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Respect for the judicial black robe is eroding!

Recent decisions by the Supreme Court have brought the integrity of this court under scrutiny.

From Bush v. Gore, to eminent domain, to Citizens United, to body searches, to ethics problems, a greater number of the nation’s highest court’s rulings defy common sense and judicial principles.

And it could get even worse!

The High Court heard arguments on the Affordable Care Act (ACA); more specifically the constitutionality of the public mandate and whether overturning the mandate would essentially neuter the healthcare act.

Although the act falls short of what it could have done for the overall health of the nation, the mandate is imperative to its success and the implementation of more positive aspects of the legislation through 2014.

Perhaps the court’s biggest mistake, or at least one of the most notable and deleterious, was the now infamous Citizens United opinion which has destroyed the democratic electoral process. Just over a year ago, five men in black robes dealt “A Supreme Blow to Democracy,” and, in effect, led this country down another dark path fraught with lies and dishonesty.

With that decision they unleashed the hounds of hell and approved out-of-control campaign financing which allows the insidious rich and unscrupulous and unpatriotic corporations to distort an already flawed and imbalanced electoral system.

Wealthy donors like casino operator Sheldon Adelson or multi-millionaire Foster Freiss sink millions of dollars into tainted and imbecelic campaigns like Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum’s. Organizations like Americans For Prosperity, American Crossroads, and Crossroads GPS are given license to, under a veil of secrecy, spew their venomous lies on an unsuspecting public without transparency or repercussion. And, the losers are the American people.

Their recent ruling in Florence v. Board of Freeholders of the County of Burlington, allowing ridiculous full body searches, even for misdemeanors, is clearly a denigration of the 4th Amendment. But the same five judicial gentlemen who gave us Citizens United chose to take away another of our personal freedoms by legislating from an already stained bench.

Biased misinterpretations of the Constitution are becoming the legacy of this court — decisions legislated from the bench that defy reasonable jurisprudence.

Ethics further tarnish the ebony robes of this court. Though the Supreme Court justices are not held to the same high ethics standards as lower judicial magistrates, ethics must be considered when evaluating their decisions and opinions.

A patina falls over this court the result of partisan actions and the ethics of Justice’s Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia which must not be overlooked.

Both have participated in Koch Industries’ sponsored events which reek of political impropriety and should be thoroughly investigated and matched to opinions of these two justices.

Now the American people have another Supreme Court decision to be concerned about, after it heard arguments on the Affordable Care Act.

Based on some of the comments and questions posed by our most revered jurists the validity of what might be their final opinion has become cause for speculation and distrust in the make up of this court.

Scalia’s reference to broccoli was not only infantile but political hyperbole distracting from the importance of the ACA to millions of Americans.

But, of even graver concern, is Thomas’s obvious conflict of interest related to his wife’s employment with Liberty Central — a tea party group that fought the healthcare reform legislation. He further failed to disclose her income from Liberty and her income for previous years from the right wing think tank, Heritage Foundation

Thomas’s connection to one side of the Affordable Care Act and the failure to disclose his wife’s income from the Heritage Foundation for five years is obvious justification for Thomas’s recusal from the ACA opinion.

And now the Court is entertaining arguments concerning immigration, and draconian laws recently adopted in Arizona and other states. Arizona’s biggest proponent of their over-the-top immigration statute, Russell Pearce, has been recalled by the citizens of the sand infested, water deficient state.

Given the make up of this court expectations are extremely low that the five justices with red blinders will rule on the side of the American people on either the healthcare or immigration issues.

The intentions of this court are clear. The obsequious nature of the five ideological justices are obfuscating the spirit of our Constitution; serving a viral ideology over the good of the common people.

Their actions make this election more important than ever.

We’re stuck with four ideologues on the bench which leaves our country — the very survival of our democracy — in jeopardy.

Our highest court is no longer supreme, and the activism of the Roberts Court is destructive.

Electing Mitt Romney, allowing him to select a new justice, would further damage our hopes and the pursuit of the American Dream.

That’s the most banks closed in one week since April 29, 2011 — one full year ago.

Bank foreclosures had slowed dramatically in the past six months. Only one was closed in April until Friday’s foreclosures. Only five were closed in March and four in February.

So what has changed?

Maybe nothing!

But, we must again watch as the economy begins to slow again and brings pressure on the banks.

The worst states during the crisis are faring better, but are still losing  a high percentage of those being taken over.

The takeover of Palm Desert National Bank was the 22nd bank closed in 2012 and the first in California. California has lost 37 banks since the banking crisis began in 2008.

Since the 75th closure in January, Georgia has lost three more bringing their crisis total to 78 banks acquired by the FDIC. Illinois has lost three this year and number two, Florida, has only lost two. But Minnesota has now lost three since the end of January.

Though the loss of 22 banks through the end of April is good compared to the previous three years, losing five in one week is a concern.

There’s a new trend that must be watched closely. Over the last two months, three of the thirteen banks closed had no acquiring bank. The FDIC dissolved all three banks by setting up a bridge bank to handle the closure.

The five banks on Friday cost the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) $272 million which is small in comparison to the weeks during the height of the crisis, but one of the biggest this year.

Losses to the DIF are indeed down but that could reverse if our economy slips and the sovereign and banking problems worsen in Europe.

As a result of this week’s foreclosures it would be wise to remain vigilant the rest of the year.

Corporations have been crying for big tax breaks to bring their profits from other countries home. They are currently sitting on over two trillion dollars in domestic profits hoarded over the last few years.

Senators’, Kay Hagan, of North Carolina and, John McCain, of Arizona have introduced a new bill, The Foreign Earnings Repatriation Act, to allow multi-national corporations to bring over a trillion dollars in foreign profit back to the United States at a favorable tax rate. Too favorable!

The tax rate in the bill falls way short of what’s fair.

Senator Hagan’s legislation calls for a repatriation rate of 8.75%. The rate in the last repatriation bill was 5%. A corporation’s 8.75% tax rate will be reduced to a paltry 5.75% if they create jobs here in the U.S.

There is also a clause that imposes penalties on corporations for failure to maintain employment levels if they’ve repatriated profits and received the additional 3% tax break for job creation, something that was not considered in the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004.

Though better in many ways than the 2004 bill, the new, slightly higher rate at 8.75%, is laughable and grossly unfair to the American taxpayer. Even individuals in the lowest tax bracket pay as much or more Federal Income Tax as the Senators’ from North Carolina and Arizona are asking corporations to pay.

By contrast, under the new law corporations that add jobs will be paying an effective tax rate of 5.75% on over a trillion dollars profit.

Right-wing congressional members constantly bemoan U.S. corporations’ high marginal tax rate of 35%, proclaiming it is the second highest tax rate in the world and hurts American competitiveness globally. But that is political hyperbole — political bullshit.

No corporation in America pays 35%, or even near that.

In fact, corporations, with the help of a complicit and bought Congress, paid an average of 12.1% of their domestic profit in taxes for 2011 thanks to tax breaks and loopholes — far short of their patriotic share of the burden.

Which brings us back to repatriating foreign profits.

Despite the higher rate — 3.75% more than in 2004 — Senator Hagan’s bill lets corporations off the hook for their fair share of the tax burden.

At 8.75% there is little incentive for corporations to create jobs. Even the 3% incentive is no ‘real’ incentive.

At the top rate the Foreign Earnings Reinvestment Act (S.1671) will net a mere $90 billion in tax receipts paid to the Federal Government. That would be reduced to less than $60 billion if all eligible multi-national corporations created jobs. We would, hopefully, offset the 33% revenue loss with the growth jobs would create for the economy.

The $90 billion sounds like a lot until compared with the $350 billion the current law would generate. That would reduce the 2012 deficit by nearly one-third, and corporations would be doing their fair share of helping, not only the deficit, but the economy. But, corporations have indicated that they will not repatriate profits at that rate.

Protesting the unfairness of a 35% tax rate to repatriate foreign profits is far more compelling and more justified than complaining about our domestic corporate tax rate. Thirty-five percent does seem punitive and is a legitimate argument. Surely there is a more equitable level that would be acceptable to all parties; truly reduce the deficit, increase jobs in the United States, and allow U.S. corporations to remain globally competitive?

In an article last July, “UnAmerican Activities: Repatriation 101,” I proposed a fair agreement that would give control to the government rather than to the corporations as the 2004 act did. In the proposal the government would collect and hold an initial 28% and return a substantial benefit — a tax credit — for job creation.

In 2004 American corporations promised to create jobs in the U.S. if allowed to bring over $300 billion back at a 5% tax rate. Corporations proved to be untrustworthy, buying back shares, giving dividends to investors and bonuses to executives, while shedding thousands of jobs rather than creating them.

As a result of their actions repatriation this time around becomes a matter of greed and honor; a struggle between trust and regulation. Corporations hide behind the veil of serving their investors and investors, historically, choose greed over country. They, as owners of corporations, advocate taking everything this country has to offer yet show a reluctance to give back.

Congress’ ability to regulate then becomes the counterbalance to greed — the protection of ‘the people’ against corporatocracy.

Any repatriation law must consider the empirical evidence when negotiating any agreement with corporations. Corporations, unlike people, have no moral compass.

We are again at a juncture where government can do the right thing for the country and taxpayers — the opportunity to correct one of the big failures of the past.

The Hagan/McCain legislation falls short of its potential and should be rejected and replaced by a fairer, more equitable bill that truly begins to rebalance this country.

It’s important to let congressional members know, especially the 11 cosponsors, that the Foreign Earnings Reinvestment Act is currently unacceptable. This indebted country cannot afford another gift to corporations at the expense of taxpayers.

Taxpayers are tired of being constantly crushed by corporations and their congressional surrogates.

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Let’s get Big Brother off our backs and out of our bedrooms!

The Republican mantra of smaller government may play well in Peoria but not in places where concerned and observant people gather.

Since I can remember, Republicans have been screaming about shrinking government — making it small enough to drown in the bathtub. It’s a good talking point and seems to get their followers frothing at the mouth. But saying you want to do something does not make it so. And Republicans reducing government? Sheer fantasy!

Reality is something quite the opposite.

Republicans have dramatically grown government and added to the deficit every time they’ve been in office since 1974.

Though somewhat benign through the Ford and Carter administrations’, the National Debt began to accelerate in 1980 with President Reagan and continued to rise through President Bush’s term. Yearly deficits began to decline during Clinton’s eight years then exploded under the second President Bush — Bush Jr.

The Republican myth of smaller government is nothing but a hypocritical talking point. Spending surged under all three GOP presidents.

The National Debt increased by $1.7 trillion under Reagan, tripling our debt in just eight years. It climbed nearly $1.5 trillion under George H.W. Bush, and over $4.3 trillion under Bush 43. Not a good testament for smaller government. Though the deficit increased by $1.6 trillion during Clinton’s term it declined from $347 billion his first year to a miniscule $18 billion in his final year.

Once again, Republicans are screaming for smaller government, this time blaming President Obama for the yearly increases in the National Debt caused by their blatant deregulation and overspending: two wars, Medicare Part D, the banking crisis, the dot com bubble, huge corporate bankruptcies, an explosion in lost jobs, and a housing bubble that still hasn’t begun to recover.

Though they are wholly responsible for all these things Republicans never take responsibility for anything!

The cost of these huge failures has been mostly borne by hard-working Americans.

It’s not just the deficit that determines the size of government. But, where the private sector has failed government was forced to step in to prevent complete collapse.

Most everyone would like a smaller more efficient government no matter where they are on the political spectrum. But, the question is, how do we achieve that without throwing the country into chaos?

Republicans believe we can accomplish small government with austerity; cutting programs and agencies that aid the poor, disabled, children, single moms, students, and the elderly — those they feel are a drain on the economy!

They pound relentlessly on ‘entitlement’ programs; Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, despite using the income from Social Security as a piggy bank for other programs. Congress owes the Social Security Fund 2.6 trillion dollars. It’s like spending your grocery money on a 52″ flat-screen television and then complaining that there isn’t enough money to eat.

Pushing austerity is not the answer, evidenced by the declining economies in Europe; a Europe that has officially slid back into recession and is destined to fall further.

There is pain in austerity. Republicans continually espouse shared sacrifice — never asking their rich benefactors to share any of the burden.

So how do we make government smaller and more efficient?

The answer is obvious. Eliminate the useless and intransigent politicians who know nothing about good policy or how to rebalance this country, and even less about the Constitution.

Start with the worst — Minnesota Representative, Michele Bachmann, then eliminate other Representatives and Senators that subscribe to destructive and unwielding ideologies, including: Representatives Steve King (Iowa), Marsha Blackburn (Tennessee), Allen West (Florida), and Joe Wilson (South Carolina), and Senators like the disruptive and intransigent Mitch McConnell (Kentucky), Jeff Sessions (Alabama), Chuck Grassley (Iowa), and don’t replace retiring Senator, John Kyl, leaving Arizona with one inept Senator. Those are just a few who should be culled from the decision making process.

Olympia Snowe, moderate Senator from Maine, is calling it quits after 34 years in the House and Senate due, in part, to the very intransigence of her party. The loss of her reasonable and intelligent voice is cause for introspection.

Unlike Senator Snowe, many from her party in both houses of Congress have forgotten or never understood their role as a representative of ‘the people.’

That is why some of the deadwood should be eliminated reducing the House to around 320 members and the Senate to around 78 members. And, let’s require them to take a test on The Constitution, government, world geography, and political science, before they are allowed to do ‘the people’s’ work. That should disqualify many of them, especially freshmen like Roy Blunt, Joe Walsh, Tim Griffin, and Nan Hayworth.

Of course the Constitution does not allow for that, despite a demeaning 10% approval rating.

We’re paying a very steep price for red states electing narrowly focused, myopic Republicans into office. The damage they’ve done over the past three decades is immeasurable.

It’s time we cleansed government and it begins with you.

This country — the world — cannot afford to go back to the dark ages of Republican failures.

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Discontent is high on both sides of the political spectrum.

These are the best of times and the worst of times — a clash between the tea party and occupy, taxes and spending cuts, the haves and have-nots, religiousocity and reality, poverty and gluttony, big government and small government.

But the warring — the battle between right and wrong, good and evil — does not stop there. The battle lines are fluid, constantly moving, and as more lines are being drawn chances of survival decline.

What’s caused this huge divide?

With constantly changing lines it’s increasingly difficult to sift through the minutiae to determine the causes. But one thing is evident in every case — the divide is fueled by hypocrisy!

And the hypocrisy is skewed heavily to the right — allowed to continue unchecked by an unfair media malignancy — false equivalency.

Rampant hypocrisy is obvious. Less obvious, but equally damaging, is the media’s policy of false equivalence! It’s the art of making every issue seem like it is being exploited, blocked, spun, or misrepresented equally by both groups.

Democrats are disadvantaged by this UnJournalistic practice. As long as the media portrays democrats as equally culpable the nation will remain hopelessly divided.

And the American People are the one’s who lose.

Right-wing hypocrisy is responsible for the ever widening political divide our country is facing as well as the cultural and economic divisions.

It is easy to show that the right is wrong but, it is increasingly difficult to overcome the unchallenged and amplified cacophony of the right-wing machine — a machine determined to, not only undermine, but drown out the more realistic and responsible messages of others.

Merely yelling louder, ala Andrew Breitbart; or spending millions of dollars, ala the Koch brothers; disrupting Town Hall meetings, ala the Tea Party; or substituting language, ala Frank Luntz, should never be successful at masking the truth. Irrational extremes pushed by political extremists on the right should never be allowed to obscure honest discourse.

Creating fear — ‘death panels’ and increased level ‘terrorist alerts’ — are examples of the oft used lies perpetrated by an uncaring political party. Perpetrated by the Republicans.

Without honest discourse we become more unstable, making the job of developing and implementing sound domestic, foreign, economic, health, energy, trade, and education policy nearly impossible.

Lying and hypocrisy have become the norm for the right and their godless stretches of the truth are hurting America.

It’s obvious that the general welfare of the American people is of no concern to them — evidenced by their repeated attempts to tear down everything that is good for America: healthcare, financial regulation and protection, worker’s rights, and women’s rights.

This uncaring attitude also extends to their contentious attacks on human rights, voter rights, immigration, wars, and family values.

Their dogged pursuit of power over well being is destructive, but combined with their rabid thirst for control through misinformation, lies, and hypocrisy our fate becomes apocalyptic.

The most recent examples of their failed stewardship and their lies are the bank crisis and the housing bubble. We had to bail out the big banks and haven’t yet corrected the causes of the failure. And housing is still having difficulty finding a bottom or gaining any traction. Unemployment, which began trending negative in January 2008, and the off-shoring of jobs are by-products of Republican governance. They lie about the causes of all four issues.

They talk about the huge deficit and the need to reduce it when they were the ones that created most of it. In the years from Reagan through Bush, Republicans were responsible for $7.5 trillion of the $9.1 trillion we borrowed during those three decades. That’s 82% of the deficit attributable to the Republicans and a mere 18% attributable to Clinton. Most of the debt under Obama is the remnant, the ugly aftermath, of the George Bush created Great Recession.

The same hypocrisy applies to Social Security and Medicare. Republicans controlled both the Senate and the House for 12 years — eight of those with a Republican President — yet did nothing to protect these programs from the declines they’re now screaming about. Now, they lie about the condition of the programs in hopes of privatizing them.

It’s this way issue after issue — create the problem, lie about the causes, lie about the proposals proffered to fix them, and attack the opposition with feckless soundbites.

The Republican Party is a malignancy that has been metastasizing for more than 30 years.

Republican policies, ideologies, and hypocrisy have taken us to the edge of a cliff. Reelecting them would destroy our recovery, ensure our financial failure, and threaten our world dominance.

Do we really want to go backwards after fighting so hard to go forward?

Can we afford to pay for their failures and lies — again?

Can our children and grandchildren?

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Take the quick 5 question survey, “The Rabid Dogs of Hypocrisy” now at Survcast!

There’s nothing more disgusting than to listen to the misogynistic rants of a fat bigoted drug addict. But Rush Limbaugh’s recent series of rants, calling Georgetown law student a ‘slut’ and a ‘whore,’ are not only disturbing, but low even for him!

His attack on Sandra Fluke, the brave young woman who was refused the opportunity to testify by an uncaring, and basically ignorant, Representative Darrell Issa, (R-CA49) in the hearing he held on contraception, was not only uninformed, but incendiary.

Limbaugh is, indeed, a pimple on America’s ass.

So, surely, Representative Issa will come out and apologize to Ms. Fluke for not only his misogynistic blunder in seating an all male panel to testify about a woman’s right to contraception and its relationship to religious beliefs, but for Limbaugh’s drug induced attack on her.

The Republican Party should be completely embarrassed by his vilification, not only of Sandra Fluke, but of college women and responsible women everywhere. Their repudiation of his should have been immediate. They were reluctant to condemn his hateful and libelous diatribe because they fear his backlash.

Though, theoretically, not defined as hate speech, his attack on the Georgetown law student was an attack on all women across parties, ethnicities, religions, all across America. A visceral attack on women by an inadequate and irrelevant man.

It is hard to believe that a man caught red-handed sneaking a suitcase-full of Viagra into the United States would know so little about contraception. You’d think his impotence — needing so much Viagra — would render him impotently silent about contraception.

Hundreds of thousands jumped to expose his hypocrisy and misogyny.

The move to boycott Rush and his sponsors was swift, spread rapidly, and seems to be the only way we can get this big mouth silenced. More than seven sponsors have already suspended their sponsorships. It must continue — sponsors need to be notified relentlesstly that their sponsorship of a misogynist like Limbaugh will not be tolerated. Any new sponsors must be informed that their lack of integrity would lead to an aggressive push to boycott of their products.

The boycott pushed by social media has been highly effective and seven sponsors have now pulled their advertisements from Limbaugh’s radio show.

We’ve come to this because Republicans are afraid of Rush Limbaugh and the 4th estate has done an unacceptable job of pointing out that his lambastic rants are never based in fact but merely foolish opinions by a deluded and drug induced mind.

Anyone who attempts to either legitimize Limbaugh’s three day rant or absolve him from any wrong doing must be questioned and vociferously rebuked.

The GOP’s narrow focus is defined by people like Limbaugh to the detriment of a more moderate and independent leaning nation.

His weak apology, if it could be called that, is unacceptable and too late to repair the damage his reprehensible three day rant has done to Ms. Fluke. There is a grossly evident double standard that needs to be addressed and exposed. When Ed Shultz called Laura Ingrahm a ‘talk slut’ he was not only suspended for 5 days, but issued a heartfelt apology to Ms. Ingraham when he returned. Rush’s attacks were far more hateful and Damaging to Sandra Fluke. Where is the suspension?

There is no explanation for a man like Rush Limbaugh; no justification for his hatred for democracy or the people which our forefathers sought to protect from men like him.

Limbaugh should undergo a full psychiatric evaluation to determine the causes of his deep seeded hatred of minorities, liberals, the disabled, women, Michael J. Fox, veterans, who upon returning oppose the war, he labels ‘phony soldiers’ and now, Georgetown law students, to determine whether he’s fit to be on the air.

It’s time for us, the good citizens of this country, to rend Limbaugh irrelevant by continuing to pressure his sponsors, local radio stations, and his employer, Clear Channel. We must continue to expose him en masse for his vitriolic and incendiary comments and occupy the vote against the misogynist Republicans in November.

Limbaugh is irrelevant, the devil incarnate, and it’s about time America realizes it.

America should not have to endure Rush’s idea of what constitutes humor.

Pull the plug. End this ‘three hours a day, five days a week’ absurdity — NOW!

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Take the quick 5 question poll, “A Rush to Irrelevance” now at Survcast!

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Does money in politics subvert our precious democracy?

Would you pay $1.00 per month to get rid of PAC’s, SuperPAC’s, and the ungodly amount of money being funneled into federal political campaigns?

It is estimated that more than $3,000,000,000 will be spent in the 2012 election. Outrageous! The cost of elections has spun out of control and must be reined in.

Money is not the root of all evil, but its corrosive influence was evident in the 2010 elections; a malignancy that will be even more destructive in this electoral cycle.

Though money in politics was a problem long before the Citizens United ruling, the Supreme Court’s 5-4 decision desecrated the 1st Amendment and is infecting our democratic elections — the cornerstone of a healthy, vibrant democracy.

So how can we reverse the Supreme Court’s mistake and get money out of politics?

We, ‘the people,’ can overpower the Supreme Court, get under their black robes — make Citizens United moot — with the Power of One!

We can end money’s destructive power and return the vote, and the outcome of elections, to us.

Nearly two years ago a friend, Matt Giorgi, came to me with an idea to publicly fund all federal elections — to essentially take all private money out of politics, thus eliminating the malicious intent of groups like Citizens United.

Formulating a plan, we realized that to move forward it was imperative to agree that money is not speech and corporations are not people. To be clear, Citizens United was not a group of citizens, but a few wealthy and vindictive individuals bent on subverting Hillary Clinton’s run for the democratic nomination.

The Citizens United ruling overturned a century of election law thus making the Supreme’s ruling even more injurious to our democracy. But it helped spotlight the need to move aggressively toward publicly funded elections and eliminate the court’s influence.

Matt’s idea will cleanse national elections and better serve the public interest.

It’s the Power of One; the power of a single dollar to return the vote to ‘the people.’ A single dollar spreading the cost of fair and equitable elections to the greatest number of citizens ever. A single dollar to neutralize the deleterious grip money has on politics and elections.

The mandate of a single dollar, each month, from every eligible voter’s paycheck would create a national election fund to facilitate all federal elections. Twelve dollars a year. A relatively painless way to clean up our elections and politics as we know it.

This fund would fall under the purview of the Federal Election Commission. They would oversee the implementation and execution of the Twenty-eighth Amendment which establishes new rules and creates a fair election process centered around the extraction of all private money from all national politics and elections. The agency will be streamlined to administer, regulate, improve, and enforce the new rules under well defined parameters.

A program like the Power of One would establish a sense of ownership and mutualism, increase voter participation, and encourage greater participation of qualified individuals who want to serve the public and the public interest but have been excluded from running for office by the restrictive cost of elections.

The mandate would generate $2.8 billion each year with minimal financial imposition to the American people. Money collected would be sufficient to fund all national races and administer the Federal Election Commission.

By publicly funding these elections the 28th Amendment would regulate the signature requirements, length of campaigns, distribution of funds, reporting, accounting, and transparency.

The mood of the nation is changing evidenced by Congress’ approval rating, which has fallen to a meager 10 percent. The general public is not happy with the job their congressional members are doing, with the performance of the current administration, the weakness of the Republican presidential candidates, or the corruption money has created in our government.

It’s time to get the money out of politics.

Although the Power of One may not be the whole answer, the ideas contained in the proposal, are a great start. They can be easily incorporated or aligned with other projects to end the pervasive corruption of money. No matter which plan emerges it is imperative that something be done.

The Power of One will put an end to the wanton corruption in politics!

Call Congress today and insist that your Congressional members support a 28th Amendment — (202) 224-2131 to contact your Representative or Senator. Tell them how you feel about the corruption in politics and why you want to get the money out.

Let us know your feelings also — take a quick 5 question poll about the Power of One at Survcast.

Every major change in our country has started in the streets with a frustrated citizenry. Government only acts in our best interest when it’s pushed. The time for the 28th Amendment has come.

And you can make it happen!

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The GOP is running out of presidential candidates.

Santorum won all three caucuses in early February defeating Mitt Romney by double digits in two of the states. With wins in Missouri, Minnesota, and Colorado, Santorum had gained momentum going into Maine.

Maine returned momentum to Romney after he beat Ron Paul in the state caucuses, albeit, by a mere 194 votes. But that victory has become controversial with the exclusion of three counties from the final vote totals‚ counties that may favor Ron Paul.

Next, are Arizona and Michigan, two important primaries preceding the significance Super Tuesday will have on the race to the nomination.

Who will have the momentum after Michigan and Arizona?

Though Santorum’s early February surprise waned in Maine something interesting is happening in Michigan. Santorum leads in the polls in Romney’s home state. But in Arizona, Romney has an eight point lead which offsets his apparent troubles in Michigan.

Is Santorum’s recent popularity ‘real’ — unlike the other leaders — or just another anybody-but-Romney flash in the pan?

The Republican process to find a viable candidate to challenge Obama’s run for a second term has been, at times, interesting, zany, vitriolic, colorful, painful, and laughable, amongst other superlatives.

Is it realistic to believe that Santorum could actually derail Romney’s presumptive claim on the nomination? Or is he just the last in a long line of leaders — hopeful choices of a Republican Party in disarray? I would venture the latter.

More than 25 names have been floated by various factions of the party.

The lacklustre field, the series of possible candidates ranging back to Palin, Sanford, and Ensign in July of 2009, creates a serious dilemma for the Republicans. The list of hopefuls — nearly all unqualified — included Governors and ex-Governor’s Mitch Daniels, Haley Barbour, Tim Pawlenty, Rick Perry and many others, further illuminates the problems the GOP is having.

Santorum is the latest to surge ahead of Romney beginning with Michele Bachmann. Following her were Herman Cain, Rick Perry, and Newt Gingrich. Romney, who seems to be stuck in an unimpressive range because of his inability to connect with conservative voters, can’t find the traction needed to take him to the convention with enough delegates.

With each new leader came new battles, new attempts to control the discourse. With each new leader Romney has been forced to move further right abandoning, even denouncing, his moderate policies of the past.

Santorum’s conservative message currently resonates with a right-wing base that is focused on issues of little import to the general population. The more popular he becomes the more radical and deranged his comments become. As Charles Blow suggests in his article, Santorum is becoming increasingly unhinged.

In order to attract the extreme base Santorum invokes a religious zealotry that stirs up culture wars exploiting a religious divide people like him have created. But, both candidates malign those that disagree with their views rendering them incapable of governing and unelectable.

Santorum’s outrageous proclamations and positions are potentially more harmful than Romney’s who is praying for Santorum’s popularity to unravel hoping his rapidly fading electability will still carry him to the nomination.

Another issue that will effect the new front-runner’s chances — charitable giving.

As Aaron Blake discovered, in his Washington Post article, newly released tax returns show the Santorum’s gave a paltry 1.8% of their adjusted gross income which brings into question his Christianity.

As a stronger light is cast on Santorum his deficiencies become glaringly apparent and the expectations of his nomination will diminish.

Is Santorum qualified to be President? Tell me what you think by taking a quick 4 question poll at Survcast.

America will be watching the Arizona and Michigan primaries with extreme interest hoping for more clarity heading into Super Tuesday.

Till then Republicans are left with the obvious question: who’s left after Santorum?

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The Republican candidate thinks we’re all envious of him.

Romney feels that envy of his financial success, the envy of income inequality, is the driver of the current uprising against wealth — the driver of ‘class warfare.’ He also believes that envy is the reason for the anti-Romney movement of those opposing his candidacy. But the class warfare he alludes to is not generated by envy.

It’s only a talking point emanating from Romney himself to deflect from his obvious deficiencies and to fire up the Republican base.

True, some individuals are probably envious, but, is it envy that causes so many to dislike him?

Watching Mr. Romney stumble through the primaries is excruciating. It’s obvious he’s desperate to become President despite a lack of understanding of what the position requires.

The position he’s aspiring to requires connecting with ‘the people’ — understanding their situations and their needs, feeling their pain, and addressing their issues.

But Romney has difficulty connecting with the average person and even more difficulty convincing middle-class America that he really cares about them.

His recent campaign statement regarding the poor, even taken in context, came off as insincere and out of touch. He has no concept of the plight of the poor. Combined with a cold insensitivity toward working-class people his qualifications diminish.

His discomfort in interviews and on the stump is palpable and is marked by his many gaffes. At various times he appears wooden, shallow, unnatural, abrasive, even phony, but rarely sincere, caring, or humble. He tries hard to appear humane yet still comes off dispassionate.

Everything Romney does and everything he says stirs up controversy.

He, at the same time, brags and apologizes for his wealth to appease whichever group he’s addressing

His assertion of being unemployed or fearing getting a pink slip and his insistence that he did not inherit his wealth — partially true but missing the point — is disingenuous and phony.

The presumptive GOP nominee had problems releasing his tax returns and when challenged reluctantly released his 2010 return. The 2010 return showed a few disturbing things. Aside from the offshore accounts in Swiss and Cayman banks it was discovered that he paid a smaller percentage of taxes than most middle-class Americans — 13.9 percent.

He, cavalierly, dismissed income he received from speaking engagements as a small amount. It was $374,000, which is more than 10 years of income to the average American family.

Full release of multiple years would likely jeopardize his attempt at being Everyman. The potential exists that earlier returns will show even lower tax rates. This is not a good thing for someone trying to convince the struggling, hard-working American voter, that he’s just like them and feels their pain.

His inability to properly address these financial ambiguities is amplified by a hidden feeling of guilt — guilt about how he’s earned his money and the unpatriotic appearance of the low tax rates he’s paid.

Though many would like to live in the confines of wealth he’s enjoyed, I do not envy him. With all he’s been given and all the doors that have been opened for him with his family name, he struggles with being ‘real.’

Despite his tithing to the Mormon Church he appears selfish. Despite his repeated insistence that he wants to help the poor he appears pious. Despite his promise of change he has no ‘real’ solutions. And, with his unfactual attacks on Obama’s presidency and policies, the improving employment and economy, he appears to be a liar.

The inability to connect with ‘the people’ becomes more evident with each primary or caucus. Even within his own party Romney is receiving fewer votes than he received in 2008 — proof that the party is not overly enchanted with him as their nominee, or, quite frankly, with any of the others.

The ‘class warfare’ Romney refers to is not the product of envy, but a product of what the wealthy in this country have done to the economy and because of what they’ve taken from hard-working Americans to line their own selfish pockets. Romney is the epitome of the inequality they’ve created and one of the reasons his numbers have declined.

No, it’s not envy, my friend, it’s pity: pity of your desperation, of your personal purgatory over the issues, your lack of true understanding, of your feckless attempts at convincing the American people you’re the answer to their struggles. But it’s also pity that he must invoke ‘class warfare’ to avoid his complicity in the disparity in the classes.

Most of all, I pity that the Republican party is left with you as their choice for the presidency.

Believe me when I say, without liberal platitude — you’re not the answer.

Maybe for the Republican Party, but, not for America.

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It’s time for a radical new approach!

We’ve tried trickle-down and it hasn’t worked! All that’s trickled down is crap.

So as we near, bounce along, or bounce off the bottom in our financial recovery, let’s start thinking outside the pox.

Yes, supply side economics has been a pox on this country, on the world — a pox on capitalism with a predatory financial system and unfiltered greed becoming a malignant cancer.

What caused this insidious and unrelenting disease? How do we reverse it?

Milton Friedman was wrong and those that still follow his philosophy are either blind or ignorant of three decades of decline.

Alan Greenspan, a staunch supporter of Friedman economics, admitted, in testimony before Congress, to being wrong about capitalism. Wrong about deregulation. Incredibly wrong about market self-regulation.

As a result of their miscalculation — of their failure to include greed in their equation — the world is experiencing a meltdown of major proportions.

Now, the powers responsible for fixing this global tragedy are making strategic mistakes that will lower the bottom to intractable levels causing even greater suffering for a wide swath of the global population.

The clarion call in global economic circles is ‘austerity.’ It’s amazing that the wealthy people controlling the world’s governments think an austere world will be a better solution.

For whom?

A growing portion of the globe has already been laid bare with more and more people living in poverty every forbidding day — losing their jobs, losing their pensions, losing their homes, losing their dignity.

Austerity will accelerate this negative spiral and slow growth; growth which is necessary to reverse this merciless decline.

So, how do we stimulate growth?

Passing the American Jobs Act would be a good start, but, absent that, let’s try something really radical. Something that might actually work.

Let’s stimulate the bottom!

It’s way past time to make the wealthy pay their fair share for the health and welfare of this country. They’ve been given a pass far to long and it’s time they ante up.

Let’s tax the rich and give to the poor; increase demand and stimulate growth. Let’s return some of the money they’ve stolen to those they stole from.

Some call that reparations, some redistribution. What it really is, is wealth fairness.

The wealthy in this country must be made to pay for the wars they encouraged — for the lives their advocacy ruined, the deaths and permanent disabilities — the result of their callous apathy.

Past generations have paid for the wars with higher taxes; top marginal rates as high as 94% after World War II. But this generation of wealthy Americans feels no such patriotic obligation.

So, to start, let’s create a progressive tax structure that will force the rich to pay for their tacit acceptance of a crumbling society — an eroding democracy.

Start by increasing individual tax rates to Reagan levels — around 50%. Then raise estate and capital gains to Reagan levels.

Restructure the corporate tax rate and get rid of all the corporate loopholes (corporate welfare). According to the Congressional Budget Office, corporations in fiscal 2011, paid the lowest effective tax rate, 12.1%, in 40 years.  The bigger the corporation the greater the civil obligation. Tax all foreign profit at a flat 10% for retaining it overseas each fiscal year and 28% when they bring it back to the United States.

Putting these funds back into the economy will immediately stimulate demand.

How do we do that?

Social Security recipients, disabled veterans, and retired veterans receive an immediate and quarterly dividend.

Unemployed will be given a split dividend for reemployment based on retention. Low income working families will receive an employment stipend.

Returning veterans will be given a deployment subsidy upon their return from theater.

Renters and homeowners will be provided a value dividend for continued habitation.

Low income college students will receive semester completion benefits for remaining in school and completing their course of education.

Putting money into the hands of responsible people that will immediately put it back into the economy is a smart plan given the history of trickle-down.

The American people are growing weary of the up hill struggle and the crap that has filtered down to them. They’re tired of stagnant wages. Tired of having their pockets picked.

There are other ways to rebalance an unfair system and the spring is drawing near. Will it be ‘The American Spring?’

A bloody resolution may not be the most desirable way to “level the playing field” but given the current state of affairs may end up being the only solution.

America has a choice. A chance to save itself from the ravishes of poverty. A chance to save our asses from the persistent degradation of the past three decades.

Time is running out so we, collectively, must demand a change in direction — a radical change that will reestablish the middle-class and strengthen the nation’s economy.

We’ve tried trickle down and it’s been miserable for most of the globe.

Don’t you think it’s time we tried something that works?