But Tom Coburn speaks and exhales the dark rotten stink of racism that continues to pollute the politics of this sad suffering nation. And I am reconsidering based on what are emerging as even higher priorities than the economy or even whether I die early from poverty and Medicare cuts.

From the Tulsa World (Link Here ) with screen shots from the Rachel Maddow Show.

This man has a medical degree -- I regret to say, from the same school as mine.   He has been in the House and Senate since Gingrich.   Not incidentally he as have I benefitted greatly, in my case,  from the taxpayers of Okalhoma who almost totally bore the cost of my medical education.  If he went to medical school after Medicare was passed he benefitted also from the educational subsidies that are part of the Medicare act.

I am certainly grateful for this type program and any normal person such as President Obama would be also.  But Senator Coburn of course is not talking about any aspect of educational or other financial aids provided by taxpayers  to any of us.

He is of course defining African Americans as dependent and grasping, the cause of many if not all the personal and community woes.  In that statement he reveals he  believes our woes as a nation are brought on by a society that provides safety nets for the less able and also class mobility through access to equal opportunity.

Senator  Coburn's comments on both affirmative action and Medicare  is what we call a racist dog whistle, a message to be heard only by those who are resentful and,  as Campbell defines as,  cool to other races.

This is no different than what we heard in the 50s and 60s and way before,  among so many in the South and politically from Southern Democrats,   And we also  heard versions from well intended paternalistic otherwise liberals too.

It continues  now among those welcomed into the GOP by Nixon and their political progeny.

This along with recent conversations with good and thoughtful friends is bringing me to consider my responsibilities as a voter.   I will not change my opinion that the Obama politics is wrong and dangerous to the country, especially old people like me.  But that will out.

I wonder if the race thing will ever.  It is a battle for the heart of the US.   Indeed it makes me feel that a higher priority is to begin to eventually soundly defeat these people who think and operate in this manner.

President Obama has called Tom Coburn his best friend in the Senate.  And Tom Coburn has expressed his affection for him.  No matter how thick his emotional skin may be this has to hurt.  I suspect Coburn experiences his attitudes as commonly accepted.  and close to what a friend called me out on.  "They love  them like children."

In more thinking I see him in a predicament similar to the Jews in 1930s Germany who thought they had assimilated away their "Jewishness" and were Germans.   But the Nazis needed a scapegoat group to target all the hate, resentment and fear of poverty toward.   Many with Jewish ancestry who thought they were assmilated, some even turning on their orthodox brothers,  this were murdered without distinction.

I have off and on wished Obama would be more "black."  A sad fact of life in the US is that any physical sign of a drop of African American blood defines one as "Black."  (Maybe his obsession with compromise has something to do with angst over the hope to be all of himself.")   I have no idea what personal dilemmas he faces or best solutions.

But I almost wonder if now is not the time for him,  like Fritz in Cabaret acknowledging Jewishnes, declare himself Black for real -- not some opportunity for racist dog-whistling which so far both sides are showing no commpunction in using.  It would clarify where the core "ideologic" divide lies.

As in Germany of the 30s it's not personal liberties vs socialism.  Senator Coburn's comments reveal a primitive predatory tribalism vs diversity in inclusiveness and the social contract of civilization.

The more things seem to change, the more they stay the same.

Georgia governing is in desperate need of Re-Formation.  The Democratic Party of Georgia should be, must be a driving force in that.   Disasterous Democratic candidates and policies have created  a "red state normal" that is now so regressive that it will take more than one election cycle to reverse it.  The Blue Dog policies of being more Republican than the Republicans have been definitively repudiated by the voters; not just in Georgia but across the nation.

The election of 2008 was, in my view,  an expression of the liberal values and strivings among the majority of the people.   Many of those voters are now casting about for alternative parties and movements as demonstrated by the 2010 elections.

I have some understanding of the parochial political view that the voters must be offered something the polls and rhetoric seem to indicate they want and believe in.  Blue Dog philosphy never goes beyond that. Most liberal democrats kept their seats in the 210 elections.  This is commonly attributed to being in "safe districts and states." and neaver going further to examine how those seats became safe.  They weren't created by the Liberal Fairy.  They were created and are sustained by effective communication of values and with service to the voters., not triangulation and pandering to greed, race etc.

A few specific suggestions that I have for the DPG is to assume a role as movement and focus less on the intricacies of  particular regional tactics to win single elections.  It has proven pretty definitively that we aren't going to win many in the foreseeable future so we might as well take the longer term view of first acquainting Georgians with just what traditional liberal Democratic values are and mean.  I know of no better way to get media attention for this than to run candidates who are willing to unashamedly express and define those values.

It seems most in my county party are demoralized at this time.  But we liberals haven't changed our stripes.  I think giving us something to believe in and opportunities for activism will repair that morale.  Pandering to local and national Republicans will not do that.

I also think the party should speak out loud, clear and frequently with, as appropriate, moral outrage at the abuses the Republicans are visiting on the citizens of Georgia.  Most immediately we muct elucicdate just what Gov. Deal is up to in his tax "reform" plans which are clearly aimed to tax the poor and give to the rich.  Any sales tax, especially on food or other neceissities for goodness sake! are verge on the punitive.  Where was the DPG at the outrageous rip off of Ga Power rate payers to fund guaranteed profits and future development of nuclear power plants, that cannot get ordinary venture capital.    http://www.gainesvilletimes.com/archives/40493/ and  http://www.gainesvilletimes.com/archives/44177/

I also think the county parties should be vigorous in exposing the practices local Republican office holders in particular tax write offs and envionmental exceptions given to corporatons while funding it on already exhorbitant sales taxes.

We need to detoxify the immigrant paranoia by advocationg for worker protections that will make it possible for all to make a decent living. by leveling the playing field.

In my view the most compelling and dangerous trend we as a nation are facing today is the continued redistribution of wealth to a smaller and smaller number of individuals and entities.  History and events today in Egypt prove that no nation, no matter how autocratic or repressive the rule, will stand when this disparity becomes to great.  And there is also  is our loss of the moral highground to perpetual war, tortue and expanding loss of civil liberties.

In summary;  I personally see no way to go but to  proudly embrace our  traditional Democratic values and devlop ways to define, clarify and promote them. (Among others George Lakhoff in his books and many columns gives a good beginning place.)  Emory's Drew Westen is another good thinker, speaker and writer.  If we do that we will elect som e people.

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/recruit-shirley-franklin-for-dpg-chair/

Sunday, August 8,  2:oo pm
At the outdoor stage on the grounds of the Sautee Nacoochee Center
Peace Pole Installation Remembering Nagasaki and Hiroshima

Refreshments and Facilitated Roundtable Discussion following the ceremony in the conference room of the main SNCA building.

The Sautee Nacoochee Center is located in the beautiful Sautee & Nacoochee Valleys of Northeast Georgia near Helen on Highway 255 North, 1/4 mile off Highway 17.

For Directions/Map: http://www.snca.org/main.html

Please email Julianne Wilson <thrivingspirit@me.com> if you will bring FINGER foods and/or beverages for the reception so we can be sure to have enough to share well. Please take the food/drinks to the conference room NO LATER THAN 1:45pm on Sunday - thanks!

Thank you!
Please check out the article (and picture of Adele!) http://talkingstick.gamountains.net/adele.html

More information:  Joanne Steele at 706-878-2035

Co-sponsored by Nuclear Watch South and Georgia WAND for more information:

Obama has disappointed us. He is constitutionally a conservative. We didn't expect that. He began the HIR miserably. We have seen the Senate Blue Dogs and religious fundamentalists turn the process over to the greedy and the fanatics. But you know in the end they didn't have all the votes.

Those who believe mostly as we do never had the votes either. We can rightly shout that we never got much respect.

But one thing our side in the House got is this speech, this "government expression" that this is about people and about making moral choices. Do you think this is the speech Obama would have made or did make for the Max Baccus group?

Hypocrites? Yes many, Is the bill. fair? Will it solve much? Nope, In fact we can hope for the failures to prove us right soon.

But what history will record is this articulation of a message and I am proud of.it.. Johnson didn't cure the sickness of racism when he said "We shall overcome." But he did send the message that the power of the government is on the side of those who bring solutions.

It is the moral power of the government to enunciate the universal moral principles that so terrifies the GOP, the Libertarians and The Tea baggers.

I have no notion of how hypocritical Obama is but our side forced him to say the right things, to send the message. We should be proud.

If you are looking for a sense of victory just look at the shoddy the GOP. They are pitiful.
.

I am disappointed in the usually insightful Jesse Corn for his column in Friday’s Times. He takes our elderly to task for being “selfish” in their desire for compassionate quality medical care during their final years.

Critical of objections to proposed cuts in Medicare benefits, his words are cruel and callous: “The old of this country apparently fail to see that by selfishly pursuing the destruction of this program for their own gain, they will break the social contract with the young who have to fund it. “

What social contract? Mr. Corn laments that today’s younger are paying for the needs of elders. Where does he believe the uncapped 3 percent Medicare tax on income and other taxes paid over some 50 years of working lives by our elders went?

Flash! That’s the contract. That’s civilization.

Beyond that, it should be noted that Medicare services are not free to patients. They bear the cash costs of deductibles and co-pays, and for drugs up to some $2,900 annually. Annual insurance premiums continue throughout life. For this single elder, premiums alone are in excess of $5,000. This is significant to those relying on Social Security and now diminished pension funds.

Bedside providers barely profit from Medicare fees, if at all, and they should be applauded, for without their acceptance the system would have failed long ago.

There is no doubt that the Medicare age group, most of whom have lost 50 percent, give or take, of already stagnant private pension funds, are vulnerable to the scurrilous propaganda emanating from profit- and politically motivated constituencies. However, the solution does not lie in vilifying and abandoning a segment of our society.

Perhaps Mr. Corn should look to those who benefit from the propaganda; the supporters of no bulk negotiation of pharmaceutical company charges for medication, sweetheart deals for appliances, extending patents on biologicals, bans on drug importation and an insurance industry that insists on Dow Jones CEO salaries, and profits for shareholders.

W. Lorraine Watkins
Dawsonville

It seems to now be beyond the hysterical media calling for virtually non-existant violence. A paralyzed military sits off shore and at the airport surrounded by thousands of tons of desperately needed water and food; waiting for "security."

As far as I can tell, most of the aid that is reaching the victims is coming by road over the mountains from Santa Domingo, accompanied by the First Lady of the D. R. She doesn't seem to fear the machete's nor do the hard hats pulling victims out nor, with one noted exception, the medical teams. Even Secretary of State Clinton will be on the ground in Port au Prince. this afternoon.

If our cowering military delays much longer to begin major distribution of food and water the chance of violence fulfilling their prophecies will develop. I suppose when the primary goal is to train the men to kill it is not considered a good idea to teach them much about human nature. If they had begun even a trickle of supplies as soon as they had one of those monstrous vehicles; to deliver them the people would have been reassured that more would soon be coming and more likely to be patient. Witholding goods sitting on the ground it until a division of Marines arrives just incites anger. The longer it goes on the less trust and the more grasping and hoarding there will be.

I am struck with the image, really a meme, the white man's fear of oppressed and suffering black people. No pacts with the devil. It was our white ancestors who through enabling slavery so long have endowed us with paranoia and terror. Can one imagine a similar reaction to the devastation of a city such as Denver? I don't think so.

Yes. It lingers yet. There was more than a taint of it in the response to Katrina. This is blatant.Then there is the politics of 2010. Another possible source of the slowdown, I fear has, so far been little noted by the media and mentioned with sullenness indirectly by some of the organizations involved in the aid mission. That is just days ago President Obama turned the leadership of international aid missions back to the State Department's USAID. After the earthquake he specifically named them to head the US mission to Haiti.

Now we all know the military and Cheney's friends are not that fond of President Obama. And they think their warriors know all about how to run countries, better than any civilian. One can only hope they are not playing passive aggressive to USAID with the lives of these wonderful people of Haiti.

If you have any communication with the rescue efforts please see "Cries for Help" I posted the other day.