Friday Funnies

 

   Okay, it has been a rough week, especially if you are one of those political junkies who have sat back and watched President Obama and most of the other Democrats doing their best to give the Republicans and their wealthy friends an extension of those Bush tax cuts. You know, the ones that helped get you and I into the economic mess that we now face every day.

   So I decided that it was time for a little bit of comedy when it comes to looking at some of the dumb stuff going on in America. We’ll start first with getting felt up at the airport.

                  Copyright © 2010 Universal Press Syndicate

 

Cagle Cartoons

 

                   Copyright © 2010 Universal Press Syndicate

 

                       CartoonArts International

 

Jay Leno-"Sunday night was the debut of the reality show, 'Sarah Palin's Alaska.' It got huge ratings. Even people over in Russia were watching and they didn't need TVs. They could see it from their porch. "

"Nancy Pelosi has now been elected the new House minority leader. She was smiling from ear to ear, which is pretty impressive considering how far her ears have been pulled back."

Conan O'Brien-"Former President George W. Bush's new memoir has already sold 800,000 copies. In other news, the new Bush presidential library just purchased its first 800,000 books."

                         PoliticalHumor

Technorati Tags: Nancy Pelosi,Sarah Palin,political,Humor,Politics,George Bush,Barack Obama,Party of No

Rep. Dennis Kucinich: Rising From The Ashes?

 

    I am sure that you political junkies all remember the Ohio Representative  Dennis Kucinich, the one member of the Democrat Party who the Republicans have pretty much labeled as a fruit because of his stands on certain issues in the past. this man has always been at odds with the Republicans, and even with his own party at times. This is one of the reason that I like the man so much. He also happens to be one of the few men in the Obama administration who brings his balls to work with him every day and he has no problem voicing his opinion to either side when it becomes warranted.

   In fact, back in 2007 he was one of the few politicians to voice concern over the bailouts of the mortgage industry, saying that the bailouts would just postpone the crisis which was looming in our midst.

    He also thinks that the government should make any corporation with an American name pay their taxes here.   Source

   Now Rep.Kucinich has decided to make a play for the top spot on the Democratic side of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, in effect challenging the current leader (Representative Edolphus Towns) for the spot.

    I myself see Rep.Towns as a wimp who has done nothing but play kiss-up to the Republicans all of the time. He has no voice when it comes to disputing Republican claims against the Obama Administration, which is pretty much what he is paid to do.

    I’ll take Rep. Kucinich over Towns any day of the week. Kucinich has already started warning certain Republicans.

In a letter to his Democratic colleagues announcing his bid, Kucinich called the choice of the OGR ranking slot "perhaps the most important vote" in organizing for the next Congress. "This is because [Issa] has already made wild and unsubstantiated charges which threaten to turn the principal oversight committee of the House into a witch hunt," Kucinich wrote.

Kucinich also alleged that Issa "reveals a lack of restraint and basic fairness. ... We cannot simply stand by idly and hope that such a reckless approach to the use of the power of the Chair will not happen, especially since it is not only being promised, but demonstrated by the person who will hold the gavel."                                       Washington Post

 

Technorati Tags: Dennis Kucinich,Edolphus Towns,Congressmen,House Oversight and Government Reform Committee,OGR,Politics,Democrats,Republicans,News

Do Something Democrats While you Still Have Time

 

   This is aimed at the Democrats that we put into office a few years ago. GET OFF of your ASSES and pass some of those 400 and some odd bills that you have still sitting on a desk up in the Senate! You have 6 weeks or so to show the American public that you aren’t the pussies that we have come to believe that you are. Now is not the time to be concerned with Republican filibusters or their crying fowl if you happen to put one over on those asswipes.

Michael Moore

Tue Nov 16, 2010 at 02:59:41 AM PST

Dear Congressional Democrats:

Welcome back to our nation's capital for your one final session of the 111th Congress. Come January, the Republicans will take over the House while the Democrats will retain control of the Senate.

But Dems -- here's something I don't understand: Why do you look all sullen and depressed? Clearly you're not aware of one very important fact: YOU ARE STILL COMPLETELY, TOTALLY, LEGALLY IN CHARGE! When (and if, mostly if) you wake up to the reality that you can do whatever you want for the next seven weeks, you will realize that you have two clear options:

1. You can continue your "Sit Quietly and Hope No One Hits Me" strategy and thus lay the groundwork for an even bigger ass-kicking two years from now;   

Or... 

1. You can actually use the power you hold for the next seven weeks and have the Senate pass the legislation that the House has already passed! 

Wake up, Democrats! You are in an awesome position right now. The House of Representatives, in this current session of Congress, has already passed an astounding 420 bills since January of 2009 -- 420 bills that are just sitting there on the Senate leader's desk. The Senate has refused to take up these House bills because they've been afraid of a Republican filibuster. Well, Dems, here's the truth: You can pass all of these bills and turn them into law RIGHT NOW, TODAY, by simply calling for a majority vote of 50 Senators (plus Vice President/President of the Senate Joe Biden). Yes, you will need to change the filibuster rules. So do it. You have the votes! And yes, the Republicans will scream bloody murder -- so let them! Make them. Let America see them in all their hateful, spiteful ways -- it will act as a beautiful coming attraction trailer for all the world to see. Let all of America watch the Republicans as they try to derail democracy by holding up a bunch of bills that nearly every American I know would want to see as the law of the land. Many of these bills are so safe, so innocuous, I have a hard time understanding what the heck the problem was in the first place. Like the bill that's already passed the House to name a post office after Jimmy Stewart. I know, I know, the idea of a post office named after Jimmy Stewart is really, really, incredibly controversial and divisive and somebody on the other side of the aisle might yell at you. Be brave, Democrats!   

There's a whole slew of these bills the House has passed. Some are no-brainers; others are absolutely necessary. You can pass them in the next seven weeks. And because you Dems seem to have a problem with properly naming your bills and communicating effectively with the average American, I have helpfully renamed them for you so they sound like what they actually are -- things people would really want. Here's a partial list of the bills the House has already passed and are now just in need of approval by the U.S. Senate:

• The "Give Mom a Raise Act," officially known as the "Paycheck Fairness Act," which addresses pay gaps between men and women. Now, who out there still believes women should be paid less than men? I REALLY want to see Republicans try to stop this one.   

• The "Don't Amputate Our Feet Act," aka the "Eliminating Disparities in Diabetes Prevention Access and Care Act of 2009." Which Republican will stand to speak out in favor of diabetes?   

• The "Pay Up, BP Act," aka the "Audit the BP Fund Act," which makes sure BP is paying people hurt by the Gulf oil spill as quickly as possible -- and makes BP pay the cost of keeping track of where the money’s going. 

• The "Stop Foreigners From Hitting Grandma Act," aka the "Elder Abuse Victims Act." This doesn't really have anything to do with foreigners, but our fellow Americans seem to automatically dislike people from other countries, so this should help just in case the Republicans think an "elders abuse victims act" doesn't sound patriotic enough.   

• The "Let's Try Not to Destroy Planet Earth Act" (aka Cap and Trade, a lousy half-way measure to begin with, but about the best you can expect from you Democrats these days).   

• The "National Bombing Prevention Act" (it's actually already called that, which is hard to improve on).

And while those of you in the Senate are taking care of all that, the House can come up with a better version of Michelle Obama’s "Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act" to improve child nutrition. The Senate has already passed this bill. (The House should fix it so that it isn't paid for by cutting food stamps to poor people. Yes, you, a Democratic Senate, did that.)

Then there are also things that neither the House or Senate has dealt with. These would take more work during the next two months, but that's what highly-caffeinated "energy" drinks are for.   

Jenni Suri of Ligonier, Indiana, has set up a petition with a good list, which anyone can sign here to tell the Congressional leadership to get started. Among the "to do" items on the list: 

• Extend emergency unemployment benefits 

• Repeal Don't Ask, Don't Tell 

• Pass the DREAM Act (to provide young immigrants with a path to citizenship) 

• Pass the Disclose Act to force corporations to say what politicians they're giving money to 

• Pass the Employee Free Choice Act, so we can have unions again in the U.S. 

• Pass Rep. Donna Edwards' constitutional amendment that -- in the wake of the Citizens United decision -- would give Congress the power to regulate corporate spending on elections 

So what do you say, Democrats? What's the worst that could happen -- you'd lose an election? You already did that! C'mon, here's your one last gutsy chance to show us that you're made of something other than wish and wash.

Yours,
Michael Moore

P.S. Be sure to let the Democrats in Congress know right now you expect action from them during this next month. You can call your Senators and Representative at (202) 224-3121 or find their direct number and email at Congress.org.

 

Technorati Tags: Michael Moore,Republicans,Democrats,The House of Representatives,The Senate

Obama To Continue Bush Tax Cuts For Wealthy…

 

…and that should not come as any sort of surprise to you.

    Actually, President Obama has said that he is willing to compromise with the Republicans on extending the Bush tax cuts even though he knows that it will put our deficit and our economy  in an even deeper hole than it is in already.

    Once again. Why is the President even thinking about compromise with the Republicans in the first place?  Those asshats do not have their newly won seats in the House till January, so they really do not have to much say so over those tax cuts for the rich, yet. President Obama, let the damned cuts expire at the end of the year!

Congressional budget analysts estimate that making the lower- and middle-income tax cuts permanent would add a little more than $3 trillion to the national debt over the next decade.

Extending tax cuts for the wealthy would cost an additional $700 billion and that, Obama said, "would be fiscally irresponsible." He noted that Republicans are saying "their number one priority is making sure that we deal with our debt and our deficit."                     Source

       President Obama is looking at a compromise only because he will need GOP backing in order to get any permanent tax cuts for the lower and middle income citizens.

    Hey, Mr.  President. If you and the rest of the Democrats in office had actually beaten back the lies put out by the Republicans before the mid-terms and set the record straight before the voters, you guys might have kept control of the House and you wouldn’t have to worry about “compromise” with the enemy on the other side of the table.

 

Technorati Tags: Bush Tax Cuts,Wealthy,Income Tax,Barack Obama,U.S. Government,Economic News,Current Events,Republicans,Congress

Europeans: What Were American Voters Thinking?

 

   See, even folks living overseas have been questioning the American voters intelligence after this past mid-term election fiasco when the people once again let the Republicans back into their government. And then there is the Tea Party which has made a few inroads into the daily political grind. Most of the people across the ocean are wondering, as am I, how the United States could vote for more of the same Bush policies that they voted out back in 2008.

CommonDreams

Published on Saturday, November 13, 2010 by CommonDreams.org

Europe Ponders U.S. Elections Results

by Steven Hill

For several weeks before the recent U.S. election, there was much nervous speculation among Europeans as they watched the fluctuations of the poll numbers. Now that the results are in, Europeans are perplexed by this turn back toward the politics of the Bush-Cheney era.

Like the rest of the world, Europe cheered the election of Barack Obama as a change from the economic and foreign policy disasters of his predecessor. Yet just two years later the US government is returning to Bush-lite. How could this be, Europeans are wondering? The American electorate is looking like a coyote with its leg caught in a trap, chewing its own leg off to get out of the trap.

Europeans are puzzled by the success of the populist Tea Party movement, which seemingly wants to roll back the last two years and return to how things were at the end of the Bush-Cheney years. Even conservatives in Europe are scratching their heads over their transatlantic allies -- "Americans don't want health care??? How can these Tea Party people say ‘Get government out of my Medicare' -- don't they know Medicare IS a government program???"

While participating in a conference in Budapest in September, where prominent conservative leaders and thinkers were in attendance, including the president of the European Parliament and two prime ministers, some of the most eye-opening comments had to do with new perceptions about America. One speaker, Christian Stoffaes, who is chairman of the Center for International Prospective Studies based in Paris, stated the "United States is in disarray, extremely polarized. It is practically a civil war there, and you can't count on it."

This theme was echoed by others speakers, who went even further. One said "We need to shift our emphasis eastward (towards Asia) and not wait for the Obama administration." I found these statements to be surprising, and even vaguely alarming, given the importance of the transatlantic relationship in the post-World War II era. But there was a widespread view that the US is being consumed by the severity of the Great Recession, brought on by a broken Wall Street capitalism, as well as by the quagmires of the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts, and an inability to change course.

Previously, Obama's failure at the Copenhagen summit on climate change to deliver a serious commitment to that agenda, and instead to strike a deal with the Chinese to do next to nothing, was a real wakeup call to the Europeans. It was as if they suddenly "got" it, that it wasn't George W. Bush who was the problem, but something more profound about America's broken political system that prevents any leader, even one as talented as Obama, from delivering. That political system is marinated in money, is paralyzed by a "filibuster-gone-wild" Senate that has allowed a minority of Senators to obstruct all legislation, and is hamstrung by a sclerotic, winner-take-all, two-party electoral system that has left voters poorly represented and deeply frustrated.

Keep in mind that these were the conservatives of Europe venting at this conference, who currently are in control of the European Parliament, the European Commission, as well as the governments in Germany, France, Britain, Sweden and elsewhere. The European right is nowhere near as conservative as the Tea Partiers or GOP Congress members. Indeed, in most ways the European right is to the left of the Democratic Party, which is fairly startling to contemplate. If European conservatives were allowed to vote in America's November 2 election, there is no doubt how they would have voted.

Now, in the aftermath of the recent election, the European media landscape is screaming with headlines like: "Is the American Dream Over?", "A Superpower in Decline," "Deep divisions across political map," "Power gridlock looms between parties," "Washington turns into a battleground," and "Elections tarnish Obama's world image." The recent move by the Federal Reserve to jumpstart the U.S. economy by taking steps that will result in the devaluing of the dollar has been met with great skepticism in Europe. Germany's Finance Minister Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble has said the Fed's action shows U.S. policy makers are "at a loss about what to do." The American growth model, he said, is stuck in a deep crisis. "The USA lived off credit for too long, inflated its financial sector massively and neglected its industrial base."

The predictable American reaction has been, "Europe is one to talk. Have they gotten their PIIGS back in the pen yet?" Certainly Europe has its own challenges. But to the extent that the election of Barack Obama represented an American rejuvenation in the eyes of the world, this recent election represents a further loss of American mojo. Americans may shrug their shoulders and say, "We don't care what the rest of the world thinks"-- but that will only reinforce what the rest of the world thinks.

Steven Hill is an American author and columnist whose most recent book is "Europe's Promise: Why the European Way is the Best Hope in an Insecure Age" (www.EuropesPromise.org). He is blogging about his current 12-nation, 20-city European speaking tour at "Dispatches from Europe" which is linked at www.Steven-Hill.com

 

Technorati Tags: CommonDreams,Europeans,Europe,America,Voters,Mid-Term,Elections,George Bush,News,Current Events

K2Incense: The Newest High For Your Children…

 

….and this product has been banned in at least 11 states,thus far.

    So just what exactly is this newest junk that has been enticing your children to smoke it for the high?  K2Incense is a synthetic form of pot which has become very popular among the late teen to collage age crowd who are looking for a fairly cheap high, much like the “Natural Ice” beer drinking class of idiots.

    So,just what is in K2,also known as “spice?” 

…K2 is a natural incense composed of natural herbs such as "canavalia rosea, clematis nuciferia, heima salicfolia, and ledum palustre." Various sources report that K2 also contains the synthetic cannabanoid JWH-018, which when smoked can produce intoxicative effects similar to marijuana. As a synthetic, it does not register on current drug detection tests. The K2 site expressly states that K2 is "not intended for human consumption" and is intended only to be used as an incense   Source

    So we now have another product being used by the young to get high which is made for another purpose. Of course, you can bet that those outlets selling this stuff do not care what the product is used for as long as they are making some money off of it. They are making some serious cash off of this stuff.

   I started on this subject after seeing an item about it on one of the local news programs. It has caught my interest and I will be doing more research on it,which I will be bringing to you over the next few days.    Stay tuned

 

Technorati Tags: K2,Incense,Synthetic,Marijuana,Teens,Legal Highs

Obama Admin Demands High Speed Rail Cash Be Given Back…

 

….to the states who do not wish to have the rail system in their area.

   This is aimed directly at you jackasses here in the state of Florida who voted for that piece of shit Rick Scott to be your next governor, and for you fools in Hillsborough County (Tampa) who are to stupid to know a good idea when one is presented to you. You voters cost the local area some work that would have helped get the economy going a little better than it is going now,not to mention a lot of jobs that could have been had. There’s also the letup on your local traffic congestion that the rail system might have helped with. But nooooooooo!! A 1 cent sales tax increase increase was just out of the question.

   Instead of rail. Mr. Scott and the rest of the Republican shitheads want to keep the federal funds for more highways and road improvements. WTF?  You dumb $@*%(, we do not need more highways in this area. In case you haven’t noticed it, all of that road building has not kept up with the traffic, and it never will.

   Obama wants your tax money to go back to the feds if it isn’t being used for the rail systems as it is supposed to be, and it should. But the voter will get fucked once again because I hear that not only does the original amount go back, but so does interest that will be attached to it. KISS your nearby Republican next time you see it.

 

DailyKos

A destination for that high-speed rail money

by Meteor Blades   Wed Nov 10, 2010

    Governor-elect Scott Walker of Wisconsin doesn't want to build the high-speed rail line from Madison to Milwaukee that the federal government has granted his state $810 million for.  Governor-elect John Kasich of Ohio doesn't want to spend the $400 million in federal grants his state is slated for a high-speed line connecting Columbus, Cincinnati and Cleveland. Governor-elect Rick Scott of Florida doesn't want to spend the $2.05 billion the feds have granted his state for high-speed rail between Tampa and Orlando. Add in the $3 billion in federal dollars for the Hudson River Tunnel that Gov. Chris Christie rejected and you've got a substantial pile of dough.

Not that these Republicans want to send the money back to Washington like the frugal deficit-choppers they'd like people to believe they are. They just want to spend it on "traditional" transportation projects, mostly highways. The U.S. Department of Transportation has told them no go, as greendem notes in the diary Obama Admin: Rail Money is for Rail, Use it or lose it.

So why not give that $6.2 billion to California and Illinois, states with Democratic governors who actually favor the idea of high-speed rail?

Chicago is set to be the hub of the nine-state Midwest Regional Rail Initiative. Illinois has already received $1.2 billion in federal funds for high-speed rail, and Illinois Transportation Secretary Gary Hannig has already said his state would be willing to take Wisconsin's rail money and put it to work doing what it's meant to be spent on.

Had Meg Whitman been elected, yet another Republican governor would be demanding to spend federal high-speed rail money on highway expansion. Instead, the state is set to start building the first phase of its 800-mile, high-speed rail system within two years. The federal government has granted California $3.1 billion so far for the project. California voters showed their approval for the project in 2008 by setting aside nearly $10 billion of their own money for high-speed rail that will eventually connect San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, Sacramento and Los Angeles.

This is truly a no-brainer. Transfer the high-speed rail money those four (and any other) Republican governors want to use for new pavement to California and Illinois. The proposed systems will not only be ready to carry their first passengers sooner, but voters in Florida, New Jersey, Wisconsin and Ohio will get another lesson in how picking reactionary know-nothings wreaks havoc on their future.

Technorati Tags: Rick Scott,Florida,Tampa,High Speed Rail,Chris Christie,Federal Government,Barack Obama,Party of No

The Tea Party;An Outsiders View

 

Watching America

El Comercio, Ecuador
The Tea Party and
Laissez-faire

By Juan Esteban Guarderas
Translated By Norma L. Colyer
5 November 2010

Edited by Julia Uyttewaal

Ecuador - El Comercio - Original Article (Spanish)
The new U.S. movement was not incited by the defeat of Obama; it has been promulgating its rage for months. Obama’s active and progressive stance, contrasted with the lukewarm moderation to which politicians had us accustomed, has awoken a new beast.
The tea party movement, which has been largely responsible for the blow just suffered by the Democrats, is a monster with many limbs. Not having an official affiliation and being managed by multiple groups, it does not have a clearly defined ideology.
Throughout the profuse demonstrations, countless colorful ideals have been expounded, which, although not related, are all weighed down by a strong, stale smell. So many racist as well as anti-immigrant causes have crept in, along with other ideas as disparate as skepticism regarding climate change and the ecological crisis.
But faced with the advance of the Obama government and its corresponding interventionism, the whole movement is consistent with the idea of classical liberalism and public sector downsizing.
Flaunting an astonishing lack of historical memory, a proto-nineteenth-century spirit has been recaptured. Basically, the libertarian revolution ideology itself was revived, calling for the abolition of taxes, the elimination of all fees and slashing public spending. In that sense, it is necessary to refresh one’s memory and remember what happened to the nineteenth-century liberal state. It played out that the private power turned out to be much more cruel and merciless than the public institutions. Without labor laws, a low wage competition that decimated the well-being of workers was put into effect. Workers volunteered to work for less and less, to the point of accepting salaries and conditions that did not meet their basic needs.
The existence of Marx was a historical product of that context; his was the voice that had to occur because the situation of the working classes inevitably had to be denounced.
But their Alzheimer’s forgot not only the long term but the short term as well.
The financial crisis of 2008 was caused by the private sector which, without controls, fanned risk until it contaminated the entire system.
And it was, as a matter of fact, highly interventionist actions like the mammoth rescue following the financial crisis that saved the world from a new 1929.
It would be possible to continue endlessly enumerating arguments, starting with the economic policies of Keynes.
There are reasons why the death of the old liberalism was celebrated by veritable rivers of ink, because if successful, the U.S. will be on a real roller coaster.

CLICK HERE FOR ORIGINAL VERSION

© 2010 Watching America and WatchingAmerica.com. All Rights Reserved

 

Technorati Tags: Tea Party,Liberals,Conservatives,Libertarian Revolution Ideology,Marx

Mid-Term Elections: Banks And Wall Street Win, You Lose….

 

…and this time I think that the American voter deserves what he has coming to him. that will be less regulation of the banks and even less regulation of Wall Street once the lobbyist have convinced the Republicans that such things as derivatives need not be traded on exchanges, as his been suggested. you can pretty much kiss the current reform legislation good by so far as Wall Street and the banks are concerned.

    It has been suggested that to many regulations would cost the American people jobs.  Remember that derivatives had been  traded previously without any oversight and that that was part of the reason for our current financial problems.

    The Republicans also don’t much care for the Consumer Protection Agency either, so you can expect an attempt at de-funding this Republican pain in the side. This is in regards to financial products,and other issues.

   We lose people! I guess that the voters in this country are somewhat short on memory when it comes to who has screwed them the most. Remember former resident George Bush? This will be worse for you this time around. Once again, it is all about business getting the key to the kingdom, and you getting the shaft! Please enjoy what you have earned.

Watching America

Likewise, Republicans have long considered Obama’s Consumer Protection Agency for financial products a thorn in the side. It is intended to protect consumers from financial damage due to predatory credit card and mortgage practices. But Republicans fear that it might lead to stricter controls on financial institutions. Experts assume the agency will be under-funded by a Republican controlled House and thus find it impossible to carry out its mission.

Technorati Tags: Barack Obama,Party of No,Wall Street,Repulbicans,Financial News,Current Events,Consumer Protection Agency

Republican Obstructionism…

 

…has worked for the past two years,and we can damned sure expect more of the same over the next two years. Senator Bitch Mitch McConnell even said so.

While extending a hand of bipartisanship to Obama, McConnell issued a stark warning that Republicans have no plans to compromise with the president. The GOP leader also wouldn’t back down from his recent assertion that his party’s No. 1 goal over the next two years will be to deny Obama a second term.

"Over the past week, some have said it was indelicate of me to suggest that our top political priority over the next two years should be to deny President Obama a second term in office," McConnell said. "But the fact is, if our primary legislative goals are to repeal and replace the health spending bill; to end the bailouts; cut spending; and shrink the size and scope of government, the only way to do all these things it is to put someone in the White House who won’t veto any of these things.”

     So folks, it looks as if we can expect more of the same stalling/blocking efforts from the Republicans that  we have seen over the past 2 years only now the Repugnicans have the will of the people behind them.

   While you are here, go check out some of the ideas that Governor-Elect Rick Scott has in mind for turning the state of Florida around. This is just to much! Florida has been getting fucked by the Republicans for decades and that trend will continue under Mr. Scott. The man seems to think that he can fix the problems brought down from Tallahassee, which isn't going to happen as long as Florida residents continue to stay stuck on stupid at election times.

Technorati Tags: Senator Mitch McConnell,Republicans,Barack Obama.Party of No,Florida,Rick Scott,Governor Elect,The House,The Senate

The Super Rich’s Get Out The Ignorant Vote

 

    I have stated on more than one occasion that a vote for a Republican is akin to taking a knife and then cutting your own throat with it. This happened with former President George Bush in 2004 and just this week with the mid-term elections.

   The ignorant,uninformed voter bought into the falsehoods about Obama’s health care plan and death panels, as well as the lie that the stimulus bill created no jobs. To much FoxNews and the brain wittles away into nothingness.

DailKos

The Ignorant, Financed by the Super Rich, Cutting Their Own Throats.

by jdecock

Wed Nov 03, 2010

When unions fought for safe and fair working conditions, the bosses brought in entire police forces and hired thugs to physically intimidate, injure and kill the workers. This continues to be possible because of two dominant and pervasive themes in American life: The wealthy will protect their profit and power at any cost and there will always be people willing to do their dirty work for short term personal gain.

It's a classic American narrative -- the wealthy are threatened with fairness, they lose a tiny sliver of their upper hand, and out come the thugs and goons. In the face of even the most mild policy initiatives to bring balance and fairness to health care and the regulation of the financial industry, the hammer has come down.

When unions fought for safe and fair working conditions, the bosses brought in entire police forces and hired thugs to physically intimidate, injure and kill the workers. This continues to be possible because of two dominant and pervasive themes in American life: The wealthy will protect their profit and power at any cost and there will always be people willing to do their dirty work for short term personal gain.

When, after eight years of the most mean-spirited, dangerous and incompetent leadership in our history, an election brought in a wave of people eager to restore sanity to government, the long knives came out. The vigilantism, racism, hatred and greed evoked by the Tea Party "movement" is a shameful, continuing chapter in our history, but it is by no means new. What is new is that there is a powerful media conglomerate, Rupert Murdoch's NewCorp, and it's flagship Fox News, which creates a willfully dishonest narrative about our country and our values every minute of every day. They feed into the basic human tendency to identify "others" who are responsible for all of our problems. No jobs? It's the damn illegals. Economy tanking? It's free spending liberals. Not a shred of truth is necessary. No reference to the cataclysmic policies of the Bush Administration that destroyed the strongest economic engine in history. Nope, it's just as simple as Obamacare is ruining the country. That's all you need to know.

We might have been able to overcome even the most mendacious and petty instincts of the wealthy and our fellow citizens had it not been for the ironically named "Citizens United" decision of the Supreme Court. The advent of superpacs spending unlimited amounts of anonymous money through front groups was the final nail in the coffin for democracy this time around.

The only thing that can beat Citizens United is united citizens. It is our sacred obligation to spend the next two years working harder, being smarter and educating our communities about what has been lost and what is coming in the New American Thugocracy. The super rich, the small minded, the greedy and the hateful have carried the day. The corporate masters have been served and they will not give up their advantage easily. Our best hope is to expose them for what they are and keep bad things from happening. The President must use every administrative action in his power to keep a positive agenda moving forward in the face of blustering and sputtering by the right.

We need to deliver the goods in 2012 against the dangerous and destructive forces that have weaseled their way back into power. That means no time for grieving. Still, take a moment to reflect on life in 2001-2008. Now think about the damage John Boehner and Eric Cantor can do. Get the picture? Work harder starting now or prepare for a rude awakening in 2012.

      Not that I have approved of all that the Democrats have done,but, they have done more than they have been given credit for.

Technorati Tags: Democrats,Barack Obama,George Bush,Current EventsCitizens United,Tea Party

Tampa Residents Kill High Speed Rail Tax..

 

….and though I do support the concept of high-speed rail for the area and then some, I can understand why the people in the Hillsborough/Tampa area voted against a one-cent sales tax increase to fund the project.

   The local Wednesday morning papers wrote about how the residents here did not want any more taxes to pay because of the tough economic times in the region. That may be partly true,but I suspect that no one wanted to fund a project that hadn’t been completely laid out before the public. I know that I would not spend money on a something ahead of time without knowing what it was that I am getting.

   That being said, it is a bit disappointing that this measure failed because the Tampa area has a high rate of unemployment. Those rail jobs would more than likely have boosted the economy a little bit on top of giving quite a few people some much needed work. That hope is once again just a dream for the area. This area has been working on a way to get a rail system in place for three decades and there has always been some really stupid reason for the deal not coming together.

    I guess that this area wishes to remain in a third-world status for a few more decades.

 

Technorati Tags: High Speed Rail,Hillsborough County,Tampa,Florida

Rick Scott New Florida Governor

 

    This man is proof positive that you can buy an election and I’m sure that Mr.Scott is very happy with his win after spending some $70 MILLION of his own money to get into the governors mansion. Of course, Scott is promising less regulation for business as well as less taxes for the same.  He’s also promising less taxes for Florida residence, who pay no personal income tax in the first place! Of course,while Scott is cutting taxes and shrinking down the state government, the citizens will be paying more fees than they do at this time,which are plenty. You are almost paying a fee in this state just to breathe. This is how tax breaks are made up.

    You elected an alleged scam artist so you will get what he paid for.

Technorati Tags: Rick Scott,Florida Governor,Mid-Term,ElectionsFlorida

A Few Election Results…

 

…and to no ones surprise, Tea Party darling Marco Rubio has won the race for the Senate seat in Florida over his Republican Independent opponent Charlie Christ and Democratic Rep. Kendrick Meek who no one thought had a chance in the first place. All that I can say to the people of Florida is be afraid. BE VERY AFRAID. the only good thing out of this is that  Governor Christ will soon be a former governor with no job in politics. Not in an elected manner, at least. Guess that he to will become a highly paid lobbyist for someone.

   Tea Party sweetie Rand Paul has won his race up in Kentucky but over in the state of Delaware,Christine O'Donnell  (R)) lost to Democrat Chris Coons. I guess that Christine’s potion wasn’t working today.

YahooNews

In New Hampshire, Republican Kelly Ayotte kept her party in control of the seat being vacated by Judd Gregg. The former state attorney general defeated Democratic Rep. Paul Hodes.

Easily winning re-election as expected were Sens. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., Richard Shelby, R-Ala., and Barbara Mikulski, D-Md.

  In the Florida race for governor, Republican newbie Rick Scott has a slight lead over Democrat Alex Sink by a 50.89% to 45.53%lead.

 

Technorati Tags: Mid-Term,Elections,Marc Rubio,Charlie Christ,Alex Sink,Rick ScottTea Party

Today Is The Day

 

by Michael Moore                        Source

Tue Nov 02, 2010

This letter contains (almost) no criticisms of how the Democrats have brought this day of reckoning upon themselves. That -- and where to go from here -- will be the subject of tomorrow's letter.

Today, we have one job and one job only: Stop the return of the bigger criminal class, the Party of War, the people who (with a few Democratic enablers) manufactured the very mess we are in.

There is good news this morning: The final ABC/Washington Post poll shows that, among registered voters, people still say they prefer the Democrats over the Republicans by 5 percentage points. It's only when the pollsters ask "likely voters" who they want that the Republicans come out ahead by a few points.

So it's clear the majority of voters want the Dems, but the prediction is the Republicans will win because Dem voters are going to stay home.

So, our mission is simple: MAKE SURE NO ONE WE KNOW STAYS HOME TODAY. Here's what I am going to do right now and what I'm asking the millions of you reading this to join me in doing:

1. Email, call and/or text every non-Republican in your personal address book and remind them to vote Democratic today. If they (rightfully) complain that the Dems have been disappointing, tell them they're right, then ask them to watch this editorial by Rachel Maddow last night where she correctly lists the dozen or so things this Democratic congress did right -- the types of things we'll never see from the Republicans if they take over (equal pay for women act, taking student loans out of the greedy hands of the banks, funding for our first bullet trains, boosting veterans benefits after Bush refused to for 8 years, etc.).

1. Post a general reminder to vote (and who to vote for) on your facebook page and tweet it to your Twitter followers.

1. If you have the time, go down to a local candidate's HQ or the local Democratic Party office and offer to make calls or give people rides to the polls.

1. Think local. No matter where you are in America, there’s someone on the ballot today in your town who deserves your vote. Guaranteed. If you're in Wisconsin and you're pissed at Harry Reid for letting Joe Lieberman derail the  public option on health care, don’t let that stop you from getting everyone you know to go vote for Russ Feingold. In Florida and furious at the way the Obama administration coddled Wall Street? All the more reason to call every single person you know in the Orlando area to go vote for Alan Grayson. In California and mad about the total Democratic failure on global warming? You can still change the world for the better by showing up with all your friends to vote for Prop 19 to legalize personal use of marijuana (and stop the record numbers of people we put in prison who don't belong there).

1. Explain to anyone who's given up and doesn't want to vote today that Obama was handed a terrible mess that he didn't create. He may now understand he's moved too slow and compromised too much on the big stuff that needed to get done (after all, Goldman Sachs was his #1 private contributor in the 2008 election). But in the last couple months he's made some good moves -- booting some generals, dumping economic advisor/wrecker Larry Summers, and hiring new people like consumer advocate Elizabeth Warren. Things are very bad right now. But they can get MUCH worse. War with Iran? A genuine worldwide Second Great Depression? A Republican Congress will spend every second trying to make it happen.

1. Finally, we must let the Democratic politicians know that our vote comes with one big condition: If they do not straighten up, get a spine and do what we expect of them, we will find alternate candidates to run against them in 2012. And we mean it. Go vote today, but also sign this petition that I'll deliver to every elected Democrat -- the "I'm Voting Democratic But I Will Work to Defeat You Next Time if You Don't Do Your Job" petition, aka "The Democrats on Probation" petition.  Let's publicly put them on notice that we'll give them just two more years to start doing the things we elected them to do. If they move one more inch to the "center" or to the right, they will never get our vote again. And we mean business.

Bill Maher said, "We have a center-right party and a crazy party. Over the last 30 years, the Democrats have moved to the right, and the Republicans have moved into a mental hospital." That about sums it up. But he also said, "Sure, I'm mad at the Democrats. I'm also mad at my cell phone compnay. But I don't throw away my cell phone cause I'm mad and then rub dog shit on my teeth." We all know this isn't the best situation to be in. So consider this one last reason to get out and vote:

There are good people the country has never heard of who are running today all across America, most of them for the first time. Somewhere in this great land right now, the woman who will cast the deciding vote in the Senate for single payer in 2016 is running for mayor of your city in her first big race. Somewhere else, the person who will become the first female president of the United States in 2020 is running for the state house for the first time. Their careers will be over and that future will never be if you don’t show up today. Go to theballot.org, find out who’s great and running where you live, and then show up to vote for them. You may help light the spark that will save our sorry ass somewhere down the road. Don't just hold your nose today as you go in the booth -- go ignite a future revolution. The only thing that makes the corporate honchos happier than paying no taxes is making sure as few people vote as possible. They think they've bought this election.

Go prove them wrong.

Yours,
Michael Moore

 

Technorati Tags: Michael Moore,Democrats,Mid-Term,Elections,Get Out The Vote,Current Events

Go vote…

 

…even though you probably do not have any real choices to pick from. this has been a lousy campaign season for the voters of this country because some of our selections I am sure that we would rather do without.

    In Nevada, Harry Reid does need to be put out to pasture but his opponent would be a real bad move for the state if she wins his Senate seat. Nevada has enough problems as it is, as I am sure that the state in which you reside does also.

   If you are one of those Tea Party candidate supporters, I hope that you can live with yourself if that group makes any inroads today. Nothing but disaster awaits us if that happens.

   Anyway,go vote even if it is for “none of the above.”

Technorati Tags: Mid-Term,Elections,2010 Elections,Tea Party,Republicans,Democrats,Current Events

Rick Scott or Alex Sink For Governor Of Florida?

 

    This is another one of those “lesser evils” pick so far as I am concerned. Both of them claim that they will bring more jobs to Florida but between the two of them, they are responsible for nearly 6.000 lost jobs in the state.

    Rick Scott ® was the CEO of Hospital giant Columbia/HCA back in the 90’s and Alex Sink  (D) was the head honcho of Bank of America’s Florida Division, also in the 90’s.

   They are both talking up job creation in the state as a way to jump-start the Florida economy and,surprisingly, neither is speaking about the others job cuts while running their respective organizations. To much dirt to be flinging at each other I guess.

   Rick Scott was told to leave Columbia after the F.B.I. started an investigation into the company’s Medicare billing practices. Though Scott never admitted to anything (plead 5th amendment rights 75 times) he was forced out and the company paid a $1.75 BILLION Medicare fraud fine.

   Alex Sink:

As president of Florida operations for NationsBank as it gobbled up state banking giant Barnett Bank, Sink presided over the postmerger bank, which was expected to eliminate 6,000 posts to streamline operations, closing 200 branches in Florida.                     Source

    The thing which the Republican Party fails to mention in their television ads is the fact that Alex Sink was told what to do by her higher ups, this was not something that she just went ahead and did on her own.

   Rick Scott, on the other hand, was the frog at the top and the Columbia layoffs were by his doing.

    Alex Sink made no profit from the layoffs at BofA,but, Scott did from his ousters.

When Sink left the company, she had earned $8.8 million in the last three years, a combination of her salary and cashing in 26 years of accumulated stock options, pension and deferred compensation, but it was not a bonus or tied to the job losses.

Scott, though, benefitted financially from the Columbia/HCA job cuts because it helped boost the company's stock, which was a darling on Wall Street until the federal government launched a FBI probe….

   Once again, I have to vote for “none of the above” even though I think that Sink is the lesser of the two evils. Scott still will not discuss his testimony over Columbia’s Medicare dealings, and if you plead the 5th 75 times,voters have the right to know why.

Technorati Tags: Alex Sink,Rick Scott,Governor,Florida,Mid-Term,Elections,Clumbia/HCA.Bank of America,Republicans,Democrat,Politics,News,Current Events,Unemployment

Mid-Term Election Lies Part 2

 

   We all know that this election season has brought out the worst television attack ads as far back as many of us can remember. One would think that this is just something that is going on in our respective states in which we live but that is not the case. It is as though everyone on the Republican side of the aisle have all been reading from the same playbook as have the Democrats who have come up with a few of their own truth exaggerations.  Difference is that the Republicans are in lock-step with each other (as always) while the Democrats have only mixed pages of their playbook and they do not know what to do next. This has always been a problem for this party. No one wants to cooperate with the other and they end up in the mess in which they now find themselves in. Republicans lie in their attack ads and the Democrats have not enough brains in their heads to bring up the untruths so they eat the dust come election time.

   Republican lie: Democrats are cutting Medicare.

   While this is not an entirely untrue statement, the GOP just flat out forgets to tell viewers the whole story.

   PolitiFact

We lost count of the Republican ads telling seniors to worry because Democrats had slashed $500 billion from Medicare, the government-run health insurance program for seniors. But each time, we've rated it a significant exaggeration. Democrats did vote to reduce spending as part of the health care reform law, and it does sound like a humongous amount -- until you learn that the cuts are spread out over the next decade and aimed at parts of Medicare that are considered wasteful or ineffective.

   So what about the lies from the Democrats? The GOP wants to privatize Social Security!

PolitiFact

Social Security is basically a pension program paid for with payroll taxes from today's workers. But some lawmakers, primarily Republicans, would like to reduce the future burden on the government by letting younger workers set aside part of their payroll taxes into individual retirement accounts. The attack ads leave out that Republicans who support such a plan -- which they call "personal" accounts -- don't want to change benefits for current retirees or those who are near retirement.

• We fact-checked an attack ad from Rep. Steve Kagen, D-Wisc., that his Republican opponent Reid Ribble "wants to phase out Social Security, forcing Wisconsin seniors to fend for themselves." We rated that Pants on Fire.
• We looked at a statement by Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., that her Republican opponent Rep. John Boozman wants to privatize Social Security. We rated that Barely True.
• And in Colorado, we looked at Sen. Michael Bennet's charge that Republican Ken Buck wants to privatize Social Security. That got a Half True.

 

  Tough election year for the politicians and it is even tougher this time around for the voters. Do you thing people and get out to the polls on Tuesday. If you do not like your choices then vote “none of the above.”  You cannot do any worse.

Technorati Tags: Mid-Term,Elections,Republicans,Democrats,Tea Party,Senate,TV Ads,PolitiFact,News,Current Events

Mid-Term Election Falsehoods…

 

…are at an all-time high this mid-term election season with flat out lies and half-truths coming from both sides of the political spectrum. It has been really interesting to watch the attack ads that run on television down here in the state of Florida,but we have all seen this kind of crap in just about all of the states. So what’s new?  The main problem here in Florida is that we really do not have anyone on either side of the equation that is worth voting for.

    The race for the Senate is pretty much a given that it will be either Charlie Christ who has changed his clothing from the Republican rack and who is now claiming to be an Independent while railing against GOP issues that he has supported for all of his life. He is/was a staunch George Bush Supporter and he has always been a Republican and he will continue to be a Republican. He is counting on the stupidity of the Florida voter in order to stay in political office.

  Charlie Christ has been on television talking about reducing taxes for business in order to garner more jobs for Florida and he’s been saying the GOP thing about less government, but wait, what’s this?

Crist Ad Statement: “And the best ideas from Republicans, like cutting waste, so we can hold down taxes.” (Crist TV Ad, “Line In The Sand,” 9/13/10)

FACT: In 2009, Charlie Crist Broke His Pledge Against Raising Taxes By Signing A Budget That “Includes $2.2 Billion In New Fees And Taxes.” “Breaking a pledge against raising taxes, Gov. Charlie Crist signed Florida’s $66.5 billion budget into law Wednesday and barely used his veto pen. … Also, the budget includes $2.2 billion in new fees and taxes. … By not vetoing the new taxes, Crist violated a no-new-taxes pledge he made on the campaign trail in 2006.” (Marc Caputo, “Gov. Crist Signs $66.5 Billion Budget, Breaks Tax Pledge,” St. Petersburg Times, 5/28/09)

FACT: Crist Increased The State Workforce For the First Time Since Lawton Chiles, a Liberal Democrat, Was Governor. “The annual report indicates that Crist has presided over the first growth in total state government employment since the late Gov. Lawton Chiles started the decline in his last year – a reduction that Bush accelerated with privatization and computerization.” (Bill Cotterell, “State Jobs On Rise Again,” The News-Press, 12/30/07)

FACT: Under Crist, The Number Of State Government Employees Has Grown Nearly 13%. (The People’s Budget Website, http://www.thepeoplesbudget.state.fl.us/bdagencies.aspx?full=1, Accessed 3/27/10)

FACT: Under Crist, “Florida’s State Government Is Cresting On Its Biggest Tide Of Red Ink In History.” “Even as talk of deficits and debt seem focused largely on Washington, Florida’s state government is cresting on its biggest tide of red ink in history. Now, the $26.4 billion owed by state taxpayers may threaten several environmental, transportation and classroom spending commitments in the upcoming legislative session.” (John Kennedy, “State Debt Could Threaten Fla. Government Programs,” The Ledger, 2/7/10)                      Source

    I should note that the source for this info comes from his maim opponent, Republican Mark Rubio, who I’ll be posting on next.

   Christ is just one of the many Republicans in Independent clothing trying to keep his scam going against the people of Florida. There is no real choice when having to pick between Christ,Rubio,or Democrat Meeks.

Technorati Tags: Florida,Senate,Mid-Term,Elections,Charlie Christ,Mark Rubio,Republicans,Independent,FactCheck,News,Current Events,An American Gothic

How Uninformed Are The American People?

 

   I would say that the American Voter has been listening to a lot of the GOP bull as well as the spin coming from folks like Glenn Beck and Bill O’Reilly. One other problem with the American population?

DailyKos

A new Bloomberg poll out this morning finds that by margin of 2-1, voters think taxes have gone up, the economy has shrunk and the TARP money is not going to be recovered. Let me say it again: Two out of Three "likely voters" think taxes have gone up, the economy has shrunk and the TARP money is not going to be recovered.

The Obama administration cut taxes for middle-class Americans, expects to make a profit on the hundreds of billions of dollars spent to rescue Wall Street banks and has overseen an economy that has grown for the past four quarters.

A Bloomberg National Poll conducted Oct. 24-26 finds that by a two-to-one margin, likely voters in the Nov. 2 midterm elections think taxes have gone up, the economy has shrunk, and the billions lent to banks as part of the Troubled Asset Relief Program won’t be recovered.

The pollster blames the Democrats ("It does not matter much if you make change, if you do not communicate change.") and i'm pretty sure almost everyone else will too, but i'm not willing to let voters get away with it so easily. It's been almost two years - educate yourself on the most important issues of the day. Now, i'm sure many think that by listening to the news, they're actually doing exactly that - But they get the news from a corrupted media, and that's what they learned. One lie after another.

The Obama administration has cut taxes -- largely for the middle class -- by $240 billion since taking office Jan. 20, 2009. A program aimed at families earning less than $150,000 that was contained in the stimulus package lowered the burden for 95 percent of working Americans by $116 billion, or about $400 per year for individuals and $800 for married couples. Other measures include breaks for college education, moderate- income families and the unemployed and incentives to promote renewable energy.

Still, the poll shows the message hasn’t gotten through to Americans, especially middle-income voters. By 52 percent to 19 percent, likely voters say federal income taxes have gone up for the middle class in the past two years. 61 percent of poll respondents say the economy is shrinking this year, compared with 33 percent who say it is growing. Even a plurality of Democrats, 43 percent, holds this misperception.

And yes, everyone blames president Obama:

"The administration has said for a long time that the best politics was doing the right thing," says Steve McMahon, a Democratic strategist. "It requires a lot more. These numbers show that the best politics is selling what you’re doing."

This bottom line is so sad. It doesn't matter what kind of a job you're really doing, all that matters is what story you sell - true or false - and if you have the media in your pocket or not.

I'm extremely proud of this president, who actually came to do the job and not to play games, and it saddens me to no end that both him and the party are expected to be punished for that.

The only thing i can do right now, is to go and GOTV. I hope you're  doing the same.

  Does anyone in this country still read or do even a little bit of research when it comes to what the facts are during our elections, or are we just believing the news channels and the papers?

    Read my  previous post for some other facts that you more than likely do not know. then, go tell your Tea Party and other GOP friends that the party is still full of shit.

Technorati Tags: Bloomberg,Wall Street,TARP,The Economy,2010 Elections,President Obama,Republicans,GOP,Economy

Obama’s Massive Deficit Spending?

 

   I am still in the middle of tweaking my Windows 7, but I did take a short break to catch up on a little bit of  '”did you know?” viewing.

    This is a little of what I discovered. Independent and undecided voters would do well to check this out.

Fri Oct 29, 2010 at 10:40:03 AM PDT

Questions:

1. What was the average monthly private sector job growth in 2008, the final year of the Bush presidency, and what has it been so far in 2010?

1. What was the Federal deficit for the last fiscal year of the Bush presidency, and what was it for the first full fiscal year of the Obama presidency?

1. What was the stock market at on the last day of the Bush presidency? What is it at today?

1. Which party's candidate for speaker will campaign this weekend with a Nazi reenactor who dressed up in a SS uniform?

Answers:

1. In 2008, we lost an average of 317,250 private sector jobs per month. In 2010, we have gained an average of 95,888 private sector jobs per month. (Source) That's a difference of nearly five million jobs between Bush's last year in office and President Obama's second year.

1. In FY2009, which began on September 1, 2008 and represents the Bush Administration's final budget, the budget deficit was $1.416 trillion. In FY2010, the first budget of the Obama Administration, the budget deficit was $1.291 trillion, a decline of $125 billion. (Source) Yes, that means President Obama has cut the deficit -- there's a long way to go, but we're in better shape now than we were under Bush and the GOP.

1. On Bush's final day in office, the Dow, NASDAQ, and S&P 500 closed at 7,949, 1,440, and 805, respectively. Today, as of 10:15AM Pacific, they are at 11,108, 2,512, and 1,183. That means since President Obama took office, the Dow, NASDAQ, and S&P 500 have increased 40%, 74%, and 47%, respectively.

1. The Republican Party, whose candidate for speaker, John Boehner, will campaign with Nazi re-enactor Rich Iott this weekend. If you need an explanation why this is offensive, you are a lost cause.

The moral of the story is this: if you vote Republican, I hope you enjoy Election Day -- because you're not going to like what comes next.

 

Technorati Tags: President,Barack Obama,Wall Street,Economy,Employment,News,Republicans,Undicided Voters

Another Windows Re-Install…

 

…has kept me offline for the past 36 hours or so. I just could no longer live with that ancient Windows XP so I went and install Windows 7 Ultimate again. It finally got cheap enough for me to buy. Of course, now I have to find the correct audio drivers for the damned machine.

   I’ll be back!

Technorati Tags: Windows 7,Microsoft,News

Democrats and Republicans:Latest Polling

The Rasmussen Reports  daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Tuesday shows that 28% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as president. Forty-three percent (43%) Strongly Disapprove

    Forty-three percent (43%) believe that neither Republicans nor Democrats represent the American people. Thirty-eight percent (38%) say it’s at least somewhat likely a third party presidential candidate will be elected within the next decade.

Overall, 47% of voters say they at least somewhat approve of the president's performance. Fifty-two percent (52%) disapprove.

    There is also a new poll out by NewsWeek which was conducted with cell phone users only. Some interesting results.

   … NEWSWEEK Poll (full results) shows that they remain in a close race with Republicans 12 days before Election Day, while the president’s approval ratings have climbed sharply. The poll finds that 48 percent of registered voters would be more likely to vote for Democrats, compared with 42 percent who lean Republican (those numbers are similar to those in the last NEWSWEEK Poll, which found Democrats favored 48 percent to 43 percent). President Obama’s approval ratings have jumped substantially, crossing the magic halfway threshold to 54 percent, up from 48 percent in late September, while the portion of respondents who disapprove of the president dropped to 40 percent, the lowest disapproval rating in a NEWSWEEK Poll since February 2010. However, his approval rating, which is notably higher than many recent polls of the president’s popularity, may be evidence of a closing “enthusiasm gap” more than a sea change in voter attitudes, and may not substantially affect Democrats’ fortunes come Election Day. In 1994, NEWSWEEK Polls showed a similar steep climb in President Clinton’s approval between late September and late October, but Democrats still suffered a rout in the midterms.

   Maybe a few of the American citizens are starting to realize that President Obama’s lack of progress in a swifter manner is due to the Republicans disrupting things just so that they can win an election? I would hope so.

 

Technorati Tags: Mid Term Elections,Rasmussen,NewsWeek,Polls,Polling,Democrats,Republicans,Congress,President Obama,Barack Obama,Current Events

A Look At Governor Charlie Christ

 

       For those of you who may have been in a comma over the past few years,Charlie Christ is the current governor of the state of Florida who is running for the Senate.  Another Republican governor in the state and everyone wonders why the state is now in a state of “third world” living. Of course, Jeb Bush and the rest of the Republicans up in the capitol get most of the blame for the mess that this state is in, and rightfully so. Christ has just been towing the GOP line of tax cuts and budget cuts in order to crate jobs and reduce state spending. Neither of these has happened as of yet to any great degree. Any spending cuts have come at the expense of the lower income workers in Florida. Business tax cuts have not garnered any jobs and aren’t going to.

    Charlie Christ on taxes

    calls himself "a proven tax-cutter". He wants to make the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts permanent and eliminate the estate tax (which he, like Mr. Rubio, calls a "death tax"). He doesn't mention the capital-gains tax specifically. He supports a balanced-budget amendment, but doesn't say anything specific about which trillions of dollars in spending would be cut to balance the budget while cutting taxes at the same time. He does point to his record of cutting the Florida state budget by $7.4 billion over the past three years.                                                    The Economist

   

Replace income tax with a flat tax or national sales tax

Q: Do you support replacing the U.S. income tax structure with a flat income tax?

A: Yes.

Q: Do you support eliminating the Internal Revenue Service?

A: Yes.

Q: Do you support instituting a national sales tax?

A: Yes.

Q: Do you support requiring a super-majority vote in both houses of Congress to raise taxes?

A: Yes.                                                              OnThe Issues.org

   Of course no Republican likes any of the Obama health care plan and GOPer Christ is no different. What would he do instead?

           Cover Florida: $150 a month plan for 3.8 million uninsured

Among the many ideas floated by Gov. Charlie Crist last month for improving health care in Florida, one stood out for its simplicity and its allure: Offer the estimated 3.8 million Floridians who lack health insurance an affordable plan for “$150 a month or less.”

Crist’s “Cover Florida” proposal would not come with a state mandate that individuals had to buy it or employers had to offer it. And it would give insurance companies lots of leeway in deciding how to structure such a health plan--as long

they included “a robust package of preventive, primary and urgent-care benefits, including hospitalization.”

A $150-per-month health-insurance policy “can’t get you comprehensive coverage,” says one analyst; such a plan would either have sky-high deductibles for hospital stays or have no hospitalization coverage at all. Another analyst replies, “Anything that moves some number of people from the uninsured category into the insured category is a good thing that is worth considering.”   Source: Orlando Sentinel, “Plan for health insurance” Mar 14, 2008

Mr Crist wants to "repeal and reform" the Obama administration's health care reforms. He provides no details about what he would do to reform the health-insurance system except that it should be "focused on the free market". (The Obama reforms, of course, do nothing but guarantee people access to private-sector free-market health insurance. Mr Crist does not explain how his proposed reforms would be any different.) Mr Crist points to his record in creating the "Cover Florida" programme, which he claims allows private insurers to provide far cheaper individual health insurance for individuals without spending any tax dollars. This claim sounds suspiciously like magic, and in fact PolitiFact rates Mr Crist's claims on the programme "False". The Cover Florida plans don't appear to be significantly cheaper than existing private-market plans, and that may explain why only 5,000 of Florida's nearly 4m uninsured have taken advantage of them.                             Source

    Since Mr.Christ was getting slaughtered by his opponent, Mark Rubio, he has gone and switched from a Republican to an Independent so that he can get the votes that he couldn’t get as a Republican. He has changed his mind on many issues now that he has to kiss up to the voters/groups that opposed him as a Republican,and it has worked to a certain degree.  Charlie Christ is one of those career politicians who need to be let out to pasture before he really fucks the people of Florida up as a Senator.

Technorati Tags: Florida,Governor,Charlie Christ,Campaign,Senate Races,The Economist,News,Votesmart,Current Events,An American Gothis