Tag: bill clinton
The Good Old Days
As everyone knows, there are conservatives out there at current who are adamant Bill Clinton was soft on terrorism and has been trying to paint that picture since earlier this month through every disinformation channel available to them.
Yet, to those who actually believe Clinton was soft on terrorism or just plain didn’t do enough to fight terror — look at what Orrin Hatch, Trent Lott and others of the GOP were up to stopping President Clinton from having some of the very same issues that Congress now rubber-stamps for President Bush today. That link and the following quote from CNN in July of 1996:
“We need to keep this country together right now. We need to focus on this terrorism issue,” Clinton said during a White House news conference.
But while the president pushed for quick legislation, Republican lawmakers hardened their stance against some of the proposed anti-terrorism measures.
Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Mississippi, doubted that the Senate would rush to action before they recess this weekend. The Senate needs to study all the options, he said, and trying to get it done in the next three days would be tough.
One key GOP senator was more critical, calling a proposed study of chemical markers in explosives “a phony issue.”
I wonder if old Orrin stood up and argued how the entire gels-and-liquids scare that has helped slow down the queue in airports for the last few weeks was phony… Or did he “wise up on the issue” where politicians who change stances today are known as flip-floppers?
But wait, it gets better.
Back in April of 1996 — the US House approved an anti-terror legislation that was severely watered down from what President Clinton had been proposing and the Senate had passed. This was near the one-year anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing and several months prior to TWA Flight 800’s crash (along with the Centennial Park bombing at the Olympics in Atlanta):
Republicans were divided on whether the legislation would be effective.
“We have a measure that will give us a strong upper hand in the battle to prevent and punish domestic and international terrorism,” Senate Majority Leader and presumptive GOP presidential nominee Bob Dole said Wednesday.
But Sen. Don Nickles, R-Oklahoma, while praising the bill, said the country remains “very open” to terrorism. “Will it stop any acts of terrorism, domestic and international? No,” he said, adding, “We don’t want a police state.”
Some lawmakers took a more prudent view of the bill. “The balance between public safety and order and individual rights is always a difficult dilemma in a free society,” said Rep. Gerald Solomon, R-New York.
(emphasis added by me)
Now what’s my point in this and what constructive items can we take from it?
Ten years ago, there was a sensible conservatism out there that said individuals had rights, and it’s a thin line between individual rights and safety. The Republicans once knew that and they put the country’s civil liberties before the terrorism fight.
Now? Well, you should know…
The world didn’t change on 9-11 as the neoconservatives in control of the Republican party have worked very hard to make the country believe. It was our national courage that did. If you’re giving into your fear for the sake of safety and blaming all of this on the other guy in order to feel more secure at this very moment, you’re a coward and a fool who has become blinded from right-and-wrong with thanks to your party-of-choice in power.
the three I's of current
I grew up a fan of the WWF and I re-acquired my fondness for wrestling late int eh 1990’s during the WCW/WWF wars. One of the performers for the WWF (now WWE) was former Olympic gold medalist Kurt Angle who played a pompous and crass patriot who embodied everything that you could dispise about an athlete. Selfishness, arrogance, etc, etc.
Kurt had a good “angle” though and played the part well. Still does in fact. One part of his repetoir was talking about his three I’s — three words begining with I that were his guiding principles — of Intensity, Integrity and Intelligence.
You realize that the country currently has it’s own three I’s? These aren’t principles that are guiding us but they are factors in our daily lives:
Inflation – you will not hear the Federal Reserve chairman talking about inflation, nor will you hear the Bush administration talk about how costs have skyrocketed over a short period of time. Everyone knows about gas prices, but real estate prices, durable goods, groceries, insurance premiums, medical care — everything is spiking for the common person. The federal governent is just concerned with the mega-ultra-large corporations in how they deal with this. Corporatiosn are going strong right now while workers wages are stagnent. It’s been almost a decade since minimum wage was increased in the United States and instead of promoting better treatment for employees, the Bush administration has worked vigilently to repeal work laws so corporations can profit and not be stradled by the costs of labor.
Intolerance – you reep what you sow and that is the case with the Dubai Port World deal and George Walker Bush signing off on the deal. Bush made Arab’s into the boogeyman of the 21st century with his rhetoric after 9-11. The propoganda coming out of the White House tied Iraq to 9-11 in order to justify the invasion of Iraq. People were scared and reacted to just that, signing off on the war because those damn Arabs attacked us first! (wwhich is a flat out lie and ignorant assumption by the citizens of the US)
So the Dubai Ports deal comes through and Bush has no problem with it — it’s a furtherment of his pro-big business agenda. Bill Clinton signs off on it and does what he can to help out behind the scenes (as Slick Willie has always been a proponent of Globalization — as is New York Times writer Paul Krugman). Everyone expects a free pass over this as that is how the country has operated since 9-11 (allowing Bush to get whatever he wanted)…
…Until the public learns about the deal.
Everyone cries foul — Republicans and Democrats alike. The Xenophobia of the Arab Boogeyman that Bush’s administration has so well played rears it’s ugly head. An Arab country in charge of US Ports?! An Arab country with ties to 9-11?!?
And yet, Krugman had a good point in a recent article which denounced this intolerance. The United States should be an active player in the global economy and we cannot run scared from a country in the middle east because of the ignorant and arrogant propoganda show that was put out by the Administration to further it’s agenda.
Of course I could go on about intolerance — everyone beign afraid of homosexuals, blacks and whites in the continued racial war of poverty, faux-Christians sullying Christian ideals and justifying hatred, violence and greed in His name, etc…
Isolationism – Go it alone, “with us or against us,” and the country trumping the world in matters of global politics (be it war, peace, treaties, signing off on elected officials in other countries or dispatchign elected officials in others)Â The US has become largely islolated with thanks to it’s policies while being depedant and indebted to cheap foreign labor and despot oil suppliers.
Four and Twelve seems like a real possibility
I haven’t talked about the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for a real long time… I think the last time I put up a post was in January where I gave a general sports roundup. Of course, my sports eye has been on my primary love in Tampa Bay — The Lightning — and that means the Bucs (who I grew to love during their hapless years) have taken a back seat.
Before anyone lays into me about being a bandwagon fan, I support the Buccaneers and haven’t turned a blind eye because another team in town won a championship. The Bucs earned my love over the years from miserable to respectable, and the Lightning won my love since their inception and I place hockey just ahead of football because it was a sport I liked to compete in.
Anyway, I haven’t abandoned the Bucs but I have to turn my eyes because of the train wreck the franchise has become.
Lets go to January of 2003 first and foremost and Jon Gruden / The Tampa Bay Buccaneers winning the Super Bowl. When Jon won the title, little did fans know it gave him carte blanche over the Buccaneer Franchise. A team assembled by Rich McKay and Tony Dungy was put over the top by Jon and of course we all loved him for it because this was the Buccaneers finally reaching the paramount of the NFL after being as low as you could get for so long.
Things fell apart last year as Jon Gruden started to follow a trend that previous Buccaneer coaches have shown and fallen with — Absolute power corrupts absolutely. The Glazer’s catered to his every whim and the only guy who stood in his way was Rich McKay…
Was, past tense. Rich left the only franchise he had known and went north to Atlanta… Jon was allowed to keep walking the walk he wanted and the Bucs continued the downward spiral.
A trend from Oakland seems to be in place here — not just a desire for veteran players over building a team from the ground up with talented youngsters, but also a “Just win, baby” mentality that tells players their off-field antics amount to shit as long as they perform on the field.
Case in point – Michael Pittman remains on the Buccaneer roster even though he is guilty of ramming his car into his wifes vehicle with children inside. He faces possible jail time and Jon Gruden could give a shit.
The Bucs picked up another ass-clown from the Raiders in the form of Bruce Allen who cut one foo the greatest players in Tampa Bay Buccaneer history – John Lynch — and signed one of the most notorious players in NFL history — Darrell Russell, who drugged a girl and taped him and his friends raping her.
Allen went so far as to compare Russell with former president Bill Clinton and said the rapist is guilty of less crimes than Clinton. (side-note, Allen’s brother is a Republican Senator in Virginia)
I could keep going with moves the Bucs have made and crimes their players have committed since the Super Bowl Championship, but I can’t. It’s watching a train wreck as it occurs and their are more people than just myself who can see this. For the first time since Raymond James Stadium was opened, their are tickets available on Ticketmaster for Buccaneers games this late after the initial public offering of tickets. The Bucs boast a season ticket waiting list of 110 thousand but all it takes is filling out a form online in order to do so. Somehow, my name is on the Season Ticket waiting list and I hate watching football in person. I didn’t sign up and I don’t have the foggiest clue how I got on there…
The number is artificially inflated and more than half of those on this waiting list would not invest in the current product on field.
I look at the Buccaneers this season and I see the train wreck in progress. I feel bad for guys like Derrick Brooks and Mike Alstott who are pillars in the community and who will be cut lose if it meant a marginal offensive tool could be picked up. The once vaulted defense is in shambles and Jon Gruden was given a contract extension before the season to continue is free reign over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
6-10 may be a reach but 4-12 is still a possibility this season. Break out the orange, it’s Yuccaneer football all over again.
Clinton versus Bush — an honest opinion
I wanted to get some thoughts out after watching some of Richard Clarke on Hard Ball with Chris Matthews. I’ve been thinking about Clarke and his non-partisan dealings with the media and the 9-11 commission and it got me thinking back to my own political journey. I know I am a progressive and a liberal but I also know I am open to compromise and the option of compromise has been done away with in America for the black and white, yes or no, with us or against us bullshit of the current political system.
In 1992 I wasn’t that politically aware. Of course, I was only 13 at the time and in middle school… I was much more concerned with tight-rolling the ankles of my blue jeans and not appearing like such a dork to the “cool” people around… but nevertheless I was following in my parents footsteps when I was supporting George H. W. Bush for re-election. I thought Bush was a nice guy, didn’t really pay attention to the issues and just knew the vanilla reasoning why democrats were “Bad” from what my parents told me, because they raise taxes. Clinton beat Bush and I was appalled. I didn’t like Clinton one iota, he just seemed wrong… I can remember a girl from my freshman year who got to shake Clinton’s hand when he visited Tampa Bay in 2003 and she described it as the “biggest thrill of” her life. Then there was NAFTA and I could remember publicly laughing during one of his speeches (being shown in my Spanish class, oddly) about how NAFTA was supposed to create more jobs at home.
But time went by and America improved from where it was economically. Jobs came back, crime went down – consistently. I started to respect the guy. 1996 came around and I’d still be a year away from being able to vote but I supported Clinton – especially because he was running against the bland Bob Dole.
And Clinton won… Not only did America progress under his tenure, but it blossomed.
Unfortunately under his tenure there was also a weed that sprouted and it has manifested since. The hatred and slander of politics became a mainstay…. Those on opposing sides of the fence politically didn’t want to work with each other, they didn’t want to compromise – they wanted to obliterate each other and the Republican party was exceptionally good at it.
1994 – big republican gains, 1998 and 1998 saw more and in 1998 Republicans launched an all out attack on Clinton. From what is being said now, some on the right are blaming Clinton for failings versus Terrorism… If the Right isn’t going to acknowledge all the bullshit it brought up against Clinton and how hard they pushed to make a mockery of the man and keep him from doing anything in office because he was surrounded by these threats, then there is no way one should be able to give George W. Bush sympathy for having to be President during 9-11. “Oh, he had 9-11 on his watch. Clinton had jack, right?” :rolleyes
So we get into he polarized partisanship of the 2000 election and Bush comes into power — albeit through means that can be and will be routinely questioned for years to come. Partisanship at the state level in Florida helped Bush’s cause, Partisanship in the Supreme Court helped Bush’s cause. There are many questionable ethics in the 2000 election and I will not bring up much more than the purged voter roles as well as the cluelessness from Kathrine Harris….
Suffice it to say, in short, Bush came in through questionable means.
During the election debacle, I grew sick of the entire ordeal and again in a sense of compromise and non-partisanship, I just wanted Gore to concede and let America get on with life. No one could be that bad as President to keep warring over the vote count like this… Just let it go, AL, just let it go…
Oh how little did I know.
Looking at America in a detached view, 3 years of George W. Bush as President of the United States has not improved this nation. You might sit on the right, on the left, or in the middle – if you look at America without influence of party lines, you should be able to see that America has regressed greatly under Bush. Morally, we are corrupt. The American Government under Bush encourage gluttony and damns conservation – be it fiscal or physical. The Bush Administration will not spend responsibly — taking a huge surplus and turning it into a deficit of monstrous proportions. One can point to 9-11, but there are facts like Bush has never vetoed a spending bill, Bush waged an un-necessary war in Iraq, Bush’s tax cuts took away vital revenue for the Federal Government that helped keep not only the Feds running, but the state governments and the local county governments.
If you question the president – you are attacked. Your patriotism is questioned. You’re prodded by those who are either blindly loyal to the commander in chief or who are willing sheep because they are afraid to get there feet wet in politics. Oh, there are reasons (partisan reasons) to support the Bush administration – their faith based programs and support of removal of the Church and State separation, for example. The fact they remove government restrictions (counter point – which bring forth consequences, environmental, fiscal and social). Tax cuts, tax cuts, tax cuts and certain other reasons I don’t want to touch with a ten foot pole.
I look at the United States and how it is belittled in the world today, how its no longer thought of as a beacon of light and hope… How men in power will put down and oppress those who oppose them or who do not support them, or who bring into question anything against the president and his staff (hiya, Mr. Rove… )…. This isn’t supposed to be a totalitarian state of facism… This is supposed to be the land of the free and the home of the brave…
Where the United States is now isn’t better off than 4 years ago… If we Bush and his administration had done something to earn my respect and admiration, I would more than willingly show it to them… Yet 4 years of Bush isn’t supposed to be underlined by his one “accomplishment” (9-11) instead of his numerous failings. Those who make the argument that they are better is viewing the world in a partisan light. Their ideologies are better supported under Bush than they were with Clinton. That’s fine, that’s good… That, however, doesn’t help break the partisan stranglehold on America and the warring that is destroying our government and our own voices within it.
