Why Do Republicans Hate Americans?

On the very day President Obama met with leaders of the business world to figure out how to put Americans back to work and all agreed that infrastructure is the key to our economic revival, exactly the key to Obama’s job plan, last night, the jobs bill was defeated because of yet another Republican filibuster. Every single Republican voted no. The 50 page report submitted to the president by this jobs council said there’s no market for anything they’re selling so they’d like to modernize our tunnels, railways, ports, dams, schools, airports, electric grids, water and waste water systems, and expanding our broadband networks.

The filibuster came as no surprise, that’s been the standard practice for the Republicans since this man was sworn in, but what I find upsetting is two Democrats joining them, Ben Nelson of Nebraska and Jon Tester of Montana. From what I’ve read, Harry Reid had to do some serious arm twisting to get Claire McCaskill and Jim Webb to vote yes. What has happened to the Democratic Party? This was the party of the people. And while they’re not as egregiously obvious that they’re in the back pockets of the rich and the powerful, it’s clear that some of them are. As Bill Maher said on Rachel Maddow’s show last night, (not this clip) there are probably 40 good Democrats, but 13 who can’t be trusted to act as Democrats.

If the thousands of Americans protesting the corporate greed from coast-to-coast aren’t making a difference, I’m not sure anything can. I have to say, my stress level and depression are increasing as time moves on. I still have very high hopes for Occupy Wall Street and Occupy wherever, but I’m saddened that there are some Democrats who are more interested in their own jobs than 24 million unemployed Americans. All the 99% want is fairness. Basic fairness has been missing from our system for 30 years. This movement has more in common with the original Boston Tea Party than the racists with tri-cornered hats, carrying guns, screaming about the Muslim Marxist, Nazi from Kenya.

John Stanton of Roll Call discusses the vote with Rachel Maddow.

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

*Rachel made the correction after the break to Stanton’s report where he misnamed Webb as a no vote instead of Tester.

Fair Representation? Not When Over 50% of Americans Live in 9 States!

Have you ever wondered why U.S. politics are so screwed up? Maybe it's because more than 50% of Americans Live in 9 States. What you're left with is just 18 of the 100 Senate seats representing 154.6 million Americans, while the other 82 Senators represent roughly 150.4 million (based on a U.S. population of 305 million)! Democracy in action, indeed. Conservadem Ben Nelson of Nebraska for example, can ruin any progressive bill. Nebraska's population is only 1.8 million, but he has just as much clout as California's Barbara Boxer (D) who represents 37 million people.  If ever a chart demonstrated the need for proportional representation, this is it. I've never believed the propaganda that we're a center-right country. I've always been of the opinion that the "right" had more land mass, but less people and this is crystal clear proof. We'll never have real progress in this country until we initiate some serious reforms to politics.


November 2009



Stripping Womens Rights: I Don't Want To Believe What I'm Watching

I really want a rational thinking person to explain to me how three Senators representing three small states with respective populations of 1,783,432 in Nelson’s Nebraska, 3,501,252 in Lieberman’s Connecticut and 1,316,456 in Snowe’s Maine were allowed to turn health care reform into this travesty of a bill for 305,529,237 Americans! I really hope Democrats aren’t expecting donations from the left wing of their party moving forward. To get Ben Nelson’s vote, Harry Reid has written this little dandy into the Senate bill: states could choose to prohibit abortion coverage in the insurance markets, or exchanges, where most health plans would be sold. But if a health plan did cover the procedure, subscribers would have to make two separate monthly premium payments: one for all insurance coverage except abortion and one for abortion coverage.  I am furious about this amendment.  Now women of child bearing age will have to pay more for insurance than men if they want a legal medical procedure covered!  Also added was stronger conscience protections for medical institutions and health workers opposed to abortion. That’s just great. So if a woman shows up at the pharmacy for her birth control pills and some religious wingnut happens to be behind the counter, they can legally refuse to fill the prescription. If you're a pharmacist and have moral issues with distributing birth control pills, I would suggest that you are in the wrong line of work.  Women are more than one half of the population yet instead of moving forward with women’s rights, we are going backwards. I am totally sick of this trend and pissed off!  To top it off, I haven’t seen any exceptions for rape and incest anywhere in this piece of turd legislation either. Nelson is all smiles though because insurance will still cover prescriptions for him to get a hard-on. Cecile Richards of Planned Parenthood correctly stated that “it’s a sad day when women's health is traded away for one vote."  Furthermore, where are the pro-choice senators, especially the women?  I'm disheartened that I haven't heard a word from any of them either.  Reid further bent over for Nelson by agreeing to provide extra Medicaid money to Nebraska, long-term-care insurance to people with severe disabilities, new services for pregnant teenagers and financial breaks to nonprofit insurance companies.

Also in this bill, Americans would be required to have insurance. The penalty for violating this requirement could be as high as 2 percent of a taxpayer’s household income.  There's no cap on the amount an insurance company can charge someone with a pre-existing condition, but there's a cap on benefits!  This is total rubbish.  I can’t wait to see how Pelosi and Reid blend their insurance company giveaways.  You can bet that the public option in the House bill will be the first casualty since President Lieberman, VP Snowe and SoS Nelson don't want it in there. 

I have no confidence in any leader of any party to do what’s right for the people. This has become all about who they get their donations from, with Joe Aetna and Mutual of Omaha Nelson leading the charge. It’s disgusting.  At this point President Obama would sign a copy of Sarah Palin’s book if it said Health Care Reform on the cover.  Over $635 million was spent ensuring the health insurance industry got exactly what they wanted.  I’m very disenchanted watching this administration go right and further right.  He is going to sign a piece of garbage just so he can say he got "health care reform" in his first year.  This will not be tweaked after it passes.  Most clear headed politicians have said that is why we have one shot to get it right. We are watching a Clinton Redux. Don’t forget who was President when DADT and DOMA were enacted. The Democrats have actually done more harm to civil rights than Republicans have; this time it’s women’s rights. If this bill passes in its current form, it is a direct slap in the face to those of us who donated to Obama and really expected him to be different. To say I’m furious right now is an understatement. If court appointees weren’t on the line, I would be staying home next time. However, I will not donate a dime to this phony change candidate again.

One last thing, I want to offer a big “eff you” to Rahm Emanual who essentially told the left of the party to put up and shut up.  We are the main reason Obama was elected whether he wants to accept that or not.  Taking for granted that we won't vote Republican is one thing.  Expecting us to donate and knock on doors again is arrogant.