Was Diogenes a “honest man” himself or merely a self-promoter with a “shtick”?

There are NO answers in Washington.  The answers are within you and your community.  External circumstances will force the change to take place at the community level first.  Washington will be the last to change.

The ties between private wealth and “public policy” should be painfully and indelibly impressed on the consciousness of every sentient being in these united states.  These folks work in a different world than you and I do,  Seats on the boards of directors, healthy fees for speaking and the knowledge that an office on K Street awaits separates them from us.  They belong to one club and we aren’t members.  The first rule and objective of any organization is the survival of the organization.  They will take care of themselves and each other.

They pick comrades to run departments private or public and a little thing like taxes “shouldn’t get in the way”.  As Ms. Helmsly said, “Only the little people pay taxes.”  Scandal is useful to divert the public attention from real problems.  Scandal mongering is a useful tool in the embarrassment of opponents keeping the debate from substance and focusing on trivia.  Repuglicans frequently use scandal, real or fictional, to disguise their obstructionist policies.  That they have a long track record of scandals and law breaking never stops them from playing the morally outraged.

We need to keep pressure on the administration “for change we can believe in.”  If we do not keep these problems public, demanding solutions, the club will provide more of the same.

There are probably better people for many of the jobs discussed.  I would like to see more progressives.  The fiction that the repuglicans will work cooperatively in a bi-partisan manner for the good of the working class should be abandoned.

“..But then that was based on Obama’s belief that the repubs are capable of working on a bi-partison basis. I suspect as time goes on Obama will come to recognise it just aint so.”

~~~

Louise,

I think he’s ‘come to recognize it’.

He made the point pretty clearly again a couple or so days ago, talking to the democratic caucus. (but of course the repigs got the message).

Still, I hope he comes to recognize that it’s not worth jacking around with repugs on anything. The bi-partisan stuff is a great idea, but not when you’re dealing with the slime left over in the apparatus, who’ve decided that their sole purpose in life is to defeat anything the new admin attempts to do.

Good thing Obama is young and in good shape. He’s gonna have to do all sorts of gymnastics to get around these fuckers, but he’ll manage.

As for me, as long as he’s still signing his name on all of the right stuff with his left hand, I don’t much care what he’s saying out of the right side of his mouth.

If it was up to me, I would have him signing Executive Orders every day for the next 18 months. Here you go President Obama, here’s your EO for today. Just sign it and put it back in my inbox so I can have it duly recorded and acted upon.

Now THAT would be a sweet part time job for a homeless retiree, don’t cha think?

The EO Secretary.

I live in a very high humidity, very hilly area. So when it snows, which is very rarely, the schools close. Not because the snow is deep and drifting, but because the bus’s cant get up the hill, or if they do, slide off the road on the way down. Since we all tend to like our kids, we’re OK with the schools closing.

But I use to live in an area that had a foot or two of snow fall periodically during a typical week, and we got around fine. The difference being when you live in close proximity to several world class ski resorts, the roads stay open. Most of the time.

But when I lived on the East Coast there was more than once when I couldn’t make it to an intersection without sliding across to the other side. About the time I slid through my third intersection was about the time I decided it’s time to go home.

Good tires. Good driver. Use to snow. But when the snow hit the road there, it quickly turned to ice and that stuffs hard to drive on. I suspect the snow in DC behaves in a similar fashion. And I suspect Obama, were he doing his own driving, would soon come to understand that.

Frankly, I never could understand why Obama chose Daschle in the first place. Daschle use to annoy me. He was far to conciliatory. Maybe that’s why, or the fact that he had years of experience working with Congress, and the perception that to get a decent health-care package that’s necessary. But then that was based on Obama’s belief that the repubs are capable of working on a bi-partison basis. I suspect as time goes on Obama will come to recognise it just aint so. The repubs are in the minority, an uncomfortable position for them since they’ve been little more than a majority of demagogues for the past decade or more. Naturally they are driven by only one goal. To blow up the presidents efforts, no matter what. Duh ...

What the president needs is someone who has had the experience of creating a successful health-care system in his own State. And that would be Howard Dean. Maybe I need to write him. The president that is.

As for Geithner, I think his answers actually led to his confirmation. Like when he was asked who prepared his tax return he answered, “I did.” Then he was asked how. “I used Turbo-Tax,” he replied. Which I’m sure led to a quick mental scan in the heads of the panel. After all, if a financial guru can miss a great big item using the software half the folks in the country use, is it fair to say he screwed up?

Maybe a better question might be, should we all check our filings?

•  “Does anyone think that, as secretary of health and human services, he would have recommended a new system that cuts out the private health insurance industry? The insurance companies are the ones that killed Hillary Clinton’s health proposals eight years ago. Where do you think the money goes that makes American health care the most expensive in the world? It’s not going into nurses’ salaries.”

Point well made, and so nope, we don’t think that at all. Obama himself has acknowledged the influence of these insurance industry on this, though I was unaware myself, of Daschle’s ‘expertise’ or deep connections to the industry.

One of the ‘theories’ that has been suggested from various analysis of the “Obama Plan”, is to suggest that it would ultimately force the ‘private sector’ part of the health care industry, (the obscenely FOR PROFIT section that supplies the private wealth) to compete with the government in providing these services for the American population. If the US citizens can purchase their health care from the government, (like the medicare system has set up) then that would be the sensible option, IF it was available to all. Obama says he has that in the works. (I haven’t checked it out recently though, beyond the latest thing he signed a few days ago to expand Children’s Health Care)
So, we know where the money goes to make us the most expensive system in the world, and we know that cost is NOT related to the level/expertise of the care that is AVAILABLE. A cheaper plan (cutting out all of the corporate profit) available from the government would provide the same levels of service, and actually put all of the corporate profit in the pockets of the actual caregivers. (nurses, docs, technicians, training, R&D) and make us the most efficient and comprehensive health care provider on the planet. Viola! There you have it. At least that’s the ideological model.
With this model, (which admittedly depends on a certain amount of attrition) the for profit-system collapses under it’s own bloated weight. Citizens just get a better deal for their money, so why would they pay more, if they could get all of the same from a government sponsored coverage plan? That’s what Prez O has offered, so I guess we’ll have to check on that progress.

Meantime, in Washington, “Public Policy and Private Wealth” have been “Hopelessly Tangled” for DECADES!! I’m pretty sure President Obama ‘gets that’, but he also ‘gets’ the real politick as well. He messed up with Daschle though, simply because of what I believe to be his sincere desire to begin the UN-Tangling that so needs to happen.

Barack Obama said yesterday he will welcome input from anyone anywhere anytime
so long as they’re dedicated to the proposition that fixing the foundering “economy” is the “most important challenge facing theamericanpeople” and their supposed-to-be “leaders.”  Those of us who might only be able to suggest a Way to help mere people make it through the immanent and unavoidable collapse of the damned CONtraption are not going to be any part of Obama/Diogenes’ tunnel-visioned search-image.

Your self-styled Lincoln-redux seems somewhat CONfused, though,  It wasn’t government of-the-economy, by-the-economy, for-the-economy the original ABE was worried might “....perish from the earth.”  Of course, even the ol’ rail-splitter seemed not to’ve known that it isn’t “government,” either, that is the priority.  It is The People.

William Pfaff’s essential point here seems to be that it’s no use looking to those with their half-lives staked on the status quo, if what is needed are “extraordinary” approaches to “dire” CONditions.  For that it’s just plain good sense to seek-out Persons with sufficient breadth and depth of Vision to see an actual Way CLEAR of the already-crashing “catastrophe.”  How likely is it any of the predicament’s presently most-prominent “engineers” populating the “new admisistration” can even imagine such a radical departure from its dictates, given the pride-and-joy they all feel in their own on-going “successful” manipulation of a system that is right now failing everybody else so miserably. 

As someone suggested below, it takes an honest man to know one.  So far Barack Obama shows no real evidence that he can be uncompromisingly honest even with his own “self.”  How otherwise to explain his slavish reliance on the empty rhetoric of business-and-politics-as-usual, and so many of its long-time empty-suited practitioners, to come-up with anything even remotely responsive to the genuine needs of the “ordinaryworkingamericanfamilies” they’re all paying so much superficial lip-service to these days?

No wonder “public opinion” is starting to turn against the “stimulus package” hand-crafted by-the-ruling-elite, for-the-ruling-elite, to be spent mostly to the benefit of-the-ruling-elite….paid-for entirely by generations of wage/debt slaves to-come.  Domesticated people here may be frightened and CONfused, but they “....don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows,” when they’re the ones being hung-out in it to twist aimlessly while their self-appointed “betters” enjoy cocktails at the White House.

Bread-and-Circuses coming right up!

Hokahey!

Unless someone has proof to the contrary there’s no reason to assume Obama’s not honest.

The most powerful slime machine in the history of the world tried to find something on him and couldn’t.

What steps would you recommend to cushion the economic crash?

Repugs have not pushed our country towards socialism, but Communism.
Health insurance Corps control our healthcare. Financial institutions control our economy. Private contractor (mercenaries) manage our Military. Energy Corps regulate our Resources and force US to purchase from their Foreign suppliers. Big Agri business not only controls what is produced but at what rates farmers can be reimbursed.Hell even our education and Penal system is subject to Corp Rule.
The Founders Declared Our Independence from such Entities (no difference between a Family Crest and a Logo- both mere Brick & Mortar).
Teh ‘Free market’ has been Seized away from the Masses (citizens) and handed lock stock and Barrel to these ‘Monarchies’. Proof the citizens are not allowed to access or benefit from the ‘Free market’ model- Corp CEO’s are allowed to sell their ‘Wares’ to the highest bidder, but Labor must survive on what ever these Corps ‘trickle down’ their way. Pure Feudalist Caste System Economics.Repugs and their Bleu lap dogs are not patriots, they are Modern Day Red Coats! They have been waging a covert war against US since our Declaration of Independence- Since their Last King George got his ass kicked.Just about defeated US with their Reincarnate W. These ‘Loyalist’ should be strung up for espionage and Treason.

Miko: The last arguably “Jeffersonian” Democratic president was Grover Cleveland. It’s all been downhill since ...

Capital suggestion, if we don’t like the Obama’s in Washington, “they can go back where they came from.” ASAP. Back to snowy Chicago, to rub elbows with fine, upstanding honest men like Tony Rezko and Rod Blago. Back to the Windy City, home of perhaps the most corrupt Democratic party machine west of Athens. Diogenes would be hard pressed to find an honest politician in Chicago with a floodlight. “They seem harder to find than the” ‘hope’ and ‘change’ candidate Obama falsely promised in order to get elected. Surely no one could have thought he would have “a Cabinet unsullied by business lobbyists and other peddlers of sectarian interests” after he raised close to a billion dollars in campaign money to buy the presidency. “He’s been around Washington long enough to know” just about all the lobbyists - especially AIPAC - and what they’re willing to pay for political favors. “There is a further complication. How do you find” a liberal “in Washington who knows what needs to be known about an issue who is not already financially tied to a solution?”  It’s unlikely fork-tongued Obama could even look an honest man in the eye in the first place, let alone convince his lobbyist patrons to accept one. However, if by quirk, blustery Barack should feel reluctantly compelled to include a token honest man in his mercenary entourage to help keep up appearances, he knows where to find one that even Diogenes could approve. Since “this is a serious matter, jokes aside. Is there anyone prominent in Washington who is not hopelessly entangled with big—really big—corporate money, that links him or her to certain industries or partisan positions?” Why, yes, as a mtter of fact, there is. The great unifier Obama could appoint Ralph Nader to implement a universal, single-payer health plan. Nader hasn’t collected too many fees consulting to private corporations. And he wouldn’t deliberately kill off such proposals to please the insurance companies the way Hillary Clinton did sixteen years ago (1993). Or better still, if taxes are a problem for Geithner, Nader could oversee the bailout program, he never overlooked 30 grand - and certainy wouldn’t “overlook” a couple of trillion is misdirected public funds. Sure there are honest men in Washington (and elsewhere). Not too many of them, of course are Democrats or Republicans, for obvious reasons, but if corporate Uncle Tom, Obama was even half as serious about finding an honest man as he is about slavisly serving his corporate masters, he could find a few without the aid of a lantern - or a lobbyist.

“He suggested to reporters that Washingtonians get a grip on themselves and find a way to cope with such “crises” (grammatic enhancement mine). Since then, the snippy Washington comment has been that Washington snow is different(LOL); and that if the Obamas don’t like it in Washington, they can go back to where they came from.”

You’re kidding, right?  They didn’t REALLY say “Washington snow is different”, did they….? 

I’ll have to use that one…. sorry, nope I won’t be out and about today…...are you nuts!  Can’t you see that’s “WASHINGTON D.C. SNOW” out there!  (Trust me, this type of temptation I find difficult to resist)  Sure it’s less than an inch, but you never can tell with that “WASHINGTON D.C. SNOW”.... don’t let the fact that it barely covers the sidewalk fool ya’ (the heart surgery I have scheduled for 8:00a will just have to WAIT!).  It can be a treacherous abomination, that INCH OF SNOW.  Kids, get your bicycle helmets, we’re going to check the mail.  I remember back in 44’ we musta got an inch and a half….

And these folks are part of the matrix that is world power?  We’re in trouble folks…..big time.  I second Obama’s “suggestion” and I’ll up it one, GET A GRIP.  Furthermore, that’s not a suggestion.

Re: Jackpine, you’re a yooper (transplanted, it sounded like)....  What do you make of that “Washington D.C. SNOW”?

Does anyone hear the mountain men turning in their graves?