Category: Politics

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Politics Republican Sarah Palin South Carolina United States

Sarah Palin Is Just Folksy Slangs and Bumper-Sticker Generalities

That description is not coming from me, but from her fellow Republicans who question whether she should be nominated for President in 2012, or even if her name should be mentioned as a potential candidate.

Steven Thomma reports;

At a recent gathering in South Carolina, the site of a crucial early presidential primary next year, party activists said the former Alaska governor didn’t have the experience, the knowledge of issues or the ability to get beyond folksy slang and bumper-sticker generalities that they think is needed to win and govern.

Many are shopping for someone else. They’re looking at Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., for example, and seeing what they call a smarter, more experienced candidate who’s equally as conservative.

“Sarah Palin with a brain,” said Gail Moore, a Republican from Columbia.

While national polls show that Palin still would win the support of about one in five Republicans in a national face-off today for the nomination, she no longer can claim the dominant role she enjoyed when she burst out of the 2008 campaign as the undisputed star of the party. She’s also losing ground quickly among independents, who hold the keys to the White House.

“Her major weakness is that she needs to bone up on how the government works,” said Don Long, a retiree from Lake Wylie, S.C. “I don’t know if she’s done as much of that as she needs to.”

Equally funny is their assumption that Michele Bachmann has a brain, or is more electable than Palin is. But these potential nominees exemplifies the Republican conundrum.  When you’re stuck between a rock and a hard place, just pray that you’re not claustrophobic!

Read the rest of the report here.

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Democratic Politics Republican Party (United States) Wisconsin Wisconsin Union Bashing

Wisconsin Assembly Approves Anti-Union Bill

Early Friday morning, after three days of a Democratic filibusterer, Wisconsin State Assembly voted and passed the bill stripping union public workers of their collective bargaining rights. The bill still has to be approved in the state’s Senate, where Senate Democrats have been missing in action for over a week now.

State Assembly Democrats are not happy with how the vote was held. According to reporting from Huffington Post, many Democratic members did not even know the vote was being called. The report states;

After more than 60 hours in which Democrats threw out dozens of amendments and delivered rambling speeches, Republicans halted debate early Friday. In a matter of seconds, they had approved the bill. Only a few Democrats realized what was going on and managed to vote before the roll was closed.

The Democrats rose from their seats and rushed at the Republicans shouting, “Shame!” as the Republicans exited the chamber.

“I’m incensed. I’m shocked,” said Rep. John Richards, D-Milwaukee. “What a terrible, terrible day for Wisconsin.”

Republicans refused to speak to reporters, though Majority Leader Scott Suder, R-Abbotsford, did issue a written statement.

“The vote we took wasn’t the easy thing to do, but it was the right thing to do,” Suder said.

We are witnessing the dismantling of the constitutionally protected first amendment for Wisconsin public employees, where simply having their union representative sit at a negotiating table and speak on their behalf is slowly being taken away.

Read the report here.

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Barack Obama Health Care Politics Repeal Republican United States

Poll Finds Half Of Americans Believe Health Care Was Repealed

In a nation of newspapers, radios, televised media and even the internet including the google, information is still not reaching the masses. Or, maybe the masses don’t want to accept the information that they’re getting. In either case, a new  Kaiser Health poll found that only half of Americans know that Health Care was not repealed.

According to the poll, 48% of Americans either believed the law was repealed or did not know enough about the law to say whether it was still in effect. Just 52% of Americans correctly know that the law is still in effect.

Congressional Republicans can therefore exhale. If half of Americans think the bill has already been repealed, then what’s the fuss? John Boehner should just let this segment of society – probably ardent FOX viewers –  continue believing that Republicans have done what they promised.

The rest of us – the other half who know the repeal bill will never reach the President’s desk and if it does, it will be vetoed – we will play along, wink wink!

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Democratic Illinois Indiana Politics Republican Wisconsin

Democrats Win One. Controversial Union Language in Bill Dropped

No, I’m not talking about the language against unions in Wisconsin, I’m talking about the language against unions in Indiana. After the Republican majority in Indiana tried to pass the same anti-union bill being debated in Wisconsin, Indiana Democrats fled the state to avoid the vote. Well, it will appear that their antics worked, because according to reporting from The Wall Street Journal, House Republicans in Indiana have decided to dropped the language in the bill that would have reduced the amount of union members in the state. The Wall Street Jorunal Reports;

The speaker of Indiana’s House of Representatives said he and Republican colleagues are dropping a controversial labor bill that caused Democratic representatives to flee to Illinois, but the Democrats said they’re not returning to Indiana for now. Republican House Speaker Brian Bosma said the so-called right-to-work legislation is dead and will not be reintroduced during this session of the Indiana House. Democrats felt so strongly about that bill that they went to Urbana, Ill., Tuesday so that Republicans couldn’t achieve a quorum to vote on the bill.

But then again.  This could very well be a ploy by House Republicans to get the Democratic congress back in an effort to trick them into voting for the bill. Read the Wall Street Report Here

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democrats Dick Cheney Politics Republican Ronald Reagan United States

Reducing The Deficit Is Not In A Republican’s D.N.A

Republicans have fooled Americans into thinking they’re all for cutting the deficit. And if you listen to them long enough and fail to do the most minimal of research, you will tend to believe the lies. But here’s a little breakdown from Robert J. Elisberg that shows how concerned Republicans were when the deficit exploded… under Republican Presidents.

During the administrations of Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, the national debt increased a combined 35.6%. It was the largest debt increase in U.S. history. Mr. Reagan alone tripled the national debt from $997 billion to $2.85 trillion.

Yet Republicans didn’t complain, didn’t rise up in anger, didn’t revolt. In fact, what Republicans did do was lionize Ronald Reagan as a patron saint, the near-God of conservatives.

Under George W. Bush, the national debt increased by a combined 27.1%. The U.S. budget went from a $128 billion surplus to a $482 billion deficit. The national debt doubled from $5.7 trillion to $10.7 trillion.

And there was no outcry by Republicans. Republicans didn’t complain, didn’t rise up in anger, didn’t revolt. Even when Vice President Dick Cheney was quoted, “Reagan proved deficits don’t matter.” Republicans didn’t complain.

In Bill Clinton’s administration, the national debt decreased. It went down by a combined 9.7%. Further — he balanced the U.S. budget.

And yet Mr. Clinton didn’t become a hero to conservatives, even the vaunted fiscal ones. The mere mention of his name still today causes body twitches.

Consider, too, that in every full administration since Nixon-Ford in 1973 up through George W. Bush in 2008 — EVERY national debt increase in America has occurred during a Republican administration. And EVERY reduction of national debt has occurred during a Democratic administration.

To this day, Republicans — that party of supposed “fiscal responsibility” — slam the Jimmy Carter presidency for incompetence. Yet the national debt went down 3.3% during the Carter administration.

Yea, there are those who refuses to do the google, and see for themselves. These are the unfortunate souls who still put their belief in the promises of the Republican party that they will “reduce the deficit.” But history is more than a subject taught in school, it also teaches us that those who fail to understand their history, tend to repeat it.

Read the rest of the article here

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Politics Wisconsin Wisconsin Union Bashing

Wisconsin’s Governor To Be Investigated For Violating State Law

Seems dismantling the unions of Wisconsin is not the only thing giving Governor Scott Walker a headache these days. CREW – Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a non-partisan watchdog group – has ordered an investigation of  Mr. Walker’s use of state troopers to visit the home of Democratic Senate Leader, Mitt Miller.

According to CREW;

Today, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), a  non-partisan government watchdog group, asked the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board to investigate whether Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker violated state law by sending the Wisconsin State Patrol (WSP) to the home of Democratic Senate Leader Matt Miller. CREW also submitted open records requests to the Office of the Governor, Office of the Senate Majority Leader and the WSP seeking records regarding the use of the troopers.

“Governor Walker has many tools at his disposal to fight the state’s public employees, but using troopers to track down a political opponent crosses the line,” said CREW Executive Director Melanie Sloan. Sloan continued, “The governor’s conduct is especially egregious in light of a Wisconsin law specifically barring troopers from taking part in any dispute between an employer and employee over wages, hours, labor, or working conditions — the subject of the governor’s bill.”

I guess paying attention to existing laws to protect American citizens is not Scott Walker’s strong point. Trying to dismantle them seems to be what he’s more concerned about.

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Politics Supreme Court of the United States United States

Judge Rules Health Care Is Constitutional, News Media Gone Fishing

So the theory is true — that proponents for health care reform will get little to no media press coverage as compared to those opposed to it. A  few weeks ago when a Republican judge ruled the entire Health Care Reform was unconstitutional and should be thrown out,  because of one aspect  called the individual mandate, the media went crazy! They were all over the story like white on rice. But yesterday, when the third judge – U.S. District Court Judge Gladys Kessler – ruled in favor of the Obama administration and agreed that the bill is constitutional, we heard crickets!

And I am not the only one saying this. Here’s what Jed Lewison said about the unfair coverage;

coverage of Judge Roger Vinson’s decision against reform saturated the media, even though his ruling had no immediate impact on health reform.

The Vinson ruling received A1 coverage in The New York Times and dominated cable news. The Kessler ruling was covered on A14 of the Times and as far as cable news goes, I was only able to find two references to it — both on Fox, and each for less than a minute. (I’m basing this on closed caption text searches, so it’s possible I missed a couple of references, but there was hardly any coverage at all.)

After the Vinson ruling, Steve Benen pointed out the huge disparity in coverage between the two rulings in favor of reform and the two rulings against reform. Even if you were to dismiss the significance of those numbers on the theory that the rulings against reform were bigger news because they happened after the rulings that upheld reform, yesterday’s ruling should be at least as significant as Vinson’s ruling because it means that three judges have now ruled in favor of reform compared with two who have ruled against it.

If you’re keeping score, it’s 3 Democratic judges for the constitutionality of the bill, and 2 Republican judges against.

But have no dispare. There’s sure to be another Republican judge to rule against Health Care Reform, and then we will once again hear all manner of analysis and theories and punditry, references and cross-references, and interpretation, and evaluations, and breakdowns, and…..

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Featured Indiana Indiana Attorney General Wisconsin Union Bashing

Stupid Attorney General Fired For Stupid Dumb Tweet

Regardless of your political leanings, no one should ever advocate the killing of American citizens exercising their right to peaceful assembly and free speech. But that is exactly what an Indiana Deputy Attorney General suggested as a way to clear the masses protesting in Wisconsin against Governor Scott Walker’s attempt to silence the unions in his state.

“Use live ammunition” was the tweet of Attorney General Jeff Cox, who also said that the demonstrators were “political enemies” and “thugs!” Well, just hours after the news of this tweeting fool broke, appropriate action was taken in Indiana, and Mr. Cox is now on the unemployment line. According to reports from IndyStar;

Earlier today, the attorney general’s office said it was investigating whether Cox had sent the tweet and said it was a serious matter.

This afternoon, the office issued a statement saying Cox was no longer employed there. The office said it had conducted “a thorough and expeditious review” after it learned of the Mother Jones article.

“Civility and courtesy toward all members of the public are very important to the Indiana Attorney General’s office. We respect individual’s First Amendment right to express their personal views on private online forums, but as public servants we are held by the public to a higher standard, and we should strive for civility,” the office said in a statement.

Read the full report here

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Featured Indiana Republican twitter Wisconsin Wisconsin Union Bashing

Republican Attorney General Advises Use of Deadly Force on Wisconsin Protesters

Classic that it should come down to this. Like all dictators who can’t control the opposing masses, an attorney general in Indiana is advising that Republican Wisconsin governor Scott Walker to use deadly force against his  citizens. His exact words, “use live ammunition.”

Mother Jones reports:

On Saturday night, when Mother Jones staffers tweeted a report that riot police might soon sweep demonstrators out of the Wisconsin capitol building—something that didn’t end up happening—one Twitter user sent out a chilling public response: “Use live ammunition.”

From my own Twitter account, I confronted the user, JCCentCom. He tweeted back that the demonstrators were “political enemies” and “thugs” who were “physically threatening legally elected officials.” In response to such behavior, he said, “You’re damned right I advocate deadly force.” He later called me a “typical leftist,” adding, “liberals hate police.”

Only later did we realize that JCCentCom was a deputy attorney general for the state of Indiana.

The freedom of speech and assembly granted in the constitution means absolutely nothing to these Republicans. But advocating use of deadly force against United States citizens is another low no one would have ever expected. But then again, we are talking about elected officials who have  put corporations above human lives.

Read the Mother Jones report here.

tweet_jccent Republican Attorney General Advises Use of Deadly Force on Wisconsin Protesters

Categories
Politics Republican

Boehner Plays Hardball–Government Shutdown Looms Ahead

The Boehner has spoken!

“We are going to cut spending!” And with those words, the House Speaker exited the podium to the left. But in his haste to cut spending, what will happen to the funding of everyday government operations after the March 4th deadline?

The Republican controlled House is determined to cut $100 billion in spending from the new budget, and the Democratic controlled Senate is poised to refuse such “draconian” cuts. Can the two governing bodies come to a compromise before the deadline?

To make matters worse, both the House and the Senate will be off the entire week for President’s day. When they return to work after their much needed vacation – because we know how hard they’ve worked over the last month, a total of 10 days in January – they will have only five days to come to an agreement on the new budget.

Boehner is not budging on his $100 billion cuts he promised the Teaparty, saying;

“We are hopeful that the Senate will take up the House‑passed bill that comes out of here today, tonight, tomorrow morning, whenever it is, and we hope that they will move it. But I am not going to move any kind of short‑term CR at current levels. When we say we’re going to cut spending, read my lips:  We are going to cut spending.”

And what is the Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid saying about this?

“I am disappointed that Speaker Boehner doesn’t believe he has the votes to avoid a government shutdown, unless his members get their way on all of their demands. It is unproductive to resort to threats of a shutdown without any negotiations.”

Meanwhile, the clock ticks on til March 4th.

Categories
Democratic Politics Republican Wisconsin Wisconsin Union Bashing

Elections Do Have Consequences, As Seen In Wisconsin

Elections have consequences, and the people of Wisconsin are dealing with the consequences of electing a Republican governor, along with Republican majorities in both the Wisconsin Senate and House Assembly. The mid-term election started the ball rolling, and it is culminating in massive rallies by the people of that state, demanding a recall of the governor, Mr. Scott Walker.

The governor however, along with his Republican majority in both chambers are choosing not to listen to the will of the people and are going forward with their plans to pass a bill geared towards taking away the power from the working Wisconsinite.

What’s all the fuss about?  Unions

Unions are despised by Republicans for a number of reasons – the main ones being;

  • Unions represent a large section of the average middle class working American. A representation that includes negotiating with business owners, Corporations and government officials to secure better working conditions, better pay, holiday allotments, health care packages and in some cases, retirement options for their members. The very nature of these negotiations are to benefit the union member, thus, it is considered by most Republican as putting the business owners, Corporations or government officials at a disadvantage.
  • It is common knowledge that Unions represent the working middle class. Therefore, they support political candidates who look out for the best interest of their members. Almost all the time, those political candidates would be from the Democratic party.

The struggle by Republicans to silence Unions in this country and take away their negotiating privileges has been going on for decades, and now, what’s happening in Wisconsin is the envy of other Republican governors and state legislatures across this nation. Today, in a final vote that is expected to pass the Republican controlled government, Unions will in essence, be silenced.

What’s in the Bill?

The bill – which passed the Legislature Budget committee on Wednesday with all Republicans voting in favor and all Democrats voting against it – will, among other things,  require public workers to pay half the costs of their pensions and at least 12.6 percent of their health care coverage. It will also take away the collective bargaining rights of the unions representing these workers.

“I think the taxpayers will support this idea,” Republican Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald had the nerve to say. But taxpayers seem to feel a different way. Over the last 3 days, thousands have gathered in opposition of the measure.

Yahoo News Reports;

“I’m sad. Scared. Disappointed,” said Kelly Dzurick, a 31-year-old fifth-grade teacher in Elkhorn, who came to the Capitol on Wednesday night. “Nobody’s listening to what people say.”

Democrats have been powerless to stop the bill.

“The story around the world is the rush to democracy,” said Sen. Bob Jauch, D-Poplar. “The story in Wisconsin is the end of the democratic process.”

Yes, elections do have consequences, and what’s happening in Wisconsin is just the beginning of a dangerously empowered Republican party.

UPDATE:  Where Are The Democrats?

In a shocking turn of events, Wisconsin congressional Democrats have all disappeared, causing the final vote on this controversial bill by Republicans to be post-poned. The NY Times reports;

By noon, Ted Blazel, the sergeant-at-arms, began making his way through the Capitol building, packed with chanting protesters (elated at the development), in search of a Democrat — in offices, under desks, in corridors. “Nothing yet,” he said, his forehead drenched in sweat.

If none of the lawmakers were found in the building, the Wisconsin State Patrol would be assigned to begin searching for them elsewhere, said a Senate official.

Inside the Capitol, speculation swirled: Were the Democrats together somewhere, maybe even in another state by now?

The presumed reason for their disappearance is that Democrats — and thousands of teachers, state workers and students — vigorously oppose the Republican-backed bill that would sharply curtail the collective bargaining rights and slash benefits for most public sector workers, including teachers, in the state. Republicans control the Senate by a 19-to-14 margin, but 20 senators — and thus, at least one Democrat — are needed to vote on a bill.

At the time this post was written, the Democrats were found – all of them – in a neighboring state of Rockford Illinois. They have since disappeared again in an effort to give more time to the demonstrators to pressure Republicans into listening to the demands of the Wisconsin people.

Stay tuned…

Categories
Barack Obama Politics Republican United States

Boehner Sheds No Tears For “200,000” Americans Out Of Jobs

“In the last two years, under President Obama, the federal government has added 200,000 new federal jobs,” Boehner said. “If some of those jobs are lost so be it. We’re broke.”

Okay! Forget the fact that Boehner is lying about the job figure. Independent researchers have come up with drastically smaller figures, somewhere around 20,000. But let’s say for argument sake that Boehner is correct. Should “so be it” be the appropriate response to putting 200,000 American families out of work and possibly out on the street?

John Boehner and his Republican comrades won the House of Representatives and gained seats in the Senate in November mainly because of a promise to “create jobs.” He traveled from state to state, district to district campaigning on the platform of “Where’s the jobs?” and accusing the Obama administration of being mis-guided with their domestic policies.

After the mid-term elections, it was Boehner who was heard in an interview with ABC news saying;

“I think the American people want us to focus on their message during the election: stop the spending, get rid of the uncertainty. Let’s get around to creating jobs again and staying focused on what the American people want us to focus on is my number one priority.”

What happened to his “number one priority?” Well, it came to a head-on collision with the reality of actually governing. John Boehner is slowly beginning to realize that actually “creating jobs” like he and his allies had promised is easier said than done. He’s seeing that being responsible for one branch of the federal government means people are going to look to you to actually get things done. No longer is just saying “no” to all the president’s policies acceptable.

So what’s a Boehner to do?

Create a distraction. He’s not going to come out and say to the American people, “Listen, I can’t create jobs because I am totally in over my head and this governing thing is a lot harder than I thought it would be.” No, that will be suicide for the Republican party to renig on one of its major campaign platform promises. And his incompetence as Speaker of the House will not be forgotten in 2012.

So the distraction would be to pivot. Take the focus off of ‘creating” jobs and make it about the so-called 200,000 unnecessary federal jobs created by the Obama administration. Now Boehner knew this number was inflated, but he had to go big, big enough so that the Teaparty would be impressed with his ability to cut unnecessary spending. After all, that too was another promise he made, “cut unnecessary spending.”

However, in his haste to create the illusion of being on the job and uncovering massive savings by eliminating 200,000 unnecessary federal jobs, Boehner unintentionally created another headline asking where are his tears for the 200,000 families he would single-handedly place on the unemployment line?

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