NEW YORK DOES THE RIGHT THING!

"The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice." -

Tonight New Yorkers can be proud, they have thrown their considerable weight into bending that arc a long way in the direction of justice.

More than most people, New Yorkers have generally embraced the notion that individual religious/moral beliefs should never be permitted to restrict the human and civil rights of other people.

Equality is...well just that, equality. In a country that was founded on the principle that everyone is equal under the law, it is shameful that such egregious inequality continues to exist in all but 6 states. Indeed New Yorkers can be very proud to be among them.

Congratulations are in order to Governor Cuomo who made the issue of equality a top priority. I have a feeling it is a position that will pay dividends in future years.

Shame on Long Island's nine Republican senators. Could it be that not one among them recognized that this was indeed the right thing to do? Not one among them had the courage to do the right thing. They have brought shame upon themselves and the people who support them. One hundred and fifty years from now those who voted against this bill and justice, will be viewed in much the same way as those who voted in favor of slavery one hundred fifty years ago.

To the four Republican senators who voted in favor of equality, your votes are indeed profiles in courage. Let them be a shining example to the rest of the nation in how to put politics aside and do the right thing, simply because it is the right thing.

Congratulations New York, you have done the right thing!

CAMP ECHO LARK 2011 REUNION

I had a wide smile on my face as soon as I turned onto the road leading into camp. I had a smile in my heart the entire weekend and I had a tear in my eye as I was leaving. What more can you ask for?

 

It was a wonderful and important weekend. Echo Lark represented the unlimited potential in all of us. All of us felt that again this weekend where the distance of time melted away and for a brief time, once again, the world outside of camp ceased to exist and was replaced by a welcoming, warm and loving place called Echo Lark. A place of life long friendships, it will always be sacred ground.

 

Long live Echo Lark and the unlimited potential in all of us.

RESPECT FOR REPUBLICANS?

First let them vote to end taxpayer subsidies of big oil the richest corporations in the history of mankind. Then let them admit that any serious deficit reduction plan must include a yes vote to increase taxes on the uber wealthy and once and for all admit that trickle down economics is at best an empirically proven failed economic policy and at worst a hoax foisted upon the American people to fleece them.

 

Let them once do what is right for the country and the majority of the people in this country and then maybe I, in good conscience can say something positive about them.

Until then, NO DICE!

THERE ARE SO MANY THINGS OUR GOVERNMENT DOES WELL...DON'T LET THEM TELL YOU OTHERWISE

The right in their never ending quest to gut our government, consistently tries to paint it as inept. Often you will hear them ask; what program has our government undertaken that has ever been a success?

What a ridiculous question.

With Republicans in charge of our government for so many of the last 30 years it is no wonder that some might begin to feel that way. After all, it has been Republican economic policy that has nearly bankrupted our nation. It has been bankrupt Republican policies, incompetent Republican leadership and its willful neglect of our Government's proper regulatory role that has made our nation weaker and our Government appear to be incompetent. When run properly, it is not. Witness our current administration's excellent response to the recent devastating tornado damage in Alabama and contrast it with the past administration's efforts in the aftermath of Katrina.

Here, in no particular order, are just some of the things that our Government has done right and which have benefited millions of Americans:

* The opening of the west - Much of the Western US as we know it is the creation of various federal programs. Starting with government-sponsored explorations of the West in 19th century. It continued with the federal government providing money and troops for the removal of the American Indians. The government also sold public land to settlers for low prices and sometimes even gave it away. Railroads, which spurred so much growth in the West, would not have been built without massive subsidies from the federal government. Today, farming in many Western areas is made possible by federal water projects, substantial parts of the ranching industry are subsidized by the artificially low grazing fees charged on federal land, and mining is made more profitable by dirt cheap access to federal land. Cities like Los Angeles and Las Vegas would dry up and blow away without the federally funded dam and canal projects providing water to those notoriously dry regions. So it is ironic that while anti-big government sentiment is very strong in parts of this region, the West literally would not and could not exist as it does today without the sustained help of the federal government.

* Social Security and Medicare, programs which have literally kept millions of senior citizens out of the gutter. And don't tell me that Social Security is broke because it is not and would never be if we did not raid its trust fund. Oh and by the way, Medicare controls costs better than the private sector. It's administrative costs equal 2% of total program cost; Most private insurers are around 20%.

* Putting a man on the moon and all of the technological innovations that arose from that endeavor.

* The Interstate Highway System

* The Lincoln Tunnel

* Hoover Damn

* The Panama Canal

* The G.I. Bill

* Rural Electrification.

* National Institute of Health and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention

* Clean Water Act. and Clean Air Act. - Only Republicans want them weakened.

* Consumer Product Safety Commission - Only Republicans want this weakened.

* The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration which includes that National Weather Service and the National Hurricane Center

* Public Schools and Public University Systems

* World War II

* The Manhattan Project

* Antitrust Laws

* Federal Deposit Insurance

* Civil Rights Act

* The Voting Rights Act - Which Republicans are currently attempting to weaken.

* Workplace Safety (OSHA) & Workers Compensation Laws

* Finding and putting an end to Osama Bin Laden. - Tell me again why did we forget about him under the previous administration and go into Iraq?

There are so many things that government does well (who has the time?) and could do much better if only we had better and more honest leaders. It is a fallacy to say that government can't perform, especially when the right votes to starve it of funds and keep it from doing what it does.

It would be nice if Republicans were more interested in supporting and growing the backbone of our nation, our working middle class, rather than scheming new tax cuts for the ultra wealthy and worrying about the private reproductive issues of our citizens.

To my right leaning friends, we could debate this further but I fear you are at a disadvantage as the facts are not on your side. Unless you make them up, which is what they do on fixed news.

GOOD NEWS FOR AMERICA

In what is surely good news for America, the reelection of President Obama looks increasingly likely with each passing day.

* Click here: Obama Approval Rating Hits 60 Percent: Poll

*  Obama leads Huckabee by 51 percent to 39 percent, and Romney by 51 percent to 38 percent.

*  Americans back tax increases in debt fix: Reuters poll | Reuters

*  A Quinnipiac poll released last week, found that 60% of voters opposed changes to Medicare.

*  2012 Elections: Could Democrats Retake the House?

*  A May 10 CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey found that 50% of registered voters favored Democrats in a generic Congressional ballot, compared to 46% who said they planned to vote for a Republican.

Six months after suffering a shellacking in November’s midterm elections, Democrats believe they can pick up the 25 seats they need to snatch back the House. Mapping out a path to 2012 may be a fool’s errand this far out. But political momentum and the topography of the electoral landscape suggest that they have a shot at retaking the lower chamber.

So far, the 2012 Republican budget blueprint doesn't appear to include the kind of austerity most voters had in mind. Acrimonious town halls during last month’s spring recess displayed constituents’ unease over Representative Paul Ryan’s budget. And while Republicans insisted that the raucous crowds were ginned up by Democratic activists, a Quinnipiac poll released last week, which found that 60% of voters opposed changes to Medicare, was the latest to underscore the political perils brought on by Ryan’s plan. “From a political standpoint, Medicare reform is very dangerous territory,” election handicapper Charlie Cook wrote last month. “House Republicans are not just pushing the envelope — they are soaking it with lighter fluid and waving a match at it.” 

“Republicans voting to end Medicare is a defining issue of this Congress, and the American people are already rejecting it at town-hall meetings across the country,”

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?