The Republicans: "Bah Humbug!"

Yo, America!  The Republican Tea Partiers are a bunch _____. (Fill in the blank with your own inappropriate word.)

Washington Post:

The House on Tuesday rejected a bipartisan Senate compromise to extend a payroll tax cut for two months, along with unemployment benefits, plunging Washington on the eve of Christmas into uncertainty about the fate of the tax cut enjoyed by 160 million workers.

On a vote of 229 to 193, the House set aside the Senate bill and requested a formal conference with the Senate, setting up a showdown with the Democratic-controlled Senate and President Obama, who has demanded that the House approve the short-term plan now to avoid a Jan. 1 tax hike....

.....In debate before the procedural votes that shelved the Senate bill, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) charged that “the extreme tea party element of the Republicans in the House” was blocking an extension of the payroll tax cut and unemployment benefits for millions of Americans..... 

If you recall, John Boehner assumed power in the House of Representatives with a huge gavel. It might be time for Boehner to use that large gavel on some of Tea Party Republicans.  The Republicans refused to vote on the payroll tax break for the middle class and passed a vote to go to conference with the Senate (which has adjourned until next year). 

You can see the list of Republicans that stood and refused to pass the payroll tax cut bill at the clerk's website :

12:54:49 P.M.

H.R. 3630

On motion that the House disagree to the Senate amendments, and request a conference Agreed to by the Yeas and Nays: 229 - 193 (Roll no. 946).

The Republicans that voted to delay the vote include the following---- (Roll no. 946) --

Adams Aderholt Akin Alexander Amash Amodei Austria Bachus Barletta Bartlett Barton (TX) Benishek Berg Biggert Bilbray Bilirakis Bishop (UT) Black Blackburn Bonner Bono Mack Boustany Brady (TX) Brooks Broun (GA) Bucshon Buerkle Burgess Burton (IN) Calvert Camp Campbell Canseco Cantor Capito Carter Cassidy Chabot Chaffetz Coffman (CO) Cole Conaway Cravaack Crawford Crenshaw Culberson Davis (KY) Denham Dent DesJarlais Dold Dreier Duffy Duncan (SC) Duncan (TN) Ellmers Emerson Farenthold Fincher Fitzpatrick Fleischmann Fleming Flores Forbes Fortenberry Foxx Franks (AZ) Frelinghuysen Gallegly Gardner Garrett Gerlach Gibbs Gingrey (GA) Gohmert Goodlatte Gosar

Gowdy Granger Graves (GA) Graves (MO) Griffin (AR) Griffith (VA) Grimm Guinta Guthrie Hall Hanna Harper Harris Hartzler Hastings (WA) Hayworth Heck Hensarling Herger Huelskamp Huizenga (MI) Hultgren Hunter Hurt Issa Jenkins Johnson (OH) Johnson, Sam Jordan Kelly King (IA) King (NY) Kingston Kinzinger (IL) Kline Labrador Lamborn Lance Landry Lankford Latham LaTourette Latta Lewis (CA) LoBiondo Long Lucas Luetkemeyer Lummis Lungren, Daniel E. Mack Manzullo Marchant Marino McCarthy (CA) McCaul McClintock McCotter McHenry McKeon McKinley McMorris Rodgers Meehan Mica Miller (FL) Miller (MI) Miller, Gary Mulvaney Murphy (PA) Myrick Neugebauer Noem Nugent Nunes Nunnelee Olson Palazzo

Paulsen Pearce Pence Petri Pitts Platts Poe (TX) Pompeo Posey Price (GA) Quayle Reed Rehberg Reichert Renacci Ribble Rigell Rivera Roby Roe (TN) Rogers (AL) Rogers (KY) Rogers (MI) Rohrabacher Rokita Rooney Ros-Lehtinen Roskam Ross (FL) Royce Runyan Ryan (WI) Scalise Schilling Schmidt Schock Schweikert Scott (SC) Scott, Austin Sensenbrenner Sessions Shimkus Shuster Simpson Smith (NE) Smith (NJ) Smith (TX) Southerland Stearns Stivers Stutzman Sullivan Terry Thompson (PA) Thornberry Tiberi Tipton Turner (NY) Turner (OH) Upton Walberg Walden Walsh (IL) Webster West Westmoreland Whitfield Wilson (SC) Wittman Womack Woodall Yoder Young (AK) Young (FL) Young (IN)

Taxes will go up on 160 million Americans because the Republican Tea Partiers have hijacked the House of Representatives.  Those of you in Ohio will note that Tiberi, Stivers, Renacci, Latourette, Austria, Johnson, Latta, Turner, Chabot, Jordan, Gibbs, and Schmidt voted yes, thereby refusing an up or down vote on the payroll tax cut extension. Shame on these radicals. Shame.  Without an actual up or down vote on this bill, everyone's paycheck will include a tax increase.  The more you make, the more taxes you will pay because the House Republicans refused to act.

The Republicans and Democrats in the Senate hammered out a compromise, but the Tea Party Republicans in the House have refused to accept that until they get their way.

The Incompetence of John Boehner

*  DailyJobCuts found some layoff news in Ohio at 13abc:

30 people have been laid off from Owens Illinois. 

In a release sent to 13abc, O-I says the layoffs affect the North American headquarters in Perrysburg, the global technology and operations center, and the corporate headquarters.....

These layoffs are not posted, as yet, at the ODJFS Warn Notice page.

*** I'd like to know how many subscriptions that the Columbus Dispatch lost after they came out to support Kasich's SB5.  If you have that information, let the world know.  I have noticed that the Dispatch delivery is down in a few neighborhoods.

*****

>>> A report found at Insurancenewsnet and published on December 13, 2011, has John Boehner pushing for approval of the Senate bill on the extension of the middle class tax cuts:

....The House sets up its bill for a vote Tuesday, and while it's expected to pass, the vote count will be a test in its own right. According to Nevada Rep. Mark Amodei, Boehner told his caucus "I don't want 218 votes, I want 242." A count of 218 is a simple majority in the House; 242 would represent all Republicans on board.

Now Boehner is against the bill.  What happened?  Is Boehner being controlled by the Republican Tea Party members?  If Speaker Boehner does not have a vote on this bill, everyone will see their taxes go up. If that happens, you can clearly blame the Republicans for their ineptitude.

Where are the jobs, Republicans?  Where are the jobs?

Radical In Which Way????

TalkingPointsMemo has the latest crap that has come out of Newt Gingrich's mouth:

Newt Gingrich on Sunday hammered at the nation’s judiciary system, saying that if a court’s decision was out of step with American popular opinion, it should be ignored.

There’s “no reason the American people need to tolerate a judge that out of touch with American culture,” Gingrich said on CBS’ Face the Nation, referring to a case where a judge ruled that explicit references to religion were barred from a high school graduation ceremony. And Gingrich recently has said judges should have to explain some of their decisions before Congress.

Host Bob Schieffer asked Gingrich how he planned to enforce that. Would you call in the Capitol Police to apprehend a federal judge, he asked. 

“If you had to,” Gingrich said. “Or you’d instruct the Justice Department to send the U.S. Marshall in.”

I think that Gingrich is the radical.  Hasn't he ever studied about the three branches of government, separation of powers, and checks and balances?  Doesn't he claim to be a "historian" or something?  Gingrich and 99.9% of the Republican Party are the radicals.  They support corporations over human beings.  They promote charter and private schools and want to take tax payer money away from public schools.  The Republicans are the radicals.

Gingrich's "family values" are clearly out of the mainstream of American life.  Dumping wives as though they are old shoes does not allow me to put any support behind a man who has regularly cheated on his wives.  His ethics violations do not show a man that knows the difference between right and wrong (and the Republican pollsters cannot understand why women won't support Newt! Ha!).

Gingrich is just an egomaniac that thinks he is a legend, and a genius. Luckily, he has a small following of confused supporters that believe his rubbish.

Your Tax Dollars At Work

* One thing Ohio voters have learned about Gov. Kasich---- he doesn't adhere to laws. The continuing feud between Gov. John Kasich and Republican Chairman for Ohio, Kevin DeWine is heating up.  This time Kasich's employees are doing campaign work during working hours.

Dispatch:

....Official documents show Kasich's regional liaisons Nicole Kostura, Nick Gatz and Sherri Carbo each turned in petitions for candidates to run for the GOP state central committee against candidates who support DeWine. The petitions were delivered by the Kasich staffers during weekday work hours.

Kostura and Gatz turned in petitions on Tuesday, Dec. 6. Carbo circulated petitions on Dec. 1, 2, 5 and 6, and submitted them on Dec. 7.

State law prohibits government employees from doing political activities during their work day.....

The article also explains that Kasich mentioned to Kevin DeWine that he wanted to have his own choice in filling the position of chairperson. DeWine explained that the chair was elected, not appointed.  Election????  Kasich must appear to be a dictator to even members of his own party.

*  Even right-leaning Politico is seeing some problems with Republican Josh Mandel's run for U.S. Senate:

...Ohio State Treasurer Josh Mandel is proving his fundraising chops, but his bumpy rollout has given Republicans pause about the 33-year-old candidate’s ability to handle the glare on a bigger stage....

With so many people out of work, why can't Mandel just be satisfied with his job as the State Treasurer?  Mandel is so afraid of the press, he has refused meeting with even the Akron Press Club. Mandel has plenty of time to fly all over the country to collect campaign checks, but he doesn't have the time to talk to those people who write for media and print???  Mandel is showing his arrogance.

Aren't You Tired?

Aren't you tired of hearing about the Kardashians, the millionaires, Trump, Ryan Secrest, John Boehner, Romney, Gingrich, and all that other baloney?  It is the same running list of names every single night on the news.  We don't care!

As far as I'm concerned, and I'm a sixty year old married woman, I am sick of the self-centered, pro-Wall Street, pro-war, pro-white man Republican Party.  It is as if they haven't opened their eyes and noticed that our society has people of many different ethnic backgrounds, religions, and family situations.  We are no longer living in the Ozzie and Harriet Nelson neighborhood (some of us never did), but Republicans seem to think that they alone should impose their beliefs on every person.  We need to spend less time and energy on them and turn our attention to people that need our help.

A new report from the National Center on Family Homelessness states that there are more than 1.6 million homeless children in our country.  In a state by state Report Card, we can discover the incredibly sad statistics on homelessness.  We need to move forward with job creation, fixing our infrastructure, employing our veterans, getting people back to work, and educating our children.  With the country ending one war and winding down another, we've got to concentrate on helping the middle class working families instead of the Kardashians.

Don't Tell Me!

***  When I heard that Lowe's had dropped their advertising for the TLC program, "All-American Muslim," I was not surprised.  In the world we live in, some corporations are so easily swayed by the demands of certain small, right wing groups.  Personally, I don't want anyone telling me what I can or cannot watch on television. Somehow, the family organization of Florida felt a need to be the "decider" of what is American.

I've seen a couple of episodes of "All-American Muslim," and the families on the program were just regular people trying to do well for their families, kids, and neighborhood.  There was nothing at all threatening or offensive.   The families on the program seem to be discussing the same things American families talk about--- food, sports, clothing, and family.  It is too bad that someone thought that was offensive.  It could be that the Florida family group has not learned to love, instead of hate.


As for me, I'll be watching more episodes of "All-American Muslim" because it is an example of the greatness of our country.  Our country has had contributions from every ethnic group in the world.  Isn't this country considered a melting pot?

We should all stand up and applaud Russell Simmons (see CBS) and others who've stepped up and bought ads to keep "All American Muslim" on the air.

>>>  Aren't you getting tired of the old white guys in the Republican Party and far right organizations trying to tell you what you can see, and say, and do?

>>>>>>>  Newt Gingrich is a real _____ .

Here is a post at HuffingtonPost about Gingrich's views on pay:

Long before he was a GOP presidential candidate, Newt Gingrich knocked the Bush administration for its effort to ensure all workers -- regardless of immigration status -- were paid for their work in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. 

"The government of the United States is currently insisting that everybody in the Katrina recovery make sure they pay all of their illegal workers," he said in an April 2006 speech at the American Enterprise Institute. "Now again, I am not for cheating anybody who came here, but I just want to suggest to you, this is so out of touch with reality, that it's baroque. It makes no sense at all. In a country which wants to crack down on illegality, the United States government is helping it."

Once again we see that fairness and equality are words completely unfamiliar to Gingrich.

*****  The teacher evaluation document for Ohio has been put together with a list a recommendations.  I really wonder how much politics has influenced this document.  The paper can be read at Stateimpact.NPR. 

My concern also were raised when I saw the list of names from the steering committee  from the report:

 (p. 21)  

Ekta Chabria

Jeanne Derryberry

Kyle Farmer

Diane Horvath

Dondra Maney

Chris O'Brien

Laurie Preston

Heather Reynolds

Sean Riley

Scott Shinaberry

Bonnie Ward

Melissa Wood

Do you recognize any names???? I can see two questionable appointments. I guess the Ohio GOP needed some people to guide and spy.

> Kyle Farmer is the chairman of the Fairfield County Republican Party and was featured in a pro-SB 5 ad.

> Is Ekta Chabria related to Kasich's buddy/staff member, Jai Chabria?

Women Voters

*  Republicans are concerned that Newt Gingrich doesn't seem to have the support of female voters.  :(  Really?  Give me a break.  Women know what a scoundrel looks like and it is the face of Gingrich.  Wait! There is more on Gingrich at Raw Story:

New GOP frontrunner Newt Gingrich has signed a pledge from Iowa social conservative group The Family Leader that forbids committing adultery, according to the political blog The Iowa Republican.

The pledge has already been signed by Texas Governor Rick Perry, Rep. Michelle Bachmann (R-MN) and Rick Santorum. Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) have said they would not sign the pledge.

Gingrich chose to sign today after initially declining to do so in August, when the text of the pledge claimed that African-American children were better off under slavery than they are today. That text has since been removed. He also vowed to uphold The Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which prohibits same-sex marriage.....

ROFLOL   Gingrich can count on female voters when.......   Never!

Somehow Gingrich thinks that his past behavior is okay. What a hypocrite!  Why do Republicans think that they should be involved in the private lives of people but we should keep out of their business?  I think that any Republican that supports child labor, blocks women's reproductive freedom, and is against equal rights for all should be asked some personal questions like.........  How often do they use male enhancement drugs?  How often do you take drugs or drink alcohol? Would you take a drug test?  Have you ever put your dog in a crate on the roof of your car while traveling hundreds of miles (Romney)?  Etc. Etc.

The $10,000 Romney bet?

* Have you ever bet someone $10,000 like Mitt Romney did on the Republican debate this weekend?  When someone bets a figure like that, it must mean that is just some extra money they have in his pocket.  Most Americans might bet someone a dollar or lunch or even a cup of coffee, but nothing close to Romney's $10,000. It is no wonder that Romney is so out of touch with Americans.

Need more?  Romney's cute little $12,000,000 house on the west coast is a toooooo small at only 3,000+  square feet.  He will be bulldozing it so that he can expand it to four times the present size, according to an article in SignonSanDiego.  Romney doesn't feel your pain.

Shame on the Republicans

*  I've never been to Iowa, but somehow I cannot believe that there are so many far right voters that Republicans continue to court. Could it be that the far right Republicans in Iowa are just louder than other people in their state? 

I'm just sick of the hypocritical Republicans and their "moral" candidates.  I'm sick of the Republicans defending and supporting millionaires, bankers, and wealthy corporate CEO's who'd rather count their money than improve their country. 

The Republican leadership in the House and the Senate have done nothing but sponsor bills that take apart regulations.  Shame on the Republicans and their greed. Shame on their purposeful agenda of halting progress.

We've got to get the leadership out of the hands of the Republicans.  We cannot put people back to work and empower the middle class as long as the GOP controls the House and can block votes and nominations in the Senate.

Republicans Doing Nothing, As Usual

 The vote on the nomination for Ohio's own Richard Cordray was held today, and, unfortunately, the do-nothing Republicans blocked the vote.

LA Times:

Republicans on Thursday blocked the Senate from voting on the nomination of Richard Cordray to be the first director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Supporters of Cordray's nomination came up seven votes short of the 60 needed to bring Cordray's nomination to the Senate floor for an up-or-down vote. The final tally was 53-45, with only one Republican, Scott Brown of Massachusetts, voting to cut off debate. Sen. Olympia Snow (R-Maine) voted present.....

....Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) said the vote showed that "more than 40 of my colleagues chose Wall Street special interests over Main Street consumers. They should be ashamed of themselves."

Which people voted to No on the Cordray nomination?

U.S. Senate Roll Call Vote 223:

NAYs ---45
Alexander (R-TN) Ayotte (R-NH) Barrasso (R-WY) Blunt (R-MO) Boozman (R-AR) Burr (R-NC) Chambliss (R-GA) Coats (R-IN) Coburn (R-OK) Cochran (R-MS) Collins (R-ME) Corker (R-TN) Cornyn (R-TX) Crapo (R-ID) DeMint (R-SC)	Enzi (R-WY) Graham (R-SC) Grassley (R-IA) Hatch (R-UT) Heller (R-NV) Hoeven (R-ND) Hutchison (R-TX) Inhofe (R-OK) Isakson (R-GA) Johanns (R-NE) Johnson (R-WI) Kirk (R-IL) Kyl (R-AZ) Lee (R-UT) Lugar (R-IN)	McCain (R-AZ) McConnell (R-KY) Moran (R-KS) Murkowski (R-AK) Paul (R-KY) Portman (R-OH) Risch (R-ID) Roberts (R-KS) Rubio (R-FL) Sessions (R-AL) Shelby (R-AL) Thune (R-SD) Toomey (R-PA) Vitter (R-LA) Wicker (R-MS)

Now we know which Senators love Wall Street more than regular, average Americans.

Here is the contact list for Senate Republicans:

Alexander, Lamar - (R - TN)	Class II
455 DIRKSEN SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-4944
Web Form: www.alexander.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=Email
Ayotte, Kelly - (R - NH)	Class III
144 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-3324
Web Form: www.ayotte.senate.gov/?p=contact
Barrasso, John - (R - WY)	Class I
307 DIRKSEN SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-6441
Web Form: www.barrasso.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Conta...
Blunt, Roy - (R - MO)	Class III
260 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-5721
Web Form: www.blunt.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/contact-form?p=cont...
Boozman, John - (R - AR)	Class III
320 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-4843
Web Form: www.boozman.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/e-mail-me
Brown, Scott P. - (R - MA)	Class I
359 DIRKSEN SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-4543
Web Form: www.scottbrown.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/emailscottbrown
Burr, Richard - (R - NC)	Class III
217 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-3154
Web Form: www.burr.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Contact.C...
Chambliss, Saxby - (R - GA)	Class II
416 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-3521
Web Form: www.chambliss.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=Email
Coats, Daniel - (R - IN)	Class III
493 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-5623
Web Form: www.coats.senate.gov/contact/
Coburn, Tom - (R - OK)	Class III
172 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-5754
Web Form: www.coburn.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/contactsenatorcobu...
Cochran, Thad - (R - MS)	Class II
113 DIRKSEN SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-5054
Web Form: www.cochran.senate.gov/email.html
Collins, Susan M. - (R - ME)	Class II
413 DIRKSEN SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-2523
Web Form: www.collins.senate.gov/public/continue.cfm?FuseAction=Con...
Corker, Bob - (R - TN)	Class I
185 DIRKSEN SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-3344
Web Form: www.corker.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=ContactMe
Cornyn, John - (R - TX)	Class II
517 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-2934
Web Form: www.cornyn.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=ContactForm
Crapo, Mike - (R - ID)	Class III
239 DIRKSEN SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-6142
Web Form: www.crapo.senate.gov/contact/email.cfm
DeMint, Jim - (R - SC)	Class III
167 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-6121
Web Form: www.demint.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=ContactInformation
Enzi, Michael B. - (R - WY)	Class II
379A RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-3424
Web Form: www.enzi.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/contact?p=e-mail-sen...
Graham, Lindsey - (R - SC)	Class II
290 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-5972
Web Form: www.lgraham.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Contac...
Grassley, Chuck - (R - IA)	Class III
135 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-3744
Web Form: www.grassley.senate.gov/contact.cfm
Hatch, Orrin G. - (R - UT)	Class I
104 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-5251
Web Form: www.hatch.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/contact?p=Email-Orrin
Heller, Dean - (R - NV)	Class I
361A RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-6244
Web Form: www.heller.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/contact-form
Hoeven, John - (R - ND)	Class III
120 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-2551
Web Form: www.hoeven.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/email-the-senator
Hutchison, Kay Bailey - (R - TX)	Class I
284 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-5922
Web Form: www.hutchison.senate.gov/?p=email_kay
Inhofe, James M. - (R - OK)	Class II
205 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-4721
Web Form: www.inhofe.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Contact...
Isakson, Johnny - (R - GA)	Class III
131 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-3643
Web Form: www.isakson.senate.gov/contact.cfm
Johanns, Mike - (R - NE)	Class II
404 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-4224
Web Form: www.johanns.senate.gov/public/?p=ContactSenatorJohanns
Johnson, Ron - (R - WI)	Class III
386 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-5323
Web Form: www.ronjohnson.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/contact
Kirk, Mark - (R - IL)	Class III
524 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-2854
Web Form: www.kirk.senate.gov/?p=contact
Kyl, Jon - (R - AZ)	Class I
730 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-4521
Web Form: www.kyl.senate.gov/contact.cfm
Lee, Mike - (R - UT)	Class III
316 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-5444
Web Form: www.lee.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/contact
Lugar, Richard G. - (R - IN)	Class I
306 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-4814
Web Form: www.lugar.senate.gov/contact/
McCain, John - (R - AZ)	Class III
241 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-2235
Web Form: www.mccain.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Contact...
McConnell, Mitch - (R - KY)	Class II
317 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-2541
Web Form: www.mcconnell.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=contact
Moran, Jerry - (R - KS)	Class III
354 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-6521
Web Form: www.moran.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=e-mail-jerry
Murkowski, Lisa - (R - AK)	Class III
709 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-6665
Web Form: www.murkowski.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=Contact
Paul, Rand - (R - KY)	Class III
208 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-4343
Web Form: www.paul.senate.gov/?p=contact
Portman, Rob - (R - OH)	Class III
338 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-3353
Web Form: www.portman.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/contact?p=contact...
Risch, James E. - (R - ID)	Class II
483 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-2752
Web Form: www.risch.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=Email
Roberts, Pat - (R - KS)	Class II
109 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-4774
Web Form: www.roberts.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=EmailPat
Rubio, Marco - (R - FL)	Class III
317 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-3041
Web Form: www.rubio.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/contact
Sessions, Jeff - (R - AL)	Class II
326 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-4124
Web Form: www.sessions.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Const...
Shelby, Richard C. - (R - AL)	Class III
304 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-5744
Web Form: www.shelby.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/emailsenatorshelby
Snowe, Olympia J. - (R - ME)	Class I
154 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-5344
Web Form: www.snowe.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/contact?p=email
Thune, John - (R - SD)	Class III
511 DIRKSEN SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-2321
Web Form: www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/contact
Toomey, Patrick J. - (R - PA)	Class III
502 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-4254
Web Form: www.toomey.senate.gov/?p=contact
Vitter, David - (R - LA)	Class III
516 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-4623
Web Form: www.vitter.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Contact...
Wicker, Roger F. - (R - MS)	Class I
555 DIRKSEN SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-6253
Web Form: www.wicker.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Contact...

New Video

*  Have you seen the new YouTube video on Josh Mandel?





 Mandel's support for Paul Ryan's budget has a lot of elderly ladies in Cleveland and all over Ohio worried that, if elected, Mandel would try to end Medicare.

Mandel Running from the Press????

* Republican Josh Mandel is running away from the press. He has declined an invitation to the Akron Press Club because he might have to answer questions.  According to Ohio.com, Sen. Sherrod Brown has accepted the invitation for January 6th.

Will Mandel only meet with lobbyists who give campaign contributions?

Be sure to check out why Josh Mandel has been given a "Pants on Fire" by PolitiFact for his outlandish claims about  Sen. Sherrod Brown.

* Some Ohio corporations have tax rates that are so low it should be embarrassing to them. A  report by Citizens for Tax Justice shows the tax rates for 265 of the Forturne 500 firms (Full Report Here).  If you look at page 28 of the file, you will see the tax rates for some Ohio corporations like American Electric Power, American Financial Group, First Energy and others.  Could it be that the reason the state is having financial difficulties is because these companies don't contribute to the state?

Public Information

***  Are you interested in reading some great information about Newt Gingrich?  There is public information available online at the Washington Post.

TalkingPointsMemo:

Newt Gingrich reacted to Nancy Pelosi’s reminder to America that he was slapped with a $300,000 ethics violation by the House in the 1990s about as you’d expect: he accused Pelosi of violating ethics rules herself, and threatened to bring her up on charges.

Pelosi responded to that by sending TPM a link to the publicly-available cache of files on the Gingrich ethics case and informing Gingrich that she doesn’t need to breach the confidentiality of the ethics committee chamber to embarrass him. 

“Leader Pelosi was clearly referring to the extensive amount of information that is in the public record, including the comprehensive committee report with which the public may not be fully aware,” a spokesperson for Pelosi said....

Does Gingrich think people are too stupid to find out what he did in Congress?

The Politics Behind Cyber Schools

If you can get the December 5th edition of The Nation, buy yourself a copy (this edition is not yet online).  The Nation profiles the people and organizations behind the virtual education push.  To be honest, it is frightening to see how these people and groups (ALEC, Jeb Bush, Patricia Levesque, David Brennan, IQ-ity, etc.) are gaining influence across the country and in Ohio. 

Mother Jones has another article, Jeb Bush's Cyber Attack on Public Schools, which is online.  Here is an excerpt from Mother Jones:

....With more than 10,000 kids, ECOT is bigger than some of Ohio's 609 school districts. But its test scores rank above those of just 14 other districts. In 2010, barely half of its third-graders scored (PDF) proficient or better on state reading tests, and only 49 percent scored proficient in math, compared with state averages of 80 percent and 82 percent, respectively. ECOT's graduation rate has never exceeded 40 percent. ("The method used to calculate the official graduation rate does not consider students who take more than four years to graduate from high school," an ECOT spokesman says. "ECOT enrolls many students who are years behind their peers before they enroll with ECOT. ECOT graduates a large percentage of its population.")

The school also has a dubious track record in other areas. A 2001 audit (PDF) conducted after its first year of operations found that while the state had paid it to educate more than 2,000 students during one month, a mere seven kids had actually logged on to ECOT's computer system; state auditors couldn't verify that the rest of its student body even existed. In 2002, state officials forced ECOT to repay Ohio $1.7 million for these and other violations.....

Astounding.  These charter and electronic/cyber schools put profit before student performance.

The Ohio GOP Battle Within

*  The Ohio GOP appears to be in disarray.  With Gov. Kasich and Ohio Speaker of the House Batchelder fighting against state GOP Chair, Kevin DeWine, a new battle is being waged between two Republican U.S. Representatives.

Dispatch:

The new congressional districts are not yet a lock, but in one stretch of southwestern Ohio, incumbent congressmen Mike Turner of Centerville and Steve Austria of Beavercreek are already sparring as if a heated Republican primary race in their newly drawn district is a given....

....The two lawmakers have been busy lining up supporters and raising money for an anticipated June primary. Each is claiming he would be the best protector of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, the largest single-site employer in Ohio. And both have begun lobbing sharp barbs at one another.

Turner, first elected in 2002, said that Austria has been an “echo’’ in mimicking initiatives that Turner launched. And in a very conservative district, Austria, first elected in 2008, said he is the true conservative while Turner is more liberal than he....

Both Mike Turner and Steve Austria voted for the Paul Ryan budget plan (see NYTimes) which sought to privatize Medicare and lower corporate tax cuts (see Washington Post).

>>>>  Just when you thought the Josh Mandel had already declared himself the winner of the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate, there is word that someone else is vying for attention.

PRweb:

U.S. Senate Candidate Donna Glisman has issued a challenge to Ohio Treasurer, and potential candidate Josh Mandel to “Step up or step aside.” The statement on her website comes in response to the media portrayal of Mandel as if he has already won the nomination without any primary challengers. Such reports have gone beyond merely a failure to acknowledge Donna, and have become a blatant exclusion of her candidacy. Yet, until Mandel officially declares he is running, and files nominating petitions with the Secretary of State, he cannot appear on the primary ballot. Glisman wants to know if Mandel is serious about running against her, if not he needs to back away from the spotlight and not further confuse the voters.

Glisman, who has been campaigning statewide for the nomination since June, filed her nominating petitions to appear on the March ballot on November 23rd, 2011. Whereas State Treasurer Mandel, who created an exploratory committee last spring, and since raised considerable funds, has yet to officially declare a run. Mandel does not have a Senate campaign website nor has he filed the required 1,000 signatures to appear on the ballot, which are due no later than December 7th, 2011.....

While Mandel continues sling mud at Sen. Sherrod Brown, Mandel still hasn't done the necessary paperwork for his candidacy. Still, Mandel is busy adding to his frequent flyer miles as he raises money for his unofficial campaign.

*  The Nation has a terrific article online, The Nastiness of Newt. 

The Nation:

It figured that a Republican presidential primary race defined by nothing so much as a taste for cruel and unusual politics would eventually see Newt Gingrich emerge as the cruelest and most unusual contender. Sure, Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry and Herman Cain might strive for the lowest common denominator. But Gingrich would outdo them in that department, despite heroic feats of insanity, stupidity and sex scandals by the other three. And so he has, emerging as the default choice of a new breed of Republican so extreme it would scare the bejeezus out of Barry Goldwater or Ronald Reagan.....

You wonder what Republicans of the past would say to these far right candidates today.

Help our Veterans

*  Why are Republicans against promoting jobs for our veterans?  The vets have risked their lives in going to war, but the Republicans won't to anything to support President Obama's legislation to help vets. See how President Obama is trying to help our vets: http://my.barackobama.com/vets-jobs-video-inv