US House Of Representatives

Republican Party Attempt To Defund “ObamaCare” Does Not Offer Alternative Program For Millions Of Americans!

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The battle is on within the extreme right wing of the Republican Party to defund “ObamaCare” in the upcoming budget battles, or shut down the government.

Leading the charge are the Tea Party Republicans in the House of Representatives, and 12 Senators, including Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, Marco Rubio, and Mike Lee.

A majority of Senate Republicans are loathe to do what the Tea Party wants, figuring it will cause electoral defeats for the Republicans in the midterm Congressional elections of 2014.

But what this is doing is putting Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, and other more mainstream conservatives, including Speaker of the House John Boehner, in a tough situation, which is causing Tea Party challenges to McConnell, Graham, and others.

But ultimately, the biggest problem is that the Republican Party used to say they supported an alternative to “ObamaCare”, but now there is no such talk, and that means, were “ObamaCare” to be defunded by some manipulation, that millions upon millions of American citizens, who have not had health care insurance, and expected they would now have such coverage, would end up NOT having it!

And that means the Republican Party is saying, “To hell with these less fortunate people! Let them rot, let them do without, let them have to deal with a situation that denies them the “American Dream!””

Is that a message to draw voters, to show that government, and really all of us, have no compassion, and concern for those less fortunate? Is it a good thing to say to children, the elderly, the disabled and sick, and poorer citizens that they do not matter? That all that matters is acquisition of wealth and assets by the fortunate minority of Americans?

Is this the kind of country we want in the future in the 21st century?

Republicans And Medical Doctors In Congress: Do They Care About Health Issues?

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When one looks at the 113th Congress, one discovers that there are 17 medical doctors in the House of Representatives, and three medical doctors in the US Senate.

Of these 20 physicians, 16 are members of the Republican Party—13 in the House and all 3 in the Senate.

And all of these Republican medical professionals are the type that any intelligent, informed person would avoid like the plague, as they have shown in their votes, their statements, and in their actions, that they do not have the well being of the American people in mind, but rather are simply capitalists who were in medicine for the profit, rather than for the well being of their patients! They are all anti abortion, and many have no concept of what rape is, and the issue of a woman having a right to an abortion under such circumstances!

So we have Congressman Scott DesJarlais of Tennessee, who like all the GOP doctors, is an anti abortion, “family” doctor, who not only condemns abortion but also adultery, but is known for having cheated on his wife, had asked a mistress to undertake an abortion, and has had numerous affairs, all the time invoking Jesus Christ and claiming he has been forgiven for his sins. His stupid constituents proceeded to reelect him to his House Seat, so what can one say?

And we have Congressman Paul Broun of Georgia, whose specialty is Family Medicine, running for the US Senate in 2014, who condemns science, believing it is the devil’s work! He rejects evolution and yet is representing the congressional district which includes Athens, Georgia, where the University of Georgia is located. He has been reelected by his district, and is a member of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, even though he rejects the concept of science and space!

And we have Texas Congressman Michael Burgess, Georgia Congressman Phil Gingrey, and Tennessee Congressman David Roe, all of whom are Obstetrician-Gynecologists, but have no understanding of what rape is, and how a woman should have the right to an abortion resulting from abortion!

It is interesting to point out that of the 13 Republican Congressmen who are medical doctors, 9 are from the South—three from Georgia, two from Tennessee, three from Louisiana, and one from Texas! With the kind of record these Southern Congressmen have on the issue of science and medicine, one has to wonder about their credentials, and why they keep on being reelected by their constituents!

And then there are the three Republican doctors in the US Senate—Wyoming Senator John Barrasso who is an Orthopedic Surgeon; Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn, who is a Family Medicine specialist; and last, but not least, Kentucky Senator Rand Paul, an Ophthalmologist, who has accreditation from his own created organization, rejecting the national organization that accredits eye doctors!

Need more be said about Medical Doctors and the Republican Party? No wonder that comedian Bill Maher ridiculed them on a recent show!

The Supreme Court Has Set America Back On Basic Fairness And Justice!

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The Supreme Court of the United States is a much revered body, but sadly, in recent years, under Chief Justice John Roberts, the concept of America as a nation based on fairness and justice has suffered setbacks!

There is much evidence of this, but two key developments demonstrate how much the Supreme Court has set back progress!

The Citizens United Case of 2010 has allowed the rise of tremendous corporate spending and that by religious and social conservatives, leading to the rise and influence of the Tea Party Movement, and allowing the creation of stalemated, gridlock government under President Barack Obama, with the first time ever situation of a Republican House of Representatives and a Democratic Senate, with the GOP controlling the purse strings of government, and blocking all attempts to create jobs or promote legislation which advances the American nation. Instead, our government is being influenced by anarchists, couched in libertarianism, with the Koch Brothers and other wealthy corporate interests having undue influence on the deterioration of the rights of women, minorities, gays, and labor, along with attacks on any government regulation of the environment!

And the decision in June of this year, negating part of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, has now allowed many Republican state governments to pass legislation, taking away the basic right of voting on the false concept that voter fraud has been present and widespread, a total lie!

So the rights of minorities, the elderly, poor people, and college students are being curbed, and that is why the Justice Department under Attorney General Eric Holder is bringing laws suits under the curbed Voting Rights Act, trying to reverse the discriminatory legislation on voting in many Southern states, Midwest States, and Great Plains States, all designed to fix the results so that likely Democratic voters will be denied the basic tenet of democracy, the right to vote for one’s government leaders!

It took until the early 20th century under Theodore Roosevelt to gain legislation to take power over government away from the corporations of the Gilded Age, and it took until Lyndon B. Johnson in the 1960s to gain legislation so that all Americans could vote without discrimination!

Now in just three and a half years, the Republican dominated Supreme Court has rejected what TR and LBJ worked so hard to accomplish!

So the battle to overcome the Supreme Court right wing direction is on, and we cannot afford to allow the Court to take away our democracy–a government of, by, and for the people!

Two Political Giants Pass From The Scene: Lindy Boggs And William Scranton!

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In just the past couple of days, two Political Giants, one a Democrat and a woman, the other a man and a Republican, have passed from the scene, and their deaths remind us of the fact that there have been quality politicians in both parties, but the number who are such is rapidly declining!

Former Louisiana Congresswoman Lindy Boggs, the widow of former Congressman Hale Boggs, and the mother of ABC journalist Cokie Roberts, died at the age of 97. One of the greatest women ever to serve in Congress, she won her husband’s seat after he was tragically killed in a small plane over Alaska, with his body never being found, in 1972. Lindy Boggs served almost 18 years in her Louisiana House district, winning the last few times as the only white Representative in Congress to represent a majority black district. She served as the Chairwoman of the 1976 Democratic National Convention which nominated Jimmy Carter and Walter Mondale. She was outspoken on the subject of civil rights, and was the first woman to serve in Congress from her state. Boggs also served as Ambassador to the Vatican, the Holy See, in the second term of Bill Clinton’s Presidency from 1997-2001.

And her daughter, Cokie Roberts, became a well known, outstanding journalist on ABC for a few decades, adding much to the profession of television journalism!

Lindy Boggs was truly an elegant lady, and a woman who stands out as one of the best ever to serve in the halls of Congress!

Just today, news came of the death of former Republican Governor of Pennsylvania, William Scranton at age 96, who became very prominent as a one term Governor from 1963-1967, after serving one term in the House of Representatives. A progressive or liberal Republican, and proud of that appellation, Scranton ran a last ditch Presidential campaign against fellow Republican, Senator Barry Goldwater, attempting to stop his nomination for President in 1964.

Scranton came from a wealthy family which had founded Scranton, Pennsylvania, and was an inheritor of a fortune made in iron, coal, and railroads. He brought about education reform, including the community college system in his state. He also served as UN Ambassador in 1976, the last year of the Gerald Ford Presidency, and also headed a committee to investigate the Kent State University and Jackson State College tragedies which occurred after the US invasion of Cambodia in 1970 under President Richard Nixon during the Vietnam War! He also was asked by Nixon to be his Secretary of State, but declined, and was considered to be Gerald Ford’s Vice Presidential running mate in 1976, but passed by for Senator Bob Dole of Kansas!

The loss of two principled, decent politicians, such as Lindy Boggs and William Scranton, is a loss to American politics, and we can only hope for more people entering politics with the kind of stature and dignity that these two individuals personified!

Financial And Sexual Scandals Seem More Endemic Than Ever!

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Even for one who loves politics, it is becoming disillusioning how politicians seem unable to control their behavior, whether financial or sexual!

So just now, we see Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell facing the end of his political career, even as he is due to finish the one term limited office in his state, with the possibility of having to resign before the end of the term, facing possible prison time if put on trial for his willingness to accept massive gifts for himself and his family from corporate interests who do business with the state of Virginia, and dreams of being President going by the wayside!

And Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett seems to be facing similar accusations, and probable political destruction, proving once again that Republican officeholders are particularly obsessed with money, never having enough of it, and thinking that they are entitled to favors from their corporate friends!

But then Democrats have problems with sexual scandals, not unique to them, but right now the center of the political realities in San Diego and New York City!

San Diego Democratic Mayor Bob Filner, once a quite outstanding Congressman, hardly in his first term as Mayor, is obviously a male chauvinist, who is unable to control his behavior with women, is under fire to resign, refuses to do so, and instead is undergoing soon a two week course in how to behave, as if a 70 year old man with a major problem, can somehow resolve it almost overnight! To top it off, he is being sued for sexual harassment, and wants his legal fees paid by the city government of San Diego! What gall, and outrageous conduct, and Filner needs to be run out of town on a rail, so to speak!

And the biggest story in New York City is not the problems the city faces, but the inability of former Congressman Anthony Weiner to stop sexting, after having been caught at it two years, forcing him to resign, and claiming he had changed his behavior when he announced for Mayor, and then the discovery that he had continued to sext even recently, in an embarrassing charade for New York CIty, for his wife, and for his own reputation! And yet, he refused to quit the Mayoral race, leaving it to the voters in the primary in six weeks, to determine his fate! This man is eating up all the oxygen in the room, and the thought that he could be Mayor of the nation’s largest city is enough to make the whole concept of the importance of the Mayoralty a total joke! His wife needs to stop defending him, and push him out of the race, or else declare she is leaving him, divorcing him, and condemning him, as anything else only hurts the whole point of a suffering wife making clear she is not going to tolerate such public misbehavior any longer!

And ironically, this Weiner caper is undermining the Bill and Hillary Clinton reputation, reminding voters of the unfortunate willingness of Hillary to tolerate Bill’s sexual misbehavior, supposedly to promote her own political career, but demeaning the concept of what a wife’s reaction to her husband’s misdeeds should be!

Who can say that this Weiner disaster might not affect Hillary Clinton’s supposed status as frontrunner for the Democratic Presidential nomination? Every day this goes on, it is as if it is dripping poison on the image of the Clintons, for those who believe in common decency in their politicians, something we are failing to see much too often at any point, but most notably right now!

Sniping Back And Forth Among Republicans: Wonderful To Witness!

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It is very clear that the Republican Party is bitterly divided on strategy toward President Obama, and on the issue of foreign policy and national security.

So we are witnessing sniping back and forth, and this is a hint of what is to come, as the Presidential rivalries heat up in the coming months!

Examples of the sniping are that between Arizona Senator John McCain and Texas Senator Ted Cruz, with it being clear that the two Senators have no love lost for each other.

At the same time, we see Governor Chris Christie supportive of the gathering of intelligence by the National Security Agency and Central Intelligence Agency, due to the reality that New Jersey suffered the second most losses on September 11, 2001, and being critical of those who are libertarian, such as Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky!

Also, New York Congressman Peter King of Long Island has attacked the Tea Party Movement Republicans who were against aid to New York and New Jersey after Super Storm Sandy last fall!

And Rand Paul, Ted Cruz, Mike Lee of Utah, and Marco Rubio of Florida have been criticized for their threat to shut the government down if ObamaCare is not defunded, with major critics being John McCain, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, Roy Blunt of Missouri, and Richard Burr of North Carolina!

And Establishment Republicans such as former Governor Jeb Bush of Florida, former Utah Governor and Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman, former Republican National Chairman Michael Steele, and George W. Bush adviser Karl Rove are shaking their heads at the splintering of the party, and the recklessness of many of the younger members of the party in the House of Representatives and Senate, as they well know that the future of the party is in tatters, if this extremist wing is allowed to become the face and image of the party! Finally,

Finally, Iowa Congressman Steve King’s ranting against immigrants has led to condemnation by Speaker of the House John Boehner and others in the Republican Party.

It looks more than ever as if the GOP is on the way to the worst Presidential defeat for their party since the demise of Barry Goldwater in 1964, nearly fifty years ago, and even Goldwater now looks “moderate” by comparison, and far less reckless!

Defunding ObamaCare Demonstrating Cracks In Republican Party And Its Final Demise!

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It looks more than ever that a full scale civil war is erupting in the Republican Party in Congress, with 60 Tea Party radicals in the House and 12 Senators joining together to create a new budget and financial crisis with President Obama and the Democrats, unless defunding of ObamaCare is accomplished, but facing vehement opposition from the majority of Republicans in the Senate, and leaving Mitch McConnell, the Senate Republican leader, trying to avoid the crossfire and save his own seat in next year’s midterm elections!

The Tea Party is a bunch of anarchistic lunatics, and prominent Senators, including Senators Rand Paul of Kentucky, Ted Cruz of Texas, and Marco Rubio of Florida, by allowing themselves to associate with this extremist group, are setting up. not only a political donnybrook among their own competing desires to be the GOP Presidential nominee, but insuring a conflict of massive proportions with “Establishment” Republicans, and even, fellow conservatives, who see what they are attempting to do to destroy funding of ObamaCare as suicidal, giving the Democrats a fantastic platform which could help to wipe out the Republican majority House of Representatives, and any chance of the GOP to gain six seats and control of the US Senate!

Among the Republicans who have denounced any move on defunding ObamaCare, while not agreeing with the program, are:

Tom Coburn of Oklahoma
Ron Johnson of Wisconsin
John McCain of Arizona
Roy Blunt of Missouri
Richard Burr of North Carolina

Mitch McConnell is trying to stay out of the crossfire, and so is Speaker of the House John Boehner, who is facing pressure from Michele Bachmann and other Tea Party House members.

The more rational Republicans listed above, while certainly strong conservatives, see the GOP being portrayed as reckless and being run by the inmates of an insane asylum, if they were to create a new fiscal crisis, at a time when they desperately want to have the possibility of Republican control of both houses!

Can one just imagine now what it will be like when the ambitious Tea Party Presidential seekers compete against each other, and face the Establishment types in the caucuses, primaries, and national convention three years from now?

It will be great entertainment, great political theater, and we will all be able to watch and witness the disintegration, the dissolution, the crumbling, and the destruction of a once great political party, insuring what will happen anyway, due to the Electoral College math—the election of a Democratic President and a stronger Democratic Party in the future!

The Republican Party is fighting against demographic change and the tides of history, and they are insuring their vanishing from American politics if they continue their destructive path, which seems like an ongoing tornado that cannot be stopped! They MUST stop listening to FOX News Channel and conservative talk show hosts, who have no concern about the future, other than their own financial gains and notoriety!

60th Anniversary Of Castro Revolution In Cuba: What Is The Future?

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60 years ago on this day, Fidel Castro led a failed attempt to seize an army barracks, which is marked as the beginning of his revolutionary uprising against Fulgencio Batista, leading after five and a half years of struggle to his seizure of power in Havana on January 1, 1959.

Fidel Castro gave up power due to medical problems in 2006, after 47 plus years of leadership, but his brother Raul succeeded him, and the Castro dynasty is still in power in Cuba after 54 and a half years, and Fidel Castro will be 87 years of age nest month, and is reported in good health.

Fidel Castro, as evil a man as he is, will go down as the most significant Latin American government leader of the past century of history, with only Juan Peron of Argentina a weak second behind him.

The effect of Cuba on the international scene has been massive, considering the fact that Cuba never made a dent in world affairs before Castro, and we nearly had nuclear war between the US and the Soviet Union 51 years ago, a year and a half after a failed American attempt to use Cuban exiles to overthrow him in the Bay of Pigs fiasco!

And our domestic politics has been profoundly affected by the loyalty of the few million Cuban Americans to the Republican Party, making them a distinct Hispanic group in their political behavior, particularly in Florida!

We have also seen three Cuban US Senators–Robert Menendez of New Jersey, Marco Rubio of Florida, and Ted Cruz of Texas–who have a great impact in the US Senate, as well as a few in the House of Representatives. Menendez is the lone Cuban Democrat who has made it to a prominent position, Chairman of The Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

The question is what will happen when Fidel and Raul Castro leave the scene, at least officially in 2018, according to the plans of Raul Castro to retire. How will Cuba evolve, and how will the United States react to change in Cuba? Will democracy develop in Cuba or come about by a new revolution, or will the Castro influence and Communism persist in Cuba?

This island, just 90 miles from the Florida Keys, will become the center of world politics again very soon, and what happens there will affect America domestically and in foreign affairs for the long term future, just as it has for the past six decades!

The Castro brothers have managed to survive in power through the terms of 11 Presidents from Dwight D. Eisenhower to Barack Obama! It is an amazing story just by that reality!

Iowa Republican Congressman Steve King Has Gone Too Far In His Depiction Of Hispanic-Latino Immigrants!

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Iowa Republican Congressman Steve King is well known as one of the wackiest, craziest, and most divisive members of the Republican caucus in the House of Representatives, sharing that distinction with Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann and Texas Congressman Louie Gohmert, and in the recent past, former Florida Congressman Allen West and former Illinois Congressman Joe Walsh!

King has depicted Hispanic and Latino immigrants as “dogs”, “livestock”, and as “drug dealers”, and he has also called for an electrified barbed wire fence between Mexico and the United States. He is against the DREAM Act, to allow the law abiding children of immigrants who came here illegally to be able to move toward eventual citizenship, including a requirement for military service or college education!

Speaker of the House John Boehner at least had the good sense to condemn King’s remarks as hateful, and Eric Cantor, the House Majority Leader, said it was inexcusable rhetoric.

But that is not enough, as to spew such hatred on the floor of Congress should lead to a censure of Steve King for incendiary behavior unbecoming a member of Congress. The Republican Party needs to repudiate such language in strong terms, and work to undermine any influence this nightmare member of their caucus has!

If not, the GOP is guaranteed to lose any opportunity to gain, even in the long run, the support of a substantial percentage of those of Hispanic or Latino origin!

The “Poverty Belt” And The Republican Party

Ronald 12 Comments

America has a “Poverty Belt”, recently outlined by the Centers for Disease Control, states that have higher rates of poverty (30 percent or more), and substantially lower life expectancy.

These states are, not surprisingly, the Confederate South of the Civil War years except for Virginia and Florida; along with Kentucky and Missouri, two states of the “Border” South which had slavery, but stayed loyal to the Union during the Civil War; and West Virginia and Oklahoma–therefore, a total of 13 states!

These 13 states have not only extreme poverty and lower life expectancy rates, but also high levels of poor education, higher crime rates, poor nutrition, higher unemployment, inadequate food and housing, and less access to quality health care.

And these states with the highest poverty percentages are dominated by the Republican Party, and won all of their electoral votes in 2012, and most have Republican state legislatures and Republican Governors, and elect mostly Republicans to the House of Representatives and US Senate.

Do Republicans, by their words and actions, give a damn about these horrific conditions in their states?

The answer, clearly, is NO, and no one can claim otherwise, as the reality on the ground proves this sad fact!

The question is WHY the voters of these 13 states constantly vote to send, to the state capitals and Washington, DC, individuals who show a callousness to their plight, and set out to make certain that conditions can never improve! What is in the psyche of these voters that they do not get the message that the GOP is not concerned about them, and instead works to limit the freedom and justice of African Americans, Latinos and Hispanics, women, the elderly, and the young?

And, instead of wishing to make the lives of working class or poor whites better, the intention instead is to promote ignorance and fear among them to keep power, and do nothing to improve the lot in life of the citizenry of their states!

What could be more despicable and outrageous than that reality?