Category: United States

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Immigration Reform Politics Republican United States White House

Haley Barbour – For Immigration Reform Before He Was Against It

In today’s political climate, any Republican in favor of providing a pathway to citizenship for those here illegally would face the wrath of the GOP and the Teaparty. So a potential 2012 Presidential Republican candidate would have every right to hide that fact.

Enter Haley Barbour – the Republican Mississippi governor who was interviewed on Fox News and spoke about his ambitions for 2012. Questions were asked about Barbour’s history as a lobbyist, and in his effort to defend his position, Barbour seemed to forget one very important client he had when lobbying – The Embassy of Mexico.

Time reports;

Barbour may be eager to showcase his record, but one of Barbour’s foreign lobbying clients could cause him some troubles in the 2012 Republican primary, if he decides to run. According to a Justice Department filing by Barbour’s former lobbying firm, The Embassy of Mexico decided to retain Barbour’s services on August 15, 2001, to work on, among other things, legislation that would provide a path to citizenship for foreigners living illegally in the United States—what opponents of immigration reform call “amnesty.”

“Haley Barbour and I will lead the BG&R team,” wrote Lanny Griffith, Barbour’s former business partner, in the filing. According to subsequent filings, Barbour’s work included “building support in the legislative branch for passage of a bill related to Section 245(i) of the Immigration and Nationality Act.” As part of that work, Barbour’s firm arranged meetings and briefings with “Senators, members of Congress and their staff, as well as Executive Branch Officials in the White House, National Security Council, State Department, and Immigration & Naturalization Service.” Barbour’s firm charged Mexico $35,000 a month, plus expenses.

Could it be that Haley Barbour was once for amnesty? What would the Teaparty say if they found out about his amnesty providing past?

Mr. Barhour says he will wait until April to announce whether or not he will run for president in 2012. Until then, there are a lot of questions to be answered but chances are he’s not gonna be asked these type of questions over at the Republican branding FOX network.

Read the full Time report here.

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Domestic Policies Indiana New York United States

Auto Bailout Worked – General Motors Shares its Profits with Employees

Most would consider this good news, but those wishing for America’s destruction simply for political gains will not be happy over this. General Motors, the company that received $50 billion from tax payers in the form of a “bail-out,” has recovered to the point where they are now giving checks in the amount of $4,000 or more, to 45,000 hourly American workers through profit sharing.

The New York Times reports;

The checks will be worth “upwards of $4,000,” a G.M. spokeswoman, Sherrie Childers-Arb, said. That is more than double the company’s previous record of $1,775, paid in 2000.

About 3,000 G.M. workers at four plants in New York, Michigan and Indiana that were formerly part of the Delphi Corporation will receive about $3,000 each.

In all, G.M. will give at least $189 million of its profit back to plant workers.

If Republicans had their way, General Motors would have been a faint memory, causing hundreds of thousand to loose their jobs. Since receiving the bailout, GM has recovered, restructured its product and the company’s goals. Between January and September of 2010 GM saw profits of $4.2 billion.

Read the New York Time’s report here.

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CNN Michele Bachmann Republican United States USA PATRIOT Act

Bachmann Disappoints Her Fans Again

In a shocking twist, we find out that Michele Bachmann is just another opportunistic politician. Well, maybe not shocking, but after promising the Teaparty that she will promote “small government,” Bachmann voted ‘yes’ for a bill that represents one of the largest government intrusion into the lives of ordinary Americans – the Patriot Act.

She explains the reason for her vote on her Facebook page;

Today I voted for a temporary extension of three legal authorities in the Patriot Act. This vote was not for a full reauthorization of the Patriot Act. As a member of the House Intelligence Committee, I look forward to briefings and reports from our intelligence community that will help us develop longer term solutions as we protect our nation against international terrorism.

Her fans are not happy

Well, this didn’t go over too well with her Facebook fans. Page after page of negative responses were posted in reference to Michele’s vote. Below is a small section from some angry fans:

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Domestic Policies Republican United States washington

Sacrificing America’s Future Is The Republican Way

The Republican Party would like Americans to believe they are all for deficit reduction. Of course, their position on the deficit and spending can easily be refuted by the free pass they gave the Bush Administration, who conducted business in Washington like they were playing with monopoly money. That said, the Teaparty was hatched to keep Obama  in check, and the November midterm election saw much of their members elected to Congress.

They rode into Washington claiming to have a mandate from the Teaparty the –reduction of America’s  deficit–and in keeping with this mandate, Republican leaders in the house  began making the usual promises . One of those promises was a reduction of $100 billion, a feat easier said than done, and one that can only be accomplished through drastically slashing services that benefit many Americans. The Teaparty demanded these spending cuts, and the House Republicans are determined to please.

So what’s a Republicans to do?

Paul Krugman – a nobel price winner for Economics – wrote an article in then New York Times in which he explains the plight the Republican leaders face. As Krugman explains, Republicans will “sacrifice the future.”

Focus the cuts on programs whose benefits aren’t immediate; basically, eat America’s seed corn. There will be a huge price to pay, eventually — but for now, you can keep the base happy.

If you didn’t understand that logic, you might be puzzled by many items in the House G.O.P. proposal. Why cut a billion dollars from a highly successful program that provides supplemental nutrition to pregnant mothers, infants, and young children? Why cut $648 million from nuclear nonproliferation activities? (One terrorist nuke, assembled from stray ex-Soviet fissile material, can ruin your whole day.) Why cut $578 million from the I.R.S. enforcement budget? (Letting tax cheats run wild doesn’t exactly serve the cause of deficit reduction.)

Once you understand the imperatives Republicans face, however, it all makes sense. By slashing future-oriented programs, they can deliver the instant spending cuts Tea Partiers demand, without imposing too much immediate pain on voters. And as for the future costs — a population damaged by childhood malnutrition, an increased chance of terrorist attacks, a revenue system undermined by widespread tax evasion — well, tomorrow is another day.

Sacrificing America’s future just to win the next vote. But then again we are talking about the Republican party, and with them, it has always been party before country, regardless of what John McCain’s 2008 presidential slogan was!

Read Paul Krugman’s Article here.

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Bill O'Reilly United States

Fox’s Bill O’Reilly Needs A Lesson In Honesty

In the heat of the Health Care battle when all manner of accusations were made against President Obama and the Democrats implementation of  Health Care reform, Senator Tom Coburn accurately said that FOX News were spreading false and misleading information insinuating that Americans will be jailed if they don’t purchase Health Insurance.

Bill O’Reilly, in his effort to prove Mr. Coburn wrong and restore Fox’s unknown reputation for truth-telling, brought the senator on his show, The O’Reilly Factor and did what he does best – lied-  saying no one at FOX ever made the statement.

Of course, it’s all on tape…

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Barack Obama Chuck Schumer Politics United States

Mr. President, This Is Not A Good Idea

Okay, so there really is a first for everything. Consider this our first and maybe not the last critique of this Administration.

What is going on with President Obama? The National Journal is reporting massive cuts to LIHEAP (Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program),  a federally funded program geared towards helping the poorer among us to heat their homes during the cold winter months. The report states that this will be  “the biggest domestic spending cut disclosed so far, and one that will likely generate the most heat from the president’s traditional political allies.”

This is obviously an effort by the administration to appease the Republican party, who have promised the Teaparty that they will impose massive cuts to domestic spending programs.

The decision has left some in the President’s own party scratching their heads. The report continues;

One White House friend, Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said earlier today that a Republican proposal to cut home heating oil counted as an “extreme idea” that would “set the country backwards.” Schumer has not yet reacted to Obama’s proposed cut. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., declared: “The President’s reported proposal to drastically slash LIHEAP funds by more than half would have a severe impact on many of New Hampshire’s most vulnerable citizens and I strongly oppose it.” A spokesman for Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., declared similarly: “If these cuts are real, it would be a very disappointing development for millions of families still struggling through a harsh winter.”

In a letter to Obama, Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., wrote, “We simply cannot afford to cut LIHEAP funding during one of the most brutal winters in history. Families across Massachusetts, and the country, depend on these monies to heat their homes and survive the season.”

The Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, or LIHEAP, would see funding drop by about $2.5 billion from an authorized 2009 total of $5.1 billion. The proposed cut will not touch the program’s emergency reserve fund, about $590 million, which can be used during particularly harsh cold snaps or extended heat spells, three officials told National Journal

Read the rest of the report here.


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Barack Obama John McCain Republican Party (United States) United States

The Right Attacks McCain For Implying He May Do His Job

John McCain, the 2008 Republican Presidential nominee has found himself on the wrong side of the political fence.  He’s pissing off some conservatives for what is to me a very shocking reason…doing his job!;

The president has become more centrist, which makes him easier to work with, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said Thursday.

Speaking with Bloomberg Television a day after a private meeting with President Obama, McCain said he could picture working with Obama on several issues going forward.

“I think there’s a number of issues we could work on together, and I think it’s pretty clear that the president has really pivoted to a much more centrist position, which I think makes it much more for us easier to work with him,” McCain said.

A United States Senator, simply saying that there may be a number of issues where he can work together with the President of The United States, has become a means for attack from the right. Doug Powers, a writer at Michelle Malkin’s blog says that McCain;

…often reminds me of a trout that just got hooked and is thrilled that the fisherman has agreed to meet him halfway.

John McCain hasn’t said yet what these issues would be, so why would this loony be mad?

It just shows that issues don’t matter with the GOP. All that matters to these people are congressmen and women who will consistently say no to everything this president offers – regardless of the issues, regardless of the policies, regardless of the positive outcome for the American people.

To those on the right, the branches of our government and the President of the United States will not work together if the president’s name happens to be Barack Obama.

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Christian Featured Iowa Steve King United States

Republican Steve King – The Lying Christian

As an elected congressman or woman for that matter,  one of your primary responsibilities to the people who vote you into power is to be honest.  However,  Republican congressman Steve King from Iowa went on “The Last Word” with Lawrence O’Donnell and claimed that he lies to his constituents to keep the peace.

Only in America can a congressman come on television, say he’s a Christian, profess to know the truth about an issue, then deliberately withholds this truth from his constituents for fear of pissing them off! The issue in this case is whether or not President Obama is a Christian or Muslim.

Ladies and gentlemen,  please allow us to introduce to you the Lying, Christian, Republican Congressman from Iowa, Mr. Steve King.

Video…

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

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Climate change Featured United States United States Environmental Protection Agency

Chairman of Energy Disagrees with Climate Change

How crazy is it that the House of Representatives Republican Chairman of Energy, Fred Upton thinks that climate change is not man-made. You know, all the pollutants we pump into the atmosphere day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year, have nothing to do with why our climate gets warmer and warmer, right?

Brad Johnson gives this report.

At a public forum today, Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI), the new head of the House energy committee, denied that climate change is manmade. Upton, who received $20,000 from Koch Industries in his most recent campaign, had called for a reduction in greenhouse emissions as recently as June 2009.

Upton has now introduced legislation with Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK) to overturn the scientific finding by the Environmental Protection Agency that greenhouse pollution threatens public health. This morning, Upton was pressed by National Journal‘s Ron Brownstein as to why the Upton-Inhofe bill describes climate change as “possible.” After repeated attempts to avoid the question, Upton finally explained his wide-straddling stance: he accepts that the planet is warming, but not that the billions of tons of greenhouse gases emitted by human activity are a cause:

“I have said many times, and there was a report a couple of weeks ago that in fact you look at this last year, it was the warmest year in the last decade, I think was the numbers that came out. I don’t — I accept that. I do not say that it is man-made.”

Upton then repeated the falsehood that “even if cap-and-trade had been enacted, it would not have changed the temperature by a tenth of a degree anywhere in the world.”

In reality, the Environmental Protection Agency has found that U.S. cap-and-trade would avoid several degrees of catastrophic warming. And 2010 was not just the hottest year this decade, but the hottest year in recorded history. This is why the National Academies of Science found last year that “climate change is occurring and is caused in large part by human activities” and that the United States should “act now to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”

Instead, tomorrow Upton will hold a hearing with several witnesses funded by Exxon Mobil and Koch Industries to praise the Upton-Inhofe pollution act.

– Brad Johnson

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Domestic Policies Republican United States USA PATRIOT Act

Democrats Win On Partiot Act Extension

Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH)

They call themselves “small government advocates,” yet, when the chance came to prove their idea of small government, John Boehner and the majority of Republicans voted to extend various parts of the Patriot Act set to expire at the end of February, with little debate on the House floor.

This first vote needed a two-thirds majority to limit debate, but failed with a final vote of 277 – 148, gaining 23 votes from the Teaparty who voted with Democrats to defeat the automatic extension.

The PATRIOT Act, officially called The USA PATRIOT ACT, acronym for Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001 – was signed into law by George Bush about a month after September 11th, 2001. The law allowed the United States Government and other law enforcement authorities the ability to legally check the telephone records, emails, medical, financial, and other records of United States citizens under the guise of “fighting terrorism.”

The controversial parts of the law that the “small government” Republicans wanted to continue included wire-tapping, the ability of the government to seize businesses or personal property and the tracking of non-US nationals suspected of being “lone-wolf” terrorists not tied to any extremist groups.

Being credited for convincing some in the Teaparty to vote against the extension is Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) who challenge them to stand up to their claims for a less invasive governemnt. In a statement, he said;

“The 112th Congress began with a historic reading of the U.S. Constitution. Will anyone subscribe to the First and Fourth Amendments tomorrow when the PATRIOT Act is up for a vote? I am hopeful that members of the Tea Party who came to Congress to defend the Constitution will join me in challenging the reauthorization.”

The measure now moves to the floor of the House of Representatives for debate. A simple majority is then needed to approve the extension.

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Barack Obama Politics Republican United States

Next Step For House Republicans – Cutting Health Care Funding

The push to end President Obama’s major initiative continues in the Republican House of Representative. After voting to repeal the law earlier in January, House Republicans are now talking about their next step in stopping Americans from getting the consumer protection and Health care the law provides. Their next step is cutting off its funding.

As reported by AP

WASHINGTON (AP) — One of the House’s top Republicans says he believes the chamber will soon vote to block spending for President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul law.

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor told reporters Tuesday that by the time the House approves a government-wide spending bill for this year, it will end up prohibiting the use of money for the overhaul. The House is expected to debate that legislation shortly.

That overhaul, which became law last year, is one of Obama’s proudest legislative achievements. Republicans have opposed it as a costly, big-government overreach.

Spending for government programs expires March 4 unless Congress approves new legislation providing extra funds.

Cantor, a Virginia Republican, and other GOP lawmakers want to use the spending bill to cut government expenditures across the board.

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Chrysler Eminem NFL Republican Sports United States

Best Ad On Superbowl Sunday

A few years ago, Chrysler was bailed out by the government. At the time, Republicans and Conservatives complained that the entire auto industry should be allowed to fail. Gone was any concern about the millions of jobs that would have been lost had the Obama Administration not bailed out the industry.

Now, two years later, the American auto industry is back. General Motors is almost back to number one in the world, and Detroit is once again hiring and putting out the quality cars they were known for in the early years. And with a patriotic tonel that should make any American proud, Chrysler’s 2 minute commercial on Superbowl Sunday was a hit.

Although these Republicans and Conservatives are still against bailing out this industry, this video is the EzKool’s  pick for ‘Best Ad In Superbowl 45’.

Enjoy!

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