Chris Christie

The Republican Sense Of Desperation As Fox News Channel Debate Occurs In Five Days!

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The Republican Party, the Grand Old Party of Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, Eisenhower, and Reagan, is facing a sense of desperation as the first scheduled debate among GOP Presidential candidates is only five days away, due on May 5 on Fox News Channel.

No one has really emerged from the pack, and those who have been noticed–Sarah Palin, Michele Bachmann, Donald Trump–have embarrassed themselves as well as the party. If this is the best the GOP can do, they may as well concede the election for President next year to President Obama!

Of course, no such thing will happen, but the mainstream candidates–Mitt Romney, Tim Pawlenty, Jon Huntsman–have not excited the party, and Mike Huckabee seems unlikely to run, and in any case, has put his foot in his mouth too many times already to be the ideal candidate.

With the decision of Haley Barbour to drop out of the race, attention is being drawn again to Mitch Daniels, Governor of Indiana, and former budget director under George W. Bush, but he has alienated social conservatives by emphasizing economic and budget issues, and suggesting there be a truce on social matters, such as gay rights, abortion, and school prayer. He also lacks charisma and presence, and since the budget debt doubled under George W. Bush, one wonders if his so called “magic” abilities with budgets, plus his strong anti labor stand in Indiana, ahead of Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, and Florida, is to be seen as a plus.

But once you go past Mitch Daniels, the others being promoted are even less thrilling!

To suggest “Bully” Governors, including Chris Christie of New Jersey and Scott Walker of Wisconsin seems suicidal, as neither has high public opinion ratings, has declared war on labor, and has an aggressive public personality that turns many people off!

And to suggest Texas Governor Rick Perry is really to promote desperation, as Perry is not too bright, and has advocated secession of his state in past political rhetoric! What the Democrats could do with that–wow!

But then, those who suggest Congressman Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, the author of the GOP budget bill that wishes to make Medicare privatized in ten years, but admits no balanced budget for thirty years, are even more crazy. Not only is Ryan seen as a “wise guy” arrogant person, but also he has received many attacks at Town Halls in his own district, and his plan has been attacked bitterly by people of all age groups, and become cannon fodder for the Democrats, which they will be able to use next year in the Presidential Election of 2012.

The way things look, the best bet for the Republican Party is to turn toward Mitt Romney, as the most “mainstream” they can get to run against Barack Obama, but will the Tea Party activists and the evangelical Christians allow a Mormon, who was once a liberal to moderate in the party, to be its nominee? Stay tuned!

The Crisis Within The Republican Party For 2012!

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The Republican Party, once a proud party, is in total disarray, as all the attention is grabbed by what many call the “joke” candidates who have no chance to win, and yet are promoting a terrible image for the party, so much so, that the American people are totally unimpressed!

And yet, there is growing discontent with President Obama, due to the budget crisis, the stubbornly high unemployment, and the soaring gasoline prices, but there is no valid alternative!

At this point, there could be a landslide effect toward Obama, similar to what was the situation when Lyndon Johnson walloped Senator Barry Goldwater in the 1964 election, and in fact, no candidate gains 20 percent support in the latest polls, similar to what Goldwater had 47 years ago!

The control of religious conservatives and Tea Party activists are entrapping all reasonable, rational thought, and holding hostage any realistic, mainstream candidates from emerging!

Face the facts! The following so called “candidates” are disasters in the making in any order: Donald Trump, Michele Bachmann, Sarah Palin, Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich, Mike Huckabee, Herman Cain, Gary Johnson, Haley Barbour, and any others who come out of the woodwork to claim they wish to run!

The “birther” issue and the race issue and the gay issue have destroyed all of the above from serious consideration by anyone with intelligence!

The only “serious” candidates, but lacking excitement for now, are Mitt Romney, Tim Pawlenty, Jon Huntsman, and really stretching it, Mitch Daniels and Jeb Bush, who have evinced no interest in running, but would have to be seen as serious and viable were they to announce for President!

Any “bully” Governor, such as Chris Christie, Scott Walker, Rick Scott, Rick Snyder, or John Kasich, would be counterproductive, as all of them have caused great opposition and controversy!

It is time for Republican leaders to follow former George W. Bush advisor Karl Rove and do everything they can to derail all the loonies, and promote Romney, Pawlenty, Huntsman, Daniels or Bush as the ONLY viable candidates out of a sad group of people who betray the Republican heritage since 1854–the Republican Party of Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and yes, even Ronald Reagan!

Maine On The Road To The 19th Century: Governor Paul LePage And Labor Laws

Ronald 1 Comment

The state of Maine has often be seen as a state of independent minded people who have been ahead of much of the rest of the nation in many ways.

The reputation of Maine is about to be damaged irrevocably by the insanity of Tea Party favorite and Governor Paul LePage!

He wants the state labor laws to be changed, after having removed labor murals from the state Labor Department building as objectionable!

Now he wants the state to change the child labor laws to allow 16 year old high school students to work 24 hours a week, rather than the present 20. What this means is that there will be a higher dropout rate as students will have no time to study and focus on school. He also wants high school students to be allowed to work to 11 pm, rather than the present 10 pm, on school nights, another horrible idea!

LePage also wants the state minimum wage law to be changed to allow workers under the age of 20 to be paid a minimum wage of $5.25 instead of the prevailing wage of $7.50!

This would be slave labor wages in the 21st century, as no one can even live on the minimum wage as it is, and it would be exploiting young people and making it harder for older people out of work to gain even a minimum wage job!

Paul LePage is another despicable governor who represents backwardness and craziness, much like Rick Scott of Florida, Scott Walker of Wisconsin, Rick Snyder of Michigan, John Kasich of Ohio, and Chris Christie of New Jersey!

If Maine had any sense, it should take action to remove this disgraceful excuse for a governor through recall or impeachment, as he will destroy the state with his loony, retrogressive agenda!

Florida’s Governor, The Republican Party, And The Attack On The Disabled: A Personal Note!

Ronald 1 Comment

The author of this blog is now facing the reality of what the Republican Party, the state of Florida, and Governor Rick Scott are perpetrating in the midst of the greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s!

The attack has begun on Medicare and Medicaid, with the proposal of House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, who proposes privatization of both programs over a ten year period for all under the age of 55, leading to vouchers in the future, which will not provide adequate medical coverage for the elderly, the sick, the poor, and the disabled who benefit from these two programs of the Great Society of Lyndon Johnson!

But meanwhile, in many states controlled by GOP Governors, including the state of Florida in which I live with my younger son, Paul, who is on Social Security, Medicare, and until March 31 of this year on Medicaid, the attack has begun to wipe out those on the Medicaid rolls, as simply too costly for these states!

Rather than raise taxes on the very wealthy and corporations, and certainly NOT lower taxes on these privileged groups, Rick Scott of Florida, along with Scott Walker of Wisconsin, John Kasich of Ohio, Chris Christie of New Jersey, Paul LePage of Maine, and others are rapidly wiping disabled people, such as my son, off of Medicaid, without any justification in writing, any explanation, any concern about what it might do to my son’s health and well being, and that of millions of others in these states!

After nine years on Medicaid, and thank God, not much use, but occasionally having hospital bills because of seizures, my son is now faced with the possibility that future visits to hospitals will result in a massive bill, as a backup to Medicare coverage, that he will not be able to pay at the age of 27, as he does not have the ability to support himself financially, although he works very hard and diligently as a usher at a local movie theatre for the past six years, but only earns about $2,000 a year.

Were it not for the death of his mother six years ago, Paul would not be on Medicare coverage, and would not have any Medicaid coverage now as a result of the decision of Rick Scott’s government in Florida to cut him off from medical benefits! Being unable to pay the bill that Medicaid would have covered, Paul’s small attempt to establish a good credit rating will be destroyed once he has a hospital bill he cannot pay. And, unfortunately, as a retired (at least full time) faculty member in a couple of months, the author will not have the ability or legal responsibility to be able to pay what is likely to be a hefty bill from the hospital in the thousands of dollars, when a hospital admission were to occur!

The author is also concerned at the danger that Paul’s expensive medication for his seizure issues, more than $1,000 a month, might possibly be taken away, and the author’s inability to pay out for that kind of medication out of his own retirement income, even with future part time teaching!

Paul’s situation is just one example of what millions of people across America will be facing with the heartless, aloof, unconcerned attitude that Rick Scott and other Republicans, national, state and local, have on the issue of medical care for those less fortunate.

Paul is fortunate to have a loving father, and in the future, a loving brother, David, who will do whatever they can to insure him as good a life as they can afford, but what about the many people who will not have such fortune, and face being forced out of group homes and off Medicaid, and probably off prescription drugs they need to live and prosper? With Governor Scott’s executive order cutting funding immediately for Medicaid and disabled people, we will be seeing people much more health challenged than my son who will lose assistance in their daily lives, and in many cases, may have no place to live, and therefore, an inability to survive!

There is a need for everyone across the country who believes in human rights and dignity, and recognizes the crime being visited against the most unfortunate among us by Governor Rick Scott and other governors mentioned above, and by the Ryan plan in Congress for the next fiscal year, to organize and fight on this issue, by emails, phone calls, visits to state and congressional offices all over the nation, and marches and demonstrations nonstop to demand that this denial of rights and dignity to the most disabled and unfortunate among us be immediately stopped dead in its tracks, before we have dead people as a result of GOP “death panels” who decide we cannot afford Medicaid, but must make sure every fetus is born, but have no concern for what happens after birth!

For those who are reading this, thank you for your consideration of what I am saying, and know how much I love both my sons, and will continue to fight for them and all other people in this country who deserve nothing less than humane consideration by government at all levels!

The Tea Party Movement and the Republican Party may not care about what happens to the disabled and unfortunate among us, but we must pay them for their callousness with political action to repudiate their despicable, disgraceful message on how to save money at the expense of the needy!

Police Officers, Fire Fighters, And The “Divorce” From The Republican Party

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The Republican Party is involved in a nasty “divorce” proceeding from two groups that have been for a long time proud to be Republicans–police officers and firefighters, with the unions for both occupations regularly endorsing GOP candidates for President, Governor, Senator and other political offices. This “marriage” has been a good deal for the Republican Party, but no longer, thanks to GOP Governors across the country!

Other than the military, what other occupations are more respected as there to protect all of us in America than the police officers and firefighters, who like soldiers at war, sacrifice themselves daily and face dangers most of us have never experienced!

John Kasich, Governor of Ohio, who recently ridiculed a police officer for having the gall to stop him and give him a ticket for reckless driving, has now signed legislation taking away collective bargaining from these loyal unions. A referendum to repeal this legislation is proceeding, and police and fire unions across the nation are actively working to overcome the despicable actions of the Ohio Republican Party, and also to work work against all the other GOP governors who are mistreating those who are there for us every day, loyal to their communities!

Even Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin was smart enough to leave police and fire unions out of his legislation to to take away collective bargaining rights from teachers, nurses, and other public servants, because of his awareness of their endorsement of his candidacy last year. But many police and fire fighters marched and demonstrated at the state capitol in Madison to show their support for those public workers under attack, and made clear their opposition to such actions by the Republicans in the Wisconsin state legislature.

Chris Christie in New Jersey, Paul LePage in Maine, Rick Snyder in Michigan, and now Rick Scott in Florida have also declared war on police and fire fighters, and so this will become a major factor in the Presidential Election of 2012 and in Congressional races and state races next year.

As Rachel Maddow of MSNBC said tonight, this issue could insure that Barack Obama is elected to a second term as President, and that the Democrats could make major gains in the states and in Congress, as a result of the stupid, inane actions by Republican politicians, who will now pay a heavy price politically!

But remember, also, that the Republican Party has ALWAYS been anti labor since the era after Theodore Roosevelt one hundred years ago, and sponsored the anti labor union law, the Taft Hartley Act of 1947, which led to a half century of GOP minority status in Congress until 1994!

The Republican Party is a leopard that has never, and never will, change its spots! Once a enemy of working people, ALWAYS an enemy of working people!

When will working people finally understand and stop voting Republican?

Florida Governor Rick Scott: Obscene And Corrupt To The Core!

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Florida Governor Rick Scott cares not at all what anyone thinks of him, and will not stop his attempt to destroy any sense of decency in state government!

Rick Scott is obscene to the core, as he is now promoting the destruction of education and health care in the name of privatization!

He cares not a whit about disabled people, about poor people, about state workers, about children, about honest and accountable government!

Media inquiries about the details of his blind trust while he is Governor have gone unanswered, as he feels he has no need to explain ANYTHING about his financial affairs, despite his involvement in Medicare scams in the 1990s, paying a record fine and avoiding prison time, as a result!

Not only is he obnoxious, obscene, and arrogant, but his past record of corruption in business is now starting to show up by his executive order mandating that all state employees be required to have drug tests on a random basis every three months, and also his demand that welfare recipients be so tested quarterly, and that they pay the cost out of their welfare payments!

This whole idea of mandatory drug testing is an invasion of privacy, and an extremely expensive proposition, and since he has already demanded that welfare recipients pay for their testing, it may be he will expect state employees to do the same, although at the moment that is unclear.

But the corruption shows up with the news from the Palm Beach Post that Scott’s wife has control over his blind trust, and that she has a link to a drug testing firm, with the indication that it is that company which would do the drug testing!

So Scott, through his wife, could benefit from kickbacks and profits from the drug testing!

Is that NOT a conflict of interest, and pure corruption? But does Scott care to react to or defend such revelations? This man seems invulnerable to any critics and just goes about his business of doing whatever the hell he wants, and tells his critics to go somewhere!

Is Florida’s Governor becoming a fascist dictator, who skirts the law and is immune to criticism? Is our state legislature going to lie down and act dead, simply because he, like their majority, is a Republican?

When are we going to see the end of this nightmare against the people’s interests, and the end of the transfer of wealth from the poor and middle class to the extremely wealthy?

When are Floridians going to rise up and say, NO MORE to this arrogant, abusive man who thinks he is above the law? WHEN, OH WHEN?

And when are we going to see a similar outrage to throw out Scott Walker in Wisconsin, John Kasich in Ohio, Rick Snyder in Michigan, Chris Christie in New Jersey, and the newest outrage, Paul LePage in Maine?

When will the American people take away power from the BULLY GOVERNORS, and say ENOUGH IS ENOUGH?

Maine Republican Governor Paul LePage And Labor History

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Maine’s new Republican Governor, Paul LePage, may not be noticed nationally very much, but he is now drawing attention as another GOP state executive who is a disgrace in so many ways, and anyone who voted for him should be ashamed at what they have wrought by putting him into the Governorship!

Riding a wave or bitterness and resentment by the Tea Party Movement, LePage was elected Governor, much like Rick Scott in Florida, Scott Walker in Wisconsin, John Kasich in Ohio, Rick Snyder in Michigan, and Chris Christie in New Jersey.

All of the above, and LePage, have declared war on organized labor and working people in general, and have shown how they do not understand the history of this nation, and the long, hard fought battles of the labor movement over the past 150 years to better the conditions of workers, with millions of workers in all fields who never were members of labor unions, but benefiting from the labor struggles and rising to the middle class from poverty because of the sacrifices of others!

Now the wealthy corporate world has declared war on working people, both in unions and outside, setting out to add to their wealth and power while impoverishing every day working people, and they have had willing allies on Capitol Hill from House and Senate Republicans, as well as from Republican Governors, and have succeeded in destroying a century and a half of progress in a very short time!

If what has been happening just since this year began does not cause average, every day working people to rise in protest and to demand an end to the further aggrandizement of power by the wealthy and corporations, then we have truly and, likely, permanently, lost our concept of democracy, and have become a plutocracy, and that plants the seeds for eventual disintegration of our society and potential threat of civil war in the future, on a scale far greater than the event of 150 years ago, which will be commemorated on its opening day tragedy at Fort Sumter on April 12, and over the next four years to follow!

Paul LePage has proved himself totally insensitive to labor history, and he and the other GOP Governors need to be given lessons in the greatness of labor struggle to create better lives for the masses, to educate them in the history they apparently never studied or ignored in their earlier lives!

For LePage to order the withdrawal of a labor mural at the offices of the Maine Labor Department, depicting the triumphs and struggles of labor over the history of the state and nation, is an absolute outrage that needs a prompt response calling for a reversal of his ignorant, insensitive executive order, and a move to demand a recall election for the removal of this incompetent, stupid man who gives not a damn about the average Maine resident!

And for this outrage by LePage to occur on the 100th anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire of March 25, 1911, causing the death of 146 men and women, and leading to the fight for greater labor reform in New York City and elsewhere, is indeed a sacrilege!

Focus On Bullying: Schools, State Governors, Tea Party Congressional Republicans, And A Supreme Court Justice!

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It is very sad that this nation is witnessing so many examples of bullying as a method of taking advantage of others.

President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama held a White House Conference on Bullying Prevention today to draw attention and concern to the growing bullying problem faced by young children, teenagers and early 20s youths in schools and colleges, either because of social pressures, or their sexuality, physical characteristics, or ethnic or religious heritage, often leading tragically to suicides. President Obama even said he had been bullied as a child because of his big ears. A lot of this bullying also occurs on the internet.

But it is not just an issue of young people being bullied. It manifests itself in so many other ways in our political system today, with bad manners and rudeness becoming endemic!

We have Governors such as Scott Walker of Wisconsin, Rick Scott of Florida, Chris Christie of New Jersey, and John Kasich of Ohio, among others, who are bullying public servants who have dedicated their lives to working for their communities as teachers, nurses, firefighters, police officers, prison guards, social workers, librarians and other fields of public service, and now are facing the loss of basic labor rights to collective bargaining that have been long held.

Workers having basic rights of organizing is a human rights issue for anyone in a democracy, and for Wisconsin to bypass the Democrats in their State Senate and strip workers of their basic rights in an unethical and slimy way is despicable beyond belief! Scott Walker is clearly a bully and a political thug, and the other Governors are no better, as they all proclaim, as do Republicans nationally, that we all have to “share the pain”, with the wealthy and corporations however not part of that equation, just the middle class and the poor. There is no sense of morality or decency in these men and their party as they take us back to the Gilded Age of the late 19th century, when labor was first trying to organize to protect the rights of workers.

One hundred fifty years of progress is being wiped out by these right wing fanatics who will stop at nothing to give tax breaks to the rich and the corporations and harm the masses of the nation, who are facing attacks both on their homes and their employment, and being expected to pay more and get less, squeezing the middle class down into poverty!

But the same tactics of confrontation, arrogance and belligerence are also demonstrating themselves in Congress, as the Tea Party freshmen in the House and a small band of Tea Party supporters in the Senate are showing their disdain for civility and rational thought!

And even the Supreme Court is witnessing bullying, primarily by Associate Justice Antonin Scalia, becoming more contemptuous of his fellow Justices when they go against his views. As he nears the 25th anniversary of his elevation to the Court, he is becoming more obnoxious and insufferable than ever!

When will civility and decency return to America in its schools, its government leaders, and even the Supreme Court? Unfortunately, it seems not anytime soon!

The Tea Party Movement Declares War On John Boehner! The True Insanity Destroying The Republican Party!

Ronald 3 Comments

If the Republican Party did not process the reality of the danger of the Tea Party Movement on their party and its future, it should now be very clear!

Tea Party Nation founder Judson Phillips has declared war on Speaker of the House John Boehner, due to the fact that Boehner seems not to understand that the Tea Party Nation means what it says, that $100 billion must be cut from the present fiscal year budget, and instead the House majority Republicans have settled on $61 billion instead.

The fact that the $61 billion is a reckless cut that will hurt the poor, the sick, the elderly, the young, and veterans has no effect on Phillips and his ilk, so therefore he now suggests that John Boehner himself seems not to get the message, and that someone needs to come along and challenge Boehner in his congressional district in the Cincinnati, Ohio, area to teach Boehner a lesson, and make clear to the GOP who is the boss of the future!

The Republican party has gone to bed with a radical right faction that is very willing to destroy the party in its mad race to the 19th century Gilded Age!

If Boehner and other GOP leaders allow this insanity to continue, and if the state governors continue to follow the destructive path of Scott Walker in Wisconsin, John Kasich in Ohio, Chris Christie in New Jersey, and Rick Scott in Florida, then the Republican Party will be totally destroyed by this cancer eating it up alive!

It is time to take a stand and say NO to this destructive, anarchistic movement which has no good purpose except to destroy the middle class, and put all of it into total poverty!

But the good thing is that the Tea Party Movement will discover it has met its match, as the middle class and the poor will organize and back the Democratic Party as the true promoter of the interests of the vast majority of the American people!

Support In Poll For Public Sector Workers As Republican Governors Work To Destroy Unions

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As Scott Walker, John Kasich, Chris Christie and Rick Scott, among other Republican Governors, make clear their campaign to undermine labor unions and strip public service workers of their benefits, a New York Times-CBS News Poll shows the American people oppose efforts to weaken the collective bargaining rights of public employee unions, and are against the cutting of pay and benefits of public workers to reduce state budget deficits.

By 60-33, Americans oppose taking away the bargaining rights of workers, and by 56-37 they are against cutting of pay or benefits to reduce deficits, with larger majorities of Democrats and Independents, and slight plurality favoritism among Republicans of what these governors are attempting to do.
By a slight margin, the poll also supports ability to retire early for police officers and firefighters, and even teachers.

A plurality of 40 percent supported raising taxes to deal with the deficit, and 71 percent of Democrats and 62 percent of Independents opposed weakening collective bargaining rights of public employees.

The only group that had a substantial support for cutting pay and benefits, but even then not a majority (45 percent), were those earning more than $100,000 per year.

A Wisconsin poll also shows nearly 60 percent oppose what Governor Scott Walker is trying to do to destroy collective bargaining, and a recall movement is developing against him and many leaders of the GOP in the legislature. And a poll shows if Walker was running now for Governor, four months after he was elected, he would easily lose!

So with strong Independent support for labor rights, and polls showing great anger against GOP Governors, the Democrats may be able to utilize the anti labor fight in a productive way in 2012!