Showing posts with label Olympia Snowe. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Olympia Snowe. Show all posts

Friday, June 15, 2012

Are the wackos against womens’ rights the same as those against gun control?

Arizona Sen. Jon Kyl, the do-nothing guy we will soon be rid of, told reporters recently that the equal-pay bill, sponsored by the Democrats to prevent pay discrimination against females, will be blocked by Republicans.  Kyl, who was probably chosen to make the announcement because he has decided not to run again, says the bill is “…politically inspired and would reward trial lawyers at the expense of employers.”  Always…business over the consumer.

This kind of thinking would employ the same warped mind that would rather see more guns on the streets in the hands of anyone who wants them.  Since Kyl is speaking for Republicans in general, I guess I’ve answered my own question.  It is definitely the same breed, and they are as dangerous in this matter as they are on weapons. 

It is a fact that in the 2008 presidential election, women voted 56 percent to 42 percent for Barack Obama over John McCain?  This division was almost even in the 2010 election but at that time there was no president to vote for.  And Congress was and still is a completely incompetent gang of self-centered losers that would make it tough for anyone to decide who to vote for. 

But this is a presidential election coming up in November and GOP apparent nominee Mitt Romney has certainly not endeared himself to the ladies.  Republicans may even think at this point that they have lost the female vote.

In the latest USA Today/Gallup poll, the President leads Romney by 18 points in the womens’ vote.  Obama leads by 20 points in the most recent Pew Research poll.  I doubt seriously if this support is all due to Barack Obama’s support of womens’ rights, but the Democratic Party, although it has strayed from its liberal roots, is still far more in the corner of equality than the GOP and still favors the individual’s rights over business. 

It was a shocker, at least for me, when Maine Republican senator Olympia Snowe called the Democrats bill, "regrettable" and an "overreach." 

The legislation was designed to “…close loopholes in the 1963 Equal Pay Act, would require employers to prove that differences in pay were related to job performance, not gender; would prevent employers from forbidding employees from sharing salary information with each other; and would allow women who believe they were discriminated against to sue for damages.  Regardless of the outcome, the Dems will definitely make gains with its proposal.

For years I have wondered why any self respecting male could justify making more money than a female in the exact same position.  Same goes for any promotions that are given based on gender.  Since 1917, when Representative Jeannette Rankin of Montana became the first woman to serve in Congress, many more have served but currently in the 112th Congress, in the House, there are currently 362 men 76 women. In the Senate, 17 women and 83 men.

The first woman was actually appointed to the Senate by Georgia's Democratic Governor Thomas Hardwick in 1922.  After that, women weren’t elected in number to the Senate until 1992; that’s 70 years.  This supposedly august body has always been identified as a haven for the good old boys.  It is terminology like this that harkens over to the bubbas of the gun rights movement whose masculinity is challenged if they can’t walk around with a gun in their pocket.

Studies have found that men are much more fickle than women when it comes to voting, and have a decision making process that is more in keeping with pragmatism and what’s best for the country.  On the other hand, men tend to side with “bubba” issues, certainly favoring big business over the ladies.  And many vote with their guns, probably using the muzzle to actually push the voting machine lever.  It is an NRA mandate to defeat Obama in November.

Currently on the electoral map, President Obama has cinched 247 votes to Romney’s 206, on the way to 270 to win.  Leaning Obama are another 51 which along with the 247 is a win.  Leaning Romney is another 47 votes which brings his total to 253, 17 short.  The obvious key to the election are the remaining 85 toss up votes which include the states of Ohio and Florida, both of which are in the 12 swing states. 

The female vote is critical in November, as are the Independents and Latinos.  Barack Obama carried independents by an eight-point margin in the 2008 exit poll, but the GOP carried them by a 19-point margin in the 2010 midterms.  Well, at least two out of three in President Obama’s corner isn’t bad odds.

Friday, March 16, 2012

Partisanship forces Maine Sen. Olympia Snowe out of Congress


Maine Sen. Olympia Snowe

Sen. Olympia Snowe is a Republican moderate who is gravely needed in a Senate that, although barely controlled by Democrats, still has problems with extreme conservatives like Tea Partyers and the religious right.  Susan Collins, another Republican moderate, is her fellow Senator in the state.  She has been serving since 1996, Snowe since 1994.  I am a progressive and wish Snowe would stay and hope Collins will.

What has happened in this country that extremists can literally run out of town the very kind of lawmaker the Congress needs?  Is the U.S. doomed to the kind of mediocrity and incompetence we have experienced from a GOP that has no ideas of its own on how to correct the nation’s problem, but would prefer anyway to just block anything President Obama or the Democrats propose.  It has been ‘say no to anything Obama presents’ from day one of his presidency.


Today's partisanship

Wikipedia says, “Partisanship can be affected by many factors including current events, figureheads (presidents), decisions, and even location.”  Further, “In the United States, the meaning of the term has changed dramatically over the last 50 years.”  In the past an “…individual's partisan tendencies were typically determined from their voting behavior. Since then, "partisan" has come to refer to an individual with a psychological identification with one or the other of the major parties.

Sen. Snowe said in a CNN article, “motivation and sense of responsibility remain.”  Continuing, "I do find it frustrating, however, that an atmosphere of polarization and 'my way or the highway' ideologies has become pervasive in campaigns and in our governing institutions."  Speaking no doubt about not only Republicans but also some Democrats.  Another key word, “polarization,” that, defined, is sharp division.

Susan Collins said she was devastated over Snowe’s decision.  Maine’s GOP Chairman Charlie Webster said he knew she was frustrated with “…the lack of civility in Washington,” and went on to describe her as a bridge builder.  Democratic Sen. Charles Schumer of New York said, "She's a good, good lady and an example of ... sometimes how the roughness of the political world can affect things. She's great, and she'll be missed by people on both sides of the aisle."

Obviously this puts her seat up for grabs by the Dems. and hopefully they can find someone who can fill Snowe’s shoes.  Snowe said, "I have no doubt I would have won re-election."  I agree, even against a Democrat.  And Texas Sen. John Cornyn, chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, said “…his party remains ‘well-positioned to win back a Senate majority in November.’” 

Yeah, sure.  With the GOP record, they’ll be lucky to avoid Armageddon in November.

And Sen. Snowe is not the only recent example of partisanship clogging the system.  At the Nat’l Governors Assn. meeting in Washington on March 4, President Obama offered, 'We're not going to agree on every single issue,” but, "I'm confident that we're going to be able to find more and more common ground going forward." 

As the Philadelphia Inquirer put it, “An hour after leaving the White House, Republican governors told Obama what he could do with his common ground.”

GOP answer to partisanship
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal said, "President Obama is clearly the most liberal president we've had."  Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell said, "The president said three years ago that if he couldn't turn this around in three years, then this would be a one-term proposition. Well, Republican governors are deciding it's time to collect. It's time for a new president." 

The Inquirer commented, “…the annual winter meeting of the governors association was a time of bipartisan camaraderie, a respite from politics to discuss ‘best practices’ in the various laboratories of democracy.  But now even this island of cooperation has been flooded by the partisan tsunami.”

Some governors didn’t even show up like Democrat Andrew Cuomo from New York, and Republican Jan Brewer from Arizona.  Other governors just complained or dismissed Obama’s accomplishments like the recent drop in unemployment which McDonnell explained, "it's a couple of months - that doesn't make a trend.” And Jindal, "He has failed when it comes to his tax policy, his spending policy, his borrowing policy, his energy policy, his health policy."

Not once did the GOP bozos mention the fact that the deadlock in Congress for the past three-plus years has been 99 percent the fault of the Republicans.

Donald Trump Says He Will Be Indicted On Tuesday

  THAT'S TODAY... Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has brought the case to this point, now looking at a possible indictment. Trum...