Bush Aides Rush To Enact Rule Obama Opposes

A CANCER RIGHT UP TO THE END!

By Glenn S. Reiner

ONE OF MY GREATEST CONCERNS since Election Day has been how much more damage would Bush cause in his remaining 11 weeks in office. I honestly hoped his promise to cooperate with the incoming administration wouldn’t just be more of the same lip service we’ve seen from him over the last eight years.

So much for hope, as the president has shown his intention to add, yet, more vinegar to the proverbial wound he has caused this nation — and in such an underhanded manner no less.

Bush’s Labor Departments is currently rushing to complete a new rule he  could execute by executive order that would make it increasingly more difficult for the EPA to regulate toxic substances and hazardous chemicals American workers are exposed to on the job.

The rule, , adamantly opposed by President-elect Barack Obama, is completely supported by big business — which should come as no surprise.  In many cases, the executive order would lengthen the already protracted process of  creating stricter standards to protect workers’ health.

By slipping in last-minute contentious executive orders, the president can circumvent Congress, as he has once again (and hopefully for the last time) shows the world how little regard he has for the working class of this country.

This last lap for the president with, perhaps, the worst job performance ratings in history, seems like it’s taking years to elapse. He’s like a chronic disease that just won’t away without destroying everything in its path.

No doubt President-Elect Obama will undue all of his predecessor’s damage. But now it will take him even longer as the list piles higher. So what Bush has caused the American people is time. It’s as if he believes his successor will have all the time in the world to correct his multitude of blunders.

With several key congressional and gubernatorial Democrats leaving their current positions to join Obama’s staff and Cabinet, this could have been a perfect opportunity for the Republicans to fight for those positions in special elections or by appointment. Now, they can forget about that, as the president has probably put another nail in that party’s coffin.

For the past 28 years, the GOP has continued to reevoke memories of the inept Carter Administration during every presidential election since. Granted, Jimmy Carter’s administration was anything but successful, but the former president was well liked — as he continues to be — for his incredibly huge heart. His important global work in recent years earned him a Nobel Peace Prize.

But the stain Bush has left on his party won’t be forgotten by the world any faster than the Holocaust.  The damage of 9/11 is minor compared to that this president has caused, including the thousands of servicemen he sent to their deaths in his bogus Persian Gulf war.

 

Deterrent Justification For Death Penalty A Total Fallacy!

THE U.S. REMAINS THE ONLY WESTERN INDUSTRIALIZED NATION WITH THE DEATH PENALTY!

By Glenn S. Reiner

THERE’S NO DARK SECRET how much I detest capital punishment. After 55 years, I still can’t perceive how it is rational, justified or the practice of the allegedly “most civilized nation on Earth.”

The U.S. is the only modern Western industrialized nation on earth to still employ it. The last execution in Europe took place over 30 years ago. This leaves us in the company of barbaric third-world countries, which includes all the Muslim theocracies.

What amazes me most is how the Bible Belt states (including Texas) — where Evangelical Christianity reigns supreme — executes the most amount of  death row inmates. For some reason, I fail to see the spiritual component behind state-sanctioned murder.

I have fought with advocates of capital punishment for years, listening to their feeble justifications. But none has been more bizarre — and clearly rebutted with actually statistics — than the deterrent argument.

I can remember my father voting against New York’s three-term beloved governor, Mario Cuomo, who vetoed every piece of death penalty legislation that crossed his desk for 12 years.

Along with the majority of New Yorkers, my father replaced Cuomo with a Republican who ran solely on reinstating this heinous practice.

So what happened? The death penalty was reinstated, then declared unconstitutional by the state’s Court of Appeals — the highest court in the Empire State — before a single execution took place.

Following the the justices lead, the state legislature refused to even consider writing another bill, even one that would have met court’s criteria.

Meanwhile, all those working class people in New York who made George Pataki governor watched helplessly as cut necessary state funding from the cities, resulting in the loss of vital services.

Today, we have indisputable proof the murder rate in states without the death penalty is actually lower (per capita) than those that have it. actually have significantly lower murder rates (per capita).

“States with the death penalty have consistently had higher murder rates than states without the death penalty.  If the death penalty was acting as a deterrent to murder, one might expect that the gap between these two groups would lessen over a long period of time as states using the death penalty obtained an advantage in reducing murders,” according to the Death Penalty Information Center, a watchdog group opposed to capital punishment.

“However, the gap has grown larger over the past 18 years. In 2007, states with the death penalty had a 42% higher murder rate than states without the death penalty.”

A murder rate is determined by dividing the number of murders in a state by the state’s population. According to the FBI Uniform Crime Report, the murder rate for states with the death penalty last year was 5.83, while those without it was only 4.10. The national murder rate in 2007 was 5.6.

But the death mongers don’t want to hear about it.

Is it possible that capital punishment states have created a self-fulfilling prophecy? Based on results, it would clearly seem so!

RNC CONTINUES ASSAULT ON OBAMA

THE GOP’S BRAIN TRUST OBVIOUSLY SUFFERS FROM A POOR SHORT-TERM MEMORY!

By Glenn S. Reiner

THE REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE apparently learned absolutely nothing whatsoever from the maiming it took in the election!

The RNC’s campaign strategy resulted in losing the White House as well as a significant amount of  seats in both houses of Congress. Yet, the committee can’t just cut its loses, as it continues to act out of desperation.

Virtually every cabinet or White House appointment announced by the Obama transition team has been met with sharp criticism by the RNC. Oddly, the committee’s blasts frighteningly resemble those  issued throughout the presidential campaign.

RNC leaders have accused the president-elect of picking tax-raising, partisan Washington insiders. They contend these are not the agents of change he promised.

But the committee malcontent hasn’t at all reflected the sentiments of Congressional Republicans, who have shown open mindedness and even at times have embraced  Obama’s choices.

Senate Minority Mitch McConnell, for one, praised the president-elect’s  initial decisions last week, noting he was relieved to no longer have to deal with President Bush.

“I think the new administration is off to a good start,”  the Republican from Kentucky told reporters. “They’re saying, in my view, all the right things. The (new administration) want(s) to govern in the middle and tackle big things.”

“Our members, in one way,” McConnell added, “are kind of relieved by the departure of an administration that became unpopular and made it very difficult for us to compete.”’

Unfortunately, the senate majority leader’s take has had little impact at Republican committee headquarters.

Polls during the campaign indicated the RNC  attack mode turned off millions of voters. Yet, the committee’s brain trust  continues to lambaste Obama virtually two months before he even takes office.

Could it be any wonder why this party lost big on election day?

I was heartbroken about Bush’s election in 2000 and the deception surrounding it. I knew his objectives were diametrically opposed to those of the highly successful Clinton Administration.

It was difficult for most Democrats to understand why the electorate (actually the Supreme Court with a majority five Republicans) choose the former Texas governor. As the old adage goes, “If it works, don’t fix it.”  The Clinton years left this country with its first budget surplus in virtually three decades, while significantly increasing employment.

Yet,  I was willing to take a just wait and see attitude and give Bush a chance — just as I did with his father, Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan.

Conversely, the RNC — vindictive and mean spirited — are not willing to offer the president-elect the same courtesy!

HILLARY BRILLIANT CHOICE FOR SECRETARY OF STATE!

OBAMA AND CLINTON COULD BECOME BEST FOREIGN AFFAIRS TANDEM SINCE JFK AND DEAN RUSK

 

 By Glenn S. Reiner

IN CHOOSING HILLARY CLINTON as his secretary of state, President-Elect Barack Obama again showed his desire to assemble the most powerful and politically-balanced cabinet possible.

Although this decision comes as a surprise to many Democrats and Republicans, as well as political insiders and journalists,  at first glance, it could very well go down as perhaps the future president’s smartest move thus far and will undoubtedly improve nations relationship with the international community!

While Clinton is perceived as too independent and politically ambitious to be an effective secretary of state, Obama admire hers talents and experience, as do many other Democrats on Capitol Hill.

The president-elect and his choice for secretary of state might very well represent the most powerful relationship between a chief executive and the nation’s primary diplomat since John F. Kennedy and his point man Dean Rusk, who worked together in resolving the 1962 Cuban missile crisis with the Soviet Union without a single shot being fired.

To this day, I have yet to see stronger duo, including Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger, a war monger who developed a reputation inside that administration as a selfish cry baby who continually threatened to resign in order to get his way.

If there any lingering questions remain about Bill and Hillary Clinton’s loyalty to her future boss, they were clearly answered by their unfaltering post-primary commitment to Obama. And it has continued ever since Nov. 4.

I believe the New York senator and soon-to-be nation’s 44th president have created a true partnership and have continued to become obviously closer each day.

To clear the way for Hillary’s nomination, former President Bill Clinton has agreed to make any concessions necessary regarding his Global Initiative  — whatever it takes to insure his wife’s and her future employer’s success.

Needless to say, the GOP malcontents will have much to say about this move. But with that party’s credibility at perhaps an all-time low, who is going to listen anyway?