US House Of Representatives

150th Anniversary Of Greatest Speech In American History: The Gettysburg Address Of Abraham Lincoln!

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150 years ago on November 19, President Abraham Lincoln gave a speech to commemorate the loss of life at the Battle of Gettysburg in Pennsylvania, which occurred on July 1, 2, and 3, 1863.

Although only a two minute speech, it is regarded as possibly the greatest speech ever made by an American President, although not regarded as such at the time.

Lincoln was one of the greatest orators of our history, memorable for his Second Inaugural Address on March 4, 1865 and for other speeches and declarations, both in the White House years and in his earlier career as a Congressman from Illinois, and a Senate candidacy against Senator Stephen Douglas.

The Battle of Gettysburg, and the tremendous loss of life, remains a center of fascination to historians and tourists alike, and the short statement of Lincoln honoring the dead remains a classic of Presidential oratory that will reverberate through all of time!

Republicans In Congress Demonstrate Unbelievable Arrogance, And Ignore Public Opinion, Even Of Republican Voters!

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The House Republicans are the most reactionary group seen in Congress in modern times, as evidence now shows that they are opposing not only general public opinion, but also that of voters of their own party, along with Independents and Democrats!

Issues where this is true include the following where some Republicans supported the proposed legislation in the Senate:

ENDA–the bill to stop discrimination in employment against gays and transgendered people, passed 64-32 in the Senate.

Comprehensive Immigration Reform, which passed the Senate 68-32.

At the same time, Republicans in both houses of Congress are fighting against the following, which are also supported by Republicans in polls, along with Democrats and Independents.

The Minimum Wage increase legislation to $9 an hour.

Background Checks on Gun Purchases

Who would think that a political party could ignore the views of its own voters and expect to stay in office? It makes one wonder how the GOP can believe it will keep power in the House and gain control of the Senate, as they seem to believe they can accomplish, when they have such a high level of arrogance as they are demonstrating!

The Tea Party Attack On Chris Christie: Wonderful News For Democrats!

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The right wing Tea Party attacks on New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, making clear that his victory means nothing for the Presidential campaign of 2016, is great news for Democrats, as it indicates that the Republican Party is insuring its own defeat by attacking moderate conservatives such as Chris Christie, along with Jeb Bush and Jon Huntsman.

We have seen Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, Marco Rubio, Rick Perry, Rick Santorum, and James Inhofe taking negative stands on Christie’s victory, and if any of the first five are the GOP nominee in 2016, it will make for an easy landslide victory for Hillary Clinton, or any other Democratic nominee for the White House!

And the bitter attacks of right wing Talk Show hosts Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and others only adds to the destruction of the GOP brand!

If the GOP cannot appeal to African Americans, Hispanics, women, gays and lesbians, young voters, and labor, it has absolutely no possibility of regaining the White House or control of the Senate anytime soon, and the House of Representatives is also put into play.

The rhetoric will fly fast and furious as the GOP self destructs before our eyes, and it will be a display that makes the 2012 Republican brand look more rational by comparison, although it most certainly was not that at all!

Reality Of Life For Millions Harmed By Great Recession Of 2008: The End Of Unemployment Compensation And Cutting Of Food Stamps!

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It has been more than five years since the collapse of the American economy, and the onset of the Great Recession, the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.

Millions of Americans have been unable to obtain new employment, many of them being past the “desired” age of under 50, and many others, who are much younger, who are unable to obtain substantial employment and a living wage.

The agreement to expand unemployment compensation and food stamps for these millions came only after bitter fights with the Republican Party, who would not have done so without pressure, and the reality that the Democrats controlled both houses of Congress in 2009-2010.

But the control of the House of Representatives by the GOP since January 2011 has led to a Scrooge like mentality on unemployment compensation and food stamps. And there has been no desire to raise the minimum wage to promote the concept of a living wage. The Republican Party refuses to help create jobs, promote educational investments, and to create infrastructure jobs, although the country is desperate for improvement and repair of public works all over the nation, which would also create employment for many desperate Americans.

We are arriving at the reality that 2014 will see increased poverty and suffering, as the GOP will fight to prevent extension of aid to millions who have no lifeline. And they will do this while professing to believe in “Christian values”, a mockery of the teachings of the faith.

So the economic emergency of five years ago is about to become far worse, with no “safety net” for millions of victims who have nowhere to turn to, as concern about them is ignored, and instead, we see the government unable to do anything to advance the lives of millions of victims of the Great Recession, brought about by Republican policies under George W. Bush!

The Ten Senate Republicans Who Supported The Employment NonDiscrimination Act

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The Employment NonDiscrimination Act was approved by the US Senate this week by a vote of 64-32, including 54 Democrats and 10 Republicans, who agreed that to allow discrimination against workers based on sexual orientation or gender identity was immoral, unethical, simply wrong in America in 2013.

At the same time, 32 Republican Senators continued to show no concern about such discrimination, and in so doing, condemned themselves in history, as much as those opposed to the Civil Rights laws passed over time to ban discrimination against Americans, based upon race, ethnicity, national origin, gender, and disability.

The House of Representatives majority would back such legislation, but it is clear that Speaker of the House John Boehner, personally opposed to the bill, will not call for a vote, because he knows a large percentage of his own party would vote against it, so it will likely languish until the Democrats can win a majority of the House in future years.

The honor roll of those Republicans who showed a conscience and principle include:

John McCain of Arizona
Susan Collins of Maine
Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire
Jeff Flake of Arizona
Rob Portman of Ohio
Lisa Murkowski of Alaska
Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania
Mark Kirk of Illinois
Orrin Hatch of Utah
Dean Heller of Nevada

Notice that not even one Senator from the South supported ENDA. One would have thought that, possibly, Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker of Tennessee, Richard Burr of North Carolina, and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, sometimes open minded on some issues, would have done so, but the power of the Tea Party, religious groups that promote prejudice and hate in the name of their brand of Christianity, and the reality of reelection contests for Alexander and Graham in particular, make that impossible.

After all, being reelected is more important than doing the right thing for the long run of history, right?

Virginia Unlikely To See Democratic Agenda Accomplished With Heavily Republican Legislature, And Florida Could Have Same Scenario A Year From Now!

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It is great news for Democrats that Terry McAuliffe has been elected Governor of Virginia over right wing extremist Ken Cuccinelli, but sadly, with the legislature being heavily Republican, the prediction is that little of the new Governor’s agenda for reform is likely to be adopted.

And after the election for Governor in Florida in 2014, even if former Republican Governor Charlie Crist, turned Independent in 2010 for the Senate race, and now Democratic for the gubernatorial race, succeeds in defeating highly unpopular Governor Rick Scott, the GOP hold on the legislature is still likely to be very powerful, and prevent Crist from accomplishing much of what his agenda might be.

So two key states, and possibly more, with decisions of voters to split power, will be just as paralyzed in the ability to have progress, and be as stymied to a great extent, as in Washington, DC, with a Republican House of Representatives and a Democratic Senate.

The argument that divided government is better government has been shown over and over again to be totally lacking in validity, as all it produces most of the time is stalemate and gridlock!

Advancements On Gay Rights, But Plenty Of Struggle Ahead

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The vote of the US Senate yesterday to agree to overcome a potential filibuster, and allow a final vote on ENDA (Employment Non-Discrimination Act) is a great move forward on civil rights.

The proposed law, discussed for many years, would ban employers from firing, refusing to hire, or discriminating against workers or job applicants based on their sexual orientation or gender identity.

The procedural vote was 61-30 with 54 Democrats (all but Claire McCaskill, who was not present), and 7 Republicans (Susan Collins, Kelly Ayotte, Dean Heller, Mark Kirk,. Rob Portman, Orrin Hatch, and Pat Toomey) in favor.

So the bill will pass the Senate in the next few days, but disturbing is that 30 Republicans had the nerve to vote for continued discrimination, and 8 Republicans were not recorded as voting.

It will be interesting to see if any of these 38 Republicans will vote for the final bill, particularly such Senators as John McCain and Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker and John Thune, who at times have shown some moderation as compared to most in the Senate Republican caucus.

At the same time, Illinois moved today toward final acceptance of gay marriage, making that state the 15th to have gay marriage, going into effect by the summer of 2014.

At the same time, other states seem to be moving in the same direction, including Hawaii, Nevada, New Mexico, Colorado, Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, although at different measurements of progress.

Regarding the ENDA legislation, IF Speaker John Boehner allowed an open vote, the legislation would become law, with most Democrats and enough Republicans to make it the law of the land , but Boehner has indicated that he will not allow a vote, which, if it is pursued all the way, would stop any chance to do what is morally right to do, stop job discrimination, So pressure must be brought to convince him to change his mind, and allow a vote even without a majority of his caucus.

Republican House Districts Worse Off Economically, But Vote GOP Anyway Due To Racism, Fear, And Religion!

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Statistics demonstrate that hard line Republican House districts, who have supported Tea Party candidates, and are vehemently anti Barack Obama, have a higher unemployment rate than the average House district.

The rate in the Tea Party districts is around ten percent, while the rate in other Congressional districts is 7.5 to 8 percent, a substantial difference.

One would think that the Republicans who represent these districts would wish to do anything and everything to encourage job growth, and to avoid the disarray of confrontations that undermine economic development, but instead it is the opposite,

When Barack Obama has promoted the need for infrastructure projects and educational investments, that has been enough to convince Tea Party types, plus the GOP leadership in both houses, to sit on their hands and refuse to cooperate in any fashion!

One would imagine that the voters of these districts, who elected these representatives, would begin to realize that they are playing politics, refusing to allow Barack Obama to have any ability to claim any progress economically, but at the expense of their constituents, who would benefit from such economic progress.

But instead, the emphasis is on fear of the “black” President from “Kenya”, obvious racism, and instead invoking religion, which should have no place in the public sphere, so we see emphasis on abortion and gay marriage to scare these constituents into voting for representatives who do not give a damn about them, and are even willing to cut food stamps, which benefit many of their own population, especially considering that the majority on food stamps nationally are white!

The ignorance and prejudice of so many people in these Tea Party districts, and other Republican districts, is absolutely mind boggling!

Conservatives And Republicans Want People To Have Inferior Health Care—AMAZING!

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Conservatives and Republicans have viciously opposed ObamaCare, not giving a damn about whether tens of millions of Americans have health care coverage, even though that makes health care more expensive for taxpayers when these people go to emergency rooms, or else these people die, which they seem not to care about!

But, having failed to prevent ObamaCare, and complaining about its difficult roll out, as if they wanted it to succeed, now they are complaining that millions of people with independent coverage, who have crappy health care contracts, are being forced to get new coverage that covers more areas, has lower costs, better conditions, and will prevent people from losing coverage, or be told that preexisting conditions are not covered!

Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee and Fox News Channel right wing talk show host Sean Hannity lead a whole group of charlatans, who are working to mislead consumers, and make ObamaCare an issue that they can exploit for political gain, while working to convince people that they are being exploited, rather than the truth that they are being given a chance for FAR BETTER health care coverage!

These right wingers do not know how to tell the truth, because if they do, they know the conservative movement will recede into the dustbin of history, as not caring about the health care needs of the American people!

Remember that the basis of ObamaCare is both the basis of the Heritage Foundation plan for health care of 1993 and of RomneyCare in 2006 in Massachusetts, but neither source will dare admit the truth, and expect Mitt Romney to say the same this Sunday on Meet the Press, the reason why he had no chance to win the Presidency in 2012! Romney could not tell the truth if he tried, and stands out as the biggest liar of any Presidential candidate in modern history!

Cuts In Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (Food Stamps): Is This The Moral And “Christian” Thing To Do?

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The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (Food Stamps), promoted in a bipartisan way by past Senators George McGovern (D) South Dakota and Bob Dole (R) Kansas, both nominees of their party for the Presidency, was designed to make certain that children, single mothers, the disabled, veterans, and the elderly would always have help in providing a decent amount of food for their nutrition and health, as hungry people get sick more often, and it undermines growth and accomplishment of children in particular.

A country which would allow its unfortunate poor to starve, to have inadequate nutrition, while at the same time providing subsidies to corporate farm interests is a country in spiritual trouble!

The average food stamp recipient receives $133 a month, about $1.50 a meal. Can anyone seriously believe that they can afford to eat at such a low cost? What it means is that toward the end of the month, there is no money for food, and children go to school hungry, and adults get sick from hunger and lack of nutrition.

Is this the moral and “Christian” thing to do? Apparently, Paul Ryan and Michele Bachmann and other Republicans are very eager to deny the poor the basic sustenance of life, while also opposing them gaining any health care coverage! So a new cut in food stamps is about to go into effect at the end of business today, despite Democratic attempts to prevent it. The average recipient will lose $36 per month of their present allotment!

And these and others in their party are insistent that women MUST carry pregnancies to term, but once a child is born, to hell with whether his or her mother has the ability to feed them and keep them healthy!

So the goal is to make them poor, keep them poor, and make sure the rich continue to gain tax cuts and benefits at the expense of the poor!

Are Paul Ryan and Michele Bachmann and others “good Christians”?

This is the hypocrisy of so called “religious” people who, unlike other good hearted Christians, fight against the message of their faith, to care about the poor, and do nothing to harm them. Shame on them!