56 online
 
Most Popular Choices
Share on Facebook 29 Printer Friendly Page More Sharing
OpEdNews Op Eds    H2'ed 7/29/11

Add Lousy Credit to A Litany of Other Right-Wing Induced Lousy USA Ratings

By       (Page 1 of 1 pages)   39 comments
Follow Me on Twitter     Message Rob Kall
Become a Fan
  (295 fans)
It's already too late. The disgusting dance that Boehner and his mental midget teapartiers have been doing, playing politics with the USA's reputation has already affected the perceptions of the US by the rest of the planet. 
They see a congress that is gridlocked by crazy extremists-- not my words, though I'm okay echoing them. 
They see a US that savagely allows over 50 million of its citizens to suffer without health insurance, with a healthcare system that is not even ranked among the top 20 nations. 
They see a US that educates its children so incompetently or irresponsibly that students are not ranked among the top 20 nations. 
They see a US that, though it led in getting the internet going, now fails to rank among the top 20 nations for broad-band access and availability. 
They see a US that sees an average life-span that is not among the top 20 nations. 
So it is no surprise to them to see that the fundamentalists who have partnered with corporatists and sociopathic billionaires, like the Koch brothers to trash the USA's standing in ranking after ranking of international measures have intentionally, due to malignant ideological idiocy, trashed the USA's credit rating. 
Even if there's a last minute rescue, some damage has already been done. Joseph Nye has written about soft power-- the good will that a nation earns. The USA's soft power has been a valuable asset. The teaparty is to soft power what leprosy is to facial attractiveness-- tragically devastating. 
Obama deserves part of the blame. It's clear, he's had a strategy here, but it's been a weak, ineffective one. Yeah, sure, he's telling people to tweet their legislators. Sorry. he has the bully pulpit and his message left out jobs, left out a strong fight for the middle class. It wasn't enough to be against private jets for CEOs. He needs to get on the train that is leaving, bringing the fight for the middle class to the front lines. He needs to draw a line in the sand and start going after, big-time, every billionaire in America. Each one should have their own IRS investigator. Every one. Just knowing that there's someone tracking them will make them be more honest. 
But the bottom line is, the tea party has proven that it controls the Republican party and between them, they don't give a flying fig about the vast majority of Americans. 
Finally, there's that balanced budget amendment in the Republican- tea-party budget bill. There's no other way to characterize it but bat-sh*t crazy-- totally devoid of reality. 
These radical extremists are not conservatives. They are dangerous threats to the future of America. It is tragic that the mainstream media allows them to be talking about compromise, when the Democrats have given up on taxes, on revenues. No. It is worse than tragic. It is offensively obscene that the networks allow liars like Boehner, and all the tea party sociopathic corporate lap-dogs to argue that the Democrats are not compromising.  
I just came from a conference on Positive psych ology, where there were scores of presentations on happiness, love, compassion, kindness-- but here, I think we need to think more about disease-- about an acute necrotizing, aggressive infectious, malignancy that has done severe damage to every American. 
You know what you do with such diseases. You excise them. 
flickr image  from BookMama
As I write, Boehner is speaking now, suggesting that the bill he's sending to the senate is an honest and sincere effort. Talk about the big, humungous lie. Boehner is two heartbeats from being president. After this debacle, Eric Cantor, a more malodorous, more sociopathic tea-partier will probably take his place. The USA needs all the prayers it can get. 
Must Read 4   Well Said 3   Supported 3  
Rate It | View Ratings

Rob Kall Social Media Pages: Facebook Page       Twitter page url on login Profile not filled in       Linkedin page url on login Profile not filled in       Instagram page url on login Profile not filled in

Rob Kall is an award winning journalist, inventor, software architect, connector and visionary. His work and his writing have been featured in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, CNN, ABC, the HuffingtonPost, Success, Discover and other media.

Check out his platform at RobKall.com

He is the author of The Bottom-up Revolution; Mastering the Emerging World of Connectivity

He's given talks and workshops to Fortune 500 execs and national medical and psychological organizations, and pioneered first-of-their-kind conferences in Positive Psychology, Brain Science and Story. He hosts some of the world's smartest, most interesting and powerful people on his Bottom Up Radio Show, and founded and publishes one of the top Google- ranked progressive news and opinion sites, OpEdNews.com

more detailed bio:

Rob Kall has spent his adult life as an awakener and empowerer-- first in the field of biofeedback, inventing products, developing software and a music recording label, MuPsych, within the company he founded in 1978-- Futurehealth, and founding, organizing and running 3 conferences: Winter Brain, on Neurofeedback and consciousness, Optimal Functioning and Positive Psychology (a pioneer in the field of Positive Psychology, first presenting workshops on it in 1985) and Storycon Summit Meeting on the Art Science and Application of Story-- each the first of their kind. Then, when he found the process of raising people's consciousness and empowering them to take more control of their lives one person at a time was too slow, he founded Opednews.com-- which has been the top search result on Google for the terms liberal news and progressive opinion for several years. Rob began his Bottom-up Radio show, broadcast on WNJC 1360 AM to Metro Philly, also available on iTunes, covering the transition of our culture, business and world from predominantly Top-down (hierarchical, centralized, authoritarian, patriarchal, big) to bottom-up (egalitarian, local, interdependent, grassroots, archetypal feminine and small.) Recent long-term projects include a book, Bottom-up-- The Connection Revolution, (more...)
 

Go To Commenting
The views expressed herein are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this website or its editors.
Follow Me on Twitter     Writers Guidelines

 
Contact AuthorContact Author Contact EditorContact Editor Author PageView Authors' Articles
Support OpEdNews

OpEdNews depends upon can't survive without your help.

If you value this article and the work of OpEdNews, please either Donate or Purchase a premium membership.

STAY IN THE KNOW
If you've enjoyed this, sign up for our daily or weekly newsletter to get lots of great progressive content.
Daily Weekly     OpEd News Newsletter
Name
Email
   (Opens new browser window)
 

Most Popular Articles by this Author:     (View All Most Popular Articles by this Author)

A Conspiracy Conspiracy Theory

Debunking Hillary's Specious Winning the Popular Vote Claim

Terrifying Video: "I Don't Need a Warrant, Ma'am, Under Federal Law"

Ray McGovern Discusses Brutal Arrest at Secretary Clinton's Internet Freedom Speech

Hillary's Disingenuous Claim That She's Won 2.5 Million More Votes is Bogus. Here's why

Cindy Sheehan Bugged in Denver

To View Comments or Join the Conversation:

Tell A Friend