No Defense Necessary...

A List of Presidential    Accomplishments

I can't see why Democrats are running from the Congress and Presidential accomplishments of the last eighteen months.  Perhaps if we look at those accomplishments, we can see exactly how effective the Obama legislative agenda has been.

Consider the conditions under which President Obama took office.  The banks and mortgage companies were failing underneath a pile of bad debt and even worse business decisions.  The automotive industry was going under for the last time. Wall Street had devised such complicated investment instruments that even the brokers who traded and sold these instruments had no clear understanding of their worth.  We were heavily involved in two wars, one of which upon we never should have embarked.  The President promised change and a new direction, he delivered. Just consider the following (partial) list of political accomplishments:

• TARP - This program was created by the outgoing Bush administration and supported by Republicans. It was (largely) managed by the Obama administration.  And, to date, the banks and AIG have paid back most of the money loaned to them. There may even be a profit for the taxpayers in the near future.
• Automotive Bailout - This program was proposed by the Bush administration and enacted by the (mainly) democratic congress allied with the Obama administration.  This initiative directly saved 100s of thousands of jobs for the big three automakers plus indirectly saved millions of jobs for at the auto industry suppliers.  As a result of this program, only 18 months after its inception, GM has paid back the American public and Chrysler is on its way to a payback.  More importantly, the restructuring of both GM and Chrysler under the guidance of the Obama administration has seen both companies thriving in the highly competitive international auto market space.
• Iraq War - Troop levels in Iraq have been drawn down to 1/3 of 2009 levels and the US mission in-country has been recast to concentrate on: Iraq troop training; providing logistics and support for the Iraq army; combating anti-terrorism operations.

• The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act – During Q1/2009, the Obama and the democratic congress crafter this (Stimulus) plan to save and/or create 3.5 million jobs.  As of October 1, 2010, the Congressional Office of Management and Budget reported that the Stimulus plan is close to meeting this objective by saving and/or creating 3.2 million jobs.     
• Health Care – The (mainly) democratic party members of congress and the President worked ceaselessly, all through 2009, to deliver healthcare reform legislation to the American public.  The final bill wasn’t perfect, but it did close down the most blatant abuses practiced by the health insurance industry.  The reform legislation also set in place national pricing evaluation rules that will bring healthcare costs under control in the future.

The same bill enabled parents to keep their children on their health insurance policy until the age of twenty six.  It also forced insurance companies to cover pre-existing conditions, lifted the ceiling for lifetime expense for an illness and provided incentives for small businesses to provide health coverage for their employees.  The legislation also moved to gradually decrease the “donut hole” in prescription coverage for seniors.

·        Wall Street Reform -- This legislation provided existing regulatory agencies with a set of laws that will foster a much healthier and more effective regulatory environment for Wall Street’s investment banking community.

·        Consumer Protection Legislation – As part of the Wall Street Reform act, congress created an independent consumer protection agency.  This agency will ensure that the design of financial products don’t threaten the well being of the consumers they are sold to.  This covers consumer loans (personal, mortgage, etc.), credit cards, bank accounts, etc.

·        Student Loan Reform – Congress passed legislation that revamped the system for distributing and managing student loans and Pell grants.  Prior to this legislation, these services were handled by banks making huge profits for not much effort on their part.  This legislative action will free up more than $60 billion over the next 10 years to be folded back into more student loans and Pell grants.

·        As part of managing the effects of the BP oil spill, the President negotiated with British Petroleum for a more than $20 billion settlement for the people of the Gulf Coast who lost income and property from the horrendous oil spill.

These and many other achievements benefited the American public despite the Republican Party's opposition and use of the Senate filibuster against each and every piece of proposed legislation.  I wonder what could be accomplished without the Republican threat to halt every piece of Progressive Legislation. 

What are we teaching our children?

Five incidents this week drew my horror and amazement.  I quote the Village Voice - Yes, quadruple horror stories have emerged as a result of homophobic bullying around the country lately, and Lambda Legal Deputy Legal Director Hayley Gorenberg had this anguished reaction to it all:

"Our hearts and sympathies are with the families and loved ones of the four young people who took their lives:

"Seth Walsh, 13 years old, of Tehachapi CA, who hanged himself; Billy Lucas, 15, of Greensburg, Indiana, who also hanged himself;

"Asher Brown, 13, of Houston, who shot himself in the head; and Tyler Clementi, a college freshman in New Jersey who apparently jumped off the George Washington Bridge after classmates allegedly violated his privacy and webcast live images of him in a sexual encounter.

"But sympathy is not enough -- we all have a responsibility to take action and to keep working until all young people are safe and respected, no matter what their sexual orientation or gender identity." 

What have we become as a nation when our children can torment their peers unto death? Where are the so-called "family values" espoused by so many?  Is it a "family value" that encourages children to rage at those who are different so that another child, a son or daughter of another family is driven to suicide to escape their violence.

Asher Brown was only thirteen years old when he hid in a closet and shot himself in the head.  Asher was a gay teen whose parents had repeatedly reported bullying of their child to both the teachers and administrators at his school to no effect.  I watched a news conference in which the parents agreed to appear in their profound grief to warn other parents of both gay and straight teens to take reports of bullying seriously.


Children who bully other children because of race, religion or sexual orientation do not get their ideas of what is right and wrong from anywhere strange.  Children, especially younger teens adopt the prejudices and stereotypes from their parents.  When parents pass on a legacy of hate to their children, they shouldn't be surprised when their children act on that hate.  In these four cases we have more than four victims.  We have the children who were bullied into suicide, their parents and we have the children who did the bullying who must live the rest of their lives with the knowledge that they are responsible for the loss of a young life, essentially co-conspirators in a murder.


The fifth case of bullying that came to light this weeks is from the University of Michigan.  I quote the Washington Post because the story is so unbelievable that it needs to be told from a respected source -

"Soon after University of Michigan students elected their first openly gay student body president this spring, a Michigan assistant attorney general started Chris Armstrong Watch, a blog to monitor the student leader's every move.

Assistant Attorney General Andrew Shirvell, a Michigan alum, accuses Armstrong of being "a dangerous homosexual 'rights' extremist," among other things. Shirvell chronicles Armstrong's dating life, posts video taken outside the student's house, writes about Armstrong's family and follows the student's friends on Facebook. The first blog post features a photo of Armstrong overlaid with a rainbow flag and a swastika, plus the word "resign."

The state official is demanding that the student official resign. Students are demanding that the state official lose his job."

In my mind Mr. Shirvell is the type of person who would encourage his children to gay bash and perhaps cause a murder or suicide.  What gives this man the right to harass a college student who makes decent grades and contributes to his academic environment.  It is to the credit of the student, Chis Armstrong, that he has not crumbled under this harassment.  But should Mr. Shirvell be allowed to continue to torment Mr. Armstrong?  Or is the law going to wait until it becomes too much and there is a fifth tragedy?  I would like to suggest that the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) contact Mr. Armstrong and offer to help him pursue a suit against Mr. Shirvell for stalking and harassment.  A suit such as this, would bring this type of behavior into the spotlight and perhaps stop future incidents of this type of outrage.

My sincere condolences to the parents, friends and families of the dead teens, I can not even begin to imagine your pain.

Don't Ask, Don't Tell

Don't Ask, Don't Tell...

The United States Senate is about to consider repeal of the Don't

Ask, Don't Tell policy on gays in

the military.

The Senate is somewhat behind the power curve. California U.S. Federal District Court Judge, Virgina Phillips, has declared that the ban violates free speech and due process rights.

Some Senators like Senator John McCain, (Republican - Arizona) "Unambiguously maintains tha

t open homosexuality within the military services presents an intolerable risk to morale, cohesion and discipline." (From Earth Times - April 16th Letter from McCain to the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network).

If that is so, the countries of Albania, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada,

Columbia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, United Kingdom, and Uruguay disagree with him. All of the countries listed have successfully integrated homosexual and lesbian citizens into their armed services.

I am disappointed with my government. We used to lead the world in the liberties granted to our citizens. We now straggle along, not only in the area of gay rights, but in healthcare, education and standard of living. The country that used to be first, now places in these critical areas, below the top ten.

When we deny other citizens their rights we live with the potential that someday, someone, somewhere will pick on a minority group in which we hold membership and discriminate against us. They will only need to cite precedent.

It is time for all of us who value human rights to band together and lobby our congressional representatives and senators to immediately grant gay citizens all of the rights and privileges including service in the armed forces and marriage to the person of their choice. If we don't, who is next? Hitler also discriminated against gays.

I look forward to your comments and opinions. Come and visit my website at www.ackatt.com, my book blogs, www.ackattsjournal.blogspot.com and www.ackattsnips.blogspot.com. I also have a facebook page, a Yahoo and Live Journal Blog and videos on YouTube. My latest book is Shattered Glass, a story about gay rock musicians. It is available from Captiva Press at www.captivapress.com.

Pointing the Gun...

The Reverend Terry Jones down in Florida has cocked a loaded gun. Unfortunately, the weapon is pointed directly at the head of members of the United States Military and Foreign Service Personnel serving abroad.

To understand the enormity of the insult of his proposed book burning to adherents of the Islamic faith, one has to understand that to Muslims, the Koran is not only a holy book, but is also viewed as the highest form of the Muslim art of calligraphy.

The western equivalent of this act would be the burning of Leonardo's "Last Supper" along with a incredibly rare copy of the Hebrew Torah and a copy of Guttenberg's original printed bible. This one crazy man's act is the equivalent of declaring war on Islam, not on radical terrorists, but on Islam itself.

Book burning in itself is a hideous act. Books are the means by which this civilization passes the knowledge of our past to future generations. I am reminded of Ray Bradbury Fahrenheit 451. In this classic novel, the government burned all books and to preserve the knowledge, individual memorized books to pass on to future generations.

Exactly what is Terry Jones trying to accomplish? Will burning the Koran make the United States safer from radical Islamists? No, it will actually make it easier for that militant faction to recruit new terrorists by convincing young men that we, in the United States, are looking to eradicate their religion and culture. Will the burning of the Koran make terrorists less likely to attack the United States? No, according to the Pentagon, the State Department and the President of the United States it is an act guaranteed to bring retaliation upon our own vulnerable troops posted throughout the Middle East. Will this bring us better relations in the Arab world? No, it will make relationships with the allies we do have in that area of the world more fragile.

The only persons who benefit from this proposed horrendous act is the Reverend Terry Jones, the head of a small community church with less than fifty congregants and the sly politicians who want to ride his coattails. This mail order minister is looking to make a name for himself by putting his country at risk and making a mockery of the intent of first amendment rights. It is one thing to call fire on a street corner. It is quite another to yell fire in a crowded theater.