Being a Democrat is Like Being a Cubs Fan

Who negotiates like this? Republicans ask for $33B cut in spending and Democrats offer $34B. Then Republicans taste blood and ask for $40B and Democrats say $78B. Now Republicans want $100B and 218 republican votes before a budget can be passed. I'm waiting to see how many Democrats will switch parties to help them out! Did any of the Democrats ever buy a new car or a house? This is NOT how you negotiate. What the hell are Dems doing? Voting for Democrats is like being a Cubs fan. Seriously, as a long suffering Red Sox fan who finally saw the end of the curse in 2004 (otherwise they'd be my example). Let's think about the Cubs. They haven't won the World Series since 1908. Throughout the years, they've had many stars; Rick Santo, Ernie Banks, Roger Hornsby, Ryne Sandberg, Greg Maddux, etc... However, they have the Curse of the Goat, Steve Bartman, the black cat running past the dugout (hogwash, black cats rule), etc... Politically, we have a superstar manager in Barack Obama, solid progressive Senators like Bernie Sanders, Barbara Boxer, Sherrod Brown, Al Franken and Debbie Stabenow. Progressive Congressmen/women such as Nancy Pelosi, Maxine Waters, Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, Jan Schakowsky, Anthony Weiner and Dennis Kucinich. Why do I always feel like Ernie Banks? He played for 19 years and never got the prize --- a World Series Ring. We had control of all three branches for two years and what happened? President Bi-Partisan. All he and our Democratic leaders did was capitulate to minority whining and crying. Pelosi failed to pass a 2011 budget late in 2010 so we're facing a government shut-down or the demise of womens health services. Why-oh-why does the party of the people cower when they have every single opportunity to do what the people want by large majorities? The Democrats as a whole are 1980's style Republicans, I begrudgedly get that. I don't know exactly when it happened (I expect it was the Reagan years), but it did. Maybe my wish that out more liberal members can make a difference is a far fetched dream. At this point I just want them to protect what we have already fought for and earned, but I'm not seeing a real fight for it. It's upsetting that our uninformed electorate isn't up in arms. Instead they're worried about who's going to win American Idol or Charlie Sheen's latest antics.

Senator Gillibrand (D-NY) Continues To Impress

When former NY Governor David Paterson appointed Kirsten Gillibrand to Hillary Clinton's vacated senate seat when Mrs. Clinton became Secretary of State; I was pretty worried. Rumors reported Gillibrand to be a gun lovin' DINO that liberals would despise. They were wrong. Despite her NRA support, she has actually proven to be more liberal than her predecessor in that seat. She not only not supports a woman's right to choose, she supports same-sex marriage, something Clinton did not. I'm providing a link below where you can check her positions on any topic. In this video, Senator Gillibrand urges women to get involved because decisions are made every day that affect them, yet only 17% of the members of Congress are women. And let's not kid ourselves, many of them are right wing kooks, like Michele Bachmann and Virginia Foxx who gleefully send womens rights backwards to appeal to their far right, white male base. Since Gillibrand won her re-election fairly easily last November, I hope she's on the way to a long successful careeer in the Senate. Imagine her or Barbara Boxer as Senate leader instead of Harry Reid.
A girl can dream...
Kirsten Gillibrand On The Issues



More video here: New ways to Lead

Fair Representation? Not When Over 50% of Americans Live in 9 States!

Have you ever wondered why U.S. politics are so screwed up? Maybe it's because more than 50% of Americans Live in 9 States. What you're left with is just 18 of the 100 Senate seats representing 154.6 million Americans, while the other 82 Senators represent roughly 150.4 million (based on a U.S. population of 305 million)! Democracy in action, indeed. Conservadem Ben Nelson of Nebraska for example, can ruin any progressive bill. Nebraska's population is only 1.8 million, but he has just as much clout as California's Barbara Boxer (D) who represents 37 million people.  If ever a chart demonstrated the need for proportional representation, this is it. I've never believed the propaganda that we're a center-right country. I've always been of the opinion that the "right" had more land mass, but less people and this is crystal clear proof. We'll never have real progress in this country until we initiate some serious reforms to politics.


November 2009