We’ve all heard this before: “Democrats and Republicans want the same things”
Democrats want equality for everyone. That’s what our country is all about.
That’s not socialism. It’s nothing more than being humanitarian.
Dems want fairness – not handouts. Dems want those who work hard to be rewarded – not abused and kicked to the curb by taking away benefits, job protections and denial of health care benefits.
It’s not rocket science. It’s common sense.
Here are some hard facts:
Republicans don’t want everyone to have:
regulations, rules, laws that protect consumers
health care for all
advanced education for all
fair, living wages with union protections and benefits for all
clean air and water for all
safe products for all
human rights for all
free speech for all
fire and police protection for all
everything else required to live a clean, healthy life for all
equal rights for all
gay rights for all
proportionally fair taxes – the more you make, the more you pay
The only thing they want everyone to have access to is guns and ammunition. The very same things that take away life instead of preserving it. Guns DO kill people – and so do the knuckle dragging idiots carrying them.
They love to play the “blame the victim” game, by insisting that the victims wouldn’t have gotten killed or hurt if they had used a gun, too.
They believe in letting people who can’t work die off so those of us who can work can take their jobs.
They don’t believe in competition between workers – They believe in creating competition between fellow workers to drive down wages and benefits. This is where our country is at RIGHT NOW.
It’s a “kill or be killed” mentality.
And I think this country has had more than enough of it in the past decade.
It’s not that the progressives don’t “appreciate” what’s being done for them.
It’s just that lawmakers are still very much out of touch with the general public. Based on the “reforms” listed, I am even more convinced that not much will come from this.
Lawmakers are being loyal to their corporate donors – both on the left and the right. And the corporations have absolutely no interest whatsoever in the general public, either.
No one seems to be operating on behalf of the general public.
Unless you’re a corporation, then you won’t really matter to a lawmaker. And vice versa – if you’re not a lawmaker, then you mean nothing to a corporation. Profits are being placed before the needs of people – and you don’t need profits from people (i.e. consumers) anymore – you need them only from Wall Street.
Lawrence O’Donnell sat in tonight for Keith Olbermann and made a complete ass of himself, trying to shame Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich into believing that he might be sorry for having voted against the first House version of the Health Care Reform bill. Kucinich clearly explained his reasons – which were extremely admirable. For starters, it was because the bill did not include a robust, liberal public option, and that it did not contain cost controls that would prevent health insurance companies from continuing their excessive rate increases. Obama refused to listen to allow Single Payer proponents to come to the table – and Sen. Max Baucus even had them arrested when they showed up to protest.
O’Donnell kept claiming that Kucinich was alone in his vigilant fight, and that no one will be willing to vote for him, or stand alongside him if he votes against this bill.
OMG!! So, it’s all about vilifying those who speak out against what’s wrong – and praise those who go along with you??
So, O’Donnell thinks it’s completely reasonable to throw him under the bus even though Kucinich is right to vote against this bill??
Kucinich needed to be praised – not scolded – for being so bold. If he had been praised, more than likely, others would feel the need to stand alongside him.
I felt like I was watching Fox News or Rush Limbaugh. Villifying a man who was the only one to *repeatedly* push for a single payer system. He’s the only guy who isn’t a sell-out to the health insurance companies. He’s the only one who has ever *repeatedly* pushed to have Cheney impeached. Who else can you ever claim to have come close to acting so bravely for the public good??
What about those other heroic senators who voted from the heart and head – who were brave enough to “go it alone” — like Sen. Byron Dorgan who voted against repealing the Glass Steagal Act, which would’ve kept our economy in tact and banks in check. If the other senators had listened and taken his lead, he wouldn’t have been the only one, and we might have ended up without the bank bailouts we got from Bush (and Obama).
And remember former Georgia Senator McKinney? If only we had listened to her instead of the rightwing pundits who shouted her down. She was the only one was brave enough to say that 9/11 was an inside a job. I have since always believed that it was, and have seen very, very little to prove otherwise. I used to work in the WTC South Tower, 104th Floor, back in the 90′s. I knew people who died that day. I don’t believe what I’ve seen or heard from the so-called “investigations”, which Bush refused to allow for too long.
And what about the stolen Florida and Ohio elections? What about the lies pushed onto the American people about WMD’s in Iraq? What about the outing of a CIA agent by a sitting President and Vice President? What about the illegal firings of 18 U.S. attorneys? What about the illegal wire-tappings?
Where were those Senators when we needed them? We NEED them to be brave – to go up against Fox News, Rush Limbauh, and the Lawrence O’Donnell-ish pundits!
How can we rely on a representative who refuses to put people in jail?? It’s like trying to put your faith in a police force that simply refuses to do its job and protect you.
I mean, seriously.
A massive number of crimes were committed under Bush, and no one wants to talk about it.
We had the most wreckless administration in the history of this country – and no one on either side of the aisle wants to prosecute anyone!??!
Oh, wait, I forgot. Yes, you’ll be kicked out of office if you’re caught cheating on your wife with an intern, a hooker, or with a gay guy. And if you’re a coward, you’ll simply resign on your own the moment someone hints at your wrongdoing.
It’s more than likely you’ll enjoy job security if you agree to shut up about any other kind of criminal activity. Lie about a war or steal an election, you get voted back into office. Expose corporate crimes? Get kicked out of office.
It’s so sickening.
All we have in congress is a bunch of corporate-loving lobbyist-licking Dems, and a handful of unspeakably evil Republicans. Every single one of them – on both sides of the aisle seem way too interested in putting the goal of bigger profits for CEO’s *BEFORE* the goal of helping fellow Americans, who are jobless, homeless, and sick, unable to pay for any kind of medical care.
On a side note — This morning, Thom Hartmann talked about a visit he had to the White House a few weeks ago. He had a discussion with someone there (my guess is it was Press Secretary Robert Gibbs), explaining the urgent need to stop practicing the economic policies of Milton and Thomas Friedman – the economic politics of “flat earthers” who simply refuse to accept putting reality before ideology (an ideology of trickle down economics – where the wealthiest are worshipped, and the poor are kicked down even lower). When Hartmann fully explained how much damage Reaganomics has done to us, the only response he got was: “We’re not interested in protectionism“.
I was stunned when I heard this.
Protectionism isn’t something the White House is interested in?
OMG!
Protectionism is the ONLY thing that will protect our country’s jobs right now!!
You’d think Hartmann had just proposed some rightwinger’s wackjob idea, like “close down the borders” or “get rid of all these illegals”.
But that wasn’t it all. He simply explained that we are heading for another horrible economic bubble – that we need to be building jobs in the U.S. – RIGHT NOW — and that too little is being done to fix what’s wrong with our economy.
Stimulus jobs are being created **outside** of our country — with export of major contracts – like the new bullet trains, and the contracts to build green energy products, etc, we have basically given our tax dollars to China, instead of insisting on keeping stimulus projects within our borders.
It’s nothing less than insulting – a slap in the face to all unemployed U.S. workers – that the White House has chosen to reward other countries with job-creation instead of keeping those dollars inside our country.
I don’t think a single person cares one bit what U.S. corporations do with non-U.S. based jobs — but we sure as hell care when it’s our tax dollars that are being used to create jobs somewhere else.
**WE** ARE THE ONES WHO NEED PROTECTIONISM — NOT THE COROPORATIONS.
Anyway, it all simply infuriates me.
I think we all expect to get screwed by our elected officials and even employers…but not by our own political pundits.
I really hope and pray that Kucinich considers another run for the White House. I seriously feel that he has a real chance next time. The country has seen so many unfulfilled promises come from so-called progressives. Kucinich was the only one who repeatedly pushed for impeachments of Bush and Cheney. That fact alone should have pushed him forward during the 2008 race. Now, because of the need for action against Republicans, it would be a very, very smart and necessary move toward restoring real justice in this country if Kucinich became the next President.
Anyway…I saw this little write-up on Kucinich on Crooks and Liars and simply had to re-post it.
Putting those of us who are middle-aged out to pasture with Social Security is not such a great solution for the people whose retirement accounts were decimated by the market crash – not to mention, of course, the president’s plan to allow a bipartisan commission “suggest” Social Security and Medicare cuts in the near future.
But hey, at least Kucinich is at least trying to do something about jobs — which is more than you can say for most members of Congress:
CLEVELAND — An Ohio congressman pushed for a new program to add a million new jobs Monday.
Congressman Dennis Kucinich unveiled his plan Monday afternoon at his Lakewood office.
Kucinich proposed offering early retirement with social security benefits and health insurance subsides to people as young as 60 years old. He said that will free up as many as a million new positions in businesses that have already shed jobs.
“In every business, people are cutting to the point of where they’re not functioning the way they used to. So, this gives business a chance to get new blood in. At the same, be able to do it in a way that they don’t have to have access more money to do it,” Kucinich said.
Kucinich said he’ll introduce his Kucinich job plan bill this week on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives.
