friday. I would strongly suggest taking a look at either one of these fliers or look on http://www.511.org/ for any additional information about how to plan your commute. This is something to commend the unions for as they've started their advisory campaign with ample time to prepare the rest of us.

An important update: I saw on the news that the unions negotiating with BART agreed to push back the strike threat's deadline to Sunday at midnight. This is as reported by all Bay Area news channels.

Government Shutdown and its effects

I've been following this story for the past few days, and it just disgusts me to see how the +House Republicans and +Senate GOP think that by continually making excuses of why the government is shutdown will help them win this #PublicRelationsBattle with +The White House. It's very clear to me that they have no shame about who they hurt: Military veterans trying to get services through the +U.S. Dept. of Veterans Affairs, kids using the +Head Start Administration's program to enroll into preschool, etc. These examples are a few of the many different groups of Americans affected by the shutdown. I saw earlier on +Facebook, an article from +PoliticusUSA, that showed a recent war of words between +Barack Obama, via Jay Carney, and +John Boehner.

However, if I figured the lowest point was the refusal by the President and the Speaker to talk, I was completely off by a longshot. From reading a recent report on NBC News, the shut down has just taken a more horrid turn for the worse. It turns out Military families, until there's either a continuing resolution or budget, just saw their 

Inequity along with the drive to make American lives impossible

I just don't understand the Congresssional Republicans’ drive to fully undermine any aspect of Americans’ daily lives that doesn't fit their ideological model. It's infuriating, yet sad, that they've become beholden to the wealthiest .0002% of the populace and defending this corrupt status quo. In addition to that, it’s like they’re trying to return to Jim Crow again, especially by trying to use law enforcement to harass racial & demographic minorities. This happens at the same time as them advocating for more people to be let off of the social safety net and throwing up more election barriers designed to deny people their right to vote. Honestly, I'm at a real loss, and I'm getting even more pissed off by the minute just thinking about it. I think that people need to wake up and see that +The Tea Party is not what it seems, and have become a major force in pushing for this far-right agenda extened by the +Republicans.

I want all to understand, this is not all Republicans, but a very vocal and extreme fringe within the party, which can occasionally meet out violence. It was this very same fringe that produced the #OklahomaCityBombing of 1995, as well as the recent uptick in exceedingly racialized commentary here in America ever since +Barack Obama became the +President Of The United States on January 20, 2009. Additionally, don't think too hard for other examples, because there are plenty, some here at home and others abroad, thanks to these lunatics for the last 50-60 years or so. However, I think I'd like to keep the events as current as possible, going no further back than 1992, when Bill Clinton was elected President over George H.W. Bush.

Mostly though, my drive for writing on this comes primarily from +House Republicans' attempts to hold the American public hostage, along with the +Senate GOP,  to effect their ideological policy model and cause them absolute chaos in the process. This is not the way to govern, and this is certainly not the way that +Ronald Reagan would have wanted see +The Republican Party use their political power.  I can never understand their wanting to create such instability just for the sole purpose of scoring political points. Are the Republicans seriously this inept and out of sync with the whole of the American electorate? Sadly I believe the answer is a big YES, since they're more interested in keeping their corporate backers happy and their wallets full of donations from these same people. I have to conclude by saying that this is the worst corruption and contempt for working Americans seen in this country since the Gilded Age.

Change in site link

Hey all,

I know that many of you have been wondering what's been going on with the site "jgsf1987" here on Blogger, and I think I should have give you all an explanation. The fact is that over the course of the last couple of weeks, I've been moving the domain from the typical one found on Blogger to a custom-named one. The content shall remain the same, so have no worries, I'll still be here writing about life as I see it. The site was temporarily down due to the move, and getting the new domain calibrated with this blog. Now that it's over, you won't have to endure any further disruptions to this site on my end for a long time. Feel free to comment, and if you like what you see, do subscribe.

Peace and Love,

Jgsf1987

Why I was, am, and always will be a Democrat

For a long time I've been watching the Republican Party let loose a salvo of harmful laws for the American people, and it's gotten to the point of really pissing me off. There's not much to say other than for the past 30 years, the Republicans have been responsible for the biggest redistribution of wealth since the Great Depression, and almost all of it going to the very wealthiest Americans. Additionally, the Republicans have been responsible for keeping us in a Cold War mentality both at home and abroad, and the former Bush Administration is a shining example.

I can't think of one instance in recent times when there's been an example of when the Republicans held the Presidency that they were not engaging in illegal warfare abroad, or picking fights with other countries on an unnecessarily consistent basis, especially when they didn't care for the leader of said nations.

Cat Close Up

This was pretty funny, I've got to say that Katie Cole certainly has a way with cats.



Credit: Katie Cole

Verdict in Fort Hood Shooting

Apparently, since this morning, several news outlets here in America have announced the Court Martial jury's verdict of the Fort Hood Shooter. Maj. Nadal Hasan was found guilty of murder and is set to be sentenced in the coming days.

The interesting thing is that Hasan called upon the JAG running the trial to impose the death penalty on him, saying that it will complete his journey to martyrdom after keeping evil American military officers and personnel from going overseas to, in his eyes, murder innocent Muslims. While some of his rambling is coherent (as in the number of civilian deaths due to American military action in the Middle East being beyond  any comprehensiblity), it still did not justify going on such a massacre at Fort Hood. That being said, it's important to note that he needs to be held accountable for the mayhem he caused and the pain inflicted upon the families whose loved ones died that fateful day in 2009.

In my view, I would not impose the death penalty on him, and here's why. First off, killing him off the bat would only serve his twisted wish to be martyred in the eyes of Islamist extremists, and could give them a new rallying cry to justify the killing of innocent Americans. Lastly, I don't see the ultimate punishment as being that effective, as it won't hold him accountable. It's a better decision to simply let him live and let him think about what he did.

Can You Feel It? People are Getting More Tense as Anti-Human New Political Order Takes Shape | Alternet

I found this on Alternet. While it may sound very extreme to the left, just take a look at what's going on around you, and some of what the author (Yves Smith) writes actually does have a degree of accuracy. It's as if there are forces that want to turn back the clock here.

Can You Feel It? People are Getting More Tense as Anti-Human New Political Order Takes Shape | Alternet

Calls for stripping away the Olympic Games from Sochi next February due to new Russian anti-LGBT law

As I've said on Facebook some time back on my public page, I really think that the Russians have just invited themselves a whole world of trouble. This is not to say that I specifically approve of the new law President Putin signed, I don't, and I would really give him a massive amount of credit if he has the wherewithall to repeal it, but that's not going to happen. However, it should be noted that while Putin is reflecting the aspirations of his people as he is something of a nationalistic populist. I continue to sympathize with the LGBT community in Russia and their struggle for equality despite undeniably heavy odds.

That being said, taking the games away from Russia is going to give the International Olympic Committee a much bigger headache to deal with and not from the anger released by the Russian Government and Russian Olympic Committee. It would be a headache in the sense that they would have to get a 7-year construction and preparation project completed in a new host country in less than 6 months (which to be perfectly candid is highly unlikely). It would be this or cancelling the games as had happened during WWI (1916 Summer Games, which were to be held in Berlin) and WWII (the 1940 and 1944 Summer and Winter Games, which were to be held in Tokyo/Helsinki, Sapporo/St. Morritz/Garmisch-Partenkirchen, London and Cortina d'Ampezzo). Cancelling the upcoming games in Sochi would only bring the International Olympic Committee a large amount of negative publicity and would severely curtail its ability to influence member's behavior in passing such hate-filled legislation, as doing so would be seen as meddling in that member nation's internal political affairs.