Speechless

On April 14th, Rep. Joe Crowley (D-NY) delivered a one-minute on the House floor.

President Obama Takes It to Ryan and the GOP

The President gave a speech today and he took it to Rep. Paul ' I WANNA KILL MEDICARE AND MEDICAID' Ryan and the GOP. He hung Ryan and his plan around their neck like a noose.





Part of the President's Speech:

It’s a vision that says America can’t afford to keep the promise we’ve made to care for our seniors. It says that ten years from now, if you’re a 65 year old who’s eligible for Medicare, you should have to pay nearly $6,400 more than you would today. It says instead of guaranteed health care, you will get a voucher. And if that voucher isn’t worth enough to buy insurance, tough luck – you’re on your own. Put simply, it ends Medicare as we know it.
This is a vision that says up to 50 million Americans have to lose their health insurance in order for us to reduce the deficit. And who are those 50 million Americans? Many are someone’s grandparents who wouldn’t be able afford nursing home care without Medicaid. Many are poor children. Some are middle-class families who have children with autism or Down’s syndrome. Some are kids with disabilities so severe that they require 24-hour care. These are the Americans we’d be telling to fend for themselves.

Worst of all, this is a vision that says even though America can’t afford to invest in education or clean energy; even though we can’t afford to care for seniors and poor children, we can somehow afford more than $1 trillion in new tax breaks for the wealthy. Think about it. In the last decade, the average income of the bottom 90% of all working Americans actually declined. The top 1% saw their income rise by an average of more than a quarter of a million dollars each. And that’s who needs to pay less taxes? They want to give people like me a two hundred thousand dollar tax cut that’s paid for by asking thirty three seniors to each pay six thousand dollars more in health costs? That’s not right, and it’s not going to happen as long as I’m President.

The fact is, their vision is less about reducing the deficit than it is about changing the basic social compact in America.

..................

The difference with the House Republican plan could not be clearer: their plan lowers the government’s health care bills by asking seniors and poor families to pay them instead. Our approach lowers the government’s health care bills by reducing the cost of health care itself. ... Let me be absolutely clear: I will preserve these health care programs as a promise we make to each other in this society. I will not allow Medicare to become a voucher program that leaves seniors at the mercy of the insurance industry, with a shrinking benefit to pay for rising costs. I will not tell families with children who have disabilities that they have to fend for themselves. We will reform these programs, but we will not abandon the fundamental commitment this country has kept for generations.
That includes, by the way, our commitment to Social Security.

The Democrats need to take the points made by POTUS and run with them. Come on Congresswoman Wasserman-Shultz!!


Full text of the President's Speech is HERE

The Sad Case of Louis Allen: Why The Civil Rights Era Isn't Over In Mississippi

60 Minutes' in-depth investigation into the unsolved Civil Rights-era killing of Louis Allen in Liberty, Mississippi, brought to life how troubling life can still be for many African Americans in the state and their pursuit of justice. From the files of the Mississippi Sovereignty Commission, here are links to files on the Louis Allen case. If you don't know, the MS Sovereignty Commission was the taxpayer-financed arm of the state that spied on people and watched and harassed "agitators" working for racial justice.

In the Allen case, it is likely the perpetrators remain hidden in plain view in Liberty, MS, but I could find no evidence that the state's attorney general, Jim Hood is investigating the case. Instead, I found an article touting his advocacy of a new execution drug. That's Mississippi-style progress.

Like many things in Mississippi, Louis Allen's death appears to only bother black Mississippians with white Mississippians and local law enforcement quite blasé about the whole matter. The FBI has given the matter one part-time investigator who is rather overwhelmed given that she has more than 100 cold cases to work on.

If You Are a Woman or Love a Woman, It's Past Time to Stand Up Against the Assault on Planned Parenthood

The GOP has decided to attack Planned Parenthood, by absolutely LYING about the services given by Planned Parenthood.

HERE is a chart, outlining what Planned Parenthood does in this country. THIS is what they do.



Look at the graphic. Abortion services are WHAT PERCENT of what Planned Parenthood does?

THREE PERCENT.

THREE PERCENT.

So then, what about the other 97% of the services that they do.

Planned Parenthood is an invaluable resource for Women's Health in this country. For women who are uninsured, they provide a help to women who want to get medical screenings for women's health issues, including the different types of cancer that target women specifically.

I have been getting angry, reading clown upon clown, especially those Black Republican Clowns, who have praised the GOP's attempt to defund Planned Parenthood.

You are the party that doesn't give a rat's ass about getting healthcare for the uninsured of this country. The party of the only solution they have if you get sick and are uninsured is- 'Go to the Emergency Room'.

Yet, Planned Parenthood is there for these women.

Can you imagine what it's like to believe something's wrong with your breast and be uninsured in this country?

Planned Parenthood gives those women a place to go where they can get professional care with people who will take care of them and give them the answers that they need.

The GOP needs to get out of my body and my womb. These are fanatics who want control over women's bodies, and who not only object to abortion, but also object to the contraception aspect of Plannet Parenthood, because, heaven forbid, women would actually get to DECIDE FOR THEMSELVES if or when they wanted to have children. Don't believe me...do a little research. Yes, these misogynistic clowns are against birth control TOO.

In conclusion, I thought you needed to hear from someone who uses Planned Parenthood regularly and what it has meant to her life.

In this video, Lawrence O'Donnell then reads an email from a friend of his, who is poor, and who is also dependent on the affordable Services provided by Planned Parenthood, for among other things to keep her Cancer-free.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

If you thought MEDICAID would be spared by the GOP, you were DELUSIONAL. Their plans to destroy it

I already posted about the GOP Scam to DESTROY MEDICARE...

you didn't think Medicaid would be left untouched, did you?

Silly people.

Medicaid gets a bad rap, gutless politicians have let the right wing tar it as a program that only helps the undeserving poor Black and Brown children, and you know the Brown children are illegal...and cause they're poor, they're leeches, who shouldn't get any medical care, because after all, that's what emergency rooms are for.

Here's a graph of the actual breakdown in Medicaid Recipients and Medicaid funding:



Look....while the children are the highest % of enrollees, look at the % of DOLLARS that they take get from Medicaid. Children are behind the Disabled AND Elderly in how many dollars they get.

I've been talking about the little acknowledged secret about Medicaid for awhile now..

PERCENTAGE WISE- IN TERMS OF DOLLARS, LOOK AT IT...

MIDDLE CLASS FOLKS PUTTING MOM AND DAD IN NURSING HOMES.

The elderly get 2 and a half TIMES the money compared to their percentage of enrollees.

I can’t wait for all those Middle-Class White folks, especially those that voted GOP - from around the country to realize that the GOP is cutting off the money for Mom and Dad’s Nursing Home.

I say Middle-Class White folks, not to say that Middle-Class folks who aren’t White don’t use Medicaid for Mom and Dad’s Nursing Home, it’s just that the likelihood of them having the schizophrenia of voting for the people who would throw Mom and Dad out onto the street is just smaller….because they don’t live in the land of delusion where they believe that the GOP is NOT talking about them when they discuss ’ cuts’......and a whole lot of White Middle-Class and Working Class do.

Here's how the scam is going to go down:

Read more »

President Obama Speaks at the National Action Network

Heads Up To All the Senior Citizens Who Fell for the GOP Lies about ObamacareS - get ready, because they're coming after MEDICARE

And, only because I know that there are plenty of Senior Citizens who weren't stupid enough to believe the GOP Lies About OBAMACARES, well, here's the payback for your idiocy:

The Republicans want to PRIVATIZE MEDICARE.

Let me repeat that to you.

THE REPUBLICANS WANT TO PRIVATIZE MEDICARE.

From the Wall Street Journal:

GOP Aim: Cut $4 Trillion
Budget Plan Would Transform Medicare, Reset Budget Debate; Democrats Balk.

By NAFTALI BENDAVID
Republicans will present this week a 2012 budget proposal that would cut more than $4 trillion from federal spending projected over the next decade and transform the Medicare health program for the elderly, a move that will dramatically reshape the budget debate in Washington.

The plan would essentially end Medicare, which now pays most of the health-care bills for 48 million elderly and disabled Americans, as a program that directly pays those bills. Mr. Ryan and other conservatives say this is necessary because of the program's soaring costs. Medicare cost $396.5 billion in 2010 and is projected to rise to $502.8 billion in 2016. At that pace, spending on the program would have doubled between 2002 and 2016.

Mr. Ryan's proposal would apply to those currently under the age of 55, and for those Americans would convert Medicare into a "premium support" system. Participants from that group would choose from an array of private insurance plans when they reach 65 and become eligible, and the government would pay about the first $15,000 in premiums. Those who are poorer or less healthy would receive bigger payments than others.

The proposal would also convert Medicaid, the health program for the poor, into a series of block grants to give states more flexibility. And it is expected to suggest significant cuts in Social Security, while proposing fewer details on how to achieve them.

The federal government expects to spend about $275 billion in 2011 on Medicaid, the program that provides medical care to the poor and disabled, up from $117.9 billion in 2000. The Congressional Budget Office projects Medicaid spending will roughly double by 2021.

Now, these mofos want to continue with their UNPAID TAX CUTS FOR THE RICH, but somehow, I'm supposed to just ' trust' them on GIVING VOUCHERS FOR MEDICARE?

Read more »

You know, I know THEY ARE WHO WE THOUGHT THEY WERE, but sometimes, their obviousness borders on the obscene

from The Miami Herald:

Legislators: They. Are. For. Sale.
By HOWARD TROXLER
htroxler@sptimes.com

There is no state, no nation, no planet and no universe where it should be legal to pay off a Legislature directly.
There is no government in which a sworn lawmaker should be able to take unlimited payoffs from those seeking favorable treatment.

And yet this is now precisely the law of Florida.

In an earlier column I called the Florida Legislature “the Whore of Babylon” for passing a law last week that legalizes its own bribery.

But the topic cries out not to be forgotten — because this is a turning point in the state of Florida’s history.

It is now legal in Florida for the leaders of our House and Senate, of both the Republican and Democratic parties, to operate what are laughably called “leadership funds.”

If you are an interest group in Florida, a corporation, a lobbyist seeking favor, you go to these “leadership” funds run by lawmakers

And you pay them.

They will launder the money into local elections around the state, to keep electing more obedient followers.

This is so astonishing a corruption that it defies belief.

The bill in question is House Bill 1207, passed in the 2010 legislative session.

Then-Gov. Charlie Crist vetoed it. Last Thursday the Legislature overrode the veto.

The House vote was 81-39. The Senate vote was 30-9.

The twisted logic used in the Capitol, and what your legislator will try to tell you, is that it’s better for the Legislature to be paid off directly.

See, they will write it down in a separate little report. So this is all about “informing the public” and “transparency.”

If they try to give you this line, just ask this question:

“So, is it legal to make unlimited payoffs to ‘leadership funds’ that are operated directly by the leaders of the Legislature, or not?”

Yes.

People ask: What can I do?

You can call or you can e-mail. You can go to the House’s website, www.myfloridahouse.com, or the Senate’s, www.flsenate.gov, and find contact information for your legislator. (However, I beg you to be firm but civil, especially to the hard-working staff — the world is rude enough already, isn’t it?)

But they are counting on you not to do anything at all.

Instead, here is what they are counting on you to do:

Reelect them.

Howard Troxler is a columnist for the St. Petersburg Times.

You know, this doesn't surprise me. Nothing they do surprises me anymore, but still, we must put it forth, because there are some out there with the utter delusion that the GOP is about anything other than being BOUGHT AND PAID FOR BY BIG BUSINESS. Yes, there are those delusional out there, and they are realizing it - the HARD WAY. You elect a STRAIGHT UP CROOK for Governor - what did you expect. This proposal was so repulsive that even the oil slick known as Charlie Crist had to veto it. I want to feel bad for you in Florida, I really do. But, sometimes, you get what you elect, and so, ELECTIONS HAVE CONSEQUENCES. Now that your state is up LITERALLY to the highest bidder....see what happens to you NOW.

President Obama Begins Re-election Campaign