Day: June 21, 2010

Chris Christie Of New Jersey: Education, Senior Citizens, Disabled Are Not Priorities! :(

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The new Republican Governor of New Jersey, Chris Christie, is rapidly becoming a favorite of right wing Republicans, as he is speaking out strongly against teachers’ unions, telling teachers if they don’t like pay cuts and freezes, they can go elsewhere for a job!

He also just vetoed a bill passed by the Democratic legislature to raise taxes on 16,000 people who are millionaires, as a way to restore property tax rebates for senior citizens and the disabled! But oh well, that is THEIR problem, if they cannot pay property taxes, already the highest on average in the nation! 🙁

The average millionaire will get a tax cut therefore, while the average homeowner will pay more, at a time when unemployment is so high in the state, and drastic service cuts are being made!

The image of the GOP helping the rich, and not giving a whit for the poor or middle class continues, and it makes one wonder why would anyone from the middle class vote for the Republican party? Why is it they seem to be so blind to how they are being victimized constantly by a party which only cares about those on top, not those in the middle or the bottom of society? 🙁

Michele Bachmann To Be Challenged By State Senator Tarryl Clark In Minnesota!

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Minnesota Republican Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, arguably the most controversial woman in Congress, with outrageous right wing views, and newly the center of conflict for her defense of BP and criticism of the Obama Presidency on the Oil Spill Crisis, has a strong Democratic opponent in the wings, hoping to unseat her from her 6th Congressional District seat after two terms!

The woman opposing her is Democratic State Senator Tarryl Clark, who is gaining a big “war chest” to attempt the removal of one of the key figures that Democrats would like to see out of Congress!

The removal of Bachmann would be a major feat, and would be a bright moment in what is likely to be a rough year for the Democratic party in Congress, being that the party in the White House traditionally loses seats in Congress in the midterm election!

Bachmann has been both a blessing and a curse to the Republican party, as often her utterances and activities have put the GOP in a bad light, putting party leaders in a position of being unable to figure out how to react. At the least, she makes many Republicans squirm at her outrageous statements and assertions! It would be a plus to see her leave this December, so we can hope for the best, while not expecting it to happen! 🙁

Senator Al Franken’s Judgment Of The Supreme Court: NOT “Equal Justice Under Law”!

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Senator Al Franken, Democrat of Minnesota, gave a very important speech last week on the Supreme Court’s right wing turn before a progressive legal organization, the American Constitution Society.

He condemned the Roberts Court for favoring corporations over every day Americans, and blamed conservative legal scholars, and the Federalist Society, for promoting the concept of “originalism”, regularly advocated by Associate Justice Antonin Scalia!

The lives of ordinary people matter, but the conservative legal advocates have made the American Civil Liberties Union seem “unAmerican” for backing the rights of the less fortunate and the less powerful in society, Franken declared!

The senator pointed out that Justice John Paul Stevens has said that every Justice appointed after him thirty five years ago, with the exception of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, has been more to the right than his predecessor in the position. The Supreme Court has NOT exercised judicial restraint in its decisions, and instead has been radical in ignoring one hundred years of judicial decisions that limited corporate rights in campaigns and election in its Citizens United case in January!

The Court has decided, Franken declared, that no individual’s rights come above the rights of a corporation to profit and influence! 🙁

A whole century of decisions that gave meaning to the Constitution for labor, women, minorities, immigrants, the poor, and others seen as not having wealth and power, is now under attack!

Progressives, Franken concluded, must fight to create a level playing field, which many may have thought was settled law, but is now under attack by an activist, conservative Court!

In many ways, constitutionally, we are moving backwards a century, and progressives must not sit on the sidelines as the rich and powerful regain their former dominance! Franken is absolutely correct in his assessment, and this is a speech which needs to gain widespread notice!