US House Of Representatives

The Tea Party Succeeds In The Emasculation Of Speaker John Boehner: The War Within The Republican Party!

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The House of Representatives has just passed a debt limit bill that is dead on arrival in the US Senate, and in the process have shown just how destructive and anti American the Tea Party radicals in the House are, and they have succeeded in the emasculation of Speaker John Boehner!

Boehner’s Speakership will NEVER be the same, after three long days of wrangling, pleading, pressuring, etc and yet, while winning a symbolic vote, lost 22 of the hardline right membership, who would not show loyalty and respect for their own Speaker!

This whole mess was a tremendous embarrassment to Boehner, and has destroyed any chance of him being effective, and it is predictable that, in the unlikely situation of a GOP House majority in 2013, that he will be pushed aside for Eric Cantor or Kevin McCarthy or Paul Ryan, the so called “Young Guns”, who can be blamed more than even the Tea Party radicals for undermining their own leader!

Since the Democrats only need 25 seats to regain the House majority, it now seems predictable that such an eventuality will occur. It is essential for every good person in this nation to get off his or her rear end, get out there and campaign for progressive change, contribute to the Democratic Party, and volunteer his time to convince the American people to overcome the corporate influence promoted by the Supreme Court Citizens United case, and save the nation from total disaster, the plan of the GOP to take away from the poor, the elderly, the sick and disabled, and other vulnerable groups, and redistribute income to the top two percent, who have had an unfair advantage since the administration of Ronald Reagan, but getting far worse under George W. Bush!

This is our country to save, and if the hard Right wins control of both houses of Congress and the White House in 2013 because of laziness, ignorance,or refusal to take the responsibility of voting seriously, then unfortunately we will get what we deserve–a plutocracy with fascist tendencies and no concern for the middle or lower classes in America!

Thankfully, the events in the House make it clear that the Republican Party is involved in an internal conflict which will, hopefully, rip them apart and save the country from these economic terrorists who are a threat to all of us in the name of profit and wealth!

Sarah Palin: Anarchist, Radical, Extremist, Economic Terrorist Encouraging Tea Party Recalcitrance!

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Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin today demonstrated just how dangerous she really is, as she sent a message through her Facebook page warning the Tea Party radicals, who are refusing to make any deal with their own leader, Speaker of the House John Boehner, that if they made ANY compromise in the Debt Ceiling Crisis, they would face primaries when they ran for reelection next year!

By fighting against the establishment of her own party, she is proving herself much more than just the usual ignorant, stupid, uninformed person that she has proved to be over and over again in the past three years!

It is much worse than that! It is that she is promoting the economic collapse of our nation, the downgrading of our credit rating, which would lead to skyrocketing interest rates on home mortgages, automobile loans, credit cards, and student loans, plus more unemployment, bankruptcies, and broadly, more anarchy and chaos!

This makes Sarah Palin a danger to the American nation, and a person who would literally be a menace to our country if she were to ever gain power!

We cannot afford such a KNOW NOTHING anarchist, radical, extremist, economic terrorist who has no concern for the future of the average American!

This woman needs to be repudiated by all decent Republicans, as well as Democrats and Independents, for her destructive, reprehensible, and reckless behavior, and be told clearly to stay up in Alaska and leave this nation alone!

14th Amendment Celebrates 143rd Anniversary: Time For President Obama To Utilize It To Save The American Economy From Disaster!

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Today in the year 1868, the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, arguably the most important amendment other than the first ten (The Bill Of Rights), was adopted and added to the Constitution.

It gave African Americans citizenship, and pledged that no state could deprive anyone of life, liberty, and property, or deny equal protection of the laws. It also provided for the concept that all federal debts were to be paid by the government without any question as to their legitimacy.

Who would think that 143 years later, it is precisely this Section 4 of the 14th Amendment which can, if President Obama invokes it, save the nation from economic disaster by providing for a raising of the debt ceiling, taking away that authority from a reckless, irresponsible Republican majority in the House of Representatives, who as the author writes, still cannot get a majority to take responsibility for past debts that MUST be repaid to keep the good faith and credit of the United States government to bond holders and domestic and foreign investors!

Obama MUST take action, and should not wait any longer!

This is a moment which will define his Presidency in history, and he must assert his executive authority, and to hell with the radical Tea Party anarchists!

Let them try to impeach him, and the nation will arise in anger and throw these damn whackos out of power as equivalent of terrorists against the American people, not concerning themselves with their welfare and security!

These Tea Party radicals are NOT keeping their oath of office, and should be righteously thrown out of office by their ears, and told we are not going to tolerate this lunatic extremism, which has no concern for average Americans, and only speaks for the rich and the powerful forces which financed their gaining power by propagandizing among gullible Americans who have no clue as to the long term damage this radical anarchistic group is perpetrating on us, their victims!

America’s reputation and economic stability hangs in the balance, and we should all say a prayer, even if not religious, that Barack Obama has the courage and the conviction to do the right thing and save us from what might rank as one of the most dangerous moments of crisis in all of American history since independence in 1776!

The Choice Is Clear: The McConnell Plan OR Barack Obama Takes Independent Action And Risks Impeachment!

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The Debt Ceiling Crisis is down to less than a week, and Standard and Poors and Moody’s are warning of dire consequences for the American economy, with the lowering of the rating of America as credit worthy, if something is not done quickly.

It is clear that John Boehner, the Speaker of the House, cannot control the Tea Party radicals in his midst, and is in real danger of losing his Speakership in the future, whether or not his party retains control of the House of Representatives.

These reckless anarchists should be soundly defeated in the next election in 2012 to restore sanity to Washington, DC, but in the interim, something must be done to overcome the crisis.

The choice is clear! Follow the earlier suggestion of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky to adopt a bill giving the President three opportunities to raise the debt level, separate from budget cuts–now, and twice next year–to go beyond Inauguration Day 2013, but with Congress able to vote on the extensions.

Most, if not all Republicans would vote no, while most Democrats would vote yes on each extension, but the President would veto each time, and as long as one third plus one of each house of Congress voted to sustain the President, the debt ceiling would be raised successfully, and end this crisis.

It would put the burden on the Democratic Party and President Obama, who theoretically would be blamed for the extensions, and it might hurt some Democrats running for re-election, but as long as 34 Democrats in the Senate and 145 in the House backed the President, it might allow those Democrats who felt endangered to vote with the Republicans against the extensions.

The thought, however, that voting for the extensions would automatically hurt the Democrats is likely to turn out incorrect, as the image of the Republicans as a reckless, extremist party that is ready to destroy Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, and refuse to tax the rich, and support corporations unwilling to create jobs as they sit on $2 trillion of money, with a lot of it due to the federal government bailout in 2008-2009 and initiated by George W. Bush and his party–this is very likely to boomerang on the GOP and push them out of the majority in the House of Representatives, and help Barack Obama be re-elected President of the United States!

This McConnell plan, while far from ideal, would be better than Obama simply using the 14th Amendment, Section 4, to extend the debt, as it would cause more controversy and could lead to the impeachment process being used against him.

With a certainty, Obama would survive, and the GOP would be harmed, but if we could, somehow, avoid the turmoil of another impeachment mess, it would certainly be preferable!

So Mitch McConnell and his plan could be the savior of the moment and resolve this horrible crisis, created by the radical Tea Party anarchists,who need to be roundly defeated and removed from their position of holding America hostage!

Time For Reality Check On Balanced Budget Constitutional Amendment And Third Party Potential For Success In Presidential Elections

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Unfortunately, many Americans, probably a vast majority, live with a false set of facts about American government, as it stands under the Constitution. There is a major need for a reality check!

Many people, including Republicans in Congress, seem to think that a balanced budget amendment will solve our economic problems, when there is absolutely no chance of that occurring! Any constitutional amendment required a two thirds vote of the House of Representatives, followed by a two thirds vote of the US Senate, and then a majority vote in each of the two houses in three fourths or 38 of the 50 states, with the only exception being Nebraska, which only has a one house or unicameral legislature.

We are not ever going to bring about 290 out of 435 votes in the House of Representatives and 67 out of 100 votes in the Senate for such an amendment! Only 36 proposed amendments have EVER achieved this two thirds vote, and the number of failed amendments is in the hundreds over our history!

But notice, even with 36 amendments making it through the Congress, we have only 27 amendments, telling us that NINE amendments failed to gain a three fourths support of state legislatures. Another way to put it is that IF there is a one vote majority in one of the two houses of the state legislatures against an amendment in just THIRTEEN states at a minimum, the amendment fails to be added to the Constitution.

There is no realistic possibility of a balanced budget amendment EVER making it into the Constitution, no matter what politicians say! And were it to happen, it would create a strait jacket, paralyzing us in a time of economic collapse, war, or natural disaster, no matter what limitations are put into such an amendment. It is time for serious minded people to give up the idea that such an amendment will EVER pass, and instead, take responsibility for the fact that the federal government IS necessary, and that we are all going to have to pay more taxes, whether we like it or not, and that it is PATRIOTIC to pay our fair share, including the super wealthy being thankful for their good fortune, and paying the tax level they used to pay from the 1940s through the 1970s, and certainly at the least, the levels of the Bill Clinton years in the White House!

It is also time for “dreamers”, who have the view that a serious third party movement could lead to the election of a President, to get a reality check as well!

Our electoral college system, which can only be changed by a constitutional amendment, which is not going to happen either, prevents a third party candidate from winning, with Theodore Roosevelt performing the best as a third party candidate of the Progressive Party in 1912, but only winning six states and 88 electoral votes, about a third of what is needed to win the White House. The only reason even he did that well was that he was a former President and extremely popular. Such a scenario will NEVER happen again, particularly with the 22nd Amendment, which limits Presidents to two complete terms in office, something not existing in 1912, when Theodore Roosevelt ran for what would have been a third, but non consecutive term as President.

Even if such a thing could happen, a third party candidate without major party backing would have an impossible situation gaining support to govern effectively, as indeed, independent Governor Jesse Ventura of Minnesota discovered in his term from 1999-2003!

For good or for bad, we are stuck with the two party system, and we will be electing a Democrat or a Republican for the Presidency for the long term future!

So forget the constitutional amendment route for a balanced budget, and ignore the thoughts of a third party movement electing a President, and instead accept the reality of the American future–we need to work within the system and just pick better people for public office, as we always have the right to do by voting and organizing, and stop hating our government, which with its faults, is still essential and necessary in our daily lives, as much as we would wish otherwise in our dreams!

Time For Action By Barack Obama: Enough Of “Mr. Nice Guy” Promoting Compromise With Those Who Want To Hold America Hostage!

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President Obama and Speaker John Boehner went on television and cable this evening, with only eight days to go before default, and the danger of America’s credit being downgraded even before August 2, if it seems as if no agreement can be reached.

Obama made it clear that compromise was essential, and that the Tea Party Movement could not be allowed to hold America hostage, and therefore called for an extension of the debt limit to 2013, along with substantial budget cuts, but with some revenue increases.

Speaker John Boehner, on the other hand, showed no willingness to compromise, and seemed literally held hostage by the Tea Party radicals despite having earlier been involved in negotiations with the President, which he ultimately walked out on, similar to what House Majority Whip Eric Cantor also did.

Obama said an agreement MUST be reached within two to three days, and it is clear that the President MUST take action as soon as possible, no matter what the Republicans in the House do.

So, as stated in earlier entries, the President MUST assert himself and save the country from economic collapse, and the only way may very well be what some scholars and former President Bill Clinton have now said can be done–invoke the 14th Amendment, Section 4–which requires payment of all government debts.

Such an action, as made clear earlier, will cause a firestorm of protest, and likely might lead to moves to impeach the President–a sad, tragic event, but one that many in the radicalized House of Representatives have been itching for!

So let them go ahead and do it, with the certainty that the Senate would not convict him, and it would only make the GOP look even worse, and undermine their chances to keep control of the House of Representatives, gain the majority in the Senate, and win the White House.

Barack Obama would be put through Hell symbolically, but then he really has been already for the past two and a half years. It is time for him to show guts and courage like Harry Truman and Franklin D. Roosevelt in attacking the opposition in their times, and it is certain that the American people at large would come to the support of the President if he took action, and were he to face impeachment.

There is no time for delay, as the country’s economic future is at stake.

Absolutely Reckless And Irresponsible Republican Leadership In Congress: Reason For Economic Crisis About To Get Worse!

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As we near the last week before the Debt Ceiling Crisis leads to a potential total collapse of the American economy and puts Americans into a second Great Depression, it is important to understand that this crisis has been caused to a great extent by refusal of Republican leaders in Congress to be responsible for disciplining their party membership to do something that was automatic over the past century, but has become a political football because of the decision of the party to refuse to cooperate on anything with the President they see as illegitimate!

Instead of seeing the good fortunes of the American people as the most urgent responsibility they have as leaders, they have chosen to refuse to even cooperate with each other, as egos and ambitions have become more important than doing what is right–to prevent default on the national debt and work to resolve the budget issues and create the proper environment for job creation!

John Boehner has performed horribly as Speaker of the House, and his name in history will be besmirched as a result! He has been unwilling to cooperate with President Obama, and has failed to assert his leadership over his “Troops” in the manner needed in the present crisis!

But Eric Cantor, House Majority Leader, is an even bigger villain, egotistical and totally ambitious to accomplish his own ends, and refusing behind the scenes to cooperate with Boehner, and instead tying his future to an extremist, anarchist, militant movement of reckless “flame throwers” (The Tea Party Movement), who refuse to understand that successful politics MUST be based on the art of compromise!

At the same time, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, overly ambitious to become Senate Majority Leader, openly has made the defeat of President Obama his major goal, and therefore has lost all credibility to claim a desire to resolve the issue of the debt ceiling in any form. Instead, he would prefer to let the President and his party take all responsibility and blame for the raising of the debt ceiling!

These three men, along with Minority Whip Jon Kyl of Arizona, have shown disrespect, and lack of cooperation with the President in a way that no one can ever quite remember occurring to this extreme state, with any other President, no matter what the personal differences or ideological disputes that might have existed!

So the Republican Party will pay heavily for this lack of leadership by their party spokesmen, and the country is going to suffer further from the economic collapse caused by the outrageous policies of the Republican Congresses that led to the Great Recession, and now in danger of becoming a second Great Depression!

The Republican Party Again Doing What They Are Best At: Self Destruction!

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The Republican Party has suicidal tendencies since the years of the Great Depression.

When the Great Depression began in 1929, the party in Congress refused to abandon laissez faire economics, and some even fought President Herbert Hoover’s attempt to provide some public works projects and federal aid through the Reconstruction Finance Corporation.

During the New Deal years of Franklin D. Roosevelt, the party stood in the way of reform and change and continued to decline.

As World War II came on, most Republicans were isolationists who failed to see the threat of Fascism and Nazism.

As World War II ended, Republicans set out to to weaken labor unions and set back the New Deal, and after two brief years in control of Congress in 1947-1948, they lost control and saw Harry Truman stage an upset victory in the Presidential campaign.

The party pursued the Joseph McCarthy anti communist agenda in the late 1940s and early 1950s, undermining America’s effort in the Korean War, but with a popular World War II general, Dwight D. Eisenhower, they were given another chance in 1952, and won back control of Congress, but with their conservative agenda, lost control again after two years.

From that point on, the party failed to gain control of Congress for 40 years in the House, and 26 in the Senate, and after six years of a divided Congress under Ronald Reagan, lost the Senate again in 1986 and for the next eight years.

Despite Eisenhower’s personal popularity, it did not transform into party control after two years, and while Richard Nixon won over a divided Democratic Party in 1968, he could not translate his victory into a Republican majority, and Watergate damaged any hope again of a soon to occur change in party loyalties and success.

Ronald Reagan managed a divided Congress with Republican control of the Senate for six years, but again it did not change party loyalties and success in the long run, and the party was bitterly divided during the administration of George H. W. Bush, with Pat Buchanan helping to divide the party and lead to the defeat of Bush in 1992.

Then in 1994, the Republicans gained control of Congress for the next twelve years, but Bill Clinton, despite personal problems leading to impeachment, was able to control much of the political agenda.

After the Republicans won the battle over Florida’s electoral votes with George W. Bush in 2000, it seemed as if finally they had become the majority party, but September 11, two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the economic collapse of 2008, took away any gains it seemed that the party had made.

While they won the House of Representatives in 2010, the emergence of the Tea Party Movement has now destroyed any chance of Republican success, as again they are seen as obstructionist in so many ways, and public opinion polls still see the party as to blame much more for the economic recession we are suffering through, rather than to hold Barack Obama accountable.

With an image of negativism, concern only for the rich and powerful special interests, isolationism, corruption, and obstructionism, the Republican Party is again in the process of committing political suicide, and relegating itself to minority status in American politics!

A Path Breaking Week For Gay Rights In America!

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This week in July 2011 will be remembered as the week of path breaking events for gay rights in America!

After a long period of patience, major progress is being made in the following ways:

1. On Sunday, the first gay marriages will be performed in New York City and around the state of New York, a month after the state legislature enacted this basic human rights issue.

2. The Department of Justice under President Obama is now advocating the repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act of 1996, and hearings have been held to move toward repeal, although it is likely that will lead to resistance by Republicans in the House of Representatives.

3. The Defense Department is today certifying that they back the formal end of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” in the military, and that they see no problem of gays being openly accepted in the military, and that it will not interfere with the internal cohesion and unity of the armed forces.

4. Additionally, in a very touching manner, comedian Stephen Colbert of the Comedy Channel issued a video in which he talked about children being bullied and called “Queer” in middle school, and how when he was so bullied, although not being gay, a friend reacted in a way that disarmed bullies harrassing his friend. Colbert said, in serious terms, words cannot hurt you if you decide to think of yourself as a person who has value and significance and purpose, and that things will get better if one understands that words should not be allowed to interfere with one’s self esteem, so hang in there, and one’s life will become better with patience. This is a beautiful message that needs to be spread all over America, to prevent bullying from leading to young men and women committing suicide, and was the best possible action Stephen Colbert could possibly have taken to deal with the epidemic of bullying and resultant suicide occurring in America!

So the long road to human rights advancement in a new area of concern has been successful, and the New York legislature, Governor Andrew Cuomo, President Obama, Attorney General Eric Holder, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mike Mullen, and comedian Stephen Colbert must be acknowledged and applauded for their courageous efforts in this regard!

Obama, The Middle Class, And Small Business: Poll Indicate Widespread Support For The President!

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A new Washington Post-ABC News Poll indicates that the middle class and small businessmen see President Obama as supportive of their interests.

At the same time, the polls indicate that Congressional Republicans are perceived as in league with Wall Street financial institutions and large business corporations.

The middle class issue is won by Obama by 53 -35, while the small business question sees a 48-39 lead for the President.

Meanwhile, majorities across party lines see the Republicans as more concerned about big business and Wall Street.

One would think this would reverberate in Obama’s favor as the country tries to deal with the Debt Ceiling crisis, and will backfire on the Republicans, because the vast majority of the country is not in agreement with the Tea Party Movement that is controlling the House of Representatives majority, to the chagrin of Speaker John Boehner, although he has carefully avoided any comments on the subject!