Month: May 2011

Categories
Democratic House of Representatives Medicare New York Paul Ryan Politics Republican United States

A Republican Shellacking Like No Other In N.Y-26

Remember this Republican dude? You know… the one who was caught emailing half-naked pictures of himself to women on Craigslist? Yeah, him. He immediately resigned his position in congress after the story broke because he didn’t want to bring embarrassment to his wife and kids.

Yeah, that’s the dude. He represented a district in New York that many consider to be the most conservative district nationwide. This district, called New York 26, made history yesterday. In a special election to replace the shirtless Republican dude with the red phone, a Democrat won! I’ll say that again… a democrat won in a district that should have went Republican even if no Republican names were on the ballot.

This is huge news… HUGE! (the way The Donald would say it)! And the thanks for this Democratic victory goes to another Republican named, Paul Ryan.

This Republican Paul Ryan dude is very wicked… wicked and sinister! How wicked is he? This dude is so wicked, that he created a budget infamously called, The Paul Ryan Budget. In this budget, which was agreed to by just about every Republican in the House of Representatives, Paul Ryan advocates for the biggest transfer of wealth from the poor and middle class, to the richest 2% of Americans. If his budget is ever enacted, over $3 trillion dollars would be taken from the middle class and given to the rich over a period of 10 years.

But that’s not all the Ryan Budget does, no not by a long shot! Hear this… The Ryan Budget also wants seniors to give up Medicare as they know it today, and in its place, take a $6,000 voucher instead. These seniors are then expected to use this voucher and shop for health insurance on the private market. The question seniors are asking these Republicans is to name one private insurance company who will insure seniors with a $6,000 voucher, considering the many ailments affecting this segment of society, and considering the for-profit nature of private insurance. So far, no Republicans – including the clean-cut but sinister Paul Ryan himself – have answered their concerns.

This brings us back to NY-26.

The Democrat in the special election Kathy Hochul,  disagreed with The Paul Ryan Budget and promised her district that if she won, she will fight the Ryan Budget with all her might. The Republican candidate on the other hand – Jane Corwin, fell in lockstep with the Ryan Budget and agreed with its drastic measures wholeheartedly, and even had the big-wigs from Washington campaign on her behalf. John Boehner, an ardent supporter of The Ryan Budget, the Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives and the third in line to be President of The United States if anything happens to the President or Vice-President, went to NY-26 and told the Republican conservative district to vote for his candidate.

But last night, Democrats, Republicans and Independents in NY-26 went to the polls and elected the first Democrat in over 50 years.

Democrats are calling this victory a referendum on Republicans and their quest for ultimate control over the lives of free thinking Americans. Republicans on the other hand will try to come up with all sorts of excuses to explain why they lost NY-26. One reason already being pushed is the claim that votes cast for the third candidate, a Teaparty favorite, would have given the Republican candidate the win, had the Teaparty candidate not entered the race.

Sure. This was a shellacking! No two ways about it. The American people have spoken. The Republican quest to control every aspect of our lives and turn that control over to the Corporate élite has been put on notice.

If NY-26 is any indication, expect nothing less than a Republican whipping in the 2012 elections.

Categories
Barack Obama Osama bin Laden Politics Terrorism United States

President Obama – We Will Still Go After Terrorists In Pakistan

In an interview with BBC, President Obama made clear that if we have any actionable information about terrorists in Pakistan and they are unable to get these terrorists,  America will not fail to act – just as he did when Osama Bin Laden was captured.

“We are very respectful of the sovereignty of Pakistan, but we cannot allow someone who is actively planning to kill our people or our our allies’ people, we can’t allow those kind of active plans to come to fruition without us taking some action.

And our hope is and our expectation is that we can achieve that in a way that is fully respectful of Pakistan’s sovereignty. But I had made no secret.  I had said this when I was running for the presidency, that if I had a clear shot at Bin Laden … that we’d take it.”

And take it we should. After all, isn’t protecting the people of the United States the primary job of its Commander-In-Chief?

Categories
Democratic Politics Republican

Eric Cantor Comforts Irresponsible Oil Speculators

Eric Cantor, the number two Republican in the House of Representative is reassuring Oil speculators that the Republican party will do whatever they can to stop the regulations Democrats are tying to put in place. It is believed by most financial economists that these speculators are the major reasons why gas and oil prices have skyrocketed. But Cantor will not let this small fact detour his mission. In his view, speculators must continue doing their part, regardless of the effects on the economy.

ThinkProgress filed this report;

Cantor told the audience of speculators that his Republican caucus would “do our part” to block the implementation of financial reforms passed last year as part of the sweeping Dodd-Frank law. He even called out the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the regulators in charge of overseeing derivatives and energy speculation, and promised to stop regulations from going online.

CANTOR: We want to help you continue to lead for America, that means we gotta do our part when you see the implementation of Dodd-Frank coming at you like a barreling train. We want to help control that so that we can get some sensible, sensible follow up to that legislation. […] Whether it’s the EPA, the FDA, the FCC, the SEC, the CFTC, you name it, there is an acronym for a federal agency causing harm right now. We’re trying to pull that in.

Categories
Featured Newt Gingrich Nikki Haley Republican

Republicans Kick Ass… Their Own. What’s A Newt To Do?

Before he even got started, it seems that the Republican presidential campaign of Newt, the always-talking-never-thinking, Gingrich might be almost over. And the ones pushing on Newt to leave the race are not the expected political enemies in the Democratic party, oh nooo! The Republicans are the ones kicking Newt’s butt.

It all began when Newt appeared on Sunday’s Meet The Press and called the Republican Paul Ryan a radical, and suggested that Ryan’s budget plan will kill Medicare and transfer middle class wealth to the top 1%. Of course, Gingrich was right, but hearing one of their own speak the truth is not something the Republican party is accustomed to. So since Sunday, Mr. Gingrich has been thrown under the bus by Rush Limbaugh, Fox News and the congressional Republican leaders in Washington. Newt’s exact words when asked to describe his feelings about Ryan’s budget plan?

“I don’t think right-wing social engineering is any more desirable than left-wing social engineering. I don’t think imposing radical change from the right or the left is a very good way for a free society to operate.”

Appearing on Laura Ingram’s show the following day was the right winged radical himself – Paul Ryan. While explaining his excuse for a budget plan if elected, Ryan was asked to respond to Gingrich’s Meet The Press interview. “With allies like that, who needs the left?” Ryan fired back, and the ass-kicking officially began.

Limbaugh:

“I am not going to justify this. I am not going to explain it. “The attack on Paul Ryan, the support for an individual mandate in healthcare?  Folks, don’t ask me to explain this. There is no explanation! What do you mean, ‘If I don’t explain it, who will?’  There is no explanation for it.

“First off, it cuts Paul Ryan off at the knees. It supports the Obama administration in the lawsuits that 26 states have filed over the mandate. I guess, what?  Back in 1993, Newt supported an individual mandate, everybody should buy insurance. I am as befuddled as anyone else is what I’m telling you.”

And being the Republican leader that he is, the talking points were sent out immediately- Rush is against Newt, so Newt must be wrong. The word spread fast, as other conservative media outlets picked up on Limbaugh’s rantings. The story got out to their audience and they too began their attacks.

At a campaign stop in Iowa, Newt was greeted by one of his republican supporters;

IOWA REPUBLICAN: What you just did to Paul Ryan is unforgivable.

GINGRICH: I didn’t do anything to Paul Ryan.

IOWA REPUBLICAN: Yes, you did. You undercut him … you’re an embarrassment to our party.

GINGRICH: I’m sorry you feel that way.

IOWA REPUBLICAN: Why don’t you get out before you make a bigger fool of yourself?

The pressure was too much for Gringrich, so like any other potential commander-in-chief, like any other potential leader of the free world, like any other man vying for the job to be the most influential person on the face of the earth – the President Of The United States – Newt Gingrich flipped-flopped and tried to tell the nation that the words from his mouth must not be taken seriously. He really didn’t mean what he said and that was his final answer! He tells Greta Van Susteren of Fox News;

So, let me say on the record: any ad which quotes what I said Sunday is a falsehood and because I have said publicly, those words were inaccurate and unfortunate. And I’m prepared to stand up — when I make a mistake and I’m going to on occasion, I want to stand up and share with the American people, that was a mistake, because that way, we can have an honest conversation.

And with his supporters behind him, their shoes up the seat of his pants, Newt offered apologies to Paul Ryan and any other unnecessary GOPers who would give him the time of day.

Nikki Haley, the powerful Republican governor in South Carolina told CNN in a telephone interview just how disappointed she was in Gingrich;

“What he said was absolutely unfortunate. Here you’ve got Representative Ryan trying to bring common sense to this world of insanity, and Newt absolutely cut him off at the knees.

“When you have a conservative fighting for real change, the last thing we need is a presidential candidate cutting him off at the knees.”

Then this -popularl syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer  suggests that Newt pack up and go home, telling Fox that Newt “didn’t have a big chance in the beginning, but now it’s over!”

Video–just a brief look in the life of a flip-flopping Gingrich. This is Newt – The man who wants to be The Commander-in-Chief!

Categories
Osama bin Laden Politics Rick Santorum Waterboarding

Rick Santorum Questions John McCain’s Torture Claims

Republican Presidential hopeful Rick Santorum has one for John McCain, telling a radio show host on Tuesday that Mr. McCain, a man who was a documented, tortured, prisoner of war for 5 years, “doesn’t understand how enhanced interrogation works.”

Mr. Santorum was referring to an op-ed written by John McCain, in which Mr. McCain stated that the capture and killing of Osama Bin Laden had nothing to do with enhanced interrogation or water-boarding. In the op-ed, Senator McCain states that after talking to CIA Director Leon Pinetta, he was under the impression that “none of the three detainees who were water­boarded pro­vided Abu Ahmed’s real name, his where­abouts or an accu­rate descrip­tion of his role in al-Qaeda.”

Santorum said on the show;

“Everything I’ve read shows that we would not have gotten this information as to who this man was if it had not been for information from people who were subject to enhanced interrogation, and so this idea that we didn’t ask that question while Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was being water-boarded, he doesn’t understand how enhanced interrogation works. I mean, you break somebody, and after they’re broken, they become cooperative.”

Personally, I think it’s a rather strange coincidence that Santorum used the word “broken” in describing the point where enhance interrogation or torture begins producing information. And even stranger is the fact that he used the word in trying to dispute Senator McCain’s op-ed.

It is common knowledge that John McCain suffered many broken bones in his arms and legs from the events in 1968 that lead to his capture as a prisoner of war and his bout with torture.  And even today, the effects of those events can still be seen in the limited movements of Mr. McCain.

If Santorum is correct with his “broken” claim, then we must wonder exactly what information did John McCain give while he was being broken. Maybe Mr. Santorum knows something we don’t.

Categories
Donald Trump Donald Trump Elections Mike Huckabee Politics Republican United States

Did You Hear? – Mike Huckabee and Donald Trump Dropped Out

Over the last few days, we’ve been on a mini vacation here at EzKool, and it just so happened that everything came apart while we were away. So in an effort to keep you guys up on what’s been happening, (lol, is there really anyone out there who doesn’t know what happened over the last few days?) it’s quite simple – Mike Huckabee and Donald Trump dropped out of the race. LOL.

This Colbert video should cover it.

Categories
Collective bargaining Republican Party (United States) Wisconsin Wisconsin Union Bashing

Wisconsin Republicans Now Going After Police And Firefighter Unions

And so, the inevitable happened. Scott Walker and his Republican goons in Wisconsin have now turned their union busting efforts against Wisconsin’s police and firefighters.

Local firefighters and police officers are vowing to fight legislation proposed last week that would limit their ability to collectively bargain and negotiate contracts.

Rep. Bob Ziegelbauer, I-Manitowoc, introduced the bill that would eliminate collective bargaining for public safety employees on health care and pension contributions. Ziegelbauer’s bill does not require an employee to contribute to health care and pension funds, but would allow municipalities to mandate contributions.

Walker’s bill curtails collective bargaining for most public employees, including municipal workers and teachers, but exempts police and firefighters. A Dane County judge has blocked the law from taking effect after opponents allege that a meeting where the bill was approved violated the state’s open meetings law.

Jeremy Kopp, a Wausau firefighter and the department’s union president, said he will urge firefighters to email and call legislators to express their opposition to Ziegelbauer’s bill

In his original union busting bill, Scott Walker stated that there were no reasons to include the police and firefighter unions. The politics of this decision was obvious. These unions supported the governor in his run for office.

But that was then and this is now.

The Republican governor watched, as the very same union members he excluded from his bill, turned against him and joined the hundreds of thousands of other union members who were under attack. Consider this new bill as his chance to get even.

Anyone who didn’t see this coming needs glasses.

Categories
Abortions Barack Obama Healthcare Mike Huckabee Mitt Romney Republican United States

RomneyCare Provides Funds For Abortions. ObamaCare Does Not

ThinkProgress came up with this little nugget. The graph below shows one difference between the Health Care plan set forth by Mitt Romney, the man who could be the eventual Republican nominee for the presidency in 2012, and the Affordable Health Care Act signed into law by President Obama. The difference? Romney’s plan provides funds for abortion services and President Obama’s does not.

The little secret Republicans don’t want you to know about.

Compliments of ThinkProgress via The Daily Kos

Categories
Chris Matthews Politics United States

Ron Paul – I Would Have Voted Against The Civil Rights Act of 1964

The Republican candidate for President, Ron Paul, just confirmed what we already knew – that he is against the 1964 Civil Rights law that outlawed different forms of discrimination against blacks and women.

The Republican/Libertarian appeared on the show Hardball with Chris Mathews and made his feelings against The Act known. His son Rand Paul, stated the same sentiments against the Civil Rights Act when he successfully ran for Senate in 2010.

Below is the video, compliments of TPM

Categories
Arizona Georgia Illegal immigration Immigration Immigration Reform Politics United States

Arizona Immigration-Type Bill Signed Into Law In Georgia

By the Associated Press

Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal has signed a bill that cracks down on illegal immigration by increasing some enforcement powers and requiring many employers to check the immigration status of new hires.

Deal on Friday signed the bill that has some similarities to a controversial bill enacted last year in Arizona.

Most parts of the Georgia law are set to enter into effect July 1. But opponents have said they plan to file lawsuits seeking to block it.

A requirement for private employers to use a federal database to check the immigration status of new hires is set to be phased in.

The new law also authorizes law enforcement officers to check the immigration status of certain suspects and to detain those who are in the country illegally.

Categories
Barack Obama Osama bin Laden Politics

Seals Helmet Cameras Show How Osama Bin Laden Died – Video

Little cameras on the helmets of Seal members captured every moment of the operation to catch Osama Bin Laden. And based on this information, CBS has created this video, to give a more accurate idea on what happened the night the most wanted man in the world was killed.

Below is the video.

Categories
Osama bin Laden Politics United States Waterboarding

John McCain – Torture Did Not Lead To Osama Bin Laden’s Capture

John McCain is often called many things for many reasons (we will not get into them now). But one thing you must respect Mr. McCain for is the many years he spent in captivity while flying bombing missions in the Vietnam war. John McCain was a prisoner of war and faced bouts of torture from his captors.

So when McCain talks about torture, it would be a wise idea to listen to someone with first hand knowledge. In a Washington Post op-ed written on Thursday, McCain responded to the claims of many in his own Republican party that intelligence gathered under torture led to Osama Bin Laden’s capture. Mr. McCain spoke about some of the acts employed by United States personnel, namely water-boarding;

Much of this debate is a definitional one: whether any or all of these methods constitute torture. I believe some of them do, especially waterboarding, which is a mock execution and thus an exquisite form of torture. As such, they are prohibited by American laws and values, and I oppose them.

After stating his personal feelings on water-boarding, Mr. McCain – the Republican 2008 Presidential nominee and Ranking Member of the Senate Armed Services Committee – dove into the debate head-on, saying that any claims by former Bush officials that torture led to Bin Laden’s capture were “false.”

But this must be an informed debate. Former attorney general Michael Mukaseyrecently claimed that “the intelligence that led to bin Laden . . . began with a disclosure from Khalid Sheik Mohammed, who broke like a dam under the pressure of harsh interrogation techniques that included waterboarding. He loosed a torrent of information — including eventually the nickname of a trusted courier of bin Laden.” That is false.

I asked CIA Director Leon Panetta for the facts, and he told me the following: The trail to bin Laden did not begin with a disclosure from Khalid Sheik Mohammed, who was waterboarded 183 times. The first mention of Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti — the nickname of the al-Qaeda courier who ultimately led us to bin Laden — as well as a description of him as an important member of al-Qaeda, came from a detainee held in another country, who we believe was not tortured. None of the three detainees who were waterboarded provided Abu Ahmed’s real name, his whereabouts or an accurate description of his role in al-Qaeda.

This must be shocking news for those on Fox News and most of the Republican leaders, who, on the Sunday talk shows had a field day promoting the lie that torturing Khalid Sheik Mohammed revealed the name of the courier to Osama Bin Laden. Instead of accepting the fact that Bin Laden was captured on President’s Obama’s watch, these partisan Republican leaders got their talking points from Fox News, and ran with it.

Mr. McCain continued;

In fact, the use of “enhanced interrogation techniques” on Khalid Sheik Mohammed produced false and misleading information. He specifically told his interrogators that Abu Ahmed had moved to Peshawar, got married and ceased his role as an al-Qaeda facilitator — none of which was true. According to the staff of the Senate intelligence committee, the best intelligence gained from a CIA detainee — information describing Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti’s real role in al-Qaeda and his true relationship to bin Laden — was obtained through standard, noncoercive means.

One of the claims John McCain made in the 2008 presidential election was that he was still a maverick. Well you can’t get more mavericky than this.

At a time when Republicans are looking for any kind of victory, even trying to take one away from a Democratic President, one Republican is standing up and speaking the truth – a rare act. And for that, John McCain has regained his maverick status.

Hopefully, it’ll stick around for a while.

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