Tough Guy Rhetoric Plays into Game Plan

While many continually applaud Donald Trump for telling it like it is, sometimes his lack of diplomacy borders on pure buffoonery.  His threat about “totally destroying North Korea” with its 25 million inhabitants is total buffoonery because it could not be carried out without the total destruction of our ally South Korea.

For those unfamiliar with the geographic layout of South Korea, its capital city, Seoul, is located near the North Korea border with a population of over 12 million inhabitants; almost fifty percent of South Korea’s population reside in the area closely surrounding it. 

North Korea has the capability of destroying Seoul within 20 minutes with its latest missile technology.

I seriously doubt Donald Trump is going to sacrifice over 12 million plus people of one of our sworn allies to fulfill his tough guy testosterone rhetoric; for that’s all it really is, “tough guy rhetoric.”   It cannot be realistically acted upon and North Korea knows this.

However, Trump’s latest shoot from the hip remark does have an upside for North Korea.  It will provide that country with just the very thing they needed, the sound bite of the century.  That UN speech footage will be used time and time again by Kim’s regime to justify the necessity of its inhabitants’ suffering to “resist the United States’ aggressive imperialism and hostile policy leading to the eventual goal of the total destruction their country.”

Since the Korean War ended in an armistice in 1953, the Kim regime has portrayed the United States as an aggressive nation pursuing a course to once again destroy North Korea. To keep control of, and unify the populace, the regime has kept alive the memories of the Korean War, when the U.S. destroyed 80 percent of all the buildings in the North and killed as many as 20 percent of its population.

North Korea’s streets and airwaves are filled with calls to resist the American imperialists, and from a young age children watch cartoons showing squirrels and hedgehogs (North Koreans) fighting off evil wolves (the United States).

The regime tells its people that the “threat” from the United States is the justification for the development of nuclear weapons, while denying them access to a good quality of life.  They believe it is worth the sacrifices to protect themselves from the total destruction of their country.

Before Trump’s speech one could legitimately reassure the North Korea inhabitants that this was just unfounded North Korea propaganda and they need not worry.

However, Trump’s careless buffoonery has removed all doubt that such a destructive reality is being considered by the most powerful nation in the free world.  This plays right into the Kim Jon-un’s regime game plan for it now legitimizes his claim that only way he can protect North Korea from “the United States’ imperialist goal” of complete annihilation is by the development of nuclear weapons for protection.

Sadly, just like Barack Obama, we have yet another president who draws lines in the sand which can’t realistically be enforced. Both Donald Trump and Kim Jon-un need to  lower the testosterone level and get a grip.

This is a serious situation, not some school yard bully’s game of who will blink first

When will legislators take responsibility for fiscal mismanagement?

Just how dumb do our Baton Rouge legislators think we are?  Republican House speaker, Taylor Barras, is titillating the media with the claim that our legislators are going to propose some meaningful tax reforms that will permanently solve Louisiana’s budget crisis.

For eight years under Jindal and two more under Edwards these same legislators lacked the spine to enact any worthwhile tax reform.   They basically let the LABI, oil, chemical, and gas lobbyists, and the nursing home lobbyists run the legislative sessions without opposition.

Our Republican legislators created the fiscal mess and now we are to believe that they will suddenly shun all these large election campaign donors and work for the citizenry.   I repeat, how stupid do they think we are?

However, an example of their perception of our degree of stupidity was made quite evident in a recent meeting I attended with one of our state representatives.  Let me share it with you.

Apparently our legislators’ new media by-line is that Louisiana’s entire fiscal mess was the result of the Jindal administration, and is currently continuing under the Edward’s administration.  Our Republican legislators take no responsibility for the fiscal deficit.

Perhaps they all need to review the state constitution, for it clearly states that ALL revenue generating bills must originate in the Louisiana House. The governor can propose whatever he/she wants regarding such measures, but the legislators have the final say in proposing, and passing such bills for implementation.  Even  if the governor vetoes some of their fiscal legislation our Baton Rouge reps  have the power to over-ride that veto by calling a special session; a procedure which they have NEVER  implemented since the Louisiana constitution was adopted in 1974.

In the case of Bobby Jindal, our esteemed legislators allowed him to raid and deplete dedicated state-funded accounts for the elderly, handicapped, and retirees, privatize state hospitalization care, increase corporation tax breaks, give state police a 23% raise, and continually slash funding for education and health care.  They approved 99% of his agenda and never blinked an eye.

  

Likewise with Edwards, our legislators never voted to undo, what they now claim, are unjust revenue raising measures.  Why would they?  The Republican controlled  house acted upon some of his desires by creating legislative bills and voted to implement them.

Sadly, even the many editorials that appear in our various media outlets bashing our latest governor have bought into the smoke screen erected by our legislators.  Journalists have forgotten who is mandated by the state constitution as having the ultimate control over, and responsibility for revenue raising measures in Louisiana. 

Our Republican legislators created this fiscal mess and don’t be surprised if their only solution to solving it is simply to make all temporary tax measures, set to expire in July, permanent.  The highest combined local and state sales tax in the nation!

According to them, I guess this will all be the fault of our latest Democratic governor.  It is imperative that the public continually remind themselves and our Republican legislators who is truly responsible for the fiscal woes in our state and hold them accountable.  Don’t fall for the legislators’ PR!

Our Representatives Couldn't Care Less

After Thursday’s marathon political circus it is clear that Obamacare will still remain as this nation’s healthcare provider.  However whether you’re joyous or sad regarding this outcome is irrelevant because out of this dysfunctional episode called health care reform one glaring aspect of our political system stood out.

Basically many of our representatives couldn’t care less about the quality of life of the constituents they represent.  After Friday’s early morning vote media outlets reported the following, “Even some senators who voted for the ‘skinny bill’ conceded that its enactment could have been disastrous.”

One can only conclude from this reporting that although the measure failed by one vote, it was perceived by many senators that the bill would have been detrimental to those it served.  Apparently several Republican senators seemed relieved that it failed.  Three took the heat and had the courage to vote their conscience of what they thought was best for their constituents, given the alternative, rather than perform as spineless sheep, Louisiana’s two senators included in the latter group.

Even in the beginning of the healthcare reform movement, after the House passed by four votes its version to replace Obamacare, many Republican House members appeared to be glad punting the bill to the Senate, where they acknowledge it would be changed or stall.  One was quoted as saying, “We had a vote over here, but the Senate will fix whatever we did wrong,” again opting to follow as a sheep rather than assume any responsibility in clearly voting what he perceived would be best for this country.  After its passage President Trump, in his limited vocabulary, even called the House bill “mean,” expressing hope the Senate bill might have a bit more “heart.”

Republicans had seven years to devise a health care replacement or reform for The Affordable Care Act.   During that interval all they did was complain, and when the time came to produce their plan had none.   Consequently they were forced to rapidly throw one together in both the House and the Senate in less than a month without review or debate.  In the Senate the plan was developed by 13 Republican male senators in totally secrecy behind closed doors.  Six of those Senators’ largest campaign donors were health insurance providers or pharmaceutical corporations.  Talk is cheap, meaningful action is difficult.

Our Republican leaders claimed they wished to serve their constituents by repealing Obamacare, but when given the chance voted for something they doubted was any better and felt might be worse.  Yet, they voted for it anyway. Today’s Democrats are no better.  Clearly there is something morally wrong with this picture. 

However, if anyone had any doubts about whether or not our political system is broken, the healthcare reform attempt should resolve that question; it’s broken from the Congress up to the Commander- in- Chief. 

Everything is a Contest

Why does the media have to perpetuate the political divide in this country by continuing to portray every political action of our state legislators as some type of sporting event?  They always report political actions as some “win or loss.”  Monday’s Advocate front page headline “House Republican leadership dealt first major loss” was a perfect example of this sport-contest mentality.

We have a Republican majority in Baton Rouge, and whenever there is debate about a proposed bill, House and Senate members huddle to make sure that passage won’t appear like a “win” for the Democratic governor, or as a “loss” for them. And the press reinforces this behavior by headlines like the one that appeared Monday.

Maybe it’s just an over-abundance of male testosterone but the extent of this desire to always appear as “the winner” is destroying this state.

The media needs to lose the sporting event mentality by changing its focus from identifying “winners and losers,” and instead report about how these legislative actions will benefit our state and its citizenry.

Maybe then our legislators will get the message that there are no “winners and losers” at the State Capital, but only long term effects for Louisiana.

Everyboddy hates Everbody

Occasionally someone just writes something so profound that it can’t be expressed any better.  Please read and reread slowly what Mark Z. Barabak of the Los Angeles Times wrote about the tragedy that occurred Wednesday:

“The targeted shooting of Republican lawmakers at play yielded a kaleidoscope of emotions Wednesday — anger, revulsion, horror — but little in the way of surprise.

The attack almost seemed a natural, if sick, extension of the virulence that surrounds the country’s increasingly tribal politics.

As if to prove it, events quickly settled into a familiar pattern: finger-pointing, blame-laying, partisan positioning.  People today don’t just disagree.  They’ve grown to hate the other side, from President Donald Trump on down.

Not necessarily over issues or ideology, which can be debated or leavened by compromise, but rather as an outgrowth of a deeper pathology, a contempt toward people for merely existing.”

We have now become a nation where people hate Democrats for simply being Democrat and hate Republicans for simply being Republican.

Hopefully, we as a nation will learn from this tragedy and stop the lunacy.

However, if past history is any indication, when representative Gabby Giffords was shot we, as a nation, pledge to change our ways.  Unfortunately it was short lived.

We again stand at a serious crossroad in our country, and hopefully this time around, we choose the correct path by permanently eliminating our politically-charged hatred.