Liberals and their socialist plots

 

A 'war president'

Link

FDR's speech:

Mr. Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes once said: "Taxes are the price we pay for civilized society." One sure way to determine the social conscience of a Government is to examine the way taxes are collected and how they are spent. And one sure way to determine the social conscience of an individual is to get his tax-reaction. Taxes, after all, are the dues that we pay for the privileges of membership in an organized society. As society becomes more civilized, Government—national, State and local government—is called on to assume more obligations to its citizens. The privileges of membership in a civilized society have vastly increased in modern times. But I am afraid we have many who still do not recognize their advantages and want to avoid paying their dues. It is only in the past two generations that most local communities have paved and lighted their streets, put in town sewers, provided town water supplies, organized fire departments, established high schools and public libraries, created parks and playgrounds—undertaken, in short, all kinds of necessary new activities which, perforce, had to be paid for out of local taxes.

FDR

Let me warn you and let me warn the Nation against the smooth evasion which says, “Of course we believe all these things; we believe in social security; we believe in work for the unemployed; we believe in saving homes. Cross our hearts and hope to die, we believe in all these things; but we do not like the way the present Administration is doing them. Just turn them over to us. We will do all of them—we will do more of them we will do them better; and, most important of all, the doing of them will not cost anybody anything.” But, my friends, these evaders are banking too heavily on the shortness of our memories. No one will forget that they had their golden opportunity—twelve long years of it. Remember, too, that the first essential of doing a job well is to want to see the job done. Make no mistake about this: the Republican leadership today is not against the way we have done the job. The Republican leadership is against the job's being done. — Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1936

Jon Stewart uses this to expose Romney.

Bobbins and beads

Wonderful Kate Beaton recognized by the Guardian.

 The sorrow of Darrell Issa.

 Forgiveness after the most horrible crimes.

 The GOP war on women:

 

Nobody will ever deprive the American people of the right to vote except the American people themselves, and the only way they could do this is by not voting.
- Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Fish that's ok to eat.

Voter suppression.

Global Warming's Terrifying New Math

Because we need somebody like FDR right about now...

I'll quote again Roosevelt's prescient statement:

Unhappy events abroad have retaught us two simple truths about the liberty of a democratic people. The first truth is that the liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than their democratic State itself. That, in its essence, is fascism — ownership of government by an individual, by a group or by any other controlling private power. The second truth is that the liberty of a democracy is not safe if its business system does not provide employment and produce and distribute goods in such a way as to sustain an acceptable standard of living. Both lessons hit home. Among us today a concentration of private power without equal in history is growing.

Koch brothers? Meet FDR

“The liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it comes stronger than their democratic state itself. That, in its essence, is fascism - ownership of government by an individual, by a group,”

Franklin D. Roosevelt

FDR's second Bill of Rights

Franklin Delano Roosevelt proposed a Second Bill of Rights in a speech on January 11, 1944. This was an economic Bill of Rights.

h/t to Avendon Carol at The Sideshow.

You can't have it both ways, you guys!

Was FDR a good conservative or a dangerous liberal?

Steve Benen of the Washington Note:

So, as far as conservatives are concerned, FDR was both an ineffective liberal who made the crisis worse in the 1930s and an effective conservative who helped address the crisis with conservative ideas. The New Deal failed because it was liberal and it succeeded because it was conservative.

Good to know.

Blog sprinkles

This is a delicious waste of time.

And this is crap:

A California dairy has converted a pair of 18-wheelers to run on biomethane produced from cow manure, creating what is believed to be the nation's first cow-pie–powered trucks.

Hilarides Dairy will use manure produced by 10,000 cows to generate 226,000 cubic feet of biomethane daily — enough to reduce the Central Valley farm's diesel fuel consumption by 650 gallons a day.

"For us it made sense to invest in this technology. Now we can utilize the dairy's potential to power our trucks in addition to generating electricity for our operations," Rob Hilarides (pictured above), owner of the dairy, said. "This will significantly reduce our energy costs and give us some protection from volatile energy prices."

Not to mention something to do with all that manure.

Here is the best hug of the day.

And the worst funny joke....

I want to try this bread.

How soon they forget they tried to jam 'Love Our Dear Leader Or Die' down our throats these last horrible eight years. They can't comprehend how happy we are that Obama is president. The joy we feel is authentic. They think if they can just somehow stick the term fascism onto Obama somewhere.....

No wonder the Republicans hate FDR. Because all they can offer are tax cuts.

Plants you should consider growing in your vegetable garden.

FDR then

These economic royalists complain that we seek to overthrow the institutions of America. What they really complain of is that we seek to take away their power. Our allegiance to American institutions requires the overthrow of this kind of power. In vain they seek to hide behind the flag and the Constitution. In their blindness they forget what the flag and the Constitution stand for. Now, as always, they stand for democracy, not tyranny; for freedom, not subjection; and against a dictatorship by mob rule and the over-privileged alike.

Applies still to us now. We've come full circle.

Blog sprinkles

United States needs to renounce its neocon arrogance and realize that being a superpower doesn't automatically give us leadership rights. The world community has passed us by and we now need to make sure our nation just survives. Distributorcap says it best.

Obama drifting to the right? Mustang Bobby of Bark Bark Woof Woof reassures us with a poem.

Bush's last presser.

The sabotage of Condi Rice.

Dear Mr. Obama. Remember your promises. Especially to Hecate's grandson.

Don't let the door hit you on the way out, George.

Get the latest news satire and funny videos at 236.com.

(found via scoutprime at First Draft)

Steve Bates of the Yellow Doggerel Democrat threatens us with Carbon Neutral Balls.

Blue Girl of They Gave Us a Republic talks about the decimation of the CDC during the Bush era:

Julie Gerberding, the wingnut Bushie who has driven the CDC into the ground is out come January 20. Rumor had it that she wanted to stay on, but so eager to get rid of her they are, that she isn't even being retained until a replacement is selected and confirmed. Instead, CDC chief operating officer Bill Gimson will be acting director in the interim.

A statement from the transition team didn't go into too much detail, stating simply that "As part of the transition process, the administration requested resignation letters from a number of senior-level officials, including Dr. Julie Gerberding. This week, the administration accepted Dr. Gerberding's resignation, effective January 20. As Dr. Gerberding noted in a November e-mail to CDC leadership, she has always expected that she would be leaving after the administration changes."

Gerberding took the helm of the CDC seven years ago, after the anthrax attacks, and immediately set about decimating it, ignoring science and changing the structure to one where she micromanaged everything, even things that were far outside her lane and incapacitating the agencies ability to respond in the event of a public health crisis.

Putting the public at risk because of political ideology? Wait.. that's the entire Bush administration.

Chet Scoville of Vanity Press on Joe the Plumber.

Bryan of Why Now? mentions the pragmatism of FDR:

In a way, the strength of FDR was that he didn’t have a grand strategy that everything was part of, and nothing was ignored because of the side that proposed it. There was a goal, getting out of the Depression, and if you had an idea that might help, it was tried. If it worked, it was kept. If it didn’t work, it was gone.

Hoover was a conservative, so he had already tried the conservative policies, which is why there weren’t many tried by FDR. He did back off the big stimulus packages after about 4 years to get the budget under control, but when the economy faltered, he went back to what he knew worked.

If we are going to get out of this mess, people are going to have to cut loose from their preconceived notions and go with programs that have a track record. FDR found a lot of things that worked and this is no time to reinvent the wheel - wait too long and there may be no wagon to put it on or horse to pull it.

Seems that Obama may have that same pragmatic streak...

We owe this man our gratitude for saving our country

For exposing the plot (of whom Prescott Bush was one member) to overthrow FDR and establish a fascist state.

As Sorghum Crow of Sorghum Crow's General Store pointed out, he was the one who wrote the amazing piece: War is a Racket.

WAR is a racket. It always has been.

It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives.

A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of the people. Only a small "inside" group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few, at the expense of the very many. Out of war a few people make huge fortunes.

Thank you, Major General Smedley D. Butler.

Explaining Granddad Prescott Bush's legacy

Via Michael of Cannablog:








Wikipedia:

The Business Plot (also known as the Plot Against FDR or the White House Putsch) was an alleged political conspiracy in 1933 in which several wealthy businessmen allegedly planned to overthrow the presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Details of the alleged plot came to light in early 1934, when retired Marine Corps Major General Smedley Butler testified before the McCormack-Dickstein Congressional Committee.^[1] In his testimony, Butler claimed that a group of men had approached him as part of a plot to overthrow Roosevelt in a military coup. One of the alleged plotters, Gerald MacGuire, vehemently denied any such plot. In their final report, the Congressional committee supported some of Butler's allegations,^[2] but no prosecutions or further investigations followed, and the matter was mostly forgotten.

Prescott Bush found this man:



a threat to his way of life. Which might explain why this man said this:

Since Georgie brought up Nazi appeaser

It would be well to refresh ourselves with a little history lesson.



Prescott Bush, Georgie's granddad:

A BBC Radio 4 investigation sheds new light on a major subject that has received little historical attention, the conspiracy on behalf of a group of influential powerbrokers, led by Prescott Bush, to overthrow FDR and implement a fascist dictatorship in the U.S. based around the ideology of Mussolini and Hitler.

In 1933, Marine Corps Maj.-Gen. Smedley Butler was approached by a wealthy and secretive group of industrialists and bankers, including Prescott Bush the current President's grandfather, who asked him to command a 500,000 strong rogue army of veterans that would help stage a coup to topple then President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

According to the BBC, the plotters intended to impose a fascist takeover and "Adopt the policies of Hitler and Mussolini to beat the great depression."

And those Nazi appeasers?:

George Bush's grandfather, the late US senator Prescott Bush, was a director and shareholder of companies that profited from their involvement with the financial backers of Nazi Germany.

The Guardian has obtained confirmation from newly discovered files in the US National Archives that a firm of which Prescott Bush was a director was involved with the financial architects of Nazism.

His business dealings, which continued until his company's assets were seized in 1942 under the Trading with the Enemy Act, has led more than 60 years later to a civil action for damages being brought in Germany against the Bush family by two former slave labourers at Auschwitz and to a hum of pre-election controversy.

The evidence has also prompted one former US Nazi war crimes prosecutor to argue that the late senator's action should have been grounds for prosecution for giving aid and comfort to the enemy.

I think this explains why Bush has been so incompetent as president of a democracy

Remember when he said a dictatorship would be a lot easier?:



Blame it on his DNA. Remember his grandfather Prescott Bush? The BBC history radio Document ran this in July of this year:

Document uncovers details of a planned coup in the USA in 1933 by right-wing American businessmen. [snip]

The coup was aimed at toppling President Franklin D Roosevelt with the help of half-a-million war veterans. The plotters, who were alleged to involve some of the most famous families in America, (owners of Heinz, Birds Eye, Goodtea, Maxwell Hse & George Bush’s Grandfather, Prescott) believed that their country should adopt the policies of Hitler and Mussolini to beat the great depression.

Mike Thomson investigates why so little is known about this biggest ever peacetime threat to American democracy.

Tripped over this information while Googling Prescott Bush. I'll blame Sorghum Crow for mentioning him in comments! How much do you bet we won't hear a peep about this in our mainstream media?

Update: Sorghum Crow has the picture.

Gut feelings

What is wrong with this picture?

Still, Chertoff said there are not enough indications of an imminent plot to raise the current threat levels nationwide. And he indicated his remarks were based on "a gut feeling" formed by past seasonal patterns of terrorist attacks, recent al-Qaida statements, and intelligence he did not disclose.

There is an assessment "not of a specific threat, but of increased vulnerability," he added.

I couldn't put into words what was wrong until I thought of these:

So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself—nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance. In every dark hour of our national life a leadership of frankness and vigor has met with that understanding and support of the people themselves which is essential to victory. I am convinced that you will again give that support to leadership in these critical days.

Would lose some of its punch if Roosevelt talked about vague gut feelings and vulnerabilities and encouraging fearful reactions, wouldn't it?

Try this one:

In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger. I do not shrink from this responsibility-I welcome it. I do not believe that any of us would exchange places with any other people or any other generation. The energy, the faith, the devotion which we bring to this endeavor will light our country and all who serve it-and the glow from that fire can truly light the world.

And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you-ask what you can do for your country.

My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.

Finally, whether you are citizens of America or citizens of the world, ask of us the same high standards of strength and sacrifice which we ask of you. With a good conscience our only sure reward, with history the final judge of our deeds, let us go forth to lead the land we love, asking His blessing and His help, but knowing that here on earth God's work must truly be our own.

Or this:

"The dogmas of the quiet past, are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise -- with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country."

A call to arms or a demand for vigilance does not mention strange intestinal rumplings.

As citizens we rally about a leader who knows how to lead, who has a plan or process that will deal with unknown problems and can communicate those plans to us. Bush has proved he himself cannot lead. He cannot win without cheating:

“Even if he loses, his friends say, he doesn’t lose. He’ll just change the score, or change the rules, or make his opponent play until he can beat him.”

So when Chertoff says feebly that he has a gut feeling and for us to keep on shopping, we wonder what they know and why they aren't telling us. Are they actually asking for terrorists to strike?

The Bush administration and Cheney himself might think that another terrorist attack might shut up Bush haters and rally the nation, but at this point, an attack would just point out Bush's incompetence.

Update: Wait a minute. Al-Qaeda hasn't gained strength says Bush and Chertoff. Just enough to make you afraid, not enough to indicate failure....

Update: Mapaghimagsik has the fitting cartoon.