GOP Congress masterful at blocking anything Obama

The GOP stonewall

The Republican merry band of stonewalling bunglers started out the new year with their same tactics of saying no to anything President Obama presents.  On January 18, the GOP Congress voted to block Obama’s request for $1.2 trillion in additional borrowing authority, indicating the same Republican reaction to “anything Barack Obama” would continue throughout 2012.  Oh, that’s right, it’s an election year. 

Tea Party flake, Jeff Flake, Arizona Republican representative, said, “Until we have a plan to deal with our fiscal crisis, we should not raise the debt ceiling any further.”  In other words, push the problem to as close to the November election as possible, and, by the way, I’m running for Senator.  He also voted against the temporary payroll tax extension back in December 2011, the bill to extend payroll tax deductions and unemployment compensation.

Following is a list of bills, appointments, etc. that this gang of obstructionists has stalled or stopped in their tracks:

• GOP blocks vote on Richard Cordray to head consumer bureau (later appointed)
• Republicans Block Congressional Health Care Disclosure
• GOP leadership blocks congressional insider-trading ban
• Senate GOP blocks Democrat disaster aid 
• GOP attempts to block EPA’s climate change rules
• Republicans block Tax on Companies that ship jobs overseas
• GOP blocks Political Ad disclosure bill
• Republicans block The Small Business Jobs Act (later passed)
• GOP blocks The DREAM Act

• Republicans block repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (later passed)

And there are more that you can see here.

All of which brings us to President Obama’s proposed budget that he says is a "blueprint for how we can rebuild an economy where hard work pays off and responsibility is rewarded." 

At the same time there is the end of February deadline to pass an extension for the payroll tax cut and unemployment compensation which is sure to heat up the rhetoric since Obama wants to cover the cost with a “surtax on income over $1 million and eliminating some corporate tax subsidies, like those going to oil and gas companies.”  Republicans want to cover it partially by “extending the current pay freeze on federal workers and requiring wealthier seniors to pay higher Medicare premiums,” according to CNN.

If we run into the same GOP barricade that we did in December, the result is that 160 million American families would pay an additional $1,000 in taxes per year.  The package will cost an estimated $160 billion and that is where the President wants millionaires to step up to the plate and pay their fair share.  New chief of staff Jack Lew would not predict passage but recounted the “ugly fight” this past December over the payroll tax, something we need to avoid this go around.

This past Saturday in his weekly presidential address, Obama urged Congress to "stop this middle-class tax hike from happening, period."  He also said "No drama. No delay.  And no ideological side issues that have nothing to do with this tax cut. Now is not the time for self-inflicted wounds to our recovery. Now is the time for common-sense action. And this tax cut is common sense."  Naturally Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, did his number to make the Dems the bad guys.

GOP House Speaker John Boehner wants to vote this week on a Republican plan to extend “…the payroll tax cut -- but not unemployment benefits or a delay of cuts in fees to doctors who treat Medicare patients,” as reported in USA Today.  The White House is wary and press secretary Jay Carney says there is still time to negotiate a settlement.  Not sure there are many Americans that would agree with Carney.

People throughout this country have become weary over the shenanigans of the GOP Congress, including some Democrats, and their lowest approval rating ever supports this.  It’s like they just don’t get it, and until this self-serving clan of taxpayer moochers decides that they do work for us, there will be no change.

We all have a chance to do something about this in November and it will be interesting to see just how concerned voters really are.  Or will it be business as usual?

GUNS: The geography and demography of guns

Richard Florida, who is a Senior Editor with Atlantic magazine and Director of Martin Prosperity Institute of the University of Toronto, has done a study that determines the circumstances that run parallel with firearms deaths at the state level.  He recounts all the accusations that might have caused Jared Loughner’s massacre in Tucson, Arizona, just over a year ago, some blaming politics others the shooter’s mental state.  Florida says we must look deeper for the answers.

Arizona then and now is the center for the fight against immigration with known bigot and racist state senator Russell Pearce, author of the state’s anti-immigration bill, SB-1070, recalled and voted out of office, while his buddy, neo-Nazi J.T. Ready, continues to foster hate against all ethnic groups.  Arizona also has the loosest gun laws of any state in the U.S.  Richard Florida asks if “tighter gun control laws” could have made a difference.  Arizona ranks eighth nationally with 15.1 firearms deaths per 100,000 population.

Florida decided to go to the state level to analyze “…the statistical correlations between firearm deaths and a variety of psychological, economic, social, and political characteristics of states.  But he cautions, “…that correlation does not imply causation, but simply points to associations between variables.” 

Findings: no statistical association between gun deaths and mental illness or stress levels; no association between illegal drug use and death from gun violence at the state level; no evidence in association with unemployment and higher levels of inequality.  So what are the elements associated with firearms deaths at the state level?



Dr. Richard Florida



According to Florida’s study, poverty is one. The correlation between death by gun and poverty at the state level is .59.  An economy dominated by working class jobs is another.  Having a high percentage of working class jobs is closely associated with firearm deaths (.55).  And, not surprisingly, firearm-related deaths are positively correlated with the rates of high school students that carry weapons on school property (.54).

Based on politics and the 2008 presidential election, firearm-related deaths were positively associated with states that voted for McCain (.66) and negatively associated with states that voted for Obama (-.66).  Firearm deaths were far less likely to occur in states with higher levels of college graduates (-.64) and more creative class jobs (-.52).  And states with more immigrants have lower levels of gun-related deaths, which runs counter to the fact that Arizona ranks eighth nationally with 15.1 firearms deaths per 100,000 population.

So back to the question of gun control and whether tougher laws could make a difference.  Florida’s analysis suggests that they do.  He says if you look at the second U.S. map on the above link, “It highlights states which have one of three gun control restrictions in place - assault weapons' bans, trigger locks, or safe storage requirements.”  The highest injury states, Arizona, Alaska, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana have none.  Even Texas has at least one.

Though admittedly with some small sample sizes, the study says “Firearm deaths are significantly lower in states with stricter gun control legislation.”  Correlations are substantially negative when considering firearms deaths in states that ban assault weapons (-.45), require trigger locks (-.42), and mandate safe storage requirements for guns (-.48).  In other words, with more control you end up with less gun injuries and deaths.



The Pew Research Center also did a survey on the demographics of Americans who have views on protecting guns rights and those who feel the need for more gun control.  50% of the country felt more gun control was necessary compared to 46% who didn’t.  52% of those preferring more control were under age 50, 56% under 30.  54% wanting more gun freedom were white compared to 30% black and 21% Hispanic.  The more educated wanted more gun control

Those who were married wanted less control as did registered voters.  70% of Republicans want less control compared to 30% Democrat and 46% Independent.  67% of evangelicals want less control but 63% of Catholics want more.  Mountain states like AZ, CO, ID, MT NM and NV want less control compared to CA, OR and WA that want more.  Naturally, 78% of Tea Party members want less control in contrast to 18% who don’t.

It isn’t exactly overwhelming but it is abundantly clear that more gun control is needed.  As I have said before, it should start with strengthening background checks to catch the mentally ill before purchasing a gun, closing the gun show loophole and drastically limiting the concealed carrying laws for handguns with federal legislation.  Agreed, it won’t sit well with the gun fanatics but I do believe there is a rational faction of gun owners who agree somewhat with my thinking.

RELIGION: How will evangelicals affect the vote in November 2012?



Thou shalt not not conceive



If the Catholic Church outburst over President Obama’s healthcare bill order for religious companies to provide birth control protection, joined now by evangelicals across the country, is any indication of the level of their impact on 2012 voting, it would appear that the White House and Democrats have a fight on their hands.  Add to this the fact that Rick Santorum is not only a Catholic but also an evangelical. 

The question remains just how much reaction there will be from voting religious beliefs if they aren’t necessarily good for the country.

California megachurch pastor Rick Warren said "I'm not a Catholic but I stand in 100% solidarity with my brothers & sisters to practice their belief against govt pressure."  I hate to break this to both Warren and the Pope but 98 percent of sexually active Catholic women practice birth control and those same figures apply to evangelicals and other Protestants.  This comes from a recent report by the Guttmacher Institute, a non-profit sexual health research organization.

What it appears the Obama administration is trying to do is keep certain factions from taking away a right for women who opt for contraception, not simply exert government pressure.

The following Bill Maher video is hilarious:



Southern Baptist minister Phil DaCosta from Atlanta says, “I vote on Jesus first.”  He is a Tea Party member whose priorities are Israel, abortion and marriage.  As a TPer he does want lower taxes and smaller government.  But these people invariably miss the point completely when their emphasis is based on their religious beliefs with no outright concern for the economy and its problems like the jobless, foreclosures, Afghan war, the state of U.S. education and the pitiable Congress some of which the religious right stuck us with.

Jaweed Kaleem, writing in the Huff Post, says DaCosta is just what Ralph Reed, a political strategist and former Christian Coalition director, is looking for.  Reed’s new organization, Faith and Freedom Coalition, wants to “…unite under his relatively new organization that aims to fuse the Bible-based value voting of traditional social conservatives with the grassroots momentum of the Tea Party to form a bloc of voters big enough to influence state and national elections.”

Ralph Reed buddy Jack Abramoff

According to Wikipedia, “in 1996, the Christian Coalition's chief financial officer, Judy Liebert, ‘went to federal prosecutors with her suspicions of overbilling by Ben Hart, a direct-mail vendor with close ties to Reed, then the coalition's executive director.’"  Ralph Reed resigned later during an investigation.  Reed wasn’t charged but the Christian Coalition later sued Hart's firm. 

In June 2005 it was revealed that Reed secretly accepted payments from Jack Abramoff to lobby against Indian casino gambling and oppose an Alabama education lottery.  Abramoff pled guilty to three felony counts in federal court.  So you have to wonder why the Tea Party would want to get mixed up with Reed unless you consider the fact that the Tea Party itself is a fraud.  The Huff Post exposes the “ugly underbelly” of the tea party movement” and the deceit of its stands on taxes and government tyranny.

Rick Santorum branded "Loser"

According to a survey from Reed’s faith and Freedom Coalition, “…32 percent of all voters in 2010 were Christian conservatives, and 72 percent of them voted Republican.”   They helped the GOP gain 63 seats to control the House.  Reed himself asks, “So it is that a presidential campaign that is largely about the economy is nevertheless deeply shaped by issues of faith and morality.”  He adds that the evangelical vote made up 44 percent of Republican primary voters in 2008.

Now enter Catholic evangelical Rick Santorum who appears to have put Mitt Romney on the defensive with his recent wins in Minnesota, Missouri and Colorado.  The comment was made that Santorum made them “swoon” at the Conservative Political Action committee (CPAC) meeting recently, even though Romney also delivered an outstanding speech. 

But one political analyst says Santorum won’t survive and the conservative crowd will eventually end up falling in behind Romney.

The GOP may very well end up tossing a coin for the nomination.

UPDATE: Romney wins Maine caucuses and CPAC straw vote.

States try to legislate unions out of business

I have heard before that there is a cycle between unions and corporate management where one prevails in power for a few years, then the other takes over.  It is clear that big business has been in control for several years now thanks to the support of the GOP.  Labor unions have been diluted by the right to work laws, the latter which seem reasonable if unions are allowed to continue to organize and encourage membership.

Enter the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), headed up by the Koch brothers, and started some 30 years ago to draft state (sometimes national) legislation that favors big business.  You might know it best from its backing of Arizona’s anti-immigration law SB-1070, because ALEC was helping promote private prisons in the state to house the arrested illegals.  Arizona’s mock Governor Jan Brewer supported the private prison movement, as did the Republican controlled state legislature.

The fight over union rights has been going on for some time. A bill passed in Ohio was overturned in a public referendum last year.  Wisconsin passed a similar bill that would eliminate most union collective bargaining rights.  As a result, enough signatures have now been collected to recall Gov. Scott Walker.  He actually went to Arizona to promote corresponding legislation for that state that some have said is even more radical than Wisconsin’s.

Brewer met with ALEC this past December during its meeting in Scottsdale, AZ.  Wisconsin Gov. Walker was also there talking to ALEC groups who were meeting at the Phoenician hotel, one of the poshest resorts in the world.  This bunch of bozos basking in opulence while they attempt to deny working people their rights is yet another example of Republican arrogance in putting the desires of the corporate world ahead of the American public.



Jan Brewer, wicked witch from Arizona



The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) is taking on Brewer and other extreme right-wing lawmakers in retaliation for her assault on their Arizona members.  Her attack is to limit the ability to negotiate of teachers, fire fighters, police and other public service workers.  In their petition they said, “Where you see public workers and unions as a nuisance to get rid of, we see a movement.”  Once again Arizona has opened a can of worms with an ALEC ring in their nose.

The Huffington Post picked up a recent comment from Phoenix TV reporter Brahm Resnik who lists what the proposal includes;

Make it illegal for government bodies to collectively bargain with employee groups.

Public safety unions would be included in the ban.

End the practice of automatic payroll deductions for union dues.

Ban compensation of public employees for union work.

The sham Gov. Jan Brewer also wants to take away all civil-service protection for state employees so she can fire them at will.  Shades of Donald Trump.

Wisconsin’s Gov. Walker made a bizarre statement at the annual Goldwater Institute dinner.  It said that, “…compromising with unions was ‘bogus.’”  If that doesn’t send union members postal, nothing will.  But the Ohio vote proves that the union vote is still important to political elections and can still be persuasive in the outcome.  At this point the GOP has both Hispanics and unions to look out for in November.

One last point.  Recall papers have been filed to recall Gov. Jan Brewer, in some part obviously due to her support of limiting union rights.  You can help by spreading the word and signing the petition if you are an Arizonan. 

More…gun sense and nonsense

ARIZONA: Where else to start but here.  Back in November of 2011, a Surprise, AZ 4-year-old boy was injured in the face while playing with a gun.  In the headline of this story it said “only in Arizona.”  The article also stated that over the years there have been “scores of scientific studies documenting the fact that guns in homes tend to decrease, not increase, the safety of the occupants of such homes.”  What kind of idiot parent allows a 4-year-old to play with a gun?  Of course, only in Arizona.

CALIFORNIA: In Salinas, CA, councilwoman Gloria De La Rosa’s AK-47 was stolen.  In this state the assault rifle is against the law, except for those privileged like De La Rosa due to her position.  But wait, the weapon was actually brought into the state by her late son-in-law who bought it at, where else, a gun show in Arizona.  Of course, assault rifles are legal in Arizona just like anything else gun-related.



Start em out right

 ARIZONA…AGAIN: The Secret service is investigating a photograph posted on the Internet showing what is apparently a bullet-riddled image of President Obama’s face.  In the photo are seven men, four of whom are holding weapons and a t-shirt with holes and gashes with an image that also looks like Obama.  The photo with remarks was posted on the Facebook page of Sgt. Pat Shearer, a police officer in Peoria, AZ.  Any takers on a bet that this nitwit is a NRA member?

GEORGIA: Some guy shot himself in the leg at a Savannah, GA, gun show.  He was reloading his pistol outside the show because you aren’t supposed to bring a gun inside.  Sounds like the gun shows don’t even trust the gun nuts.  Charles Lake had purchased the gun the day before and had returned to buy another weapon which is probably just the beginning of another great American arsenal.  The moral of this story is that apparently Georgia firearms education doesn’t teach you how not to shoot yourself.

ARIZONA…AGAIN: A Maricopa County, Arizona sheriff’s deputy was killed by a man who, when confronted by deputy William Coleman, came out of the van shooting, hitting the deputy below his bulletproof vest and he later died in the hospital.  Coleman had a wife and two young children.  The cold-bloodied murderer used a rife, which actually isn’t the killing weapon of choice in this state.  Just another day on the streets of Arizona.

NRA taking aim

NEVADA: A teenage relative of Edwin Green turned him in to authorities in Reno, Nevada for having 16 firearms in an underground bunker at his home.  He was arrested because he has a felony conviction in California, which makes having a gun against the law.  The 14-year-old relative said Green didn’t trust the government and that he was tied to the Arizona militia.  Apparently all “gun” roads lead to Arizona.

What is most pathetic about this post is the fact that in all but one case, regardless of the state where the incident occurred, there is an Arizona connection.

U.S. open carry bill, HR 822, more of the same insane gun legislation



Typical squirrely NRA member



The National Rifle Assn. (NRA) must be stopped and whoever accomplishes this feat will be a hero, at least in my book.  They have ramrodded a new law through the House, HR 822, that would allow anyone in a state with loose concealed carry laws (like Arizona) to carry their handgun in any other state in the country, no matter what the laws of that state are.  This is the first piece of legislation this inept Congress has come up with since the Giffords shooting.

That means other wackos like Jared Loughner from the Tucson massacre and Seung-Hui Cho from the similar disaster at Virginia Tech—and they are walking around out there with guns in their pockets—could take their firearms to a state with stricter laws and hold their own massacre.  Pure idiocy.  “The Second Amendment is a fundamental right to bear arms that should not be constrained by state boundary lines," said GOP Rep. Lamar Smith of Texas, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee in the Huff Post.



My 2nd Amendment right



Bullshit.  I am not even convinced that the 2nd Amendment literally includes the right to carry a concealed weapon and I think with the recent momentum of gun control advocates, this very point may be up for consideration.  It is sheer insanity to pass a law that makes one state law—especially one passed by deranged legislators like those in Arizona—a national law.  The latter are now trying to push guns on college campuses; you can already take them into bars.

Video on bullet hits White House, below:



The FBI’s Uniform Crime Report tells us that 8,775 people were killed in shooting incidents in 2010.  Barry Krisberg, a criminalist from Berkeley’s School of Law, says we can expect an increase in 2011.  He adds, in an article from The Telegraph in the United Kingdom, “Overall violent crime rates in the US are going down but comparatively, shootings and homicides are going up a little bit.  Last year we had both an increase in police officers shot and killed and also an uptake in citizens being shot and killed.”



The gun show loophole



Krisberg also said that a dilution of weapons legislation has led to people who are mentally ill and who have criminal convictions being able to go out and freely buy guns.  This is a result of the lack of background checks and the gun show private sale loophole. 

In another example of a deranged gunman that shouldn’t have had a firearm, he ended up shooting and killing a park ranger in Washington state.  According to the mother of his toddler daughter, he “was a former soldier who owned many knives and guns despite an emotionally unstable, vindictive and anger-prone mind-set.”

And the NRA wants to turn more of these lunatics loose across the country with guns hidden their pockets.  HR 822 is designed to do just that and it must be stopped now.

Obama shift on immigration policy good news for Hispanics

Some in the four border-states with Mexico may not like it but Latinos are encouraged by the fact that President Obama plans to concentrate on law-breaking undocumented immigrants for deportation.  But also because he has now proposed that those illegal immigrants closely related to U.S. citizens do not have to leave the country to attempt to get their legal status.  This would reduce time measurably in the actual separation of family members.

Critics cry that it is just another way for the Obama administration to weaken the immigration laws.  Others think it is simply election-year grandstanding for the Hispanic vote.  As an example of the current situation, if you are an illegal immigrant married to a U.S. citizen, you must return to your country of origin first.  But what many haven’t taken into consideration is the record number of illegal immigrants Obama has deported, much higher than former Presidents. 

The Pew Research Center has some interesting facts about the length of residency of unauthorized immigrants.  Almost 10.2 million unauthorized adult immigrants in the United States have lived in this country for at least 10 years and nearly half are parents of minor children.  Pew Hispanic found that 35 percent of this group has been in the U.S. for 15+ years; 28 percent 10 to 14 years; 22 percent 5 to 9 years; and just 15 percent less than 5 years. 

They are younger than their legal counterparts; average age of 36.2 years for illegals and 46.1 for those legal.  U.S. native adults are 46.5.  The U.S. Hispanic population is 50,477,594 living in 14,110,760 households, according to the Census Bureau.  Their median income is $44,404 with a high income average of $217,851.  Over 6 million of the U.S. Hispanic population is making over $50,000 annually, almost 2 million $100,000+.

There was an interesting article on CNN, “Want jobs? Encourage immigration,” quoting the phrase, "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses of immigrant entrepreneurs yearning to breathe free," expressing that that should be the message from Lady Liberty.  The author, Amy Wilkinson, goes on to say, “Inviting immigrants in to create jobs may seem counterintuitive, but the facts are clear. Immigrant-led innovation is key to creating U.S. jobs.”  She backs this up, below.

“According to statistics from Partnership for a New American Economy, 40% of Fortune 500 companies were created by immigrants or their children. Further, between 1995 and 2005, 25% of high-tech startups in the United States had at least one immigrant founder, and these companies have created more than 450,000 jobs.”  Inc. magazine lists the top ten Hispanic entrepreneurs in 2010 you can see here.  Wilkinson comments that while the U.S. often kicks out immigrant innovators, other countries welcome them.

The point is that immigrants, in general, and Latinos in particular, with their fast growing population can and have made their mark in the American marketplace.  Congress and the U.S. public will have to deal with this soon, making amends and negotiating for rights that are currently being denied Hispanics or the white citizenry could very well find itself voted out of Washington, state and local offices.  I am not sure this faction could handle being in the minority.