GBREY'S BADASSS BLOG

One brothas view of the world's news, sports and culture. Stay informed, stay involved, stay badasss!!!

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

The State of Obama’s First Term at Halftime

Two years ago I was just getting off of a plane from New York in the wee hours of the morning. I was exhausted, physically and emotionally after having spent the past week saying goodbye to my Grandmother for the last time, and helping my mom sort through Grandma's stuff, pack up her home and invite people to come say their goodbyes as well. I got home to L.A. exhausted, but determined to get back up and out to witness a day that I wished that my Grandmother had lived to see. A Black man was being inaugurated on this day to be President of the United States!

    If not for the circumstances surrounding my early January, I might have found my way to be one of the frozen hordes in DC to "see it" live. I instead had to hunt for L.A.'s version of the next best thing the newly finished L.A. Live courtyard, with a huge big screen and thousands of other excited Americans that couldn't settle for seeing this moment in history by themselves. We cheered every glimpse of the soon to be President and his family, really cheered when George Bush exited the scene, and left the scene as excited and energized as any crowd that left that spot celebrating another Lakers championship (without the car burning). It was a moment full of pride, togetherness and of course, hope. It was also a moment of crisis for the country. We weren't sure that we would get through this near financial collapse, and we weren't sure that our new President (or any President) could guide us through it.

    In the two years since that day, we've gone from deep economic crisis to deep economic trouble, from being loathed in much of the world to being loathed in much less of the world. We've brought a lot of troops home from Iraq, while sending lots more troops to Afghanistan, and we've gone from being largely united by hope and pride in America's latest social accomplishment to divided, even within our usual factions, and within our halls of government.

    The last two years saw something else as well…accomplishment. A long list of legislative triumphs that have made very real the "Change" that was promised. Starting with the Stimulus, which pulled the economy out of crisis, if not yet to a position of strength. Contraction of the economy has become sustained growth and catastrophic job losses have become slow but consistent job gains. The Stimulus was also, if separated out, three of the most Progressive pieces of legislation to come in decades: Infrastructure investment not seen since the days of Eisenhower, education funding on levels not seen since President Johnson and Clean Energy investment not seen, well, ever.

    But that was just the Stimulus. Beyond that Obama has re-established America's standing in the rest of the world so that less of it hates us. After getting flack for not getting it done right off the bat he got Congress to repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." Women finally got equal pay protection under the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. Add The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act and a Justice Department that actually pursues Civil Rights violations to the list of this Administration's accomplishments. The centerpiece of Obama's successes however, lies in the work done to shore up a Middle Class that has been under assault for the last three decades (yes, even under Clinton).

    Wall Street and Credit Card Reform, the New GI Bill, Student Loan Reform and unprecedented funding for Historically Black Colleges, Middle Class Tax Cuts; they're all meant to give the "Little Guy" a break and start to close the gap between "Have's" and "Have Not's" that has steadily widened to truly obscene levels over the last decade. The central accomplishment in this area was of course Healthcare Reform.

Young people can take that entry level job doing what they actually want to do instead of going straight to Wall Street because they can stay on their parent's insurance. Their parents can explore what's beyond their cubicle without being enslaved to their jobs by the idea of losing their insurance. You know that, if you have insurance, you actually have it when you get sick too. Now, not having that extra money to get a check-up isn't an excuse because check-up's, and most preventative care, is completely free. Healthcare Reform is a major piece of economic legislation, since healthcare is such a huge part of our economy, but it's even bigger piece of social legislation because, imperfect as it is, it establishes the idea that Healthcare is a right and not a privilege. With that established, even more progress can be made in the years to come towards truly Universal Healthcare.

Of course getting all of this done; actually, "making the sausage" is ugly and partisan and can turn people off, especially those that haven't paid attention to politics before and those that aren't too keen on compromise. The Obama that inspired people got lost within the give and take that is necessary to master the "art of the possible" that is governing. Since the realm of the "possible" has shrunken considerably now that the House of Representatives is under Republican control and the Senate is more Republican as well there won't be as much "sausage making" to do these next two years. The President gets to look Presidential and above the Congressional fray. When he does conflict with Congress, the Republicans being in some power makes the contrast between their vision for the country and Obama's that much clearer. He gets to be the "Explainer in Chief" now, defending what he's done and showing why what he wants to do next is better for the country than what the Republicans are trying to do.

President Obama will have a more centrist agenda these next two years, because the circumstances dictate that it is the path to get things done with the Congress that he has. His focus and message will be more inspirational than that though. There will be more "Yes We Can"-like speeches that will remind those first time voters and independents of the guy that they voted for. He'll have a real opportunity to try to unite all Americans behind some common causes that are less partisan than the ones that came before(many Republicans may want to dismantle Social Security and Medicare but not many that are actually elected will ever admit it). That will rehabilitate his image in time for 2012. The things that he actually did in his first two years though, will be what inspires and improves the lives of generations to come…


 


 

Monday, October 18, 2010

10 Random Weekend Thoughts

Barring an "October Surprise" in the next two weeks, I'll put my money on keeping the House and Senate in Democratic hands on Nov. 2nd

I really can't remember how I lived my pre-iPhone life…

Xmas ads already?!?

If the NFL expands its Season to 17-18 games, one of the expanded games needs to be an inter-conference, yearly "Rivalry Game," e.g., SF vs. Oak, NYJ vs. NYG, Wash. Vs. Baltimore etc. (more on this later) …

The belief that, "Jason Campbell couldn't possibly be any worse than JaMarcus Russell is being severely tested…

Is Willow Smith the coolest little kid in a while or what?

Can basketball season start already?!

Democrats often take two minutes to make arguments that can take 10 seconds…

Re: Gift Registries, why are married folks the only ones that get to not get gifts they don't want?

Mad Men blew my mind (again), I'll use at least some of this painfully long hiatus to rewatch Season 4 blissfully…

Friday, October 15, 2010

44 Articles of FAITH

If you believe that it's wrong that the top 20% of our nation's earners control 84% of our nation's wealth; and that doesn't make you a Socialist….

If you believe that 30 million more Americans having access to healthcare is a good thing…

If you believe that equal work should mean equal pay….

If you believe that climate change is real and that we might want to do something about it…

If you believe that the United States of America should not, ever torture people…

If you believe that receiving a Nobel Prize is more impressive than a shoe to the dome…

If you believe that busting Medical Marijuana providers and patients is not a good use of our Federal resources…

If you believe that it might be a tad unfair to say that the President failed to do something when he has two years left to his first term…

If you believe that the Auto Industry Bailout worked after all…

If you believe that America sitting at 18th in World education rankings is unacceptable…

If you believe that the Speaker of the House shouldn't be more tied to lobbyists than anyone else in the chamber (a tough bar to clear)…

If you believe in science, and in government support of scientific exploration

If you believe that having a preexisting condition is not reason enough to lose your healthcare…

If you believe that corporate America shouldn't be given (even more) free rein to buy any election they choose….

If you believe that immigration reform should be handled with common sense and common decency instead of demagoguery and division….

If you believe that the President IS NOT a Kenyan Anti-Colonialist….

If you believe that the President is actually, you know, an American…

If you believe that Historically Black Colleges and Community Colleges should receive a much needed boost from our government…

If you believe that being first in healthcare spending per capita in the world should lead to being better than 37th in the world in healthcare outcomes

If you believe that it's a good idea for young people to be able to stay on their parent's health insurance until they're 26…

If you believe that it's impressive to pass legislation that 8 decades of Presidents and Congresses' couldn't pass (warts and all)…

If you believe that credit card contracts should be written in plain English….

If you believe that Grandma shouldn't have to give back her Social Security

If you believe that Grandpa shouldn't have to give up his Medicare (and you understand that Medicare is "Government Run Healthcare")…

If you believe that having a President that can "brush his shoulders" off is pretty cool…

If you believe that the biggest American investment in infrastructure since the Eisenhower administration was significant…

If you believe that the biggest investment in clean energy in the nation's history was significant…

If you believe that tax cuts are better when we can afford them….

If you believe that tax cuts work better when they go to the poor and the middle class, rather than the uber-rich and the corporations…

If you believe that Muslim-Americans are as American as any other American…

If you believe that Billions in education dollars should go to actual grants and loans, instead of to banks

If you believe that the FTC and FDA are supposed to make sure that advertisers claims are real

If you believe that the worst recession since the Great Depression (which took a decade and a World War to come out of) might take a little bit more than 21 months to recover from…

If you believe that Gay and Lesbian Americans have as much right to fight and die for their country as straight Americans…

If you believe Gay and Lesbian Americans have as much right to be in an unhappy marriage as straight Americans…

If you believe that there's some long overdue infrastructure building to do in your community…

If you believe that opposing ideas that you proposed is kinda nutty…

If you believe that strong regulations to stop huge oil spills and financial crisis' might be a good thing…

If you believe that in a democracy, it's probably a bad idea to hold out for the "perfect" at the expense of achieving the "good"…

If you believe that, in America, a Mosque can be built anywhere that a Church can…

If you believe that Americans should be just as protected from exploding mortgages as they are from exploding toasters…

If you believe that having three women on the Supreme Court at the same time for the first time in American history is moving in the right direction…

If you believe that keeping teachers, police, firefighters and others that serve our communities from being laid off seems like the "proper role of government"…

And if you belief that a list this long means that the argument that there's "no difference" between where we've been and where we are/where we're going holds no water…

Then act on your beliefs, look at the choices in your state, in your district, on your ballot and vote with those that believe more like you believe…

…Then bring a friend that believes in what you believe with you to vote too.

Saturday, July 10, 2010

“Who Cares about Hungry Homeless People, we have a Debt to Bring Down!!!”

"We are now speeding down the road of wasteful spending and debt, and unless we can escape, we will be smashed in inflation." -Herbert Hoover During the Great Depression

The Senate has refused to extend unemployment benefits to the millions and millions of out of work Americans that rely on this safety net to stay afloat. The reason? The Republicans have chosen this moment to take a stand against "runaway spending," not allowing for anymore debt to be taken on in order to stop the growth of the deficit. Unbelievably, this is the issue that the Republicans (and Ben Nelson) chose to take their stand on, demanding the counter-productive step of using the unused portion of the stimulus fund to pay for unemployment benefits. This move is heartless, bad economics and so cynical that it makes my eyes bleed.

The Republicans argue that our growing deficit is a major concern that needs to be addressed, and it needs to be addressed now! Left unaddressed, the deficit could cause a crisis, much like it has in Greece and to a lesser extent, other European nations recently. They lament that the country is making our children and grandchildren pay the tab for what we do now, and that's "unconscionable."

Is it not "unconscionable" for those children and grandchildren to see their parents out of work, with every available job ready to be filled by five out of work Americans? Is it not "unconscionable" that America refuses to go 0.00043% more into debt? Is it not "unconscionable" to put these children and grandchildren's parents and grandparents under the strains of this economy without the meager safety net that is unemployment benefits? If the children and grandchildren of today could give their "grown folks" answer on whether their willing to pay pennies 20 or 30 years from now in order to ease their family's suffering now, I wonder what their answer would be? Maybe we should ask them whether they'd rather pay for hundreds of billions of unfunded tax cuts for the wealthy and unbudgeted wars that ballooned the deficit by much, much more than 0.00043%?

You don't fix the crisis on the horizon by letting the crisis you're facing now get even worse. People aren't spending because they don't have jobs. The only way that they can spend in lieu of jobs is with some help. When they spend that help to get what they need to survive, the stores that they spend at gets more business and may need some help to handle that business, then those people that needed some help may just be able to get the new jobs and keep spending with the income they receive and so on. Cutting off the flow of money, means less gets spent, means the store needs less help, which means someone new gets fired that can't spend anymore, and on and on. The problem gets even worse when the flow being cut off is not just to recipients of unemployment, but also to states that are nearly all in dire straits.

The states, lacking funds to keep them, will have to lay off scores of workers from their payrolls, causing even less money to flow into the economy. How does stalling an economic recovery in its infancy help to solve our debt problem? It doesn't, but continued, or even deepened, misery might help the Republicans win a few more elections. The Republicans argue that they're not against extending unemployment benefits and aid to States; they just want it to be paid for by raiding 14 Billion dollars of the remaining stimulus funds. The stimulus fund that they voted against before touting the jobs it saved in their states and districts. What about this economy makes it seem like stimulus funds aren't needed? Doesn't the fact that unemployment benefit extensions are still desperately needed prove that the economy still needs to be stimulated?

The deficit is a serious, long term problem, that needs to be addressed in a serious, long term way. Instead of worrying about 0.00043 % at the expense of citizens that are truly suffering during this most difficult time, we should make policy that seriously drives down the debt over the long haul. That means dealing with Medicare and Social Security in a meaningful way. That means looking at the defense budget and our unending wars, and yes it means tackling health care reform in a way that brings down the deficit long term (oh wait, that was done, without Republicans). Keep our citizens afloat, invest in our county's infrastructure and create America's new manufacturing opportunities (it cost money to make money) so that we're more of a producer nation with things to export to the world, than a consumer nation that needs ever more credit to consume. That's how we can work our way out of this debt. Letting our people, and our economy fall deeper into a hole, is not. Beyond that, it's just not right, and I think our children and grandchildren will agree when they (and the Congress) grow up…

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Throw Your (Lakers) Flag Up!!!

Its mid-May, more years than not in the last decade that's meant the return of an L.A. tradition; Lakers flags on cars celebrating the current Lakers playoff run. The car flag was widely used at the beginning of the decade by fans of many contending teams along the way, but no place used it as widely (and some would say obnoxiously) as Lakers fans have. We're a car town, and we're a town full of exhibitionist, what do you expect from us? We're also a town full of folks that have early childhood memories of Magic, Kareem, Riley and the rest of the "Showtime" Lakers dominating the 80's, so when the Lakers returned to greatness in 2000, we got in touch with our 80's selves by throwing a little piece of our childhoods on the cars that we were starting to get; you know the post-"first cars" that you wouldn't mind being spotted in anymore?

So we Lakers fans have our flags, the question is, when do we throw them up? During those mediocre years in the middle of the decade when Kobe was surrounded by guys named "Smush" and "Kwame" you had to get the flags up early and celebrate the playoff appearance, because an appearance was all that those teams were likely to make. But during the Shaq-Kobe era, and now as the Kobe-Pau era unfolds, the timing is much trickier.

Throw it up too early, and you have a flag on your car for nearly 3 months if all goes well. Premature flag-raising seems to be just a little bit anxious for a fan base that's been to this rodeo (or is that Ro-day-o?) before. Let the JV teams (Clippers anyone?) get excited about April playoff basketball.

Waiting too long to get the flag up makes you seem like another fair-weather fan hitching a ride on the bandwagon, causing your actual real-deal Lakers love to be questioned. It's a tricky balancing act, but one I navigate nearly every year with these principles…

-Throw it up when your boys are in trouble: When the Lake Show's in dire straits is when our fandom must shine the brightest. In a playoff series "in trouble" is when…

    -A) The Lakers have homecourt and they get behind at all in the series. If the Lakers would have lost Game 5 to Oklahoma City in the first round to go down 3 games to 2, my flag would have been up from Game 6 on.

    -B) The Lakers do not have homecourt and get behind by 2 games in the series and/or loses at home without the series lead. If the Lakers had opened the series against the Jazz on the road and lost Game 1, I wouldn't put the flag up. If they had lost Games 1 and 2?! I'm going to the rear window of my Accent immediately!

    -C) Facing elimination. The boys are down 3-2, or we're at Game 7? Time to wave the flag!

-If the playoffs don't bring any of the above bumps in the road (like this year), the Western Conference Finals seems like the right time. Waiting until the finals feels a little bandwagon-ish, but I don't just throw it up once the WCF begin. I wait until they….

    -A) Have lost a game at any point in the series. The other team showing that they can win at all makes the series competitive enough to warrant the flag being raised.

    -B) Are on the verge of eliminating their adversary. The flag is being raised to let the next opponent know (this year the Celtics, can't wait to see us get revenge on their punk-ass…let me get back on topic) that we're coming for them.

Needless to say that my flag is going up after tonight's game, and hopefully isn't coming down until a week after a parade down Figueroa!!!

Sunday, March 28, 2010

A Big Fucking Deal!

The profit motive has not been removed from America's Healthcare system. We haven't instituted single-payer, or even a Public Option to compete with insurance companies, which would have tempered that profit motive in the marketplace. Not only are Insurance Companies still in place, able to continue to chase profit, but they've been given 10's of millions of new customers to reward them for their opposition. Even though the insurance companies' "loss" was the kind of "loss" that any of us would take, this is a big fucking deal. It's a big fucking deal because there are some new rules of the road for insurance companies in exchange for all that new business. I'm sure you know the drill by now; no yearly or lifetime caps, no pre-existing conditions, free preventative care and no dropping coverage when you get sick etc. But the fact that this year plus healthcare debate culminated with President Obama signing a Healthcare bill into a Health Care law is a big fucking deal for so many more reasons.

This was a big fucking deal because President Obama achieved success where so many others have failed. Both Roosevelt's, Truman, Kennedy, Johnson, Clinton, even Nixon attempted to deal with Health Care in a way that made it a right and not a privilege. Barack Obama, through all of the missteps, compromises, false starts and changing deadlines, eventually accomplished what the others could only attempt. This accomplishment will be cemented into the legacy of the Obama Administration, with 2 ½, and probably 6 ½ more years (yeah I said it…) to add to a mighty strong headliner.

This was a big fucking deal because Democrats showed spine to pass a law that had become politically unpopular. They didn't let losing the Massachusetts Senate seat turn their 60-40 "supermajority" into a 59-41 "minority." They rolled up their sleeves, cleaned up their act and went to work thru the Republican howls about process, tyranny and unconstitutionality. They didn't scapegoat their differing factions, and continued confidently forward. They will be rewarded for this. While it's unlikely that they can hold off a loss of Congressional seats this mid-term election, mid-term election history and the fact that Dems won some districts and states that they had no business winning in '06 and '08 makes some loss likely, they should hold off the landslide the Republicans giddily predicted just a few weeks ago. The 2012 "bounceback" will be stronger as well, with a Base fired up by a significant, if flawed, accomplishment to look to for inspiration.

Now, the Republican Base was fired up by the Healthcare debate as well; the anger and fear that they operated off must be given credit for stoking doubts amongst Americans about the intentions and consequences of the Bill. I wonder though, which Base would be more persuasive knocking on an undecided's door, one that defends what's been done and explain what their candidates want to do to fix the mess largely caused by the other side's control, or the one that doesn't know exactly why they hate "Obamacare," besides it leading us to SocialistNaziIslamoFacistTyrranny?

This was a big fucking deal because passing Healthcare reform, even in this very moderate form, was a realization of a goal born from Liberalism. It won, eventually, because the government "doing something" was better than the government "doing nothing "or "doing very little," which was as close as the GOP came to a real counter-proposal on Healthcare. Ronald Reagan, whom Obama described as a president that "changed the trajectory of America," was able to make the conservative belief that "government is the problem" the common wisdom in the political debate. With this Healthcare debate won, and if more of these "do something vs. do nothing" debates are won by the "do something" crowd, the narrative that government can come up with solutions might begin to take hold as the common wisdom, changing America's trajectory away from the course that Reagan laid out.

This was a big fucking deal because we took an imperfect, but clear and sure step forward towards declaring that Healthcare is a right and not a "product". The end of this debate coming to this conclusion is a new starting point for dealing with the issue of Healthcare in America; the debates been redefined; the first of many that can, and I believe will be, by the Obama Presidency…

Saturday, March 06, 2010

Oscar Predictions Pt. 3- Best Picture

Didn't get the ball rolling on these blogs early enough to dig into all of the categories that I wanted to. So I'll just give my writing picks:

Adapted-Precious (Predicted winner Up in the Air)

Original- Inglorious Basterds (I think it's gonna win too…)


 

Best Picture

The field for the Best Picture Oscar was expanded to 10 from 5 this year, to give more films exposure, and to open things up for more "big" films. I don't think Avatar needed the help this year, and I'm mixed on whether the expansion was a good thing…

Why the field shouldn't have expanded:

The Blind Side- I saw ten minutes of this, and will not watch more…

A Serious Man- I was amused, the acting was good, interesting story structure, but one of the best movies of the year? Nah…

An Education- This was a very good movie with some very good (and one great) performances, but I didn't think that there was enough "there" there to put the movie in the class of the following flicks…


 

Why the field expanding was a good thing:

Up- I'm not a Pixar fan, but I am an Up fan. The first 15 minutes that tells the life story of one of the protagonisthttp://thescorecardreview.com/review/film-reviews/2009/06/12/up-disney-digital-3d/3910 was brilliant and the most touching scene I've seen all year. What comes after is fun, funny and has something to say. Up is a clearly deserving nominee that may not have made it with only 5 available slots.

District 9- This was my favorite movie of 2009 until the fall movie season came along. It was fresh, original, had a story that was timely and profound and the effects were pretty damn cool. It would not have made my final five though…


 

And the Final Five:

The Hurt Locker- I was all set to make this my predicted winner. My case was strong, high critical praise, a long list of previous awards, the historical factor, and the "Blockbuster Backlash" that Avatar might get . The fact that Avatar doesn't have a writing nomination looked like a strike against it too. But then I realized that Titanic didn't have a writing nomination either and it cleaned up. This would be the lowest grossing Best Picture winner ever if it won; if it couldn't really find an audience in the market, I don't think that it will find enough of an audience, even in the Academy, to overtake the biggest movie ever. I would fall into the "uncaptured audience" category; the movie was well acted, written and directed, had tension and something to say, but it just didn't resonate deep down with me. It's probably no better than 6th on my list of these nominees, and I think more people agree with me than we realize…

Up in the Air- It was refreshing to see a movie that was really just about how we relate to each other, and what we expect from each other. How often those expectations aren't met, by your job or the people that you want more (or less) from than they want from you gets explored with skill by all involved. This movie is Oscar worthy, I just liked a couple of nominees even more…

Inglorious Basterds-It took the second viewing of this one before I realized how great this movie was. There were all of the Tarantino flourishes, the dialogue, the insane violence, the extreme scenarios. It was a WW II movie for our times, with Americans cast as the righteous "terrorist," illustrating that there may just be such a thing. I've already talked about Christopher Waltz, and about Tarantino's directing; add to that Tarantino's script that created this whole three ring circus, and kept things straight enough to make it all work as a cohesive story. Still, it didn't make the impact on me that the two films I put above it made on me…

Precious- Man, it felt like some seriously hard work getting through this movie, and I'm not so sure that I want to go thru seeing this movie again, but it was a great film. I was drained by the end because I was so drawn in by an emotionally immersive experience. The situations that Precious lived through were so unreal, but were delivered by such authentic performances that what was going on on the other side of the screen from me felt real. Precious felt like a real person that you wanted to help but couldn't because of the barrier between you and the reality on the other side of the screen. It was unbelievable to be totally depressed and uplifted by the same movie, but I was by Precious, my favorite movie of last year, until I was immersed by another movie going experience, this time even more fully (and more enjoyably)…

Avatar- (predicted/my winner) My favorite movie of the year, and the best movie of the year. There were better scripts out there, and the story wasn't the height of originality, but like a fresh new singer that breathes brand new life into an old jazz standard, Cameron takes this age old story into a whole new world. The literal new world is Pandora, but the new world for us is a 3D experience that is not focused on the "gotcha" moments of stuff shooting out at you, but is instead used to bring you all the way into the picture and into the film's world. It's used to advance the narrative, making the world of the Na'vi more vibrant, alive and layered than the life that the humans occupy, and it makes the flying scenes that much more thrilling and breathtaking. The technology that is even more important though, is what was used to create CGI performances of the Na'vi. These CGI characters, were so much more expressive, and "realistic" than the CGI performers that came before that it became easier to become invested in the characters emotionally. I "cared" a whole lot more about what was going on on-screen than I otherwise would have with the more "dead-eyed" CGI of the past. This is a movie that changed how filmmaking will be done from now on, it's a movie that captured the world's imagination, and it was the most pure joy I had watching a movie in a long time (plus it made me fall even deeper in love with Zoe Saldana). Avatar is the Best Picture of the year…