Month: February 2011

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Barack Obama Health Care Politics Repeal Republican United States

Poll Finds Half Of Americans Believe Health Care Was Repealed

In a nation of newspapers, radios, televised media and even the internet including the google, information is still not reaching the masses. Or, maybe the masses don’t want to accept the information that they’re getting. In either case, a new  Kaiser Health poll found that only half of Americans know that Health Care was not repealed.

According to the poll, 48% of Americans either believed the law was repealed or did not know enough about the law to say whether it was still in effect. Just 52% of Americans correctly know that the law is still in effect.

Congressional Republicans can therefore exhale. If half of Americans think the bill has already been repealed, then what’s the fuss? John Boehner should just let this segment of society – probably ardent FOX viewers –  continue believing that Republicans have done what they promised.

The rest of us – the other half who know the repeal bill will never reach the President’s desk and if it does, it will be vetoed – we will play along, wink wink!

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Democratic Illinois Indiana Politics Republican Wisconsin

Democrats Win One. Controversial Union Language in Bill Dropped

No, I’m not talking about the language against unions in Wisconsin, I’m talking about the language against unions in Indiana. After the Republican majority in Indiana tried to pass the same anti-union bill being debated in Wisconsin, Indiana Democrats fled the state to avoid the vote. Well, it will appear that their antics worked, because according to reporting from The Wall Street Journal, House Republicans in Indiana have decided to dropped the language in the bill that would have reduced the amount of union members in the state. The Wall Street Jorunal Reports;

The speaker of Indiana’s House of Representatives said he and Republican colleagues are dropping a controversial labor bill that caused Democratic representatives to flee to Illinois, but the Democrats said they’re not returning to Indiana for now. Republican House Speaker Brian Bosma said the so-called right-to-work legislation is dead and will not be reintroduced during this session of the Indiana House. Democrats felt so strongly about that bill that they went to Urbana, Ill., Tuesday so that Republicans couldn’t achieve a quorum to vote on the bill.

But then again.  This could very well be a ploy by House Republicans to get the Democratic congress back in an effort to trick them into voting for the bill. Read the Wall Street Report Here

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democrats Dick Cheney Politics Republican Ronald Reagan United States

Reducing The Deficit Is Not In A Republican’s D.N.A

Republicans have fooled Americans into thinking they’re all for cutting the deficit. And if you listen to them long enough and fail to do the most minimal of research, you will tend to believe the lies. But here’s a little breakdown from Robert J. Elisberg that shows how concerned Republicans were when the deficit exploded… under Republican Presidents.

During the administrations of Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, the national debt increased a combined 35.6%. It was the largest debt increase in U.S. history. Mr. Reagan alone tripled the national debt from $997 billion to $2.85 trillion.

Yet Republicans didn’t complain, didn’t rise up in anger, didn’t revolt. In fact, what Republicans did do was lionize Ronald Reagan as a patron saint, the near-God of conservatives.

Under George W. Bush, the national debt increased by a combined 27.1%. The U.S. budget went from a $128 billion surplus to a $482 billion deficit. The national debt doubled from $5.7 trillion to $10.7 trillion.

And there was no outcry by Republicans. Republicans didn’t complain, didn’t rise up in anger, didn’t revolt. Even when Vice President Dick Cheney was quoted, “Reagan proved deficits don’t matter.” Republicans didn’t complain.

In Bill Clinton’s administration, the national debt decreased. It went down by a combined 9.7%. Further — he balanced the U.S. budget.

And yet Mr. Clinton didn’t become a hero to conservatives, even the vaunted fiscal ones. The mere mention of his name still today causes body twitches.

Consider, too, that in every full administration since Nixon-Ford in 1973 up through George W. Bush in 2008 — EVERY national debt increase in America has occurred during a Republican administration. And EVERY reduction of national debt has occurred during a Democratic administration.

To this day, Republicans — that party of supposed “fiscal responsibility” — slam the Jimmy Carter presidency for incompetence. Yet the national debt went down 3.3% during the Carter administration.

Yea, there are those who refuses to do the google, and see for themselves. These are the unfortunate souls who still put their belief in the promises of the Republican party that they will “reduce the deficit.” But history is more than a subject taught in school, it also teaches us that those who fail to understand their history, tend to repeat it.

Read the rest of the article here

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Politics Wisconsin Wisconsin Union Bashing

Wisconsin’s Governor To Be Investigated For Violating State Law

Seems dismantling the unions of Wisconsin is not the only thing giving Governor Scott Walker a headache these days. CREW – Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a non-partisan watchdog group – has ordered an investigation of  Mr. Walker’s use of state troopers to visit the home of Democratic Senate Leader, Mitt Miller.

According to CREW;

Today, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), a  non-partisan government watchdog group, asked the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board to investigate whether Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker violated state law by sending the Wisconsin State Patrol (WSP) to the home of Democratic Senate Leader Matt Miller. CREW also submitted open records requests to the Office of the Governor, Office of the Senate Majority Leader and the WSP seeking records regarding the use of the troopers.

“Governor Walker has many tools at his disposal to fight the state’s public employees, but using troopers to track down a political opponent crosses the line,” said CREW Executive Director Melanie Sloan. Sloan continued, “The governor’s conduct is especially egregious in light of a Wisconsin law specifically barring troopers from taking part in any dispute between an employer and employee over wages, hours, labor, or working conditions — the subject of the governor’s bill.”

I guess paying attention to existing laws to protect American citizens is not Scott Walker’s strong point. Trying to dismantle them seems to be what he’s more concerned about.

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Politics Supreme Court of the United States United States

Judge Rules Health Care Is Constitutional, News Media Gone Fishing

So the theory is true — that proponents for health care reform will get little to no media press coverage as compared to those opposed to it. A  few weeks ago when a Republican judge ruled the entire Health Care Reform was unconstitutional and should be thrown out,  because of one aspect  called the individual mandate, the media went crazy! They were all over the story like white on rice. But yesterday, when the third judge – U.S. District Court Judge Gladys Kessler – ruled in favor of the Obama administration and agreed that the bill is constitutional, we heard crickets!

And I am not the only one saying this. Here’s what Jed Lewison said about the unfair coverage;

coverage of Judge Roger Vinson’s decision against reform saturated the media, even though his ruling had no immediate impact on health reform.

The Vinson ruling received A1 coverage in The New York Times and dominated cable news. The Kessler ruling was covered on A14 of the Times and as far as cable news goes, I was only able to find two references to it — both on Fox, and each for less than a minute. (I’m basing this on closed caption text searches, so it’s possible I missed a couple of references, but there was hardly any coverage at all.)

After the Vinson ruling, Steve Benen pointed out the huge disparity in coverage between the two rulings in favor of reform and the two rulings against reform. Even if you were to dismiss the significance of those numbers on the theory that the rulings against reform were bigger news because they happened after the rulings that upheld reform, yesterday’s ruling should be at least as significant as Vinson’s ruling because it means that three judges have now ruled in favor of reform compared with two who have ruled against it.

If you’re keeping score, it’s 3 Democratic judges for the constitutionality of the bill, and 2 Republican judges against.

But have no dispare. There’s sure to be another Republican judge to rule against Health Care Reform, and then we will once again hear all manner of analysis and theories and punditry, references and cross-references, and interpretation, and evaluations, and breakdowns, and…..

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Featured Indiana Indiana Attorney General Wisconsin Union Bashing

Stupid Attorney General Fired For Stupid Dumb Tweet

Regardless of your political leanings, no one should ever advocate the killing of American citizens exercising their right to peaceful assembly and free speech. But that is exactly what an Indiana Deputy Attorney General suggested as a way to clear the masses protesting in Wisconsin against Governor Scott Walker’s attempt to silence the unions in his state.

“Use live ammunition” was the tweet of Attorney General Jeff Cox, who also said that the demonstrators were “political enemies” and “thugs!” Well, just hours after the news of this tweeting fool broke, appropriate action was taken in Indiana, and Mr. Cox is now on the unemployment line. According to reports from IndyStar;

Earlier today, the attorney general’s office said it was investigating whether Cox had sent the tweet and said it was a serious matter.

This afternoon, the office issued a statement saying Cox was no longer employed there. The office said it had conducted “a thorough and expeditious review” after it learned of the Mother Jones article.

“Civility and courtesy toward all members of the public are very important to the Indiana Attorney General’s office. We respect individual’s First Amendment right to express their personal views on private online forums, but as public servants we are held by the public to a higher standard, and we should strive for civility,” the office said in a statement.

Read the full report here

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Featured Indiana Republican twitter Wisconsin Wisconsin Union Bashing

Republican Attorney General Advises Use of Deadly Force on Wisconsin Protesters

Classic that it should come down to this. Like all dictators who can’t control the opposing masses, an attorney general in Indiana is advising that Republican Wisconsin governor Scott Walker to use deadly force against his  citizens. His exact words, “use live ammunition.”

Mother Jones reports:

On Saturday night, when Mother Jones staffers tweeted a report that riot police might soon sweep demonstrators out of the Wisconsin capitol building—something that didn’t end up happening—one Twitter user sent out a chilling public response: “Use live ammunition.”

From my own Twitter account, I confronted the user, JCCentCom. He tweeted back that the demonstrators were “political enemies” and “thugs” who were “physically threatening legally elected officials.” In response to such behavior, he said, “You’re damned right I advocate deadly force.” He later called me a “typical leftist,” adding, “liberals hate police.”

Only later did we realize that JCCentCom was a deputy attorney general for the state of Indiana.

The freedom of speech and assembly granted in the constitution means absolutely nothing to these Republicans. But advocating use of deadly force against United States citizens is another low no one would have ever expected. But then again, we are talking about elected officials who have  put corporations above human lives.

Read the Mother Jones report here.

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hypocrite Michelle Obama Republican Rush Limbaugh Sarah Palin United States

Michelle Obama Eat Ribs – The Republican’s World Stops Rotating

Media hound Rush Limbaugh knows how to grab the attention of the audience, and it is so obvious that when he say stupid idiotic things on his radio show and the media dive on his nonsense, it makes him feel good – makes him feel like he’s accomplished something meaningful, like he’s made some significant contribution to humanity. In short, giving Rush Limbaugh and his kind the time of day is allowing him to continue his attention grabbing permanent delirium. This week, in his effort to grab the spotlight again, macho-man Rush Limbaugh is picking on the First Lady, Michelle Obama.

The issue?

Like all First Ladies, Michelle Obama choose to show the American people – parents in particular – the dangers of childhood obesity and the benefits of eating healthier. She has never urged, demanded, advocated or required that anyone give up their eating ways and “eat tree barks” to become healthy. What she is doing is providing valuable information to the public and allowing the American people to decide for themselves – like they always have – what foods are best for them and their families.

For this reason, Michelle Obama has come under constant attack from people in the Republican party, namely, Sarah Palin and now Rush Limbaugh. Evidently, providing Americans with information is now against the law and these Republican pundits and commentators will go out of their way to show Americans how dangerous having this information is.

All Eyes On Michelle

She ate ribs on a recent ski trip with some friends and the world stop turning!!!

Well, at least the Republican’s world stop turning. The sudden jolt from their stopped world caused all kinds of  mayhem and the protectors of the Republicans were sent out to investigate. Seeing the First Lady eating this stake caused Rush to flip his lid. “She is a hypocrite,” he said, then the tirade began…;

“I’m sure you’re aware that nutritionist-at-large Michelle Obama is urging, demanding, advocating, requiring what everybody can and can’t eat. She is demanding that everybody basically eat cardboard and tofu. No calories, no fat, no nothing — gotta stop obesity. Except as in the case of all leftists, that’s true for you, but not for them.”

Their ears perked up. The people of the Republican world stood at attention. Their leader was talking. Rush continued;

“Michelle My Belle, minus the husband, took the kids out to Vail on a ski vacation, and they were spotted eating and they were feasting on ribs, ribs that were 1,575 calories per serving with 141 grams of fat per serving. Now I’m sure some of you members of the new castrati: “This is typical of what you do Mr. Limbaugh, you take an isolated, once in a lifetime experience, and try to say that she’s a hypocrite.” She is a hypocrite. Leaders are supposed to be leaders. If we’re supposed to go out and eat nothing — if we’re supposed to eat roots, and berries and tree bark and so show us how. And if it’s supposed to make us fit, if it’s supposed to make us healthier, show us how.”

“The problem is — and dare I say this — it doesn’t look like Michelle Obama follows her own nutritionary, dietary advice. And then we hear that she’s out eating ribs at 1,500 calories a serving with 141 grams of fat per serving, yeah it does — what do you mean, what do I mean?”

Of course, Limbaugh – who is himself massively overweight – has every right to talk about obesity. So he continued suggesting that Michelle’s not following her own advise, and is therefore overweight;

“Haven’t seen any evidence here if that advice is being followed that it works, that’s all. It’s just, look it folks, leaders lead. They can sit up there, they demand we do this and demand we do this and demand we do that, but show us. Poor kids are living in food deserts, parents are unemployed, kids got no place to go other than the mall, hang around for scraps at the Orange Julius place, maybe get some papaya juice out there, and then they hear about Michelle My Belle and the kids 1,500 calories per rib serving — 141 grams of fat, I’m just saying. Mom and dad unemployed, kids in the food court hoping for some drips of papaya juice and there they are eating ribs, skiing in Vail.”

Information is a cancer to the Republican world. If the people of that world gets information, then it will be harder for their leaders to control them. So anyone providing knowledge to the inhabitants must be despised, considered as enemies and must be prosecuted.

As all dictators know – you controlled the masses by controlling the message. Always suppress knowledge and information… Always!

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Benghazi Egypt Videos

Raw Video – Protester Shot Dead in Libya

With all the ongoing civil unrest, scenes like this are being played out all across the world. People are tired of being denied the basic human rights many take for granted.

Following the uprising in Egypt, Libya is just one of several nations rising up against their dictator-style government. In this video, we see just how far some will go to gain their freedom, and how far some will go to keep their citizens in fear.

Disclaimer: There is no way to independently verify that the contents of this video is from the protests in Libya because media are not allowed to broadcast the uprising, but the title of the youtube video is Libya – 17 Feb 2011, Demonstrator Shot And Killed, 17/02/2011

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Glenn Beck Republican United States Wisconsin

Glenn Beck – “It’s Time For Everyone To Pay Their Fair Share.”

Glenn Beck says everyone should “pay their fair share” – that is, those pesky middle class Americans. If you’re a millionaire who gets tons of tax cuts and tax loopholes from the Government, then Beck thinks you’re not getting enough.

The call to pay up came when Glenn Beck put his two cents in regarding the story in Wisconsin, where the Republican governor is trying to silence the unions by taking away their bargaining abilities. Governor Scott Walker suggests the reason for trying to implement these rules – which includes a requirement that public workers pay half the costs of their pen­sions and  at least 12.6 per­cent of their health care cov­er­age – is for budgetary reasons.

“You know who should be angry are not the unions [sic], the parents,” Beck laments, when talking about the teachers who left the classrooms in Wisconsin for 2 days to join the protesting.

How dare you! How dare you do this and take time off from the class rooms. Have you seen your test scores?

…. this has not gotten better as they promised under Jimmy Carter when we got the Department of Education and all they did was organize labor, organize the money, suck us dry and tell us exactly how politically correct we have to be. Its not working. And I’m sorry, it’s time for everyone to pay their fair share. To pay for some of what they receive.

Words spoken by a millionaire who, as recently as December 2010, criticized the government for wanting to allow the tax rates on himself and other millionaires and billionaires to go back to what they were under Bill Clinton – a massive increase of 3%.

Teachers, union members and other middle class Americans have been paying our fair share and some of yours too Glenn Beck, when are you going to join us and do the same?

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Republican Sarah Palin Sarah Palin United States

Sarah Palin – The Real Welfare Queen

Sarah Palin and the Republicans believe that Government is too big, and should be drastically reduced. And you will be crucified by them and called all manner of names like “welfare queen” if you collect any form of subsidy for any reason from the Government. But if you’re a Corporation or a Republican like Sarah Palin, collecting these government subsidies is not only okay, it’s expected.

When she was still a half-term governor in Alaska back in 2008, Palin created policies that would give subsidies to any film company spending over $100,000.00 in Alaska, and according to Anchorage Daily, this subsidy would give Sarah Palin and the producers of “Sarah Palin’s Alaska,” – the TLC show featuring Palin – $1.2 million in subsidies. That’s more than any other reality show in Alaska’s history. According to the report;

Shows such as “Deadliest Catch” and “Ice Road Truckers” have also received credits in the past year, though no reality show spent or received as much as “Sarah Palin’s Alaska,” according to Alaska Film Office figures.

Creating a policy that takes tax-payer’s dollars and puts that money in her own pocket? Seems Sarah Palin is the ultimate Welfare Queen!

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Politics Republican

Boehner Plays Hardball–Government Shutdown Looms Ahead

The Boehner has spoken!

“We are going to cut spending!” And with those words, the House Speaker exited the podium to the left. But in his haste to cut spending, what will happen to the funding of everyday government operations after the March 4th deadline?

The Republican controlled House is determined to cut $100 billion in spending from the new budget, and the Democratic controlled Senate is poised to refuse such “draconian” cuts. Can the two governing bodies come to a compromise before the deadline?

To make matters worse, both the House and the Senate will be off the entire week for President’s day. When they return to work after their much needed vacation – because we know how hard they’ve worked over the last month, a total of 10 days in January – they will have only five days to come to an agreement on the new budget.

Boehner is not budging on his $100 billion cuts he promised the Teaparty, saying;

“We are hopeful that the Senate will take up the House‑passed bill that comes out of here today, tonight, tomorrow morning, whenever it is, and we hope that they will move it. But I am not going to move any kind of short‑term CR at current levels. When we say we’re going to cut spending, read my lips:  We are going to cut spending.”

And what is the Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid saying about this?

“I am disappointed that Speaker Boehner doesn’t believe he has the votes to avoid a government shutdown, unless his members get their way on all of their demands. It is unproductive to resort to threats of a shutdown without any negotiations.”

Meanwhile, the clock ticks on til March 4th.

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