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What is it about Republicans and their need to create wars?
Here’s where to look for a World News Daily article by Jamal Abdi: New Senate Push to Pledge Unconditional Support for Israeli “Preventive” War on Iran.
Before reading it, here’s the first couple of sentences:
Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) is planning to press the Senate next month to pledge U.S. troops, money, and political support to Israel should Bibi Netanyahu launch a preventive war on Iran.
Graham claims his effort would merely make explicit that the U.S. has Israel’s back. But when your friend is drunk, you don’t hand them the keys. If Graham has his way, he will hand Bibi the keys and lend him our car, while the rest of us ride shotgun.
If this gets you at all nervous about creating a new major mideast war at the behest of Israel (and Lindsay Graham), then get ready to write your senator.
Related articles
- New Senate Push to Pledge Unconditional Support for Israeli Preventive War on Iran (fromthetrenchesworldreport.com)
- Lindsey Graham Introduces Bill To Commit US Troops to Israel (dailypaul.com)
- New Senate Push to Pledge Unconditional Support for Israeli Preventive War on Iran (whitenewsnow.com)
- Lindsey Graham alleges Election-Driven WH cover-up on Benghazi, Calls Obama ‘misleading’ or ‘incompetent’ (riehlworldview.com)
- U.S. Senate Joins Bibi In Push For War (addictinginfo.org)
We say farewell to former Senator Arlen Specter, dead at 82.
Arlen Specter, who spent 30 years representing Pennsylvania in the Senate offended Republicans and Democrats in almost equal measures with maverick votes and a frank cockiness that finally ended his career in politics, died Sunday at his home in Philadelphia. He was 82
Specter, who had battled a number of major illnesses in recent years, including non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, was a hard-driving former prosecutor described even by some admirers as sarcastic. But he stood well above many of his Senate colleagues in his combination of intelligence and effectiveness.
Specter won no lasting gratitude from either liberals or conservatives during his career, and he especially alienated women.
After yet another “betrayal” of Republicans on the 2009 stimulus plan, he was forced to make the most dramatic leap in a career that was full of them. But this time he did not make it across the chasm. Facing defeat in the 2010 Republican primary election, Specter surprised the nation by announcing in April 2009 that he was switching parties – for a second time. (In 1965 he switched from Democrat to Republican after winning election as Philadelphia district attorney on the Republican ticket in an end-run around the city’s Democratic machine.)
His Senate change delivered a veto-proof majority there to President Obama. But not for long. Pennsylvania Democrats, many of whom had voted against him for years, refused to accept his final conversion. The party change did not secure his position, however. He avoided the Republican primary but got smacked in the Democratic primary. His career ended.
Related articles
- Arlen Specter, dead at 82 (illinoisreview.typepad.com)
- Former Sen. Arlen Specter dies at 82 (rawstory.com)
- Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter Dies [Rip] (gawker.com)
- Former U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter dead at 82 (riehlworldview.com)
- Former Senator Arlen Specter Dies of Cancer (voanews.com)
- Sen. Arlen Specter Dies At 82 (npr.org)
- Former Sen. Arlen Specter dead at 82 (dailykos.com)
Tax Benefits for the Middle Class with Obamacare
No matter what the Republicans in Congress say as they pass Eric Cantor‘s legislative move to repeal Obamacare (don’t worry, the Senate will send it to the crapper), it should be clear that the health care program benefits the Middle class. Especially with tax cuts.
Take a look:
Save this to argue with your Republican friends (as if they’ll listen!)
Related articles
- Eric Cantor: Republicans DID have an Obamacare alternative! (dailykos.com)
- BOEHNER: Congressional Republicans resolved to repeal Obamacare – Washington Times (gds44.wordpress.com)
- The GOP healthcare ‘alternative’ (maddowblog.msnbc.msn.com)
- Eric Cantor says House will vote on Obamacare repeal in July (radio.woai.com)
- House Majority Leader Eric Cantor schedules vote to REPEAL OBAMA-CARE for July 11, 2012. (investmentwatchblog.com)
- Mission Impossible: Romney’s ambitious first term agenda (firstread.msnbc.msn.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?
My beloved home state is about to ban capital punishment…
This from the Hartford Courant:
HARTFORD, Conn. — Connecticut was poised to become the 17th state to abolish the death penalty after the Senate passed a bill early Thursday repealing capital punishment.
The 20-16 vote came at 2:05 a.m., after more than 10 hours of debate. The measure now moves to the House of Representatives, where it has broad support. Democratic Gov. Daniel P. Malloy has pledged to sign the bill once it reaches his desk.
—–
This brings into question what will happen to the two men convicted in the Petit murders (which I talked about a few years ago, since Dr. Petit, who was my Endocrinologist when I lived in CT and he lost his wife and daughters to these guys).
This raises the question of whether Steven Hayes and Joshua Komisarjevsky, sentenced to death for the Petit murders, will be executed. Some experts believe the courts will overturn the death sentences of all those convicted of capital crimes to make the law consistent. Will that happen?
Maybe not.
The bill stipulates that the 11 men currently on Connecticut’s death row would still face execution; capital punishment would only be abolished for those convicted of capital offenses in the future.
Related articles
- Connecticut Senate votes to abolish death penalty – Fox News (foxnews.com)
- Connecticut may be latest state to repeal death penalty (claimyourinnocence.wordpress.com)
- Connecticut To End Death Penalty, Become 17th State To Stop Capital Punishment (inquisitr.com)
- Connecticut moves to abolish death penalty (mercurynews.com)
- Connecticut’s wise move against the death penalty (csmonitor.com)
Here’s why I don’t support Senator Joe Manchin (and I’m a West Virginia Democrat):
Here’s an article and video from Russell Mokhiber at Morgan County USA. It points out with disturbing accuracy why I am unable to support Joe Manchin, the self-appointed Senator who is up for his first real election:
Joe Manchin Meet Glass Steagall – 2/18/2012
Senator Joe Manchin (D-West Virginia) came to Berkeley Springs, West Virginia yesterday to meet with citizens.
One citizen asked Senator Manchin about Glass-Steagall.
Glass-Steagall was the depression era law that prevented banks from gambling with your savings account.
It was repealed by President Clinton in 1999.
And many economists believe that the repeal of Glass-Steagall had a lot to do with the most recent economic collapse.
There’s a move to bring it back.
In the Senate and the House.
But Senator Manchin said he never heard of Glass-Steagall.
Not that the law was passed post depression.
Not the fact that Clinton repealed it.
Not the fact that it may have had something to do with the recent Wall Street collapse.
One man in the crowd tried to explain to Manchin what it was.
Manchin thought the man was referring to Dodd-Frank.
No, not Dodd-Frank, the man said.
Glass-Steagall.
I suggested to Senator Manchin that the reason the American people hold Congress in such low regard is because the American people think that Senator Manchin and his colleagues are corrupt.
I started to read to him from a list of his major corporate contributors.
FirstEnergy Corp. $88,000.
Mylan Inc. $59,900.
American Electric Power $45,950.
Jackson Kelly $45,398.
I told Manchin about the story of Rose Baker, the Wetzel County woman whose life was destroyed by fracking.
As a result of fracking by Chesapeake Energy and others, her quality of life went from a 10 to a 3 in a couple of years.
She can’t drink her well water now because it’s polluted.
There’s night light pollution, noise pollution, water pollution.
Manchin supports fracking.
He’s opposed to a moratorium on fracking.
How do we know that it’s not because of the money he takes from Chesapeake Energy ($21,900)?
Manchin is opposed to single payer national health care.
How do we know it’s not because of the $139,100 he takes from the pharmaceutical and other related industries?
Could it be that Manchin cares more about Chesapeake Energy than he does about Rose Baker?
Could it be that Manchin cares more about health insurance and pharmaceutical companies that give him money than he does about the 120 people who die every day in America just because they don’t have health insurance?
Manchin says he cares about Rose Baker.
He says he cares about a 63-year friend of mine who has been diagnosed with an aortic aneurysm, but can’t get it fixed because he has no health insurance and the operation will cost $120,000.
Manchin says every member of Congress has to raise money from corporations just to get re-elected.
True enough, said one woman in the audience.
So, what are we going to do to get money out of politics, she asked.
Manchin said we need transparency.
But we already have transparency.
Here’s the list of money you take from corporations.
We need to get the money out.
But Manchin is marinated in corporate cash.
He’s in no position to support a moratorium on fracking.
Or single payer.
Or legislation to clean up the system.
He’s corporatized to the core.
He doesn’t know Glass-Steagall.
He doesn’t know Rose Baker.
He doesn’t know about my friend with the aortic aneurysm.
Why should he know?
Or care?
Thank you so much, Russell. This was very revealing and EVERYONE in West Virginia should look at this. Who, however do we vote for? Mountain Party?
I’m really afraid we’re stuck with this Republican in a Democrat mask.
Related articles
- Manchin: Where’s W.H. leadership? (politico.com)
- Manchin speaks up – to defend Keystone XL! (junkscience.com)
- Sens. Marco Rubio And Joe Manchin Make Bipartisan Appearance, Blast Birth Control Mandate (mediaite.com)
- Two U.S. Senators Are In A Feud Over College Football [College Football] (deadspin.com)
- Manchin Will Run for Senate (politicalwire.com)
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)
Quote du Jour – Debt Ceiling Filibuster
“We’ve had not one minute of debate about the debt ceiling in any committee. We haven’t had a budget in two years. We haven’t had an appropriations bill in two years. So I’m part of the freshmen group in the Senate that’s saying, ‘no more.'”
“Next week, we will filibuster until we talk about the debt ceiling, until we talk about proposals.”
– Rand Paul (R – KY)
So next week is going to have a new reason to watch C-Span 2. Can’t wait.
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.
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So the next time Mitch McConnell complains about Obama not doing anything to create jobs, send this article to his office and ask “Why?”