Be INFORMED

Saturday, May 28, 2011

Keith Olbermann tears Into Eric Cantor..

  …over Cantor’s heartless remarks and his playing games with the tornado victims.

   No emergency relief funds unless it is cut from other programs?  WTF?? Cantor, as is true of the majority of the American Taliban, has no morals.

Friday, May 27, 2011

Friday Funnies: Memorial Day Weekend Edition!

  So,  many of you  will be hitting the highways to go visit the beaches, relatives, or lost loved ones on this weekend. Drive safe and be observant because stupid drunk drivers do not take holidays off.

  We’ll see you next week unless the rapture groups only missed it by a week. Ha

Jimmy Fallon :  "One of Sarah Palin's supporters is about to release a documentary about her called 'The Undefeated.' That's like a documentary about Arnold Schwarzenegger called 'The Faithful.'"
"Someone made a two-hour documentary about Sarah Palin's political life. In case you're interested in watching a movie that's longer than Palin's actual political life.'"

"Rudy Giuliani says he may run for President. So now we're up to 7 candidates and 35 ex-wives."

"Herman Cain, the former CEO of Godfather's Pizza, announced that he's running for president. And this is cool — if his campaign isn't over in 30 minutes or less, you get your pizza for free."

Jay Leno:  "The Rapture-predicting preacher, Harold Camping, is really scaling back his predictions. He now predicts the end of the month will be May 31."

"President Obama is on a visit to England. He told the Queen yesterday, 'I like your tea parties much better than the ones we have in America.'"

"They drive on other side of the road there, so Obama had to switch sides — kind of like Mitt Romney is doing over here."

"I don't want to say Tim Pawlenty is boring, but Joe Biden is accusing him of identity theft."

Conan O'Brien : "New video has surfaced of Arnold Schwarzenegger in 1991 saying the housekeeper does a 'great job.' One clue might have been that he then added, 'And she's also a great housekeeper.'"

"Kirstie Alley did a cartwheel on 'Dancing With the Stars.' But President Obama is refusing to release the pictures."

"Last night at a Texas Ranger game ex-President Bush almost got hit with a foul ball. He vowed revenge on the player, but we all know Obama will be the one to actually get him."

Anthony Weiner Razzes GOP…

    ….on the House floor on Thursday and he most surely did not hold back on his attack on the Republican’s support for the dismantling of Medicare.  Make no mistake people. Republicans do wish to get rid of Medicare and any other programs that would help citizens who aren’t wealthy/ well off. This has been a long time in the making.

  Listen to Weiner slap them up beside their feeble heads with the truth.

Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY)

 

Thursday, May 26, 2011

GOP Is Toast In 2012

   There is  nothing quite so pleasing as sitting back and watching the GOP bleed to death from the cutting of their own throats with their pretty much unanimous endorsement of Paul Ryan’s budget. Their plan to issue Medicare “ coupons “ to the future elderly is a slap in the face to those who will need the program, while at the same time his budget does not do a whole hell of a lot towards cutting the deficit. It does however, help the budget of the rich by giving them another tax cut, which even they know isn’t necessary.

   Political-right supporter David Frum is one of the few on that side of the fence who has actually come out of the bullshit lounge and has taken a look at things in reality world.

I used to worry that Sarah Palin would be the Barry Goldwater of 2012. My bad. Paul Ryan is the Barry Goldwater of 2012.

The Goldwater effect continues on this morning after the NY-26 debacle. Henry Olsen of AEI, as smart a political numbers guy as can be found on the political right, crunches the numbers to compare the performance of the 2011 special election candidates with the district-wide performance of all other GOP and Democratic candidates in 2010. He finds:

Republican congressional candidate Jane Corwin is running 18 points behind the worst-performing Republican of 2010

Democrat Kathy Hochul is running even with Barack Obama’s performance in the district in 2008 – the best Democratic showing in NY-26 in three decades.

The Republicans suffered their worst losses in the least-educated portions of the District, where former GOP voters seem to have deserted the party for an independent candidate, Jack Davis.

What should make this race all the more alarming for Republicans is that NY-26 turned into a referendum on the Ryan plan for Medicare. As Henry Olsen says:

blue-collar voters react differently to issues than the GOP base does. They are more supportive of safety-net programs at the same time as they are strongly opposed to large government programs in general. These voters crave stability and are uncertain of their ability to compete in a globalized economy that values higher education more each year. They are also susceptible to the age-old Democratic argument that the secret Republican agenda is to eviscerate middle-class entitlements to fund tax cuts for the wealthy.

  Frum  will be ignored by the GOP because he has critized  one of his own party members. we all know that  “ the Borg  “  does not allow such things to happen because it goes against the collective.

 

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Ryan's Budget Shot Down In The Senate...

... as if there ever was even a slight chance that this piece of crap bill would pass in the adult chamber of our government. The nice thing is that 5 Republicans grew a spine and then voted " no " on the Ryan budget plan. The Democrats wised up and they all voted " No." The vote was 40 in favor, 57 opposed. Republican voting No: Scott Brown Susan Collins Lisa Murkowski Rand Paul Olympia Snowe

Republicans Resort To Censorship..

… as they continue to get  clobbered by their own constituents at town hall meetings where the Medicare coupon system created by Paul Ryan has been the major discussion.

  After hearing from senior citizens and from the citizen journalist about what a lousy idea their Medicare plan is, the GOP has grown tired from hearing it, so they have resorted to another Republican trick. that would be Censorship. No more video or audio recordings of these events unless you happen to be a credentialed press person.

  As DailyKos reports, Michigan has done even more to stop the spread of the meetings on the Internet.

In Michigan, they've taken it up a notch, courtesy of Tea Party control freaks who not only banned a group of senior citizens and reporters, but called security on them at an event with Rep. Justin Amash (R-MI).

Rep. Justin Amash held a townhall meeting sponsored by a Tea Party group on Saturday sponsored by a Tea Party group, but a group of senior citizens and two reporters — including this one — were denied entry to the event.

The traditional purpose of a townhall meeting is for an elected official to meet with his constituents in public, giving the people a chance to ask questions and engage in dialogue with their representatives. But neither the organizers nor Amash apparently wanted to hear from or speak to a group of concerned senior citizens — even at a time when the fate of Medicare is being debated in Congress.

About eight senior citizens arrived at the Prince Conference Center on the Calvin College campus for a chance to question Amash concerning his voting record in regards to eliminating Medicare.

Once barred from attending the event, the seniors stood out in the parking lot where they were taking questions from this reporter and Tanya Somanader of Think Progress, the two members of the media who were denied access. Eventually, six security guards arrived on the scene and said that both the seniors and the reporters had to leave.

ThinkProgress's Tanya Somanader has more:

According to security, the people who called them said the seniors had thrown things at the Tea Party organizers....

According to multiple members inside, no objects were ever thrown. When asked, the conference center staff said they did not call security — indicating that the Tea Party asked security to move the constituents away from the building....

Attendees at the event, however, told ThinkProgress they were surprised reporters were not allowed in. One attendee went back inside to inform Amash that reporters were waiting in the lobby. However, according to Tea Party member Paul Meyer, the organization appointed him to keep reporters out, even after the event was over as we were considered a “security issue.”

After further questioning, security was summoned for a second time. According to the guards, the call again came from Tea Party organizers.

When leaving the event, one attendee stopped to tell ThinkProgress how Amash was a politician of principle. In singing his praises, she told ThinkProgress that “he is a big proponent of transparency.”

   With transparency like this, who needs a back room to deal in?

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

The Budget: Republican Logic

  As is par for the course, the Republican Party  American Taliban have no logic, especially when it comes to ANY kind of budget.  So their plan now is to force the Democrats in to choosing between the GOP budget or the one from the Obama administration. That would be the budget proposal idea’s that the Dems haven’t come up with in the last 2 years. Read more.

 

by kos for Daily Kos    Tue May 24, 2011

Mitch McConnell

Mitch is very confused. (Reuters / Jonathan Ernst)

The GOP's new favorite talking point:

Republicans in both chambers are accusing Democrats of playing politics with the House budget vote, and they have tried to counterattack by pointing out that Democrats haven’t bothered in the past two years to come up with their own budget proposal.

But...

[Senate Minority Leader Mitch] McConnell will counter Reid’s floor tactics by forcing Senate Democrats — who have to defend 23 seats in 2012 versus 10 for Republicans — to vote on the budget plan offered by President Barack Obama.

So which is it? Have Democrats offered up a budget plan or not? Because simple logic dictates that both cannot be true.

Not that logic has ever been an impediment for this Republican Party.

Medicare: The GOP Can’t Agree

POLITICO: GOP divisions run deep over Medicare, budget plan   Mon May 23    By  Joan McCarter for Daily Kos

There's a lot to unpack in this POLITICO story about the infighting within House Republicans over the radical "Path to Prosperity" plan authored by Rep. Paul Ryan, and leadership's embrace of it. While the focus of the story is on the Medicare debacle, the story really reflects the struggle the party is having over whether to follow the Tea Party down the political rabbit hole.

No matter how favorably pollsters with the Tarrance Group or other firms spun the bill in their pitch—casting it as the only path to saving the beloved health entitlement for seniors—the Ryan budget's approval rating barely budged above the high 30s or its disapproval below 50 percent, according to a Republican operative familiar with the presentation.

The poll numbers on the plan were so toxic—nearly as bad as those of President Barack Obama's health reform bill at the nadir of its unpopularity—that staffers with the National Republican Congressional Committee warned leadership, "You might not want to go there" in a series of tense pre-vote meetings....

The outward unity projected by House Republicans masked weeks of fierce debate, even infighting, and doubt over a measure that stands virtually no chance of becoming law. In a series of heated closed-door exchanges, dissenters, led by Ryan's main internal rival—House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-Mich.)—argued for a less radical, more bipartisan approach, GOP staffers say.

At a fundraiser shortly after the vote, a frustrated Camp groused, "We shouldn't have done it" and that he was "overridden," according to a person in attendance.

A few days earlier, as most Republicans remained mute during a GOP conference meeting on the Ryan plan, Camp rose and drily asserted, "People in my district like Medicare," one lawmaker, who is now having his own doubts about voting yes, told POLITICO....

"The tea party itch has definitely not been scratched, so the voices who were saying, ‘Let's do this in a way that's politically survivable,' got drowned out by a kind of panic," a top GOP consultant involved in the debate said, on condition of anonymity....

On several occasions, Boehner has seemed squishy on the Ryan budget. In talking to ABC News, Boehner said he was "not wedded" to the plan and that it was "worthy of consideration."

Still, even if Boehner had opposed the plan—and his top aide, Barry Jackson, expressed concerns about the political fallout to other staffers—he probably couldn't have stopped the Ryan Express anyway, so great was the push from freshmen and conservatives.

That's not to say some of the speaker's allies from the Midwest didn't try. Camp and Ryan hashed out their differences in a series of private meetings that, on occasion, turned testy, according to several GOP aides. Camp argued that the Ryan plan, which he backed in principle—and eventually voted for—was a nonstarter that would only make it harder to reach a bipartisan framework on real entitlement reform.

Apparently still believing that their problem isn't a draconian and hugely unpopular plan to end Medicare, but all in how they are presenting the plan, the GOP is gamely sticking to it: "The GOP message team is already scrambling to redefine the issue as a Republican attempt to 'save' Medicare, not kill it."

"We have a message challenge, a big one, and that's what the polling is showing," conceded Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.), a former Karl Rove protégé who enthusiastically backed the Ryan plan. "There's no way you attack the deficit in my lifetime without dealing with the growth of Medicare. Do we get a political benefit from proposing a legitimate solution to a major policy problem? That's an open question."

That's where the messaging is going to attempt to focus, and where Dems have to fight back. The GOP will try to frame the entire debacle as a reflection of their seriousness about the deficit. Never mind that, as Digby points out, "they sure put out a crappy plan. That's one of the problems that Politico fails to address—the plan itself was debunked over the course of the first week and Ryan's reputation for seriousness and 'brio' took a major hit."

Steve Benen echoes that:

It's worth noting that the Politico article reports, simply as a matter of fact, that that the House Republican leaders intended to "boldly position their party as a beacon of fiscal responsibility." What the article doesn't note is that this is absurd—there's nothing fiscally responsible about the House GOP plan. The numbers don't add up; the finances are fraudulent; and even the Medicare "savings" would be applied to tax cuts, not deficit reduction. The media really needs to start understanding this.

The media needs to start understanding that, but Dems also need to hammer that point, over and over. We already know that there are going to be plenty of squeamish Dems who will feel the only response to the GOP's cries of "fiscally responsibility" will be to demand more and dumber cuts (case in point, Sens. Claire McCaskill and Joe Manchin). Following the GOP into political oblivion on slashing Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security wouldn't prove "fiscal responsibility," just political weakness.

This is a huge political problem for the Republicans. It's time for Dems to throw them another anchor or two.

Monday, May 23, 2011

Corporations Against Us: The War Against Workers

   Let’s make one thing clear. Corporations and their political dogs are not just attempting to stick it to union workers. They are after all of us just to keep more profit in their own coffers, hence the union busting and the Bush/Obama tax cuts.

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka:

America's economic fate depends on us coming together to educate our children, to invest in our infrastructure, to face the threat of climate change and to reverse the yawning economic inequality that threatens our future.

Let me be specific. Unemployment stands at 9%. Underemployment is at 16%.  Housing prices are falling, and foreclosures remain at historic highs. Economic growth is hovering at around 2% annually—not enough to put a dent in unemployment, especially as tax cuts expire, as the Recovery Act winds down—and state and local governments gear up for more deep cuts. 

Yet instead of having a national conversation about putting America back to work to build our future, the debate here in Washington is about how fast we can destroy the fabric of our country, about breaking the promises we made to our parents and grandparents....

Why is our national conversation in such a destructive place?  Not because we are impoverished. We have never been richer. The American economy has never produced as much wealth as it does today. But we feel poor because the wealth in our society has flowed to a handful among us, and they and the politicians who pander to the worst instincts of the wealthy would rather break promises to our parents and grandparents and deny our children a future than pay their fair share of taxes.

  Of course the Republican do not wish any oversight of illegal corporate practices, so they tried to gut the NLRB but only could manage a $50 million cut in operating budget.

Center For American Progress:

One hundred and seventy-six House Republicans (75 percent of the caucus) voted to eliminate all funding for the NLRB, which would have prevented the enforcement of labor law for a year. The measure failed to pass the House, but H.R. 1, the continuing resolution passed by the House, included a $50 million reduction in the National Labor Relations Board’s budget, which if it had also passed the Senate would have forced NLRB staff members to be furloughed for 55 days, causing a backlog of cases to pile up.

Many congressional Republicans have also been trying to prevent union elections from being decided by a majority vote. Last year, the National Mediation Board did away with an absurd rule that, for union elections under the Railway Labor Act, counted workers who didn’t vote as having voted against unionization. House Republican leaders are now using legislation that reauthorizes the Federal Aviation Administration to try and reverse the board’s ruling, once again counting absent workers as votes against the union. Senate Republican leaders, during the debate over the Senate’s version of the FAA bill, attempted to attach an amendment that would have blocked workers at the Transportation Security Administration from unionizing.

And conservative members of Congress are apoplectic about the NLRB’s decision this week to sue the states of Arizona and South Dakota seeking to invalidate those states’ constitutional amendments that prohibit private-sector employees from choosing to unionize through a procedure known as card check. The lawsuit is unsurprising and it continues a long precedent of striking down state laws preempted by the National Labor Relations Act, which these same conservatives support when it is used to strike down laws increasing workers’ union rights.

  The sad thing is that many wage earners will continue to vote for a Republican, cutting their own throats. Truly amazing.

Sunday, May 22, 2011

Alan Grayson: Those Tax Cuts For The Rich

   Alan Grayson is one of the few Democrats who has some balls. The man is not afraid to speak the truth as he did on Friday.

Transcript provided by mediaite.com via HuffingtonPost.com

    Madam Speaker, we've heard endless braying from the Republicans, time after time, demanding an extension of tax cuts for the rich in this country. They tell us that somehow extending tax cuts for the rich will somehow create jobs. When we've had tax cuts for the rich for nine years and I haven't noticed a lot of jobs being created in nine years.

They tell us it will boost the economy well I haven't noticed that happening for nine years either. So you have to wonder why they persist in this mania, this obsession of theirs that we need to have tax cuts for the rich when the economy is flat on its back and unemployment is almost 10%. I think I have the answer. The answer turns out to be very simple.

They want tax cuts for the rich because they want a tax cut for themselves. What do I mean by that? Let's take a look at the people who are really in charge, the ones who actually run the Republican party.

Let's start with this gentleman here, the man with the cigar, Rush Limbaugh. Doesn't he look happy? According according to Newsweek, he makes $58.7 million a year, and extending the tax cuts means he'll have another $2.7 million. Mega dittos, Rush, and mega money. Let's look at the next one.

Here's Glenn Beck, according to Newsweek Glenn Beck makes $33 million a year as a pundit and extending the Bush Tax Cuts means a cool $1.5 million for Glenn bBeck's ongoing imitation of Howard Beale from Network. Now let's look at the next one.

Sean Hannity. Newsweek says that Sean Hannity, this man of the people makes $22 million a year from his act on Fox. And that means the Bush Tax cuts mean an extra $1 million. $1 million for Sean Hannity. Maybe he can afford some anger management classes. Let's take a look at the next one.

Bill O'Reilly. He makes a modest $20 million a year from his gig on Fox. That means that the Bush tax cuts give him not quite seven figures, nearly $914,000 of extra cash. It's easy to see why Bill O'Reilly wants to see the Bush tax cuts extended. And I have to say, he's no pinhead when it comes to that.

And Now, Sarah Palin. Sarah Palin has made $14 million this year from cashing in on her fame. In fact, she's done a better job of turning fame into cash than anyone in American history. $14 million. So she wants the Bush tax cuts extended so she can make an extra cool $638,000. As she was -- as she would gesture (shoulder shrug.)

And now on to Newt Gingrich, the man who did such a great job of running America in the 1990's, he wants a second chance in this decade. Newt if you do to us now what you did to us then, we'll be in trouble. But Newt Gingrich makes $5 million a year from his punditry, he'll get an extra quarter million dollars a year. An extra quarter million dollars a year from the Bush tax cuts being extended.

Now let's go on to the big cheese. George W. Bush himself. The man who got us into two endless war. The man who brought us to the brink of national bankruptcy. The man who gave us $4 a gallon gasoline. George W. Bush makes a cull $4.2 million a year, according to Newsweek. That means that extending the bush tax cuts for George Bush means an extra $187,000 in his pockets every single year.

I have a better idea. Instead of placating these people and letting them spew out onto the airwaves their lies about the Bush tax cut ever revealing the fact that they stand to gain millions, millions of dollars each year from their selfish desire to take advantage of the rest of America, let's do this. Let's take that money and create jobs.

All that money that the Bush tax cuts are charging us that can create jobs for three million Americans a year. $30,000 job a fair wage for fair work, a dignified wage for dignified work and a way to -- a dignified wage for dignified work and a way to help our economy, a better idea than putting money in the pocks of the rich. The problem is not that the poor have too much money, that's not the problem at all, it's that they need jobs. Thank you.