Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Republican Goal

Republicans still have the goal to end Medicare.  Republican Rep. Steve Stivers (OH-15) held a recent telephone "town hall" with questions sent in advance of the conversation.  (Right.  He got to pick and choose those questions he wanted to answer.)  Here is what the conservative, Republican-loving Columbus Dispatch reported about Stivers:

....On Tuesday night, Stivers held a telephone "town hall" with constituents. Only one of the roughly 60 questions voters sent in was about Medicare, he said.

When talking with constituents, Stivers says the Ryan plan would keep Medicare unchanged for those 55 and older but require anyone younger to obtain coverage from a private insurer, with the government providing a subsidy to cover part of the cost of premiums.

"If we're being responsible, we've got to try to do something to cut spending in this country and preserve entitlements for the future," he said...

My mother recently passed away.  As the person who helped navigate her medical care through the complicated maze of Medicare, Medicaid Part D, medicine and therapy coverage, and other issues associated with age, and long term medical care, I cannot imagine having to deal with a voucher system for her or even myself.  The Republican plan to privatize Medicare is just another one of their tactics to make things more complicated for the elderly, while Republican contributors, like insurance companies find ways to make more money on raising premiums.

As Medicare stands today, it is working and helping our elderly family members.  The Republican plan is to cut, slice, and gut Medicare to make it virtually impossible for the elderly to benefit from the coverage. It is time for Americans to realize that Republicans want to make it more difficult as you age.  While John Boehner, Mitch McConnell, Paul Ryan, and Steve Stivers want to destroy Medicare coverage for everyone else, they will have special coverage due to their service in the U.S. House and the Senate.  The Republicans are willing to deny you coverage, while they continue to enjoy theirs.

Don't let the Republicans destroy Medicare.  Every vote for a Republican is a step closer to the demise of Medicare.

>>>>>  Sarah Palin is on a bus tour?  Hilarious.  What is she trying to do?  She won't even release the locations of her visits prior to her arrival.  Why does she continue to drag her children with her on the bus tour to nowhere?  Palin is an idiot.

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Only Wealthy "On Paper"

As Republicans, especially those tea party Republicans, return to their districts, their constituents are raising some important questions. 

RawStory:

During a recent town hall meeting, tea party favorite Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ), elected during last year’s Republican wave in the U.S. House of Representatives, told a group of constituents that he wasn’t really wealthy. 

“I ain’t wealthy,” he said, according to video of the event. “… I live just like the rest of you folks.”

His mandatory financial disclosures reveal otherwise: specifically, that Gosar’s net worth is over $2 million. He also earns a yearly salary of approximately $174,000 as a member of Congress.....

Something tells me that some constituents across the country will start questioning their members of Congress about their wealth.  Representatives cannot claim to be "just like you" if they own multiple homes, have millions of dollars invested in stocks, and live the lifestyle of the rich and famous. Face it.  If your member of Congress belongs to country clubs, drinks champagne on a regular basis, and hangs out with check-writing lobbyists, he/she is not feeling your pain.

>>>>  It appears that the Republicans are not happy with their collection of dull (Pawlenty, Huntsman), uninspiring, "do-as-I-say, not as-I-did" (Newt Gingrich), far right loons (Michelle Bachmann), Medicare-killing (Paul Ryan) candidates for President for the 2012 election.  Now, some Republicans are looking at Jeb Bush, according to a story at ABC News.

Are they freakin' kidding?  Hasn't our country suffered enough? The last thing we need is some family that thinks they are a dynasty. We're still digging out from the last Bush!!!!

Monday, May 23, 2011

Frugal Gingrich?

The latest claim by Newt Gingrich that he and his wife are frugal makes most people just laugh.  How many of you had a bill at Tiffany's for several hundred thousand dollars?

CBS News:

...It was reported on Tuesday that, according to financial disclosures filed with the Clerk of the House of Representatives in 2005 and 2006 by Gingrich's wife Callista (who was working for the House Agriculture Committee), a "revolving charge" (credit card) account at Tiffany and Co. involved debt in the range of $250,001-$500,000....

"Who buys a half-million dollars worth of jewelry on credit?" Schieffer asked. 

"No. Go talk to Tiffany's. It's a standard, no-interest account," Gingrich said... 

Bob Schieffer was right to ask, "Who buys a half-million dollars worth of jewelry on credit?" because no one in their right mind would do such a thing. 

Gingrich has had money problems earlier. In another story from CBS, Gingrich owed back taxes on his businesses.  There is even an example from 1997.  Gingrich had to borrow $300,000 from then Sen. Bob Dole to pay ethics fines (see GoogleArchive:Vindicator April 21, 1997).

Then, in this account from a 1998 Salon article, we have yet another Gingrich scandal:


...The most notorious incident in Gingrich's marriage -- first reported by David Osborne in Mother Jones magazine in 1984 -- was when he cornered Jackie in her hospital room where she was recovering from uterine cancer surgery and insisted on discussing the terms of the divorce he was seeking. 

Shortly after that infamous encounter, Gingrich refused to pay his alimony and child-support payments. The First Baptist Church in his hometown had to take up a collection to support the family Gingrich had deserted... 

Newt Gingrich is not a shining example of a role model for any American.

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Don't bother reading it.....

Jerome Corsi's book was released. The book, which supposedly says that President Obama was not eligible to be President, is in bookstores now.  Is the book in the fiction, science fiction, or fantasy section of bookstores?  Since President Obama released his long form birth certificate, only the most far out, wacko, birthers must be buying Corsi's book.  Clear-thinking, intelligent people might suggest booksellers pull the books from the shelves since the writing is based on some right wing hoax.


***  Ohio State graduates will have to suffer through a commencement speech given by Speaker of the House John Boehner.  Will there be a protest?  Will students stand and turn their backs on him as he speaks?  Will grads sit on their hands during his speech?  People want to know exactly which person picked Boehner because most students do not support his right wing, anti-diversity, anti-poor, anti-choice, anti-gay rights agenda.

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Don't Know Much About Newt?

 The twice divorced, triple married, former Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich has a habit of saying really, really, really stupid things.

Gingrich offered his opinion on why women should not be in combat, as quoted in the
New York Times (January 19, 1995):

...While teaching his history course at Reinhardt College in Georgia a couple of weeks ago, Ms. Schroeder noted, Mr. Gingrich had expressed some thoughts on the subject.

If combat means being in a ditch, he told his class, "females have biological problems staying in a ditch for 30 days because they get infections, and they don't have upper body strength."

Men, he said, "are basically little piglets; you drop them in the ditch, they roll around in it."


Women get  infections???

Gingrich's most recent stupid quote concerned why he cheated on his second wife with a staffer that was 23 years younger than he was. 
 AOLnews:

....Newt Gingrich, who may be a contender for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination, spoke obliquely recently about his extramarital affairs.

"There's no question at times of my life, partially driven by how passionately I felt about this country, that I worked far too hard and things happened in my life that were not appropriate," he said during an interview with CBN....


Warning to all spouses----the love you have for your country cannot explain why you cheated.


>From YouTube:

The SCAM That is "Newt Gingrich for President"



All you need to do is GOOGLE stupid quotes by Newt Gingrich to find more incredibly ignorant, racist, sexist, drivel that pours out of his mouth.

Monday, May 09, 2011

Kasich, Ryan, Gingrich

Republicans still don't get it----

*  As Gov. Kasich and his Republican members of the Ohio General Assembly decided how to further ruin Ohio, word that they plan to go after nursing home patients and employees just makes me sick.  Kasich and the GOP loud mouths need to go on some home visits.... nursing home visits.  They need to see the daily work of the employees (changing adult diapers, feeding those unable to feed themselves, bathing patients, preparing special diets, keeping track of medicines, etc., etc.).  If Kasich and his GOPers really took some nursing home tours, they would not make cuts. 

***********

> Republican Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin is soooooooo sad that the American public doesn't understand his plan to cut Medicare.  Now Paul Ryan has taken another dangerous turn.....attacking AARP and the senior citizens who have joined the organization. 

The Hill:

....Ryan's Prosperity PAC sought to push back on attacks by AARP against the House Budget Committee chairman's 2012 budget, specifically its proposed changes to Medicare....

....Ryan's allies are stepping out onto tricky turf by challenging AARP, one of the largest and most influential lobbying groups in Washington, as well as a large voting bloc both parties seek out every election cycle — that represents senior citizens, no less....

Americans are not interested in handing out vouchers to senior citizens to buy their medical insurance.  Paul Ryan needs to put down his Ayn Rand book and start talking to real people who have real problems.  Besides, I'm wondering why Paul Ryan is so interested in a book written by an acclaimed atheist who did not believe in helping our fellow human beings.


___________

* Oh, my.  The worst kept secret is out........Newt Gingrich is going to announce his intention to be a candidate for President. So what?  Newt Gingrich, married three times, is not someone I'd look to for leadership, honesty, or anything.  Gingrich's past, as in his check writing scandal, and divorces, does not make him an attractive candidate.  I just cannot stand to hear his voice or see his face----but that is only my opinion.

Sunday, May 08, 2011

The Truth

* President Obama was great on 60 Minutes tonight.  It was very interesting to hear his  account of what went on before, during, and after the Navy Seals operation to get bin Laden.

* In an interview that German magazine, Spiegel, did with Andrew Card, President George W. Bush's former chief of staff, Card comes off sounding bitter.


Spiegel Online

...SPIEGEL: But now President Obama is the big winner…

Card: I think he has pounded his chest a little too much. He can take pride in it, but he does not need to show it so much...


I've seen no evidence of President Obama pounding his chest.  During the 60 Minutes interview, there was a video of what went on in the White House immediately after the Navy Seals had returned and landed safely.  There was no evidence of bragging or "pounding on chests" at all.


Does Andrew Card remember President Bush saying  this:


You Tube


Thursday, May 05, 2011

President Obama at Ground Zero

President Obama visited New York City today to lay a wreath at Ground Zero. 

ABC News:

President Obama will personally thank the Navy SEAL team who killed Osama bin Laden, a day after the president told firefighters in New York City today that tracking and killing bin Laden showed the world, "when we say: 'we never forget,' we mean what we say." 

The president will meet the SEALs' elite Team 6 Friday at Fort Campbell, Ky., the second day in a row Obama will leave Washington to commemorate Sunday's precision assassination of bin Laden in Abbottabad, Pakistan. 

.....The president visited the Manhattan firehouse, dubbed "The Pride of Midtown," as part of his trip to Ground Zero, four days after bin Laden was killed in Pakistan. The firehouse at 48th Street and Eighth Avenue lost 15 men when the twin towers collapsed....


Here is an appropriate bumper sticker @ Zazzle:

 IT'S GODS PLACE TO JUDGE
OSAMA BIN LADEN'S SOUL...
THE U.S. NAVY SEALS SIMPLY
ARRANGED THE MEETING!

He did it!

People have been talking about how well President Barack Obama worked with the military, and his National Security Council to get bin Laden. Even while he attended to his other tasks last weekend like visiting Alabama, going to Chicago, attending the annual White House Correspondents Dinner, President Obama knew that the Navy Seals had been given the word to go ahead with their planned strategy to get bin Laden. This President is able to multi-task! 

While the Republicans, Faux news people, and Trump were talking about birth certificates, President Obama was working on plans to get bin Laden.  This shows that the President seriously took his promise to get bin Laden. The next time any birther, right winger, or Republican says anything negative against President Barack Obama, just repeat the following words:

President Obama got Osama.

(and George W. Bush didn't)

Wednesday, May 04, 2011

May 4th

Those of us who were college students in 1970 cannot forget the events of May 4, 1970.  As a freshman at the Ohio State University, I was in shock over the deaths of four students at Kent State.

Kent.edu/may4:

On May 4, 1970, Kent State University was placed in an international spotlight after a student protest against the Vietnam War and the presence of the Ohio National Guard on campus ended in tragedy. Twenty-eight Guardsmen fired 67 shots for thirteen seconds, killing Kent State students Allison Krause, Jeffrey Miller, Sandra Scheuer and William Schroeder, and wounding nine other students, permanently paralyzing one. Demonstrations at Kent State marked the climax of a decade-long national student protest movement with roots in the civil rights movement of the early sixties. On college campuses, the generation gap of the sixties was strongly felt, with those in positions of authority--parents, campus administrators, politicians, and law enforcement officials--squarely lined up on one side of the divide and rising numbers of students on the other.....


Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young immortalized May 4th with their song, "Ohio":

Tin soldiers and Nixon's coming,
We're finally on our own.
This summer I hear the drumming,
Four dead in Ohio.

Gotta get down to it
Soldiers are gunning us down
Should have been done long ago.
What if you knew her
And found her dead on the ground
How can you run when you know?...


...Four dead in Ohio.


(lyrics: sing365)

Monday, May 02, 2011

Getting the Job Done

The Republicans have accused President Obama as being weak, indecisive, and without military experience.  However, on two occasions President Obama has demonstrated his  determination, his dedication to planning, his trust in the capabilities of our military, and his patience.

The first time President Obama got involved in sending in the special forces was in April 2009.  Here is an excerpt from a news story from PBS (4/13/09):


Richard Phillips, captain of the American-flagged container ship Maersk Alabama, was rescued when Navy sharpshooters on the U.S. destroyer Bainbridge killed the three pirates holding him hostage in small motorized lifeboat. Phillips had surrendered himself to the pirates last Wednesday, when the ship was hijacked in the Indian Ocean, in order to save his crew.

President Barack Obama authorized the use of force against the pirates Saturday if the captain's life was in imminent danger. After naval personnel observed a pirate pointing a gun at Phillips and obtained clear shots at all three, the order for force was given, according to news agency accounts. Special Forces then boarded the lifeboat, where they found Phillips tied up, but unharmed.....



Howard Fineman says it best at the Huffington Post:

...By calmly and meticulously overseeing the successful targeting of Osama bin Laden, President Barack Obama just proved himself -- vividly, in almost Biblical terms -- to be an effective commander-in-chief of the armed forces of the United States....

"This is a definitional moment for voters," said Democratic polltaker and strategist Geoffrey Garin. "There's no question that the Republicans will make a 'national security' run at the president in 2012," he said. "But the most tangible thing for voters will be that Obama got the central job done. A lot of people were involved in baking the cake, going back years, but the cake turned out well and voters will notice."

Republicans were muted, eager to praise everyone. But even former Vice President Dick Cheney acknowledged the facts, offering to "congratulate President Obama and members of his security team."....

As a candidate, Barack Obama said (10/07/08) the following:
YouTube  (uploaded by ThinkProgress2)



President Obama kept his promise and did what George W. Bush couldn't do.

Sunday, May 01, 2011

Loved It!

We watched the CSPAN broadcast of the White House Correspondents Dinner last night.  We enjoyed President Obama's speech, especially his digs at Donald Trump. 
 Here is President Obama:

YouTube



 
The presentation by Seth Meyers, head writer for Saturday Night Live, was especially funny.  For some reason, Donald Trump appeared somewhat upset by what was said. If you missed it, here is Seth Meyers from YouTube:




That was absolutely wonderful!!!!  Thank you!