GOP on Warpath to Gut EPA – Again???

http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,2086421,00.html?xid=huffpo

Why Even Have a Congress?

Seems the FAA is in the middle of another Congress budget fiasco.  But,wait, Congress just left for 5 weeks of vacation? 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/02/faa-furlough-congress-reauthorization_n_916322.html

Middle East Oil -continue to buy or tell them to shove it?

This is an interesting video of T. Boone Pickens and his ideas about our country’s dependence on foreign oil.   I’ve heard alot of criticism against Picken’s push to use natural gas because he has set himself up as the one to profit the most from that idea.  But if you think about it, would I rather pay the Middle East OPEC guys or would I rather pay Pickens for my energy that is coming from our own country.

Pay close attention to Pickens’ assessement of the current field of Republican presidential candidates – but then again, Pickens is right that we’ve heard alot about promises of getting off foreign oil but as of the last few decades – nobody has ever even come up with a plan to do so.

Just why do we continue to buy oil from our enemies who obviously play both sides of the fence?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032608/vp/42672288#42672288

What Are They Thinking…..

Is this really the strategy the New and Improved Republicans  want to go with?   I wonder, just how do these businesses and corporations think their companies have been built without the working class?

I think the Republicans are showing their arrogance and ignorance in a big way and the end result is not going to be pretty.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/23/maine-paul-lepage-unions-labor-mural_n_839520.html

Krazee – you talking to me?

Newt Gingrich seems to be working on getting God’s blessing for his upcoming presidential run.  

http://motherjones.com/politics/2011/03/newt-gingrich-john-hagee

Teachers are Targets again……

Another battle in the GOP war against teachers?

indypendent

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/15/austin-texas-protest-cuts_n_835503.html

Oops, they have done it again…

Seems there are questions of possible editing mishaps in that NPR tape.  Hmmm…..let’s see – it is the work of a well-known conservative activist who has already been involved in some questionable activities.  

Unfortunately, the damage has been done – so the truth is no longer required.  Or is it?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/14/npr-sting-tape-analysis-editing_n_835384.html

Healthcare mandate was Orrin Hatch’s idea!

Yes, Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, co-sponsored a Republican-backed bill in 1993 that introduced the individual mandate.  The same requirement for everyone to buy insurance that has them screaming today was their own idea in 1993.  They were ‘fer it before they were agin it.’  Two other current senators also co-sponsored the plan: Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, and Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind.  Read it here.

So, who bought these Senators in the time since?  How much did they cost?  Is this another perfect example of playing politics?

Obama to GOP: ‘Drop the Blockade’

President Obama returned to the White House ready to get back to work, giving a brief speech on Monday about the U.S. economy. Obama said that his administration is planning to kick-start the economy with several quick measures: extending tax cuts for the middle-class, redoubling the government’s investment in clean energy, adding further tax cuts, and “making it easier for our small business to grow and hire.” A bill that’s been “languishing in Senate for four months,” as Obama put it, would help put these plans into motion. But the biggest obstacle, of course, remains garnering Republican party support. “I ask the Senate Republicans to drop the blockade,” he said.

How broken is the U.S. Senate?

Senate Rule XXVI, Paragraph 5, requires unanimous consent for committees and subcommittees to hold hearings after two in the afternoon while the Senate is in session.  The Republicans had turned this old rule into a new means of obstruction.

Harry Reid controls the Senate’s schedule, but Mitch McConnell, of Kentucky, who is the Minority Leader, can object. Since nearly everything in the Senate depends on unanimous consent, the main business of the place is a continuous negotiation between these two men.

The Senate has been referred to as “the world’s greatest deliberative body.”  But the amount of real deliberation, in terms of exchange of ideas, seems very limited.  The floor of the Senate is where the theatrics occur, not conversations which make point and counterpoint and challenge each other.  A senator typically gives a prepared speech that’s already been vetted through the staff. Then another guy gets up and gives a speech on a completely different subject.  While these speeches are given their colleagues aren’t even around.  The presiding officer of the Senate — freshmen of the majority party take rotating, hour-long shifts intended to introduce them to the ways of the institution — sits in his chair on the dais, and the only people who pay attention to a speech are the Senate stenographers.  Between speeches, there are quorum calls, time killers in which a Senate clerk calls the roll at the rate of one name every few minutes. The press gallery, above the dais, is typically deserted, as journalists prefer to hunker down in the press lounge, surfing the web for analysis of current Senate negotiations; television screens alert them if something of interest actually happens in the chamber.

While senators are in Washington, their days are scheduled in fifteen-minute intervals: staff meetings, interviews, visits from lobbyists and home-state groups, caucus lunches, committee hearings, briefing books, floor votes, fund-raisers. Each senator sits on three or four committees and even more subcommittees, most of which meet during the same morning hours, which helps explain why committee tables are often nearly empty, and why senators drifting into a hearing can barely sustain a coherent line of questioning. All this activity is crammed into a three-day week, for it’s an unwritten rule of the modern Senate that votes are almost never scheduled for Mondays or Fridays, which allows senators to spend four days away from the capital.

Nothing dominates the life of a senator more than raising money.  Tom Daschle once sketched a portrait of the contemporary senator who is too busy to think: “Sometimes, you’re dialing for dollars, you get the call, you’ve got to get over to vote, you’ve got fifteen minutes. You don’t have a clue what’s on the floor, your staff is whispering in your ears, you’re running onto the floor, then you check with your leader—you double check—but, just to make triple sure, there’s a little sheet of paper on the clerk’s table: The leader recommends an aye vote, or a no vote. So you’ve got all these checks just to make sure you don’t screw up, but even then you screw up sometimes. But, if you’re ever pressed, ‘Why did you vote that way?’—you just walk out thinking, Oh, my God, I hope nobody asks, because I don’t have a clue.”

How many rules of senatorial procedure are relics from days gone past?  How often do we have to hear about the Senate being deadlocked before we expect something more and better from our elected officials?  How much of what actually happens on the floor of the Senate makes a mockery of public policy?

fnord

Glenn Beck’s ‘Restoring Honor’ Rally

Glenn Beck plans a rally for the anniversary of MLK’s “I Have A Dream” speech.  He calls it “Restoring Honor.”   Now he’s saying it’s totally apolitical – and the proof is Sarah Palin will be the headlining speaker.  Oh, and it’s partially sponsored by the National Rifle Association.

What other “totally apolitical” speakers do you think Beck will bring with him to the Lincoln Memorial steps?

fnord

ANYTHING, as long as Obama fails

If America fails too.  So what?  GOP goal is to make sure Obama fails!

In a 57-41 vote, Senate Republicans successfully killed a “tax-extenders bill” that includes tax cuts, aid to states, an extension of unemployment relief, and a delay in a cut to Medicare payments to doctors. Republicans, joined by Democrat Ben Nelson and Independent Joe Lieberman, complained that the spending is not offset with other spending cuts or tax hikes; Democrats, in order to satisfy them, offset all the spending except for the unemployment relief, but it still wasn’t enough.

All Evangelicals Are Not Alike

This article from Mother Jones suggests there is a difference of opinion  between Evangelicals when it comes to giving illegal immigrants a pathway to citizenship.  And to think there is a man from Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University that is joining this group.  This could become very interesting.  How will this play in the structure of the GOP?  Will these opposing Evangelicals bring more moderates back to the GOP or will the Radical Evangelicals still  flex their muscle and keep their control?

Indypendent

http://herjones.com/politics/2010/05/right-wing-clash-over-immigration-reform

GOP Losing Another One?

From this article, it sounds like the GOP has picked yet another losing stategy of pushing for repeal of the health care reform bill.  With all the noise coming from the Party of NO, do you think they can survive another losing point like this one?  This group seems determined to bring down Obama.   Perhaps the majority of Americans are getting tired of all their gnashing of teeth when they are yelling NO?

Indypendent

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/01/health-care-repeal-losing_n_595726.html

Obama Administration Deporting Illegals?

This is an interesting and informative article I found on Huffington Post today.  It seems that for all the demonization Republicans heap on Obama for not enforcing the illegal immigration laws, their claim might be up for debate.  According to this article, the Obama Administration has deported more illegals than the Bush Administration did.  One big difference is the percentage of criminal illegals being deported has risen under Obama.    What are your views, thoughts and comments?    Is Obama being a hypocrit or is he simply following our established illegal immigration laws and trying to resolve this issue the correct way?    Indypendent

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/20/little-girl-who-challenge_n_583432.html