Tag: Republicans

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Abortion Featured House of Representatives South Dakota

Republicans Trying to Legalize Killing Abortion Doctors

If the Republicans in South Dakota gets their way, killing an abortion doctor will be legal. No, that wasn’t a misprint. A bill being pushed by House Republicans in South Dakota’s congress will redefine the term “justifiable homicide” to include killing anyone who brings harm to a fetus. The bill, HB 1170 has already passed the committee with a vote of 9 – 3, and will be brought to the floor of the House of Representatives for a final vote.

According to reports by Mother Jones;

The bill, sponsored by state Rep. Phil Jensen, a committed foe of abortion rights, alters the state’s legal definition of justifiable homicide by adding language stating that a homicide is permissible if committed by a person “while resisting an attempt to harm” that person’s unborn child or the unborn child of that person’s spouse, partner, parent, or child. If the bill passes, it could in theory allow a woman’s father, mother, son, daughter, or husband to kill anyone who tried to provide that woman an abortion—even if she wanted one.

Protecting the unborn fetus can be considered an admirable trait, but what happens after the baby is born and grows up to become… I don’t know, maybe… an abortion doctor? At what point is it really okay to protect the unborn but kill the living?

More on this story from Mother Jones 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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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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Featured Health insurance New York Repeal United States

Congresswoman Votes for Repeal, But Didn’t Know Who Pays Her Health Care

Apparently, not all Republicans in Congress who voted to repeal the Obama Care Health Law know that their Health Care is paid for by the Government. That appeared to be the case with Congresswoman Ann Marie Buerkle, Republican Representative from New York.

The freshman Congresswoman held her first town hall meeting in Newark NY, and had to be told by a staff member that her Health care is paid for by tax payers. Reporting the story is Marnie Eisenstadt:

“Buerkle, who voted to repeal the health care reform act, was twice asked about the health insurance she receives as a government employee. At first she said she couldn’t understand why people were so interested in her health insurance, and that taxpayers didn’t pay anything for it. She later corrected herself after being handed a note from a staffer. Like most employees, she pays for a portion of her insurance and her employer, the government, pays the rest, she said.”

Seems to me that the wrong person got elected here. Can we hold another election and get her staffer instead?

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Healthcare United States

Is The Individual Mandate Constitutional? Its Creator Says…

In a recent interview conducted by Ezra Klein of the Washington Post, with one of the original authors of the individual mandate – the piece of language in the health care reform bill that requires Americans to purchase health insurance, but is attacked by Republicans as “unconstitutional,” – was asked if the constitutionality of the mandate was ever questioned back in 1991 when the term was first used.

Mr. Mark Pauly, who was the lead author of a Health Affairs paper, was given the job to come up with a way to persuade President George H.W. Bush to adopt a health care policy where all Americans will be covered, while keeping the private health care providers in charge of the industry. The individual mandate was seen as the only way to accomplish this feat.

The question was asked by Mr. Klein; “Was the constitutionality of the provision a question, either in your deliberations or after it was released?” Mr. Pauly answered;

“I don’t remember that being raised at all. The way it was viewed by the Congressional Budget Office in 1994 was, effectively, as a tax. You either paid the tax and got insurance that way or went and got it another way. So I’ve been surprised at that argument. But I’m not an expert on the Constitution. My fix would be to simply say raise everyone’s taxes by what a health insurance policy would cost — Congress definitely has the power to do that — and then tell people that if they obtain insurance, they’ll get a tax break of the same amount. So instead of a penalty, it’s a perfectly legal tax break. But this seems to me to angelic pinhead density arguments about whether it’s a payment to do something or not to do something.”

Opponents of the law, which they have affectionately dubbed ‘ObamaCare,’ states that the law violates the Commerce Clause in the constitution, which, according to Article 1 Section 8 Clause 3 states that Congress shall have the power to: “regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes”. This its opponents claim, does not give congress the power to mandate commerce, or to make anyone buy insurance, thus, its unconstitutionality.

Proponents claim that the power given to Congress through the Commerce Clause of the Constitution is a grant of power, not an express limitation on the power of Congress to regulate the economy, thus, the law is giving Congress the power to improve the economy through the individual mandate and is therefore constitutional.

This ongoing debate prompted the next question from Mr. Klein, “…whether the individual mandate is a penalty for economic inactivity or whether it’s part of a broader system of regulations affecting a market for health care that we’re all participating in.” Mr. Pauly answered;

I see it in the latter way. We thought it was a good idea to do everything possible to encourage people to get insurance. Subsidies will probably pick up the great bulk of the population. But the point of the mandate was that there are a few Evil Knievals who won’t buy it and this would bring them into the system. In our version, the penalty was effectively equal to the premium of a policy. You paid the penalty and you got the insurance. That’s one of my puzzlements here: In the new law, the actual level of the penalty is quite small compared to the price of a policy. It’s only about 20 percent of the cost of a policy

In short, at the time this ‘individual mandate’ was implemented and presented to a Republican president, the common wisdom was that it would keep the government out of the healthcare sector. Requiring people to buy healthcare as the mandate did back in the early nineties, insured a larger portion of Americans and eliminated the need for a single payer government run option.

Because the private sector would benefit from the increased policies sales the individual mandate provided, Republicans signed on to the measure. Democrats on the other hand did not approve of the measure.

So why  now the debate on the constitutionality of the individual mandate coming from the right?  Simply put, there is now a Democratic President in the White House, and although he and other Democrats have now seen the need for the individual mandate as a way to allow the private sector to offer health care to all, Republicans now have a change of heart. So the debate, childish as it is, continues…

See the full interview here.

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Politics United States Environmental Protection Agency

Republicans Are Now Attacking The Air You Breathe

New legislation is being introduced in the Senate by John Barrasso, Republican of Wyoming that will take away the regulatory powers of the Environmental Protection Agency, also called the EPA.

This has always been a goal of the Republican party, and now with the numbers they’ve gained in the House of Representatives and the Senate, they are determined to pursue their ill-advised goals.

So what will Mr. Barrasso’s  new legislation do?

  • It will overturn the EPA’s 2009 finding that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases are harmful to public health and the environment.
  • It will stop any actions by the EPA to regulate or stop any greenhouse gas emission without approval from the Congress
  • It will stop any federal laws from discussing or referring to global warming. These laws includes the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the National Environmental Policy Act and the Endangered Species Act.

The bill will also allow regulation on pollutants and other greenhouse gases to go forward if an immediate threat is posed to the general public, so if a company continues to expose the public to polluted air that may possibly pose a threat in the future, then according to this bill, no regulation will be allowed on the companies.

The bill will also allow a previously negotiated vehicle mileage and emission standard agreement to go forward, but it takes away the power to manage how the regulations are enforced from the EPA and shifts the responsibility to the Department of Transportation.

The global warming policy director for the National Wildlife Federation, Mr. Joe Mendelson, disagrees with the basis of Mr. Barrasso’s bill.  Mr. Mendelson, who was part of the legal team that won the Supreme Court case that led to the EPA’s finding that greenhouse gases pose a danger to public welfare and the environment, said;

“It would create a parade of polluter loopholes allowing for unlimited carbon pollution. Americans don’t want Congress undermining The EPA’s work on new clean vehicle standards and cleaning up dirty smokestacks.”

In a statement, Mr. Barrasso explains the reasoning for his bill;

“It’s time for the administration to face the facts: Americans rejected cap and trade because they know it means higher energy prices and lost jobs. Washington agencies are now trying a backdoor approach to regulate our climate by abusing existing laws.”

“I will do whatever it takes to ensure that Washington doesn’t impose Cap and Trade policies in any form.”

This bill is of no surprise. Republicans have a proven track record of protecting companies over the lives of real living (polluted air) breathing Americans. The EPA’s goal is to make sure that these companies maintain some standards in the amount of gas emission they’re allowed to emit into the atmosphere, but according to the Republican way of thinking, doing so will impose unnecessary regulations, cause the company to loose some of their profits, and worst of all ultimately result in a healthier environment for the nation.

According to their ideology, a healthy nation is of less importantance than the right of  a company to dump infinite amounts of pollutants into the atmosphere for the sake of profit for said company.

Profits over human lives!

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Barack Obama Chuck Schumer Democratic Mitch McConnell Politics Repeal Senate vote

Republican Minority Tries To Control Democratic Majority In Senate

Republican Minority Leader, Mitch McConnell

Over the last two years of the Obama administration, Republicans went on a rampage, setting a record for the most filibusters – the process of debating an issue with the eventual outcome of slowing down or stopping the policy from being voted on – in one year since the practice began back in the mid 19th century. That record, set by the 111th congress is 132 filibusters. Now that the Republicans are the majority in the House of Representatives, they are demanding that the Democratic controlled Senate vote on all the bills the House votes on.

The particular bill that Republicans are demanding the Senate to vote on is their measure to repeal the Health Care Reform bill, the single most important piece of legislation instituted by Democrats. The House of Representatives voted last week to repeal the bill by a vote of 245 to 189, and now Mitch McConnell, the Republican Senate minority leader is promising “No”, insisting that the Democratic Senate vote on the issue and do the same. But Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has stated he has no interest in bringing this repeal issue to the Senate.

In a television appearance on Fox News yesterday, Mr. McConnell assured the viewers that he will make sure the Senate votes to take away their health care. When asked how he intends to override Harry Reid’s decision not to bring the bill to the floor for a vote, Mitch said;

“I’m not going to discuss how we’ll do it from a parliamentary point of view here. If that does not pass, and I don’t think anyone is optimistic that it will, we intend to go after this health care bill in every way that we can.”

As minority leader, Mitch McConnell cannot set the agenda for the Senate, but the belief among other congressional leaders is that the Republicans in the  could offer the repeal bill as an amendment to another bill, thus, forcing the Senate to have the vote. Democratic Senator from Illinois Dick Durbin discussed this possibility;

“If some Republican senator wants to offer it as an amendment at some point, it’s possible they will. It’s possible we’ll face that vote. But having spoken to my members in the Democratic caucus, with Sen. Reid, we feel there’s still strong support for health care reform.”

The lies and scare tactics used by Republicans in the Health Care debate of 2009 have caused a split among the American people. In early polls, taken when the bill was being debated in congress, as much as 60% of the public believed the Republican propaganda  against health care reform. But recent polls have shown a change in the public’s perception of the law. According to a recent Associated Press-GFK poll, only 1 out of 4 (25%) Americans are now asking for Republicans to repeal the bill. With poll numbers like these, Democrats are feeling optimistic that the bill will stand up against any amendment trick brought on by  the senate. Chuck Schumer, Democratic Senator from New York appeared on CBS, and expressed his optimism;

“If the Republicans offer an amendment on the floor, then we will require them to vote on the individual protections in the bill that are very popular and that even some of the new Republicans House members have said they support. So in the end, their repeal bill is going to be so full of holes it looks like Swiss cheese.”

Individual parts of the bill that have shown strong support among the American people include: allowing young adults to remain on parent’s policy until the age of 26; ending pre-existing conditions for children that went into effect in 2010; ending pre-existing condition for adults that will go into effect in 2014; helping to close the “donut hole” for seniors needing prescription drugs; providing preventative care screenings among others.

The individual mandate in the bill, which requires everyone to obtain health care insurance, is the major contention with the American people. Democrats argue that this mandate is necessary to ensure the improved level of care required in the bill.

If Republicans succeed in getting Senate Democrats to vote on an amended bill with health care repeal as an attachment, the bill will need 60 votes to pass. Democrats control the Senate with 53 votes, with Republicans in the minority with 47. If 13 Democrats crossed party lines and voted with Republicans to achieve the needed 60, the repeal bill then goes to President Obama’s desk for a signature. The President, however, has promised to veto any repeal bill that makes its way to the White House.

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Barack Obama Birthers Birthers Hawaii United States

Eric Cantor and The Birthers See Things Differently

He won’t call them crazy because according to Eric Cantor the Republican House Majority Leader:  “I don’t think it’s nice to call anyone crazy.” But Mr. Cantor did say that he believes the President is a citizen, and that the Birthers are wrong to think he’s not.

Mr. Cantor appeared on NBC’s Meet The Press on Sunday and stated that the question of President Obama’s birth is already settled with most Americans. He said, “I don’t think it’s an issue that we need to address at all. It is not an issue that even needs to be on the policy-making table right now whatsoever.”

Birthers, on the other hand, cannot give up their pointless fight. With no proof whatsoever, they have held onto the claim that the President is a foreigner, and thus unqualified to be president. And although Hawaii’s Health Director has confirmed the President’s original documents are on file in the state, Birthers will not be fooled with the facts. They believe the president is a foreigner and that’s all they need…A belief!

An attempt to explain the Birther’s point of view is seen in this video.

Categories
Health Care Medicare Medicare Part D Politics Repeal Sarah Palin United States

While Republicans Promise Repeal, More Health Benefits Go into Effect

Just days before its Republican enemies are officially sworn into office in the House of Representatives and Senate — armed with their zeal and desire to repeal it — major parts of the new Health Care law with a total of 21 provisions, will go into effect in 2011.

The areas of the law scheduled to take effect January 1st 2011, are geared towards consumer protection and as its purpose suggests, it should be very popular with the American people once the measures are fully implemented. Some of the measures scheduled to take effect on January 1st are:

  1. Rebates to Consumers if Insurance providers use less than 80% of premiums for clinical services. Providers would be required to use up to 80% of your premium to provide clinical services and quality of care to you. If they use less than this percentage, a rebate check covering the difference must be sent to you.
  2. Pharmaceutical manufacturers must provide a 50% discount on brand-name prescriptions filled in the Medicare Part D coverage. Also, federal subsidies for generic prescriptions kick in on January 1st.
  3. Eliminate cost-sharing for Medicare covered preventative services. Also, waives the Medicare deductible for colorectal cancer screening tests and authorizes Medicare coverage for a personalized prevention plan, including a comprehensive health risk assessment.
  4. Creates the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation to test new payment and delivery system, with the goal of reducing costs while maintaining or improving quality.
  5. Reduces the Medicare Part D premium subsidy for those with incomes above $85,000/individual and $170,000/couple. Also, freezes income requirements for medicare part B premiums at 2010 levels for the next 8 years.
  6. Creates a new Medicaid state option to permit certain Medicaid enrollees to designate a provider as a health home and provides states taking up the option with 90% federal matching payments for two years for health home-related services.
  7. Provides 3-year grants to states to develop programs to provide Medicaid enrollees with incentives to participate in comprehensive health lifestyle programs.
  8. Establishes a national, voluntary insurance program for purchasing community living assistance services and supports (CLASS program).

Republicans, however, are  promising to stop the progress of these reforms by cutting off all necessary funding. They will take over the agenda in the House of Representatives on January 5th, and will introduce more Republicans to occupy more seats in the Senate on that same day.

Polls suggests that Americans have mixed feelings about the new Health Care reform measures, mainly because they were misled by Republicans and a Conservative media. Some Republicans have even won awards for misleading or lying to the American people, like Sarah Palin’s winning Lie Of The Year Award for claiming the Health Reform contains “Death Panels” to “kill your grandma.”

Democrats claimed that they are up for the coming fight, as they try to keep their signature history-making policy alive. The rumble starts January 5th 2011.

Source: The Kaiser Family Foundation

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Featured Stupid

Study Finds that Watching Foxnews Makes You Stupid!

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This is not the left winged media trying to mislead you. No, this is an actual study of FOX viewers and their knowledge of what is actually going on in the world today. These viewers were then compared to other network viewers and the result was not shocking, but confirmed what is already known – that watching FOX makes you stupid!

In the questions below, Fox News viewers placed first in the percentage of those who were misinformed (they placed second in the question on TARP).

The group conducting the study, World Public Opinion found the following:

  • Though the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) concluded that the stimulus legislation has saved or created 2.0-5.2 million jobs, 92% of viewers believed the Stimulus lost jobs
  • Though the CBO concluded that the health reform law would reduce the budget deficit, 53% thought the health reform law increased the deficit.
  • Though the Department of Commerce says that the US economy began to recover from recession in the third quarter of 2009, 55% thought the economy is still getting worse.
  • Though the National Academy of Sciences has concluded that climate change is occurring, 45% of voters thought most scientists think climate change is not occurring.

Other key points of misinformation among voters were:

  • 40% of voters believed incorrectly that the TARP legislation was initiated under Barack Obama, rather than George Bush
  • 54% believed that there were no tax cuts in the stimulus legislation
  • 86% wrongly assumed their taxes had gone up instead of going down under President Obama
  • 53% thought that the bailout of GM and Chrysler occurred only under Obama, though it was initiated under Bush

The report also finds that Republicans are generally more stupid than Democrats. When the following questions were asked across party lines, respondents replies were as followed;

  • Is the American Economy getting worst? – 72% of Republicans said yes. For Democrats on the other hand, only 36% said yes, the economy is getting worst.
  • Is Health Care reform going to increase the deficit? – 73% of Republicans said yes. For Democrats on the other hand, only 31% said yes, Health Care will increase the deficit.
  • Were there Tax Cuts included in the Stimulus? – 67% of Republicans said No. For Democrats on the other hand, only 42% said no, tax cuts were not included in the Stimulus.
  • Is there an agreement among scientists that Global Warming is occurring? – 62% of Republicans said no. For Democrats on the other hand, only 26% said no, scientists don’t agree on Global Warming.
  • Was President Obama born in the United States? – 64% of Republicans said No. For Democrats on the other hand, only 17% said no, President Obama was not born in the United States.

The conclusion?

Fox so-called-news will be more believable if they change their name and call themselves the Pinocchio Network. But even if they change their name, there will be  those viewers who will continue to watch, unable to decipher the lies and misinformation from the lies and misinformation.

Categories
Barack Obama Domestic Policies Politics Tax cut United States

Millionaires to President Obama – Raise Our Taxes Please!

It was just a matter of time before the rich in this country made their voices known, either in favor of the Bush tax for the wealthy, or in favor of ending them altogether. Well now, and not a moment too late, a group of these wealthy folks have come forward and doing just that. But contrary to what the Republicans might think, these millionaires are asking President Obama to tax them more.

Yes Pecan

The group, made up of more than 40 of America’s most prosperous entrepreneurs – including hedge fund legend Michael Steinhardt, super trial lawyer Guy Saperstein, and Ben Cohen of Ben & Jerry’s – have formed a website in the hopes that others would join their efforts to restore financial responsibilities for all Americans, and not just the middle class.

In a letter to the President, the group states;

We are writing to urge you to stand firm against those who would put politics ahead of their country.

For the fiscal health of our nation and the well-being of our fellow citizens, we ask that you allow tax cuts on incomes over $1,000,000 to expire at the end of this year as scheduled.

We make this request as loyal citizens who now or in the past earned an income of $1,000,000 per year or more.

We have done very well over the last several years. Now, during our nation’s moment of need, we are eager to do our fair share. We don’t need more tax cuts, and we understand that cutting our taxes will increase the deficit and the debt burden carried by other taxpayers. The country needs to meet its financial obligations in a just and responsible way.

Continue reading “Millionaires to President Obama – Raise Our Taxes Please!”
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