November 24, 2012

My choice:

Good evening, Democrats! Are you fired up? Are you ready to go? I hope so.

This is the election of a lifetime. Because more than any one candidate or policy, what's at stake is the American dream. That dream—the ability to imagine a better way for ourselves and our families and then reach for it—is central to who we are and what we stand for as a nation. Whether that dream endures for another generation depends on you and me. It depends on who leads us, too.

In Massachusetts, we know Mitt Romney. By the time he left office, Massachusetts was 47th in the nation in job creation—during better economic times—and household income in our state was declining. He cut education deeper than anywhere else in America. Roads and bridges were crumbling. Business taxes were up, and business confidence was down. Our clean energy potential was stalled. And we had a structural budget deficit. Mitt Romney talks a lot about all the things he's fixed. I can tell you that Massachusetts wasn't one of them. He's a fine fellow and a great salesman, but as governor he was more interested in having the job than doing it.

When I came to office, we set out on a different course: investing in ourselves and our future. And today Massachusetts leads the nation in economic competitiveness, student achievement, health care coverage, life sciences and biotech, energy efficiency and veterans' services. Today, with the help of the Obama administration, we are rebuilding our roads and bridges and expanding broadband access. Today we're out of the deficit hole Mr. Romney left, and we've achieved the highest bond rating in our history. Today—with labor at the table—we've made the reforms in our pension and benefits systems, our schools, our transportation system and more that Mr. Romney only talked about. And today in Massachusetts, you can also marry whomever you love. We have much more still to do. But we are on a better track because we placed our faith not in trickle-down fantasies and divisive rhetoric but in our values and common sense.

The same choice faces the nation today. All that today's Republicans are saying is that if we just shrink government, cut taxes, crush unions and wait, all will be well. Never mind that those are the very policies that got us into recession to begin with! Never mind that not one of the governors who preached that gospel in Tampa last week has the results to show for it. But we Democrats owe America more than a strong argument for what we are against. We need to be just as strong about what we are for.

The question is: What do we believe? We believe in an economy that grows opportunity out to the middle class and the marginalized, not just up to the well connected. We believe that freedom means keeping government out of our most private affairs, including out of a woman's decision whether to keep an unwanted pregnancy and everybody's decision about whom to marry. We believe that we owe the next generation a better country than we found and that every American has a stake in that. We believe that in times like these we should turn to each other, not on each other. We believe that government has a role to play, not in solving every problem in everybody's life but in helping people help themselves to the American dream. That's what Democrats believe.

If we want to win elections in November and keep our country moving forward, if we want to earn the privilege to lead, it's time for Democrats to stiffen our backbone and stand up for what we believe. Quit waiting for pundits or polls or super PACs to tell us who the next president or senator or congressman is going to be. We're Americans.

We shape our own future. Let's start by standing up for President Barack Obama.

This is the president who delivered the security of affordable health care to every single American after 90 years of trying. This is the president who brought Osama bin Laden to justice, who ended the war in Iraq and is ending the war in Afghanistan. This is the president who ended "don't ask, don't tell" so that love of country, not love of another, determines fitness for military service. Who made equal pay for equal work the law of the land. This is the president who saved the American auto industry from extinction, the American financial industry from self-destruction, and the American economy from depression. Who added over 4.5 million private sector jobs in the last two-plus years, more jobs than George W. Bush added in eight.

The list of accomplishments is long, impressive and barely told—even more so when you consider that congressional Republicans have made obstruction itself the centerpiece of their governing strategy. With a record and a vision like that, I will not stand by and let him be bullied out of office—and neither should you, and neither should you and neither should you.

What's at stake is real. The Orchard Gardens Elementary School in Boston was in trouble. Its record was poor, its spirit was broken, and its reputation was a wreck. No matter how bad things were in other urban schools in the city, people would say, "At least we're not Orchard Gardens." Today, thanks to a host of new tools, many enacted with the help of the Obama administration, Orchard Gardens is turning itself around. Teaching standards and accountabilities are higher. The school day is longer and filled with experiential learning, art, exercise and music.

The head of pediatric psychology from a local hospital comes to consult with faculty and parents on the toughest personal situations in students' home lives. Attendance is up, thanks to a mentoring initiative. In less than a year, Orchard Gardens went from one of the worst schools in the district to one of the best in the state. The whole school community is engaged and proud.

So am I. At the end of my visit a year and a half ago, the first grade—led by a veteran teacher—gathered to recite Dr. King's "I have a dream" speech. When I started to applaud, the teacher said, "not yet." Then she began to ask those six- and seven-year-olds questions: "What does 'creed' mean?" "What does 'nullification' mean?" "Where is Stone Mountain?" And as the hands shot up, I realized that she had taught the children not just to memorize that speech but to understand it.

Today's Republicans and their nominee for president tell us that those first-graders are on their own—on their own to deal with their poverty; with ill-prepared young parents, maybe who speak English as a second language; with an underfunded school; with neighborhood crime and blight; with no access to nutritious food and no place for their mom to cash a paycheck; with a job market that needs skills they don't have; with no way to pay for college.

But those Orchard Gardens kids should not be left on their own. Those children are America's children, too, yours and mine. And among them are the future scientists, entrepreneurs, teachers, artists, engineers, laborers and civic leaders we desperately need. For this country to rise, they must rise—and they and their cause must have a champion in the White House.

That champion is Barack Obama. That cause is the American dream. Let's fight for that. Let's canvass and phone bank and get out the vote for that. Let's go tell everyone we meet that, when the American dream is at stake, you want Barack Obama in charge.

Thank you. God bless you. And God bless the United States.

November 23, 2012

Sing it, brothers and sisters:

November 23, 2012

OFA is also pushing this revenue increase now by visiting Congress people:

Will the 29 Sanders-letter senators co-sponsor the Begich Social Security bill?

The most recent Social Security bill, proposed by Alaska Sen. Mark Begich, includes such enhancements as full cancellation of the payroll cap — making the Social Security tax a simple flat tax and not a regressive one — and improves the cost-of-living adjustment by indexing it to the items most bought by the elderly. All round, a very good bill.

This bill also goes on offense, putting a stake in the ground that says Social Security benefits should be enhanced, not just kept the same. I hope you can see the negotiating benefit of that.

The 29 senators who signed the Sen. Sanders letter are playing excellent defense — drawing a line that says No Cuts to the safety net and No New Tax Breaks for the rich. (With the Bush–Obama Tax Cuts set to expire in December, renewing them is without doubt a new tax break.)

Can we get the 29 senators to go on offense as well, and co-sponsor the Begich bill? You could ask them.

Here’s that list of Sanders-letter senators, the good guys in this fight. Note that Mark Begich, the author of the Begich bill, is an organizer:

Organizers:

Bernie Sanders (I-VT) — (202) 224-5141
Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) — (202) 224-2921
Mark Begich (D-AK) — (202) 224-3004
Al Franken (D-MN) — (202) 224-5641

Other signers:

Harry Reid (D-NV) — (202) 224-3542
Chuck Schumer (D-NY) — (202) 224-6542
Jack Reed (D-RI) — (202) 224-4642
Sherrod Brown ((D-OH) — (202) 224-2315
Ron Wyden (D-OR) — (202) 224-5244
Patrick Leahy (D-VT) — (202) 224-4242
Ben Cardin (D-MD) — (202) 224-4524
Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) — (202) 224-4822
Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) — (202) 224-2823
Tom Harkin (D-IA) — (202) 224-3254
Jeff Merkley (D-OR) — (202) 224-3753
Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) — (202) 224-3224
Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) — (202) 224-4654
Patty Murray (D-WA) — (202) 224-2621
Barbara Boxer (D-CA) — (202) 224-3553
Maria Cantwell (D-WA) — (202) 224-3441
Daniel Akaka (D-HI) — (202) 224-6361
Tim Johnson (D-SD) — (202) 224-5842
John Rockefeller (D-WV) — (202) 224-6472
Daniel Inouye (D-HI) — (202) 224-3934
Tom Udall (D-NM) — (202) 224-6621
Robert Menendez (D-NJ) — (202) 224-4744
Carl Levin (D-MI) — (202) 224-6221
Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) — (202) 224-4451
Joe Manchin (D-WV) — (202) 224-3954

http://americablog.com/2012/11/will-the-29-senators-who-signed-the-sanders-letter-co-sponsor-the-begich-social-security-bill.html

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1251&pid=253882

A reply on the thread leads to this:

Dem Senator Introduces Bill To Lift Social Security’s Tax Cap, Extend Its Solvency For Decades

http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/11/16/1208701/democratic-senator-introduces-bill-to-lift-social-securitys-tax-cap-extend-its-solvency-for-decades/

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=1871773

I'm calling my two Senators who are already signed onto the bill to thank them for their continuing support of the social safety net for all Americans.

I'm sure there are more threads that will answer questions. Using DU search or checking out progressive websites will find a lot more if anyone is interested.

November 23, 2012

Here's one you may have missed, from July of this year. Probably others:

Harry Reid wins a big one on tax cuts (updated)

The political maneuvering worked for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and failed for Republican Mitch McConnell. The Senate just voted to advance a middle class tax cut extension by a vote of 51-48.

Reid finally succeeded in doing what Republicans have been fighting for nearly two years: separating the middle class tax cut extension from the tax cuts for the wealthy, and that breaks the hold the Republicans have had on this hostage.

It's on to the House, where Speaker John Boehner plans on holding a vote on extending all of the tax cuts, including for the rich, next week. This jams him up just a little bit. Republicans will try to say that there's a "blue slip" problem, that the Senate can't originate a tax or spending bill constitutionally, but it's a really thin reed for them to be grasping. Trying to use an arcane procedural argument for holding middle class tax cuts hostage to the wealthy just isn't going to cut it.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/07/25/1113648/-Harry-Reid-wins-a-big-one-on-tax-cuts

http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=112&session=2&vote=00184

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021021095

November 21, 2012

Tired of the willful ignorance on this. Thanks, alp227 and Tx4obama.

November 21, 2012

Good link. In answer to the link's question, who got to Boehner to make him act up:

I'd suggest the Koch brothers as they have the money and influence with their lackeys who are named below:

My rebuttal to claim obama "had two years of total control with the Senate and House"

...Actually:
- Robert Draper revealed this meeting among some congressional Republicans on Inauguration Night, in his new book "Do Not Ask What Good We Do: Inside the US House of Representatives", as the guardian summarized: "During a lengthy discussion, the senior GOP members worked out a plan to repeatedly block Obama over the coming four years to try to ensure he would not be re-elected..."

Attending the dinner were House members Eric Cantor, Jeb Hensarling, Pete Hoekstra, Dan Lungren, Kevin McCarthy, Paul Ryan and Pete Sessions. From the Senate were Tom Coburn, Bob Corker, Jim DeMint, John Ensign and Jon Kyl. Others present were former House Speaker and future – and failed – presidential candidate Newt Gingrich and the Republican strategist Frank Luntz, who organised the dinner and sent out the invitations.

The dinner table was set in a square at Luntz's request so everyone could see one another and talk freely. The session lasted four hours and by the end the sombre mood had lifted: they had conceived a plan. They would take back the House in November 2010, which they did, and use it as a spear to mortally wound Obama in 2011 and take back the Senate and White House in 2012, Draper writes.

"If you act like you're the minority, you're going to stay in the minority," said Keven McCarthy, quoted by Draper. "We've gotta challenge them on every single bill and challenge them on every single campaign."

(http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/apr/26/democrats-gop-plot-obstruct-obama)

There is more to learn from the OP by alp227:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021643154

November 17, 2012

Obama's alien baby from his teen years on Mars. Details at your local supermarket check-out line.

?w=595

Clearly, this is why he appointed her as Secretary of State. Extortion. See, plain as day in black and white. We're doomed. All of us.

November 17, 2012

They have no loyalty to anyone but their class, or whatever it's called now.

These guys want WW3 and any other war that will allow them to steal resources. People are just statistics on the bottom line of their business ventures. Why would anyone think they'd care about causing people to get killed, since they love the money they make off war more than human life? Or the money they make off anything, no matter what they kill in the process, the ocean, the ecosystems? They are destroyers.

November 16, 2012

Tom Delay's permanent Republican majority, by hook or crook. In this case, by both. It sucks.

AFAIK, nothing can be done until the next census in 2020. This is why Nordquist says they had the next twenty years mapped out. Will Democratic voters stay the course or stay home in 2014?

While Grover was unable to install his designated Robosigner-in-Chief, the GOP have already shown this week, despite the majority opposing them, they have no intention of giving up on their hateful policy to suppress voters and women.

They will continue fight their war of obstruction and attrition, with their media inflaming their base and demoralizing Democratic voters by disinformation about what the Democrats and Obama are working to do to get this country back on track.

Why do they do this, one might ask? Try this blast from the past for a laugh, but this is serious:



Why does the Republican Party zealously pursue policies so obviously counter to the best interests of ordinary Americans?

Since the New Deal, Republicans have been on the wrong side of every issue of concern to ordinary Americans; Social Security, the war in Vietnam, equal rights, civil liberties, church- state separation, consumer issues, public education, reproductive freedom, national health care, labor issues, gun policy, campaign-finance reform, the environment and tax fairness. No political party could remain so consistently wrong by accident.

Exposing the ugly truth about the Republican Party's diabolical plot to replace constitutional democracy with an oligarchic fascist theocracy...

http://www.evilgopbastards.com/

November 16, 2012

You're doing good. And as far as arts and civics.. Yes, bi loss. All of what was called a 'liberal'

education, meaning well-rounded, expanding all the thought and reasoning processes instead of training people just for corporate work have been culled from eduation.

I even find a number of people here who have no idea about government. They get enraged over the media driven emotional conceptions of what one Congressman, Senator, Governor or even the POTUS can do. It's this grandoise idea that they don't have to deal with all of the unglamorous things that people have to do, as if it's all done with triumphant music. winning in a minute.

Media promotes a bully or godfather view of the powerful, that they can just say what's going to be done, and it will be done or heads will roll. That's not democracy they're longing for, with our due process and respect for all parties involved; it's the desire to have a strong man, a dictator, sweep all the things they despise out of their path.

I have grown wreary of googling for people who see a media story and immediately get into a rage that the Democratic Party or Obama, or whoever, is not governing by fiat and able to do everything. Facts don't mater, how it's done doesn't interest them at all.

Change is accomplished with coalitions, it's all a group process. And it's not about being spineless, cowardly or sold off. That's this Sopranos reality that media has put out, all are in it for themselves, none has an altruistic bone in their body.

And the abuse I've seen heaped on our elected figures, by people who refuse to learn the basics or get involved in the hard work of dealing with people face to face, day in and day out, year in and year out, and then start calling names. os discouraging. And it's not very honest, IMO.

Keep on posting and putting it there, and I agree, education is taking the biggest hits of all, and it's not at all progressive. Too many people bought into conspiracy, believe funding the government is oppression, so they don't want to pay their taxes and refuse to be involved in changing it. Those taxes support education, healthcare, the poor and others that make a society worth living in.

I'll see you around later, have a good evening.