Yes, there is an op-ed section. It’s called “My FDL”.

They have already tried that regarding the different requirements for smog controls on cars, and the original organic labels before the USDA Organic thing came along. It didn’t work. California won all those cases. So even if they try again in this instance, I doubt that Monsanto et al will win against California using the same logic as before.

In the case of cars, Detroit does manufacture just for California (and now Oregon and a couple of other states that have now adopted California smog standards). The USDA adopted California’s organic rules for the entire country so that one is now moot but it went nationwide. Kind of what we’re hoping for here.

Wisconsin and a few other big dairy states successfully got labeling for non-BGH milk. But they weren’t big enough to affect the markets like California is.

This initiative could go a long ways towards ending Monsanto’s grip on the nations crops. And about time too.

Not defending Obama here – criticizing everyone else. The Congress and the Courts are supposed to be our mechanisms for forcing the Executive branch to do things if the Executive branch is not responsive to the “will of the people”.

What I was pointing out – and apparently did not do a good job of – was that because the other two branches of government are (also) so badly broken that the people have lost all ability to leverage any kind of force anywhere.

When FDR told those people “make me do it” they did – using the power of the legislature. Obama issued that same sort of challenge – but we don’t have the same leverage. Ours has been bought up by the Koch brothers, Goldman-Sachs et al and we find ourselves locked out completely from any ability to “make him do it”.

That’s why I brought up all that stuff.

Ha Ha!!

Thanks for your list. And no, I was not going to say you are being unrealistic. Why would I? Because I think that your list is the most realistic list of all – the one we all should be wanting and pushing for and working towards.

(And the pony!)

And if it takes a revolution to get there, well then maybe that is just what we need to do. Because the alternative sure isn’t working very well.

As for all the people on this thread who “assume” that I have been defending Obama, I have a long history of voting for candidates that have neither a D or an R behind their name. So never “assume” that I plan on voting for anyone with a D or an R this time or anytime in the future.

Okay – that’s a good list. I agree with you on every single one of them and I could add a bunch more just like them. But I have no freakin’ idea just how to get any of that done. Do you? And I don’t mean that in a snarky or mean way – I am serious.

The ACLU and everyone who agrees that these things are bad has been pushing back and fighting against these things in every way they can but there is no response. And the reason is the stacked courts, the dysfunctional Congress, and all the rest of it. The fact that a lot of this crap gets “slipped” into bills and passed without anyone knowing about it – on Up with Chris Hayes, Rep Carolyn Maloney told of an amendment that got stuck on the Highway Funding Bill. It was some stinking piece of crap that was intended to kill the Highway bill. She fought to get the Highway bill passed because it meant a lot of jobs and in the end it did get passed but it also meant this stinking amendment got passed as well. That’s how this crap happens.

And that’s how a lot of other stuff gets done too. It even gets inserted during the conference committee deliberations so neither the House nor the Senate actually sees or votes on it!! Outrageous!

And here is another kicker! If something gets ‘messed up’ at the printer after it leaves the Hill and before it gets to the signing ceremony and the President signs it with the ‘mistake’ – that ‘mistake’ becomes LAW!
If you don’t believe me – it happened about 3 months after Obama took office. Two pages got left out of something. They had to go back and re-pass those two pages and he had to sign them separately to get them back into whatever it was. Unbelievable! So you see the possibilities here for all kinds of shenanigans? I’m jest sayin…

I was working in social services back when this so-called welfare reform passed. I said back then it would be a disaster. Yes – they got everybody “off” the rolls. But at what cost? All the “reformers” seem to forget that the money in this program was for the CHILDREN in these families. So they are now living in cars, under bridges, in shelters. No medical care, no homes, fractured access to education, even more disruption in their social and family lives – what’s not to love? I have never understood why there was money to pay for someone else to care for these kids while the mothers go work at some minimum wage job but paying this same mom to stay at home and take care of her own kids….well that’s just too…well fill in the demeaning and derogatory blanks here.

And of course as soon as they could, all the child care subsidies dried up so now the minimum wage jobs don’t even cover the cost of the child care.

We calculated that in our county – a “welfare” mom would have to get a job with a starting wage of about $9.87 per hour with full medical/dental/vision policy for her and her kids in order to equal what she was receiving in cash, housing assistance and medicaid under the old AFDC program for 2 kids. That was back when the minimum wage was $5.25. What a joke – especially since the average “welfare” mom had not graduated from high school and had literally no marketable skills other than taking care of kids. And under AFDC she was not allowed to receive AFDC while attending a 4-year college. Way to keep ‘em down! (BTW – that same rule still applies to TANF!)

Also, if you get a scholarship for any part of your books or tuition – you must report that and it is deducted from your cash grant. Talk about a Catch-22. These individuals are the most qualified for Pell Grants – but if they take one to go to school so they can actually have a better future – they lose all their benefits – including the medical benefits for themselves AND their children while they do so.

Of course the Rethugs are in the process of cutting Pell Grants too. Don’t want any poor people getting anything that might allow them to pull themselves up by any bootstraps at all. Let’s just take away the boots altogether.

Okay. Everyone on this thread agrees, Obama has not delivered on his campaign promises. Whatever.

But exactly what are YOUR visions for what YOU think should be the vision for this country for the next four years? I thought about this and I must say that given the state of our politics, the state of the economy, the situation with the courts (and not just SCOTUS but most of the federal judiciary) and with foreign affairs (and not just the Af-Pak war and the situation with Iran), what would I want to see in the next four years if I could be POTUS?

Where would I start given the constraints of the bottlenecks and absolute disarray in the US Senate? The hyperpartisan control of the 5 right-wing hacks on SCOTUS? If the Dems don’t regain control of the House? If the Dems don’t regain control of at least some of the out-of-control state legislatures and governorships?

Because you have to throw all of that into the mix as well. All the whining about what Obama didn’t get done when he supposedly had control of the House and Senate (he really did not because of the Blue Dog caucus in the House and thanks to the likes of Joe LIEberman and Ben Nelson there were NEVER 60 votes in the Senate either) is in the past. Because “he” singlehandedly didn’t “fix” what took the Republicans over 30 years to destroy in only two years – the normal pendulum swing to throw the bums out resulted in a Republican takeover of the House. And a bunch of the Tea-pubs got elected. And the result was a completely dysfunctional legislative branch (I guess I should say a completely destructive legislative branch) of our federal government. Never mind what is happening in the states.

Yes, Obama is not a progressive. He never was. Never claimed to be one. All of us, myself included foisted all our hopes and dreams onto his narrow shoulders. And our dreams slid off and are now pooled in the dust at his feet.

But what do WE want to see in the next four years? Whining about the past and complaining about what “he” didn’t get done gets US nowhere. What do WE want? I don’t hear anything constructive here. Or anywhere else for that matter. Just whine whine whine whine……….

I didn’t see anything in this analysis – or maybe I just missed it – about the “savings” from completely scrapping the long-term care insurance for the elderly.

Thanks again for a great topic, Teddy. Have a good night!

Drat. I was hoping you were not going to try to out-do Putin in the bare-chest contest. Hmmm. I hope I don’t have to dock you a point for that.

Of course that assumes that you DID keep your shirt on…

Absolutely!!!!!