Posted by Michael Haran on Dec 2, 2013
Commentary
A recent letter-to the-editor of a local newspaper took a columnist to task for calling Ted Cruz a moron. The reader said that Senator Cruz has “advanced degrees and honors from prestigious universities” and that such “derogatory sophomoric” terms are a “departure from civility.”
As most people know it doesn’t matter if a person has advanced degrees that person can still be a moron and for that matter they can also be a hypocrite, sociopath, obstructionist and all around idiot. When someone throws their hat into the ring and runs for public off all is fair, the gloves come off and name calling is part of it. Politics can be a nasty business and if a person doesn’t have tough skin they better not play the game.
Ted Cruz is the type of Politian that comes along every generation or so. The last one like him was Joe McCarthy the communist witch hunter (it’s a little scary how much Cruz even looks like him). Cruz is an opportunist. He is riding the libertarian ideology of small government expounded upon by the Tea Party movement. To the casual observer it would look like Cruz is a moron if he has serious plans to run for president. Presidential elections are determined by the independent vote. Independents can go either center left or center right but they don’t like extremes and will never vote and extremist into the White House.
In true con-man fashion Cruz has been raising a ton of money from his base. You know that base, the people who scream “get the government out of my Medicare!’ and continually vote against their own self-interests (those are the real morons). Maybe Cruz’s goal is to raise as much money as possible so he can hang with the Koch brothers, the high priests of Libertarianism, but one thing is for sure he doesn’t give a damn about governing. Even his hometown newspaper, the Houston Chronicle, has disavowed him. The Tea Party of today is not even remotely concerned with the Middle Class, they are all about money going to money and finding whatever ways they can to keep it for themselves.
The Liberians primary belief is that the market will dictate the human condition. They believe that the federal government should be so weak that it can’t interfere with business. If the one-percent controls so much wealth that the U.S. turns into a banana republic so be it. If a person doesn’t have a job it is their fault because they are lazy and just sucking off the system. Let’s cut $40 billion from food stamps, most of which goes to children, but keep the subsidies for big oil.
What’s sad is that the Republican Party has been hijacked by extremist like Cruz and we have no one to balance check the political Status Quo. With our aging population we are going to need serious entitlement reform but it also has to include serious tax code reform of the wealth’s entitlements and we can’t find compromise with elected officials like Cruz who read “Green Eggs and Ham” on the Senate floor and spout ridiculous conspiracy theories about George Soros secretly partnering with the United Nations to come into our cities and eliminate our right to play golf.
Fortunately the majority of Americans are not morons. Con men have to work in the shadows and as the true agendas of these shills for the rich get exposed to the light of day they will once again slink back under their rocks just like what happened to Joe McCarthy. As Michael Ciric said in his blog, “So believe me, that ain’t no Green Eggs and Ham Ted Cruz is serving up. If anything it’s Green Eggs and Political Scam!”
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Posted by Michael Haran on Nov 24, 2013
Published Healdsburg Tribune 11/21/2013
On a day dialed up by the Point Arena Chamber of Commerce, the U.S. Secretary of the Interior, Sally Jewell, came, saw and listened. I attended Friday’s environmental love fest on behalf of Sonoma County Supervisor Mike McGuire who is running for the 2nd District Senate seat in which the beautiful 1,664 acre Stornetta Public Lands is being considered for a land inclusion into the California Coastal National Monument. McGuire’s time is now limited as he is speaking to the Kiwanis, Rotarians and special interest groups times the seven counties in the district.
But this day belonged to Point Arena, Mendocino County and the California’s north coast. Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael, who accompanied Jewel, was complimented several times for getting the U.S. House of Representatives to pass a resolution to add the land to the Monument. A bill sponsored by Sens. Barbara Boxer and Diana Feinstein is currently stalled. “There’s a lot of uncertainty in the legislative process,” Huffman said. Having Secretary Jewell visit the area “is basically sending a message that we’re going to make it happen one way or another.”
Secretary Jewell told the crowd of over 200 people that by her presence she was confirming President Obama’s commitment to land preservation for future generations. “I wouldn’t be out here if it wasn’t a high priority,” she said. The twelve mile stretch of land is managed by the Bureau of Land Management and is open to the public.
The get-together was as folksy as you’d expect in a small town. A group of about 50 elementary students sang “This Land is Your Land,” read environmental poems to the Secretary and gave her framed copies. Dressed in native costume a few of the Manchester Band of Pomo Indians children gave a brief ceremonial dance.
After the representatives of Boxer and Feinstein said that both senators supported the effort, a representative of the Manchester Pomo’s gave an impassioned request to have the BLM do more to preserve some of their historic tribal areas. Jim Keena, California’s BLM director who said the BLM has an archeologist who specializes in these issues and he promised to put the two together.
Next came a steady stream of environmentalist like the Sierra Club, Audubon Society and the Mendocino Land Trust to name a few. District Assemblyman Wesley Chesbro, talked about the California Coastal Trail which he help champion. Many local civic leaders, civic organizations and county supervisors all spoke of their support for the Monument addition. Both the Mendocino County Tourism Bureau and the local Chamber of Commerce said that the addition would help promote job growth in Mendocino County’s largest business, tourism.
Everyone got a chuckle when a local activist presented Secretary Jewell with a petition supporting the effort with over 800 signatures from Point Arena residents, noting how exceptional that was considering a population of 450. When Mendocino Supervisor Dan Hamburg expressed concern for the oil “fracking” off the California coast, Secretary Jewell said that being a petroleum engineer she knows a lot about oil “fracking” and that there is a lot of dis-information out there. She flatly denied it was happening and said that we need a balanced approach to oil extraction and protecting the environment.
In her summation the secretary got a laugh by referring to the local petition as being “Democracy in action.” She then asked for a show of hands for how many would prefer the Monument designation by a Presidential Proclamation or an Act of Congress. Overwhelmingly, people wanted a Presidential Proclamation but then several shouted, “Anyway we can!”
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