Category: Politics

Categories
Politics

Republicans Vote To Defund Space Exploration

The Republicans in the House of Representatives have been on a rampage, trying to take as much from the middle class as they’re allowed to, and in many ways, they have succeeded. Now, House Republicans are turning their cross-hairs on NASA and one project they are aiming to shutd0wn is the James Webb Space Telescope, a device that will replace the Hubble Space Telescope, and promises to take space exploration to a whole new level.

Work on the James Webb Space Telescope began in 2004, and had an original cost of $1.6 billion. It is scheduled to launch in 2016 and compared with its more advanced technologies to the Hubble, the James Webb Telescope will be able to go further into space where no man or machine has ever gone – an estimated distance of 1 million miles outside the earth’s atmosphere, capturing images from the formations of galaxies and stars, images never seen by man.

Although the project began 7 years ago, the original costs were grossly understated. The $1.6 billion has ballooned to more than $6.5 billion, and for this reason, House Republicans have voted to strip the James Webb Telescope of $1.9 billion, effectively killing the entire project. The only hope for the project to continue would be the Democratic controlled Senate, who must also vote on the measure.

Tod Lauer, of the National Optical Astronomy Observatory in Tucson, had this to say about the Republican’s decision to defund the project:

“[Cancellation] would be an unmitigated disaster for cosmology. After two decades of pushing the Hubble to its limits, which has revolutionised astronomy, the next step would be to pack up and give up. The Hubble is just good enough to see what we’re missing at the start of time.” The James Webb would be able to fill in those gaps.”

The good thing is, Neil Armstrong already landed on the moon. This batch of Republicans would have tried taking that away too.

Categories
Arizona Mitt Romney Politics Republican Sarah Palin United States

America Slowly Abandons The Spectacle That Is Sarah Palin

Even in Alaska, Sarah Palin’s popularity is plummeting. A new poll is shedding some light on the Republican and her possible quest to run for President in 2012.

Ivan Moore Research finds that nearly half of all Alaska voters view Ms. Palin in negative terms. Forty-nine percent of the 647 registered Alaskan voters it polled said they felt negatively about Ms. Palin , while only 39 percent say they held a positive opinion of Ms. Palin.

The poll comes as the former Alaska governor continues to consider entering the 2012 race for the Republican presidential nomination.

Ms. Palin, who has increased her national profile in recent weeks, launched a nationwide bus tour last month, but abandoned the media spectacle after just one week.

Now we understand her possible move to Arizona.

Categories
Barack Obama marriage Politics Republican Party Slavery United States

For Bachmann, Children Born Into Slavery Were Happier

Call her crazy, call her insane, call her deranged. But no matter what you call her, just don’t call Michele Bachmann a woman of intelligence. Michele Bachmann has stepped up to the plate, and signed a pledge claiming that children born under slavery, were better off than children born under President Obama’s Administration.

Yes, “dumb” and “stupid” also accurately describe this Republican contender for the 2012 Presidential election.

The pledge that caught Mrs. Bachmann’s attention was written by Bob Vander Plaats of Ohio and is called, “The Marriage Vow: A Declaration of Dependence upon MARRIAGE and FAMILY.” In it, the signee agrees to some very outlandish positions. All Republican candidates for President in 2012 are expected to sign the pledge – a pledge that calls for, among other things;

  • Reinstating Don’t Ask Don’t Tell – the military policy that requires military personal to keep their sexual orientation a secret. After a 17 year run in the military, this policy came to an end in December of 2010 when Congress voted and got it overturned.
  • Rejecting Sharia Islam and all other anti-woman, anti-human rights forms of totalitarian control. – Republicans, for whatever reasoning, seems to be under the impression that Sharia Law is coming to America, and the U.S Constitution, (which is what the laws of this nation are governed by) will be shredded to pieces.
  • “Recognition that robust childbearing and reproduction is beneficial to U.S. demographic, economic, strategic and actuarial health and security.” – Another attempt to ban abortion, and with the word “robust,” the implication is made that no matter how the pregnancy occurs, whether its through rape or incest, “childbearing and reproduction is beneficial to U.S demographic.”
  • A Federal Amendment to the U.S Constitution, defining marriage as an act between a man and a woman.
These are just some of the positions the signees of this pledge will be asked to uphold. But what really stands in the “Declaration of Dependence upon MARRIAGE and FAMILY” pledge, is the section that says this;
“Slavery had a disastrous impact on African-American families, yet sadly a child born into slavery in 1860 was more likely to be raised by his mother and father in a two-parent household than was an African-American baby born after the election of the USA’s first African-American President.”
Cheryl Contee from Jack and Jill Politics said it best:

Given that families were broken up regularly for sales during slavery and that rape by masters was pretty common, this could not be more offensive. I mean, putting aside the statistics on this, which are likely off-base, I could not be more angry.

When will Republicans inquire with actual Black people whether or not we’re ok with invoking slavery to score cheap political points? It has to stop. It is the opposite of persuasive  and is another reason Republicans repel us. It’s hard to believe that Michele Bachmann would be foolish enough to sign this pledge.
The Desmoines Register reports that Michele Bachmann is the first Republican presidential hopeful to sign the pledge.
Oh Michele, just when we think we’ve seen how low you can go, you somehow manage to surprise us – proving once again that we should never underestimate your infinite stupidity.
Categories
CNN Politics Republican United States washington

Republicans And Their Jim Crow Ways

Former President Bill Clinton just figured out what the Republicans are doing. In a speech to a liberal group at the Campus Progress’s annual conference in Washington on Wednesday, Mr. Clinton broke the news – the Republicans are trying to disenfranchise minority voters.

“I can’t help thinking since we just celebrated the Fourth of July and we’re supposed to be a country dedicated to liberty that one of the most pervasive political movements going on outside Washington today is the disciplined, passionate, determined effort of Republican governors and legislators to keep most of you from voting next time.

“There has never been in my lifetime, since we got rid of the poll tax and all the Jim Crow burdens on voting, the determined effort to limit the franchise that we see today.

“They [Republicans] are trying to make the 2012 electorate look more like the 2010 electorate than the 2008 electorate,” Clinton added, referencing the dip in youth voter turnout in the 2010 elections. “Are you fighting? You should be fighting it.”

Jim Crow laws were enacted in the United States for almost 100 years, from 1876 to 1965. The laws were responsible for what was called, “separate but equal,” – a doctrine that demanded separate facilities be set up for blacks and whites, from restaurants to restrooms to drinking fountains to schools and other public places. Jim Crow laws also implemented stiff fines and fees, designed to keep blacks from voting.

So far, 13 Republican governed states have changed their voter registration laws, including Wisconsin, Ohio, Florida and Texas. And although these Republican governors wouldn’t admit to it, the reasoning for making voting more difficult in these states is to discourage the minority vote.

But Clinton is not the first to call out the Republicans on their Jim Crow-like efforts to keep the minority vote away from the polls. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the Democratic Committee Chairman told CNN back in June that Republicans “want to literally drag us all the way back to Jim Crow laws.”

Mrs. Schultz eventually apologize for using the words “Jim Crow,” what she called, ” the wrong analogy to use,” but the fact still remains the same – trying to make voting more difficult for a particular group of people, whether its 1911 or 2011, whether it’s through fines or changing voting laws to disenfranchise this group, the words Jim Crow in my view, are very appropriate.

Categories
Politics

Rupert Murdoch’s U.K Paper Shuts Down Amid Phone Hacking Investigation

Rupert Murdoch, owner of Fox News and the United Kingdom’s “News Of The World” news paper, got some bad news today. The 168 year old paper is shutting down, publishing its last paper this Sunday amid an ongoing investigation into the company’s authorization of phone tapping.

BBC reports a statement from the current chairman of News Of The World, Murdoch, advising his staff of the decision to close the paper.

In a statement made to staff, Mr Murdoch said the good things the News of the World does “have been sullied by behaviour that was wrong – indeed, if recent allegations are true, it was inhuman and has no place in our company”.

“The News of the World is in the business of holding others to account. But it failed when it came to itself.”

He went on: “In 2006, the police focused their investigations on two men. Both went to jail. But the News of the World and News International failed to get to the bottom of repeated wrongdoing that occurred without conscience or legitimate purpose.

“Wrongdoers turned a good newsroom bad and this was not fully understood or adequately pursued.

“As a result, the News of the World and News International wrongly maintained that these issues were confined to one reporter.

“We now have voluntarily given evidence to the police that I believe will prove that this was untrue and those who acted wrongly will have to face the consequences. This was not the only fault.

“The paper made statements to Parliament without being in the full possession of the facts. This was wrong.

“The company paid out-of-court settlements approved by me. I now know that I did not have a complete picture when I did so. This was wrong and is a matter of serious regret.”

He reiterated that the company was fully co-operating with the two ongoing police investigations.

Categories
Democrat Democratic hypocrites Politics Republican washington

Bill Clinton Blames Republicans For Present Economic Woes

Former President Bill Clinton blamed Republicans in Congress for the state of the economy. Mr. Clinton called out the  GOP as hypocrites for implementing massive tax cuts and increased spending during the Bush administration, policies that directly contributed to the present recession.

Speaking to a group of liberal group activists in Washington, Clinton said, “”Partly because the Republicans who control the House and have a lot of pull in the Senate have now decided, having quadrupled the debt in 12 years before I took office and doubled it after I left, that it’s all of a sudden the biggest problem in the world.”

The former President, who opposes spending cuts in a downward economy, again expressed his concerns with the present budget talks, and he referenced the United Kingdom and their mistake of cutting spending at a time when spending should have been increased. Clinton continued;

“In the current budget debate, there’s all this discussion about how much will come from spending cuts, how much will come from tax increases, and almost nobody is talking about one of the central points – that everyone who’s analyzed the situation makes, including the bipartisan Simpson-Bowles commission, which said you shouldn’t do any of this until the economy is clearly recovering.

“Because if you do things that dampen economic growth, and the U.K. is finding this out now, they adopted this big austerity budget, and there’s a good chance that economic activity will go down so much that tax revenues will be reduced even more than spending is cut, and their deficit will increase.”

President Obama meets today with both Republican and Democratic leaders to discuss the debt ceiling. Democrats have offered about $3 trillion in defense and other spending cuts and they have asked Republicans to agree on closing some tax loopholes that benefits millionaires and billionaires. Republicans have so far, dismissed this proposal and have demanded Democrats leave these loopholes alone.

Categories
Politics South Carolina United States

Republican Suggests Impeaching President Obama For Maybe Invoking The 14th Amendment

Section 4 of the 14th Amendment of the United States Constitution says:

The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned.

Because of this amendment, many suggests that Congressional authorization to raise the debt ceiling is not necessary, as not doing so would mean that America defaults on its obligation to pay its debt, thus, going against the 14th amendment of the constitution.

Republicans – who have stood their ground in insisting that raising the debt ceiling is not going to happen – are now scrambling to find a way to defeat section 4 of the 14th amendment. Some have suggested an amendment to the 14th amendment and others like Rep. Tim Scott of South Carolina, went even further. He wants to impeach President Obama if the President even thinks about trying to raise the debt ceiling without congress. The South Carolina representative recently told a teaparty audience;

“This president is looking to usurp congressional oversight to find a way to get it done without us. My position is that is an impeachable act from my perspective.”

There are a lot of things people say, ‘Are you going to impeach the president over that?’ — No. But this? This is catastrophic. This jeopardizes the credibility of our nation if one man can usurp the entire system set up by our founding fathers over something this significant.”

It should be noted that President Obama has never mentioned an intent to “usurp the entire system.” As a matter of fact, this president has gone the extra mile trying to bring both Republicans and Democrats to the table, in an effort to get the Congressional authorization necessary for allowing America to pay her bills.

But then again, Republicans like Tim Scott would like to impeach President Obama just for being president.

Categories
Barack Obama MSNBC Pat Buchanan Politics Republican United States

Pat Buchanan Predicts That Obama Will “Fold” On Debt Ceiling

Politics were on full display on MSNBC’s Morning Joe with Pat Buchanan demanding that Republicans do nothing on the upcoming vote to raise the debt ceiling. Buchanan’s reasoning to his Republican friends in Congress? – Don’t raise the debt ceiling because “Obama will fold!”

In his call for the Republicans to do nothing, Pat Buchanan went as far as to suggest that if Republicans do what’s best for the country and raise the debt ceiling, Boehner and the rest of the  Republicans will not be able to go home and face their constituents. When it was explained to Buchanan that it is simply impossible to balance the budget on spending cuts alone without bringing in revenues from taxes at the same time, Buchanan replied;

If you take a look at John Boehner, he can’t go home again if he signs on to taxes. He’s dead if he signs on to higher taxes.

It should be noted that the “higher taxes” Buchanan and Republicans in general are talking about, is a 3% raise in the tax rate of millionaires and billionaires – essentially going back to the rate as they existed under Bill Clinton.

Apparently, the politics of doing nothing and further tanking the economy, will be better for Republicans and their constituents, notwithstanding the fact that this political decision will cause severe consequences to the nation’s economy.

Categories
Politics Republican Tax United States

David Brooks – These Infected Republicans Are Unfit To Lead

If the debt ceiling talks fail, independent voters will see that Democrats were willing to compromise but Republicans were not. If responsible Republicans don’t take control, independents will conclude that Republican fanaticism caused this default. They will conclude that Republicans are not fit to govern.

And they will be right.

Those are the words as written by David Brooks – a columnist for the New York Times who is described by David Warren, of  Real Clear Politics, as someone who shares the Conservative Republican ideology. The piece, published on July 4th, is called The Mother of All No-Brainers, and in it, Brooks spoke about the Republican party as being “infected by a faction that is more of a psychological protest than a practical, governing alternative.”

“The members of this movement,” Brooks continued, “do not accept the logic of compromise, no matter how sweet the terms. If you ask them to raise taxes by an inch in order to cut government by a foot, they will say no. If you ask them to raise taxes by an inch to cut government by a yard, they will still say no.”

Brooks proved his point by referencing the debate going on in Washington about raising the debt ceiling, where Democrats and the President have already signaled their willingness to cut defense and entitlement spending if Republicans are willing to close some tax loopholes that benefit millionaires. This willingness by the Democrats would cut about $3 trillion in spending, for a few billion in savings by closing these tax loopholes. According to Brooks, the real Republican party should “seize the opportunity to put the country on a sound fiscal footing,” but the infection would not allow that to happen.

Speaking further on this “infection”, Brooks says;

The members of this movement do not accept the legitimacy of scholars and intellectual authorities. A thousand impartial experts may tell them that a default on the debt would have calamitous effects, far worse than raising tax revenues a bit. But the members of this movement refuse to believe it.

The members of this movement have no sense of moral decency. A nation makes a sacred pledge to pay the money back when it borrows money. But the members of this movement talk blandly of default and are willing to stain their nation’s honor.

The same Republicans who were responsible for raising the debt ceiling under the Bush Administration on numerous occasions did it then because they knew the importance of America paying its bills. These same Republicans are now willing to allow the country to default on these bills, in order to point to the present administration as being irresponsible and unable to lead. That argument they’re hoping, would be enough to win them the  elections in 2012.

Americans sent both Democrats and Republicans to congress with one request – lead. In order to effectively do that, both party must be able to come together and solve the nation’s problems. But Republicans have shown, time and time again, that they are not willing to come together to solve anything. Republicans are more willing to assist in pushing the economy back into a ditch, even if it means millions of Americans suffer in the process.

Categories
Barack Obama George Bush Politics Republican Tax break United States

More On The Debt Ceiling From President Obama

President Obama again spoke directly to the American people to let them know what he expects on the upcoming vote to raise the Debt Ceiling. Republicans, who approved massive spending under George Bush, are now willing to put the country into default, to  now pay the bills incurred under their spending spree.

President Obama signaled his willingness to cut spending, if Republicans will agree to raising the tax rate on millionaires and billionaires.

To get there, I believe we need a balanced approach.  We need to take on spending in domestic programs, in defense programs, in entitlement programs, and we need to take on spending in the tax code — spending on certain tax breaks and deductions for the wealthiest of Americans.  This will require both parties to get out of our comfort zones, and both parties to agree on real compromise.

I’m ready to do that.  I believe there are enough people in each party that are willing to do that.  What I know is that we need to come together over the next two weeks to reach a deal that reduces the deficit and upholds the full faith and credit of the United States government and the credit of the American people.

President’s address below.

Categories
Politics Republican Party (United States) United States

Republicans To Americans – E.Coli Is Not Important

House Republicans just voted to defund our only protection against E-Coli – a disease that is contracted by eating contaminated foods like fruits and vegetables. The Microbiological Data Program was responsible for the screening and testing of these food products, but Republicans have voted to shut it down.

The House last month approved a bill that would end funding for the 10-year-old Microbiological Data Program, which tests about 15,000 annual samples of vulnerable produce such as sprouts, lettuce, spinach, tomatoes, cantaloupe and cilantro for pathogens including salmonella and E. coli

Defunding this agency makes it more possible for Corporations to cut corners in the food preparations industries, thus, increasing the likelihood that more contaminated produce will be served on our tables.

At a time when “48 million foodborne illness cases occur in the United States every year,” and  “at least 128,000 Americans are hospitalized, and 3,000 die after eating contaminated food,” the Republican controlled House of Representatives’ decision to defund this important food screening agency is just another example of the Republican  motto:  “Corporations Over The American People”.

Categories
Chuck Schumer Mitch McConnell Politics Republican United States

Republicans – Flushing The Economy Down The Drain For Political Gain

“Do they simply want the economy to go down the drain to further their political gain? They seem to be against anything that may create jobs, because they view a weak economy as key to their political chances in 2012.

“It’s an uncomfortable question, to be sure. Are they trying to undermine the economy on purpose, for political gain? Harry Truman had a do-nothing Congress. The Republicans seem to be trying to make this a do-nothing-on-the-economy Congress.”

Better late than never. Finally, Senator Chuck Schumer and other Congressional Democrats are beginning to believe what the rest of America has known since Rush Limbaugh’s  admission a few weeks after President Obama was sworn in: “I want this president to fail”. And ever since then Congressional Republicans have been on a mission to make sure Rush Limbaugh gets his wish.

The Republican leader in the Senate, Mitch McConnell also expressed Limbaugh’s sentiments when in October 2010, he explained what his number one priority was. No, it wasn’t fixing the economy. No, it wasn’t finding ways to put Americans back to work, and if you thought his number one priority was making sure America recovers from this recession, then you’ll be wrong again. McConnell, the Republican’s leader,  said his party’s  number one priority was to make sure President Obama was a one term president. In an interview with the National Journal, this was the exchange with McConnell;

MCCONNELL: We need to be honest with the public. This election is about them, not us. And we need to treat this election as the first step in retaking the government. We need to say to everyone on Election Day, “Those of you who helped make this a good day, you need to go out and help us finish the job.”

NATIONAL JOURNAL: What’s the job?

MCCONNELL: The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president.

President Obama was sworn in on January 20th, 2009, and now, a little over 2 years into his presidency, Congressional Democrats are finally seeing the light. Schumer continued;

“If there’s one thing the GOP has stood for throughout their history, it’s free trade. When Senator Baucus unveiled an agreement to proceed, you would have thought Republicans would jump for joy. Instead, Republicans took us down the rabbit hole once again.”

“Are Republicans opposing yet another measure they once supported simply because that measure might be good for the economy?” Schumer asked, also citing GOP opposition to recent measures like a payroll tax cut and to small business development programs.

Pressed by a reporter on whether he really believes the GOP wants to destroy the economy on purpose, Schumer went further than ever before, taking things out of the realm of the hypothetical.

“It’s a thought you don’t want to believe,” Schumer said, “but every day they keep giving us more and more evidence that there’s no choice but to answer Yes.”

With Republicans like this in government, who needs terrorists? We’ve  got our own, and they’re actively working to destroy the very foundation of this country.

Exit mobile version