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Does Romney know he doesn’t live in Switzerland? Take a look at his tax return.
Romney, in his 1040 income tax form, listed himself as being in a foreign country…uh…the USA.
“If you have a foreign address,” the tax return instruction reads, “also complete spaces below.” In the space below, under “foreign country name,” Romney’s form reads “USA.”
Of course, it probably points out how rarely Romney actually fills out income tax forms. If he made the 12 years of forms previously available, maybe we could get a true sense of where Romney comes from.
Related articles
- Romney Lists USA Under ‘Foreign Country’ on Tax Return (outsidethebeltway.com)
- Mitt Romney Calls the U.S. A “Foreign Country” On His Tax Returns (alan.com)
- Mitt Romney Calls U.S.A. a ‘Foreign Country’ in His Tax Returns (usnews.com)
- Americans Should be Outraged that Romney Pays Only 0.2% in Payroll Taxes (politicususa.com)
- Paul Abrams: What Romney’s Hiding: ‘It’s the Amnesty, Stupid’ (huffingtonpost.com)
Michelle kicks it off tonight…
I’m looking forward to it. Michelle Obama speaks in the 10 – 11 PM slot, preceded by the Keynote Speaker, Julián Castro, Mayor of San Antonio, Texas.
The Convention opens at 5:00 PM when Chair of the Democratic National Committee, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, brings down the gavel. Harry Reid, Rahm Emanuel, Joseph Kennedy III (one of several in the Kennedy family honoring the late Ted Kennedy) and Kal Penn, among others, speak tonight.
Related articles
- Democratic Convention Schedule. Who speaks when Tuesday night (blogs.suntimes.com)
- WATCH: Democratic National Convention (kfor.com)
- DNC releases schedule, Castro on after 9 p.m. (statesman.com)
- At DNC, Julián Castro Tackles Comparisons To President Obama – NPR (blog) (npr.org)
- First lady previews speech (kfwbam.com)
- Debbie Wasserman Schultz: DNC Will Be Very Different From Special Interest-Funded, Corporate Infused, Invitation-Only RNC (foxnewsinsider.com)
Republicans shoot down Equal Pay law in the Senate.
From RTTGlobal Financial News:
Senate Republicans on Tuesday blocked a bill that Democrats say would increase paycheck equity for women. Republican lawmakers argued the bill would put an undue strain on businesses.
Voting 52-47, the Senate fell eight votes short of the 60 necessary to hold an outright vote on the bill. All 47 Republicans in the chamber voted against it, with the exception of Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., who was absent.
The bill, dripping with election-year politics, was intended to close a pay gap between women and men by increasing litigation opportunities for women, closing a variety of legal loopholes, strengthening federal enforcement authority and barring employers from retaliating against employees who share pay information with colleagues.
Even though women make 84¢ an hour for every buck a man makes in the same job (some say 77¢), the attempt today to remedy that situation in the U.S. Senate was pretty much pissed on by 100% of the Senate Republicans.
There are two problems here… problems which won’t go away while we still have the same Democratic-to-Republican ratio:
– The need to have 60 votes, and not a simple majority, to pass an item. This is what is called a
“filibuster” and used to be pulled out only rarely, on extremely important bills that had strong disagreements. And it used to require all Senators to be present and those filibustering had to keep speaking on the floor or give up (remember Jimmy Stewart in “Mr. Smith Goes To Washington“?). This all changed when Republicans decided when Obama was elected to make ALL votes filibusters… and no one has to speak. They just declare it and it automatically goes to the 60 vote requirement. As Mitch McConnell told us in 2008, he’s not going to let any legislation brought in by Obama pass.
– A significant realization that Senators (both parties) can be influenced (read “instructed”) to vote as requested by their major funders. Corporations and Chambers of Commerce did NOT want to equalize the pay of women to that of men. Why? It would cost them more. So this is why 100% of Republicans…even women… sat on their hands on this one.
Obama was a major supporter of this bill. Romney never said a word about it, even though many expected he would show his relationship to his party by expressing his support for their action.
In his statement on the Republican negative vote, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid asked Romney why he had not at least called some of the Republican Senators to say he supported this bill (one of his assistants had e-mailed a response to the net that Romney had always supported equal pay.)
“This is a common-sense measure with broad public support. Nine out of 10 Americans – including 81 percent of men and 77 percent of Republicans – support this legislation. But once again, the only Republicans who are left opposing a common-sense measure to improve our economy and help middle-class families are the ones here in Washington.”
What do you women readers think of this? Does it affect you? Are you paid less than men where you work for similar occupations?
Boehner Caves!
We enter the evening with Speaker John Boehner caving in to a growing chorus of criticism from both within and outside his Republican party. He has agreed to The Senate’s short-term deal to extend a payroll tax cut for 160 million Americans.
In a major reversal that appeared to end a standoff with Democrats, Boehner told Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid he would set a vote in the House on a Senate-passed two-month extension of the payroll tax cut.
Boehner’s about-face contrasts with a year of Republican dominance in The House, in which a staunch opposition to higher taxes and spending yielded a string of political successes. Their backpedalling this time handed a rare victory to President Barack Obama and Democrats.
The vote to carry out the 60-day plan should take place tomorrow.
Obama stands up to Boehner on Payroll Tax vote…
Today, the President made separate calls to Speaker Boehner and Leader Reid. In his call to Speaker Boehner, the President reiterated the need and his commitment to work with Congress to extend the payroll tax cut for the entire year, and the fact that the short-term bipartisan compromise passed by almost the entire Senate is the only option to ensure that middle class families aren’t hit with a tax hike in 10 days and gives both sides the time needed to work out a full year solution. The President urged the Speaker to take up the bipartisan compromise passed in the Senate with overwhelming Democratic and Republican support that would prevent 160 million working Americans from being hit with a holiday tax hike on January 1st.
The President also spoke with Leader Reid and again applauded him for the work he conducted with Minority Leader McConnell to achieve a successful bipartisan compromise that passed overwhelmingly in the Senate on Saturday, and Senator Reid reaffirmed his commitment to secure a bipartisan year long tax cut after the House passes the two month extension. The President urged the Speaker to allow a vote on the one compromise that Democrats and Republicans passed together to give the American people the assurance they need during this holiday season that they won’t see a significant tax hike in just 10 days.
Boehner and the Tea Party folks are now getting the worst of the press, and they are even being criticized by other Republicans, none of whom would like the Middle Class on their tails come election time. Meanwhile, the Senate is on vacation and it doesn’t look like they are coming back to renegotiate before the short-term bill is passed.
Looks like the rest of the week will be interesting. Ho Ho Ho.
Related articles
- Obama Phones Boehner (thepage.time.com)
- Harry Reid: It’s ‘unconscionable’ that Speaker Boehner is blocking bipartisan payroll tax cut deal (dailykos.com)
- Joe Peyronnin: Ebenezer Boehner (huffingtonpost.com)
- Obama calls Boehner, urges him to allow vote on Senate payroll bill (thehill.com)
- Harry Reid to John Boehner on payroll tax cut: Put people before politics (dailykos.com)
- Obama urges Hill leaders to extend payroll tax cut (newsok.com)
It was a long night… hopefully today ends it all…
They decided last night and the Senate took a late vote… now it’s up to the House. The new Debt bill is not very strong on Democratic points and overburdened with Republican points (although it is House Republicans who can possibly kill it today) and we are hearing comments from all sides:
“Real spending cuts. No tax hike. Gang of Six said it could not be done. 1982, 1990 are now bad memories we learned from. Onward.”
“The compromise we have agreed to is remarkable for a number of reasons, not only because of what it does, but because of what it prevents.”
“This is an important moment for our country. I can say with a high degree of confidence that there is a framework in place to assure a significant degree of cuts to Washington spending.”
“Is this the deal I would have preferred? No. But this compromise does make a serious down payment on the deficit reduction we need.”
“Now listen, this isn’t the greatest deal in the world. But it shows how much we’ve changed the terms of the debate in this town.”
So now we wait for the vote.
Cartoon(s) of the Week – Dancing on the (Debt) Ceiling
Going to focus today on some great cartoons summing up the fruitless “debates” that this polarized Congress go through as the GOP tries to end Obama‘s Presidency…
… and when we’re done, we’ll decide how to spend what we have left…
– and –
John Deering in the Arkansas Democrat Gazette:
Waiting to see who wins as we all go over the falls…
– and –
Dan Wasserman in the Boston Globe:
Notice how well they listen to each other…
– and –
Dick Locher of Tribune Media Services:
… if we would all get with it….
– and –
Joel Pett in the Lexington Herald:
…and it l0oks like they are getting it.
The Idiots are “debating” all day…
… but are they coming up with anything? The Senate has kept the Boehner Bill from getting voted on…. the House has voted down the Reid Bill (which he Senate hasn’t even voted on and which they can’t agree on an up-and-down vote… in which it would pass… or a 60 person vote…which it would fail.)
The Senate is coming to a decision at 1:00 AM… I don’t know if I want to stay up this late and find that nothing takes place.
I wonder if this Congress has any idea how stupid they appear to the rest of us in America? If they did, this would probably not be happening.
Related articles
- House to vote today on Reid’s debt ceiling bill (dailykos.com)
- Timeline: How To Track The Next 80 Hours (businessinsider.com)
- Senate Debt Ceiling Watch Party (firedoglake.com)
- Senate Vote Scheduled for Middle of Night (politicalwire.com)
- House Republicans prepare to reject debt plan (nj.com)
- GOP Leaders: We’ll Get It Done (foxnews.com)
- US Senate Kills Boehner Debt Hike Plan;Reid Wants Talks W/GOP (forexlive.com)
Congress pledges to work all weekend to solve Deficit Problem. I pledge to stop laughing as soon as I get off the floor.
We know for, what is now, a fact that the children in control of the House are going to pound their hands and feet on the floor to avoid compromise and the Democrats in the Senate, without seeing what the House may pass, has already vowed to vote against it.
John Boehner seems more concerned with shifting control of the Tea-Party loaded House back to his office… this, of course, he does by promoting 
Tea-Party principles… and Harry Reid and friends are working hrd to make sure Republicans are responsible for the Economic cesspool we are in.
President Obama seems to be staying on top of the fray… but that doesn’t mean anything is being accomplished. Then, there’s the possibility of the 14th Amendment brou-ha-ha to come into play… although Obama is indicating it won’t.
Rich and Greedy folks like the Koch Brothers are sitting on their money piles and holding off any attempts to get them to pay their fair share. Control freaks like Grover Norquist are waving signed copies of the no-tax pledges that have gotten Republicans to sign over their heads and yelling “small government” (as we continue to pursue our role as World Policeman at a cost of Billions of Bucks a day.)
And now they have indicated they will work the weekend in Congress to solve the problem… something they have not been able to do in their string of regular 3-day weeks (gee… they have to travel on Mondays and Fridays.).
I no longer wish to pay congressional salaries unless they actually come to a positive compromise. Nor do I think we should support their staffs. And if they don’t come up with this compromise.. and protect the lower and middle classes… in time for the August 2 collapse, they should be ejected from their offices as well. Let them sit out in the rain predicted for Saturday and figure out how they are going to justify their jobs.
Related articles
- Boehner Debt Ceiling Bill Faces House Vote (huffingtonpost.com)
- Is the Obama White House too politicized? Plus, is tax pledge helping or hurting debt talks? (politico.com)
- Debt Plan Gimmicks Are Go! (reason.com)
- Dems pounce on Norquist tax comments (politico.com)
- Call To ACTION: No Super Congress! (my.firedoglake.com)
- Did Grover Norquist blink on tax cuts? (cbsnews.com)
- Grover Norquist: Did anti-tax activist blink on Bush tax cuts? – CBS News (news.google.com)
- This Is How The Debt Deal Might Happen (businessinsider.com)
- Reid debt ceiling plan comes up short (money.cnn.com)
- As the final deadline gets closer, the parties move further apart (independent.co.uk)
- Reid Pledges to Kill Boehner Bill (politicalwire.com)
- Debt-ceiling vote: Can John Boehner win it? What if he can’t? (slate.com)
- Boehner’s debt plan up for significant House vote (cnn.com)
Jobs Bill Killed!
This was sent to me this morning in John Case’s Daily Mailing:
Another Jobs Bill Killed via Open Congress : Blog by Donny Shaw on 6/23/11
On June 6th, the Senate opened debate on the Economic Development Revitalization Act of 2011, a bill to reauthorize and expand a long-running and consistently successful job-creation agency, the
Economic Development Administration. The EDA has traditionally enjoyed bipartisan support, and this reauthorization bill was introduced with bipartisan co-sponsorship and passed out of committee without any dissent from Republicans. But after two weeks of debate, the bill was unanimously filibustered by Republicans and has now been pulled from the floor.Like the last jobs bill to die in the Senate, the bill was bogged down and ultimately killed by dozens of controversial and unrelated amendments that were submitted to it. Senate rules do not requireamendments to be germane to the bill they are submitted to, so individual senators can choose to use any bill to force a vote on any of their pet issues. By the time the EDA bill was killed, 99 amendments had been submitted, and the list read like an overview of current hot-button political topics. The amendments included everything from raising the debt ceiling, to repealing health care reform, repealing financial regulatory reform, expanding offshore oil drilling, and more.
This problem of non-controversial bills being killed by controversial amendments has its roots in a deal on procedure that Democratic and Republican Senate leaders agreed to at the beginning of this session.
In exchange for Majority Leader Sen. Harry Reid [D, NV] keeping bills open to amendments, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell [R, KY] and his caucus agreed to not mount filibusters of bringing bills to the floor as a matter of routine. As a result, the Democratic majority has been able to hold debates on their legislative agenda, but the Republicans have also been able to turn every debate into an attempt to repeal health care reform.The Senate Majority Leader has almost complete control over what bills get brought up for debate, so it is the case that most Republican issues stand no chance of being voted on this session outside the amendment process. But the Senate can’t vote on every contentious political topic for every bill, so Reid has to make a decision when to cut off the amendment process and start moving towards passing the underlying bill. In this case, Reid allowed two Democratic amendments and two Republican amendments to be voted on before filing a motion to end debate and move forward towards passage. But since most senators didn’t get to have their pet amendments voted on, they voted against
he motion to end debate and essentially forced a filibuster. Even Sen. James Inhofe [R, OK], an original co-sponsor of the bill, voted for the filibuster.And so gridlock prevails, even on the one issue that everyone claims to care about — job creation. Just another example of why Americans have less confidence in Congress than any other institution in American society.
Things you can do from here:
– Subscribe to Open Congress : Blog using Google Reader
– Get started using Google Reader to easily keep up with all your favorite sites
So the next time Mitch McConnell complains about Obama not doing anything to create jobs, send this article to his office and ask “Why?”
Looks like Harry Reid is going to make Senate Republicans commit themselves to Ryan’s Budget on the Senate floor…
I don’t know if you saw Rachel Maddow last night, but Sen. Bernie Sanders (I – Vermont) made a statement that picked my ears up.
Sen. Harry Reid (D - Nevada)
After commenting on the devastating results the Ryan Budget would have on the lower and middle classes (destruction of Head Start, dismanteling of Social Security, turning Medicare into Coupon Care giving seniors an $8,000.00 coupon instead of coverage – something a senior diagnosed with cancer can spend in the first week), he announced that Harry Reid has a strategy which will benefit Democrats in the upcoming election… He’s going to bring the Ryan Budget to the Senate floor for an up-or-down vote. Then all the Republicans who vote for it can be held to it (like the House Republicans) and take the loss in 2012.
In the House, Boehner appears to be wobbling and, perhaps, pulling back on the Ryan fiasco… especially after several local Town hall meetings have attacked Ryan and others about the cutting of Medicare and other problems with his budget – like giving more advantages to corporations and the richest 1% of our population:
Boehner’s recent statement:
“It’s Paul’s idea. Other people have other ideas. I’m not wedded to one single idea, but I think it’s — we have a plan. Where’s the president’s plan to deal with the nightmare that’s facing Americans?”
Organizations like Americans United for Change have another view of Boehner’s being unwedded to Ryan:
“Sorry Speaker Boehner, there’s no ‘take-backs’ or distancing from this one — you and the 224 other House Republicans that voted for the Ryan plan for turning Medicare into Coupon Care now own it.”
So let’s keep an eye on the Senate when they come back (When do these guys actually WORK?), I guess next week. Let’s see if Harry Reid actually pulls it off.
Related Articles
- Harry Reid says he will schedule vote on Ryan’s Republican budget plan (dailykos.com)
- “[We’ll] see if Republican senators like the Ryan budget as much as their House colleagues did.” (shortformblog.tumblr.com)
- Senate Will Vote on Ryan’s Budget Plan (politicalwire.com)
- More talk of Reid forcing vote on Ryan “kill Medicare” budget (americablog.com)
- Reid wants to put the screws to GOP over Ryan budget (dailykos.com)
- Hatch to Reid: Vote on all House-proposed budgets (thehill.com)
- Town hall anger at Republican Medicare plan continues (dailykos.com)
- Senate Democrats to Force Senate Republicans to Vote for Awful Republican Budget (slog.thestranger.com)
Quote of the Day
… from Ezra Klein in the Washington Post, regarding the budget deal Obama made with Boehner on Friday night:
Right now, the economy is weak. Giving into austerity will weaken it further, or at least delay recovery for longer. And if Obama does not get a recovery, then he will not be a successful president, no matter how hard he works to claim Boehner’s successes as his own.
It’s worth your time to read the whole column HERE.
Related Articles
- Agent Orange: (brothersjuddblog.com)
- In Government Shutdown Analogy, NBA’s David Stern Is John Boehner; Will Billy Hunter Be Obama? (sbnation.com)
- Once Again, We Are Defeated… (delong.typepad.com)
- Budget Compromise a Bad Deal for Democrats, American Economy (blogs.forbes.com)
- The President Says We Won. Harry Reid Says We Won. So Why Does My Butt Hurt? (bruceturnerjr5.wordpress.com)
And it begins again… this time in the Senate
“Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself.”
As I settled in this afternoon awaiting a coming ice storm (the first of these just missed us last night) and curious about what’s going on in Egypt where around 2 million people were demonstrating today for Hosni Mubarak‘s resignation (in a speech this afternoon he said he would not run for reelection and would be out of office by the Fall… as you might guess, this does not seem good enough for the demonstrators who want him out now) I wondered what was happening on C-Span 2.
I thought I’d watch the Senate debate the FAA Funding Bill and what do you think happened? Senate Republicans have attempted to repeal last year’s sweeping health care law via an amendment to a FAA funding, proposed by the beloved Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) Not since the Earth’s creation some 6000+ years ago, when men and dinosaurs peaceably shared the world, have I heard such idiocy.
So, instead of solving the major problem of supporting and improving Airline regulations, we are listening to Republicans tell us that most Americans are opposed to the Health Care law (although recent polls indicate that an average of 80% of those Americans DON”T WANT IT REPEALED!) They are adamant that 50 million people who became covered due to parts of the Affordable Care Act should be dropped from coverage… and at the same time they will continue to waste our time and money with this kind of folderol. I thought Harry Reid was going to keep this crap off the floor.
I guess this is going to be Mitch’s strategy… no matter what bill is proposed, Mitch will see to it that an amendment to repeal Health Care will be included. And we will look on in disbelief. Maybe we need 2 million Americans to stand outside of Congress until Mitch and his pals decide to take an early vacation.
Related Articles
- On Aviation & Health Care: Senate Poised To Vote On Repeal (blogs.abcnews.com)
- GOP Plans To Force Vote On Health Care Repeal (huffingtonpost.com)
- US’s Reid: Sees ‘Serious Talks’ To Cut Deficit;But Not Soc Sec (forexlive.com)
- Republicans Look to Build Steam for Health Care Law Repeal After Florida … – Fox News (news.google.com)
- Senate’s 47 GOP members agree to back health care repeal bill – USA Today (news.google.com)
- Senate Republicans Seek State Opt-Out of Health-Care Overhaul (businessweek.com)
- Hosni Mubarak Addresses Egypt [Updated] (laist.com)
- In Congress, GOP backs Obama’s Egypt stance, Dems not so much – Christian Science Monitor (news.google.com)
- Democrats, GOP form chorus on Egypt (politico.com)
Were you one of the 50,000?
If you were one of the 50,000 people across the country who signed the online petition (and made comments as well) from the Bold Progressives (Progressive Campaign Change Committee), then here are the names and comments being presented to Senator Harry Reid in Nevada:
I often wonder if all the petitions I sign with progressive groups really get through. I guess they do.
How the GOP will force a repeal vote in the Senate
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Related Articles
- How McConnell Could Force a Repeal Vote (politicalwire.com)
- How the GOP could force a repeal vote in the Senate (firstread.msnbc.msn.com)
- Senate fight looms after House healthcare repeal – Los Angeles Times (news.google.com)
House Passes Repeal…Something only 26 % of Americans Support (AP poll). Now what?
Breaking down by party lines the Republicans got Repeal voted through 245 to 189, and it now heads to the Senate where Harry Reid has stated he will block it’s being raised. Although Republicans are expected to find any kind of trick possible to get it brought up in the Senate, it is doubtful that it will happen.
Republicans rejected a procedural maneuver by the Democratic minority to make repeal ineffective unless a majority of the House and Senate withdraw from the federal health benefits program within 30 days after passage by each chamber.
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said the effort was “an attempt to derail an appeal of the Obamacare bill.
Related Articles
- Cantor to Reid: If you’re so confident ObamaCare repeal will fail in Senate … (hotair.com)
- “House to Vote on GOP-led Healthcare Repeal” and related posts (hispanicbusiness.com)
- Voters don’t accept the GOP’s false choice about health reform repeal (dailykos.com)
Looks like Obama got more today than anyone expected…
Both the Senate and the House (finally) passed the health bill for 9/11 first responders and it was sent to the White House for Obama‘s signature. The Senate was unanimous (after offices of Senator Coburn and others were stormed by 9/11 first responders this morning.) The House took very little time to pass it… and now it’s going to be law. It looks like the Republicans were “shamed” into coming in on this after tromping it the other day.
The Senate also finished up with and passed the START arms reduction treaty with Russia by 
a 71-to-26 vote. The treaty had needed at least two-thirds support for passage.
The President signed the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell bill that was passed yesterday.
I’ll bet Mitch McConnell will have to agree with Lindsey Graham that Harry Reid has “eaten our lunch.” And the President, at his Press Conference this afternoon said “we are not doomed to endless gridlock.”
Today, Obama and the Democrats lived up to their word. They maintained their focus and, despite the agreement on the Tax Cuts, brought in the majority of their bills. It’s going to be a Happy Holiday for Democrats.
Related Articles
- The case of Lindsey Graham’s missing lunch (washingtonmonthly.com)
- Nuclear treaty reignites Senate bickering (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
- Senate Passes Food Safety Bill Again; Sets Final Vote for New START (news.firedoglake.com)
- House & Senate Pass 9/11 Health Bill, Senate Ratifies START Treaty (themoderatevoice.com)
- Nuclear treaty another victory for President (nationalpost.com)
- US Senate approves New START (rt.com)
- GOP senators help arms pact clear hurdle (washingtontimes.com)
- START Treaty Passed By Senate (alan.com)
Quote of the Day – Results of the Lame Duck Session and a salute to Harry Reid.
“When it’s all going to be said and done, Harry Reid has eaten our lunch. This has been a capitulation in two weeks of dramatic proportions of policies that wouldn’t have passed in the new Congress.”
— Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC)
Heeheehee…
Congress as the Home of Religious Humor…
Senator DeMint
This from a longer article in Salon by Alex Pareene… I would just like to note that Republicans are willing to try just about anything to be assholes:
DeMint and Kyl are also the primary authors of my favorite new political argument of 2010: That holding votes near Christmas is insulting to the Baby Jesus. It’s “sacrilegious,” according to DeMint, to vote on things right before Christmas. Kyl made the interesting point that it’s insulting to Christians to go to work between Christmas and New Year‘s, a week during which most of the remaining Americans with full-time jobs are indeed expected to make an appearance at the office.
As far as I’m concerned, they can stay in session until the day the new Congress takes over in January.
Related Articles
- Kyl and DeMint Think Baby Jesus Doesn’t Want Them To Vote On START During Christmas (crooksandliars.com)
- I Don’t Think that Means What You Think it Means (DeMint, Sacrilege and Delays) (outsidethebeltway.com)
- What Jim DeMint considers ‘sacrilegious’ (washingtonmonthly.com)
- DeMint, Kyl and McConnell fight the War on Christmas (dailykos.com)
- Reid to DeMint and Kyl: Stop whining about having to work over the holidays (hotair.com)
- DeMint calls votes before Christmas ‘sacrilegious’ (politico.com)
- Sen. Reid: “I Don’t Need To Hear Sanctimonious Lectures” From GOP On The Meaning Of Christmas (mediaite.com)
Here’s a review of the Nevada election…
This from HuffPo:
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Related Articles
- Harry Reid Republicans (outsidethebeltway.com)
- Did Harry Reid Steal Nevada From Sharron Angle? 10 Facts To Consider (ephraiyim.wordpress.com)
At this point, I think Obama has kissed Democrats goodbye…
As of this morning it seems that Obama is ready to deal with the Right… extend the Bush tax cuts for a couple of years in exchange for one year’s extension of Unemployment funding. The tax cut deal is tentative. It hasn’t gone through Congress yet (although McConnell is probably dribbling with laughter in his office), but it probably will.
When even Conservatives like Joe Scarborough sees and comments on the fact that Obama is moving directly to the Right… 
which will not increase job creation much, but will add at least a trillion new bucks to the deficit…we know it’s a lot of money. And who is going to lend it to us? The Chinese? Are we going to listen to Obama’s financial team that extending tax cuts are going to get us out of recession?
And now we won’t be able to blame this crap on Bush anymore. Obama owns it and is most likely making himself a one-term President. And a lot of very unhappy Democrats like me will probably help him to become a one-termer. As Joe Scarborough just said: “At least they can’t call him a Socialist any more.”
I think it is up to Nancy Pelosi (certainly not Harry Reid) to try to hold this arrangement off… and, as I have said before, it would be better to have this whole arrangement with the Right flushed down the toilet and get NO tax cut extensions for ANYONE, than to do anything like what is coming out of the White House. (Steny Hoyer, however, will go along with it… miserable power seeker… and will undermine Pelosi.)
So now we have to pay for increased troops in Afghanistan where we are getting nowhere even faster than before, we have to suffer increasing rather than decreasing unemployment making our tax revenues even lower, and we can look forward to a 
GOP-controlled future… amazing with a Democratic White House and Senate… which will take us further from the America that was built by generations of progressive leaders from Roosevelt (FDR) through Johnson. 
If the Tea Party takeover has taught us anything, it is that we need a new grass-roots progressive movement. And we have to push from the ground up. It’s going to take 30 years.
At least.
Quote for the Day – Thre Majority Leader on Senator McCain’s opposition to ending “Don’t ask, don’t tell”…
Harry Reid
“First, Sen. McCain said he would seriously consider repealing it if the military leadership thought we should, and [when] the military leadership said it should be repealed, he pulled away the football. Then Sen. McCain said he would need to see a study from the Pentagon. When the Pentagon produced the study saying repeal would have no negative effect at all, he pulled away the football again.
“And his latest trick, he said yesterday that he opposed repealing ‘don’t ask, don’t tell,’ a proposal that would be a great stride forward for both equality and military readiness … because of the economy,” Reid added. “I repeat, the senior senator from Arizona said he couldn’t support repealing ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ because of the economy.
“I have no idea what he’s talking about and no one else does either.”
Related Articles
- Reid rips McCain over ‘don’t ask’ (politico.com)
- McCain stands firm on “don’t ask” … even after that study (shortformblog.com)
- Mother of 9/11 Hero Calls on McCain for “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” Repeal (gayrights.change.org)
- ‘Don’t ask’: McCain clashes with military leaders (sfgate.com)
- McCain slams Pentagon’s ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ study – MiamiHerald.com (news.google.com)
Saturday morning and I’m watching the Senate vote on the tax bill…
Right now they are voting on the Baucus Amendment, which is identical to the bill passed by the House last week. This extends tax cuts across the board up up to $250,000 per family income. If this fails they go to the Schumer Amendment which extends the Bush tax cuts up to $1,000,000.00.
I don’t believe either of these will pass, since the Republicans are holding out for complete extension of all Bush tax cuts… 
including those for the very wealthy which will cost our country over a trillion dollars this year. However, what will be seen in public is that the Democrats are trying to deal with the two problems of the economy and the deficit, while the Republicans are holding out to make the deficit much, much worse and to benefit the very wealth 1% at the top of our population.
It looks like we are getting a straight “NO” from Republicans (even Brown from Massachusetts and Collins from Maine who were hinted at to be crossovers.) I didn’t see on the Democrat side what Ben Nelson did, or if any other Dem went for the Republican side. It’s no surprise but fucking Lieberman just went with the Republicans (What a surprise!, says my wife.)
Vote on this one was 53 to 36… since, due to the filibuster it needs 60 votes, this one didn’t make it.
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Harry Reid just interrupted the proceedings to go over the next week’s schedule.
Now they are voting on whether to move forward with the Schumer Amendment with the million dollar break.
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Schumer’s Amendment would extend unemployment for a year as well.Since it looks like all the Senators are on the floor now, this vote should go faster than the last. Looking at the floor I see that Democrats are talking to Democrats and republicans are talking to Republicans and no pleasant interaction is happening between parties. Our Senator Rockefeller has voted against this one, and I’m surprised. Perhaps I shouldn’t be, but when even Ben nelson votes for it, I wonder why Rockefeller ties in with the right on this one. Lieberman voted No on this one as well.
Tom Harkin has voted No on this one… and, if so, there must be a reason. Durbin has voted No as well. Something tells me they want to go to the original drafting of the bill with no amendments. Or else they are trying to make sure nothing gets through and the Taxes are automatically restored on January 1st (which, as you know, would be my preference.)
Vote is 53 – 37 and the motion is not agreed to.
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Now Mitch McConnell is giving a speech to insult Democrats for wasting time and claiming that there is BiPartisan demand to extend the tax cuts for everyone, including the wealthy, and he also claims that the public agrees (just not the 70% who have been polled.)
So now we’re going into open speeches by both sides. It begins with Mary landrieu (D – Louisiana) commenting on Mitch McConnell’s insults and questioning if he is not embarrassed by saying publicly that his main goal is to prevent Obama from being reelected in 2012.
God, it’s hard to watch this crap.
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- Senate to vote on Democratic tax cut plans – The Associated Press (news.google.com)
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- Senate Showdown Saturday: Tax Cut Votes on the Way – ABC News (news.google.com)
- Obama wins symbolic tax vote but battle rages (nationalpost.com)
- The relative ease of finger-pointing (washingtonmonthly.com)
- Saturday Showdown at the Senate: Weekend Tax Cut Votes on the Way (blogs.abcnews.com)
- US’s Schumer: Hopes Senate Tax-Cut Votes On Sat Clarify Debate (forexlive.com)
- Biden: Senate should extend middle class tax cuts (reuters.com)
- Saturday …The Senate will be in Session (ynative77.wordpress.com)
From The Hill: Collins says ‘Don’t ask, don’t tell’ repeal must wait for tax cuts By Michael O’Brien
Susan Collins (R - Maine)
Here’s a piece of O’Brien’s article.
The next time someone tells you that Susan Collins is a “liberal” Republican, have them read this…
There’s more at TheHill.com:
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- GOP Sens. Threaten to Block Repeal (pinkbananaworld.com)
- ‘Don’t ask’ repeal loses momentum (politico.com)
- Senator Susan Collins Supports DADT Repeal- With Conditions (lezgetreal.com)
- “Don’t ask, don’t tell” probably not happening any time soon (salon.com)
This from the Daily Beast on “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”…
Hope Harry Reid has his act together and this goes through tout suite:
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- Karen Ocamb: White House, Democratic Senators Push for DADT Repeal This Year (huffingtonpost.com)
- Lame Duck Congress Could Still Repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” Policy (masonryan.wordpress.com)
- DADT Repeal Is Dead! DADT Repeal Is Going To Pass! The Sky Is Blue! Then It Turned Black! (queerty.com)
- Breaking Senator Harry Reid: Don’t Ask Don’t Tell ‘on the Floor after Thanksgiving’. (lezgetreal.com)
- Picking up GOP votes on DADT repeal? (washingtonmonthly.com)
Under The LobsterScope 