Category: Politics

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Barack Obama Donald Trump Donald Trump Mitt Romney Politics Republican Sarah Palin United States Wisconsin

Obama Looking Safer In Wisconsin

Those are not my words, it is actually a new headline coming from a new Public Policy Polling. The poll finds that when compared to a previous poll taken in February 2011 when the President approval in Wisconsin “was looking a little more vulnerable,” the new poll shows “increased margins over Romney and the rest of the remaining [GOP] crew.”

The president’s approval rating is up to 52%, with 44% disapproving, double the margin of his 49-45 spread in the previous poll. Meanwhile, all his potential opponents tested have cratered in popularity, with the worst being newly official candidate Newt Gingrich.Gingrich was already at a 26-49 favorability spread in February, but now measures at 15-67, a 29-point decline, and now worse than Sarah Palin’s 32-63.

Romney now trails the president, 51-39, and Gingrich has fallen six points from that same mark to 53-35, just a point better than Palin’s 55-36 deficit. The president wins with independents by 11 to 24 points, but still has room to improve; respondents report voting for him over McCain by only nine points.

The talk now within the conservative media is that Donald Trump actually worked for the President. Conservatives/Republicans have come up with the theory that President Obama sent Trump out with one mission – say the most outrageous things possible, get the Republicans to buy into the nonsense and let the rest of America see how easily gullible and crazy these Republicans are.

But my question to the conservative media is, why stop with Trump? When you look at these results and the huge favorably numbers for the President in Wisconsin, maybe, just maybe the Wisconsin governor Scott Walker is also on the Obama payroll. Maybe President Obama told Walker to implement the most radical union busting policies in Wisconsin, thus, turning the people against the Republicans and in effect, improving the President’s numbers.

And could it be possible that the other Republican governors nationwide are also on the President’s payroll? We’ve all seen the backlash from Americans in Republican led states, thus leading to better approval numbers for Democrats. Could it be? Could it really be?

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Barack Obama Politics Terrorism United States USA PATRIOT Act

Bush’s Patriot Act Pt 2 – Boiling Frogs

As an easily distracted and soundbite sized attention span nation, we are prime fodder for what is called the “boiling frog syndrome”. ‘If you put a frog into a boiling pot of water he would quickly jump out. However a frog in a cool pot of water that is gradually heated would not perceive the danger and would slowly cook to death’.

The premise of this syndrome, that is used here metaphorically, is actually quite a clear illustration of what happens with our acceptance of inflation, the use of our taxes for things that we, in an informed state of mind, would never agree to, etc. But for this particular text the boiling frog syndrome is a clear analogy for the siege on our civil liberties and, indeed, our very constitutional rights.

In October 2001, then President George W. Bush signed into law the congressional act called the “Patriot Act”. Pretty name, it conceals any potential threat to you and I personally… see? THAT’S THE COOL WATER MR & MRS. FROG.

But lets take a closer look at this craftily labeled roll back of civil rights;

This so called Patriot Act law which we are told is a law to ‘counter terrorism’ never clearly defines exactly what is terrorism. This vague definition of terrorism leaves much open to interpretation of  ‘law enforcement agencies’ and agents who are subject to human emotion and racial and ideological influences.

The first amendment says that “Congress shall make no law abridging the right to petition the government for the redress of grievances”. Dear reader, what’s YOUR grievance with the government? On any particular day you may be considered a ‘terrorist’, a potential threat and detained indefinitely. Maybe as an immigrant some law enforcement officer or agency decides you’re a ‘threat’. Keep current on the expanded deportation laws under the so called Patriot Act.

The Patriot Act clearly violates fourth amendment rights as well, which states that “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures SHALL NOT BE VIOLATED”. Many would say “as long as I’m safe” or ” I have nothing to hide”…those are legitimate reasonings, but be very aware that evil goes in like a needle… and spreads.

Be aware that civil rights roll backs are happening ‘in stages’… the water is getting hot…slowly. The constant bombardment of terror threats makes our disappearing civil liberties more acceptable… getting hotter. The fact that it’s Barack Obama that just signed into law a continuance of the Patriot Act makes it more palatable…and look around, it’s getting steamy–but;  “I ignored it”, “The basketball playoffs are on plus I got the new iPhone”, “I heard about that Patriot Act years ago and I knew it didn’t feel right but I was scared so I didn’t open my eyes”, “Recently I saw on the news that the Patriot Act was extended but Trump said something stupid so I forgot…”

Anybody notice how warm it is in here?

SON OF MAN

Categories
Politics Republican Rick Scott United States washington Wisconsin

Republican Governor Rick Scott The Worst In The Nation… Why?

A recent Quinnipiac poll just determined that Republican governor Rick Scott of Florida is the worst governor in the nation with a 29% approval rating. Besides the fact that Scott is a Republican, what other factors would explain this unbelievable fallout with Floridians? Well, maybe his recent budget cut of $615 million dollars to programs that directly affects the residents of his state is a good place to look.

Anxious over their increasing unpopularity, Republicans lawmakers across the country are banning media from chronicling the blowback at public events. Florida’s now deeply disliked Gov. Rick Scott (R) adopted a similar tactic yesterday at a “campaign-style” budget signing ceremony at a town square in The Villages retirement community in Central Florida. Before putting his pen to the $69.7 billion state budget, Scott took an ax to $615 million of what he called “shortsighted, frivolous, wasteful spending.” Scott conveniently failed, however, to mention exactly what some of those “frivolous” programs were, including ones that provide help for the most vulnerable in society:

In his speech Thursday, Scott omitted many of the serious-sounding programs he cut: homeless veterans, meals for poor seniors, a council for deafness, a children’s hospital, cancer research, public radio, whooping-cough vaccines for poor mothers, or aid for the paralyzed.

Rick Scott’s dumb decision-making for the people of Florida does not only stop at his draconian budget slashing, but it also extends to areas where his state was slated to receive funds from the Federal government. The Republican rejected $2.3 billion from the Federal government, effectively cancelling a planned high-speed railroad installation – a move that will affect job creation and income for his state for decades to come.

The rejected funds were then sent to other states including $15 million to Washington State, prompting John Laird of The Columbian to officially deemed Rick Scott Washington’s new BFF. John wrote;

Fellow Washingtonians, hoist your glasses high and let’s toast our state’s newest BFF: Rick Scott.

Because the Florida governor bullheadedly rejected $2.3 billion in federal funding for rail improvements, Washington state is $15 million richer in our own drive for better railroads.

Previous BFFs had been Ohio and Wisconsin, where federal funding also had been turned away, only to be sent to other states. As a result, since February our state’s rail-improvement pot has grown from $590 million to $781 million, all because a few governors were willing to cut off their states’ noses to spite the feds’ face.

The Huffington Post also reported that Scott ran a campaign based on “jobs creation.” No surprise here, because in an atmosphere where many Americans are out of work and finding work is a top priority, many Republican politicians seized on job creations in the 2010 mid-term elections, promising America that if elected, they would deliver the jobs. Well, according to the Huffington Post report, Rick Scott has other priorities to worry about and jobs is not one of them.

In the legislative session that ended Saturday, lawmakers passed no job creation bills for Scott to sign. But they did pass five bills restricting abortion rights and a state budget that cuts nearly 4,500 public sector jobs.

Florida Republicans filed a total of 18 bills to restrict abortion rights during the session — the third most in the country, according to the ACLU, and twice the number of anti-choice laws introduced last year in the state, according to NARAL Pro-Choice America.

These are just some of the reasons this first-term Republican governor is receiving a 29% rating and is considered the worst governor in America. Considering some of the other items on his résumé, I would argue that a 29% approval rating is at least 28% too high.

Categories
Barack Obama New York Osama bin Laden Politics United States USA PATRIOT Act

To Peep Or Not To Peep? That’s Still The Question

A friend of mine texted me last night to inform me that my dear President Barack Obama extended the super controversial Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001 also known as the USA Patriot Act and better known simply as the Patriot Act,  for four more years.

The way my friend texted, “Obama signed an extension to the patriot act,” assured me that he was commenting on the fact that he couldn’t understand how even die-hard pro-Obama fans would think that the President could operate out of the White House in any way  other than the old status quo or business-as-usual. That Obama or any President for that matter – even with the best of intentions during their naive campaigning debut – would have any real authority to do anything other than what has already been laid out for him/her as a course of action by the omnipotent “powers that be”.

I realize that the Patriot Act was the cause of much public outcry following its initiation after 911 by the Bush Administration, paticularly because of how it dramatically reduced restrictions on law enforcement agencies’ ability to search telephone, e-mail, medical, financial, and other records of US citizens. Americans felt the invasion of privacy was unwarranted.

I think that was especially true in lieu of the fact that George Bush had declared on several occasions, that he was no longer interested in hunting for the man whom most Americans were led to believe was the mastermind behind terrorists acts against this  and other countries. And no “weapons of mass destruction” were ever uncovered during his administration either.

The sentiment had been that we were being punished for our government’s short-comings in handling the Bush/Cheney “War on Terrorism”. And now we have President Barack Obama, fresh on the heels of capturing and slaying Osama Bin Laden – who we’re  told was responsible for killing almost 3,000 people in New York that fateful day – now extending the hated act for another four years (which btw, pretty much covers a full term in the President’s seat for 2012).

My response to my buddy who sent me that text?

Well, although I can partake in a good conspiracy theory as well as the next guy, in the wake of Bin Laden’s demise at President’s Obama’s  hands I’m willing to give the President the benefit of the doubt on this. It’s possible he knows something we do not.  Unlike Bush, Barack Obama has actually struck a real blow to those who have been deemed as an enemy to the nation’s security, which can in turn provoke a serious counter attack. Perhaps it will be counter intelligence and not torture that will finally win the war on terrorism. And perhaps this is something we should just trust the President of the United States on.

Categories
Politics Republican Wisconsin

A Victory For Democracy In Wisconsin – Walker’s Bill Voided

The fight officially began on Thursday when Dane County Circuit Judge Maryann Sumi froze Scott Walker’s union busting law, calling it a violation of Wisconsin’s Open Meetings Law. The legislation, if enacted, would take away the collective bargaining rights for all public employees, except firefighters and police officers. The 34 page decision voided Walker’s power grab, saying that it “has no force or effect.”

The judge explains the reason for the decision;

An Open Meetings Law is not necessary to ensure openness in easy, noncontroversial matters where no one cares whether the meeting is open or not. Like the First Amendment which exists to protect unfavored speech, the Open Meetings Law exists to ensure open government in controversial matters.

The Open Meetings Law functions to ensure that these difficult matters are decided without bias or regard for issues such as race, gender or economic status, and with regard for the interests of the community. This requires, with very few exceptions, that government meetings be held in full view of the community.

In their rush to push through this piece of legislation, Republicans openly violated Wisconsin’s Open Meetings Law, which requires that all meetings proceed after at least a 24 hour notice and be held in an open forum. You may recall that even during the meeting, Republicans were constantly warned by Democratic Representative Peter Barca, that they were violating the law, but they continued anyway:

BARCA: The opening meetings laws must be construed in favor of the fullness and –

REPUBLICAN CHAIRMAN: Mr. Barca– Representative Barca.

REPUBLICAN: Call roll.

BARCA: No, no, listen. If there’s any doubt as to whether good cause exists, the governmental body should provide 24 hours’ notice. This is clearly a violation of the open meetings law. Now, if you shut the people down, it is improper to move forward with the open meetings law. You’re not allowing it. And that is why. Mr. chairman, this is a violation of law. This is not just a rule, it is the law. There must be –

REPUBLICAN CHARIMAN: You’re wrong.

BARCA: No, Mr. Chairman, this is a violation of the open meetings law. It requires 24 — at least 24 hours’ notice. Excuse me.

On March 18th, Judge Sumi placed a temporary hold on the implementation of Walker’s rushed bill. On Thursday, the bill was struck down. Walker is promising to take the case all the way to the Supreme court.

Republican Steven Means, executive assistant to the state’s Attorney General said, “Obviously, we’re disappointed in the ruling. We do think it reflects a number of legal errors, but it’s for the appellate courts at this point.”

Democrats on the other hand, are happy with the decision.”It’s what we were looking for,” said Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne.

Until the next round is played out in the higher courts, Americans and the middle class workers in Wisconsin can exhale. Democracy has won this round.

Categories
Barack Obama Ed Schultz MSNBC Politics Right-wing politics Ronald Reagan Slut

Ed Shultz Suspended For Calling Laura Ingraham A “Slut”

Ed Shultz sometimes gets carried away. He’s very emotional about the issues of the times. But did he cross the line when he called a right winged host a “right winged slut?” Many may agree with Mr. Shultz on this, especially when talking about Laura Ingraham.

What did Ed say?

“President Obama is going to be visiting Joplin, Mo., on Sunday but you know what they’re talking about, like this right-wing slut, what’s her name?, Laura Ingraham? Yeah, she’s a talk slut. You see, she was, back in the day, praising President Reagan when he was drinking a beer overseas. But now that Obama’s doing it, they’re working him over.”

Mrs Ingraham replied on her Facebook page, saying;

Re. the crude comments made about me by Ed Schultz on his radio program: First, I was surprised to learn that Ed Schultz actually hosted a radio show. Is it only available online? Second, I have to get back to recording the audio edition of my new book “Of Thee I Zing.” Now I’m tempted to insert one additional zing–about men who preach civility but practice misogyny.

And apparently, MSNBC executives agree that Ed went too far. Today, they have suspended Ed for a week because of the online out-cry from different blogs calling for some action to be taken.

Here’s the audio of Ed, talking about Laura Ingraham on his radio show;

 

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
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.

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