The Republican Party will be in charge in the House of Representatives as of 01/05/11.
They ran on the platform of Jobs and Debt Reduction.
What makes it interesting is that their first priorities are:
Repealing the health care bill that was passed by the previous congress, start investigations on this administration (by Rep. Issa from California), and vote against the raising of the debt ceiling.
None of the three are the things they campaigned on. Absolutely fascinating.
Let’s start with the first one: Repealing the health care bill. Republicans believe that we should go back to the system that we had before when we had people with pre-conditions being denied by insurance companies, people between 21 and 26 who work in jobs that do not provide insurance coverage will no longer have coverage, having over 50 million with no health coverage, having seniors pay more for medication. And let us not forget that with the health care bill passed in 2010 80% of insurance companies were to be used for coverage. Republicans want to allow insurance to use as much of their fees for profit and for lobbying.
Let us now address Rep. Issa’s idea of investigations. He called Obama the most corrupt president in history on the Rush Limbaugh show, then to rephrase it by saying that the Obama’s administration was corrupt. He included the TARP (Troubled Asset Relief Program) in his blame to the present administration although it was proposed and passed by the Bush administration in 2008. Republicans have done a remarkable job of taking NO BLAME for the mess that they left to Obama. When Obama came into office in January of 2008 the country was loosing of 700,000 jobs a month. We were heading into a depression. The banking system was in total collapse, the auto industry was in total collapse. But it is all Obama’s fault. Rep. Issa wants to investigate this administration rescue of the auto industry. He also wants to roll back regulations. The lack of them is what got us into the situation we were in the first two years of this administration. Republicans have always had a cozy relationship with big business, and the proof was the last election where the Chamber of Commerce funded republican candidates around the country. But Rep. Issa has elevated this coziness to the next level. He sent 1500 letters to businesses inquiring what regulations they would like repealed. Where I come from we call that absolute “prostitution”. What is then the function of government if we allow business to decide everything? We already have it through lobbyists but at least it is done with a little bit more of class.
And last but not least: the debt ceiling. The Tea Party members, both freshmen and others, are campaigning to not allow the increase in the debt ceiling. As one who believes that the government should not spend more than what it takes, not allowing the debt ceiling to be increase will only put our creditors on warning that we are not going to pay. This will provoke a catastrophe because if foreign nations do not buy our bonds, and finance our government, the dollar will collapse and interest rates will increase. As a liberal I would love for the Tea Party members in the republican party to vote down. They would show the whole country what a bad choice they made last November.
I left out the commitment of the republican party to cut 100 billion worth of spending. In reality the only way of doing that is by cutting the defense budget and increasing taxes on the top 2 % of income earners. But they would never do that.
We will see who they will blame in two years for their failures. It is very easy to be the minority than to share responsibility in governing.
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
The hypocrisy of republicans
The hypocrisy of Republicans keeps surprising even those who, like myself, is almost no longer surprised.
Their new issue on the list for hypocrisy is the bill that pays for the health care for 9/11 volunteers.
9/11 was the biggest attack in American history, it happened under George W. Bush, a republican. They used it as a mantra, instead of being ashamed that they had were caught distracted, they wore it on their sleeves. Mayor Giuliani, in the words of the Vice president candidate Joe Biden, said “a noun, a verb, and 9/11.
But alas, all of the sudden all those volunteers who tried to either rescue victims or did the cleanup are not important, and unless the bill is paid for itself then they will filibuster it.
Taxes for the top percent of incomes do not need to pay for themselves, neither do the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
This reminds me of what they do with their favorite expense in the budget, and the number one reason why we are in the hole that we are, the Department of Defense. And the point of it is that they do exactly the same with the injured in the wars that they not only encourage but shove down the rest of the country’s throat, once they come back screw them. Now it’s their own fault for volunteering, and getting injured. While they are in combat or being trained they are the pride of the country, but they become a drag on society if they come back alive and injured. They are better off dead, or it seems that way. Then they are buried with full honors in Arlington.
And the same thing will happen with the volunteers on 9/11. Now they are a “pain in the ass”, and let them fall through the way side.
What really amazes me the most in the silence on other networks about this issue.
The volunteers are not just New Yorkers, they are Americans.
Their new issue on the list for hypocrisy is the bill that pays for the health care for 9/11 volunteers.
9/11 was the biggest attack in American history, it happened under George W. Bush, a republican. They used it as a mantra, instead of being ashamed that they had were caught distracted, they wore it on their sleeves. Mayor Giuliani, in the words of the Vice president candidate Joe Biden, said “a noun, a verb, and 9/11.
But alas, all of the sudden all those volunteers who tried to either rescue victims or did the cleanup are not important, and unless the bill is paid for itself then they will filibuster it.
Taxes for the top percent of incomes do not need to pay for themselves, neither do the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
This reminds me of what they do with their favorite expense in the budget, and the number one reason why we are in the hole that we are, the Department of Defense. And the point of it is that they do exactly the same with the injured in the wars that they not only encourage but shove down the rest of the country’s throat, once they come back screw them. Now it’s their own fault for volunteering, and getting injured. While they are in combat or being trained they are the pride of the country, but they become a drag on society if they come back alive and injured. They are better off dead, or it seems that way. Then they are buried with full honors in Arlington.
And the same thing will happen with the volunteers on 9/11. Now they are a “pain in the ass”, and let them fall through the way side.
What really amazes me the most in the silence on other networks about this issue.
The volunteers are not just New Yorkers, they are Americans.
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Obama and tax cuts
Today President Obama has probably sealed his fate for 2012 by alienating his supporters in his own party, and leaving himself vulnerable to the wing of the party who want to have a primary instead of just making him the candidate for the Democratic Party. No incumbent who’s had a primary has been re-elected.
The President today caved in to republicans before they even took power.
If this is what we can expect for the next two years the republicans with only majority in only one chamber he will be an irrelevant president. Republicans will underfund, modify or even rollback the health care in which he invested almost half of his presidency, with tremendous use of political capital.
The next two years will demonstrate if this president will hold his own or capitulate in every piece of legislation that the opposition throws at him, and by then he will prove to the country if he should be re-elected.
The President today caved in to republicans before they even took power.
If this is what we can expect for the next two years the republicans with only majority in only one chamber he will be an irrelevant president. Republicans will underfund, modify or even rollback the health care in which he invested almost half of his presidency, with tremendous use of political capital.
The next two years will demonstrate if this president will hold his own or capitulate in every piece of legislation that the opposition throws at him, and by then he will prove to the country if he should be re-elected.
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Outrageous proposal in some southern states
I wrote some time ago about this country not able to move from its racial issues that so haunted its minorities and set this country back at the time.
But we are no any longer in the 50s and early 60s, this is 2010, and we have some state legislatures in the south who are trying to propose presidential candidates to prove their citizenship, and even though it does not say that they want proof that Mr. Obama is a native of the U.S., the language of that proposal is only short of mentioning the president’s name.
These are the same people who were against the civil rights legislation, and who cannot live with the idea that an African American is the head of the Executive Branch of government, a.k.a. president, that he is the commander in chief of the military, and that he is a democrat.
State Legislator Berman from Texas, the proposer of this requirement, first said that he wanted proof of the President’s place of birth, and then admitted that the reason he wants this is because of what he calls "the radical proposals" of our president.
It is amazing that almost 100 years after the end of the civil war in the United States, the defeated states have still not accepted the fact that they were defeated, and that this is a union.
I wonder what President Abraham Lincoln would say about these developments after all this time.
But we are no any longer in the 50s and early 60s, this is 2010, and we have some state legislatures in the south who are trying to propose presidential candidates to prove their citizenship, and even though it does not say that they want proof that Mr. Obama is a native of the U.S., the language of that proposal is only short of mentioning the president’s name.
These are the same people who were against the civil rights legislation, and who cannot live with the idea that an African American is the head of the Executive Branch of government, a.k.a. president, that he is the commander in chief of the military, and that he is a democrat.
State Legislator Berman from Texas, the proposer of this requirement, first said that he wanted proof of the President’s place of birth, and then admitted that the reason he wants this is because of what he calls "the radical proposals" of our president.
It is amazing that almost 100 years after the end of the civil war in the United States, the defeated states have still not accepted the fact that they were defeated, and that this is a union.
I wonder what President Abraham Lincoln would say about these developments after all this time.
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
The Right's Intolerance
We read today that Andrew Shirvell, the Assistant to Michigan Attorney General, has been fired because of cyber bullying a gay student at the University of Michigan for the only reason that he was gay.
To no surprise Mr. Shirvell is a Republican.
The reason I mention his party affiliation is because we have seen during the last 18 months and especially during the campaigns of 2010 that the Republican Party has used methods of brutality, bullying and intolerance. The examples of this were in Alaska when candidate to the US Senate Joe Miller was being questioned by a reporter and one of his bodyguards (ala Sopranos) handcuffed the reporter, only because Mr. Miller felt uncomfortable with the questions. We also saw violence by employees of Rand Paul’s campaign towards peaceful demonstrator, pulling the woman to the ground and then kicking her head.
Since Obama has been sworn in as president we have also seen right wing militia arming itself. We also saw fanatics come to public events armed with AK47s, semi-automatic guns and all kinds of other weaponry. These do not belong at public events unless their owners have other plans, and are considering making use of them.
The amusing thing is that the right in this country says that these things happen to both sides.
I challenge Fox News, who stands to right of Attila the Hun, together with out-of-the-mainstream people such as Rush Limbaugh to show examples of events organized by or for Democrats where these things happen.
If memory doesn’t serve me wrong the last president assassinated in this country was a Democrat and he died to the hands of former marine.
Again, if I am not mistaken, the biggest domestic attack by an American was also a former marine, Gulf War veteran.
It is not a coincidence, I am only interested in the facts, or like former Senator Patrick Moynihan would say: your entitled to your opinion but not to your own facts.
To no surprise Mr. Shirvell is a Republican.
The reason I mention his party affiliation is because we have seen during the last 18 months and especially during the campaigns of 2010 that the Republican Party has used methods of brutality, bullying and intolerance. The examples of this were in Alaska when candidate to the US Senate Joe Miller was being questioned by a reporter and one of his bodyguards (ala Sopranos) handcuffed the reporter, only because Mr. Miller felt uncomfortable with the questions. We also saw violence by employees of Rand Paul’s campaign towards peaceful demonstrator, pulling the woman to the ground and then kicking her head.
Since Obama has been sworn in as president we have also seen right wing militia arming itself. We also saw fanatics come to public events armed with AK47s, semi-automatic guns and all kinds of other weaponry. These do not belong at public events unless their owners have other plans, and are considering making use of them.
The amusing thing is that the right in this country says that these things happen to both sides.
I challenge Fox News, who stands to right of Attila the Hun, together with out-of-the-mainstream people such as Rush Limbaugh to show examples of events organized by or for Democrats where these things happen.
If memory doesn’t serve me wrong the last president assassinated in this country was a Democrat and he died to the hands of former marine.
Again, if I am not mistaken, the biggest domestic attack by an American was also a former marine, Gulf War veteran.
It is not a coincidence, I am only interested in the facts, or like former Senator Patrick Moynihan would say: your entitled to your opinion but not to your own facts.
Sunday, November 7, 2010
The Resuslts of the election of 2010
As we witnessed last Tuesday November 2nd the biggest takeover by corporations through the Chamber the commerce with the with funds from foreign and national large corporations where Democrats were outspent 7 to 1 in many races we should stop and reflect why didn’t the Democrats loose the Senate as they lost the House of Representatives, and the main answer is because people are not convinced with the Republican Party either. If we just look at the candidates that the Republican Party had chosen to run for the Senate we can see that they had no qualifications, they were radicals and racists. There was one exception to that is that the candidate for the House of Representatives for Ohio who even dressed as a Nazi. I give him credit; at least he wore the uniform with whom he felt identified with.
Let us look at some of the Candidates for Senate, particularly Tea Party candidates, such as Sharron Angle, Christine O’Donnell, Ken Buck and Joe Miller. Three of them lost to Democrat candidates including 2 incumbents. We can leave out another unqualified Tea Party favorite Carl Paladino, candidate for Governor of New York state.
We cannot kid ourselves that this is a “grass roots” movement when people like the Koch brothers spent millions funding this supposed cause and gave to Republican candidates to defeat Obama, and we can never forget Karl Rove, whose support comes down to 3 billionaires.
Ron Johnson who defeated Russ Feingold for the Senate seat for Wisconsin outspent his rival 7 to 1. With unprecedented amounts of money being spent in this election, most of it for republicans, we have to thank this radical Supreme Court and its decision to allow unlimited amounts of money from unknown sources to fund campaigns.
We also have to face the facts, Fox News campaigns, raises money, endorses and contributes money to Republican Candidates, something that no other network does or allows of its employees. The amazing thing is they the management of Fox says that their employees such as Sean Hannity and Glen Beck disclose on TV that they contribute financially to the same candidates that they interview, that is absolutely a joke, they never do. Keith Olbermann contributed $2,400.00 to 3 candidates, and was suspended indefinitely. So let’s not kid ourselves that Fox News is fair and balanced. They are not. They are just simply a spokesman of the Republican Party. They should be ashamed of themselves for misleading the public.
In terms of the results of the election, the Republican Party picked up 60 seats, the biggest gain in over 60 years. But if they think that the gains were the result of people liking them better, unless we see substantial improvement in the market place in two years they will be voted out as well. People wanted to punish Obama and the Democrats for a chaos that they inherited with unfunded wars, the TARP fund proposed and passed during the Bush Administration, the meltdown of the financial system during the Bush Administration, the collapse of Chrysler and GM in the first month of the Obama Administration. The proposals of the Pledge to America don’t add up. How can you cut $100 billion from the budget and propose to extend the Bush tax cuts to the top 2 percent of income earners when that alone will create a hole of $740 billion. I guess they use a different math. The reason Democrats got voted out of office is because the economy has made very slow progress, not enough to absorb the big unemployment and thus the low turnout of democratic voters. Although exit polls showed that the government was doing too much to these folks it did not do enough.
Let us look at some of the Candidates for Senate, particularly Tea Party candidates, such as Sharron Angle, Christine O’Donnell, Ken Buck and Joe Miller. Three of them lost to Democrat candidates including 2 incumbents. We can leave out another unqualified Tea Party favorite Carl Paladino, candidate for Governor of New York state.
We cannot kid ourselves that this is a “grass roots” movement when people like the Koch brothers spent millions funding this supposed cause and gave to Republican candidates to defeat Obama, and we can never forget Karl Rove, whose support comes down to 3 billionaires.
Ron Johnson who defeated Russ Feingold for the Senate seat for Wisconsin outspent his rival 7 to 1. With unprecedented amounts of money being spent in this election, most of it for republicans, we have to thank this radical Supreme Court and its decision to allow unlimited amounts of money from unknown sources to fund campaigns.
We also have to face the facts, Fox News campaigns, raises money, endorses and contributes money to Republican Candidates, something that no other network does or allows of its employees. The amazing thing is they the management of Fox says that their employees such as Sean Hannity and Glen Beck disclose on TV that they contribute financially to the same candidates that they interview, that is absolutely a joke, they never do. Keith Olbermann contributed $2,400.00 to 3 candidates, and was suspended indefinitely. So let’s not kid ourselves that Fox News is fair and balanced. They are not. They are just simply a spokesman of the Republican Party. They should be ashamed of themselves for misleading the public.
In terms of the results of the election, the Republican Party picked up 60 seats, the biggest gain in over 60 years. But if they think that the gains were the result of people liking them better, unless we see substantial improvement in the market place in two years they will be voted out as well. People wanted to punish Obama and the Democrats for a chaos that they inherited with unfunded wars, the TARP fund proposed and passed during the Bush Administration, the meltdown of the financial system during the Bush Administration, the collapse of Chrysler and GM in the first month of the Obama Administration. The proposals of the Pledge to America don’t add up. How can you cut $100 billion from the budget and propose to extend the Bush tax cuts to the top 2 percent of income earners when that alone will create a hole of $740 billion. I guess they use a different math. The reason Democrats got voted out of office is because the economy has made very slow progress, not enough to absorb the big unemployment and thus the low turnout of democratic voters. Although exit polls showed that the government was doing too much to these folks it did not do enough.
Monday, November 1, 2010
La muerte del ex-presidente Kirchner
La semana pasada el pueblo argentino vivió varios días de luto por la muerte del ex-presidente Néstor Kirchner, marido de la actual mandataria Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner.
Mucho puede decirse, como también mucho se ha dicho del ex-presidente Kirchner y de la actual cabeza del Poder Ejecutivo pero uno debe de mirar con asombro o con alegria, dependiendo de que lado del espectro uno se encuentre, de la gran cantidad de gente que fue a rendir homenaje, a despedir al lider del Partido Justicialista. Uno puede estar a favor o encontra del hecho de que los restos del ex-mandatario fueran velados en la Casa Rosada en lugar del Congreso, donde tal vez deberían haberse velado dado que no era el actual presidente, pero las puertas estuvieron abiertas desde las 10 de la mañana del jueves hasta casi el mediodía del viernes. Originalmente las puertas se iban a cerrar al público a las 9 de la mañana, pero a esa hora había más de 15 cuadras de gente esperando para pasar por delante del féretro.
Yo, desde la distancia, a pesar de no tener una posición favorable hacia los ultimos dos mandatarios, sus metodos de gobernar, sus posiciones y muchas de sus decisions, seguí por distintos medios tanto del internet como la television gran parte de los acontecimientos.
Hubo muchos aplausos, un hombre cantó el Ave Maria, gente daba apoyo a la presidenta, las madres de la plaza de Mayo estaban presentes, pero lo que me pareció muy importante, como sudamericano que soy, fue la presencia de un gran numero de los presidents de los paises de Sudamerica, incluyendo Lula, Mujica, Evo Morales y Chavez (cosa no sorprendente, dada la inclinación de estos últimos dos y del ex-presidente Kirchner), pero tambien estuvieron el presidente de Colombia, el de Ecuador, y el actual presidente de Chile Piñera Echenique, que viene de un partido de inclinación conservadora, lo que también demuestra que el futuro también pasa por Sudamerica, dado que todas son democracias, y eso produce estabilidad y crecimiento.
Con respecto al ex-presidente fallecido la television pasó una pequeña sinopsis de su mandato, algunas de ellas de character demagójico. Pero cuando la historia se escriba tal vez más importante será la del canje de la deuda externa, que a pesar de haber sido ideada y hecha por el entonces Ministro de Economía Lavagna, se hizo durante su administración.
Ahora vendran días muy interesantes desde el punto de vista politico como también del futuro de la Argentina, con muchas luchas internas del Justicialismo, y en que posición quedará la oposición, si podrá sacar provecho de esos momentos de incertidumbre y confusion. Mucho dependerá del mensaje, las alternativas y la unificación de esa oposición para hacerle frente al partido en el Poder Ejecutivo. Mucho también dependerá como maneje al Secretario de la Confederación General del Trabajo, Hugo Moyano, dado que éste tiene la capacidad de complicar la función de cualquier administración, como lo hizo con el Presidente De La Rúa.
Mucho puede decirse, como también mucho se ha dicho del ex-presidente Kirchner y de la actual cabeza del Poder Ejecutivo pero uno debe de mirar con asombro o con alegria, dependiendo de que lado del espectro uno se encuentre, de la gran cantidad de gente que fue a rendir homenaje, a despedir al lider del Partido Justicialista. Uno puede estar a favor o encontra del hecho de que los restos del ex-mandatario fueran velados en la Casa Rosada en lugar del Congreso, donde tal vez deberían haberse velado dado que no era el actual presidente, pero las puertas estuvieron abiertas desde las 10 de la mañana del jueves hasta casi el mediodía del viernes. Originalmente las puertas se iban a cerrar al público a las 9 de la mañana, pero a esa hora había más de 15 cuadras de gente esperando para pasar por delante del féretro.
Yo, desde la distancia, a pesar de no tener una posición favorable hacia los ultimos dos mandatarios, sus metodos de gobernar, sus posiciones y muchas de sus decisions, seguí por distintos medios tanto del internet como la television gran parte de los acontecimientos.
Hubo muchos aplausos, un hombre cantó el Ave Maria, gente daba apoyo a la presidenta, las madres de la plaza de Mayo estaban presentes, pero lo que me pareció muy importante, como sudamericano que soy, fue la presencia de un gran numero de los presidents de los paises de Sudamerica, incluyendo Lula, Mujica, Evo Morales y Chavez (cosa no sorprendente, dada la inclinación de estos últimos dos y del ex-presidente Kirchner), pero tambien estuvieron el presidente de Colombia, el de Ecuador, y el actual presidente de Chile Piñera Echenique, que viene de un partido de inclinación conservadora, lo que también demuestra que el futuro también pasa por Sudamerica, dado que todas son democracias, y eso produce estabilidad y crecimiento.
Con respecto al ex-presidente fallecido la television pasó una pequeña sinopsis de su mandato, algunas de ellas de character demagójico. Pero cuando la historia se escriba tal vez más importante será la del canje de la deuda externa, que a pesar de haber sido ideada y hecha por el entonces Ministro de Economía Lavagna, se hizo durante su administración.
Ahora vendran días muy interesantes desde el punto de vista politico como también del futuro de la Argentina, con muchas luchas internas del Justicialismo, y en que posición quedará la oposición, si podrá sacar provecho de esos momentos de incertidumbre y confusion. Mucho dependerá del mensaje, las alternativas y la unificación de esa oposición para hacerle frente al partido en el Poder Ejecutivo. Mucho también dependerá como maneje al Secretario de la Confederación General del Trabajo, Hugo Moyano, dado que éste tiene la capacidad de complicar la función de cualquier administración, como lo hizo con el Presidente De La Rúa.
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