Month: March 2011

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Democratic democrats Politics Republican United States White House Wisconsin

When Money Talks…

So is this really the example that Republican Party leaders want to leave for posterity–the New Politics 101?  The idea that future politicians can and will sell their souls to the highest Corporate bidders? And that once in office, they’ll no longer have to concern themselves with their constituents who had seemingly gone through a finely honed democratic process to elect an official who’ll represent them in Congress, only to find out that the entire process was a farce, a smoke screen, a diversion?

And yeah–I hear you, Democrats are no angels either. But there’s no comparing the fourteen Democrats who left the state in order to stonewall against Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s threat to pass a bill that proposed to dismantle the collective bargaining of unions, with the eight Republicans and their governor who trampled on the very Constitution they consistently claimed to honor and protect, by voting on and passing the bill under the farce of cutting the state’s deficit. Comparing the causes behind both groups’ actions shows who the real representatives of the people were; big Corporate payoffs for Republican frontmen vs upholding the constitutional rights of Wisconsinites by Democrats.

No comparison.

Republicans have rallied together to continue the Bush tax cuts for the uber-rich, playing down the fact that an increase in their taxes will reduce the deficit by generating $678 billion, and will be a lot more effective, productive and expedient toward the goal of cutting the deficit, then nickel and dime-ing the working class.

There is an evil agenda at work here, and thats to bring the country down in hopes that Americans, out of frustration and fear, will vote for The GOP in 2012. The thinking is that Americans will forget why they voted the Obama Administration into the White House in the first place. Forget that this all started under a Republican–Bush, and will rush to vote into office the very party that has been covertly–and now out in plain sight–whittling away our rights as valued, productive, thriving citizens of this country.

The middle class and the poor (and don’t be arrogant enough to disassociate with the poor, who most folks in the middle class are just one paycheck away from) are under siege. And if we aren’t careful in 2012, we will vote ourselves right into slavery. And as some of us know, that ain’t a fun place to be.

The companies that have out-sourced all of those U.S. jobs in the service, telecommunications and manufacturing industries to various foreign countries, where their products are manufactured by low income workers, will not make their obscene profits by hiring workers they have to pay, at the very least, a minimum wage.  It’s just not gonna happen folks.

As the 2012 elections approach,  we must remember the lessons we are slowly learning  today.

And Never Forget.

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Featured Republican Party (United States) Tax cut United States Wisconsin

Another Republican Governor, and More of The People’s Rights Disappear

While outraged Americans were transfixed on the happenings in Wisconsin, where a Republican governor was busy inventing reasons to silence the public employees of his state, another governor was floating along, doing the very same thing in his state, with little media attention.

Rick Snyder,  Republican governor in Michigan got his union busting bill approved by his fellow Republican in the state’s senate and the state’s assembly, and any day now, Mr. Snyder is expected to sign the bill into law.

And this  bill will give “over reaching” a whole new meaning. It will have the power to determine whether any district in Michigan is failing, terminate the positions of the elected officials of that particular district, and allows Snyder  to assign anyone he sees fit to run that district. So the voters are left cut out of the process when it comes to who’ll run their district.

These new appointed officials will have the authority from Mr. Snyder to void any contracts the districts or municipalities may have entered into. Included, will be contracts with unions and their collective bargaining and school programs.

The bill also creates additional taxes for the middle class and the poorer sections of Michigan. The revenues gained from this new tax, figures quoted at $1.8 billion, will be given to the rich in the form of a tax cut.

Michigan’s AFL-CIO president, Mark Gaffney tells Politico;

“Michigan politicians have capitalized on our state’s budgetary woes in order to ram through legislation that rather than create jobs, takes away even more rights and resources from Michiganders and instead gives an unprecedented amount of power into those connected to the governor. As hundreds of thousands have chanted in Wisconsin, ‘This is not what democracy looks like.”

 

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Politics United States Wayne LaPierre

N.R.A. Will Not Talk, While 2,405 Shot Dead Since Tucson Arizona

In January, we saw the destruction power of a deranged gunman who opened fire in Tucson, Arizona, killing six people in a botched attempt to assassinate Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. So naturally, the talk about gun-control has became prominent once again, as both Democrats and Republicans try to show they’re ontop  the issue.

This is a political issue dating back decades, with Democrats usually in favor of some form of gun regulation, and Republicans against most. Caught in the middle of all the politics is the National Rifle Association, a group that gives heavily to both political parties, essentially suppressing all gun control legislation from the very start.

President Obama, the ultimate pragmatist that he is, thought the best way to deal with this problem was to have both sides come to the table to talk about what can be done, if anything. A starting point that no group or organization should be against. A conversation…! Who could be against sitting down and talking? The NRA of course!

The New York Times reports;

On Tuesday, officials at the Justice Department will meet with gun control advocates in the first of what will be a series of meetings over the next two weeks with people on different sides of the issue, including law enforcement, retailers and manufacturers, to seek agreement on possible legislative or administrative actions.

The effort follows Mr. Obama’s call, in a column on Sunday in a Tucson newspaper, to put aside “stale policy debates” and begin “a new discussion” on ways to better enforce and strengthen existing laws to keep mentally unstable, violent and criminal people from getting guns.

But the National Rifle Association, for decades the most formidable force against proposals to limit gun sales or ownership, is refusing to join the discussion — possibly dooming it from the start, given the lobby’s clout with both parties in Congress. Administration officials had indicated they expected that the group would be represented at a meeting, perhaps on Friday.

Six people died in Tucson in January, among the deceased was a 9 year old girl and a federal judge. A congresswoman is still trying to regain some sense of normalcy, or as much normalcy as possible, considering she was shot at point-blank range in the head.

A new report by Newsweek finds that since the shooting in Tucson two months ago, 2,405 more people have been shot and killed in America. But the lives of these innocent people in Tuscon and those killed nationwide over the last two months means nothing to the NRA. Their argument is the second amendment of the Constitution, that states;

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

Although it is their constitutional right to “keep and bear arms,” how many more lives have to be lost to senseless violence before groups like the NRA decide that coming to the table to talk, just talk, about a way to stem such senseless violence, cannot be a harmful thing. You know what’s harmful? 2,405 gunshot deaths in two months – that’s harmful!

Read the full Times report here.

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Featured Illegal immigration Immigration Immigration Reform Republican shooting

Republican Congressman Suggests Shooting Illegal Immigrants

This is not your grandparent’s Republican party. This batch is of a whole new breed. We have documented time and time again, the unbelievable attempts by the Republican Party to totally eliminate anyone whose priorities do not match theirs – whether it be Latinos, Muslims, women, Jews, Blacks, Gays or any other minority group. But never before have we seen a Republican congressman suggest shooting illegal immigrants from a helicopter.

His name is Virgil Peck, a Republican representative in Kansas. While debating funding for a bill that allows for shooting feral hogs from a helicopter as a way to control the hog population, Mr. Peck couldn’t help suggesting the use of this method to control the illegal immigration problem, saying;

It looks to me if shooting these immigrating feral Hogs works, maybe we have found a solution to our illegal immigration problem.

With pressure from his fellow Republicans to apologize, Peck issued the following statement;

My statements yesterday were regrettable. Please accept my apology.

How do these people get elected!? A United States Republican congressman publicly advocating shooting people?

Yea, this is definitely not your grandpa’s GOP!

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

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Charlie Sheen Democratic Republican Wisconsin Wisconsin Union Bashing

Recall Efforts in Wisconsin Picking Up Pace

The main-stream media has been transfixed over the last three weeks by two stories, Libya – including whether the correct spelling is Kadaffie,  Gadaffie or Qadiffie – and Charlie Sheen and the tiger-blood running through his veins! Lost in all this confusion is a massive recall effort going on in Wisconsin, and the people’s fight to work, live, and pay their bills.

In a move that many have considered illegal, Republican governor Scott Walker and his Republican cohorts rammed a bill through the state’s congress to its passage. The bill, which takes away the negotiating rights of public union employees, created such an uproar in Wisconsin and all across the country, that a tremendous effort to recall 8 of the Republicans who passed the bill have been in progress for the last two weeks.

And now, a report from the Washington Post is stating that 45% of the votes needed to recall the Republican congressional lobbyists, have been achieved.

Dems have now collected over 56,000 signatures supporting the recall drives, according to party spokesman Graeme Zielinski, after another surge in organizing activity over the weekend. That’s up from rougly 14,000 after last weekend. This means Dems are well ahead of schedule: In each targeted district, Dems need to amass the required signatures — 25 percent of the number who voted in the last gubernatorial election — by a deadline of 60 days after first filing for recalls, which happened nearly two weeks ago.

In other words, Dems are reporting they are nearly halfway to the finish line, with roughly three-fourths of the alloted time remaining.

As per the report and the rules for recall, Democrats have 60 days from the time the recall paperwork was filed to come up with the needed signatures. The report continues;

According to Wisconsin Dem spokesman Zielinski, Dems are ahead of pace in signature gathering in every single one of the eight districts being targteted, and in three of the districts, Dems have well over 50 percent of the number required.

But who cares about this fight? Tune in to CNN and MSNBC for continued coverage of Kadaffie and Sheen’s night out!

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Democratic Featured vote Wisconsin

Wisconsin Republicans Determine Democrats’ Votes Mean Nothing

Wisconsin Republicans are not playing anymore games when it comes to taking away the rights of the people of Wisconsin, and any attempt by elected Democrats to stop or slow down any of their outrageous policies, will be combated with a vengeance not yet seen in this American democracy.

We all remember last week when Democrats were locked out of the Assembly building and had to climb through the windows to enter. Now, Republican Senate Leader Scott Fitzgerald  has decided that he will wipe the slate clean when it comes to votes cast by Democrats. Mr. Fitzgerald will just erase their votes from the record. As he puts it, their votes just wont count.

In a letter to his Republican allies in the Senate, Fitzgerald wrote;

From: Sen.Fitzgerald
Sent: Monday, March 14, 2011 3:52 PM
To: *Legislative Senate Republicans
Subject: Senate Democrat voting privileges in standing committees

Dear Members,

With the return of the Senate Democrats this weekend, questions have arisen regarding Democrat members’ participation in Senate standing committee public hearings and executive sessions.

Please note that all 14 Democrat senators are still in contempt of the Senate. Therefore, when taking roll call votes on amendments and bills during executive sessions, Senate Democrats’ votes will not be reflected in the Records of Committee Proceedings or the Senate Journal. They are free to attend hearings, listen to testimony, debate legislation, introduce amendments, and cast votes to signal their support/opposition, but those votes will not count, and will not be recorded.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact my office.

Thank you,

Scott Fitzgerald
Senate Majority Leader
13th Senate District

Somehow, I can’t see the people of Wisconsin voting to put Republican back into power, forgetting that their basic rights can and will be taken away by any and all means necessary.

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Democratic Featured Republican Wisconsin

Wife of Republican Wisconsin Senator Wants Him Recalled

The doorbell to the known residence of Wisconsin’s Republican Senator Randy Hopper rang. The maid for the residence opened the door and found a group of protesters collecting signatures on a petition to recall Hopper. The maid quickly signed the petition and called her boss, Randy Hopper’s wife, who came to the door with the shocking news that he no longer lived at that residence.

She then indicated that she too, will sign the recall petition.

According to Mrs. Hopper, it seems the conservative Republican senator lives with his 25 year old mistress in another part of town. Mr. Hopper represents Wisconsin Senate District 18, and worked hand in hand with Wisconsin’s governor, Scott Walker to take away voters negotiating rights.

According to reports by Blogging Blue:

Randy Hopper filed for divorce from his wife in August 2010, and it’s being reported his soon to be ex-wife will be signing a recall petition.

As for the claim by Hopper’s soon to be ex-wife that Hopper is living in Madison with his 25-year-old mistress, I’ve received unconfirmed reports the “other woman” is Valerie Cass, who as of this morning was a lobbyist for Persuasion Partners, Inc., a right-wing lobbying firm

Wisconsin’s law states that elected officials can be recalled by the voters and as a state senator, Randy Hopper’s name is among the eight names on the recall petition drafted by the state’s Democrats. Mr. Walker will be up for recall in 2012.

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Featured rachel maddow Republican Tax United States

Republican Governor To Raise Taxes–On The Poor!

The American people have been bamboozled by the Republican party and nowhere is this more evident than in what’s happening in Michigan.

Republican governor, Rick Snyder has finally figured out that raising taxes is the way to get his state out of a financial hole, and while most rational Americans had figured this out a while ago in regards to the wealthy paying their fair share of the tax burden,  Snyder in his infinite wisdom, has decided that raising  taxes for seniors and poor people is the way to go.

As reported by Rachel Maddow below, Rick Snyder will raise $1.7 billion off the backs of the poor and elderly citizens in Michigan, then – get this – he will give this ‘ found’ funds to corporations in the form of a tax cut.

But that’s only part of the governor’s plans. In the bill Slick Rick is proposing, he will actually take away the voting rights of the people.  Mr. Snyder will be able to personally dictate who runs certain districts in Michigan, regardless of who the people voted for.

Rachel explains below in the video.

Thanks to Jillie @Theresthatbear for this video.

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Democratic Politics Republican Wisconsin Wisconsin Union Bashing

Wisconsin Fab 14 Returns to a Hero’s Welcome

Tens of thousands came out in support of the returning Democratic senators, who fled the state of Wisconsin almost a month ago to avoid voting on a bill aimed at busting the unions in the state. The bill was eventually signed into law without any Democratic votes, but the 14 Senate Democrats were welcomed back in Wisconsin today as heroes.

Paul Fieber, a retired state employee carrying a homemade sign declaring “Our Heroes” said, “before all of this occurred I wouldn’t have known a lot of their names, but that has changed for me and a lot of the population.”

The New York Times reports:

At a news conference on Saturday, the senators spoke, sometimes boastfully, about their pride in the outpouring of support, their dismay at the law that passed despite their absence and their eagerness to meet the protesters who have backed their actions.

“I’m one of the Fabulous 14 and I’m so proud,” said Spencer Coggs, who was first elected to the State Legislature nearly three decades ago. “We are back to unite and fight with our supporters. We gave them hope. They gave us inspiration.”

Though officially in hiding, the Democrats had been more visible then ever, given countless interviews from “undisclosed locations” around Illinois, where they stayed out of reach of the Wisconsin state troopers dispatched to bring them back to the Senate.

Fred Risser, a senate Democrat whose nearly six decades of service makes him the longest-tenured state legislator in the country, said he had never been so widely recognized. “I’m quite amazed at the number of strangers who come up and thanked me,” he said.

With the Democrats out of the state, Republicans on Thursday forced through the bill using an option that is considered by many as illegal. The state’s attorney general, who is also a Republican, is being urged to investigate the way governor Scott Walker signed the bill into law, and to determine if any laws were broken.

After the news conference the senators traveled to the Capitol square, where one of the largest protests in what has been a daily outpouring of union employees and supporters was under way. The spectacle was enhanced by a brigade of tractors that motored around the square.

The size of the crowd was particularly striking, coming a day after the battle over the bill was lost, though legal efforts are under way to block .

For weeks now the rhythmic chanting of protestors has filled this city like a heartbeat, proof that despite the lack of political power the political left in this state was still here. At the very moment that the noise was expected to fade in disappointment that thumping proof of life — “This is what Democracy looks like,” was the most popular of the chants — continued with renewed vigor.

Many in the crowd said the effect of the legislation had been to breathe new life into the disheartened Democrats, just months after Republicans gained control of the governor’s office and both chambers of the State Legislature, and to reawaken union solidarity at a time when membership numbers have been declining.

Not surprisingly, Republicans in the state held a different opinion of the 14 Democratic Senators. The NYTimes reports the senate majority leader, Republican Scott Fitzgerald, calling the Democrats “shameful.”

“Today, the most shameful 14 people in the state of Wisconsin are going to pat themselves on the back and smile for the cameras. They’re going to pretend they’re heroes for taking a three-week vacation. It is an absolute insult to the hundreds of thousands of Wisconsinites who are struggling to find a job, much less one they can run away from and go down to Illinois — with pay.”

Given the tens of thousands coming out to greet the “Fab 14″ senators, it is very obvious that the Republicans are on the wrong side here. In fact, the term ‘shameful” has been used over the last 3 weeks to describe the manner in which Republicans have rammed the bill down the throats of Wisconsinites.

Read the Times report here.

 

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Democratic Politics Republican Wisconsin Wisconsin Union Bashing

Did Little Scottie Walker Add To The Bill After Votes Were Held?

News coming out of Wisconsin suggests that Scott Walker added more language to the union busting bill after the votes were held, but before signing it into law. The news states that two items not mentioned in the vote on March 9th, were miraculously found in the bill on March 10th.

Thursday, the fiscal bureau was forced to correct its memo describing the bill, after unearthing some more buried treasure.  Seems there were a few things the original memo forgot to mention:

There are two items in the LFB’s March 10 document that are not reflected in the March 9 document.

1. The March 10 document includes a provision of the substitute amendment on the Earned Income Tax Credit (page 3, #1).

2. The March 10 document includes a provision of the substitute amendment on the Sale and Contractual Operation of State-Owned Power Plants (page 20, #1).

The lies of Mr. Walker are amazingly transparent. He introduced the original package stating that the very future of Wisconsin depended on passing this bill. After Wisconsin Democratic senators refused to show up for the vote, Walker and his Republican cohorts created a “nuclear” option by removing what they called, the “non-financial” part of the bill – the union busting measure – and held the vote.

And now that the two provisions were snuck into law as part of the “non-financial” union busting measure, it reeks illegality all around. Walker and his Republican congress should be tried in a court of law and let the justice system have its way.

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BLM Politics United States

Change Does Happen!

You have to admit that even if you don’t believe all the hype about the coming year 2012–Armageddon, the apocalypse, global warming shifting earth’s  axis, a giant asteroid crashing into the planet, a massive spiritual awakening that transforms humankind, or my personal prediction, absolute proof of life from intelligent planets  visiting Earth–even if you don’t believe them, you have to admit that the last four years  leading up to the infamous date have been–to say the least– miraculous!

It all started, of course, with the monumentally pivotal election of the first African-American to the highest office in the country, in the world for that matter, the President of The United States. Before my Mother passed away that same year in 2008,  she, my sisters and brother and I watched the polls bringing in the news at her home. My Mom was transfixed by what was taking place and remarked with her eyes glistening, “I can’t believe this is happening in my lifetime! I got the chance to see the first Black man elected to be the President of the United States!”

My Mom was dying from cancer and was in a lot of pain that day but she sat up with her children to watch the electoral returns into the wee hours of the morning while we listened to Harlem revelers in the streets below blowing party horns, honking car horns and shouting out  windows,  “O-BA-MA!,  O-BA-MA!, O-BA-MA!”.  I cried at the thought that she was given the oppurtunity to be a witness to this and I cried for myself and the rest of the world on that phenomenal night.  And the one thing that I attributed greatly to the magic of that night was all wrapped up in a word… CHANGE.

On its own ‘change’ could be overlooked because of its subtle, constant running in the background of all our lives. But the idea of  ‘change’, imprinted on the minds of millions and millions of people day in and day out can and does produce a corporeal reality;  the frustration felt while pumping overpriced gas into our cars, the fear over whether our jobs are secure, the anger while shopping  in the supermarket when discovering that the price of milk has doubled in the past two months, the stress  felt over ballooning mortgage payments on our dream homes, the worry over whether there’ll be enough money for our kid’s college tuition, thinking every night while we watch the news, what will it take for there to be real peace in the world. All this has us asking  “Is there anyone out there who can change the way things are?”

“You see, the challenges we face will not be solved with one meeting in one night. It will not be resolved on even a Super Duper Tuesday.

Change will not come if we wait for some other person or if we wait for some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek. We are the hope of those boys who have so little, who’ve been told that they cannot have what they dream, that they cannot be what they imagine. Yes, they can.”

– President Barack Obama.

Is there anyone out there? Yes–you are. WE ARE THE CHANGE THAT WE SEEK!

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Collective bargaining Democratic democrats Politics Republican United States Wisconsin Wisconsin Union Bashing

When The People Don’t Vote, The People Lose

After over 3 weeks of protests, sleep ins and push backs by the people of Wisconsin against a bill by Republican governor Scott Walker where the rights of union members were at stake, the fight abruptly came to an end tonight, when Walker and his Republican allys voted and passed the bill without any Democrat consensus.

In the beginning, the bill was presented as part of a package aimed at reducing Wisconsin’s deficit. Governor Walker, in his daily press conferences said, “we are broke! We are broke!” Mr. Walker claimed that busting the bargaining rights of the unions would fill the state’s $137 million deficit and will fix a projected $3.6 billion shortfall in the upcoming 2011-13 budget. The state’s Democrats however, saw the bill as something geared towards de-funding the unions – groups that give heavily to Democratic campaigns, – and they all fled the state. The people of Wisconsin supported the Democratic position and “kill the bill” chants became the daily slogan. The public opinion for the Republicans fell to an all time low.

Tonight however , given a chance to restore their positive standings with the people, and presented with the opportunity to give Wisconsinites what they have been protesting for all this time, Republicans took another path. They removed the union busting part of the bill from the rest of the package then held a vote on that  measure alone – a move that caused the Democratic Assembly leader to yell “illegal! Illegal!,” as the roll call was happening.

With no Democrats present to register their vote, the union busting part of the bill passed.  It now goes to the State’s assembly, where another Republican body controls the agenda and another vote will be held. Passage in the Assembly puts the bill on Walker’s desk where it will be signed into law.

Yes America, voting is important and when you don’t vote, you lose your rights. There is now a conscience effort by Republican governors all over America, to silence the negotiating rights of the working middle class American.

After hearing what Scott Walker had done tonight, I tweeted the following:

I received this reply:

So true that is. When the people don’t vote, the people lose!

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