Sherrod Brown

The Ten Most Heroic Members Of The Senate: Committed To Reform And Decency!

The US Senate is an exasperating legislative body, very slow to take action, and having too many members who cause one to roll his or her eyes and to sigh!

But it has its heroes and heroines, those members one knows are truly committed to reform and decency, and care about the middle class and the poor.

The “Honor Roll” of its ten most heroic members would include by last name alphabetical order the following, all Democrats:

Barbara Boxer of California
Sherrod Brown of Ohio
Chris Coons of Delaware
Al Franken of Minnesota
Kirsten Gillibrand of New York
Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota
Bernie Sanders of Vermont
Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts
Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island
Ron Wyden of Oregon

The “Honorable Mention” list of five other Senators would include four Democrats and one Republican:

Tom Harkin of Iowa
Patrick Leahy of Vermont
Jeff Merkley of Oregon
Barbara Mikulski of Maryland
Susan Collins of Maine (the only Republican)

The author welcomes commentary on these selections!

“The Progressive Professor” Favorites In The US Senate, 113th Congress!

With the new Senate coming in on January 3 for the 113th Congress, this author and blogger has decided to indicate who his “favorite” members, those he has real respect and admiration for, and expects great things from for the next two years. The following list is not ranked, but simply a list of the top ten by state alphabetically! At the end, though, the author will list the two Senators he most admires, who he sees as tied for BEST! So here goes!

Tom Harkin of Iowa
Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts
Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota
Al Franken of Minnesota
Sherrod Brown of Ohio
Jeff Merkley of Oregon
Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island
Bernie Sanders of Vermont
Tim Kaine of Virginia
Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin

Seven of the above are incumbents, while Warren, Kaine and Baldwin are newcomers to the US Senate. And seven are men, while three are women.

And my favorite Senators of this group would have to be a tie between:

Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, true heroes in my mind!

Notice that FIVE of these Senators come from the Midwest (both from Minnesota, and Wisconsin, Iowa and Ohio).

Three come from New England–Massachusetts, Vermont and Rhode Island.

One comes from Virginia and one comes from Oregon.

And both favorites are New England neighbors.

This is the true progressive in action, with the Midwest, the area of progressivism in the past century, and New England as the areas of dominance, but with Oregon and Virginia adding admirable members to this select group!

The author invites commentary on this entry!

The Republican Jewish Coalition, Israel, And Barack Obama: A Total Failure To Change The Jewish Vote

The Republican Jewish Coalition made every effort to defeat President Barack Obama, but failed miserably!

In 2008, 78 percent of American Jews voted for the Democratic nominee; in 2012, after spreading lies and mistruths about Obama and Israel, the end result was that Obama received 70 percent of the vote, a total smack to the deception practiced by the RJC!

Why did 7 out 10 Jews remain loyal to Obama and the Democrats? The answer is that they knew that Obama had given more aid to Israel than any other President, including the IRON DOME missile system; that the Democrats were the party of social justice, as shown through Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and ObamaCare, along with civil rights legislation, environmental legislation, and stood for women’s rights; and also that the Republican Party wished to cut back on all these accomplishments, including wiping out ObamaCare.

Additionally, many American Jews do not trust Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and it is now known that even people within his own government and military feel Netanyahu is too trigger happy, wanting to start a war with Iran before diplomacy has played its course, and that Netanyahu favored the Republicans and Mitt Romney from the beginning. So the question was: Should our President have to bow to every demand and detail that Netanyahu insists upon? Is he our President, instead of Barack Obama? And is it not true that Defense Minister Ehud Barak (former Prime Minister) and President Shimon Peres have raved about the support of Israel by our President?

Face the facts: The RJC was more concerned about preserving the wealth of Boca Raton Jewish residents and others elsewhere who are extremely wealthy, and do not wish to pay their fair share of taxes, as evidenced by the meeting in Florida of wealthy Jews where Mitt Romney said his famous “47 Percent” statement that harmed him greatly in the end result!

Also, Orthodox Jews as a group have a problem with socially tolerant views of abortion and gay rights, and are not seen as great advocates of civil rights for other minorities, other than themselves, sad to say!

And it is not just the RJC that was disgraceful!

It was also House Majority Leader Eric Cantor of Virginia, the only Jewish Republican on Capitol Hill, who has made it his mission to destroy ObamaCare and privatize Medicare, and is very mean spirited in his relations with the President, and is also well known for his attempts to undermine House Speaker John Boehner, who he would love to replace!

And also, House Republican candidate Adam Hasner of Boca Raton, who lost to Lois Frankel, has the same agenda as Cantor. And Josh Mandel, the GOP nominee who lost to Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio, ran a nasty, undignified campaign, and made clear that his goal was to promote the Tea Party radicalism of his party, rather than be part of the great majority who see their faith as connected to social justice!

Fortunately, both Hasner and Mandel lost handily, and it would be no loss to the nation if neither ever runs again, with their agenda to help the rich and powerful, and ignore the needs and wants of women, labor, minorities, gays, and senior citizens!

First Hints That Citizens United Case May Not Help GOP Gain Victories! Ohio As A Test Case!

The first hints that the Supreme Court decision, Citizens United, which allows corporations to spend freely on political campaigns, and billionaires to spend tens of millions of dollars to help their own private interests, is not working, comes with the Quinnipiac polls today, and particularly in Ohio.

The Buckeye state has been essential for every Republican President to win, but Mitt Romney trails Barack Obama in Ohio by 48-39, outside the margin of error!

And Sherrod Brown, the liberal Democratic Senator, is 16 points ahead of Republican Josh Mandel, 50-34!

In both cases, the Republicans have outspent the Democrats, but it is not having an effect!

This is wonderful news, and shows that promoting what is best for the American people can win out over what is good for the elite and the wealthy!

Hopefully, the trend will continue, and lead to a massive victory for Barack Obama in November, and an ability for courageous Democrats, such as Sherrod Brown, to keep their seats in Congress!

Ohio Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown Suggests Shared Sacrifice By Members Of Congress: Great Idea!

Ohio Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown has come up with a suggestion, followed up by a legislative proposal, that Congress demonstrate “shared sacrifice” by agreeing to cut their salaries and delay their pension benefits to age 66, as the ordinary citizen must wait to that age to collect Social Security.

Right now, if a member of Congress has served five years, he is entitled to a pension at age 62, and if he has served 20 years, he can collect at age 50, and if 25 years, can collect at any age.

Since the members of Congress earn $174,000 per year and receive a lot of perks, and in most cases are independently wealthy, this sounds like a great idea, as showing Congress understands what Americans are going through would help bring respect for Congress back to a higher level than the present 12 percent, an all time high disapproval level.

It is interesting that we find many Democrats have pushed such an idea, and that conservative Republicans seem opposed!

But should that be surprising? After all, it is conservatives who wish to protect the wealthy and corporations from paying their fair share of taxes, and love to talk about “class warfare”!