The nation of Spain ground to a halt yesterday
By louisehartmann
Working people across that nation went on strike and took to the streets to protest an austerity budget being pushed by their new government. It’s the same sort of social unrest that’s followed austerity measures in Greece, the U.K., and Italy. And it’s the same sort of austerity budget that Republicans just passed out of the House of Representatives yesterday, approving multi-millionaire Congressman Paul Ryan’s budget. In a vote of 221 to 191 – the Ryan Budget passed the House – but is dead on arrival in the Senate.
Ten Republicans joined the unanimous Democratic opposition – although many of those Republicans likely voted “no” because the budget doesn’t go far enough in crashing the economy. Under the Ryan Budget – government discretionary spending will fall to its lowest level in 50 years – that means benefits for veterans, senior citizens, the poor, the sick, students – all of it will be slashed. Meanwhile – big oil gets $40 billion in corporate welfare – and Paul Ryan would give American billionaires a $3 trillion tax cut.
If you think what’s happening in Europe can’t possibly happen in the United States – think again. If the Republicans win in November – their radical billionaire/bankster/oil agenda will tear this nation apart.
Comments
#2
My prayer is that we can wake up and act like the sovereign citizens we are under the constitution. Unfortunately it might have to get worse before it gets better. In a way, voting Republicans into office will probably hasten the awakening. Once we awake we can do away with all the bad laws anyways.
Seriously, Obama and otherwise reasonable politicians will only allow the crazy world we live in to continue. A Republican couldn’t get away with the stuff Obama is doing (like assassinating US citizens). I’m voting for the craziest Republican into office so they can overreach for the rich and cause the necessary backlash to change the corrupt system we live under.
#3
Those who I shall call Negative Elites ARE at the end of their rope. Their control over both political parties IS about to blow up in their face. Their arrogance is unfathomable. Mother Earth IS about to achieve the next level of consciousness. Those that are going with her have nothing to fear. Those who cannot reach this new level of consciousness will have to go elsewhere. It IS all good. We ARE co-creating Heaven on Earth. Within the blink of an eye, we will all look back at this drama and wonder how it could have possibly consumed us the way it does.
"The people responsible for the atrocities we witness around the world consist of a minuscule fraction of the 7-billion people evolving on this planet. These wayward sisters and brothers of ours have absolutely NO POWER over the Light."
Coulove
#4
Do this HERE,NOW!!!!
Start the Socialist Revolution!!!!
#5
I hope enough Americans--mostly independents and moderate Republicans--can see through the Republican lies and propaganda and vote for candidates who will not take the country down the austerity path. I was at the Biden rally yesterday in Milwaukee where the VP told us, "Did you notice that the Republicans are not hiding the ball?" Of course, he meant that in the Republican debates, the GOP candidates are telling everyone in the nation exactly what they would do. It's only the low-information voters we have to fear. All I can hope id that more Americans will get educated to what the whacky Republicans are up to. Where have I heard that before?
#6
No doubt that the Repubs are worse than the Dems but not by all that much. And, remember, as the Repubs move to the right, so do the Dems. While most of what is said is true of the Repubs, failure to criticize Dems makes it all sound very disingenuous and like shills for the Dems and Obama. You should be pointing out that Obama is a Clinton corporatist and the Dems are a corporate party even as the Repubs are an uber-corporate party. The corporatization of America and The Second Gilded Age are the results of bipartisan efforts. And, now Obama is moving us ever closer to a police state. When that police state materializes and merges with our current level of corporatism, we have Mussolini-type fascism. It is happening here. We need democracy, not corporatocracy.
#7
So did anyone else hear about the shooting of a young black man in Pasadena today? If they aren't careful, we will have a race war on our hands, maybe.
The police acted on a fake 911 call and shot this young black man because they "thought" he was armed and threatening them. He was unarmed. And threatening them...I don't know...was he wearing a hoodie? Now that would be threatening, huh?
The Pasadena police department said they were very sorry and they were going to charge the 911 caller with murder charges. Like these so-called highly trained professionals, unlike Zimmerman in Florida, who shot an unarmed young black man will likely not go through what Zimmerman is now going through. They will, maybe, get a slap on the wrist and sent on their way.
#8
Surely no one thinks that, with all that is happening everywhere else in the world, that the US will avoid the kind of confrontations that are occurring elsewhere. It is inevitable! Some may believe that voting Obama back in will stave it off. But, it won't. It may, if anything, delay it. And I think it is true that if the Republicans get voted in (or they cheat their way in...with the stacked SCOTUS, perhaps, helping them out once again)...things could get messy even sooner.
I know the Republican politicians would love this but I'm not so sure that the ruling elite would relish the thought of what might happen. The ruling elite want to keep people fooled as long as they can...and if it takes putting Obama back in to satiate the cravings of the hope mongers...they'll not be disappointed if Obama is re-elected.
I realize that Obama will not be any better after winning the election than he was the last term. And I tend to agree that many Democrats are also, right along with the Republicans, sucking on the nipples of the corporate pigs, Wall Street, and the banksters, etc (aka: the ruling elite). They both are like jackals ripping apart the carcass of America for their own selfish whims..either that or they think of themselves as pragmatists who may not like it but have to play the game that is dealt them..which would mean that they know the system has been corrupted by big money..and like it or not..will continue to play the game. Some politicians have dropped out of the game out of frustration..others stay in and continue to be the useful idiots of the ruling elite.
But there are a few, including Bernie Sanders, an Independent, who is more of what a Democrat should be than most of them. What if the Democrats of Vermont had convinced their voters to vote strictly Democrat...we would not have gotten Bernie Sanders. Maybe we need more Independents like Bernie Sanders? Certainly not like Lieberman!!!
But, I think the stupid right wingers like Zimmerman and the Pasadena police may very well work against the Republican party when it comes to re-electing Obama. Public opinion is swelling up against these right wing bastards.
I'd much rather an Obama than a Romney...Romney is just downright unthinkable...what a scumbag in what he did to all those hard working Americans when he and his company trashed all those American companies for a fast buck. We don't need a traitor like that as our President!!
#9
Once again the tea-bag crazy REPUBLICANS, representatiives of the wealthy few, arrogantly assume come November, Big Daddy Rove, the Kochs, and Fox will hide this obvious truth from the at least 51% of the voters.
Richard Hanna who happens to be the Koch's (R, rep.) from my NY District voted in favor of the Ryan plan again. In addition to representing the Kochs he also represents a handful of right wing multi millionaires living in the district, that's it! The best interests of the rest of us, the 99%, can go to hell, we have no representation, only austerity rhetoric used to justify more tax cuts for the handful Hanna represents. Hanna and his REPUBLICAN House cohorts will continue to undermine our Democracy until "We The People" vote to end this oligarchical madness.
Every chance I get I expose the truth behind Hanna and the anti democratic motivations of those like him. What I have found, and I know Thom's callers have expressed the same frustration, is that a lot of citizens have little interest in politics and what they do know comes from Fox TV. These voters are hair-trigger vulnerable to tactics such as the last minute deceptions contained in Rove ads. I know folks who still believe President Obama is a Muslim, a non US citizen who pals around with terrorists. Keeping all of this in mind I think it's important when talking to friends and neighbors to keep the political facts short and simple. Great examples of this are contained in Thom's blog, in the Ryan budget plan big oil gets 40 billion in corporate welfare, so as you're filling your car up tell the guy next to you, that's what the Republicans voted YES on and the Democrats NO. The REPUBLICANS like Hanna want to give billionaires another 3 TRILLION dollar tax cut so austerity politics can be used to undo democracy and all gains made during the last century, programs like Social Security, say that too.
If the Republican/Tea party win in November not only will there be national general strikes, violent uprising in my opinion is highly probable. Let's make sure this doesn't happen, tell everyone you know, OCCUPY, OCCUPY.......... and then get out and vote for Democracy.
#10
That's kind of a dangerous tactic. I'm going to vote for the one who seems to represent my views. Will that candidate PLEASE step forward? Dennis?
#11
I'm going ALL BLUE in Virginia . . . my War on Women's vote!
#12
Why is it that veterans, senior citizens, the poor, the sick, and students are always the ones to suffer? Why not cut the salaries of those in office? Why not cut the monies to unions, environmentalists, and those that can raise their own money?
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Some people will blame unique slots for everything when they are just trying to cover up for a corrupt government that is running out of money.
#13
Why not institute a maximum wage, set a tax rate of 100% on all income above $20,000,000.00?
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You are hard to contact via phone, but a couple of points I'd like you to address:
Trayvon Martin was chased down by George Zimmerman after being told by a 911 operator to AVOID contact. Therefore, there is no defense to Zimmerman's action because Zimmerman was NOT standing his ground; he chose to initiate a confrontation with Martin, who was trying to AVOID a standoff.
On a completely different topic that you did cover today, my mother was taken to a hospital in a coma when she was 42. The hospital noted that she had not paid for treatment of my broken arm, and had not paid for treatment for my brother's broken arm. She was delcared "stabilized" and shipped to a state hospital 20 miles away through city traffic. She died before she got there.
As an important note, the hospital, which mainly served psychological patients, was emptied during the Reagan (Raygun) administration, but was subsequently refilled when it was retitled a "correctional" institution; refilled with the previous patients who were then relabeled "criminals."