Showing posts with label GOP. Show all posts
Showing posts with label GOP. Show all posts

Sunday, January 05, 2020

How Trump's "Accomplishments" hurt Americans


President Donald (mocking J) Trump
Republican media has stated that many more evangelicals will vote for Donald Trump in the 2020 election compared to 2016 because now they have seen all the things he has accomplished.

Since this is such a general statement of unproven fact, we thought it would make sense to review those things that the Trump Presidency has done for you.

The Trump Administration has published a list that it considers accomplishments of Donald Trump. They range from taking credit for 400,000 manufacturing jobs being created in three years to eliminating regulations. The complete list is found at http://whitehouse.gov/trump-administration-accomplishments/.

In order to discuss how these "accomplishments" really hurt average Americans, I have grouped them into categories as follows:

1. Job related
2. Regulation related
3. Tax cut related
4. Health related
5. Energy related
6. Armed forces related
7. Judiciary related
8. Export/Import related
9. Immigration related

Job related accomplishments
Trump is taking credit for the growth in jobs, which amounted to 4,000,000 jobs since his election. Based on data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, jobs since the recovery from the "great recession" of 2007, have been maintaining the same rate of growth. This growth rate was started due to the economic successes of the Obama administration in dealing with the greatest financial crisis since the great depression. The most Trump should take credit for related to job growth is that he hasn't yet had a downturn in job growth rate during his first term. 

Regulation related
Trump boasts that he has made it easier for businesses by reducing regulations. What he doesn't admit is that in many cases, those regulations were created to protect the environment and the Americans that must live in it. The Trump administration has reversed or is in process of reversing a total of ninety-five environmental regulations on pollution, toxic substances and safety and water purity. In many cases, this was done in an underhanded manner where the administration failed to provide a legal argument for the changes and skipped steps in the process such as notifying the public and asking for public comment. It has been estimated by the New York University Law School's State Energy and Environmental Impact Center that the increase in greenhouse gases and emissions from these regulation changes alone could lead to thousands of unnecessary deaths every year from air pollution and many more from the eventual damage to the earth through climate change.
One can read the details of some of these and other reversed regulations on the Brookings Institute site. Reviewing these regulation reversals makes it seem Trump thinks making America great again includes returning to a time when pollution was rampant. It also shows that he honors oil and gas company lobbyists much more than he values life.

Tax cut related
Trump is very proud of his tax cut program. He boasts that it is the biggest tax cut in history. But when one takes a closer look into the bill, one can understand why most Democrats view it as a tax scam. Briefly, the tax cuts created will deliver over $1.7 trillion dollars to the ultra rich in the next ten years. That is a very small percentage of Americans with income in the millions of dollars. The bill is written so that it continues indefinitely for the ultra rich, but will stop it's small benefit to the rest of us in 2025. It has been estimated that nearly 87% of all benefits of the tax scam bill go to the ultra-rich and Corporate America.

Additionally, the GOP tax scam bill will increase the United States deficit by trillions of dollars. This plays perfectly into GOP leadership hands as they will now have a reason for reducing Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and the social safety net in the near future. If Republicans become the majority in Congress and Trump wins re-election you can be assured that they will not care about anyone who needs those services, including their own base.

Health related
Trump says his administration has "reformed" Medicare by stopping hospitals from overcharging low-income seniors for drugs. He claims his administration has provided more healthcare options. He takes credit for the FDA approving more lower cost generic drugs. 

Donald Trump and the GOP currently have lawyers pursuing ending the Affordable Care Act in the courts. They have also taken steps to help destroy the act by passing legislation designed to defund the act. They have passed legislation tied to the tax scam act that removed the individual mandate, which will cause more of a financial burden on the implementation of the act. Trump and the GOP almost destroyed the Affordable Care Act in 2017 before Senator McCain voted to stop their plans. At every turn, the GOP have tried to take away the benefit that the ACA has provided to so many people who have not had health insurance before. The plans that Trump would prefer are those that give the upper hand to the insurance companies. The GOP wants you to have a full compliment of insurance plans that can reject covering you for certain diseases, drop you from their plans at will, charge you rediculously high deductibles and not cover your pre-existing conditions.

Energy related
Trump celebrates and takes credit for the coal, oil and gas industries accomplishments. They have increased coal exports and reached record high oil production recently. Natural gas is exported now from the United States. These environmentally hazardous industries are big donors to the Trump campaign, so Trump must do his best to keep them profitable. Trump refers proudly to exiting from the "illegal" clean power plan. Investing in developing sources of clean energy is seen as a threat to the fossil fuel industry, so Trump and the GOP will vote clean energy down. Trump lists withdrawing from the "job-killing" Paris Climate Accord as an accomplishment.
Trump and the GOP are not interested in the health of individual Americans nor are they interested in saving the earth from climate change. If the GOP as a group shows people they are not valued, that is a good reason to remove yourself from the party.

Armed Forces related
Trump considers record making budgets for the military an accomplishment. He sees forcing NATO allies into an uncomfortable position to get them to donate more to NATO as a good thing. He considers his "guns in space" Space Force idea, brilliant. He is taking credit for violating the Iran Nuclear deal.

Unless Trump is planning on starting World War III, there is no reason for the United States to fund our military with more money than the combined total amount of the next 10 largest military countries in the world. When the GOP thinks about the deficit, instead of thinking about reducing the social safety net, perhaps they should start with reducing the military budget and giving back the tax scam money.

Trump has turned America into a fair weather friend insofar as our NATO allies are concerned. Because of Trump's poor treatment of our NATO allies, Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany, has said that Europe can no longer depend on America. The world is less secure with Donald Trump as the American President.

Because Trump withdrew from the Iran deal, we are today in a much less secure world. The middle east is now more destabilized because of Trump's actions regarding Iran and his decision to violate the Iranian deal.

Judiciary related
Trump takes credit for confirming more conservative judges than any other Republican president. He is happy to acknowledge that he selected two Supreme Court judges.

Mitch McConnell deserves much of the credit that Trump takes for judge confirmations. McConnell changed the rules for confirming judges, so that only a simple majority vote (fifty-one votes) was required instead of 2/3 majority. This may have lead to the appointment and confirmation of many unqualified judges. The American Bar Association has given a "Not Qualified" rating to many of the judges the GOP has confirmed.

For two years, Mitch McConnell held up a Supreme Court judgeship that was legally President Obama's to appoint. As a result Trump was able to appoint a conservative judge to the Supreme Court. With such trickery going on for appointment of unqualified judges, there really is nothing for Trump to be proud of.

Export/Import related
Trump sees removing the United States from the NAFTA agreement as an accomplishment. It was really a deal that did not need to be redone. He is replacing the NAFTA agreement with a USMCA agreement between the United States, Mexico and Canada. Thanks to the Democrats, the USMCA agreement is better than the original agreement designed by Trump and the GOP. It is currently being held up by Mexico who does not agree with provisions for the United States to inspect Mexican manufacturing sites.

The riskier side of the equation that Trump is toying with includes the negative effect on consumer incomes that has been caused by his questionable tariff program. Tariffs increase cost of goods to consumers and the companies that must use the imported goods in their manufacturing processes. Trump has placed tariffs on steel, aluminum, and various products from China. We have seen that farmers have been affected so badly by Trump's tariffs, that they have had to be reimbursed for $billions in losses. All of this has a negative impact on the economy as a whole.

Immigration related
Trump claims that a travel ban against certain Islamic nations is an accomplishment. He claims that improved vetting and screening of refugees and switching to overseas settlement is an accomplishment. He claims he has begun building the Southern border wall which he thinks all Republicans want.

Trump and his administration have removed children seeking refuge in the United States from their parents permanently. This inhumanity to fellow humans is criminal. In the meantime, people entering the United States from airports, or docks or any other border crossing are allowed in without problem. Even people seeking legal refuge from the Southern border are being denied entry.
Trump touts his wall while he takes land by eminent domain from his base at the border. 

Other issues
Let's not forget that Trump has been impeached. There is a continuous flow of information that is proving Trump is violating the Constitution and should be removed from office. In allowing Trump to act against the Constitution without rebuke, the GOP is complicit. Mitch McConnell has stated he will coordinate with the White House lawyers and will not remove Donald Trump from office. That should be all you need to know about Trump and the GOP. None of them deserve to govern. 

The lesson is that you must investigate the claims that Trump and the GOP make. The underlying philosophy of the party is that big donors are their primary concern. The average American can only help them get elected and so their promises during campaigns and their claims while in the majority are usually lies designed to convince the electorate that GOP policies will benefit them. Once they are elected, the legislation they support only caters to their corporate donors. Average Americans are ignored and as shown here, may suffer or at least lose benefits from GOP policies once they are in office. 

Be smart and don't vote for a party that doesn't really care about you.

Friday, November 01, 2019

McConnell's Senate Graveyard

Pelosi describes McConnell's Bills Graveyard
The primary duty of Congress is to write, debate and pass laws.  Congress is composed of two bodies; the House of Representatives and the Senate.

The leader of the House of Representatives is a person selected from the members of the party in the majority.  In the house, the Democrats are in the majority and Nancy Pelosi is the leader known as Speaker of the House.  

The leader of the Senate is known as the Senate Majority Leader and is also selected from the party in the majority for that body.  In the Senate, the Republicans are in the majority and Mitch McConnell is the Senate Majority Leader.  

The White House and the Congressional GOP have often used derogatory terms to describe the Democrats in Congress.  Much like the childish bullies they are, they believe that name-calling is a useful policy tool.  We have heard Trump use slogans like "Do nothing Democrats" to convince their  own gullible constituents that it's the Democrats who are not getting anything done in Congress.  However, in this case, the name-calling tool is really a projection of their own failure to work for America.  

In order to pass legislation that originates in the House of Representatives, Mitch McConnell must bring those bills up for debate in the Senate.  In a normal functioning Congress, the goal is to find agreement in both houses through compromise and concessions during a healthy debate. The goal is to enact legislation intended to help all Americans and improve the condition of the country.  But in the Republican led Senate, the goal is to stifle Democratic legislation that would help Americans.

McConnell has stated publicly that no Democratic bills will ever pass the Senate and will "die" there.  McConnell has been so pleased to prevent America from progressing with bipartisan legislation that he sees his new job as that of a "grim reaper," a name that he gave himself.  And he has been true to his name.  

According to the website congress.gov, in this 116th Congress, the House has so far passed 258 (H.R.) bills since the session started in 2019.  To view each bill and search for other interesting data, visit congress.gov at the following shortened url:  http://bit.ly/2PJQ9A5 .

Only thirty-three House bills have passed the Senate and only thirty-one have become law.

McConnell and the Republicans in the 116th Congressional Senate have introduced thirty-nine bills.  Eleven of them have become law.  Included in those Senate initiated bills that became law are:
  • S.2249 A bill to allow the Deputy Administrator of FAA to continue as Deputy
  • S.1693 National Flood Insurance Extension
  • S.1379 Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness
  • S.998 Supporting and Treating Officers in Crisis
  • S.863 A bill to amend title 38 to clarify pay grade and pay of podiatrists of the VA
  • S.744 Effective Prosecution and Possession of Biological Toxins and Agents
  • S.483 Pesticide Registration Improvement Extension
  • S.252 A bill to authorize Bob Doyle to grade of Colonel in the regular Army
  • S.163 Alaska Remote Generator Reliability and Protection
  • S.49 A bill to designate the outstation of the VA in North Ogden, Utah as Major Brent Taylor Vet Center Outstation
There are so many House Democratic bills that McConnell is holding up, I cannot include them all, but a few of the more important ones include:
  • H.R.3722 Joint Task Force to Combat Opioid Trafficking
  • H.R.3710 Cybersecurity Vulnerability Remediation
  • H.R.3625 PCAOB Whistleblower Protection Act of 2019
  • H.R.3525 U.S. Border Patrol Medical Screening Standards
  • H.R.3239 Humanitarian Standards for Individuals in Customs and Border Protection Custody
  • H.R.2513 Corporate Transparency Act
  • H.R.2359 Whole Veterans Act
  • H.R.1585 Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act
  • H.R.1331 Local Water Protection Act
  • H.R.1112 Enhanced Background Checks Act
  • H.R.987 Strengthening Health Care and Lowering Prescription Drug Costs
  • H.R.986 Protecting Americans with Preexisting Conditions
  • H.R.582 Raise the Wage Act
  • H.R.6 American Dream and Promise Act
If you visit the government website mentioned above, you can see the stark reality that it is the Republicans in Congress that are obstructionists.  You realize that the Democrats in Congress have the energy, desire and concern for America that enables them to create these bills.

Republicans have proven themselves to be liars, obstructionists, and now grim reapers.  They may think they are attacking Democrats but it is you, the American people, that the Republicans are really hurting. Vote smart when the time comes and don't believe the Republican lies.   


Wednesday, October 30, 2019

Impeachment inquiry continues to get at the truth while Trump and GOP call it witch hunt

Kiev, Ukraine
Donald Trump's hatred of the beautiful country of Ukraine may grow stronger as his impeachment inquiry continues to uncover damning evidence from witnesses familiar with the Ukraine meeting.

Although there have been plenty of other reasons for the impeachment of Trump, the phone meeting with Ukrainian President Zelensky has been the subject that initiated the formal impeachment inquiry by Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats.

Trump and his zealous Republican loyalists have given their own classification of the impeachment inquiry.  According to them it's a "witch hunt," "bull," "a joke," "a lynching" and "a scam."

They believe the Democrats are trying to overthrow the 2016 election.  So they are spending money  on ad campaigns to smear the impeachment investigation.  Trump has so far committed at least $1 million to ad campaigns to lie to the American people about it.

Trump and his supporters present no evidence that would prove Trump innocent of the claims of the whistle-blower and the multiple corroborating witnesses who have been testifying in Congress.  There is only the party line that they expect us to believe, even though they have been caught in their lies thousands of times.

It seems the Ukraine venture by the Trump organization is much more complex than we first thought.

It has been reported that before he resigned, John Bolton warned the administration that Rudy Giuliani may be too closely involved in the Ukraine situation.  Not being an official government statesman, this would be an illegal activity for Giuliani.

Kurt Volker, Envoy to Ukraine, testified that Trump requested military aid to Ukraine to be held up.  Giving testimony on Trump's thinking about Ukraine, he said that Trump believed (or said he believed) that Ukraine interfered with the 2016 election.  Volker also had text messages that showed that Trump and Giuliani pushed Zelensky to investigate the Bidens.

Bill Taylor testified that Trump would withhold military aid to Ukraine until they publicly announced an investigation into the Bidens.

Catherine Croft, who reported to Ukraine envoy, Kurt Volker, testified that Trump told Mulvaney to hold off on Ukrainian aid.  She also testified that Trump was pressured by Giuliani to remove Ukraine Ambassador Yovanovich.  Yovanovich herself testified that there was a concerted effort by the Trump administration and Rudy Giuliani to remove her for questionable motives from her position as Ambassador to Ukraine.

Christopher Anderson, also a report of Kurt Volker, testified that the White House blocked a condemning formal statement by the State Department regarding a 2018 incident where Russia seized a Ukrainian vessel.  Anderson also testified that he attended the meeting where John Bolton warned the White House of the interference of Giuliani in Ukrainian affairs.

Lieutenant Colonel Vindman, a Ukrainian expert, testified that Trump and the White House omitted details about the quid, pro quo regarding dirt on the Bidens from their telephone meeting summary. As the Ukraine expert, he attended the meeting held in Ukraine with Energy Secretary Perry.  After the meeting he was told by the White House staffer Fiona Hill that he would not be invited to the debriefing of the meeting and was instead replaced by a former Devin Nunes staffer, Kashyup Patel.  Patel has no knowledge of Ukraine.

The witnesses corroborating testimony is getting to the facts that even Trump loyalists cannot deny.  We are fortunate that there are still some patriots left in government.  Trump attempts to pervert the truth with such statements as "the Ukraine meeting was perfect!" and "no quid, pro quo!" But these are falling apart with the barrage of witnesses who are claiming otherwise to Congress.

Let the truth cleanse this administration.










Monday, October 28, 2019

Multiple Trump officials should be impeached over the substance of Ukraine meeting


Nancy Pelosi, House Speaker
Throughout his Presidency, Donald Trump gave the public many examples of his betrayal of the Constitution and denigration of the office of President.  So many of Trump's actions have been attacks on  democracy and our American way that any one of them could be a part of the articles for impeachment.

Nancy Pelosi has focused on one of Trump's recent infractions before she committed to impeaching him.  And that one was a big one.  Big in substance but also big in the number of Trump officials involved.

This recent infraction was the quid, pro quo that Trump asked from the newly elected Ukraine President.  Trump is so driven to find ways to ensure his re-election, he has not only avoided taking precautions against future Russians interference, but has also asked the Ukrainian President to dig up dirt on his Presidential challenger, Joe Biden.  Trump told Ukrainian President Zelensky that he must report on the requested investigation into Joe Biden and his son in a public announcement to be given at a White house visit, or he would not be given military aid that Ukraine so desperately needs to defend against Russia.

Just as Trump and his family asked Russia for dirt on his 2016 challenger, Hillary Clinton, they have now asked Ukraine for dirt on his 2020 opponent, Joe Biden.  It seems when it comes to finding an illegal leg up on the competition, Trump is surprisingly consistent.

And now we find out that this plan was in effect many month's ago, when his personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, his EU Ambassador, Gordon Sondland and his Energy Secretary, Rick Perry were sent to discuss related matters with Ukrainian officials.

On July 25, 2019, Trump had the infamous quid, pro, quo call with Zelensky.  Mike Pompeo was present for the call.  Trump instructed Mick Mulvaney to delay the Ukraine military aid related to the quid, pro, quo call.

If by these actions Trump is guilty of impeachable offenses, so are all of the other Trump officials that were involved.  Perry has self-impeached as he recently announced his resignation, but all the others except Giuliani should also be impeached.  Giuliani is not a federal employee but has to answer for other crimes such as not registering as a foreign agent.

As for impeachment, Donald Trump's attorneys have gone to court to have the impeachment deemed illegal since there was no formal impeachment vote in the House.  Last week Lindsey Graham introduced a resolution condemning the impeachment inquiry as illegitimate.  Republican officials  have been stymied by a judge covering the case who has determined that the inquiry being carried out by the House is legitimate and does not need a vote to continue.

However, Nancy Pelosi has announced that Democrats wanted to push back on claims by Trump that the impeachment is not valid and will hold a vote on Thursday, October 31, 2019 to establish the procedure for open hearings, dispositioning transcripts and transfer of evidence to Judiciary as they consider impeachment articles.

The impeachment will happen.  The House of Representatives has the votes for that.  However, the impeachment is not the same as removing Donald Trump from office.  It will take more Americans to register their outrage with Trump in order to convince Republicans in the Senate to vote to remove him from office.  At this point, the GOP is still solidly with Trump.

As public hearings give Americans more insight into the impeachable offenses of the Trump administration, perhaps more GOP Senators will come to their senses and save America, democracy and their own dignity.



Friday, October 25, 2019

When the Justice Department helps create a dictator

William Barr, Attorney General
Donald Trump is a malignant narcissist.  He can convince himself he is an innocent victim of any criticism, even if he knows the criticism is accurate.

Believing that he has escaped prosecution for his part in the Russian 2016 Presidential election interference, Trump has been proclaiming that the intelligence community came to their conclusions of his involvement  for partisan political reasons.  He thinks his own Justice Department is conspiring against him.

The Mueller report made it clear that Trump could have been indicted as a co-conspirator in campaign contribution violations.  It identified at least ten instances of obstruction of justice for which Trump was found responsible.  Mueller himself said that the only reason Donald Trump was not indicted was due to a policy statement of the Justice Department.  Foolishly, the Justice Department believes that they cannot indict a guilty sitting President.  Mueller left that to Congress, which has the power to remove such a President through impeachment.

Trump, due to his narcissistic delusions, believes that he can convince the general population of his innocence.  The proof he puts forward has no substance.  There are no witnesses that can vouch for him.  He doesn't have any alibi.  In fact, many of his tweets and public appearances are outright displays of obstruction or violations of the Constitution.  The written answers Trump gave to Mueller's questions were nothing more than "I do not remember" non-replies.  The facts are not on Donald's side.

That Donald Trump believes he must convince America of his innocence is puzzling.  The "heat" of the Mueller investigation is passed.  Democrats did not do a good job of making the serious conclusions of the Mueller investigation an issue for Trump.  One could say he got away with it unscathed.  So why is Trump bringing it up again?

Trump has fired most of the patriots who were in his administration that might have done something about his bad behavior.  He has replaced them by loyalists who have the power and desire to protect him.  Cowardly Republicans in Congress still stand by Trump and defend his every aberrant move.  They will likely stand by him until just before their own careers are impacted.  That day will come as more and more of the American people call for Trumps impeachment.

America will soon begin to hear more about the high crimes and misdemeanors Trump has committed that are worthy of his impeachment.  Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats will impeach him.  In the next couple of weeks, some of the impeachment interviews they are doing will become public appearances.

To my thinking, this is why Donald Trump needs to find another way to convince the American people of his innocence.  Donald will soon need a distraction from the negative news coming from Congress.  That distraction must be large enough to draw the attention of Americans away from the Congressional hearings.

An official investigation into Trump's own intelligence community will give credence to the conspiracy theories he wants us to believe.  He needs the force of the Justice Department loyalists to carry out the investigation as if it were something real.  His hand picked and proven loyalist attorney general, William Barr is just the man for the job.

Trump loyalists have so far ignored Congressional subpoenas.  They have refused to appear in front of Congress.  They have refused to give requested documents to Congress to aid their investigations.  That pretty much means these loyalists are willing to break the law and are likely to take other extreme actions in defense of Donald Trump.

Barr may think he is defending a person of integrity.  Maybe he thinks all Presidents are patriots.  Maybe he is just a fool.  In any case, Trump is counting on Barr to give the conspiracy theory life.  Now it appears that it is about to happen as tonight the Justice Department has opened a criminal inquiry into its own Russia investigation.

If the Justice Department can be used as the President's personal police force to round up political prisoners, then we have a dictatorship.  Something I believe Trump has been working toward since he was elected.

This is a serious attack on American democracy.  America must snap out of their Trump induced depression and start acting like democracy is something to save.


Saturday, November 05, 2016

There is a much better way than voting for Trump to express your anger with government

Whether you are Republican or Democrat, many people are upset with government.  Some are so upset with what they call government establishment politicians, that they want something completely different.  They want someone with no connection to the existing government infrastructure.  Given the choices for President this year, they see Donald Trump, a person with more connections to the Russian government than the American government, as suitable.

Trump supporters are so angry with government, that they are willing to forgive Trump of all his trespasses.  They have faith that a proven narcisisstic sociopath and sexual predator such as Trump can change his nature to become a true American dream of a patriotic and fair presidential Trump.  Someone who will "drain the swamp" in Washington (as Donald tweets) to correct the injustices they have felt and  that they believe have been caused by those politicians running the government now.

These angry feelings are understandable, but the source of this anger may be misdirected and the resolution of this anger by voting for Trump will only feel good for a very short time.  Trump's transgressions and trespasses will only get worse if he becomes President.

We are dealing with a man who has serious mental illness that may not be curable.  It prevents him from respecting anyone's opinion but his own.  It causes him to do and say things that a psychologically healthy person would find abhorrent.

Winning is more important to him than being President, and if he should lose, his flaws will cause him to find unreasonable excuses and blame others.  It causes him to assume an authoritarian personality which if elected, will make his term as President resemble a dictatorship more than democracy.

His business dealings with foreign governments will jeopardize foreign policy.  His closeness to Russia may cause him to champion policy that will favor Russian world domination.  He may even be seen by Putin as an unwitting partner in his pursuit of that effort.  Imagine the influence that  allying with the United States could have for Putin.

He has already shown an ignorance of our Constitution by challenging freedom of the press and stating that he would jail his political adversaries if elected.  He even violates the rights of American citizens by claiming that an entire religion should be exiled from the country.

He has violated business ethics and treated workers and small businesses unfairly by refusing to pay for work performed according to business contracts.  Many of his businesses have gone down to bankruptcy, which he feels makes him a smart businessman, showing complete apathy for the workers who lost jobs as a result.

He claims he will bring American jobs back to America, yet his own companies operate in China, India, Bangladesh and other third world nations.

I can continue on many more reasons that Donald Trump should not be President, but I promised in my title that there is a better way to resolve the situation that is causing so much anger with the government.

The American electorate agrees that the current Congress is worthless.  We all know that nothing gets done there.  One thing that may be missing from the explanation you have heard in the media is that not everyone there is useless.  In fact, those people that are useless are the biggest reason you are angry, even if you don't realize it.

Republicans may not accept this explanation, but I would ask that you remain open minded and consider that the GOP may have caused your anger.  If you are a devoted Fox News Republican, or listen to the multitude of right wing broadcasters, you may have been brainwashed into believing that Obama and the Congressional Democrats are responsible for all of your anger.  I submit for your review a few of the things that I believe may have caused some of your anger.

If you don't have a good job, let me remind you that America's unemployed work force could be put back to work if the President's American Jobs Act was enacted.  Unfortunately Congressional Republicans prevented passing it.

If you don't feel the improvement in the economy, remember that women earn less than men and yet could become equal in the workforce if legislation to prevent discrimination in wages was lifted by removing Republican obstruction.  Women belong to families, so increasing women's wages increases family wages.

If you care about your fellow Americans, America's immigrant families could receive fairer treatment if Congressional Republican leadership would not disallow a vote.   A bipartisan immigration effort was stifled by Republican leadership.

If you want to improve the finances of many Americans who work in lower paying jobs, and want to help stimulate the economy by putting more money in their hands, then an increase in the minimum wage could do it, except that Republicans refuse to support it.

The unfair control of government realized by the few uber-rich American contributors to the Republican party who influence their legislation and activities could be eliminated if Democrats were in the majority.

The economic theories of the GOP is summed up in the "trickle down" theory, which pretends that jobs will be created by giving tax breaks to the rich at the expense of the middle class.  The failure of the theory has been proven over many years.

It fails because jobs will never be created unless demand for products increases.  No business owner is going to increase the number of people working unless he needs them because the demand for product is exceeding current capacity of the workforce.

One way to benefit the economy, the rich and the middle class would be to increase the wealth of the middle class.  This will allow them to spend more on products and stimulate demand.  This would then allow the business to increase the workforce.  Provided the businessman has some patriotism left, these new workers will be American workers.

This demand side policy has not been allowed into practice by Republicans who are in the majority in Congress and all attempts to introduce increased wages have been blocked by the Congressional GOP.

If you are a caring person, realizing that some poor children go to bed hungry should make you  angry with Congressional Republicans whose cuts to the SNAP program are based on incorrectly identifying fraud as the reason for cutting aid.

If you are proud of your vote, then falsely imposed voting restrictions in Republican run states might make you angry.

Perhaps you are angry that Congress is spending millions of tax dollars on the Republican party's partisan witch-hunts based on false accusations.  Maybe you would like to see this waste of money stop being the focus of the Congress.  The GOP has already promised many more years of "witch hunts" if Hillary Clinton is elected.

America would never again renege on their debt obligations if Republicans are not given the power of the majority to cause it as they have already.  Incidentally, this also added billions to our debt because of our decreased credit rating and increased interest charges as a result.

Dealing with scientific facts, the government could make more reasonable decisions to enact laws that protect our environment and prevent climate change if Republicans were not in control.

Near treasonous acts that show Republican leadership's opposition to government would end.

Using fear tactics and lies to persuade Americans into voting against their own self interest could end if Republicans are shown that using those unethical tactics cannot win them elections.

The federal government may never face another shutdown if Republicans were not in control.

Real efforts to fix the Affordable Care Act to protect Americans with health insurance would be possible and not face Republican efforts to repeal it and replace it with "something really terrific" but as yet unidentified and most likely non-existent.

We can accomplish all of this by voting for Democrats up and down the ticket.  Believe it or not, it is your Republican run Congress that is causing your anger.

Your vote is the key.  Don't waste it on four more years of obstruction.  Your situation will improve as soon as we have reasonable politicians who put people before profits working in our government.







Friday, August 12, 2016

Should Presidential candidates be psychologically tested?

Donald Trump mocking handicapped
Maybe it goes without saying that Americans would prefer their President to be psychologically healthy.  But how do we know if our nominees are sane for sure?


One could postulate that anyone running for President is by definition psychologically healthy.  After all, being in front of the public exposes all of your abilities and frailties. It should be easy to spot someone who lives in a fantasy world or by their actions has other psychological problems deserving of a trip to the insane asylum.  How could a psychologically unfit candidate ever get by that scrutiny?

Perhaps there is a type of person who can pass that scrutiny even though they are not truly psychologically healthy.  If there is one such type of person in this election year, my guess is that is Donald Trump.  Now, I am not a psychologist or mental health worker, so my observations are based on my own bias on what I think normal is.

But it is also based on the findings of a group of seventy Republicans who have petitioned the RNC to discontinue funding for their Presidential nominee.  The members of this group have worked with Republicans throughout previous administrations and they enumerate a number of observations they have made about the statements of the candidate that seem to give credence to the questionable state of his psychological health.

Their letter includes the observations below:

  • Attacking Gold Star families of soldiers who died serving their country. 
  • Urging a hostile country to intervene in a U.S. election.
  • Suggesting that gun owners take action against his opponent if she is elected.
  • Repudiating our NATO treaty obligations to protect our allies.
  • Reportedly expressing interest in the preemptive use of nuclear weapons.
  • Exposing his total ignorance of basic foreign policy matters.
  • Stating his admiration for violent foreign autocrats.
  • Refusing to release any of his past income taxes including those not under audit.
  • Deliberately and repeatedly lying about scores of issues, large and small
  • His campaign is built on anger and exclusion where he has mocked and offended millions of voters including the disabled, women, Muslims, immigrants and minorities.
  • He has shown dangerous authoritative tendencies including threats to ban an entire religion from the country, ordering the military to break the law by torturing prisoners, killing families of suspected terrorists, tracking law abiding Muslim citizens in a database, and using executive orders to commit other illegal and unconstitutional acts.
  • Waging battle with other Republicans with his own super PAC and openly refusing to support Republican candidates.
It is also based on the opinion of 50 former Republican administration security experts that say Donald Trump is a clear and present danger to the safety and security of Americans.

If you believe that Donald Trump would be a good President, ask yourself why you are supporting him.  Could it be that he appeals to the skeletons in your own closet?  Perhaps he appeals to your secretly hidden worst nature.  Many of his supporters say he is just like one of them.  Does this mean that you are OK with the above list?  If not, then perhaps you are supporting the wrong candidate.

But I digress.  Perhaps it is time for Congress to enact legislation that requires all Presidential candidates to pass a psychological test before we allow them to run for office.  It appears that in this election, if we leave it up to the people to decide, it is quite possible that a person who should be in a mental hospital could wind up being President.

Then again, maybe we should just not vote for Republicans for any office.

Monday, August 08, 2016

Living in the past, Trump reincarnates Reagan trickle down plan as most forward looking policy for America



Trump speaking in Detroit
Today, Donald Trump gave some specifics about his Tax plan, among other subjects, if he were elected President.  I review here what the major features of his plan includes.

Trump believes that taxes are the biggest differentiation between him and Hillary.  He repeated his campaign's rhetoric and false claim that Hillary says she will increase taxes on the middle class.

Overall, his approach to taxes is to reduce them for most people, but especially for the wealthy and Corporate America.  Although he stated that he is the future thinking of American taxes, his tax plan is to reactivate the 1980's Reagan trickle down economic policy, which many argue does not increase the number of jobs, or give wage increases to workers.  What it does do is pad the bank accounts of the extremely rich.  He spoke nothing about minimum wage increases.

The "trickle down" policy is cited as one of the major reasons for the redistribution of wealth from the middle class to the rich which caused today's income inequality.  Most of his recommendations would reduce revenue to run the Federal government and likely increase the deficit unless severe cuts are made to the social safety net or other programs thought unworthy by a Republican Congress.

For example,  Donald Trump admits that the tax code is extremely complicated but does not mention how the tax code would change, other than by reducing the number of tax brackets from seven down to three.  The three brackets would be 12%, 25% and 33%.

Donald believes that taxes and regulation on Corporate America have had the most adverse impact on reducing the GDP.  Further, he believes that reducing the already highest business tax rate of all western countries from 35% to 15% will improve the economy and spur on business investments and job growth.  The problem with that statement is that 2/3 of all businesses pay no taxes and those that do, have their taxes reduced through exemptions, deductions and off-shore tax havens to about 12.6%.  If reduction in Corporate taxes had any long term impact on increasing jobs or increasing wages, we should have already seen it.  We have not.

Not stopping there to improve the lives of the wealthy, Mr. Trump also advocates elimination of estate taxes.  This was received by a large round of applause from the audience, who apparently either are very rich themselves or do not understand that estate taxes are not paid by any family having less than a $10.8 million estate.

Mr. Trump indicates that the rich will pay their fair share of taxes, but this is very subjective.  Mr. Trump did not get into details on what constitutes a fair share.  For example, if a Corporate CEO who enjoys a $15 million annual income shelters $14 million of it in offshore tax shelters, does he pay tax on the $15 million or $1 million?  Even if he finds legal ways to protect most of that income, what constitutes a fair share?

One tax advantage offered that could favor working women is elimination of all child care expenses from taxes.  Again no specifics but on the surface, it appears that provided you have a job and a child in day care, your child care costs might be deductible from your gross income and not be subject to a tax.  The average cost of child care for working women is about $200 per week, so this has the potential to save over $10,000 from being taxed.  We'll have to see how a Republican Congress would find this proposal, but if history is any indicator, Republicans are not very generous appropriating money for such social reasons.

For example, on the subject of equal pay, if Republicans in Congress passed equal pay legislation, women's wages would be increased by about 30%, potentially increasing the take home pay by much more than $10,000.  That has been rejected by Republicans more than once.  My guess is that Trump's child care deduction will be solidly rejected if Republicans stay in control of Congress.

Donald indicates that more about his tax policies can be found on his website.

Tuesday, July 05, 2016

Hillary, Paul and Donald and the Further Decline of American Democracy

The GOP has led the attack on Democracy in so many ways, it is surprising that their voting base has not noticed.  Perhaps they are too ignorant to notice or maybe in their deepest, darkest thoughts, they knowingly go along with it.

A few of the many examples of GOP actions against Democracy exist such as legislating unnecessary voting rights restrictions,  eliminating discussion of gun control legislation, preventing the staffing of the Supreme Court and other judge appointments, legislating against the civil rights act, violating citizen protections of the constitution, preventing certain minorities from getting health insurance and the obstruction of the normal functioning of the federal government.  The GOP fight with the government has been a fight against the rights of ordinary American citizens and against Democracy.

Hillary Clinton
Some may think that Hillary Clinton is not an ordinary citizen, and in many ways she is not, but she is also protected by those same rights found in our constitution as any other American.  Today, after a long and controversial investigation regarding her handling of a private server and classified emails, the FBI has found that there was no "intent" to commit a crime.  In such cases, the FBI considers not only the act that occurred, but also the element of "intent.  Without both of these clearly identified, there is no possibility of charges being brought against her.

Paul Ryan
In a statement he presented after the announcement by the FBI Director James Comey, Paul Ryan advocated for prosecution of citizens without just cause.  Ryan stated that not prosecuting Clinton would set a "terrible precedent."  In reality, what Ryan calls for would set the terrible precedent.  Imagine a government official calling for the prosecution of a person based on Republican suspicion.  This eliminates the rule of law which Comey describes and instead institutes a lynch mob mentality based on suspicion.

Donald Drumpf
Someone else in the Republican party has previously mentioned a similar thing when it comes to capturing and killing the family of ISIS terrorists.  That person is the presumptive Presidential nominee and leader of the Republican party, Donald Trump.  Needless to say, Republican leaders everywhere agree with Paul Ryan, and although many secretly also agree with Donald Trump, are not so stupid as to show their true colors to the American people as Donald Trump seems to be.  I don't have to tell you how Donald Trump reacted to Comey's statement, but it was just as self-serving as Ryan's, albeit with more third grade words and aggression.

No one in the Republican leadership has called out Paul Ryan for encouraging a lynch mob mentality because his attitude towards Hillary Clinton is shared by them.  This should give us concern since it shows that the current Republican leadership is willing to turn against our constitution and bend law to their own view of it.  This likely means that they will be willing to support a President Trump's view of Democracy and may set us up for the re-incarnation of an American Hitler President.

It's time for the Republican citizenry to begin to see their leaders for who they really are.  They are no longer the Republicans of the past.  They are no longer reasonable.  They are no longer trustworthy.  Only the base of the Republican party can bring Republicanism back to reality since the leadership and Donald Trump has failed you.

Thursday, May 12, 2016

This time Obama-Care may be toast

The essence of the Affordable Care act was introduced as a proposal by the Republican policy making group, the Heritage Foundation in 2003.  See the web page on the Heritage Foundation site http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2003/03/covering-the-uninsured-how-states for one such article by Dr. Robert E. Moffitt of the Heritage Foundation.

Dr. Moffitt gives guidance to the states that seems based on his humanitarian ideals to cover more people who cannot afford healthcare insurance.  Some of that concern for humanity seems to have left Republican Congressmen of late.

Since the Affordable Care Act was introduced as law, Republicans in Congress have been fighting to find ways to stop its implementation.  They have wasted their time attempting to repeal the law over fifty times, only to be met with a Presidential veto. They have researched the weakest parts of the law and attempted on a few occasions to get the Supreme Court to denounce it as unconstitutional; usually to no avail.

Republican leaders in GOP led states refused to open up their own state healthcare marketplace sites to try to make the Federal government's role more complex.  They were happy when the Supreme Court left it up to the states to implement the medicaid expansion part of the Affordable Care Act law.  Most Republican led states refused to accept medicaid expansion and denied millions of the most defenseless Americans the opportunity for healthcare.  This was not just a typical Republican heartless act, but was also intended to help the law fail. Any additional profit for insurance companies from medicaid expansion payments by the federal government could not happen as a result.  This would likely push premium prices higher.  Additionally, people who could not get medicaid assistance would increase lost revenue by hospitals and doctors when they could not afford to pay for their medical care.  Some who could not afford it, would die without medical care.

Republicans have used their power in Congress to appropriate funds, or in this case to fail to approve appropriation of healthcare funds in attempts to make the law fail.  They have contributed to the potential failure of the Affordable Care law however they could.  Without their destructive acts,  the law may have been successful.  Now closed medical facilities and hospitals may have stayed in business.  Insurance companies could have profited more.  The act would have lived up to its title and really been affordable without increases in premiums as are now proposed.

But now, this latest tactic of Republicans has been to attack Obama's funding of subsidies which they claim has been done without their consent.  Congress does have the authority to approve the appropriation of money used by the Federal government and they claim the money was not approved by Congress.  The lawsuit brought against the Obama Administration has been judged in favor of Republicans by the lower court.  The judge in that case has found the subsidy funding of insurance companies by the Obama Administration was illegal since the money was not appropriated by Congress.

Of course, the case is not final and will be allowed to have appeals proceedings.  If brought to the Supreme Court, where the Court is now equally divided between Democratic sympathizers and Republican Sympathizers, the lower court ruling may stand if it ends in a tie and the Affordable Care law will die.

What type of party is the GOP to have fought against its own citizens to defeat an administration who is an advocate of the people?  Hopefully you will think hard and long about this as you ponder your choices for the party that should be elected to Congress in the upcoming elections.

Thursday, November 06, 2014

Lies, fear mongering, appealing to baser emotions and other winning GOP strategies

It's been a while since I have written.  I thought I said it all; educated you to the dangers of partisan politics and expected you to go to the polls enlightened enough to make choices that would help improve what is wrong with government.

Then the mid-term elections took place.  After I came back from the acute case of shock induced depression brought on by the recent romping that the Democrats got from the Republicans, I began to ponder what just happened.

For every enlightened voter out there, there are just a few more who are blind to the devious ways of the Republican party.  Just enough low information voters to give Republicans an advantage in mid-term elections with low voter turn-out.  Although the general public has rated our modern "do-nothing" Congress with only 13% favorability, it appears they do not know who the real culprits are.  I used to think that America blamed both parties equally.  Now I understand that America only blames Democrats.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  Republicans purposely caused the failure of the government in order to deceive voters that the party holding the office of the President, cannot accomplish anything.

Many voters think that all failure and blame lands on the President and his party.  Republican strategists and Mitch McConnell himself understood this and used it to their advantage.  Before the President was inaugerated in 2009, Mitch and his band of Republican strategists met to take advantage of it.  See the evidence in an article from Time magazine here. The plan they created was to obstruct every major piece of legislation that Democrats and the President wanted.  In this way, Mitch and his malcontents knew that the President would not be given any credit for any accomplishment.  This would strengthen Republican potential to win future elections.  They did this in plain view of the public and yet too few noticed it happening.  They did it to the detriment of America for political gain and got rewarded for it in the end.  Their obstruction has gone on for years now.

Republicans kept deceiving the public at a rapid clip with continuous lies about the President.  During the 2012 Presidential campaign, Republicans used lies as a campaign strategy.  They blamed Obama for telling business owners that they did not create their business.  A complete fabrication intended to mislead the public.  They took the President's words out of context to make it appear he said denigrating things against all Americans.  They spoke of how damaging Obamacare was without justification and voted to repeal it over fifty times.  Republicans even denied medicaid expansion without reason in most Republican run states to attempt to encourage it's demise and deny healthcare to millions of Americans.

Conservative "news" shows kept slamming the President with false accusations, appealing to their audiences baser emotions, using fear mongering, appealing to racism and spreading lies to confuse the public.  They blamed Obama for everything.  If Ebola got into the country on the backs of ISIS it would be Obama's fault.

Republican leaders like Michele Bachman lied to the public about Obamacare death panels.  Republicans closed the government and blamed the Democrats while Republican leaders took photo-ops with veterans at closed government federal parks and facilities pretending that the GOP was outraged that the government was closed.  Republican led witch-hunts by Congressional committees to hear about the so-called involvement of the President or his cabinet members in Benghazi, the IRS tax exemption decisions, and other fabricated scandals were done not to get at the truth, but instead to confuse the voting public and spread lies about the President and his cabinet.

Republican voting shows them to be against the poor and middle class, veterans, the elderly, women, students and labor.  Their budget proposal shows that they have plans to increase the wealth of the super-rich while taking from the middle class to accomplish it.

And this strategy worked.  America blamed the Democrats and rewarded Republicans bad behavior by electing them into power.  There is only one deceiver I can think of who might be on par with the deception of the Republican party and that horned demon might actually be behind all of this.  Nothing else makes as much sense.






Monday, June 09, 2014

Puckett says good-bye to Virginia Democrats and Medicaid expansion

Virginia state politics has entered a new era in stymying aspects of the affordable care law.  Virginia Republicans have enlisted a self-serving Democratic Senator to spoil the chances that medicaid will be expanded in Virginia.

Democrats in Virginia's legislature have been preparing to expand medicaid and were working on a budget which included it.  That budget was moving forward and expected to pass with medicaid expansion in it.  The balance of power in the Virginia Senate was tied at 20 to 20 but that is now about to change.

Democrat senator Phillip Puckett will resign from the Virginia legislature and leaves a balance of power in the hands of Republicans running Virginia.  The GOP will now take over the chairmanships
Phillip Puckett (D-VA)
and leadership of the Virginia legislature, thus ending newly elected Governor Terry McAuliff's campaign pledge to expand medicaid.  Some 400,000 people now have no possibility of gaining access to healthcare in the near future.

The circumstances surrounding Senator Puckett's resignation is very suspicious.  Reportedly, Puckett's resignation was done on the promise that he would be given a position on the state tobacco commission while his daughter would get a state judicial appointment compliments of Virginia Republican leadership.  Because of the public outrage over this attempted bribe, Puckett has refused to accept the deal, however with Puckett's resignation, the Republicans still get their part of the bargain and gain the control they needed to allow hundreds of thousands of poor people to die of their health issues.

If you are Republican, you should be ashamed of your party.  If you are a Puckett, you should be ashamed of your family.  If you are a Virginia voter, you have your chance to rectify this in the fall.


Saturday, May 10, 2014

Are you misguided, uniformed, heartless or rich? Then you must vote Republican.

Elections for many political offices will be occurring this fall.  The winners of these elections will be responsible for future legislation in federal and state governments that will control our daily lives.

The upcoming mid-term elections are not insignificant nor typical.  One could say that these mid-term elections are the most important election of our time.  The future of our American society could be in the balance.

The Congressional elections for the federal House and Senate could reinforce Republican obstruction or eliminate it, depending on the results.  State elections could make life or death differences to many who cannot receive medical care under Republican obstructed medicaid expansion.

To help you remember or to just inform some of you for the first time, of some of the deleterious effects of having Republicans in office, let me recall some things you should know by now.

America's unemployed work force could be put back to work if the President's American Jobs Act is enacted without Republican obstruction.

Women could become equal in the workforce if legislation to prevent discrimination in wages was lifted by removing Republican obstruction.

America's immigrant families could receive fairer treatment if Republicans could not prevent it.

Opportunity for all Americans and America's economic condition could be improved with an increase in the minimum wage which Republicans refuse to support.

The unfair control of government realized by the few uber-rich American contributors to the Republican party who influence their legislation and activities could be eliminated.

The American worker and middle class could rise in importance and our government could be "of, for and by the people" again.

Poor children would go to bed less hungry if Republican cuts to the SNAP program were eliminated and reversed.

Falsely imposed voting restrictions could be stopped if Republicans were run out of state legislatures.

The Republican party's partisan witch-hunts based on false  accusations would stop being the focus of the Congress and taxpayer money could be used more productively for legislation that Americans need if Republicans lost control of the House.

America would never again renege on their debt obligations if Republicans are not given the power to cause it.

Dealing with scientific facts, the government could make more reasonable decisions to enact laws that protect our environment if Republicans were not in control.

Near treasonous acts that show Republican leadership's opposition to government would end.

Using fear tactics and lies to persuade Americans into voting against their own self interest could end if Republicans are shown that using those unethical tactics cannot win them elections.

The federal government may never face another shutdown if Republicans were not in control.

The Affordable Care Act might be allowed to continue to benefit people; improve the health of America; put money back into the economy with increased jobs in health services; improve the profits of medical device manufacturers, hospitals, doctors, nurses and insurance companies while at the same time making healthcare affordable.

Expanding Medicaid in Republican run states would insure and protect the health of over seven million uninsured poor voters and reduce costs for taxpayers whose premiums are higher in order to cover the costs of those who do not have health insurance.  Hospitals in rural areas of Republican run states could become profitable again and re-open their doors.

America's tax policies could be reviewed and certain unfair loop-holes closed so that all Americans and American Corporations pay their fair share of taxes and revenue could again become part of the equation for budget considerations if  Republicans did not control the federal House.

Ultimately, the mid-term elections are  extremely important.  You should consider this as important an election as a Presidential one and get out to vote. 

If you consider yourself a Republican, perhaps you have inherited that title or been influenced to vote as one from your parents and grandparents whose culture of Republicanism goes back many years.  You should recognize that political parties change over time and may not be the same as the party your parents or grandparents aligned with.  For example, Abraham Lincoln was a Republican who freed the slaves yet some modern day Republicans pass legislation to restrict voting rights to African-Americans.  In regards to empathy toward others, Republicans have changed dramatically.

A political party affiliation should not be treated the same as your genetically inherited characteristics. Although "mutation" is a similarity between genetics and political parties, your party affiliation should be based on how closely a comparison of the overall beliefs and policies of the party match your own personal beliefs.  The comparison should not be limited to one or two policies but to all policies and beliefs so you get a complete picture of a party.  For example, Republican leaders claim to hold to the teachings of Christianity because they support a right to life but their legislation may indicate that they oppose Christianity since they do not support the needy and carry out injustices to other diverse populations.

In order to make such comparisons you should research the facts about the political party's policies; understand how they vote on issues and determine if they represent your views.  It is important to determine these things by reviewing factual reference material while ignoring commentators or others who would attempt to deceive you or are just misinformed themselves.  One way this can be done is by reviewing government web sites such as http://www.house.gov, http://bls.gov and http://www.senate.com.  

To keep informed on current events in politics, watch political television shows on both sides of politics and judge for yourself which is most truthful.  For example, Fox News is known to be conservative television that takes a less factual "entertainment" approach to supporting Republican causes while MSNBC is known to be progressive news reporting that supports Democratic causes.  Seeing these two networks present both sides of the same issue can be enlightening. 

Paul Ryan (R) Wisconsin
That being said, I want to begin analyzing Republicanism with one of the most telling subjects in recent days; the 2014 Republican budget proposal.  It has been said that you can tell where a party's priorities are by the budget they propose.  

Paul Ryan was tasked with the job of preparing a Republican budget proposal that balanced within ten years.  Balancing a budget can be done in many ways, but the Republican budget had to be based on Republican principles which molded and forced the end result.  

One building block of that Republican budget is that tax revenue cannot be increased.  Without new revenue, only cuts in federal programs would be possible. 

Another prerequisite was that military spending must be increased. Increasing military spending without raising taxes means something else must be cut by the amount of increase in military spending.  About $650 billion is spent on the United States military each year which exceeds the combined military spending of the next ten highest spending countries in the world.  Even the US military has stated that the amount is too high and can be reduced.  When Republicans speak of military spending they do not mean government assistance for veterans.  They do mean to increase the wealth of defense contractors.

Yet another prerequisite of the Republican budget is that much of the cost and operation of Federal government programs must be passed on to the states.  Making states take on safety net programs will force them to either increase their taxes (if they plan to continue to provide the service) or cut or eliminate the programs.  In Republican run states I can state almost certainly that these services will be cut.  Overall, their budget expects that the financial burden that they are eliminating from the federal government should be placed on the states.  Provided the states maintain the programs, the savings to the individual would be no different than if the federal government had kept the financial burden except that the taxes would be coming from the state instead of the federal government.

The Ryan budget makes severe cuts to services that support the poor, middle class, students, the elderly and disabled while at the same time rewarding the rich with lower taxes, repealing the alternative minimum tax, reducing corporate tax, and changing international tax laws to allow corporations to avoid being taxed on foreign income brought back into the United States.

By the explanation he gives in his budget's narrative, Ryan tries to convince people that government loans are the reason that students must pay such high tuition costs as these somehow encourage Universities to charge higher tuitions.  Even if this were true, Ryan's solution is to reduce government loans and cap Pell Grants for students, thereby eliminating help some deserving students might be able to obtain without a government loan.  It's funny how Republican reasoning often defies logic.  They accept big business' action of  charging higher tuitions as reasonable given the availability of government money and instead blame the federal government for providing so much loan money.  I guess we are supposed to understand as our Republican leaders do, that the ethics of businessmen can readily be overcome by such easy opportunity for profit.

Sticking to the Republican claims that the Affordable Care Act is the worst thing that could happen to America, his budget calls for the repeal of the ACA leaving no alternative but to return to the way it was before the ACA.   The budget calls for repealing Medicaid Expansion and eliminating healthcare premium subsidies available on the government healthcare exchange.  With these words, Republicans are saying that insurers can deny coverage to people with pre-existing conditions, so if you lose your job and have a pre-existing condition, you will no longer have health insurance.  They remove healthcare access from millions of the poor who are now covered under medicaid expansion.  Lifetime coverage caps will return so if you get a debilitating and costly disease you may also lose your life savings.  If you have limited income, you will no longer get any help to pay for your insurance premiums.  Certain free services will once again be charged.  Children between 21 and 25 will lose their parent's insurance and be required to purchase their own or not be insured.

Medicare and social security will not be the same for  future seniors.  Not being capable of funding social programs almost certainly means medicare and social security will suffer under Republican rule.

There are many more aspects to the budget that you should see for yourself.  Visit this link: The 2014 Republican Budget to find the actual text.

If you are not in the top 2% financially, voting for Republicans is not in your best interest.  If you are a caring person, voting for Republicans should outrage you.  If you are an informed and intelligent person and not in the 2%, you should never vote Republican.  What does that make you?

Remember to vote in the fall's midterm elections.  It's your protected right and it's what will make all the difference to America.








Saturday, March 01, 2014

Why GOP means Genuinely Odd Person and Georgia governor Deal turns from Dr. Jekyll into Mr. Hyde

Since President Obama was elected, the nature of the Republican party has been changing.  Some would say the change is not for the better.  Like Dr. Jekyll of the 1931 novella, the GOP is taking on more of a Mr. Hyde persona.  This change is occurring more and more frequently in many of our Republican leaders as we see Republican governors of many states with their "Mr. Hyde" showing.

Take for example scandals or questionable activities involving current or former Republican  governors McDonnell, Christie, Walker, McCrory, Corker, Scott, Snyder, and LaPaige.

We also see some Republican led state congressmen acting in unison to create legislation that causes voting restrictions while some go as far as to pass legislation that allows business to discriminate against certain classes of citizens.  Governors and legislators in many Republican run states have refused to allow medical care to the poorest people by denying medicaid expansion.

Now perhaps these actions were always part of the GOP psyche or policies, but for many governors, it is the first time the public is seeing this side of their character.  Now it seems clear that these apparently repressed behaviors in Republican politicians can no longer be hidden.  The dam of GOP malevolence is bursting.

One of the most malevolent actions that has ever been proposed by a Republican governor has
Gov Deal (R-GA)
occurred this past week.  That governor is Georgia governor Deal, whose "Mr Hyde" is starting to show.

Many Georgia hospitals located in the poorer parts of the state have been forced to close their doors because of financial losses.  Much of these losses come from lack of revenue by uninsured people who cannot afford to pay for their health care.  Governor Deal has a solution.

Governor Deal still refuses to extend medicaid to the poorest in his state.  That is not his solution.  He fails to realize that rejecting medicaid expansion is a big part of the problem for Georgia hospitals.   In fact, if he expanded medicaid, the root cause of the problem, uninsured poor people who cannot pay for hospital services, would be resolved.  Instead governor Deal wants to repeal the 1986 law signed by Republican President Reagan called the "Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act."

This law is designed to prevent uninsured people from being turned away by hospital emergency rooms when they have an emergency medical condition that requires immediate treatment they cannot afford to pay for.  Prior to 1986, hospitals had the right to refuse patients if they could not afford to pay for medical care or if they did not have insurance.  The Reagan GOP had empathy for people in such dire need of care and readily realized that the law was necessary.  But not Governor Deal.  His "Mr. Hyde" is gaining more control over his personality.

By calling for a repeal of the law, governor Deal is effectively asking to eliminate poor people from health services altogether.  He's made sure that they can't get health insurance from expanded medicaid in his state and now he wants to eliminate them from any hospital care at all.  "Heartless" is a kind word to explain governor Deal's thinking.

When a person has no empathy for others, we usually think that they have a psychological problem.  Depending on the degree, this lack of empathy can range from narcissistic personality disorder to psychopathic personality disorder.  More and more, I am seeing these disorders appearing within  GOP leadership.  Perhaps you may agree.

As a voter, I would like to know that the choices I have in politicians, present me with psychologically healthy people.  I believe we are beginning to see that the GOP does not offer this kind of choice.

Perhaps we can make psychological testing a mandatory requirement in order to allow a politician to run for office.

Or maybe we should just not vote for Republicans.