WHAT IS WRONG WITH THESE PEOPLE?

During the Republican National Convention, water guns will be strictly prohibited. Concealed handguns however, will be perfectly legal.

What is wrong with these people?

INSANITY!

CONGRESSIONAL REPUBLICANS OUT OF TOUCH WITH THE AMERICAN PEOPLE

Senate Republicans voted on Monday to block consideration of the Buffet Rule which would ensure that billionaires pay more in taxes than their secretaries and other average working class Americans.

A CNN poll released on the very same day showed that 72% of Americans support the measure, including 53% of Republicans. This, coming on the heels of a Gallop poll released last week which showed that 63% of independent voters are in favor of the Buffet Rule.

In the face of such broad bipartisan support among the American people, Republicans would not even allow the Senate to debate the rule let alone vote on it.

Clearly, congressional Republicans are out of touch with the American people including a majority of voters in their own party.

In November they will no longer be out of touch, they will just be out.

GUNS KILL PEOPLE - DON'T LET THEM TELL YOU OTHERWISE!

One school shooting after another, it's endless. Yet, Republicans across this country keep passing laws that not only make it easier to get guns but to specifically require them to be permitted to be carried on school grounds including, in many instances, kindergartens and nursery schools. What is wrong with these people? What is wrong with the people who keep electing them?

MITT - ETCH-A-SKETCHY - ROMNEY LIES REPEATEDLY

Rachel Maddow Illustrates

THE ROAD WE'VE TRAVELED

IT'S ENOUGH!

SINCE WHEN IS RUSH LIMBAUGH THE VOICE OF MORAL AUTHORITY?

When did a 3 divorce, 4th wife, drug addled, overweight, sewer mouth who had to resign from ESPN over racist remarks, become the voice of moral authority in this country or anywhere for that matter?

The nerve of this guy to continually spout vile hate speech over the public airwaves to millions of Americans and the nerve of Disney, to air it.

It is enough! This guy could very well be attacking your daughter or sister or wife or mother.

It is time for women and all good people of conscience to once again rise up  and say IT'S ENOUGH!

It's time to tell Disney, & ABC  and any company who supports that show that we have had enough and will not be doing business with them!

How about you America? Are your daughters, sisters, wives and mothers, sluts and prostitutes as Mr. Limbaugh alleges or have you had enough?

  
Mad as Hell? We'll Don't Take It Anymore!

ONLY A CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT CAN WIPE AWAY THE MOST DISGUSTING DAY IN US POLITICAL HISTORY

Today is indeed a disgusting day, for it was on January 21st 2010 that a bitterly divided Supreme Court, in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, vastly increased the power of big business and labor unions to influence government decisions by freeing them to spend their millions directly to sway elections for president and Congress.

IN ORDER TO SAVE OUR DEMOCRACY WE NEED A CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT TO OUTLAW UNLIMITED CORPORATE AND ANONYMOUS MONEY FROM BEING SPENT ON POLITICAL CAMPAIGNS AND WE NEED IT NOW!

WHY?

The question is why? Why do so many Americans vote for a party that is so obviously out to hurt them? 

How can anyone who is either middle or working class and not part of the 1%, which is really the only segment of the population that Republicans care about,  ever vote Republican? 

Are American's that stupid?

THE WISDOM OF JUSTICE WILLIAM O. DOUGLAS

The great and invigorating influences in American life have been the unorthodox: the people who challenge an existing institution or way of life, or say and do things that make people think.
William O. Douglas

The way to combat noxious ideas is with other ideas. The way to combat falsehoods is with truth.
William O. Douglas

We are rapidly entering the age of no privacy, where everyone is open to surveillance at all times; where there are no secrets from government.
William O. Douglas, Dissenting, Osborn V. Unites States

EVEN RONALD REAGAN COMPROMISED

HEADLINE: DEMOCRATS SEEK UP TO $3 TRILLION SAVINGS

HEADLINE: REPUBLICANS BACK TAX CUTS AND CORPORATE BREAKS

The Democrats put a serious debt reduction plan on the table that both cuts entitlement spending and increases taxes on the wealthy.

The Republicans call for more tax cuts?

In the face of massive deficits and debt, is that a serious proposal? You want to double down on much of what got us here in the first place?

Democrats are ready to compromise for the good of the country. When have Republicans ever been ready to do that? When will they?

Our country faces serious issues and needs to move forward and deal with stimulating the economy and creating jobs while at the same time dealing with our debt. If there ever was a time to step up for America, now would be it.

The strength of America and our ability to project power across the globe is directly tied to our economic engine and right now it is clear that we need both increased revenue and some measure of entitlement reform to restore our strength. 

Those who refuse to compromise for America should be shown the door.

THANK YOU HALEY BARBOUR & RICK PERRY

In case you have not been paying attention, here is a preview of the America that the right wing wants to bring to you. The facts on the ground are:

• Mississippi is among the states with the worst education systems
• The poverty rate is 21% in Mississippi. 
• Mississippi. has the lowest median income at $36,850. of any state in the union. 
• Mississippi is among the states with the highest obesity levels, 
• Mississippi's 10.4% unemployment ranks 6th highest out of the 50 states
• Mississippi has the third highest percentage in the country of people without health insurance coverage at 24% (Texas is #1 at roughly 27%).

The state is an economic black hole, it has been for some time and it shows in the way people suffer there. And, as is true with black holes, it is nearly impossible for the residents of Mississippi to escape their difficult financial situations. It is evident that the government has no interest in providing the means necessary to give their people a leg up.

In Governor Haley Barbour, former chairman of the Republican National Committee, you have a rock solid, scarlet red, proponent of all that is right wing Republicanism. In fact, he had a notion that he could be elected president of the United States. It did not work out in spite of his sterling record of accomplishment in Mississippi.


While we're at it, we might as well thank Texas Governor Rick Perry as well. Perry, who also wants to be president, touts his economic accomplishments in Texas. Here are some of them:

• 18.4% of Texans live in poverty, which is above the national average.
• 25% of Texas children live in poverty. 
• 27% of Texans do not have health insurance.
• Texas has the highest percentage of minimum wage jobs in the nation.
• The average family income in Texas is $2,000. below the national average.

With such a brilliant economic record it is a wonder there are any challengers at all.


In any event, Governors Barbour and Perry we want to thank you, for there can be no greater example of the America that right wing Republicans would have us live in. A place where education is not valued. In a world where high paying jobs require ever greater levels of education and technical expertise, it is a place where it's people, uneducated, are condemned to a life of poverty. A place where when you or your children get sick, you have to decide between medicine and food because you do not have health insurance and the access to quality health care that it provides.


Wake up soon America or you will wake up to a right wing world and from the looks of it, its not nice place to live and that ain't right!

                     THANK YOU GOVERNORS

t

TODAY IS A DAY OF SADNESS, DETERMINATION AND HONOR

Today is a day to remember, a day to honor the fallen, a day to honor America, the greatest country on earth.

* -----> LISTEN TO WHITNEY HOUSTON SING OUR NATIONAL ANTHEM - IT WILL GIVE YOU THE HILLS


On this day when we take time to honor and remember those lost on 9/11, we as a nation should also take pains to remember the spirit of community and the outpouring of patriotism that flowed from Americans of every walk of life and every corner of the political spectrum in the aftermath of that terrible day.

Republicans or Democrats, we are all proud Americans. On that day, and in the days that followed, we came together as Americans. It felt good.

We saw so much of the best of ourselves come out that day and in the days that followed, with strangers helping strangers and many courageous acts,  We remembered something more important than ourselves, and that was the community to which we belonged. It was as it should always be, but is not.

Over the past 10 years we have lost that unity and that sense that we as Americans are all in this together. Standing in stark contrast are the pronouncements of congressional Republican's who define their number one priority as making sure that the President of the United States fails. They have spent almost every waking moment trying to make that happen. The problem with that strategy is that it is a statergy that facillitates the failure of our nation. It is unpatriotic and it needs to stop.

Yes, it is time once again to remember and to never forget that we are all Americans, with common purpose and that we need to work together for the common good of our country.

The basis of our strength as a nation can be found in the words E Pluribus Unum which means, out of many, one. Once again, we need to find the strength to come together for the good of our country. It is unfortunate that so many of our leaders and our people have forgotten the simple lesson of 9/11 which is that no force on earth can defeat a united America.

Today of all days, let us remember that.
Editor's note - This was originally published on 09/11/11

BERNIE SANDERS HAS IT RIGHT AND AT LEAST 70% OF AMERICANS AGREE WITH HIM

The rich are getting richer. Their effective tax rate, in recent years, has been reduced to the lowest in modern history. Nurses, teachers and firemen actually pay a higher tax rate than some billionaires. It's no wonder the American people are angry.

Many corporations, including General Electric and Exxon-Mobil, have made billions in profits while using loopholes to avoid paying any federal income taxes. We lose $100 billion every year in federal revenue from companies and individuals who stash their wealth in tax havens off-shore like the Cayman Islands and Bermuda. The sum of all the revenue collected by the Treasury today totals just 14.8% of our gross domestic product, the lowest in about 50 years.

In the midst of this, Republicans in Congress have been fanatically determined to protect the interests of the wealthy and large multinational corporations so that they do not contribute a single penny toward deficit reduction.

If the Republicans have their way, the entire burden of deficit reduction will be placed on the elderly, the sick, children and working families. In the midst of a horrendous recession that is already causing severe pain for average Americans, this approach is morally grotesque. It's also bad economic policy.

President Obama and the Democrats have been extremely weak in opposing these right-wing extremist proposals. Although the United States now has the most unequal distribution of wealth and income of any major industrialized country, Democrats have not succeeded in getting any new revenue from those at the top of the economic ladder to reduce the deficit.

Instead, they've handed the wealthy even more tax breaks. In December, the House and the Senate extended President George W. Bush's tax cuts for the rich and lowered estate tax rates for the wealthiest Americans. In April, to avoid the Republican effort to shut down the government, they allowed $38.5 billion in cuts to vitally important programs for working-class and middle-class Americans.

Now, with the U.S. facing the possibility of the first default in our nation's history, the American people find themselves forced to choose between two congressional deficit-reduction plans. The plan by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, which calls for $2.4 trillion in cuts over a 10-year period, includes $900 billion in cuts in areas such as education, health care, nutrition, affordable housing, child care and many other programs desperately needed by working families and the most vulnerable.

The Senate plan appropriately calls for meaningful cuts in military spending and ending the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. But it does not ask the wealthiest people in this country and the largest corporations to make any sacrifice.

The Reid plan is bad. The constantly shifting plan by House Speaker John Boehner is much worse. His $1.2 trillion plan calls for no cuts in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and it requires a congressional committee to come up with another $1.8 trillion in cuts within six months of passage.

Those cuts would mean drastic reductions in Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. What's more, Mr. Boehner's plan would reopen the debate over the debt ceiling, which is now paralyzing Congress, just six months from now.

While all of this is going on in Washington, the American people have consistently stated, in poll after poll, that they want wealthy individuals and large corporations to pay their fair share of taxes. They also want bedrock social programs like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid to be protected. For example, a July 14-17 Washington Post/ABC News poll found that 72% of Americans believe that Americans earning more than $250,000 a year should pay more in taxes.

In other words, Congress is now on a path to do exactly what the American people don't want. Americans want shared sacrifice in deficit reduction. Congress is on track to give them the exact opposite: major cuts in the most important programs that the middle class needs and wants, and no sacrifice from the wealthy and the powerful.

Is it any wonder, therefore, that the American people are so angry with what's going on in Washington? I am too.


Mr. Sanders, an independent U.S. senator from Vermont, is a member of the Senate Budget Committee and the longest serving independent in congressional history.

THEY SAY AMERICANS HAVE A SHORT MEMORY... LETS HOPE NOT

It is hard to forget who wants to maintain outrageous tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires and the wealthiest corporations in the history of mankind at the expense of our middle class and our seniors and the education of our children, all while peddling the lie that such tax breaks create jobs. They never have and they never will. It is hard to forget who said that goal #1 is to make Obama a one term president rather than moving the country forward.

What should not be forgotten is how we got here. It did not just happen and both parties are not equally at fault. Forgetting would only legitimize and whitewash the reckless Republican spending which is what got us into the mess we find ourselves in today. Namely; unconscionable, unfunded tax cuts for the wealthiest 2% of Americans, two unfunded wars one of which was unnecessary and implementation of an unfunded drug plan for Medicare recipients. That in a nutshell is Republican economics, more spending and less revenue and they have the nerve to rail against reckless spending. What is hard to forget is what phony hypocrites these people are.

So yes, spending needs to be cut, but before we cut a dime of spending on programs that support our seniors and the middle class, spending should be reduced on tax cuts for the wealthiest 2% among us.

What is not hard to forget is who has the best interests of the country at heart and who will do anything to regain the White House. The evidence is clear. Hopefully Americans have a long memory.

NASSAU COLISEUM BOND ISSUE - VOTE NO

If you care about Nassau County, VOTE NO!

Nassau County is currently in a $53 Million budget hole and its finances are being controlled by NIFA a state  financial watchdog. The absolute last thing we need is another $400 Million of long term debt piled onto the backs of the hard working, over taxed residents of the county, especially at a time when the county is cutting important services left and right.

In order for taxpayers to be paid back the entire $400 million as promised today, one has to be willing to believe that the new arena will magically generate more than $13 million in PROFITS every year for the next 30 years when Wang admits that he currently loses “millions” each year. How exactly are they going to do that with an aging population and shrinking economic base? Young people are leaving the island in droves due to the high cost of living, scarcity of reasonably-priced housing, and lack of jobs outside of the low-wage retail services sector.

Economists have proven that taxpayers NEVER get the promised return on investment for publicly-financed sports stadiums. Let Mr. Wang put up his own money and bear the risk if the Islanders are such a good bet or take his team elsewhere.

Mr. Wang should pay for a new building with his own money. Oh wait, he can't because in this economic environment he either does not have the cash, does not want to incur the risk or he can't secure the necessary  private financing. No wonder he has turned to the county. The problem is, the county's pockets are empty.

Well then, I suppose he can always seek public financing elsewhere being that there are so many states and localities out there who would jump at the chance to incur another $400 Million of long term debt. Oh wait, local and state governments across the nation are massively cutting back on spending as they are more or less broke as well.

Despite Mr. Wang's threats, he is not going anywhere, anytime soon. Where would he go?

Yes the project would generate some short term jobs but only at the cost of more long term debt for the county. The math here as is indeed fuzzy, and intentionally so. Mr Wang as he has so often in the past and Mr. Mangano are trying to pull a fast one. The theme song for the taxpayers of Nassau County should be "Won't Get Fooled Again."

YANKEE PRIDE

Congratulations to Derek Jeter - 3000 hits!

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.