Barackface: House

Showing posts with label House. Show all posts

Thursday, January 24, 2019

Why The Wall Is Stupid, Cruel And Dumb

Let's start with stupid.

That is like saying, I am against the death penalty, but if you are going to do it anyway, let me explain to you why giving someone an electric shock at 150 volts for two hours is a really, really bad idea. They will still be alive at the end of those two hours. And, in the meantime, you just engaged in torture. Which is inhuman.

The Wall idea is stupid. It will not stop people. It will not stop drugs. It will not stop criminals. The only thing it will do is give legitimacy to racist demonizations of people from the South. Or maybe that is precisely the idea. The Wall is but a hate project.

The cruel part is explained by the lady standing in the New York harbor. That lady in green is beckoning the persecuted of the world to come hither, come now. America is supposed to take people who have nowhere else to go to. It is the oldest modern democracy of some size. The cruelty is not just towards those who seek asylum. It is also towards the very idea of America. Trump wants to be the new Founding Father to America. Guess what, democracy did not work. Let's now switch to fascism.

Dumb, as opposed to stupid?

Japan suffered for decades, then it realized it really needs to open up to immigration if it wants a vibrant economy. And it has been opening up. Immigration is not America doing favors. Large scale immigration is the only solution to America's Social Security crisis. It is the only way to keep the American economy vibrant.

But then Hitler needed to torch the parliament building. Trump needs to push America into a Great Depression to realize his dream of becoming president for life.

The stand to not fund the Wall must be taken. The longer Trump slugs it out, greater the chances Trump will lose both the Senate and the White House in 2020, if America is still a democracy. He might lose the White House well before that. Which means, when he has lost the Senate, he gets impeached. Taking the stand against the Wall is the right thing to do. It is also the right political thing to do.

Why The Wall Is Stupid, Cruel And Dumb https://t.co/ZPyUt9EyMw @AOC @_waleedshahid @saikatc @SenWarren @KamalaHarris @RepJeffries @RepAOC
— Paramendra Kumar Bhagat (@paramendra) January 24, 2019

Saturday, January 05, 2019

The US Political Gridlock Can Be Fixed

The narrative often peddled is that Americans have in recent times become bad people. They just no longer see eye to eye. The country is so divided. That may well be.

But there is a more concrete reason for the gridlock. And there are concrete solutions available. Fix the political structure.

Fix the Senate. California deserves 12 Senators. The arguments are compelling. Fix the House. Bring the gerrymandering to an end. It is the people who should elect their representatives, not the other way round. Fix the presidency. Let the president be directly elected.

Monday, September 20, 2010

Pelosi Should Pass Election Reform To Keep Job

The Huffington Post: Election Reform As A Way To Put Republicans On The Spot: pass the Fair Elections Now Act, which likely to be voted out of committee next Thursday .... 165 co-sponsors and at least 40 more supporters, would give matching money to candidates who agreed to raise only small donations. It even has three Republican co-sponsors. ...... So far in this election cycle, House and Senate candidates have raised $1.2 billion dollars, and the money arms-race only grows. ..... Under the proposed Act, a candidate who raised small donations from at least 1,500 small donors contributing no more than $100 each for a total of at least $50,000 could get matching money, at a 4-to-1 ratio ..... As much as $3 million in public financing would be available -- enough to be competitive on most House races. The money wouldn't come from tax dollars, but from a special levy on the auctioning of broadcast spectrum

Of all things Pelosi could do between now and the November date, this would top the list. This is smaller than immigration reform and bigger than doing nothing. This is just the right size thing to do.

And with Charlie Rangel sleep walking to jail time after Bill Clinton sent out a robocall on his behalf right before the September 14 primary, the Dems badly need something that shows they stand on the side of politically clean. This bill would be it.

Pelosi can't do the stump speech thing that Obama does. That we should leave to Obama. But this House thing is Pelosi territory. She can get this done just like she got health care reform done and she got finance reform done.

The Dems need this bad.

The fear is not that the Tea Party might out think Obama. They have no plans to out think. Their plan is to numb the American people to not think anything. Their plan is to use racially coded language and imagery to get the American people to think that perhaps the guy in the Oval Office is not one of us.

If the Dems can turn this into an election about ideas and the future, that will lead to victory.

Obama does not need a victory in November. The Dems losing in November puts him in a better situation to win reelection in 2012. It is the American people who need Obama to win, who need Pelosi to be able to keep her job. And this election bill will help.

The Huffington Post: Obama Challenges Tea Party: 'Specifically, What Would You Do?': Obama, in no uncertain terms, accused the movement's members of refusing to talk in specifics. ..... We had two tax cuts that weren't paid for, two wars that weren't paid for. We've got a population that's getting older. We're all demanding services, but our taxes have actually substantially gone down." ..... What you can't do, which is what I've been hearing a lot from the other side, is we're going to control government spending, we're going to propose $4 trillion of additional tax cuts .... Obama does seem to operate at his best when facing inherently adversarial questions (recall the positive coverage he received for going to a Republican conference in Baltimore during the height of the health care debate).

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Sep 15 - Oct 31: Obama-Reshma Should Crisscross The Country

Image via WikipediaKeeping The House And The Senate

I want Barack to be able to keep the House, because I want him to do the good work he wants to do on comprehensive immigration reform next year. (The Dumbfuck Immigration Laws, Immigration Now?, Save Immigration For 2011, In South Africa They Had Apartheid, In America They Got Immigration)

I also want him to defy history one more time. He defied history in November 2008. His father would not have been served lunch in many parts of this country, and this dude is munching on snacks in the Oval Office. Unbelievable. But critics have started saying anyone can defy history one time. If he were to defy history two times, those critics would be silenced. And I want them silenced. History tells us a sitting president is supposed to lose this November election. Got to defy that, dude. (Obama's Got Momentum: He Could Defy History In November)

Barack's best bet at defying history would be to crisscross the country with his namesake Reshma. There are many reasons why. (Reshma: Obama's Number One Weapon For November 2010)

Reshma has not been in Congress. (September 14 Will Birth The New Woman) If Obama was the face of change in 2008, that face of change this year is Reshma. She has never held political office before although she has been an activist her entire life. She was a top person with Kerry 2004, and she was a top person with Hillary 2008. Since Hillary herself is in the cabinet, I am thinking we Obama people have forgiven "them." She is excellent in the three departments money, message, and organization. Reshma captures the mood for insurgency across the country. She can rightfully say, if you want to add new fuel to the message of change, vote Democratic. Barack has the slight disadvantage of having been in the White House two years, thereabouts.
All those women who cracked up that glass ceiling in 2008. (Firefighters Booing Hillary: Sexist, Al Hagan: Capable Of A Hate Crime, Al Hagan, Carolyn Maloney: Did They Apologize Yet?) Guess what, they are still there. Reshma crisscrossing the country is going to get them riled up. They will become more likely to show up at the polls. (Carolyn Maloney: The Alan Keyes Of District 14)
Reshma is literally the second stimulus bill this country needs. (Reshma Saujani Is The Second Stimulus Bill This Country Needs) The president should let her do some of the talking on as to how this country is going to move from a 10% unemployment rate to a more healthy 5%. I mean 10% could lead to social unrest. Some say it is already happening. It is called the tea party. Reshma's message is that you need to mend the frayed relationship between Wall Street and Main Street to get people back to work, and now, after Wall Street reform, is the time for it.
Just like in 2008, the choice is still between the past and the future. There is no turning back the clock. This country has to choose the future one more time. And Reshma is the face of that future. Reshma could credibly make that case. (Reshma's Is Top Primary Race To Watch In America: BusinessWeek In May) Barack beat McCain in a presidential race. Reshma has beat McCain in this BusinessWeek race. (Positivity, Excellence, Dark Matter)
The 18-38 crowd put Obama into power. That crowd now wants some power for itself. And it starts with Reshma. We run the danger of our 2008 surge crowd not showing up in full force in November. Reshma's crisscrossing the country will give them a big reason to show up. Change now looks like us. (Uptown Upstart, Extrapolations To Reshma 2016, Reshma On CNBC)
Charlie Rangel is the Bear Stearns of the US Congress. (Perfect Time For Congress Reform, Rangel Has Gone Radioactive, Charlie Rangel, Carolyn Maloney And Their Ethics Violations, Charlie Rangel: Motherfucker, Rangel And Maloney Need To Vacate The Premises And For The Same Reasons, The Rangel Drama) I am in disbelief how the New York congressional delegation is giving standing ovations to the crook. That guy is now a political suicide bomber, and he could single handedly cost the Dems the House. He has to be isolated, contained, and quarantined. Bear Stearns' collapse needed to be localized. Do not repeat the mistake. Reshma Saujani has been singing exactly the right tunes on Rangel. She will help the president make the case that Obama might also be black, but he is no Charlie Rangel, and Reshma is a New Yorker, but she feels the same.
Reshma has a presence. (Reshma Saujani: Top 10 Women To Watch In America)

Carolyn Maloney's Six Sins

And then on October 31, they should together celebrate Gandhi's birthday, (Gandhi, Reshma And Tornadoes, Reshma Is Gujarati Like Gandhi, I Am Bihari Like Laloo, Vogue India Features Reshma) and then Obama should give Reshma a few days to crisscross her own district. (The First Time I Heard The Obama Name)

Sunday, August 15, 2010

Reshma's Is Top Primary Race To Watch In America: BusinessWeek In May

Image of Reshma SaujaniMay 6, 2010: BusinessWeek: Key Primary Races Worth Watching

Reshma Saujani Vs. Carolyn Maloney (New York, House, D)
Alan Mollohan Vs. Mike Oliverio (West Virginia, House, D)
Trey Greyson Vs. Rand Paul (Kentucky, Senate, R)
Blanche Lincoln Vs. Bill Halter (Arkansas, Senate, D)
John McCain Vs. JD Hayworth (Arizona, Senate, R)

Reshma Saujani is the top political news in America this election season. 2010 is to Reshma what 2004 was to Barack Obama. She has not reached that mainstream imagination yet, but consider yourself lucky if you know her already, either in person or in name.

It is amazing she topped this poll in May when the list includes also Senate races including the Senate race of the guy who I think just ran for president not long ago.

This list includes all races for both the House and the Senate and Reshma is top of the list. This is Reshma's year. And if Barack Obama recognizes that fact, he gets to keep the House in November. I say starting from September 15 just completely take over her schedule. Call her up and say, Reshma you are coming with me, you are crisscrossing this country with me. Last I checked I was still leader of the party.

Saturday, July 24, 2010

Pelosi Will Continue As Speaker

Reshma Saujani has no plans to run for Speaker when she enters the House this fall, or at least not that I am aware of. After Reshma wins the Democratic primary on September 14, her total focus is going to be on Obama's national effort to keep the House and the Senate. Here in New York City we only have primary elections, the general election is a mere formality. We are not going to take the November election for granted, but we expect to be comfortable enough to make a serious contribution to the national effort.

Obama Has No Business Kissing Maloney

If you missed out on her fundraising firestorms during Kerry 2004, Hillary 2008 and Reshma 2010 so far, you should check her out then. You will not know what to do with all the money she will raise for the national effort.

Monday, May 31, 2010

Save Immigration For 2011

Official presidential portrait of Barack Obama...

Image via Wikipedia

As to what will happen in November of this year is anyone's guess, but Obama has set his mind to make history again by doing the best he can to keep the House and the Senate. If he loses one chamber, the next two years start looking shaky in terms of legislative work.

Passing health care reform was historic, and puts Obama in the FDR league of greatness. Work on financial sector reform also looks promising. Success on health made work on finance easy.

Obama might get tempted to make as much headway as possible on immigration as well. His commitment to the issue is beyond doubt, and the Hispanic caucus might even argue that putting immigration reform front and center will ensure crucial Hispanic turnout. And the Hispanic voters tend to cast the deciding vote.

That might as well be the case, but my instinct tells me the best strategy would be keep the immigration issue alive but saving actual work on it to begin in early 2011, hopefully to be completed by the end of that year, if not earlier. Some of the passions exhibited during the health care debate were to do with a really bad economy. People were hurting and anxious.

Health care reform, financial sector reform, comprehensive immigration reform: these are huge issues, and huge accomplishments when work is completed.

By the end of 2011 though, as Obama gears for his reelection effort, he is going to have to talk deficits and debt loud and clear. He will have to run on the platform that he will have balanced the budget early in his second term. Actually hinting towards that eventuality might be a great theme to keep echoing in the lead up to November this year itself.

A nuanced strategy would be to begin work on immigration this year but barely, so it does rouse Hispanic turnout at the polls, enough to tilt the tide in favor of Obama keeping both chambers, but to do actual work after the election is over. It is because immigration is a volatile issue. The top priority for the rest of this year for Obama has to be to keep the House and keep the Senate.

Gulf Oil Spill
A Dirty Bomb Just Went Off In The Gulf
In South Africa They Had Apartheid, In America They Got Immigration
Do I Know Rajiv Shah?
The Obama FDR Parallels
Obama's Got Momentum: He Could Defy History In November
State Of The Union: In Good Hands
Supreme Court Vs. Obama
Iran: An Opportunity

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Thursday, January 24, 2019

Saturday, January 05, 2019

Monday, September 20, 2010

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Tuesday, August 17, 2010

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Sunday, August 15, 2010

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Saturday, July 24, 2010

Monday, May 31, 2010

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