Thursday, February 04, 2016

Live Blog: New Hapshire Debate

What Senator Sanders did not mention in the last exchange concerning the Wall Street meltdown was that Robert Rubin,  a Wall Street insider, was President Clinton's choice for his Secretary of Treasury.  Rubin brought in other former Wall Street officials to serve in the administration that Ms Clinton is so proud of. Sanders point is that his opponent is too compromised to be an effective leader of a political revolution against the plutocracy..

It's not just where Ms. Clinton gets her financial support.  She actually does represent her "constituency", as a New York senator that happens to be Wall Street.  Ms. Clinton voted for bankruptcy "reform" that made it much more difficult for consumers to obtain Chapter 7  discharge from overwhelming debts.  The banking lobby wanted this legislation and Senator Clinton obliged.

Free college? Single payer health care?  No major tax increases for middle class and working families.  Is it possible?  Sure it is, IF corporations and the rich are denied their exorbitant privileges and the billions wasted every year on so-called "national security" is ended and the money saved diverted to needed social programs. This is why Sanders is calling his grass roots movement a revolution--a revolution in the way Americans think about politics and  their government and refuse to accept the status-quo as inevitable.

Ms. Clinton is right Bernie Sanders rejects neo-conservative foreign policy doctrine that is responsible for the quagmires in Afghanistan and Iran.  It is this policy of American hegemony supported by an bloated, expensive military establishment that needs to be reformed to prevent further foreign entanglements that cannot be won by force.

19:21PST NATO has done more to "move boundaries" in Europe than Russia has.  Russia has responded to what it sees as western provocation in the former Soviet Republics from the Baltic Sea to the Crimea.  Of course as a world power, it has geopolitical goals just like the United States.  The US would gain more from Russia by engaging that nation in mutual security building and peace-making efforts especially in Syria.

19:25PST Bernie is correct in his assessment of the results in Iowa.  Essentially it is a split decision, and a moral victory for a grass-roots campaign expected to fold after the Iowa Caucuses.  Yee-ha!

19:31PST The distinction between Hillary Clinton and Jeb Bush or Marco Rubio is fuzzy at best in the minds of most Americans because they are all establishment political figures.  They can understand the difference however between a social democrat and an evangelical plutocrat or bombastic billionaire snake-oil salesman.

19:36PST Thank you, Madam Secretary.

19:47PST The problem of public health poisoning by toxins goes way beyond the single city of Flint, MI. The epidemic of cancer and cancer related illnesses can in US Person opinion be laid at the feet of lax federal and state enforcement.  Hazardous materials of all types are used everyday in commercial and industrial activities.  Just look at the huge methane gas leak that goes currently unchecked in Southern California. A progressive administration would make vigorous environmental regulation and enforcement a top priority; it would end the false dichotomy between economic activity and environmental protection.

Epilogue: Senator Sander's campaign of "big ideas" is making the plutocrats nervous as evidenced by Goldman Sachs CEO Blankfein's comments after the New Hampshire debate. Well it should since they and other banksters like him are the ones who are stiffing this nation's democratic processes. We spent $26 trillion dollars saving them from their own folly, yet their most prominent member of the club has the audacity to label a grass-roots political campaign a "dangerous moment". If American's want to take back their government and live in a fairer society, then they have to support the only candidate willing to implement fundamental change, not incremental window dressing.  You simply cannot sum up a revolution in a few letters, and real reform goes way beyond gender.

credit: Gary Varvel
Wackydoodle sez: Nothin' like Iowa Humble Pie!