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I think that the red state legislatures and governors are getting exactly what they want and unfortunately most of the voters are getting what they deserve. Even sadder is that the people they listen to on the radio and get their information from in other ways will pound into them that its a failure of the 'government' and 'Obama's fault'. They will happily believe it.They will continue to vote for people who could care less about their plight and the cycle will continue.
In theory I agree with this, but in fact... those who reside daily so far below the affordable insurance line are struggling, just to keep a roof over themselves and their family members. I wonder if these voters can afford the time and bus fare to worry about standing in 3+ hour long lines to vote. Mid-term voting usually gets far less participants than Presidential year elections. And sadly, a lot of employers who are giving these people a few hours of work a week are unlikely to be compassionate to their voting needs. The employers are worried about their own bottom lines, and having people in step with their own values which normally do not include below or at minimum wage earners.
The Republicans have aptly been called terrorists as more people die as a result of their cuts (to everything from medicaid, to food stamps, to mosquito control to prevent spread of mosquito borne diseases, etc.) than many 9/11s worth of casualties.
Don't think the Red State dumb-asses won't vote for them again anyway, even because they wouldn't expand Medicaid!
Let's all get together and send them all to Hell this November.
America, Biggest financial institution for the banks in the world and no coverage for all!
Vote them out, make them work for minimum wage, how do you make congress a public servant job
Instead of a ludicrous retirement package deal? With full free healthcare no less!
I hope the Republicans believe in hell, because they're sure as hell not getting into the Lord's Heaven. Not that way.
Dear Thom,
In regards to voting out the GOP in 2014 due to their refusal to accept federally allocated funds in order to allow for Obamacare in the states they control, I for one sure hope you're right. I just don't understand what benefits GOP members receive other than the satisfaction of spite they acquire by actually and purposely denying health benefits to their own constituents? I imagine their motives and actions are based upon their committment to oppose Obama on *any* initiative he or his Cabinet might recommend. For goodness sakes, if Obama says it's day, the GOP must retort, "Oh, Nooooo...It's is NIGHT! It's so old and tiring. nearly 6 years and counting....Ugh!
Sincerely,
Mike Siffin
Colorado Springs, CO.
i agree with telliotmbamsc above. This new retirement account looks and smells a bit like Bushie's retirement accounts. The people choose the retirement plans they want to join and then get hit when the banks cant come up with their retirement monies. I agree with alot of the people above. Dems are also bought and sold. We need a new kind of party that's not bought and sold.
http://www.occupydemocrats.com/watch-the-coca-cola-super-bowl-ad-that-is...
jkh6148 -- Yea verily
Regarding the Republican callers comments on minimum wage without knowing anything about the law, please read the following facts. " After winning the historical 1936 election by a landslide, President Roosevelt signed the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) into law in early 1938. The FLSA introduced sweeping regulations to protect American workers from being exploited, and created a mandatory federal minimum wage of 25 cents an hour in order to maintain a "minimum standard of living necessary for health, efficiency and general well-being, without substantially curtailing employment". This new law was welcomed as a godsend by the thousands of workers who were previously forced to work for a fraction of that amount, but was violently opposed by many employers and fiscal conservatives who argued that a minimum wage could hurt employers. In addition to establishing a mandatory nation-wide minimum wage the Fair Labor Standards Act introduced many other worker's protection laws still in effect today, including banning child labor and establishing workplace safety statutes."
Not unions!! Make him explain his real objections!
AMERICA does not export products any more. AMERICA exports jobs.
THE rich job creators have fulfilled their part of the social agreement. THEY have created millions of jobs out of the country. REPUBLICANS favor big business, and big business favors exporting jobs out of the country to increase profits. THE AMERICAN worker had been hurt enough by NAFTA, CAFTA, SHAFTA, and KORUS. THEN when the unemployed AMERICAN worker can not find a job, republicans call him/her lazy and wanting to live off UNCLE SUGAR and then want to cut the AMERICAN worker's unemployment insurance. WHEN the unemployed AMERICAN worker does manage to find a job he/she takes a 10-20-30% pay cut along with the local - state - and federal taxes she/he pays. EVERY article, every sentence, every word of the TPP needs to be open for debate. BIG business has written this secret trade agreement without any input from labor leaders .
Mr. Brannon, I appreciate your comments. We seem to be on the same page.
Sarah, I hear ya. This is what corporate fascism is all about. Crazy-making, isn't it? Corporate thugs have created a new world order where profits trump everything from ethics to simple common sense, prevailing over the interests of the environment, world peace & stabilitty; over life itself. Sickening, and scary... - AIW
Frozen vegetables from CHINA! Here in NEW ZEALAND, sold under a now previously reputable brand.TheTPPA will bring more of this insanity. The corporates who do the shipping are the only ones making the money and are using massive amounts of oil to do it. The TPPA will bring only war if it is allowed because the people of the Pacific will have to resist to survive.
You're right Chuck, about why so many dems stayed home through the last midterm elections. But I say (as I've said all along): no excuse!
I get as frustrated and disgusted with the Dems as everyone else on this forum... but I challenge anyone claiming both parties are the same to look at the detailed voting records of all members of Congress, such as Project Vote Smart painstakingly digs up every few years. Trust me, folks; both parties are not the same. Anybody who bothers to examine these Congressional voting records will see they're not the same. I swear by this even though there've been plenty of times when I'd have liked to throw the whole Democratic Party out the window. - AIW
Funny. Isn't there a bigger question here? Let's say you started from scratch and were a dirt poor person who grew up with nothing. Then with hard work, lots of risks, and innovation over 50 years earned a billion dollars and paid every single drop of taxes owed on that earned billion dollars… why on earth should you ever have to pay more tax on that a money just because you die? Most other countries don't do this. Really. Why is that fair? Why shouldn't it ALL go to your heirs or whoever you want. Why is there a double tax on almost half of your life's earnings? What kind of people make up laws like this?
- Tom from Life Ant
The last time our governments were controlled so completely by oligarchs and plutocrats was during the Gilded Age (1870-1905). Unlike today, we still had a free press and a progressive movement, plus the courage and leadership of President Theodore Roosevelt. During those times, we had a very influential periodical magazine that was established and led by C.C. McClure. The McClure magazine became a real force for change. Its reporters were some of the best writers of the time. McClure insisted that any article appearing in the magazine must be thoroughly investigated and resources personally interviewed and fact checked. Articles must never be influenced by individual bias or political in nature. McClure wanted only the truth to be published in the magazine. One of McClure’s best reporter was Lincoln Steffens, whose investigations into political corruption within States greatly influenced changes. The New York Times praised his articles and stated: “When Americans really agree that corruption is treason,” the editors argued, “the traitors will be punished, not legally alone, but as [Benedict] Arnold was, by the insufferable and blasting scorn of his fellow-men.” *
I strongly believe that those who hold public offices, but really serve industries and the wealthy, to be Traitors! They are traitors for failing to uphold our Constitution, as they swore to do in their oath of office, and the people they represent. We will never hear or read the information a free press provided during this age of our history, because we no longer have a free press. Since, the 1980’s we have passed laws allowing the wealthy to buy up all the institutes of communications, thus turning the “free press” into propaganda machines of disinformation. The “right” likes to blame the liberal press, when in fact that it no longer exist. So, what are we to do now to inform the public about the treasonist TPP tready? How can we use the internet in a way that will attract large followings and serve as a free press?Thom is doing a good job, but how do we grow his audience? I constantly write to the President and my reprentatives and posting information on the web. I have tried to use YouTube with little success. Any ideas?
*Goodwin, Doris Kearns (2013-11-05). The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the Golden
"Chuck", whether it's President Obama's naivety or his hypocrisy that's killing us, the end result is the same. What is abundantly clear, as it has been from the start, is that this man is not the kind of leader we need! Especially now, in such desperate times.
Dowdotica, you make a great point about the insanity of imported fruit, the same or similar to what is produced here. I come originally from California, which (for all I know) could be the "citrus capitol of the world"! And I've had similar thoughts, browsing the produce section of the grocery store, when I've encountered a display of (for example) oranges from New Zealand, which I've encountered a number of times. Geographically, ya can't get further away than that without leaving the friggin' planet. It really is crazy how we live. - Alice I.W.
Yes, it is part of the dark side of SEO. Sometimes companies do not realise that their SEO supplier is cheating this way, or they say they don't when we contact them.
This kind of spam is the most voluminous and the most automated, but sometimes that makes it easier for us to automatically block them. It is a continual war.
Irrelevancy of a post is a good first step to recognising possible spam - so don't click on links from such posts - though some of them get round this by copying a line or 3 from an earlier post in the thread, or even a whole article from elsewhere on the web, and just inserting their (often irrelevant) link in the middle or at the end. It's also a good idea to ignore posts in Vietnamese, North Korean or any other foreign languages. Also, any posts which are in poor English - because of software to spot duplicate posts, they may take an article and either machine translate it to another language and back or use a thesaurus program to substitute words, so that it is no longer an exact copy - I've not bothered to find out exactly how. The result is mangled English. If in doubt, just report the post, please.
AIW -- First I need to say that NAFTA, CAFTA and TPP are awful and will destroy our democracy. That said, I think Obama's naivety is killing us, not his hypocrisy.
Greedy lobbyists Powerful Corps Corrupt Billionaires run the USA . NAFTA CAFTA Anti US trade policies must go NO TPP NO Keystone pipeline . Must Bring Glass Steagal back. Must End Citizens United. Must Raise min wage. That will be a good start . The people have lost their POWER VOTE Call E mail Protest Demand Follow through
AIW -- In the case Maggie, I said I wanted less testerone in the oval office, not more. LOL
AIW -- As I have said many times here, I have hope in the "overwhelming number of dems approach" based on what Nancy P was able to accomplish. For example, she was able to get "card check" passed even in the prescence of many blue dogs.
Agreed, "chuckle"! Move To Amend, indeed! But if phone calls and petitions were sufficient to get the job done, so-called "Citizens United" would be history already. I've signed dozens of petitions, like most of you, yet our government remains hostage to those black-robed scoundrels. It'll take a lot more than petitions to get it back. I'd love to be wrong; no ego invested here! But it seems to me that we'll need to do some serious hell-raising en masse, before the thieves who stole our government finally see what a real "citizens united" looks like. As for a majority of dems in the House & Senate... well, that can get kinda tricky. Too often those folks turn out to be "blue dogs", or dems in-name-only, elected under false pretense to serve their Lords & Masters... - AIW
Oops! Sorry Marc; had I seen your response, I wouldn't have edited out that last type-0 (SIGH). You know how it is... Sometimes my perfectionism gets the better of me! - AIW