GOP: Work With the President!

•   Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell wants to raise the eligibility age for Social Security. In order to protect the tax cuts for the rich, Mitch McConnell wants to raise the qualifying age to 70? 75? 80? McConnell is going to be 70, but he doesn't need to worry about relying only on Social Security. McConnell will have his pension from the federal government, but he also has considerable personal wealth. McConnell is just another rich Republicans that don't care about those people nearing retirement and depending on Social Security.


*  Republican leader John Boehner has been a real disappointment. He is unwilling to help the middle class retain tax cuts because he is so busy defending millionaires and billionaires. 

Personally, I'm sick of these games by Republicans as they defend the rich. I'm sick of their talking points and their arrogance.

•  Gov. John Kasich spent $1.5 million to create an ad that talks about the new jobs in Ohio.  However, recent information shows that jobs brought into the state by JobsOhio have an annual salary of $30,000/yr. 

GOP Lacking Women in Leadership

***  Does Republican Speaker of the U.S. House John Boehner know that there are women in the Republican Party that could be assigned as chairpersons for committees? Boehner has not yet assigned one woman from the GOP to be the lead on committees. That is quite unbelievable. Why are women overlooked by Boehner for House leadership positions? Is it possible that Boehner, and Cantor just don't see women as equals or as qualified as the men in their party?  That is very sad and disturbing.

* I thought the same thing about this news about Braxton Miller as reported by the
BleacherReport:

The Big Ten announced its superlative awards on Tuesday, lauding Ohio State by granting DE John Simon the Defensive Player of the Year award and hailing QB Braxton Miller as the Offensive Player of the Year. Both men are obviously deserving of their respective awards.
It is worth pointing out, however, that Braxton Miller wasn't even the first-team QB on the coaches' All-Big Ten ballot released Monday.... 

What is up with that?

Naked People Visit Boehner

How is it possible that Republican Rep. Scott DesJarlais remains in office?

HuffingtonPost:

An ethics watchdog asked Congress on Tuesday to investigate whether Tennessee Republican Rep. Scott DesJarlais lied about an audio recording he made with his wife of a phone call during which he urged his mistress to get an abortion.

In 2000, when DesJarlais was trying to patch up his disintegrating marriage, he recorded a phone call with a woman he had sex with while she was his patient.....

....The "family values," anti-abortion DesJarlais also admitted in the divorce proceedings that he and his then-wife mutually agreed to two abortions, one for health reasons and one because their relationship was fairing poorly.....

Tennessee Department of Health has listed no ethics charges against DesJarlais who is a licensed physician in the state. 

* * * * *

* There was a little excitement in the office of John Boehner.
TheHill:

Multiple protesters stripped naked in Speaker John Boehner’s (R-Ohio) office on Tuesday afternoon to protest possible cuts to AIDS research.

The protest happened in Boehner’s office in the Longworth House Office Building, not the Speaker’s office where he works in the Capitol. Boehner's office confirmed that he was not in the office at the time....

Too bad Boehner was not there.

Sick of Ohio GOP and Kasich?

Gov. John Kasich is spending state money to promote himself. As OhioDailyBlog points out, Kasich is really not responsible for the new jobs.

OhioDailyBlog:

Apparently preparing for his re-election campaign in 2014, our gov has started to run ads in Ohio boasting what a big success his privatized Department of Development Replacement, JobsOhio, has been....

....First of all, it's very hard to tie the slowly improving economy of Ohio to anything JobsOhio did. So far, it seems like it's mostly given money to Kasich cronies. It's hard to tell how many jobs they actually created. It's more likely that the recovering economy is due to national factors that Kasich resisted, such as the auto industry bailout. It's unclear that the shaky JobsOhio has had any impact at all. If anything, the governor's policies have fought against Ohio's economic comeback, as his cuts to local governments and public schools have forced layoffs in some communities. His bragging is extremely unseemly....

Instead of spending $1.4 million on the ad, it would have been better to give money back to the schools, the local governments, or the food pantries that have all lost money because of Kasich's budget cuts.  I just hope that there is a strong Democrat that will oppose Kasich in 2014. I'm just sick of these pro-business, pro-charter school, anti-women, anti-middle class legislation coming from Kasich and his puppets in the GOP.

Beyond Understanding

What is going on with Sen. John McCain? Why has he continued to go after the U.S.  Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice?  Sen. McCain's attacks have been ruthless, full of bitterness, and a clear display of unbridled anger. McCain has said Rice is "not qualified" to be Secretary of State (LA Times).

John McCain has no room to talk. He picked Sarah Palin as his running mate in 2008. Palin as Vice President of the U.S. was one of the most frightening prospects of that election. She wasn't qualified, but McCain had full faith in her.

Ambassador Rice is highly qualified, educated at Stanford, a Rhodes Scholar, and mentored by Madeline Albright, according to Biography.com. She is not "stupid" as some Republicans have suggested. It might be best if McCain and other Republicans stop their disrespectful, verbal assaults against Ambassador Rice.  The Republicans just lost an election during which they were accused of racism, and sexism.  Unfortunately, McCain and the Republicans have continued with their campaign against women and minorities.

Stop the hatred, Republicans and Sen. McCain!

Still Confused? Stop Listening to R.W.M.

Republicans and Romney seem unable to understand how they lost the election. There are actually facts out there if the Republicans care to listen, but they won't. If you want to know how the Republicans were blindsided, here are a few facts----

Republicans believe the information coming from Fox and Limbaugh. It isn't news. The info coming from Fox, Limbaugh, and right wing media outlets should be classified as right wing propaganda. It is not based on facts.

Republican candidates/platform
(a) insulted working men and women,
(b) called people "moochers" that are on Social Security/Medicare/military pensions,
(c) tried to take away women's reproductive decisions,
(d) pushed for "trickle down economics" that would only benefit the rich, and
(e) disregarded the science, and math, of real, non-partisan polls.

A line that Republican pundits kept saying was that the other polls had too many Democrats. I guess it was hard to believe that the country has more Democrats than Republicans.

Republicans and their R.W.M. (right wing media) are not interested in the truth. They are only interested in pushing an agenda.  Hopefully, the Republicans and their party will destroy itself over their hatred, racist, and anti-science/anti-math beliefs.

If you listen to Fox, Limbaugh, ant the pro-rich party GOP talkers, change the channel.

Birthers Changing Tactics

> It looks like the birthers have changed tactics. Now some Republicans are trying to secede from the U.S.A.  See ya!  Let them go! If they do leave, we won't be sending your Social Security, Medicare, college grants, SBA loans, road construction money, or anything else.  We don't need people that are so racist and uninformed. Keep watching Fox News for more misleading propaganda.

> Republicans are upset about the lack of security at Benghazi. Right wingers should ask the Republican House members why they voted to cut $300 million from from the State Department's security budget that covers protection for our ambassadors and embassies.  View CS Monitor for details of the cuts, and the noise coming from Republican Rep. Jason Chaffetz and Rep. Darrell Issa, who supported the cuts.

> Grumpy old Sen. John McCain said he is not getting information on Benghazi, but he held a press conference instead of going to a Benghazi briefing.

WTSP:

While Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., was leading a press conference Wednesday to condemn the administration's lack of transparency regarding the attacks in Benghazi, Libya, it turns out he could have been attending a classified briefing on the subject....
 
...McCain told CBS News he hadn't yet viewed the thousands of pages of classified emails, telegrams, and intelligence reports that the State Department made available to the committee. As a member, he can access the documents by visiting a secure room on the Hill....

Ever since he lost in 2008, McCain has gotten grumpier and grumpier.

Republicans vs. Women's Rights

Mitt Romney lost the women's vote by 11 points in Ohio. Apparently, Ohio Republicans do not care that women in the country and the state voted for the re-election of President Obama because he respects the rights of women. Today, the Republican-controlled General Assembly went after women's reproductive rights and health care again in their vote to de-fund Planned Parenthood. Over 100,000 Ohio women depend on Planned Parenthood for gynecological exams, pap tests, breast exams, and routine medical tests. Gov. John Kasich and the Republicans don't give a damn about the rights of women or their health.

Democratic State Senator Nina Turner expressed the feelings of Ohio women with her shirt today.
(pic from TheGrio)

Farm Bill???

> Farmers need to get on the telephone and their computers and make contact with Republican Rep. Eric Cantor.  Apparently, Eric Cantor, has not scheduled a vote for the farm bill. KFYI notes that the 2008 bill expired in September. You can contact Eric Cantor Here or Here.  Let your voice be heard.


> The Republicans just noticed that they've lost voters like Latinos, women, military, Jews, middle class, college educated, etc., and those that don't want to return to the 1950's.


> Some people in Texas want to secede from the United States. The Examiner has the story. If Texas would become an independent country, students would not be able to attend colleges out of their state, join the American military, travel with out a passport to a nearby state, call on FEMA for disaster relief, receive support from the federal government, etc.

Standing Together Against Neanderthals

* Thankfully, we can all breathe a little easier because RomneyRyan, Mourdock, Akin, and other Neanderthals were not elected.  However, we must remain on guard for those that will try to carry on their war against women, Latinos, LGBT, college students, the elderly, and children. Don't give an inch to the right wing radical haters.

>>>> Guess we won't be ordering any Papa John Pizza----

Courier-Journal:

Papa John’s CEO John Schnatter, who previously said that President Obama’s health care program would force the company to raise the price of pizza, now says the health care law could cause franchises to slice full-time employees’ hours.

Schnatter, who supported Republican Mitt Romney, made the comments Wednesday night to students at Edison State College in Naples, Fla., where Schnatter has a vacation home.



The Anchorage resident’s initial comment came in August when he told stock analysts during a conference call that the cost of the Affordable Care Act will lead the company to raise its prices 11 to 14 cents per pizza.....

Wow! 11-14 cents/pizza????? So what? Shouldn't an employer, especially someone in the food business, be concerned about the health of his/her employees?

>>>>  I wonder if that huge Romney flag at a Columbus business on Jasonway, south of Bethel Road, (behind Olentangy Square Shopping Center) is down. Personally, I thought it was gross.

Time to Get to Work

* Now that President Obama has a mandate, we are all hoping that Republicans get off their rear ends and do some cooperation. The President wants to put people to work. Americans want to get to work. The Republicans would rather vote to repeal the Affordable Health Care Act over 30 times than do any meaningful work for their constituents. If Republicans still refuse to move, it might take a march on Washington, DC to get our message across to them.

* I'm hoping that Republican Josh Mandel will take down all his campaign signs across the state. I didn't like them before the election, and I like them even less now.

* In the sadness that enveloped the entire Republican Party, some of them still do not understand why they lost. I saw a C-SPAN program that showed some right wing groups that suggested continuing their promotion of their right wing causes. They want to push for more restrictions on women's health, lower taxes on the wealthy, and abolish regulations.  It is apparent that these groups must live in a little bubble filled with only right wing Republicans. If they had an exposure to the real world, they might have an inkling of how other people feel about these issues.

Obama!

• Thank you, everyone, that voted for President Obama! Yeah!

•  The success of the ObamaBiden ticket can be attributed to women, volunteers, union workers, middle class voters, and all that worked for this election.

• In case you are interested----- Ari Fleischer indicates the future of the Republican Party. Raw Story:

After a stinging election night defeat, President George W. Bush’s former White House secretary still says that the Republican Party will never support LGBT rights and reproductive rights for women.

“The big issue that Republicans are going to have to wrestle with is the Hispanic issue,” Ari Fleischer explained after President Barack Obama’s defeat of GOP hopeful Mitt Romney made it clear that the country was more liberal than he had expected. 

“It’s not the social issues,” he insisted. “You’re not going to make the party pro-choice and pro-gay rights and think you’ve made the Republican party the party that’s the popular party. We have a party like that. It’s the Democratic Party.”

Thank you, Ari, for confirming the backward-thinking of the old white guys in the Republican Party. We'll remember your words for the future.

VOTE

The word of the day is VOTE.  If you have an absentee ballot that you have not mailed, fill it out, sign it and mail it today. Get to your polling location.

Vote for President Obama and Democrats!

Did you know...

**  Who was the last candidate with a business background that was elected President?
answer:  Herbert Hoover

 • • • • •

>>>>Plunderbund has an interesting bit of news on some recent attacks on Democratic candidates:

 
 
 

   
    Michelle Rhee funds Ohio Republicans, campaigns against Ohio Teacher of the Year (via PlunderBund)
   

       Michelle Rhee is the national education reformer most well-known for her cross-country tour promoting the anti-public education film “Waiting for Superman”, including an appearance at a screening with Ohio’s own John Kasich.  Prior to that, Rhee spent a couple of years at the head of the D.C…
   

 

 

Michele Bachmann is Hilarious!

* I am not one of her constituents, but I have watched her disgusting, right wing, hate-filled rants on TV.  Sometimes it seemed as though she was just living in some other reality. Republican Rep. Bachmann is in a tight race with challenger, Democrat Jim Graves.

HuffingtonPost has an update on the latest from Rep. Michele Bachmann:

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) describes herself as a bipartisan "independent voice" in a pitch to voters in a campaign ad....

Bachmann, who founded the House Tea Party caucus and made an unsuccessful bid for the GOP presidential nomination earlier this year, went as far as to call the president "anti-American" four years ago. 

Bachmann tells voters in the ad released by her campaign, however, that she's been "an independent voice working for you, to create jobs and accomplish great things for our part of the country."

Bachmann's disrespectful attacks on President Obama and the Democratic Party have been disgraceful and inappropriate. It is time for Michele Bachmann to retire, and I sincerely hope that the voters in her district agree.

Ohio Senate

>  Looks like Republican Josh Mandel cannot even tell the truth to his supporters.

The latest Quinnipiac Poll has Sen. Sherrod Brown up at 51% and Josh Mandel, Ohio's Republican absent Treasurer at 42%.

>>>> MTV has announced that there will be a fundraiser to help victims of Hurricane Sandy:


Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, Bon Jovi, Christina Aguilera, Sting and Billy Joel are all set to appear on "Hurricane Sandy: Coming Together," a benefit concert to aid the victims of the storm that devastated the Northeast.

The special will air Friday at 8 p.m. ET on the networks of NBC Universal. The "Today" show's Matt Lauer will serve as host, with NBC News' Brian Williams and "Late Night" host Jimmy Fallon also set to make appearances.

Money collected will be donated to the American Red Cross relief efforts, which are providing food, shelter, emotional support and other assistance to those affected by Hurricane Sandy as well as other disasters. To make a donation, visit RedCross.org, call 1-800-RED-CROSS or text the word REDCROSS to 90999 to make a $10 contribution to their cause.....


Tune in and contribute!