Since I am not a theater person, I am unsure what label I would use to describe the current conflicts underway in our House of Representatives.  Could you call it a drama? A suspense? A comedy? Perhaps a tragedy is more like it!  Just about every American has heard enough to know what a "fiscal cliff" is, or a "Financial Crisis" or what the "Sequestration" amounts to, but are Americans paying attention to the fact that economists from across the board, conservative and liberal, as well as the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office ("CBO") all agree that sequestration and the mandatory cuts it will bring will produce not only devastating cuts to social programs, but also to defense and infrastructure spending, and that its cumulative effects will severely damage our slowly recovering economy? 
        Do folks understand that Right Wing mouthpieces such as Rush Limbaugh and Charles Krauthammer have called upon the GOP Leadership to let the economy "go to hell" because that would put their party in a stronger position to deal with a then weakened President Obama?  Really?  Sadly, yes!  Some Republicans (not all), but some believe we need to "throw the baby out with the bath water" (and we all are the baby) in order to gain political strength over a recently reelected president!  To hell with America, this is all about political power.  And this leads me to the tried and true, worn out label, "Political Theater."  But it could not get any more obscene could it?  It could not possibly get much worse, right?  Oh, yes it can and we are already heading down that path! 
      Case in point.   Incredibly, the House of Representatives passed a Bill this week (along Party lines) calling for President Obama to provide "Specifics when the federal budget will be balanced and his policies for achieving balance" (source; AP).  Now please think about what this GOP Bill suggests.  It proposes that the President, not Congress, outline details in all budget proposals about deficit reduction until the budget is balanced.  I know most folks would not think deep enough about this Bill to understand why such action is incredible, so allow me to explain.
      According to Article I, Section 7 of the United States Constitution, "All bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives; but the Senate may propose or concur with Amendments as on other Bills."  According to precedent as interpreted by the Supreme Court under its Article III authority, this means that only the HOUSE can initiate budget matters, and the Senate may then propose only amendments or agree to the House proposals.  Nowhere in the Constitution does it provide the President with the responsibility to legislate budget matters, nowhere!  In fact, some time ago, Congress attempted to give President Clinton the authority to do just that, propose budget items and then allow the Congress to approve or disapprove of the president's proposals.  Such efforts were struck down by the Supreme Court as a violation of Separation of Powers and Congress may not abdicate its Article I authority (see Clinton v. City of New York, 1998).  So what's up with this latest move by Congress to shirk its fiscal responsibilities?
       Clearly, the GOP led Congress understands that sequestration is going to be very bad for the American Economy, and hence, all Americans.  As part of their recent narratives, efforts are underway to paint the entire budget problem into the White House's corner.  By doing so, they are following the lead of the Limbaugh and Krauthammer crowd.  But Americans should be made aware of this cynical political power play!  Nothing good can come from this game, including the false notion Americans will blame Obama for the economic perils of sequestration, leaving the GOP empowered.  Americans are waking up to the realities of our current political discourse.  No matter how damaged the Republicans are, they need to recognize that most of it has been self-inflicted, and another round of shenanigans that leads to economic calamity will surely fall proportionately  on their shoulders.  They will not be empowered as a result, but quite weakened instead.  Political Theater?  You bet, and I am willing to predict this current drama/comedy has a strong chance of becoming a real tragedy!

         In a classic move, the Florida State Legislature recently proposed having all those hired as public employees be automatically enrolled in a 401K type of retirement program. On the surface, the proposal seems very reasonable.  But scratch that surface and what do you find?  A sinister effort by the GOP led Legislature to cut off all future contributions and kill the existing Florida Public Employees Retirement System.         
          Like other States, Florida's pension system has found itself in a financial bind due to underfunding. According to the GOP Legislators, the underfunding was caused by having expensive benefits, forced upon them by public employees through their unions' use of Collective Bargaining.  And now they are moving f0rward to ruin the existing pension system for good!  Last year, Florida Governor Rick Scott (R) convinced the legislature to impose a 3% "contribution" on public employees for those expensive benefits! After public employees unions filed suit claiming the State unlawfully altered their collective bargaining agreements, the Florida Supreme Court ruled the State indeed had the authority to require the employees contribute to the system.  So, roughly $1Billion has been taken out of public employees' paychecks.  But did those "contribution" actually go to the Pension System?  Nope!  The GOP legislature and its Governor, spent over $1Billion in employee "contributions" on General Fund appropriations!  In other words, Florida's public employees are the only Florida residents paying a 3% tax on their income (Florida has no formal income tax)!  And the pension's benefits remain underfunded.
          Now, the legislature is proposing that all new public employees pay into a 401K plan and not into the existing retirement system; hence they will not receive defined benefits from the existing system. So when current employees reach retirement, the system will be distributing benefits while its reserves steadily decline.  As a result, all retirees will be required to accept further reductions in benefits that will ultimately lead to a complete loss of benefits when the funds go dry.  All because a system that was once healthy, was robbed of proper funding by a GOP legislature, while claiming unions stole the public's money for undeserving public employees.  Now they ensure the system goes bankrupt because they ideologically do not believe in public pensions, let alone any negotiated by unions through Collective Bargaining! Killing two birds with one stone...unions and public pensions. 
         So score a point for the GOP in Florida, but public employees are the losers, and when they lose, all of Florida loses.  Of all of the reasons teachers enter the field of education, money is not one of them.  Benefits made lower salaries acceptable.  Without benefits, schools will attract exactly the best they can afford, and you get what you pay for.  And to the career teachers in Florida, suckers!  Remember,  you get the legislature and a Governor that you vote for!

         There has been a lot of talk lately about the need for the Republican Party to "reinvent" itself, "redefine" itself and "re-brand" itself, but none of these "needs" will actually help the current GOP.  Why? I'll tell you!
         Part of the Republicans' problems started shortly after Ronald Reagan was elected president.  Followers of Reagan in the GOP, like Ralph Reed, Tom DeLay, Grover Norquist, Karl Rove, Newt Gingerich, Rush Limbaugh and others worked tirelessly to push an agenda that included the total annihilation of the Democratic Party.  While Reagan was professing the ills of the Federal Government and the need to pare it down under the guise of his "New Federalism" platform, his followers began pursuing a path to dominate Washington and convince those living on the fringe of the extreme Right Wing that they too have a home in the Republican Party. 
          But there are obvious pitfalls with this strategy, beginning with the fact Reagan expanded the Federal deficit and size of government while president.  Yes, he did.  It was a classic case of "Do as I say, but not as I do."  But we all know modern Republicans refuse to acknowledge that Reagan routinely asked and obtained repeated increases of the debt ceiling and in fact, increased taxes.   Many Republicans still refuse to acknowledge that Reagan engaged in illegal activities that became known as Iran Contra.  They also conveniently forget that 241 American Servicemen were murdered in a terrorist attack in Beirut, Lebanon and that Secretary of Defense Weinberg overruled President Reagan's order to attack their bases in the Bekaa Valley.  But Benghazi is now center stage for Rand Paul (R-KY) and the GOP to embarrass President Obama and former Secretary of State Clinton (with the ulterior motive of damaging her run for the White House in 2016).  Selective Memory is not a quality to be shared!  This and John McCain (R-AZ) badgering Chuck Hagel  further hurts them.
          Perhaps the largest pitfall for the Republicans is the fact that their chickens have come home to roost!  By pandering to the "Lunatic Fringe" on the Far Right, the GOP has invited wing nuts to not only become part of their devoted base, but to participate in their political leadership.  We all now know how that has worked out for them! Through the use of their ideologically supporting media, the Republicans have convinced those wing nuts that government is the evil purveyor of waste and socialism and that it must be cut to be small enough "to drown in a bathtub" (see Norquist).  So why is it a surprise that these very same folks now give the GOP serious heartache?  Why are they so shocked that those elected from the Far Right Lunatic Fringe proceed with a desire to destroy the government instead of leading it?  Which leads one to ask, is the current GOP effort to "Re-brand" itself an honest effort designed to bring them back to a sane and moderate political position?  Can they convince moderate Americans they care more about America than empowering special interests and supporting wing nut demands on abortion, same sex marriage, access to firearms and/or deficit reduction exclusively through slashing social programs and Entitlements?  After decades of working against unions, working Americans including women, Ammericans aligned to or sympathetic to LGBT and  immigrants, it will be virtually impossible for them to reinvent themselves?  After all, as they continue to block reasonable immigration reform, regulations on Wall Street and Financial Institutions, attacks on entitlements plus others, how much progress do they really expect to make with Moderates from such  "efforts?"
         Our Democratic-Republic requires two relatively strong and competing political parties, but the current GOP is cracking under the weight of its own internal coalitions that include whack jobs hell-bent on misinterpreting the Constitution, denying science and destroying the Federal government.  The bottom line for the GOP is the fact that they have created an anti-government monster fed on a steady diet of false patriotism and talking point filled narratives.  Until GOP leaders wake up and change their course, its efforts to reinvent themselves will fail, proving you can fool some of the people some of the time, but not all of the people all of the time.  Until they get it right, it's going to be virtually impossible to "put the paste back into the tube." 
        

      Now that at least five (5) Republican Senators have announced they will vote to confirm former GOP Senator Chuck Hagel as President Obama's Secretary of Defense, the confirmation is all but assured because the nomination should now have the 60 vote Super-Majority (Cloture) to overcome any threat of a GOP Filibuster (also known as the "Nuclear Option.").  So what were the early fireworks all about when some Senators grilled (and mugged) before the cameras in an effort to make Hagel uncomfortable with questions about his past statements relating to Iraq and the influence of the "Jewish Lobby" (for which he has repeatedly apologized for)?   Nothing but pure political theater!
           Unfortunately, everything we see coming out of Congress on both sides of the aisle has become political theater, and as a Nation, we have suffered.  Instead of identifying what really is needed to pull our economy out of the rut created before 2009, instead of rebuilding the Nation's infrastructure which is sorely needed, instead of solidifying the opportunities commonly associated with the "American Dream", instead of doing virtually anything that is just, ethical and plain smart, our Congressional leaders have instead been engaged in a childish game of 'tag" while looking forward to ensuring and promoting the other party is "it!"  Now that the Congressional Budget Office ("CBO") has declared our economy is in serious danger if government spending is radically reduced (as it will under sequestration and/or GOP deficit plans), we need to demand our Congressional leaders stop acting like children and start acting like responsible adults vested with the power to fix our economy, our society and our rights to privacy under the Constitution.  As we begin to seriously  question the use of drones to spy and/or kill American citizens, we need to define procedures that include our Courts so that no one in our own government should have the unrestricted authority to turn machines against us, or allow precedents to be set that might lead to nations engaging in future wars more reminiscent of H.G. Wells' "War of the Worlds!"
       It's time we demand both parties (especially the Republican Party) get to work, especially if that means stopping inane political posturing and  opposition to common sense moves that help America grow and prosper! Isn't it time that Americans begin reminding those engaging in Political Theater that the Fat Lady is about to sing in 2014!?

       Had a busy day and a night with Robyn Davis and Joe Newman on The Robyn Report on www.1490wwpr.com.  I will be back "at it" tomorrow night.  Be well.

     As an employed educator that has written a commercially successful book, I took particular notice of a Washington Post article reporting that the State of Maryland's Prince George's County Board of Education has proposed that all work created by school employees and/or students be deemed the exclusive property of the school system.  Now I have to admit,  as a corporate contract attorney I have written many an employee contract that included provisions for ownership of intellectual property, but those contracts included a sharing of patents and/or copyrights and only for inventions or writings that were created as a requirement of their employment. 
        But why is this proposal so revolutionary?  Because one of the first things you learn as an educator is to "borrow" preexisting teaching materials, lessons and strategies.  Regardless, no one but the original creator holds any ownership rights in the original material unless their creators are employed by textbook manufacturers.    Although I have voluntarily created lesson plans that have been published for free use by others, I have a problem with anyone thinking they might deserve a share of the royalties collected from the sale of my recent book.  So, it got me to thinking.  Does my school board think I took time while on the job to write the book?  Did I write the book while on school property?  Did I use any resources or school equipment when researching or typing the manuscript?  As an attorney, I ensured before writing the book that I would never do everything that would ever give my employer a chance of claiming rights in my creation.  I wrote the book entirely at home, on my personal laptop (like I am right now), used my Internet for research and did so during school breaks (Spring and Summer) after school and off school grounds.  I did all of this so I could honestly tell my employers how long it took to write the book and that no one other than my wife  deserved or earned  royalties (I pledged them all to her prior to publication).
        As reported in the article, "Board Chair Verjeana M. Jacobs said the proposal was designed to make it clear who owns teacher-developed curriculum created while using apps on iPads that are school property."  My response to that?  Refuse to create anything for school on school property and time.  Copyright anything you might use, put it into use prior to coming to school and hire an attorney to protect your intellectual property.  Until schools start paying employees fairly, forget about it.  As long as the Second Amendment is being used by gun owners as a justification not to relinquish their property(firearms), they can take my copyrights "when you pry it from my cold, dead hands."

       "A picture is worth a thousand words" is a time-worn and usually accurate statement.  But a picture recently published by the White House has stirred an incredible amount of reaction, from nods of approval to ridiculous photoshopping by those that cannot fathom anything being aligned to the truth when it comes to President Obama. 
Despite President Obama's efforts to extend reasonable restrictions on access to firearms, and despite Marco Rubio's public statements that the President "secretly" hates the Second Amendment, the President has actually fired a gun.  In fact. perhaps has often engaged in skeet shooting!
        Now I don't know why this has become a big deal for some, but Obama has consistently proclaimed that Americans can keep their shotguns, hunting rifles and pistols for self-defense and defense of property, but those on the Right, supported by the National Rifle Association ("NRA"), can't seem to stop slamming the man for "wanting to take our guns away from us!"   Not long ago, a reporter snidely asked the President if he had ever fired a gun and the response was "yes."  Shocked by the response, gun advocates began demanding proof of Obama's gun use seemingly more than they have demanded to see his college transcripts and birth certificate.  "Obama is lying, as usual" was the typical response from the Right Wing Media.  Think I am making this up?  If you ever bothered to look on Facebook, you would see multiple photoshopped memes denouncing Obama and making fun of  his assertion of gun use - and it got much worse once the White House released a photo taken back in November of Obama in fact skeet shooting at Camp David.  The official response from the Right Wing Media?  Not good enough...we demand more proof!
      Now I am no gun expert, but I have fired pistols and AR-14's and I can tell you that the photo of the President exhibits a fundamental knowledge on how to use a firearm.  Obama, wearing eye and ear protection, has the rifle aligned properly on his shoulder, his "guide" arm firmly steadying the barrel at his target.  I challenge any critic of Obama's to tell me the President is not firing the rifle properly.  So what gives?  Could it be the President has indeed engaged in skeet shooting at Camp David and therefore, has a working knowledge of firearms and firearm safety?  Could it be that he enjoys using a rifle for sport and his approval of firearms for sport is genuine?  Could it be?
      Could all of this nonsense really fall at the feet of the NRA and their disingenuous effort to claim Second Amendment protection while really seeking to maximize profits for their benefactors...the firearm manufacturers?  Of course it is!  For a good review of the NRA's claim of "Constitutional Freedoms" as cover for their manufacturing members, check out "The NRA vs. America, the Powers Behind The Merchants of Death" by Tom Dickinson in this month's issue of Rolling Stone.  It says it all!
       So pictures are worth a thousand words.  Unfortunately, they do not include the plain and obvious words needed to gun crazed, shoot from the hip Obama haters..."You're Off Target!"

      Have you heard the most recent statements from Fox News' Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh?  A bad economy or a slow down might "weaken Obama" so the Republicans should maintain all efforts to ensure the economy suffers.   Didn't Obama defeat the GOP candidate by 4 million popular and over 126 Electoral votes?  Didn't Obama just receive public approval as high as 60%  in the January 30, 2013 ABC News and Wall Street Journal Polls?  So what in the World are the GOP's mouthpieces at Fox saying?  They think the GOP is making "headway" by causing economic disruptions (that hurt America) just so they can claim Obama is failing?  How clueless do these folks think the rest of us are? 
       Once again, the GOP and their ideologically supporting for-profit media continue to promote disingenuous and faux arguments in a cynical effort to employ a scorch and burn strategy to marginalize President Obama.  Keep digging GOP leadership. you are almost deep enough to be buried as a national party forever.  Where there is smoke, there is fire.  Scorch and burn? Americans know that in this case, where there is smoke, there is GOP arson.