President Obama Should Do More

The President's job performance is proof that he was the better candidate than any of the republicans who sought their party's nomination during the last two Presidential elections.  And at the present time Obama is still better than any republican on the scene that has Presidential aspirations. 

The President's weakness has been his inability and lack of desire to battle the republicans in congress who have been traitors to their own party, the country, the people and what responsibility is all about.  Their vow to not work with the President has been badly answered by Obama and he should have studied how President Truman handled the same problem with the republicans during his term in office. 

Truman was not shy about challenging the republicans.  He called them the do nothing republicans in congress and said they were a bunch of damn liars.  President Obama needs to be more combative with the republicans and point out that 50 plus years after Truman they are still a bunch of liars.  He should be challanging the U.S. House every day to pass his jobs bill they have been sitting on for over a year and return to his 2012 reelection theme.

The President needs to start slapping the faces of the little bullies in the republican party.  One can not negotiate with a bully, it takes strength and a desire to engage them and beat them at their own game.  A bully is a coward who tries to intimidate because he can not compete with truth or facts.  Obama can not be a Trumam but he can learn from Truman's actions to deal with the republicans and their destructive behavior.

This commentary written by John Lucia

Political Journalists Just Do Not Get It

It matters not if journalists are on radio, television or the print media, they have yet to understand why republicans in congress and their Presidential candidates act like they do towards democrats.  This writer has pointed out many times over in commentary here in "politidose" the reasons why.  From A to Z the republican party has failed the country and its people on all the important issues they themselves talk about;  balanced budgets, deficit spending, cutting federal spending, job creation, a lasting economy, keeping America safe, low unemployment, fair taxation and the list goes on and on.  It is the democratic party that has the better record of handling all of those issues. 

When you have no positive record to run on or debate you engage in personal attacks and name calling and vow not to lift a finger to help your country and its people.  You also have to use wedge issues such as abortion, gay marriage, immigration, slurs and a multitude of other non issues and of course out right lies.

A good example was the last Presidential campaign of 2012.  The republicans called President Obama all kinds of names, accused him of being a Muslim and a slew of other non factual statements, lied about his record and failed to address the real issues the people wanted to hear about.  They could not call on former President Bush's name nor his record to articulate what their party stood for because that would remind the people of those 8 terrible years.  Not one person of high standing in the Bush administration even spoke at their convention.  And they were not about to talk of the war in Iraq over WMD that never existed or the tragic results of 911 and their failure to pursue Bin Liden and bring him to justice.

On the other hand, President Obama did address the issues the people were interested in and had no fear of having former President Clinton speak at the convention and along the stump.  President Obama and the democratic party was able to compete and debate the issues.  It is hell when you do not have a positive record to run on and debate and you have to rely on personal attacks and lies.  It becomes worse when you have to practice an ideology that is unAmerican in nature and vow not to help your country and its people.

Yes, democratic administrations do have a better record of dealing with all the major issues and that goes back many, many years.  Republicans do know that and that is why they act like they do.  It is really easy to understand but journalists are more concerned in filling up time with republican talking points and are ignorant of the facts on many issues.  The republican M.O. is understandable to any one with an open mind that follows the facts.

This commentary written by John Lucia

The Tea Party Republicans: Not Ready For Prime Time

This writer pointed out in previous commentary that there was no difference between the Tea Party republicans and the republican party in general except that they were more extreme and preach a more unAmerican conservative ideology.  I believe their actions in congress the last couple of years justify that opinion.  They have failed to initiate and pass any legislation dealing with the economy that has been signed into law. 

They recently joined with other republicans in the House to kill the "Affortable Health Care Act" for the 37th time that will go no where.  That coupled with their desire to see the President and the country fail is their M.O.  On budget matters they can't even walk the talk.  Like Mitch McConnell and John Boehner who were silent while Bush 43 was President and the republicans controlled both houses of congress, they were silent on the sidelines while Bush returned the country to deficit spending and debt. 

Like their party in general, the Tea Party has nothing to offer the country or its people to advance the economic well being of our nation.  They have no record of balancing the federal budget, no record of job creation, no record of debating the issues that face the country which is why they are always in a personal attack mode on their opponets.

And now their latest attempt to destroy the President is to try to create a scandal out of Benghazi, the IRS matter and the NSA revelations.  The Tea Party has no character, courage and lack the civility that is needed for leadership.  They also would like to destroy the government they took an oath to serve.

The nation and its people are Americans first and foremost.  The Tea Party and the republican party represented by the conservative unAmerican ideology of today's leaders have failed the individual and national test of America first.  And that really says it all.


This commentary written by John Lucia

The National Security Agency (NSA) Been There and Done That Before in Intelligence

Understanding the past is still the key to the future.  I have used that theme on several occasions here in "politidose" during commentary in the past few years.  Those who fail to understand  and learn from the past will reap a future that looks like the past.  The NSA picture that is in the news today is a good example and represents the future (present time) and is a repeat of the past.  Let us examine the past.

The NSA is only one arm of the United States's intelligence community and what is being exposed today, but the news story is really not new.  In a book titled "Body of Secrets" written by James Bramford almost 20 years ago detailed NSA's signal capabilities of intercepting phone conversations and etc. and processing such information with a super computer.  The book detailes the many questionable acts NSA was involved with.  It also detailed a little known fact of Israel's involvement in an attack of a U.S. naval ship that killed 34 Americans.  The book exposed many of NSA's secrets.

NSA is also doing now what they did in the past under the Bush administration.  At that time they were even by passing the FISA court.  That was later corrected by actions of Congress.  So the NSA revelation is nothing new, it has its roots in the past.  Elected officials have failed to regulate and use their oversight to correct the mistakes of the past and therefore the future is like the past.  The intelligence community has a past history of violating the law.  That has been documented in the "Church Report" that dates back to the 70's, Watergate, The Kennedy Killing, Iran-Contra and former CIA director Alan Dulles even told the Warren Commission that employees of the CIA would even lie under oath in a court of law.  President Truman who created the CIA was established to gather intelligence so that the President could make sound judgements.  

Truman withheld from the CIA operation authority   and was appalled when he learned that Presidents who followed him gave that out to the intelligence community.  He wrote several articles concerning that.  Our elected officials have learned nothing from the past about oversight and holding the intelligence community responsible for their actions.  Therefore the future that is now being played out in the news media is a repeat of the past.  Until elected officials learn that understanding the past is the key to the future nothing will change, and the future will continue to be like the past.  And that does not only apply to intelligence matters.


This post written by John Lucia

Yes, The Federal Budget Deficit Is Shrinking

The Congressional Budget Office announced recently that the federal budget deficit for fiscal year ending 9/30/13 will be approximately $640 billion.  That is much less than the $900 billion that was projected earlier.  Increased federal revenues and pay back to the U.S. Treasury for the TARP program was responsible for the decline in the projected budget deficit according to the CBO. 

Once again it is a democratic administration who's policies are working that is bringing back some sanity to the government's fiscal house that the Bush administration and the republican controlled congress destroyed during their control.  Today's republicans in the U.S. House and Senate hate to see a democratic administration doing well and continue to block the Presidents call to do more to keep the economy going strong.

The republicans unAmerican ideology of cutting federal spending to balance the federal budget is a two part fairy tale.  The very first fairy tale is that no republican President has cut year to year federal spending in over 50 years even when they had the opportunity to do so.  The second republican fairy tale of cutting taxes for corporate America and the wealthy to create jobs just does not happen. 

The most important action congress can do to move the economy forward and create more jobs there by keeping the economy moving is to pass the President's job program that the U.S. House has been sitting on for well over a year.  That would not only reduce the unemployment numbers dramatically, it would also increase federal revenue with more people employed and would also reduce the federal deficit more and move towards a balanced budget.  The republicans know that and that is why they are sitting on their cans. The President needs to start kicking those cans.


This commentary written by John Lucia.

Enforcing State Regulations

In a Times Picayune story of May 8 according to Louisiana state legislative auditor about $1.1 million in federal food stamps money was given to and spent by those who were not eligible for the program.  The federal program is managed by Louisiana's Department of Children and Family Services. (DCFS)  The DCFS also determines who is eligible and distributes the food cards that are loaded each month. 

The auditor also found signs of other potential fraud that should be investigated that amounted to $2 million last year.  Secretary Susie Sonnier of DCFS said her agency is reviewing all the cases cited in the auditor's report.  Once again we have a problem of not regulating a program properly that cost the tax payers money, only this time it is the state of Louisiana that has failed to regulate and manage the regulations it set up itself. 

The federal government catches a lot of flack for their failure to regulate in many areas but we hear very little about states who fail to administer and regulate programs that they themselves are responsible for.  The DCFS is only one example.  Enforcing regulations on a City, State and Federal level should be SOP not because government is involved but because it is an orderly process for the checks and balances needed for a society that has so many special interests and because taxpayers money is always involved. 

The federal government is not the only government that has to get its house in order and enforce regulations that are for the common good.  If one listens to state governors, you would think states do no wrong.  Now that is really a fairy tail.


This commentary written by John Lucia

Democratic Administrations: Best At Keeping America Safe At Home And Abroad

As of this writing President's Clinton and Obama have kept America and our people safer from terror attacks both at home and abroad in the past 33 years while the country and its people suffered the worst terrorists attacks on the watch of President's Reagan and Bush 43. 

Reagan came to office talking tough telling the terrorists you can run but you can't hide.  He then sent our Marines to Beirut as peace keepers to bail out Israel who was catching flack on their war against Lebanon and terrorists blew up the Marines compound killing 241 Marines.  That was and still is the worst foreign terror attack against American personnel abroad.  Those terrorists have never been brought to justice according to the latest report.

Bush 43 came to office talking tough also and terrorists inflicted the worst attack on U.S. soil Sept. 11, 2001 killing over 2000 Americans.  The master mind was Osama Bin Laden.  A few years later Bush said he did not know where Bin Laden was hiding and really did not give it much thought.  President Obama upon taking office made his number one priority to bring Bin Laden to justice and he did just that.  The Obama administration also had the wisdom to bury Bin Laden at sea there fore depriving the terrorists of a shrine to spread their propaganda.

Bush's invasion of Iraq did not make America or its people safer from WMD because Iraq had none.  But both N. Korea and Iran were developing WMD at the time so Bush said.  In fact in his State of the Union address he called those three countries an "Axil of evil".  The Iraq war created Al Queda in Iraq who had no standing in Iraq prior to the war.  They were responsible for killing many of the 4400 plus Americans in Iraq, something they could not do prior to the war.

It really chaps republicans that Clinton and Obama has kept our country safe and is one reason they are trying to make an issue out of Benghazi.  They want really bad to see something happen on the President's watch.  The republican party today is really a sorry party with no substance and they are getting worse because of the tea party within their ranks.  If it were up to some republicans we would have put American troops in Iran, Lybia and Syria.  You know, the so called tough talk from the so called hawks.  The big problem is many of them have never worn the uniform of their country but love to send other people's children off to war.  That really says it all.


This commentary written by John Lucia

Fannie Mae And Freddie Mac Are Paying Back The U.S. Treasury

Conservatives in particular and Republicans in general once again are eating crow and find themselves clueless and ignorant.  Ditto for conservative journalists, especially those at Fox News.  They all predicted Fannie and Freddie would never repay their debt to Uncle Sam for the loans that kept them afloat and operating.  They all said the federal government was not good at doing this and that the money would never be paid back.

The latest reports by the Associated Press in a Time Picayune article dated May 10 reports that Fannie Mae earned $58.7 billion for the January -  March quarter and would pay $59.4 billion in dividends to the U.S. Treasury next month.  That will bring their total payment to $95 billion so far to Uncle Sam out of the $116 billion loaned to them.  Freddie Mac will pay $7 billion in dividends next month to the U.S. Treasury. 

I wrote a past commentary here in politidose early on the subject matter and pointed out that contrary to what the conservatives were saying, Uncle Sam did indeed have a record in recapturing the money loaned to failed companies and or foreign countries. The U.S. bailed out Chrysler many years ago and Mexico not too many years ago and was paid back all the money loaned plus interest. 

Yes, there is a precedent to judge what works and what does not work.  And yes the federal government does perform well when a democrat is in the White House.  The problem for conservatives is their ideology has produced failure for just about everything they touch.  Understanding the past is still the key to the future.  Democrats are more in tuned with the future. 


Written by John Lucia

April's Job Creation and Unemployment Rate: The Economy Continues To Improve

The Labor Department announced that the economy added 165,000 jobs in April, more than the pundits predicted and unemployment fell again to 7.5%, down from 7.6% the month before.  The numbers show that the Obama administration's policies are working despite the do nothing Republicans in Congress and their unAmerican attitude toward the country and the people.

Republican administrations can not compete with Democratic administrations on the economy, job creation, balancing the federal budget or having reasonable increases in federal spending so they do not want to see Obama succeed.  The U.S. House has been sitting on the President's job's bill for over a year with out any action.  The U.S. Senate passed that bill and it is fully paid for.  If the U.S. House would have passed that bill the nation would be at or near full employment by the end of the year.  John Boehner and his republican ditto heads know that, so the bill has been ignored.  They can not stand to see any Presidential success by a democratic administration.

The President needs to do what ever his Presidential powers allow him to do on his own and not yield one inch to the phony republicans.  They do not represent the people or the mood of the country and are a pitiful bunch.  Once again it is a democratic administration leading the nations economic recovery, and once again it was a republican administration under George W. Bush that left office and gave the country and its people the second great republican depression.  Conservatives have no policies, they only have an ideology that is unAmerican and unworkable. 

President Obama's policies are working, the economy and job creation are moving forward.  The housing industry is busy and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are paying the U.S. Treasury back the money they were loaned and making a healthy profit.  As this writer has pointed out in the past many times over, democratic administrations do out perform republican administrations for the benefit of the country and its people. 

Yes, precedent does matter, that is why it is predictable.


Written by John Lucia

WHAT IF !!! Two Words That Can Change America For The Common Good

There are those who read this commentary and say it never will happen, how naive can you be?  That is because the people have been fed that bill of goods for many, many years and use it as an excuse to retain the status quo.  The Kennedy-Johnson administration and the congress eliminated the 27-1/2% depletion allowance for the oil industry that amounted to corporate welfare.  They did so with the help of congress because they had the courage to change a tax benefit to that industry that was not needed.

So, WHAT IF members of congress would find a back bone and the courage to telll corporate America they will not accept any campaign contributions from them or any one else and develop some innovative way to finance their campaigns with out that money which influence their votes. 

WHAT IF, congress would tell all lobbying firms no more special access to any office of congress.  They would have to abide by the same rules congress uses to see the every day voter.  Many congressmen on their web site will not answser any email message left on their site by the average voter if their zip code is out of the district.  But they offer access to any lobbyist outside the state they represent.

WHAT IF, congress tell all PAC's to keep their money.  It is not needed to understand the issues that face the American people and the country.

WHAT IF, congress would tell the NRA to stick their money in their ear.  (thats ;putting it mildly) And tell the NRA they will not be writing any more legislation concerning guns.  Congress is capable of doing that on their own.

WHAT IF, members of congress had the courage and leadership to say no more to any special interest group or individual.

WHAT IF, congress would free itself from all special interest, do their homework on legislation that comes before its body and make decisions on the merit of such legislation without any special influence to worry about.

No, WHAT IF is not vaive, on the contrary, it is naive to think that congress does not have the free will to change and find the courage and character to do so.  The beauty part of this kind of change is that no court in America can force an elected official to take campaign contributions and this kind of reform would cost the government nothing.

WHAT IF, is reality overcoming the buying of America by the wealthy.  The wealthy will never give up trying to buy America through their money influence as long as elected officials continue to participate in the selling of America.  But wealth would have no teeth if congress said no thanks.

WHAT IF, two words that could change America for the common good if members of congress would stand up, be counted and have the courage and character to do so.


This post written by John Lucia