Cromwell Burns in Hell

You would think that after all the damage that one Richard Bruce Cheney has done to this nation, it’s institutions, laws, and our international reputation, that he would keep his mouth shut and do the decent thing and simply go away.  But this is Dick Cheney we’re talking about, and there’s nothing decent about him (or for that matter, anyone else in his wretched family).

So, the loathsome head of the most despicable political family in modern American politics decided to rear his head last week on a number of radio and television programs to hawk sales of his newly published memoir “In My Time.”  My only question about the book is this - is it going to be located in the “Crime” or the “Fiction” section of my local Barnes and Noble? 

Given the reactions of many - including former members of the Bush Administration who would be considered to be friendly to the disgraced former vice president - like Condi Rice and Colin Powell - there are so many mistruths filling the pages that it could not possibly be considered to be anything but a work of fiction. 

On the other hand, given Cheney’s previous admissions - along with those made in this book

Oh, if this were only true...(Image from ToppleBush.com)

 - it becomes increasingly clear that Cheney has committed violations of U.S. and international law.  Unfortunately, President Obama and Attorney General Holder both lack the courage to do the right thing and launch a criminal investigation into the activities of Cheney and his henchmen to finally bring these lawbreakers to justice.   While this nation’s leaders might lack the spine to bring charges against this thug, that may not necessarily be the case in other nations.  Cheney - like other Bush Administration officials - are rightfully apprehensive about traveling outside the borders of the United States.    Lawrence Wilkerson, who served as Chief of Staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell, stated last week  that Cheney is fearful that someone will “Pinochet” him (a reference to the former Chilean dictator Agusto Pinochet, who was arrested in London in 1998 after being indicted for committing crimes against humanity). 

Lacking that, the only judgement Cheney will face is that of history, and in that courtroom there is little doubt that he will be found guilty.

I must say that we here in earthquake-prone California were not particularly impressed by the mild quake that struck the east coast this week.  Aside from some minor damage to the Washington Monument and the National Cathedral, it appears that most of the east coast emerged relatively physically unscathered.  Psychologically, it appeared to be another manner, with lots of reports of people completely losing it during the quake and acting as if were a major disaster.  It had to be a west coaster who came up with this brilliant parody of the reactions of some of our east coast breathern to this relative non-event.

Hilarious Parody of the over-the-top reaction of some of the folks on the east coast to the minor quake this week.

It’s been a chaotic August.  After finishing up my three summer courses early in the month it was time to hit the road again for a little vacation.  The destination this time were Alaska and Seattle.  Five hours after leaving LAX , I arrived in what was a pretty cool and rainy Anchorage.  Ted Stevens Airport is one of the nicest airports I’ve been in here in the United States, with a very modern look.  A large group was gathered outside at the bus stop waiting for the much-delayed downtown bu, but a few of us decided to ante up for a quicker cab ride downtown.  I stayed at the Sheraton hotel, which a pretty luxurious and modern hotel (although I did spend ninety minutes stuck in one of the elevators there on a Saturday evening!).  My self-guided walking tour of  downtown Anchorage took me by a major museum, a large downtown mall, a slew of souvenir shops and government buildings, a performing arts center overlooking a flower, foliage and fountain laden park, and a few restaurants.  My preferred dining choice in Anchorage was a popular establishment called Humpy’s, which never seemed to close and was always packed with people. 

The following day we all piled on the Globus tour bus for the 300 plus mile ride toward our first destination, the small town of Valdez (site of the infamous 1989 oil spill).    The highlight of two-night stay there was a six hour cruise to the face of one of the local glaciers.  The next day involved an almost 400 mile journey through Delta Junction to that day’s destination: Fairbanks.  The cool and cloudy weather of southern Alaska gave way to a somewhat warmer and sunnier Fairbanks (which seemed a little ironic given that we were within 150 miles of the Arctic Circle), although it never got warm enough to break out the shorts).   After visiting the El Dorado gold mine, riding on the local riverboat, and touring the small downtown area over our two night stay we headed to the train station for the four-hour trip to the Denali National Park.  The highlights of the two night stay there was my first - and probably last - whitewater rafting trip and a helicopter ride in which we actually landed and walked around on a glacier!  Then it was back to the bus for the long ride back to the Sheraton Anchorage for our final two-nights.  Our last full day featured hundred mile journey to Seward for another extended cruise to have our closest water-borne encounter with a glacier.  We were close enough so that we could hear the loud cracking noises of the ice as it slowly advanced toward the sea.

Nine nights in Alaska, followed by two more in Seattle.

After arriving in Seattle, I took advantage of the city’s great public transportation system by jumping on the light-rail line heading downtown.  My hotel - the Mayflower - was within an easy walk of the waterfront public market, and was located just a block away from the Seattle monorail.  The monorail - one of just a handful in the world - takes one on a short distance to the Space Needle.  I bought a two-day ticket, hoping to capture some good daylight shots from the top as well as some night shots the following evening.  The views were stunning, particularly given that the three days I was in Seattle were sunny and clear, without a trace of that usually ever-present rain.  The downtown area of the city is very vibrant as both a commercial and entertainment center. 

It was another great trip but, as always, it was nice to arrive back home.

The stock market continued it’s downward slide today, indicating a negative reaction to the budget deal forced upon by the president by the teabagger know-nothings who now control the Republican party.  Just how potentially bad this budget agreement could be was illustrated by a report by the non-partisan Economic Policy Institute.  While many of the spending cuts are back-loaded in the ten-year budget plan, the short-term cuts will have a disastrous effect on the economic recovery.  The bottom line is that without an extension of the payroll tax reductions (not included in the agreement), no extension of unemployment benefits (again, not part of the agreement) combined with the budget cuts will lead to a loss of  more than 1.8 million jobs by the end of 2012 and a loss of $241 billion in terms of the Gross Domestic Product.

Economic Policy Institute chart illustrating the negative economic impact of the debt ceiling agreement.

The behavior of the Republicans, both at the national and state levels, has made it abundantly clear that they have no interest in responsible governance.  When in complete opposition (such as during the first two years of President Obama’s term, and during the last six months here in California) a totally obstructionist agenda has been the focus. 

Governor Brown has learned this lesson the hard way, wasting months of precious time trying to negotiate a  state budget agreement with the Republican minority in the state legislature.  Deep cuts in education and the social welfare safety net were agreed to by the governor. And the monumental concession Brown requested of Republicans?  A simple agreement to allow for a state ballot referendum to extend continuation of some modest tax increases enacted by Governor Schwarzenegger and legislative Democrats.  The teabagger-dominated Republican response?  No, we’re not even going to allow the people to vote in a free and fair election on the matter. 

When the voters foolishly empower the Republicans, the results are even more disastrous.  One state - Minnesota - experienced the longest government shutdown in U.S. history due to a budget impasse between Democratic Governor Mark Dayton and a Republican state legislature.  Republicans there insisted on extreme budget cuts and refused to tolerate any tax increases, even on the super-rich.  In the end, Dayton capitulated to many of the Republican demands in order to get the state government operating again.

Obama opted for a conditional surrender instead of the uncertainty of invoking the 14th Amendment option. How tragic for the nation (particularly the poor and aged) that the teabaggers don't give a damn about responsible governance .

Now, it appears that President Obama has capitulated as well at the national level, facing the prospect of a Tuesday on the national debt.  The teabagger-dominated Republicans who now control the U.S. House of Representatives held the full faith and credit of the United States Government hostage by refusing to increase the debt ceiling in a clean “no strings attached vote.”  Such increases in the debt ceiling have been a perfunctory exercise engaged in by both parties over the last century, and even the Republican savior Ronald Reagan stated that it would irresponsible for the Congress to refuse to raise the debt limit in a timely manner.  But now, in the depths of the Republican Great Recession, the teabaggers insisted on a ridiculous set of demands to allow any debt ceiling increase.  

The first demand was dramatic reductions in government spending (largley social welfare and entitlement spending, but naturally sparing the bloated Pentagon).  History informs us that increased government spending is critical during an economic downturn.  But the teabaggers ignore history, and they are also ignored the pleas of Republican business groups like the Chamber of Commerce who realized the teabaggers were taking us off an economic cliff.  The second demand was no revenue increases.  Even though the income gap between the rich and poor is the highest in generations, rate increases for the millionaires and billionaires were off the table.  Also off the table were the closing of corporate loopholes, even for industries that are enjoying their highest profits in history.  So much for “shared sacrifice.”  The third demand was that the debt ceiling be raised in two steps, with the second increase to be debated during the heat of the 2012 campaign.  Not only was this a naked attempt to use the issue as a political tool during an election years, but it would also create more economic uncertainty.  Wall Street credit agencies have warned that any debt ceiling increase that did not extend into 2013 would likely lead to downgrading of the U.S. credit rating.  Such a downgrade would have severe economic ramifications. Finally, there was the ridiculous demand that a Balanced Budget Amendment be approved by a two-thirds majority by both houses of Congress and be sent to the states (where a three-fourths majority would be needed for ratification) in order for any increase to take effect.  One might first ask why such an amendment was never proposed when the Republicans controlled the presidency and both houses of Congress, and only comes up when a Democratic president is in office?  Also, there is no realistic prospect for such an amendment to be approved and ratified in such a short period of time.  Perhaps most important, any rational policy analyst recognizes that this amendment is horrible public policy.  This amendment requires a two-thirds majority to increase taxes, allowing for a minority to hold the government hostage (as has been the case in California).  Such an amendment would also be lethal to any economic recovery out of a recession, because of subsequent decrease in government revenues would prevent the government from “priming the economic pump” by stimulative action.

Tonight, a resolution has apparently been brokered.  No one dares call it a compromise, because in a compromise a middle ground is reached between the two sides.  No, this was more of a conditional surrender on the part of the president.  At least one trillion bucks in mandatory spending cuts over the next decade with not a dime in new revenues.  A “super Congress” commission established to propose even more cuts (reportedly another $1.5 trillion), and it they are not approved then a trigger will mandate across-the-board reductions (equally divided between domestic spending and defense).  Hilariously, the Republicans reportedly balked at the idea that defense be included in those cuts but eventually relented.  That’s the GOPers for you: not a damned bit of  concern about the fate of the poor or elderly or college students, but they scream bloody murder if you dare touch the poor down-trodden defense contractors! 

This is a shit sandwich of a deal.  And the president couldn’t even get the GOP to throw in fries and a drink.  We got next to nothing in this deal - nothing except the short-term protection of the full faith and credit of the federal government, something which the Republicans in the Congress had no concern endangering for purely partisan reasons.  We’ll apparently have to grin and take it and swallow hard for the time being, and pray that the voters wake up and throw these teabagger lunatics out on their asses.

More facts (courtesy of Think Progress) to illustrate teabagger hypocrisy.  During the eight years of the Reagan presidency, the debt ceiling was increased almost 200 percent.  You remember Reagan, who promised during the 1980 presidential campaign that if we adopted his economic policies that we would have a balanced budget by 1983.  Well, the Gipper tripled the national debt, thanks to what George H.W. Bush famously referred to as “voodoo economics” during his 1980 nomination battle against Reagan.  Of course, conservatives conveniently forget this fact today about “Saint Reagan/Republican Jesus.”  Reagan’s successor, the first President Bush, increased the debt ceiling by almost 50 percent during his forgettable four year term.  The reaction of conservatives?  Like Reagan, little overt criticism of Bush’s deficit spending.  No, Bush committed the unpardonable sin of raising some taxes to try to reduce the federal budget deficit, which had been blown open by Reagan’s ill-conceived tax cuts and his nearly doubling of defense spending.  The result was the Pat Buchanan primary challenge from the right and lopsided electoral college defeat at the hands of Bill Clinton.

Conservative criticism of deficit spending increased dramatically during the Clinton presidency.  You see, deficits matter only to Republicans and conservatives when they’re not in power.  Or when they’re due to spending on the middle-class and the working poor, as opposed to padding the already bloated bank accounts of the rich and corporate America.  Thanks in large part to  the Clinton tax policies (which placed higher rates on the rich), the Clinton presidency concluded with the deficits turning into record surpluses.  No thanks or credit to Congressional Republicans, every one of whom voted against the increases.  Still, Clinton was saddled with deficits during a large portion of his presidency, but the debt ceiling percentage increases during his eight years were less than the four years of his failed predecessor. 

Then came W (little did we realize how much woe W would inflict on the nation).  After being installed by the Supreme Court, the idiot son was forced to double the nation’s debt ceiling as he enacted sweeping tax cuts (which produced little economic stimulus), plunged the country into  two largely avoidable and costly conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq, and enacted a costly but poorly designed Medicare prescription drug benefit (no new revenue provisions to fund it, and forbidding policies that would have lessened the program’s cost).  The conservative masses response?   Hardly a peep.  Then came 2008, and the Bush Administration belatedly began to act to save an imploding economy, resulting ultimately in the massive TARP bailout.  Suddenly, with the Republican Great Recession assuring Obama’s election, deficits seemed to matter once again.

The fact is that the debt ceiling percentage increases were much higher for presidents like Reagan and Bush. Of course, the teabaggers don't give a damn about facts.

The behavior of the Republicans and conservatives (particularly of the teabagger variety) has been absolutely disgraceful and unforgivable.  Obama Derangement Syndrome (a combination of racism, ideological extremism, and hyper-partisanship) has turned what has been in the past a perfunctory Congressional authorization to increase the federal debt ceiling into a political showdown that threatens the stability of the U.S. and global economies.  As usual, the facts have been blurred by the screaming and rhetoric of the teabagger know-nothings now controlling the House of Representatives and bullying the hapless Speaker Boehner.   When viewed as a percentage, the Obama deficit ceiling increases have amounted to only 27 percent. If one factors in the debt ceiling increases proposed by the administration, it would only rival that of the first president Bush (who wasn’t dealing with the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression).   Increased government spending, resulting in increased deficits, is essential during a period of economic downturn.  History is filled with examples of how increased government spending is a better approach than counter-productive austerity/budget cutting. 

Unfortunately, the teabaggers are neither rational or students of history.  They are crazed ideologues, and seem to care little about the disastrous financial ramifications that their actions will inflict upon the nation.

Hopefully, the nation can avoid a down-grade in it’s credit rating and the massive economic calamaty that would ensure from the first ever defaulting on the national debt.  A responsible Congress would - like they did countless times for presidents named Reagan and Bush - enact a clean debt-ceiling increase.  Sadly, this is not a responsible Congress.  They are indeed, in the words of Congressional Scholar Norman Ornstein, the “worst Congress ever.”

An interesting chart popped up on Think Progress today.  The chart compared the new federal government spending programs and tax changes enacted during the George W. Bush Administration versus those enacted during that of Barack Obama. 

Bush spent money like a drunken sailor (or drunken AWOL Air National Guard pilot),

It turns out that the president representing the party of “”small government” and “fiscal responsibility” enacted five trillion dollars in new spending, while the “socialist/Marxist” president representing the party of “big government and big spending”" managed to enact a comparatively paltry $1.4 trillion in new spending.  Let us not forget that - just like under Reagan - massive deficits were opened up under Bush by sweeping tax cuts that had no corresponding spending reductions.  This fiscal irresponsibility was compounded by a prescription drug benefit (a.k.a. the Big Pharma Subsidy Act) being added to Medicare that featured no funding mechanism.  With those two actions, over two trillion dollars was added to the national debt.   Then, we have the two unnecessary wars that Dick “deficits don’t matter” Cheney convinced the hapless W. to wage (on a credit card, and off-budget to boot) that tallied up nearly another trillion in red ink.  Finally, let’s not forget that after nearly eight years of Bush tax cuts and deregulatory policies, the swaggering Texan and his Wall Street friends helped crash the economy into the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression (shedding several million jobs in the process).  To try to prevent a recession from turning into a depression, the Bush Administration  and Congressional leaders of both parties agreed to allocate $800 billion on TARP.  While heavily criticized by many at the time (particularly by those who now comprise the TEA party movement), the measure did restore stability to financial sector and the program has largely paid for itself.  All told, as the chart above illustrates, approximately five trillion in new spending without offsets. 

In comparison, the major new spending programs enacted by the Obama Administration were the stimulus package (designed to offset the impact of the Republican Great Recession) and the Afforable Care Act (which the Congressional Budget Office has demonstrated will actually save the federal government over one trillion dollars during the decade after being fully implemented).  Unfortunately, Obama agreed to extend the Bush tax cuts for the rich (you know, the “job creators” whom didn’t seem to create any jobs when enjoying the Bush tax cuts for the previous decade), draining nearly a half-trillion dollars from the federal coffers this year.  Obama has also disappointed many of us as well by continuing American military involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan, leading to the loss of even more blood and treasure in this pointless endeavors.  To be fair to Obama, he was simply carrying on policies that circumstances made it difficult for him to disengage from, and there is little doubt that Obama would have never originated these policies (with their enormous costs) on his own.

So, next time one of your teabagger friends start spouting off about the “big spending” Obama, be sure to share this little chart with him.  Either his head will explode or - more likely - he’ll shift into a state of denial (a common teabagger trait when faced with facts and reality).  But maybe, just maybe, he’ll see the light.  Hope springs eternal.

Here’s a nice chart detailing what areas of federal spending have experienced the largest increases over the last decade.  

A few facts about government spending increases over the last decade.

Discretionary military and security spending has increased 74 percent over the last decade in inflation-adjusted dollars, driven largely by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.  In comparison, mandatory non-military/security related spending increased only 32 percent in inflation-adjusted dollars during the same period.  Much of that increase can be blamed on spending related to the Republican Great Recession - unemployment compensation to the millions who lost their jobs due to conservative economic policies, Medicaid coverage for the millions of newly unemployed poor who lost their employer-provided coverage, etc.  Not surprisingly, these programs designed to help those most impacted by the Republican Great Recession are now  targeted for massive cuts by those same soulless, conscience-challenged Republicans.   

A closer examination of this area indicates that a great deal of the spending increase was due to increases in health care costs.  The cost cutting provisions of the Affordable Care Act — a program despised by the collection of teabaggers and wingnuts comprising the modern Republican party — will likely achieve the often-stated Republican goal of slowing the increase in this area of federal spending.  The last major area examined, non-military/security spending, didn’t increase at all when adjusted for inflation.  This area includes areas such as education and environmental protection, additional targets in Republican crosshairs.

The bottom line is the current budget deficits are largely due to the short-term government spending to alleviate the impact of the Republican Great Recession, the unnecessary wars that Bush started in Afghanistan and Iraq and subsequent occupations, and increased federal spending on health care .  Spending increases in this last area can largely be blamed on the Bush Medicare prescription drug benefit program (that had no designated tax-revenue source and also denied the federal government the ability to negotiate with big pharma for lower prices), the increasing percentage of the population over the age of sixty-five, the high-inflation rate of modern health care costs, and price-gouging by the for-profit private insurance industry. 

Of course, the ongoing Bush tax cuts that disproportionately favor the rich(cuts that have proved an enormous failure in promoting economic growth, which Obama foolishly extended for two additional years) deprived the federal government of $424 billion in revenues for this fiscal year alone.

Those are the facts, established by the Senate Appropriations Committee and the Center for Economic Policy Research.  Of course, facts don’t matter to the teabagger lunatics, and they will studiously ignore reality and will continue to shout their idiotic bumper-sticker slogans…to the detriment of our nation.

For those of you outside the Los Angeles area, you might not have heard about the calamity that drivers here faced this weekend. A ten-mile portion of the 405 Freeway, one of the most heavily traveled roads on the planet, was closed down this weekend for work on the Mulholland bridge.   The traffic-nightmare to be caused by this 53 hour closure has been nicknamed “Carmageddon” by the local media.  Accordingly, I decided to stay well clear of the area this weekend.  Next year, part two of “Carmageddon” will commence with more work on the same bridge. 

Yes, traffic will be screwed up for a short-time, but the upside will be a safer-journey for the tens of thousands of cars using the 405 everyday.  Thankfully, this Democratic-dominated state has long embraced the common-sense idea of government activism in areas of life such as transportation.  Even former Republican Governor Schwarzeneggar, who was a disaster in so many other ways, rejected the myopia of the increasingly reactionary and teabagger-dominated Republican party in their aversion to public investments.  

As a result, Californians will enjoy better roads and expansion of mass transit options.  Meanwhile, teabagger governors like Walker, Scott and Kasich have rejected federal funds to build modern passenger-rail systems.  Incredibly, some states are even actually tearing up modern paved roads and replacing them with gravel(!)because of teabagger reluctance to provide the necessary revenues to fund such essential public services. So, while China is investing in a modern, nationwide rail system, roads in the United States are being converted to nineteenth century conditions. 

Thankfully, that is not occurring here in California.  Continual investment in repairing and expanding our transportation infrastructure is a given here in the state.   Therefore, we are much less likely to suffer disasters like that endured by Minnesota in 2007 when the Minneapolis-area I-35W freeway bridge collapsed, killing thirteen people.  BTW, who was the governor of Minnesota during that time, who ignored warnings about the state’s crumbling infrastructure and the need for additional public investment? 

Thirteen people died and over 100 injured in Minnesota thanks to the teagbagger anti-tax/anti-government spending policies followed by Pawlenty

None other than Tim Pawlenty, who has now fully embraced the teabagger agenda in his pursuit of the Republican presidential nomination.  Hopefully, Pawlenty will never have the opportunity to fail the nation as badly as he failed the people of Minnesota.

To the great disappointment of my one occassional reader, I obviously haven’t posted much over the last several weeks.  One reason was the end of the spring semester, which is always a very busy time for me.  The other was being out of the country for almost a month on a trip to a part of Europe I’ve never visited before - the Balkans.

There were four major components of my trip.  The first was a two-week tour conducted by Insight entitled “Treasures of the Balkans.”  The tour began with a two-night stay in Bucharest, Romania.  Then, it was off for three nights in Bulgaria, one night each in Macedonia and Albania, and afternoon stop in Montenegro, and a two-night stay in the extreme southern part of Croatia in the beautiful city of Dubrovnik.  The next stop was a two-night stay in Sarajevo, Bosnia, followed by two nights in Belgrade, Serbia, with the tour concluding with two-nights in Budapest, Hungary.

Insight's "Treasures of the Balkans" tour featured stops in nine different countries

The second major component of my trip commenced the next day as I jumped on a train for the seven-hour trip to Prague.  There, I met up with a friend from work and we spent the next three days touring the capital of the Czech Republic.  Prague did not disappoint, and it truly is one of the most beautiful cities in Europe.

Toward the end of the third day in Prague, I jumped on a night-train to Vienna arriving six hours later.  There, I boarded another train for the six-hour journey to Ljubljana.  In the Slovenian capital the third major component of my European adventure began as I joined another tour, this one conducted by Cosmos entitled “Jewels of Slovenia and Croatia.”  While this tour featured stops in Slovenia and Bosnia, it mainly focused on Croatia (Zadar, Split, Dubrovnik, Zagreb, and one of the nation’s national parks).  After that enjoyable seven-night tour concluded, it was back to the train station for a seven-hour journey to Munich.

The Cosmos "Jewels of Slovenia and Croatia" tour focused largely on Croatia, but also included stops in Slovenia and Bosnia-Herzegovina

Munich was the fourth and final major segment of my trip.  From this very interesting Bavarian city, I journeyed to some of the castles in the area (including Neuschwanstein, the inspiration for the Disneyland castle) and also went to Berchtesgaden, home of Hitler’s ”Eagle’s Nest” mountain retreat.  After three nights, it was time to head to the airport for the long journey back to LAX.

It was a wonderful trip, with some really beautiful scenery but also very enlightening and educational as well. But it’s always great to come back home, even if what awaits me is a really brutal summer teaching schedule.