THANK YOU MR. PRESIDENT ONCE AGAIN YOU MADE THE RIGHT CALL

Click here: G.M. to Spend $2 Billion i to Upgrade U.S. Plants - NYTimes.com

That investment is in US plants not foreign ones.

Thank you Mr. President, once again you made the right call.

Republicans? Not so much.

McCain to GM: Go bankrupt!

Mar 9th 2009

Republican Senator John McCain is joining the growing ranks of Republicans who say "Let General Motors file for bankruptcy."

"The best thing that could probably happen to General Motors, in my view, is they go into Chapter 11," he told Fox News yesterday. A bankruptcy filing, he explained, would allow the company to more quickly restructure itself to become "stronger, better, leaner."

Speaking on ABC, Senator Richard Shelby echoed his sentiments, saying that "subsidization of anything for very long never works. . . I've suggested they go into Chapter 11. That's where they belong. And they could reorganize."

Senators McCain and Shelby were, as they are on most issues, completely wrong.

Click here: GOP Senators to Detroit: Drop Dead ? - Motor Trend Blog

Nov. 2008

GM Loan guarantee bill will have virtually no Republican support in the Senate, reported The New York Times at the time.

Happily President Obama did not listen to these and other right wing "financial experts."

It is a wonder that Republicans can be so wrong on so many issues so much of the time and yet people still vote for them.

People are just dumb as dirt.

EDUCATION GUNNED DOWN IN TEXAS

Click here: Texas Senate Republicans Approve Guns On Campus

Republicans in the Texas Senate on Monday approved allowing concealed handgun license holders to carry weapons into public college buildings and classrooms, moving forward on a measure that had stalled until supporters tacked it on to a universities spending bill.

Texas rank last in the nation — 51^st— in the percentage of adults with high school diplomas. - Texas Tribune, July, 2010.

Perhaps they should be more concerned with allowing accurate, non partisan books in their schools rather than guns.

STICK A FORK IN HIM

Trump Collapses In Republican Primary Poll

There is no there, there and there never was!

TO ALL OF YOU REPUBLICAN MOTHERS OUT THERE...

...And to all the Democratic ones too;

A HAPPY PEACEFUL MOTHER'S DAY.

BOOMING VOICES - BOOMING VOTES

While the 2008 presidential election saw the second highest voter turn out among Americans aged 18-29 in American history (66% of those voted for Barack Obama), older Americans consistently vote in higher percentages than any other age group (United Press International 2008). They are also growing at a faster rate than ever before.  The U.S. Census Bureau reports that the population aged 65 and above is expected to double in size within the next 25 years to some 72 million people and grow to over 86 million by 2050.

As boomers age and transition into the Social Security and Medicare systems they will come to expect, enjoy and appreciate the benefits that these programs afford them. They will not want to give them up. They will vote in their ever increasing numbers (an estimated 10,000 boomers will turn 65 everyday for the next 18 years) to protect these programs from those who would seek to destroy them. Logic dictates that Republicans will be billed for their congressional votes by aging boomers and American working families just in time to pay at the 2012 ballot box.

BOOM!

SHOULD GEORGE W. BUSH GET MORE CREDIT FOR GETTING BIN LADEN?

HERE IS WHAT SOME ORDINARY AMERICANS ARE SAYING...

- And why should he get credit or ANYTHING, when he takes responsibility for nothing. If anything, he and his administration hampered the efforts to find Bin Laden; Allowing him to get away near Tora Bora; outing Valerie Plame, violating the Geneva Convention; dropping the ball in Afganistan to go into Iraq (because of some daddy complex); and on and on. AND allowing 9/11 to happen in the first place because the Bush administration arrogantly ignored the warnings of the Clinton admnstration.

- President Bush was elected in 2000 and 9/11 occurred in 2001. Bush's administration was warned that terrorists were planning something big, possibly with planes and they ignored the warnings. Then all hell broke loose. He then couldn't catch Bin Laden for the next 7 years. Probably due to the fact that he diverted intelligence and military resources towards Saddam Hussein who, bastard though he was, did not have any WMDs. Why on earth should President Bush deserve any credit? 

- It is going to take a while, but eventually historians will sort out the kind of credit Bush and his puppetmasters and hangers on deserve, and it isn't going to be pretty. America sank pretty low and we are only beginning to dig our way out of the pits of self-interest, deregulation, hypocrisy and demagoguery of the arrogant religionist right.

- Far from taking credit for anything, Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld should be on trial for starting a war based on lies, war profiteering, (remember Halliburton), and destroying the economy, not to mention the thousands of lives wasted for no reason. It will take decades to undo the damage that the Bush administration created

- Bush had no interest in capturing or killing Bin Laden , Hyping up the war with lies and torture, prosecute instead of giving credit to this oil for blood hypocrite ....

The comments shown above are those of some ordinary American's who apparently are not convinced.

WE'RE SO LUCKY TO HAVE SUCH A SMART, CALM, QUIETLY GRACIOUS AND COMPETENT PRESIDENT

"One of the gutsiest calls of any president in recent memory."

U.S. Counter-terrorism Adviser John Brennan

I congratulate the President, the National Security team and the members of our armed forces on bringing Osama bin Laden to justice after more than a decade of murderous al-Qaida attacks."

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton

"I commend the President and his team, as well as our men and women in uniform and our intelligence professionals, for this superb achievement."

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.)

"This is terrific news for freedom and justice... I want to congratulate America's armed forces and President Obama for a job well done."

Tim Pawlenty

"Congratulations to President Obama and his National Security Team for the capture and killing of the world's most dangerous and evil criminal mastermind, Osama bin Laden."

Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.)

"I admire the courage of the president to make a decision like this because if something had gone wrong everyone would be blaming him."

Rudy Giuliani

“The administration clearly deserves credit for the success of the operation.”

Former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney

I thank President Obama and members of the national security team for the leadership demonstrated in conducting the operation that resulted in the death of one of world's most sought-after terrorists, Osama Bin Laden.

Vincent Gray, Mayor of Washington D.C.

JUSTICE AND ABSOLUTE JUBILATION

"Tonight, we are once again reminded that America can do whatever we set our mind to."

“Today’s achievement is a testament to the greatness of our country, and the determination of the American people.”

Barack Obama

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

President Obama announces to the nation and the world that Osama bin Laden was killed in a firefight during an operation he ordered inside Pakistan, ending a 10-year manhunt.

INDIANA'S REPUBLICAN GOVERNOR WANTS TO RUN FOR PRESIDENT - SO THE WOMEN OF INDIANA WILL JUST HAVE TO SUFFER

Gov. Mitch Daniels of Indiana said Friday that he would sign a bill cutting off Medicaid financing for Planned Parenthood.

So much for his recent previous statements indicating his preference for setting aside social issues to concentrate on the serious issues facing the nation. Daniels's announcement is widely viewed as a bid to curry favor among social conservatives in preparation for a run at the Republican nomination.

“Clearly, Governor Daniels would rather play politics with women’s health than show leadership and fiscal responsibility in rejecting a bill that will ultimately cost the state millions in federal funding,” said Cecile Richards, president of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund.

The decision would leave thousands of poor residents of Indiana, who use Planned Parenthood’s 28 health facilities in the state, with nowhere to go for a range of women’s services, from breast cancer screening to birth control.

Republican state senator — Sen. Vaneta Becker — actually noted an all-too-common hypocrisy in Republican anti-choice efforts:

Sen. Vaneta Becker, R-Evansville, said she didn’t understand why legislators would take a step of reducing women’s access to health service at [the same time] the state is cutting funding toward programs for mentally disabled children.

“If we are so concerned about pregnancy before children are born, why are we not as concerned after children are born?” Becker said.

In a recent interview, Becker said that a lot of people share her view but are too intimidated by the political climate to voice their opposition. Noting the state and federal laws already banning abortion funding, she said the bill “is an attempt to politicize the issue.” In doing so, Republicans will deny thousands of Hoosier woman access to vital health services, she said.

"The government funding in question is about prevention. None of it supports abortion. Not a penny.  It pays for basic health care services such as Pap tests that screen for cancer, breast exams, STD testing and treatment and birth control. If Planned Parenthood of Indiana were not here for the more than 23,000 currently served through the funding, the outcomes would be tragic – more unintended pregnancies (and most assuredly more abortions) and more disease. Women trust us. Simply put, we do it better and for less, and we have the capacity and skill to see more patients than any other provider. There is a reason we have been around for nearly 80 years – we are good at caring for women and men in a respectful, private, affordable manner."

Betty Cockrum

President and CEO

Planned Parenthood of Indiana

Planned Parenthood of Indiana served the reproducti­ve healthcare needs of 85,000 men and women last year. Seventy-fo­ur percent of their patients are at or below 150% of the poverty level. You are an idiot, Governor, if you think that closing Planned Parenthood in Indiana will be beneficial to the people of Indiana or get you elected President.

What we wonder is how Governor Daniels can look himself in the mirror, his daughters and wife in the eye or sleep at night?

TRUMP THIS! THE ONLY ONE NOT LAUGHING AT "THE DONALD" IS THE "THE DONALD"

"Donald Trump often talks about running as a Republican, which is surprising, I just assumed he was running as a joke."
—Seth Meyers

Donald Trump, eviscerated by President Obama and Seth Meyers......





"Just the fact that some geniuses were laughed at does not imply that all who are laughed at are geniuses. They laughed at Columbus, they laughed at Fulton, the laughed at the Wright brothers. But they also laughed at Bozo the Clown."

—Carl Sagan

Thank you for playing our game Bozo... err... Donald. We have some parting gifts for you on your way out, which surely, you are.

KEMP HANNON BREAKS HIS PLEDGE TO VOTERS

New York State Senator Kemp Hannon has broken his pledge to his constituents. That didn't take long.

During his 2010 reelection campaign Senator Hannon made a pledge VIEW HIS PLEDGE to his constituents and to the people of New York State to support and vote for independent redistricting when he signed the Ed Koch led New York Uprising's pledge of support. Click here: YouTube - Throw the Bums Out! - New York Uprising

REPUBLICANS USE DECEIT TO SCUTTLE INDEPENDENT REDISTRICTING

Apparently, Mr. Hannon's word is meaningless. The senator has refused to support the legislation put forth by Gov. Cuomo which would establish an independent redistricting commission. In fact, despite signing written pledges of support, nearly the entire Republican conference in the Senate, including all 9 Republicans from Long Island are now standing in the way of independent redistricting. NY Uprising: Heroes/Enemies

Mr. Hannon, your actions are shameful and dishonorable. There is no excuse. There is a reason, but no excuse. The reason is that it is just such partisanship that has kept you in Albany for almost 40 years. The reason is you care more about getting reelected than what is good for the people of the 6th District and The State of New York.

Unfortunately, we are not surprised.

Mr. Hannon, we your constituents, call upon you to honor your pledge and immediately vote in favor of independent redistricting in time for the next redrawing of New York's districts.

We call upon you to honor your word to us in the 6th district and to the people in New York State.

We call upon you to surprise us and do the right thing.

- Click here to listen to Ed Koch's message to voters  YouTube - Ed Koch sample robo-call (Skelos District)

TELL KEMP HANNON TO DO THE RIGHT THING BY HONORING HIS WORD.

Write to Senator Hannon at hannon@senate.state.ny.us and tell him personally that it is important to you that he votes for independent redistricting. You can use the sample wording below or write your own words.

RE: Redistricting: S-2543/660

Dear Senator Kemp Hannon,

Two bills have been introduced that would bring true, independent, non-partisan redistricting to New York: Bill # S-2543 & S-660.

As a voter in your district, I am now counting on you to keep your word and uphold the New York Uprising pledge you signed last year - and add your name as a co-sponsor of these bills.

I understand that you face a myriad of priorities.  Redistricting, however, is one that requires immediate action.  As you know, the new lines must be in place in time for the 2012 elections, and the commission must have adequate time to complete its work.

These bills do not break new ground.  They build on what was introduced in prior sessions, and the revisions, amendments, compromises, and full vetting that transpired.  They are ready to pass, and they must.

Last year, I counted on you as a "Hero of Reform" to champion this cause.  Please don't let me down.

Sincerely,

[YOUR NAME]
[VOTING ADDRESS]

Ed Koch has designated the following New York State Legislators as DISHONORABLE ENEMIES OF REFORM for failing to live up to their written pledge. Please write to them and tell them how you feel:

DISHONOR ROLL

ASSEMBLY

• Al Graf, AD 5 - contact him
• Joseph Saladino, AD 12 - contact him
• Michael Montesano, AD 15 - contact him
• Thomas McKevitt, AD 17 - contact him
• David McDonough, AD 19 - contact him
• Edward Ra, AD 21 - contact him
• Bill Scarborough, AD 29 - contact him
• Ken Blankenbush, AD 122 - contact him
• Christopher Friend, AD 137 - contact him
• Andrew Goodell, AD 150 - contact him

SENATE

• Ken LaValle, SD 1 - contact him
• John Flanagan, SD 2 - contact him
• Lee Zeldin, SD 3 - contact him
• Owen Johnson, SD 4 - contact him
• Carl Marcellino, SD 5 - contact him
• Kemp Hannon, SD 6 - contact him
• Jack Martins, SD 7 - contact him
• Chuck Fuschillo, SD 8 - contact him
• Dean Skelos, SD 9 - contact him
• Marty Golden, SD 22 - contact him
• Andrew Lanza, SD 24 - contact him
• Bill Larkin, SD 39 - contact him
• Greg Ball, SD 40 - contact him
• Stephen Saland, SD 41 - contact him
• Roy McDonald, SD 43 - contact him
• Hugh Farley, SD 44 - contact him
• Betty Little, SD 45 - contact her
• Joe Griffo, SD 47 - contact him
• Patty Ritchie, SD 48 - contact her
• John DeFrancisco, SD 50 - contact him
• James Seward, SD 51 - contact him
• Tom Libous, SD 52 - contact him
• Tom O'Mara, SD 53 - contact him
• Michael Nozzolio, SD 54 - contact him
• James Alesi, SD 55 - contact him
• Joe Robach, SD 56 - contact him
• Cathy Young, SD 57 - contact her
• Patrick Gallivan, SD 59 - contact him
• Mark Grisanti, SD 60 - contact him
• Michael Ranzenhofer, SD 61 - contact him
• George Maziarz, SD 62 - contact him

IS THIS THE AMERICA WE WANT?

Matt Nager for The New York Times

Toxic Chemicals Were Injected Into Wells

By IAN URBINA 7:41 PM ET 

Oil and gas companies put hundreds of millions on gallons of hazardous or carcinogenic chemicals into wells during a drilling process known as hydraulic fracturing or hydrofracking, according to a Congressional study.

In the past month, the nation’s focus has been on the budget battle in Washington, where Republicans in Congress aligned with the Tea Party have fought hard for rollbacks to the Environmental Protection Agency, clean air and water regulations, renewable energy and other conservation programs.

At State Level, G.O.P. Seeks Big Environmental Cutbacks - NYTimes.com

When Republicans wrested control across the country last November, they made clear that reducing all government was important, but that cutting environmental regulations was a particular priority.

What is wrong with these people? Don't they breath the same air and drink the same water as the rest of us? What kind of people put the interests of business and the pursuit of profit over the health of our environment and people?

In the Republican version of America toxic waste sites would be a much more common occurrence than they are today. In the Republican version of America, not only would such sites be created in wider areas and much more frequently, there would be no money to clean them up. In the Republican version of America many areas of the country would be poisoned and unlivable for decade upon decade in the misguided pursuit of profit.

The Republicans say their quest to eviscerate the EPA is all about freeing business so that they can create jobs. So, poisoning our air and water, this is the big Republican jobs program? This is the only way they know how to create jobs by allowing industry to dump who knows what into our rivers and lakes and to spew toxins into our air? 

This is America, the land of innovation and technical prowess. I am confident there is a better way. Toxic air and fouled water should not and can not be the price of prosperity. It is much too high a price and one that we can not afford.

Under the Republican version of America, the long term health of our environment is to be sacrificed for short term profit. It is clear that profit and not jobs are the real reason Republicans want to eliminate the Environmental Protection Agency. If it was jobs they were after they would have produced them long ago.

Recently, I was in a meeting where many members of a nearby community learned that their community was among the newest federal super fund sites, the result of years of unregulated discharge of toxic chemicals into the ground by private industry, into their ground. Clearly, the people there were not happy, concerned both for their health and the health of their children as well as their property values.

The obvious concern of the community could be measured in the number of questions asked of the local water commissioner and the seriousness of those questions.

On my way out, I asked the person I was with if they thought that this community generally voted Democratic or Republican.  We both agreed that the answer was generally Republican. I wonder what they would say if they knew that the people they were voting for all these years were in favor of doing away with protecting their ground, air and water. After all, who in their right mind would vote for people who want to poison them?

It is time for these people and the people of the United States to wake up. Republicans are not ever on the side of the people. Pick a subject, given the choice, they choose the interests of business and profit over people every time!

Is this the kind of America we want to live in?

DO WE REALLY WANT TO GIVE GUYS LIKE THIS ANOTHER TAX CUT? REPUBLICANS DO!

News Item: Morgan Stanley CEO Gets Pay Worth $15.2 Million.

Didn't we just bail these guys out?

Click here: In Financial Crisis, No Prosecutions of Top Figures - NYTimes.com

“The proposed Republican budget contains a trillion dollars of tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires, while asking for sacrifice from those who can least afford it and don’t have any clout on Capitol Hill.”

Actually the Ryan plan calls for $2.9 trillion in tax cuts, but who's counting?

Working and middle class Americans need to wake up to the fact that the Republican right wing is not on your side. They never have been and they never will be. You don't make enough money for them to care.

How the Republicans ever get any of you to vote for them is a marvel. They give the ultra wealthy tax cut upon tax cut while they get you to pay the taxes, if you can find a job somewhere in this mess they created, and they get you to vote for them as well so that they can continue their assault upon you. It is an amazing phenomenon. Its enough to leave every one of you who voted Republican shaking your head wondering what just happened to me?

Wake up and pay attention, you were sleeping.

NOT WHILE I'M PRESIDENT

"Not while I'm President"

Has he finally grown a pair? 

I liked The President's speech yesterday on the debt very much. He has drawn a stark distinction between two vastly different visions for America and a line in the sand when it comes to Medicare, Social Security and the Bush Tax cuts for the very wealthiest Americans. Now, for the sake of our country, for what it can and should be, he needs to show some backbone and call their bluff.

If Republicans and tea partiers want to shut down the government or have the United States of America default on its debt (unthinkable) in blind pursuit of their radical agenda it is not something that the American people will soon forget in the many Novembers to come. It is not something the world will forget. It would be a catastrophic event that would make Fukushima look simple.

I am convinced that theirs is a house of cards and as such will all come tumbling down around them. My concern is that all of us are not injured by the debris.

HOW TO FIX CONGRESS

Congressional Reform Act of 2011

1. Term Limits.

  12 years only, one of the possible options below:

  A. Two Six-year Senate terms

  B. Six Two-year House terms

  C. One Six-year Senate term and three Two-Year House terms

2.  No Tenure / No Pension.

A Congressman collects a salary while in office and receives no pay when they are out of office.

3.  Congress (past, present & future) participates in  Social Security.

All funds in the Congressional retirement fund move to the Social Security system immediately.  All future funds flow into the Social Security system, and Congress participates with the American people.

4. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan, just as all Americans do.

5. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise.  Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%.

6. Congress loses their current health care system and participates in the same health care system as the American people.

7. Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on the American people.

8. All contracts with past and present Congressmen are void effective 1/1/12.

The American people did not make this contract with Congressmen.  Congressmen made all these contracts for themselves. 

Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career.  The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, so ours should serve their term(s), then go home and back to work. 

It is time to fix congress and this is how you do it.

If you agree, tell your friends and make your voice heard by leaving a comment to this post saying so. Write your Congressmen and Senators and tell them how you feel.

It is time.

THE BIGGEST CON SINCE "THE STING"

Representative Mick Mulvaney, a first-term Republican from South Carolina who, laughably, recently said this about the debt, the Democrats and Republican willingness to vote to raise the national debt ceiling; “It’s their debt,” he said. “Make them do it. That’s my attitude.”

He is delusional or seriously uninformed.

Currently the US National Debt is nearly $14.2 trillion.


* The growth of the gross public debt closely matched the rate of inflation where it tripled in size from $260 billion in 1950 to around $909 billion in 1980. That's 30 years.


* From 1980 - 1988, under two terms of Ronald Reagan's leadership, the total federal debt nearly tripled.


* Gross debt in nominal dollars quadrupled during the Reagan and Bush presidencies from 1980 to 1992. The net public debt quintupled in nominal terms.

* During the past decade when Republicans controlled the White House and Congress, unfunded tax cuts for the ultra wealthy, an unfunded Medicare prescription-drug benefit and unfunded wars in Iraq and Afghanistan accounted for more than $3.2 trillion in new debt.


* The recession, brought on by Republican economic policies, cost more than $800 billion in lost revenues from businesses and individuals and in automatic spending for safety-net programs like unemployment compensation.

* In order to pull the nation's economy out of the nearly catastrophic state left by his predecessor, President Obama had to provide economic stimulus spending and tax cuts aimed at the middle class but included the wealthy (the Republican pound of flesh), which added about $600 billion through the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30. Money that went to keep Police on the streets, firehouses open, teachers in their classrooms, hospitals from closing. Money went toward keeping people employed and paying taxes and supporting local businesses.


All of this is in direct contrast to the (borrowed) money spent by Republicans when they were in power, who spent a great deal of it on tax cuts for the very wealthiest people and corporations in this country. All backed by the big Republican lie that such tax cuts will create jobs for the little people. Problem is, that has not and has never worked, anywhere, ever.

Either Republicans are delusional or they are smart as foxes. Either they really believe the crap that they spew (and on social issues they probably do) and are in fact delusional or they are lying and they are attempting to pull off the biggest con since The Sting.


Hold on to your wallets!

TAXES? WE DON'T HAVE TO PAY NO STINKIN' TAXES

"We don't pay taxes. Only the little people pay taxes...", 

Leona Helmsley

Ponder these facts:

General Electric, the nation’s largest corporation reported worldwide profits of $14.2 billion, and said $5.1 billion of the total came from its operations in the United States.

General Electric paid zero U.S. corporate taxes in 2010. In fact, G.E. claimed a tax benefit of $3.2 billion.

While the financial crisis led G.E. to post a loss in the United States in 2009, regulatory filings show that in the last five years, G.E. has accumulated $26 billion in American profits, and received a net tax benefit from the I.R.S. of $4.1 billion.


While General Electric is the largest example of corporate tax skating, it certainly is not the only one. How can Republicans ask the working men and women of the country to pay their fair share when the big boys don't?

And still its not enough. In the face of massive budget deficits, states will bankrupt themselves in order to heap tax break upon tax break on big business in the hope that they will create a few jobs in the process. Businesses, who could well afford to pay their fair share of taxes, instead pay no taxes. In fact, US business has never had a better year in terms of corporate profits. This year has seen record profits for Americans businesses which means they are world records. Which means profits have never been higher in the history of mankind. These are the same corporations who will cut or outsource jobs in a heartbeat, the jobs of American working people who actually do pay taxes. Taxes that support the infrastructure that allows these corporations to function.  These corporations can afford to pay their fair share of taxes.

You see Republicans like to spend money just as much as Democrats. The difference is, Democrats want to spend it on teachers and education for our children, roads & infrastructure and investments in advancing cutting edge science and technology and support for our seniors and veterans and hospitals and health care, things that matter most to everyday Americans. Republicans on the other hand want to spend it on tax cuts for the wealthiest individuals and businesses the world has ever known. It's the same billions of dollars its just how you want to spend it. That much is clear.

To the working men and women of this country I say, how's that working for you?

How the Republicans ever get any of you to vote for them is a marvel to me. It just leaves me shaking my head. They get you to pay the taxes, if you can find a job somewhere in this mess they created, and they get you to vote for them as well so that they can continue their assault upon you. It is an amazing phenomenon.

What is it, do the Republicans have pictures of you with animals?

Lets hope that Americans wise up before its too late. The Canadians, who apparently know bullshit when they step in it, have.

THE RIGHT WING AT WAR WITH AMERICA

So its tax breaks for millionaires and austerity and budget cuts for programs that support the working and middle class. That my friends is the republican vision of America.

The right wing had no problem bailing out Wall Street millionaires and America's wealthiest bankers. Republicans had no problem holding unemployment benefits hostage until they obtained a ransom in the form of a tax breaks for the wealthiest 2% of Americans but when it comes to the rights of average American working folks, the hard working, real everyday people who built this country, who are the very backbone of it...well the right wing's answer is let them eat cake. To be sure, these people, America's working & middle class, go to work everyday and are in no way asking for a bailout or handout. They simply want to maintain their right to collectively bargain. It's as American as apple pie.

In the face of all of this, how these right wingers ever get anyone who works for a living to vote for them, especially if they wear a blue collar is baffling. Perhaps what is happening in Wisconsin will finally wake up working and middle class Americans everywhere to the fact that the republican right wing is not on your side. They never have been and they never will be. You don't make enough money for them to care.

Take a look at the video and tell me after watching it if you think that the right wing can win a war waged on television against the heart of America? I don't think the visuals favor the right wingers.



Make no mistake the right wing is at war with America and America needs to fight back.

Should this bill stripping public employees of the right to collectively bargain pass, in the short term these workers should shut it down. Just shut the state down for a week to remind the governor and those who support him how important these people and the work that they do are. In the longer term and more importantly they should look to organize politically and change the legislature and the governor to those who would value and support the working and middle class and not look to balance the budget on their backs.

Failing that, the large whooshing sound you should hear, if they had any sense and dignity at all, would be the sound of thousands of Wisconsin's professional public employees, firefighters, police, teachers, nurses, sanitation Workers, transit workers, prison workers among them leaving the state to find employment where their talents and their rights are more fully respected.

TITANIC WASTE A FRAUD PERPETUATED

"A Pentagon study in January found that it had paid $285 billion in three years to more than 120 contractors accused of fraud or wrongdoing." (NY Times 02/18/11)

This is but one story and just the tip of the iceberg. We must cut the fraud, waste and abuse of taxpayer money before we cut vital services to the American people.

The Republican led house is making a big deal these days about its desire to cut $60 billion from the upcoming budget. These cuts (some legitimate, many not and some, as with the proposed defunding of Planned Parenthood, solely ideologically and politically motivated) would not need to be so draconian were we able to stop the fraud, waste and abuse.

In budget debates around the country we are told over and over again that we have no money for the things that we really need. Its a bitter pill to swallow when the evidence shows that seemingly, we have plenty of money for things that we really don't need, don't work, or worse, don't exist. Government Tries to Keep Secret What Many Consider a Fraud - NYTimes.com

Perhaps Congress and the various State Legislatures around the nation who are crying poverty and swimming in debt should become serious about cutting the unconscionable fraud, waste and abuse of taxpayer money before they look to cut the legs out from under hard working every day Americans by cutting or eliminating legitimate and much needed programs, services and protections that governments provide. The people responsible need to be held to account and those guilty of defrauding the taxpayers need to make restitution and go to jail.

Only then, will lawmakers be able to look the people in the eye with a straight face and say we have no money for those things which are really needed. To do otherwise is simply a fraud and perpetuates the abuse of the American taxpayer.