Month: March 2012

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Health insurance Planned Parenthood Politics Texas women

Rick Perry Eliminates Health Insurance for Poor Women in Texas

Thanks to a decision by Republican Governor Rick Perry, 130,000 low-income women in Texas just lost their health insurance coverage. A bill that was recently signed into law by Rick Perry, disqualified Planned Parenthood from receiving federal grants thus, ending the Medicaid program that provided necessary health benefits to the poorer residents of his state.

The Department of Health and Human Services announced on Thursday that it will cut off all Medicaid funding for family planning to the state of Texas, following Gov. Rick Perry’s (R) decision to implement a new law that excludes Planned Parenthood from the state’s Medicaid Women’s Health Program.

Cindy Mann, director of the Center for Medicaid and State Operations (CMSO), wrote Texas health officials a letter on Thursday explaining that the state broke federal Medicaid rules by discriminating against qualified family planning providers and thus would be losing the entire program, which provides cancer screenings, contraceptives and basic health care to 130,000 low-income women each year.

“We very much regret the state’s decision to implement this rule, which will prevent women enrolled in the program from receiving services from the trusted health care providers they have chosen and relied upon for their care,” she wrote. “In light of Texas’ actions, CMS is not in a position to extend or renew the current [Medicaid contract].”

The federal government pays for nearly 90 percent of Texas’ $40 million Women’s Health Program, and nearly half of the program’s providers in Texas are Planned Parenthood clinics. But the new law that went into effect earlier this month disqualified Planned Parenthood from participating in the program because some of its clinics provide abortions, even though no state or federal money can be used to pay for those abortions.

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Osama bin Laden Politics

Osama’s Plot to Kill President Obama and General David Petraeus

Documents taken from Osama bin Laden’s compound the night he was killed by US Special forces reveals a plot by Osama to kill both President Obama and General David Patraeus.

Before his death, Osama bin Laden boldly commanded his network to organize special cells in Afghanistan and Pakistan to attack the aircraft of President Obama and Gen. David H. Petraeus.

“The reason for concentrating on them,” the al-Qaeda leader explained to his top lieutenant, “is that Obama is the head of infidelity and killing him automatically will make [Vice President] Biden take over the presidency. . . . Biden is totally unprepared for that post, which will lead the U.S. into a crisis. As for Petraeus, he is the man of the hour . . . and killing him would alter the war’s path” in Afghanistan.

Administration officials said Friday that the Obama-Petraeus plot was never a serious threat.

Categories
Mitt Romney Politics

Hey Mitt, Republicans are Just Not Into You

A new Gallup poll is confirming what we’ve all known since Willard announced his intentions to run for president last year – that Republican voters just don’t like the Romney, and when compared to John McCain’s campaign in 2008, enthusiasm for Mitt Romney is almost nonexistent.

A little more than one-third of Republicans say they would vote “enthusiastically” for either Mitt Romney or Rick Santorum if either candidate were to win their party’s nomination for president. Slightly fewer say they would vote enthusiastically for Newt Gingrich. This level of enthusiasm is similar to Republicans’ feelings about voting for Romney in early 2008, but lower than the enthusiasm level for that year’s eventual GOP nominee, John McCain.

But Mittens is not concerned. In a recent Fox News interview, Romney predicted that Republicans would just fall in line and support his candidacy.

“Some who are very conservative may not yet be in my camp, but they will be when I become the nominee, when I confront Barack Obama,” he said.

Categories
Politics

Watch “The Road We’ve Traveled” by The Obama Administration – Video

The presidential campaign released their official video today, showing the first three years of the Obama Presidency. It is a must see.

Categories
George Bush Politics

Fox News Admits – Presidents Cannot Influence Gas Prices

What happened? There was a time when the situation was the same but the message was very different, when gas prices edged above $4.00 a gallon and Americans felt like they were being robbed at the pump. A “news” network called Fox News came to the rescue, armed with facts and a burning desire to tell us all that the president had no control over gas prices. That was 2007/2008.

Today, if you only listen to Fox News, you will be under the impression that the increases in the price of oil are nothing more than the handy work of President Obama and you may actually think that the profits deposited into Obama’s personal bank account.

But a quick travel back in time to 2007/2008 reveals these same Fox News pundits, as they go out of their way to make sure Americans know the president cannot bring down the price of gas.

So what changed? The president, that’s what. In 2007 a Republican president by the name of George Bush was in power and now, a Democrat name Barack Obama is in the White House.

So to conclude, Republican presidents have absolutely zero control over gas prices, but Democratic presidents does. Words of wisdom, according to Fox News.

Categories
Politics

Pat Robertson Flip Flops on Global Warming

Just a few years ago in 2007, Evangelist Pat Robertson expressed his concerns about global warming, saying that if we are contributing to destroying the world by burning fossil fuel, then we must change our ways.

But apparently,  the talking-points of the right wing finally made their way to Robertson’s “Christian” Broadcasting Network and instead of preaching the word to his faithful followers, Pat Robertson decided to repeat these talking-points, thus, intentionally misleading his flock.

Below is the same Pat Roberts, but a different message.

Categories
Politics Rick Santorum

Surprise – Here’s Another Dumb Statement by Rick Santorum

Just another dumb statement in the loooong and growing list of things a Republican presidential wanna-be has said. This time, Rick Santorum does the favor while explaining why Puerto Rico cannot be the 51st state.

In an interview with a San Juan newspaper, El Vocero, Santorum said English would have to be the “main language” if Puerto Rico were to become a state.

“As in any other state, you have to comply with this and any federal law. And that is that English has to be the main language,” Santorum told the paper. “There are other states with more than one language as is the case in Hawaii, but to be a state in the United States, English has to be the main language.”

There is no federal law designating English as the country’s official language, although some states and local governments have adopted such “English only” laws.

Puerto Rico is a U.S. commonwealth. Its residents are U.S. citizens but can only vote for president in the primaries, nor do they have a voting representative in Congress. Puerto Ricans will hold a referendum Nov. 6 on the island’s political status. Statehood, independence and no change in status are the three options. Regardless of the outcome, Congress must approve any change in status.

Categories
contraception Politics

Republicans Again on the Wrong Side of The Contraception Issue.

A vast majority of Americans – up to 77% – agree with President Obama and Democrats on the heavily debated contraception issue. But don’t tell that to the Republicans, as they all gladly hop on the dune buggy and continue digging down deeper in the gutters.

Americans overwhelmingly regard the debate over President Barack Obama’s policy on employer-provided contraceptive coverage as a matter of women’s health, not religious freedom, rejecting Republicans’ rationale for opposing the rule. More than three-quarters say the topic shouldn’t even be a part of the U.S. political debate.

More than six in 10 respondents to a Bloomberg National Poll — including almost 70 percent of women — say the issue involves health care and access to birth control, according to the survey taken March 8-11.

Categories
Planned Parenthood Politics

Mitt Romney – “Planned Parenthood, We’re Gonna Get Rid Of That”

Mitt Romney finally began talking about some of the things his administration would do to balance the budget, and one if those things seems to be getting rid of Planned Parenthood – the organization that provides health benefits like cancer screenings to millions if women throughout this country. Referring to Planned Parenthood, Romney said, “we’re gonna get rid of that.”

To help nail this irresponsible Romney policy home, the DNC created this video.

Categories
Alabama Mitt Romney Politics

Mitt Romney – All the Grits In The World Cannot Help You Win The South

Although he won some delegates in Mississippi and Alabama in yesterday’s primaries, Romney’s clear focus on “math” as his only way to winning the Republican nomination is quite frankly, lame. What we are  witnessing before our very eyes is a Republican candidate who is proving time and time again, that he simply cannot win a majority of the Republican votes in southern states – something that must be done if he expects to come close to competing against President Obama in the general elections.

Given yet another chance to seal the deal and wrap up this primary process, Romney placed third with 29% of the votes in Alabama with Gingrich slightly ahead. Santorum came in first with 35%. The story wasn’t much different in Mississippi – Santorum 33%, Gingrich 31% and Romney 30%. For entertainment value, 4% of the Republicans voted for Ron Paul. But even with this problem with winning the popular vote in southern States on their hands, Romney’s campaign went on CNN to highlight that they managed to win some delegates in those two states, inching them even more closer to the magic figure of 1144 – the total amount needed to win the Republican nomination. According to a CNN tally, Romney has 489 and leads second place Santorum by 255 delegates.

But can math alone bring Mitt Romney a victory? Newt Gingrich puts it this way: “The elite media’s effort to convince the nation that Mitt Romney is inevitable just collapsed. The fact is that in both states, the conservative candidates got nearly 70% of the vote, and if you’re the frontrunner and you keep coming in third, you’re not much of a frontrunner. And frankly, I do not believe that a Massachusetts moderate who created Romneycare as the forerunner of Obamneycare is going to be in a position to win any debates this fall, and that is part of the reason I’ve insisted in staying in this race.”

If you’re the Republican candidate and you cannot get Republicans in Republican states to vote for you, then you have some serious problems. The math may work to get you the nomination, but at some point, you have to prove you can get the votes.

McKay Coppins wrote:

“…while the campaign’s slow, methodical approach to collecting delegates in obscure, boring, or otherwise un-noteworthy contests has served them well logistically, it hasn’t helped them win the argument. The rhetoric of strength and leadership that could give them momentum heading into the general has been replaced with a list of math-centered talking points that deal with delegate counts, percentages, and margins of victory.

Campaign in poetry and govern in prose, the old political adage goes. The Romney campaign, it appears, has chosen to forego words altogether and make their case with numbers. But how long can the party’s would-be standard-bearer hinge his entire campaign message on math?”

Categories
Alabama Mitt Romney Politics

Post Primary Blues: The GOP’s Gone South “Y’all!”

Rick pulls off the daily double and the race pushes on. I can’t say as I’m terribly surprised but the results certainly were a sharp rebuke to Romney and his claims to be a conservative. Perhaps in the fall, when he’s the nominee, this will help him as moderate voters will determine this election.

The Mississippi Results:

Predict             Survey says!

Gingrich          33%                  31.3%

Romney          32%                  30.3%

Santorum        29%                  32.9%

Paul                 6%                    4.4%

And Alabama

Romney          32%                  29.0%

Gingrich          31%                  29.3%

Santorum        30%                  34.5%

Paul                 6%                    5.0%

The GOP will win these two states in the fall, so no worries there. Newt Gingrich has promised to fight on, but he’s lost any claim to being the conservative alternative to Romney and can only be a spoiler. Santorum can say all he wants about being the nominee, but I don’t see him winning any of the big, less conservative states still to come. If he can manage to pick off a couple (IL, NY, CA), then we’ll talk. My take is that this positions Rick as a possible VP candidate if he has enough delegates and clout to force the issue in Tampa.

I’m sure that recent polls showing president Obama to be vulnerable (again and still) have emboldened conservatives not to settle on a candidate they don’t want. The remaining question is whether they want to go all in for Santorum.

For more, please go to: www.facebook.com/WhereDemocracyLives and Twitter @rigrundfest  

Categories
China Politics

President Obama will File Trade Case Against China

Two weeks ago, President Obama formed the Trade Enforcement Unit to investigate unfair economic practices by other countries.

But even as that organization comes online, the President is taking additional steps to ensure that American products are competing on a level playing field with the rest of the world.

That’s why he made an announcement this morning in the White House Rose Garden:

We’re bringing a new trade case against China — and we’re being joined by Japan and some of our European allies. This case involves something called rare earth materials, which are used by American manufacturers to make high-tech products like advanced batteries that power everything from hybrid cars to cell phones.

We want our companies building those products right here in America. But to do that, American manufacturers need to have access to rare earth materials — which China supplies. Now, if China would simply let the market work on its own, we’d have no objections. But their policies currently are preventing that from happening. And they go against the very rules that China agreed to follow.

The reasoning behind this effort is simple: President Obama believes that it’s too important for American manufacturers to be able to compete in these growing industries for the U.S. government to stand by and do nothing.

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