Month: May 2011

House Republicans Hold Back On Disaster Relief And Emergency Preparedness, Insist On Budget Cuts

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The House Republican leadership. led by Eric Cantor, Majority Leader, is insisting that there be budget cuts to match any increase in spending on disaster relief and emergency preparedness.

This outrage is being perpetrated as the Midwest and the South face the most daunting natural disasters we have ever seen in just the past few months!

The onslaught of hundreds of tornadoes in the past two months, including the most disastrous in Alabama and Missouri, along with the flood crisis faced along the Mississippi River all the way down to the Gulf of Mexico, is a national emergency of massive proportions!

When a natural disaster occurs, reaction by first responders, police, firefighters, and paramedics should be unlimited without any consideration of budget costs!

If government cannot provide aid to the needy and the desperate in a time of trauma, then what good is government at all? It is NOT the job of government solely to defend the nation from outside attack and internal man made threats to our national security. It is ALSO to come to the aid of the needy, the poor, and the disadvantaged when a natural disaster occurs, without forcing budget cuts to match the disaster’s costs!

The truth is that there is no way around the fact that tax INCREASES will be necessary, whether the American people want them or not. It is government’s job to do what is “necessary and proper”, for the “common defense and general welfare”, Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution, the “elastic clause”!

The Republican Party is showing its true colors in so many ways, but particularly in “blackmailing” the Democrats to force cuts in the midst of a national emergency! How despicable and disgraceful!

Bald Faced Lies Of Republican Presidential Candidates: Tim Pawlenty, Mitt Romney And All Others!

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Tim Pawlenty entered the race for the GOP Presidential nomination in Iowa, stating that we must face the truth about the future, and used the word “truth” 16 times in his declaration statement.

But then he was faced with the fact that he has not been telling the truth about his view of the role of government, as in 2006, while Governor of Minnesota, he said the era of small government was over and that the government needed to be aggressive in pursuit of the regulation of corporations and other special interests, while being interviewed by the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

This made him sound “progressive” in his views then, but NOW he is competing for the conservative and Tea Party vote, and trying to make it out as if he was always of the view of limited government and deregulation. So the fact is that Tim Pawlenty is LYING, and has been caught in it!

But then, Mitt Romney has also been shown to be a liar, not only regarding his own Health Care Reform in Massachusetts, which he is actively backing away from, but also in his statement through a spokesman today that the fact that Chrysler and General Motors have become profitable and been able to repay their government loans, is due to the fact that he advocated government aid in 2009, taking credit for what President Obama authorized.

But actually, in 2009, in a newspaper article in the New York Times, he specifically said to let “Detroit fail”! So how can he now take credit for something he never supported, but now claims he endorsed?

Add to this even Jon Huntsman’s reversal on the Health Care law and climate change, and his endorsement of the Paul Ryan Medicare law, which after the disaster in NY 26 yesterday, don’t be surprised if he also reverses on that issue!

It could be argued that ALL politicians switch views and lie, but to have so many examples among the three leading candidates this early, is a sign of the problems the Republican party faces in 2012!

And don’t forget, this is not including the flawed candidacies of “also rans”, such as Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum, Michele Bachmann, and Sarah Palin.

And the hints are now emerging that Sarah Palin may actually decide to run, having, apparently, bought a home in Arizona with her millions in lecture fees and book royalties; the coming out this summer of a laudatory documentary about her, making her out to be a victim who has great virtues; and counterattack beginning with two new books which set out to destroy her reputation and competence, and show her to be a LIAR her whole political life, a total PHONY!

So instead of the old film entitled “Lies, Sex and Videotape”, for the Republican Party, the title should be “Lies, Republicans, and Videotape”!

“Bully”Governor Chris Christie Gets Whacked By New Jersey Supreme Court On Education Funding For Poor Districts!

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New Jersey’s Republican Governor, Chris Christie, the original “Bully” Governor, received a major rebuke from the New Jersey State Supreme Court yesterday, when they ruled that the state had to provide $500 million extra funds to the state’s poorest school districts.

Christie had argued that throwing extra money into the poorest school districts would not work, but he conceded that he would comply with the court decision, and that it was up to the state legislature to figure out how to fund those districts, which means likely raising of taxes, although Christie did not say how he would react to such an event.

In any case, the glamour surrounding Christie will now diminish, although many Republicans are clamoring for him to enter the Presidential race, despite his lack of any significant accomplishments except declaring war on education and teachers in New Jersey.

This court decision should have the effect of trimming his sails, as he is clearly NOT the answer for the country, with his lack of tact, diplomacy, and human compassion, and his favoring of the rich and powerful over those less fortunate!

A Sign Of 2012 Reversal Of 2010 Midterm Elections: NY 26 Congressional District Results Show Medicare Is Democratic Weapon Against Republicans!

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In what could be described as an upset, the Democratic nominee for the New York 26th Congressional District seat in the Buffalo area, vacated by Republican Chris Lee (involved in an embarrassing shirtless pic scandal), won in a district which had voted Republican on a regular basis since the Civil War!

The winning Democrat won about 48 percent of the vote, nearly twice the amount of the Democratic nominee against Chris Lee in the 2010 election six and a half months ago, and it was based on the issue of Medicare, where the GOP nominee said she would have supported the Paul Ryan plan to privatize Medicare over a ten year period!

Town Halls and polls have steadily indicated that Americans of ALL ages, not just senior citizens, do NOT want the privatization of Medicare, and there are also strong hints that the whole issue of Health Care reform may be moving in the direction of the Democrats, after they lost more seats (63) in a midterm election than since 1938, and more seats than ever before since 1948.

Health Care is a basic human right, and the issue has been brought to center stage again by what the 26th Congressional District has just done, and it will create many sleepless days and nights for the House majority led by Speaker John Boehner, the Senate minority led by Mitch McConnell, and all of the GOP Presidential candidates competing to replace Barack Obama in the White House!

Supreme Court Issues Surprising Decision On California Prisoners: Release 30,000 Inmates Within Two Years!

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The Supreme Court, in a surprise decision by 5-4, ordered California yesterday to release 30,000 inmates in its prison population due to improper care and attention to the medical and mental problems faced by many prisoners.

Justice Anthony Kennedy, the swing vote on the Court, again surprised people in that he joined the four liberals–Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginseberg, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan–in arguing that the living conditions of many prisoners were unacceptable under the 8th Amendment’s banning of “cruel and unusual punishment”!

The case, Brown V. Plata, drew an oral condemnation from Justice Antonin Scalia, and an equally scathing written attack by Justice Samuel Alito, and Justice Clarence Thomas and Chief Justice John Roberts also joined the minority.

California, in the midst of a horrible economic crisis, will need to find solutions within two years, and possibly gain an extension, and can utilize new construction, out of state transfers and utilizing county facilities to resolve the issue. Otherwise, up to 30,000 inmates could be unleashed on the general population, a security issue of horrifying proportions if it actually comes to be!

While the future seems grim, Justice Kennedy can be applauded for recognizing the concept of human dignity and a minimal condition of medical care and basic sustenance, and Kennedy has long been a critic of long and harsh sentences.

Realize that not all of the inmates of California state prisons are murderers or rapists, as many are in prison on drug convictions, and there have been laws in California requiring a three strikes concept that puts a prisoner under a life term, no matter how small the infractions on later legal issues.

Key solutions that will arise over the next few years under Governor Jerry Brown will be financing, meaning the need for more taxes to support keeping more people in state prison; making sure that violent criminals do not walk the streets in the future; and overcoming recidivism by promoting real job training and mental health intervention to assist parolees in finding work and going straight, rather than returning to prison through a “revolving door”!

It is clear that America has never been very good at promoting change in felons, whether younger or older. The tendency has been to “throw the keys away”, but in reality, that is not a solution long term, and we must work as a nation on improving the odds of prisoners learning from their incarceration, and hopefully not having to return to prison after having created new victims!

The Right Wing Has No Limits: REDSTATE’s War On Conservative Republicans As NOT Conservative Enough!

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REDSTATE is a right wing website of blogger Erick Erickson, and seeks to make the Republican Party as right wing as possible, failing to realize that the party will destroy itself if it goes that direction anymore than it is already!

In an entry this morning entitled “Conservatives Stand To Lose Big In 2012”, Erickson declares war on conservative Republicans in the Senate who he claims are not conservative enough!

On his hit list are the following Senators:

Richard Lugar of Indiana
Roger Wicker of Mississippi
Bob Corker of Tennessee

Also, such well known candidates for the Senate as the following are opposed as not conservative enough:

Former Congresswoman Heather Wilson of New Mexico
Former Governor Tommy Thompson of Wisconsin

Ericikson also attacks such former Republican officeholders as former Senator Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, former Governor Charlie Crist of Florida, former Kentucky Attorney General Trey Greyson, and former Congressman Mike Castle of Delaware, treating them as if they are “poison”!

His declaration of war on the above, if successful, will marginalize the GOP to such an extent that it will lose all semblance of being a major political party, and maybe, just maybe, that is his intent, with the replacement of the GOP by an openly Fascist party, a la Benito Mussolini, Juan Peron, or Francisco Franco!

Tim Pawlenty Panned By Former Republican Minnesota Governor On Day Of Presidential Announcement!

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Former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty announced his Presidential candidacy today in Iowa. Seen by many as having the fewest shortcomings, he has avoided major controversy by his words and actions, as compared to all other GOP candidates.

And yet, he could not fully enjoy his opening day as former Republican Governor Arne Carlson, who had supported Pawlenty for Governor, and appointed his wife to a state job, came out on Ed Schultze’s show on MSNBC tonight to criticize Pawlenty, and say the party could do a lot better for its Presidential nominee.

Carlson’s major complaint was that Pawlenty’s claim of balanced budgets in Minnesota over eight years is a fabrication, according to the former Governor.

Carlson complained that property taxes had skyrocketed, and that the state had put the burden on homeowners in an unjust way, but that Pawlenty had made it seem as if Minnesota’s state government was doing a good job, which according to Carlson, is the farthest thing from the truth.

So Pawlenty is discovering quickly that entering the Presidential race will be a long, grueling campaign, something Mitch Daniels, Haley Barbour, Mike Pence, John Thune, Mike Huckabee, and Donald Trump were unwilling to put themselves through!

Gay Rights, Minnesota, And Separation Of Church And State

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Minnesota is the land of Ten Thousand Lakes, the state of such luminaries in the past as Hubert Humphrey, Harold Stassen, Walter Mondale, and Paul Wellstone. It is the state of Senators Al Franken and Amy Klobuchar.

However, it is also the state of Michele Bachmann and Tim Pawlenty, both of whom profess to be Tea Party supporters and social conservatives, who appeal for support from those who believe in church and state being one, rather than supporting separation, as the Founding Fathers intended.

The hate mongers in the state legislature have forced a question on the 2012 state ballot, to ban gay marriage in the state constitution, a concept which does not belong in ANY constitution anywhere!

Democratic State Assemblyman Steve Simon spoke up in dramatic fashion against such a constitutional amendment, stating how much longer will we try to believe that being gay is not innate in a human being, and Republican John Kreisel, who lost both legs in Iraq, also opposed it on the grounds that gay soldiers die in defense of their country, and we have no problem with that, but don’t want to give them basic human rights to marry who they love!

As the polls indicate a majority of Americans have no problem with gay marriage rights, it is time for all decent people to organize against the hate mongers and the religious zealots who wish to promote a narrow minded change in the state constitution, which in future years will serve as a major embarrassment to the history and heritage of a state much more famous for progressive and liberal traditions!

America And Labor Rights To a DECENT AMOUNT of VACATION!

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Many Americans love to mouth the idea that we are a “special’ nation, which is involved in the promotion of human rights!

If that is so, isn’t a basic human right in the modern civilized world to be able to have a DECENT AMOUNT of VACATION time to spend with the family, to explore new horizons through travel, to get away from the stress and tension of corporate America and the capitalistic system which has little regard for labor rights?

It is well known that corporations love to work their staff hard, to the point that by the mid 40s, many have heart attacks, strokes, and cancer, caused by the stress and pressure of their jobs, and then many are summarily dismissed without any pension guarantees and told to clean out their workplaces while security is watching, so that they don’t overreact to their being mistreated and abused!

Why is it that in this nation that is so outstanding, according to political rhetoric, the average worker receives no more than two weeks vacation, and in many cases, is expected not to utilize it all, and certainly not two weeks in a row, while elsewhere, the norm is FIVE to SIX weeks, often altogether plus Holiday weeks, off rather than days off?

More than two dozen industrialized nations require workers to take four or more weeks of paid vacation, and three nations—Finland, Brazil and France—guarantee six weeks off!

The fact is that there is no federal law that mandates that employers offer ANY paid vacation, and one out of four people, therefore, have no ability to take vacation at all! This country is the ONLY advanced nation that does not guarantte annual leave for all citizens!

Many love to say we don’t want to be like France–as if it is terrible to emulate the French and other advanced nations in promoting the human right to a DECENT AMOUNT of VACATION in the 21st century!

Time For Barack Obama To Utilize Executive Order To Stop Deportations Of Young Immigrant Children Victims Of Failure To Pass DREAM Act!

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It is long overdue for President Obama to halt deportations of young immigrant children facing deportation from the only country they know, since the DREAM Act, designed to allow them to become citizens through miltary service or college graduation, has not been passed by Congress due to strong nativist sentiments!

These young people were brought here through no fault of their own, by parents who were trying to better their lives. Many are being forced from the country now, to go back to a nation they have no memory of, and in many cases, have no relatives to return to.

These young people have broken no laws, and just want to work toward citizenship through serving in the military, or attending college, so that they can contribute to the future of America.

The use of the executive order is not something new, and this President has already been bold in many ways, so instead of talking about immigration reform, it is essential that the President now take action to stop this violation of human rights!

Executive orders to promote the end of oppression and denial of human rights is part of the long tradition of American history, as witness the following:

1. Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation in 1863.
2. Franklin D. Roosevelt’s establishment of the Works Progress Administration during the Great Depression in 1935.
3. Harry Truman’s promotion of integration of Washington, DC and of the military in 1948.
4. Dwight D. Eisenhower’s intervention in the Little Rock School Desegregation crisis in 1957.
5. John F. Kennedy’s promoting affirmative action in employment by government contractors in 1961, along with his interventions in Mississippi in 1962 and Alabama in 1963 with the National Guard.
6. Lyndon B. Johnson’s promotion of Equal Employment Opportunity in federal employment in 1965.

So, Mr. President, it is time for immediate action on immigrant children!