Saturday, June 30, 2012

Tea Party “treason”

Tea Party “treason”

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The ThinkProgress blog today accuses a U.S. citizen — the Chairman of the Mississippi Tea Party, Roy Nicholson — of treason; says ThinkProgress (emphasis in original):
Of all the right-wing meltdowns following yesterday’s decision by the Supreme Court to uphold the individual mandate in the Affordable Care Act, this statement put out by the chairman of the Mississippi Tea Party may take the cake:
When a gang of criminals subvert legitimate government offices and seize all power to themselves without the real consent of the governed their every act and edict is of itself illegal and is outside the bounds of the Rule of Law. In such cases submission is treason. Treason against the Constitution and the valid legitimate government of the nation to which we have pledged our allegiance for years. To resist by all means that are right in the eyes of God is not rebellion or insurrection, it is patriotic resistance to invasion.
May all of us fall on our faces before the Heavenly Judge, repent of our sins, and humbly cry out to Him for mercy on our country. And, may godly courageous leaders rise up in His wisdom and power to lead us in displacing the criminal invaders from their seats and restore our constitutional republic.

Supreme Court Upholds Affordable Care Act

Supreme Court Upholds Affordable Care Act:

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Life-Saving Insurance Protections, Expansion of Care to 32 Million Americans and Affordable Healthcare Options All to Move Forward

Washington, DC - SEIU President Mary Kay Henry issued this statement in response to the decision by the US Supreme Court today to uphold the Affordable Care Act as fully constitutional, including expansion of care to 32 million Americans, a range of consumer protections from insurance company abuses, the creation of competitive marketplaces in states for individuals to purchase lower cost insurance, and quality of care improvements.
"For more than two years, Republicans like Speaker Boehner, Congressman Paul Ryan and Mitt Romney have put their political careers ahead of working Americans struggling to afford and keep their healthcare. Insurance companies and corporate insiders have spent millions to take away the benefits of the law. Today, the Supreme Court rejected their cynical approach and working people won a resounding victory.

'note:  some seiu folks did oppose universal healtlhcare early on in the fight.  that is why there is no single payer system for this gave cover to politcos to stick it to the folks.  yes, insurance companies will make out like bandits with this program.

that might be why  Roberts switched his vote

Statement by AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka on the Supreme Court Health Care Decision

Statement by AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka on the Supreme Court Health Care Decision

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June 28, 2012
We are pleased and relieved that the Supreme Court has upheld the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act.  Today’s decision means that we can continue moving full speed ahead to implement and build upon the Affordable Care Act.  We have no illusion that the destination has been reached, and we are more committed than ever to the hard work necessary to achieve our dream of quality health care for all. 
With this decision, more than 105 million Americans will continue to benefit from the elimination of lifetime limits and the coverage of preventive services without cost-sharing, and more than 6 million young adults will remain covered by their parents’ health care plans.  Seniors will continue to save money on prescription drugs as the Part D donut hole closes over the next eight years; already over 5 million seniors have saved $3.7 billion on prescriptions in 2010 and 2011.  And insurance companies will not be able to deny coverage due to pre-existing conditions, charge women more or drop coverage for those who get sick.

Will Obamacare get the US further into debt?

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

'Impeach Obama' - Crazy Republicans

fast and furious update msnbc


The GOP’s Complicated Road To Repealing ‘Obamacare’ | TPMDC

The GOP’s Complicated Road To Repealing ‘Obamacare’ | TPMDC:

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No matter what the Supreme Court decides in its health care reform ruling expected Thursday, Republicans have promised to repeal all parts of the law that are left standing.
If they sweep the elections, Republicans will be able to roll back key parts of the law either with a 51-vote Senate majority or via executive fiat. But that will leave other major pieces that require an implausible 60-vote Senate threshold to repeal, allowing Democrats to filibuster. The options are detailed in a report by the D.C.-based political intelligence firm Washington Analysis.
Multiple budget-related parts of the Affordable Care Act can be repealed via a bare majority under a Senate procedure known as reconciliation. Those parts include the insurance subsidies, Medicaid expansion, the Medicare cost-saving Independent Payment Advisory Board, closing the “doughnut hole,” and taxes on insurers and providers.
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more at site

Does Obama Really Believe This?

Friday, June 22, 2012

Richard Mourdock Accidentally Releases Responses to ACA Supreme Court ...

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Republicans' Dirty Little Secret

Get out of the way? I don't think so. We don't want a big bureaucratic government, but the times absolutely require ACTIVE government. Mitt Romney and the trickle-downistas in Congress want you to believe that if government just "gets out of the way," jobs will magically appear out of thin air. Hey presto! They want you to believe in laissez-faire government -- that we should leave the economy alone. That was a fine theory in the 18th and 19th centuries, thank you very much Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations. And it may still have been an OK strategy in the early 20th century. But once globalization and technology made the world flat and interconnected... laissez-faire became obsolete. Why? Because our global economic competitors don't abide by those rules. Those competitor nations are hungry, actively intervening in the so-called "free market," to lure jobs for their citizens. Yet Romney and his Congressional allies desperately cling to the theories espoused by Adam Smith in the 1700s, hoping that we can return to those old days when our economy was isolated, not impacted by our economic competitors.

Unions and Shared Prosperity, 1920-2010

Monday, June 18, 2012

leo gerard on obama june 11th

United Steelworkers President Leo Gerard says private sector growth all due to President Obama, claims president 'doing just fine' The battle over who is more in touch with the people and economy takes a new turn. During a speech last week, President Obama made upbeat remarks about the economy. "The private sector is doing fine," President Obama says. "Where we're seeing weaknesses in our economy have to do with state and local government." May disagreed with that. When the GOP piled on, the President backed away from those comments. This morning on "Starting Point," Soledad talks with United Steelworkers president Leo Gerard, who says President Obama is responsible for shoring up the economy and continuous the job growth over the last 27 months.

Will MSNBC Hire S.E. Cupp To Host Her Own Show?

Duquesne University challenges adjunct unionization effort | Inside Higher Ed

Duquesne University challenges adjunct unionization effort | Inside Higher Ed

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John Scibak Talks About Mitt Romney's Massachusetts Record On The Bus Tour

Ohio Residents React to Mitt Romney's Bus Tour

Friday, June 15, 2012

Dana Milbank: Jeb Bush's heresy

Dana Milbank: Jeb Bush's heresy

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Coincidentally, Bush made his remarks the same day the conservative American Enterprise Institute held a show trial for Norm Ornstein, its scholar who dared to co-author an article in The Washington Post titled "Let's just say it: The Republicans are the problem."

Ornstein's debate opponent, conservative author Steve Hayward, suddenly had the more difficult task of arguing against not only his AEI colleague but also against one of the nation's most charismatic conservative leaders. After Ornstein invoked Bush's words, Hayward answered with two debating techniques the Republicans have used with great frequency over the past few years: ad hominem and non sequitur: "Well, all I'll say about Jeb Bush is the Bush family still has not gotten over losing in 1980 to Ronaldus Magnus, and I'll leave it at that."

But what about the substance of Jeb Bush's criticism? He told the House Budget Committee recently that he would accept a dollar in tax-revenue increases in exchange for every $10 in spending cuts — a hypothetical deal the party's presidential candidates rejected. Bush later told Charlie Rose that his willingness to accept the reality of tax increases means "I'm not running for anything."

In that sense, Hayward didn't lay a glove on Ornstein's argument, which is that the Republicans are acting like a parliamentary opposition party — rejecting any thought of compromise — in a non-parliamentary system that requires compromise. Typical of the sentiment, Ornstein said, was the view of Richard Mourdock, who recently defeated Sen. Dick Lugar in the Indiana Republican primary: "Bipartisanship ought to consist of Democrats coming to the Republican point of view."

Rick Scott: Urge To Purge Protest, Longboat Key, Florida

Corporations Now Voting Like Citizens

Why Unions Matter - Harold Meyerson

old one, but still true. meyerson did oped in wall street journal yesterday on subject http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/what-happens-if-america-loses-its-unions/2012/06/12/gJQA1d7UYV_story.html

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Will workers fight the GOP's anti-union 'power play' by uniting to recal...

Crowell: Last minute efforts will make all the difference in Wisconsin r...

Sen. Sanders on Wall Street Now: 'Insane Gambling Casino'

How will the Wisconsin recall affect the November election?

The whine from Wisconsin

The whine from Wisconsin

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— This state, the first to let government employees unionize, was an incubator of progressivism and gave birth (in 1932 in Madison, the precursor of theAmerican Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees) to its emblematic institution, the government employees union — government organized as a special interest to lobby itself to expand itself. But Wisconsin progressivism is in a dark Peter Pan phase; it is childish without being winsome.
Wisconsin has produced populists of the left (Robert La Follette) and right (Joe McCarthy). On Tuesday, in this year's second-most important election, voters will judge the attempt by a populism of the privileged — white-collar labor unions whose members live comfortably above the American median — to recall Republican Gov. Scott Walker.
In this Milwaukee suburb, a pro-Walker phone bank is conducting mobilization, not persuasion. Is any voter undecided? For 16 months, Wisconsin, normally a paragon of Midwestern neighborliness, has been riven by furious attempts to punish Walker for keeping his campaign promise to change the state's unsustainable fiscal trajectory driven by the perquisites of government employees. His progressive adversaries have, however, retreated from their original pretext for attempting to overturn the election Walker won handily just 19 months ago.

Paul Krugman: The Republican economy

Paul Krugman: The Republican economy

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What do I mean by saying that this is already a Republican economy? Look first at total government spending — federal, state and local. Adjusted for population growth and inflation, such spending has recently been falling at a rate not seen since the demobilization that followed the Korean War.
How is that possible? Isn't Mr. Obama a big spender? Actually, no; there was a brief burst of spending in late 2009 and early 2010 as the stimulus kicked in, but that boost is long behind us. Since then it has been all downhill. Cash-strapped state and local governments have laid off teachers, firefighters and police officers; meanwhile, unemployment benefits have been trailing off even though unemployment remains extremely high.
Over all, the picture for America in 2012 bears a stunning resemblance to the great mistake of 1937, when FDR prematurely slashed spending, sending the U.S. economy — which had actually been recovering fairly fast until that point — into the second leg of the Great Depression. In FDR's case, however, this was an unforced error, because he had a solidly Democratic Congress. In President Obama's case, much, though not all, of the responsibility for the policy wrong turn lies with a completely obstructionist Republican majority in the House.

Bring Back WI to Me sung on eve of Walker recall

What is Gov. Scott Walker Hiding?

Art Laffer on the Wisconsin Recall Election

Nasty robo-calls in Wisconsin?

Nasty robo-calls in Wisconsin?

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 With both sides counting on dramatic turnout, Tom Barrett’s campaign is charging Scott Walker supporters with dirty tricks. In an e-mail sent to supporters last night, Barrett for Wisconsin Finance Director Mary Urbina-McCarthy wrote, “Reports coming into our call center have confirmed that Walker’s allies just launched a massive wave of voter suppression calls to recall petition signers.” According to Urbina-McCarthy, the message of the calls was: “If you signed the recall petition, your job is done and you don’t need to vote on Tuesday.”

Monday, June 4, 2012

Will Scott Walker Buy The Wisconsin Election?

We've Heard it All Before - Obama for America Television Ad

Removing Gov. Walker Necessary, but Wisconsin Mass Movement Must Reorganize

You're Fired (Live at RebuildWI) - Jasiri X

Behind the Recall: The Rise and Fall of Scott Walker

CATERPILLAR:brRecord profits, CEO pay hiked by 60%, company wants wage concessions from workers | BREAKING NEWS | Sky Valley Chronicle Washington State News

CATERPILLAR:brRecord profits, CEO pay hiked by 60%, company wants wage concessions from workers | BREAKING NEWS | Sky Valley Chronicle Washington State News

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“In paring their payrolls, they’re paring their customers…and we no longer have any means of making up for the shortfall in consumer demand. Federal stimulus spending is over. In fact, state and local governments continue to lay off large numbers. The government cut 13,000 jobs in May. Instead of a boost, government cuts have become a considerable drag on the rest of the economy.”

Now comes word that workers at an Illinois plant for the manufacturer Caterpillar have been on strike for a month after rejecting a “concession-heavy contract” proposed by the company, say union officials. Last Friday workers rejected a second Caterpillar offer, by a vote of 504-116.

According to a new report by Nation of Change the contract “provided no raises, eliminated the defined benefits pension program, weakened seniority rights and required machinists to pay higher contributions for health care.”

“All of this, at a time when the company is making record profits. In fact, Fortune Magazine recently said the company is “crushing it” when it comes to profitability,” yet at the same time refuses to give its workers a raise while the company did see fit to increase its CEO’s pay by 60 percent.

The annual compensation of Caterpillar Inc.’s chairman and chief executive rose 60 percent in 2011, as the company posted record revenue of $60.1 billion.

Douglas Oberhelman earned $16.9 million in 2011 in salary, bonuses, stock and option awards and retirement plan contributions.

The typical American worker would have to work 244 years in order to earn what the average CEO makes in just one year.

Over the last 30 years, CEO pay has increased 127 times faster than worker pay, says the report.

What to know about the Wisconsin recall vote  | ajc.com

What to know about the Wisconsin recall vote  | ajc.com

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Q: Who's footing the bill for the recall campaigns? Taxpayers? Or someone else?
A: There has been much ado about all the campaign money flowing into Wisconsin from out of state, and for good reason. The recall election has been unlike anything seen before in Wisconsin, with at least $62 million spent by the candidates and outside groups so far. Walker was the top spender at $29 million, with Democrats including Barrett spending about $4 million. Outside groups have spent $21 million and issue ad groups that don't have to disclose their spending have put in at least $7.5 million. That, of course, is donated money. Taxpayers are anything but off the hook. The recall and a primary for it are special elections that otherwise would not be held. State elections officials estimate the cost of a statewide election to taxpayers is $9 million, for a total of $18 million.

Fox 'Economist' Ben Stein Says Obama is Not as Smart as Criminal Preside...

mid may treat

wisconsin recall spending (known)

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Record Spending On 2012 Elections By GOP Groups

Cenk did not mention Wisconsin election tomorrow

Saturday, June 2, 2012

Democrat For Sale Becoming Republican For Sale

How the "Job Creators" REALLY Spend Their Money | Common Dreams

How the "Job Creators" REALLY Spend Their Money | Common Dreams

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The Very Rich Don't Like Taking On Risky Jobs

CEOs, upper management, and financial professionals made up about 60 percent of the richest 1% of Americans in 2005. Only 3 percent were entrepreneurs. A recent study found that less than 1 percent of all entrepreneurs came from very rich or very poor backgrounds.The biggest investment by corporations is overseas, where they keep 57 percent of their cash and fill their factories with low-wage workers. Commerce Department figures show that U.S. companies cut their work forces by 2.9 million from 2000 to 2009 while increasing overseas employment by 2.4 million.

In fact, the very rich may not care about U.S. jobs in any form. Surveys reveal that 60 percent of investors worth $25 million or more are investing up to a third of their total assets overseas. Back home, the extra wealth created by the Bush tax cuts led to "worst track record" for jobs in recorded history. The true American job creator, as venture capitalist Nick Hanauer would agree, is the middle-class consumer.

Mayhem turns to shoving at Allen West townhall

Rep. Joe Walsh's Macaca Moment

Rise Like Lions - Occupy Wall Street and the Seeds of Revolution

Scott Noble's film Rise Like Lions takes the people, actions, and words from the camps and streets of Occupy Wall Street and provides a radical, compelling and inspiring account of what the movement is about. Watch it. Share it. Do it!" -Ron Jacobs, Journalist, Author The Co-Conspirator's Tale

The Corporation

Cost of death penalty: Life in jail cheaper

GOP’s Austerity Chickens Come Home to Roost

GOP’s Austerity Chickens Come Home to Roost: pIs This What Sabotage Looks Like? Today’s dismal jobs report — just 69,000 net jobs created last month and the unemployment rate ticking up slightly to 8.2 percent — shows that the GOP’s success at manufacturing crises, blocking new job creation measures, and forcing deep spending  cuts is taking a severe toll on our economy and [...]/p

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UNICEF: US Among Highest Child Poverty Rates in Developed Countries | Common Dreams

UNICEF: US Among Highest Child Poverty Rates in Developed Countries | Common Dreams

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A new report released this week by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) reveals alarming child poverty rates within affluent, or 'developed', nations. The US ranks second highest among all measured countries, with 23.1 per cent of children living in poverty, just under Romania's 25.6 per cent.
The report Report Card 10 shows roughly 13 million children in the European Union (plus Norway and Iceland) lack basic items necessary for their development. 30 million children – across 35 countries with developed economies – live in poverty.

'Night of Casseroles': Canadian Protesters Expand Beyond Quebec and Single Issue Focus | Common Dreams

'Night of Casseroles': Canadian Protesters Expand Beyond Quebec and Single Issue Focus | Common Dreams

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"The issues faced by the student movement in Quebec, and the citizens who have joined them, are the same ones faced across this country," added Vancouver activist, and co-creator of the event, Derrick O'Keefe. "We need to have an open and democratic discussion about the direction of our society. The current model, where governments give billions in tax cuts to profitable corporations and high income earners, and then plead poverty as they slash our social programs, is broken."
In addition to supporting the students' demand for a tuition freeze in Quebec, protesters will be calling for the repeal of Bill 78.
"It is no exaggeration to say that Bill 78 is the most serious threat to our civil liberties since the War Measures Act. It has been judged unconstitutional by the Quebec Bar Association, constitutional expert Julius Grey and a wide variety of civil liberties and human rights organizations, including Amnesty International," said Cox. "Governments cannot be allowed to resolve their problems by legislating away the right to dissent, to protest. There can be no resolution of the situation in Quebec until this draconian law is repealed."

IMF Boss Lagarde, Who Lectured Greeks to 'Pay Up', Pays No Taxes Herself | Common Dreams

IMF Boss Lagarde, Who Lectured Greeks to 'Pay Up', Pays No Taxes Herself | Common Dreams

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Christine Lagarde, the International Monetary Fund managing director who provoked an angry reaction from the Greek people after telling them to pay their taxes, does not pay tax on her own salary.

IMF managing director Christine Lagarde. In an interview last Friday, Lagarde said she had little sympathy with the Greek people -- preferring to concern herself with the plight of starving children in Africa’s Sahel region.
“I also think about all those people who are trying to escape tax all the time,” she said. “All these people in Greece who are trying to escape tax.”
On Tuesday Lagarde admitted that her $467,940 IMF annual salary and $83,760 of additional allowances are entirely tax-free.

'Hurl Acid At Female Democratic Senators'? Rep. Townsend

Bill Clinton Defends Romney Over Bain Capital

Scott Walker: Puppet of Big Money? Koch Brothers Exposed