Year: 2011

Categories
Health Care Politics

Republican Audience Applauds Hearing About People Dying

The call themself pro-lifers, you know, for life. But apparently, that belief stops immediately after birth.

That was evident in the Republican’s last debate, where a hypothetical question was asked of the panel. What to do if a healthy person cannot afford healthcare and get’s sick to the point that they need intensive care, these pro-lifers, or conservatives, or Teaparty members think that person should just…die.

I’m not making this up!

Wolf Blitzer of CNN asked the question in the last Republican Presidential debate. It was directed to Ron Paul about what the person needing intensive care should do if they have no health care. But before Ron Paul could get his full answer on the record, the pro-lifers in the audience answered for him, shouting “let him die!”

This is where the Republican party is today, where the revelation that Rick Perry of Texas has executed more people than any other governor in the state’s history was met with applause, and the only solution for the sick who cannot afford the care they need, is to let them die!

Base on these Republican audience reactions, would it be far-fetched to conclude that voting for a Republican is almost as bad as committing suicide?

Categories
Politics Republican

Rick Perry – Social Security Is a “Ponzi” Scheme That Must Be Saved

Rick Perry’s statements on any particular issue depends on what day it is. In 2010, the Texas governor and leader in the Republican field of Presidential wannabees for the 2012 election went on the Fox News Sunday program and said that social security is a “Ponzi scheme” and should be done away with.

“What I’m saying is that between Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, there’s $106 trillion of unfunded liabilities and not one dime saved to pay for them. My children who are in their 20’s know that Social Security is a Ponzi scheme.”

Rick Perry has used this definition on many other occasions since then. In another interview with The Daily Beast, Perry said that the three programs are “bankrupt,” and again, referred to them as a Ponzi schemes. He also blamed the Progressives for what he calls, the “deterioration of our Constitution,” and suggested that we should ” have a legitimate, honest, national discussion about Washington’s continuing to spend money we don’t have on programs that we don’t need.”

Then in the previous MSNBC Republican debate, Perry stuck to his guns, but this time, he added the word “monstrous,” to his definition of Social Security, saying;

“It is a monstrous lie. It is a Ponzi scheme to tell our kids that are 25 or 30 years old today, you’ve paid into a program that’s going to be there. Anybody that’s for the status quo with Social Security today is involved with a monstrous lie to our kids, and that’s not right.”

Then last night, after spending the last few days hearing the outrage his remarks caused, Perry decided that was enough and did a backtrack, flip-flop, moonwalk on the issue. All of a sudden, Social Security was no longer a program “we don’t need,” it became a program that “needs fixing.” One the Texas Republican governor believes in, and he attempted to assure the public of his new-found embrace of the program.

“The people who are on Social Security today need to understand something. Slam-dunk guaranteed, that program is going to be there in place for those individuals.”

And today, with more media coverage on Perry’s dumb statements, he felt the need to issue this statement, as reported by Politico;

“America’s Goal Must Be To Fix Social Security” So Americans “Really Can Count On [It] For The Long Haul.” “America’s goal must be to fix Social Security by making it more financially sound and sustainable for the long term… Americans must come together and agree to address the problems so today’s beneficiaries and tomorrow’s retirees really can count on Social Security for the long haul.” (Rick Perry, Op-Ed, “I Am Going To Be Honest With The American People.”

Rick Perry – someone who says whatever he thinks is necessary to win an election… sounds Republican to me!

Categories
Politics Republican United States

While He Say No To America, Eric Cantor Want Billions For Iraq

If you expected anything different from House Majority Leader Eric Cantor- well then – I’ve got a bridge I’d like to sell you.

After President Obama gave his speech on ways to create jobs for unemployed Americans, Eric Cantor was among the first Republicans to voice his opposition, albeit rather mildly. But this report shows that although Cantor refuses to spend any money to help or rebuild America, he voted for  $120 Billion to be raised to rebuild Iraq and Afghanistan.

Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) voted for over $120 billion to rebuild Iraq and Afghanistan, funds that were used to construct and repair schools, roads, bridges, and other critical infrastructure.

Now, Cantor is opposing President Obama’s proposal to spend $30 billion to modernize 35,000 American schools.

The report states that to bring American schools up to standard, about $500 billion will have to be spent. However, even the extremely smaller amount of $30 billion – that was paid for and proposed by the Obama administration – was opposed by the Republican congressman. It states;

“While the funding Obama is proposing is fully offset, Cantor voted to build schools in Iraq and Afghanistan with deficit spending.”

Would anyone be surprised if Cantor’s name is on the Taliban’s payroll?

Categories
Barack Obama Politics

President Obama To Republicans – Put Country First

After detailing his plan to get Americans back to work in a joint session last Thursday, President Obama sent his proposal to Congress to officially begin the process.  The bill will cost $447 billion dollars, and will include infrastructure spending and tax cuts to small businesses and middle class workers.

The President held a press conference in the Rose Garden of the White House today, where he was surrounded by middle class workers like Teachers, Police Officers and Construction workers – the type of workers the President said the bill will support. He repeated his call to Congress to “pass the bill now,” saying “this is a bill that will put people back to work all across the country.”

Mr. Obama also addressed the Republicans in Congress, and asked for them to put country ahead of party, saying, “The only thing that’s stopping it is politics. We can’t afford these same political games… Let’s get something done. Let’s put this country back to work.”

Republicans on the other hand are already paving the way to put up a fight against the President’s jobs bill. House Speaker John Boehner hinted at various spending bills enacted in the previous Democratic controlled congress, suggesting the additional spending may be an issue for Republicans. He said;

“The record of the economic proposals enacted during the last Congress necessitates careful examination of the president’s latest plan as well as consideration of alternative measures that may more effectively support private-sector job creation,” Boehner said. “It is my hope that we will be able to work together to put in place the best ideas of both parties and help put Americans back to work.”

President Obama has said the $447 billion jobs bill will be paid for through various ways, including;

  • — A limit on itemized deductions and certain exemptions for individuals who earn over $200,000 and families earning over $250,000. That limitation would raise roughly $400 billion over 10 years.
  • — Treat carried interest — that’s the interest earned by investment fund managers — as ordinary income, rather than taxing it at the capital gains rate. That would raise $18 billion.
  • — Policy changes to a number of oil and gas provisions, revoking their special status, which collectively raise $40 billion.
  • — A change to the corporate jet depreciation rule so that corporate jets are depreciated over seven years, like commercial jets, rather than five years. That raises $3 billion.

If the past is any indication, expect Republicans to fight this jobs bill with everything they have. Keeping Americans unemployed is their main priority – just another case of party over country.

Categories
Dick Cheney Politics

Yes, Ron Paul Is Right

It’s not often I’ll agree with Ron Paul. The Republican/Libertarian has, by the very nature of his ideology, suggested that the only role government should have is an invisible one. He also criticizes the Civil Rights Act of 1964, fought for an end to all regulations on businesses, and as recently as the last Republican debate, suggested that airlines are best equipped to stop terrorism. All things I strongly disagree with.

But on his website, Ron Paul wrote about his feelings on the 10th year anniversary of September 11th, and something he said had me nodding in agreement. He said;

 We should never forget those in our government who used the worst terrorist attack in our nation’s history as an excuse to launch completely unrelated wars, to do unprecedented damage to Americans’ historic liberties, to run roughshod over the Constitution, and to betray the Founders’ vision by savaging some of our most deeply held values.

A clear swipe to the Bush Administration who, instead of using the opportunity of September 11th to get the terrorists responsible for killing almost 3,000 people, preached fear to the American people and began a war with Iraq, a country that had no link to the destruction caused by Osama Bin Laden.

The war in Iraq ended up costing the lives of thousands of American troops, hundreds of thousands of Iraqi lives, and over $1 trillion. But war is a business, and someone made millions from the decision to use September 11th as the reason to invade Iraq.

Dick Cheney – the Vice President in Bush’s Administration, and one of the most influential voices for the war in Iraq – was CEO of a company call Haliburton. Dick Cheney insisted that he severed all ties with Haliburton in 2000, but after the war started in Iraq, Haliburton was awarded no-bid contracts worth millions for “rebuilding Iraq.”

In 2004, Cheney appeared on Meet The Press and was asked about his relationship with his former company, to which more denials were given. But Time Magazine uncovered internal Pentagon emails proving that Cheney was not being the least bit honest. According to the report, the emails showed that these no-bid contracts were going through Cheney’s office. From the report;

The e-mail says Feith approved arrangements for the contract “contingent on informing WH [White House] tomorrow. We anticipate no issues since action has been coordinated w VP’s [Vice President’s] office.”  Three days later, the Army Corps of Engineers gave Halliburton the contract, without seeking other bids.

So yes, in this particular case, I wholeheartedly agree with Ron Paul. The war in Iraq was not one of necessity, but one of choice. There were billions of dollars to be made, and no-bid contracts by unscrupulous government officials was the way to do it.

And the lives lost in the process? Cheney recently said that if he had to do it all over again, he wouldn’t change a thing. In other words, in war you lose some then you lose some more. But the profits gained… priceless!

Categories
Anthony Weiner Democratic Elections Politics Republican

Anthony Weiner’s Seat Could Go Republican On Tuesday

With just a few hours remaining before the elections in New York, a new poll is showing that a congressional seat once held by former Democratic Representative Anthony Weiner, may now go to a Republican.

The Republican candidate has taken a surprising six-point lead over the Democrat in the closely watched special election to fill the congressional seat vacated by Anthony Weiner, who was forced to quit amid a sexting scandal, according to a Siena (College) Research Institute poll released on Friday.

Republican Robert Turner is ahead of Democrat David Weprin, 50% to 44%, in the latest survey of likely voters in the congressional district that covers parts of Brooklyn and Queens. In an Aug. 10 poll, Siena found that Weprin led Turner 48% to 42%.

Mr. Weiner was forced out of office by both Democrats and Republicans after secret “inappropriate” behavior came to light on Twitter.

The poll was conducted among 886 registered voters and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.3 percentage points.

Categories
Barack Obama Osama bin Laden Politics september 11 weekly address

President Obama – As Americans, We Refuse To Live In Fear

President Obama in his weekly address…

“They wanted to terrorize us, but, as Americans, we refuse to live in fear. Yes we face a determined foe, and make no mistake — they will keep trying to hit us again. But as we are showing again this weekend, we remain vigilant.”

Categories
Politics

Boehner And Biden Caught On Open Mic At Jobs Speech

Boehner's Birdie

While President Obama tried to bring his jobs plan to the floor of a joint congress Thursday night, the important thing on John Boehner’s mind was not the American people and their plight, but about the birdie he missed during a golf game.

The video below shows a ‘hot mic’ situation, where the Vice President approached Boehner saying “we gotta heck-of-a-lotta work to do here…,” but Speaker Boehner wanted to talk about something more important to him. He abruptly interrupted Mr. Biden, telling him about a golfing misfortune, right before President Obama came to the floor of Congress.

Just goes to show who’s really working for the American people, and who’s the real elitist in the room.

A Hot Mic Moment

Categories
Barack Obama George Bush osama bil laden Politics september 11

George Bush To George Bush – Good Job On Getting Bin Laden

In an interview to commemorate September 11th attacks in New York, George Bush credited George Bush for the killing of Osama Bin Laden.

“The work that was done by intelligence communities during my presidency was part of putting together the puzzle that enabled us to see the full picture of how bin Laden was communicating and eventually where he was hiding,” he said. “It began the day after 9/11.”

Although Bush and his brainwashed supporters would go to the grave believing this, the facts just don’t support their position and even George Bush himself showed his carefree attitude when questioned about Bin Laden’s whereabouts.

In 2006, Bush told reporters that getting Bin Laden was not on his ‘to-do’ list, saying, “I truly am not that concerned about him. I am deeply concerned about Iraq, I really just don’t spend that much time on him, to be honest with you.”

But that was then, and this is now,  and with the new administration came a new purpose. That purpose resulted in the capture and killing of America’s most wanted terrorist, and now, Bush is ready to go down in history as the president responsible for getting Osama.

Can you say “delusional” ?

See the rest of Bush’s interview here

Categories
Politics Republican Texas

Did Rick Perry Kill An Innocent Man?

During the recent Republican Presidential debate, Rick Perry was asked if he struggled to sleep at night with the idea that any one of the 234 death row inmates the state of Texas kills every year,  might have been innocent. Perry answered that the courts in Texas have a great record for quality convictions, so he had no problem ordering 234 executions over his 11 years as Governor.

“No sir, I’ve never struggled with that at all,” he said. “The state of Texas has a very thoughtful, a very clear process in place of which — when someone commits the most heinous of crimes against our citizens, they get a fair hearing, they go through an appellate process, they go up to the Supreme Court of the United States, if that’s required.”

“If you come into our state and you kill one of our children, you kill a police officer, you’re involved with another crime and you kill one of our citizens, you will face the ultimate justice in the State of Texas. And that is you will be executed.”

Exactly how sound is this ‘thoughtful and clear’ process in Texas anyway? Apparently, not so clear. In fact, it’s quite foggy.

Over the last 9 years of Perry’s 11 years in power, DNA evidence has exonerated 41 prisoners convicted in that thoughtful, clear Texas system. That’s 41 people who went to prison, and were later found innocent of a crime they had been convicted of.

And what’s even worse, in 2004,  Perry allowed the execution of a death row inmate named Cameron Todd Willingham. Mr Willingham was accused and convicted – using that thoughtful, clear process – of setting a fire that killed his three daughters. He was put to death, although evidence, scientists and forensics experts doubted the prosecution’s case against him. Rick Perry even went as far as shutting down an official investigation into the case and execution.

The fact that Rick Perry stopped the investigation is proof that valid questions about the execution were being asked, which would also suggest that maybe, just maybe an innocent man was killed under Perry’s watch. But why would Perry lose sleep over that? He is after all, a modern day Republican governor and doesn’t believe in all that scientific mumbo-jumbo, forensic-smorensic nonsense.

Hang ’em high! Yee-hah!!

Categories
Politics

Scott Brown Calls For Deportation Of Onyango Obama

“Well, yeah. He’s here illegally. He’s obviously broken the law. I don’t know enough about the details of the case, but, God, he’s been running around for how long now? Let him go through the process and see what happens.”

That was Scott Brown’s response when asked in an interview about President Obama’s uncle. Onyango Obama was arrested last Wednesday for drunk driving after almost running his SUV into a police car in Massachusetts. Scott Brown, the Republican congressman for Massachusetts is calling for Onyango’s deportation.

President Obama has said that he had no idea his uncle was here illegally, and will allow immigration to handle the situation. White House spokesman Jay Carney said,

“We expect it to be treated — and I refer you to ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] and DHS [the Department of Homeland Security] — like any other immigration case.

After being arrested and asked if he would like to call someone, Onyango Obama reportedly said, “I think I will call the White House.” He has pled not guilty to the charges, and is being held in Plymouth County, Mass., jail. His lawyer has said he will fight any deportation proceedings.

Categories
Health Care Politics United States

Court Rules In Favor Of Healthcare Reform In Virginia

You can once again breathe a sigh of relief. The 4th circuit panel in Virginia has ruled that President Obama’s healthcare reform, better known as The Affordable Healthcare Act, is legal. To the millions of Americans who will benefit from this healthcare policy, and to the rest of America who would not have to flip the bill for the uninsured getting their care in emergency rooms, this is great news.

The lawsuit was brought to the 4th circuit panel by Virginia’s Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, one of the most vocal opposition to the health care law.

Cuccinelli sued on the grounds that enforcing the mandate would violate Virginia law. As Congress moved closer to passing healthcare reform, Virginia enacted a law that says state residents can’t be forced to purchase insurance.

But the 4th Circuit panel said Virginia does not have standing to sue over the mandate because it lacks a “personal stake” in the issue.

Although this is a temporary victory for America, Republican governors nationwide are determined to take this case all the way to the Supreme Court.

More on this story here.

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