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Showing posts with label President Obama. Show all posts
Showing posts with label President Obama. Show all posts
You Lost The Popular Vote By 2.5 Million And Ranked 46th In The Electoral College, That's NOT A Landslide
Meme by https://www.facebook.com/StoptheObstructionistTeaParty/
John A. Smith, Founder/Editor, New York, December 16, 2016 9:45 AM
With 34 days left to his inauguration President-elect Donald J. Trump is ignoring the fact the Vladimir Putin is responsible for hacking our country, interfering with our election process, interfering with our political process, and attacking our democracy. He is not only ignoring facts but is discrediting our entire intelligence community.
Trump has picked for the head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) a man who denies climate change, denies climate change! He picked a guy that is against the minimum wage to head up the Depart of Labor. He picked Lt. General Michael Flynn, (Ret.) who "inappropriately shared" classified information with foreign military officers in Afghanistan and was separated from the military yet started a "Lock Her Up" campaign against Hillary Clinton after the FBI found there was no "reasonable" evidence that her e-mail server had compromised classified information. Read more
He picked someone to head Health and Human Services (HHS) that wants to privatize Medicare. Medicare operates on a 2% administrative cost whereas commercial insurance companies were keeping 40%-50% of the money collected for premiums for administrative costs and turning around and giving that money to executives as bonuses, prior to The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare) and are still taking 18%-20% of premiums as "administrative costs." Trump picked the Exxon/Mobil CEO to be Secretary of State. A man who after the United States brokered a deal so that the people in one of the poorest countries in the world would be cared for, after they discovered oil, got the dictator of that country to throw out the U.S. and another oil company to get paid by Exxon and use $4.5B to buy weapons instead of feeding, educating, and building hospitals. Read more.
The President-elect is choosing to deny what the intelligence community has reported and is supporting Russia saying "hacking, who even knows if there was hacking, and they say it was Russia, they don't know if it was Russia, it could be Russia, or China, or a 400 lb. man in a bed," and that was said AFTER he was briefed and knew it WAS Russia that not only interfered with our election, but quite possible it was done to help him win, and that Vladimir Putin was directly involved.
Even Republicans are in agreement with President Obama, a very big difference of the case for Obama's entire eight years, that Putin, and Russia, must be retaliated against for what they did, and are still doing. It was reported today that Russian hacking continues unabated to this day.
President Obama will address the nation at 2:15 PM EST to address this crisis. President Obama yesterday suggested that Vladimir Putin was involved in the hacking and went further in saying that the U.S. WILL respond. "I think there's no doubt that when any foreign government tries to impact the integrity of our elections that we need to take action, and we will, at a time and place of our own choosing. Some of it may be explicit and publicized, some of it may not be, but Mr. Putin is well aware of my feelings on this because I spoke to him directly about this.
John A. Smith, Founder/Editor, New York, December 11, 2016
Blame Whatever, Fake News, the Internet, Stupidity, or Mental Illness, People Are Gullible and We Are All Going To Suffer The Oligarchy, Plutocracy, Created By Dumb Ass People!
Personally I think mental illness is far more out of control than just the issues involving mentally ill people being able to purchase firearms legally. I look at our last election and see that of the people who voted for Trump over 60% think the unemployment has gone UP since President Obama took office, it hasn't, it went from 7.8% to 4.9%. Those same voters think the stock market has gone DOWN! Really?! It was just above 7,000 when he took office and is now above 19,000! What universe are these people living in? It must be one that houses the mentally ill. Really. Here's an Update on President Obama's Numbers from FactCheck.orgas of July 2016, know that as of today the stock market is above 19,000! Here are 14 facts about President Obama's achievements that most people don't know. Although the post is from a source I don't know all 14 facts are indeed verifiable. 14 Facts About Obama's Presidency Most People Don't Know . Then we have those Trump supporters/voters who actually believe, and do NO research whatsoever, people like Alex Jones of "InfoWars" notability and Stephen Bannon, who was heading up Breitbart, a right-wing, conspiracy theory website that is funded by Trump's number one supporter and contributor, that totally fabricates stories, I should say "theories" that have no basis in reality whatsoever. President-Elect Donald Trump's very first appointment after winning the electoral college but losing the popular vote by more that 2.5 million as of today, was Stephen Bannon as his "Chief White House Strategist and Senior Counselor."
The Monsters Attacking Sandy Hook Families Are The Worst Of Us
By Bob Owens December 9, 2016 BearingArms.com
"In the latest episode over the proliferation of fake news and the people who believe it, a Tampa woman who thinks the Sandy Hook school massacre in Newtown, CT was staged has been charged with threatening a parent of one of the slain children." Read more .
And for all of those who think that the massacre at the Sandy Hook elementary school in Newtown, CT, where 20 elementary school children and 6 teachers and administrators were killed, was nothing more than a massive hoax, I don't believe we have the proper treatment for them.
Why Won't Donald Trump Denounce Sandy Hook Deniers?
By William Finnegan November 22, 2016 The New Yorker
"In the rank confusion of Donald Trump's preparations to assume power, there are some decisions that look as if they should be easy. Last week, Erica Lafferty wrote the President-elect an open letter asking him to cut ties with conspiracy theorist Alex Jones. Lafferty is the daughter of Dawn Hochsprung, who was the Principal of Sandy Hook Elementary School, in Newtown, CT. On December 14, 2012 Hochsprung was shot to death trying to stop Adam Lanza who murdered 20 children and five other adults at the school, in addition to his mother, earlier that day, before killing himself. Jones who is based in Austin, TX, who runs a radio show and Web site called InfoWars has repeatedly argued that the mass shooting at Sandy Hook was a hoax, that it was staged by the government and performed by paid actors. Jones and many of his fans contend that the government has orchestrated a number of mass shootings and national tragedies including the September 11th terror attacks and the 1995 bombing of a federal building in Oklahoma City, but their Sandy Hook denial has a particular cruelty. They actually seem to make special efforts to torment the bereaved."
"I invite him to my town," Lafferty said, speaking of Jones, when I called her last week. "Invite him to my family dinners. Come sit in my mother's empty seat. If they want to tell me that she's still alive, show me. Nothing would make me happier. Show me where she's sitting on some island sipping a drink."
How hard for the incoming President of the United States to disavow this ugliness? Reince Priebus who will soon be President Trump's Chief of Staff told CNN last week "It's really important all Americans understand that he is a president for everyone." Does Priebus understand where his new boss has positioned himself among the grieving, doubly victimized families of Newtown?" Read more .
Obama's Accomplishments To Spite The Unprecedented Obstruction To Be Undone
On January 20, 2009 President Obama took office, 700,000 jobs PER MONTH were being lost. Republicans met a couple miles away from the inauguration ceremonies in a hotel conference room and swore they would oppose and block everything and anything the new president wanted to do. To spite them he actually saved the auto industry and one-and-a-half million jobs in that one act. He did get 20 million Americans healthcare against tremendous obstruction and after he did Republicans spent over $7M of taxpayer money voting to repeal "The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act" dubbed "Obamacare." The Republicans spent that money voting to repeal the law no less than 54 times knowing for a fact that it would never be signed by the President. They didn't care they were wasting YOUR money, at all, acting like children, while being paid $175,000/yr and more, and given a platinum healthcare plan for themselves.
400 Obama Accomplishments So Far With Citations
In 2008, we elected the most progressive president in history. And regardless of the negativity, when you actually look at the record, there has been a lot of progress since January 20, 2009. If you’ll recall, when he took over the reins of power, the economy was in free-fall and we were practically a world laughingstock. That is no longer the case.
Here is a list of many of President Obama’s accomplishments as President. Every one of them has a citation, so no one can dismiss them out of hand, although many have tried since I started to compile this list Even with the obstacles we gave him, especially the Republican Congress, this President will leave behind a wonderful legacy. Read more .
In Summary
I don't know how many believers, supporters, voters, gullible people that voted for Trump, or voted for a third party candidate, or people who didn't vote at all, or the Democrats themselves like Hillary Clinton and the other conspirators like Debbie Wassermann-Schultz that conspired to beat Bernie Sanders, know how much damage they've done by electing someone who 1) never really wanted the job of President; 2) has no clue on what the job is or the requirements of it; 3) is going to operate in a way to make himself even richer by using the office (he is already doing this); 4) is a racist; 5) a misogynist; 6) an enormous egomaniac; 7) a narcissist that needs to be fed regularly (just look at his unprecedented "Thank You" rallies; 8) has so much hate in his heart that he appoints a white supremacist, neo-Nazi to be his Chief Strategist; 9) Picks someone that runs a large oil corporation and has some 40 active lawsuits against the EPA, and denies climate change to be the head of the EPA; 10) Picks a CEO of a corporation that is the parent company for hamburger chains; Carl's Jr., Hardees, in which the Dept. of Labor investigated and found that MORE THAN HALF of those restaurants were violating hour-wage labor laws; 11) picks a neurosurgeon that has never run a company much less a government or any other kind of agency to be the head of the Housing and Urban Development (HUD) after he has made numerous derogatory remarks about urban developments; and I can keep going on and on, and he's not even sworn in yet.
The person you all are responsible for getting elected has already shown he doesn't know what he's doing. He had the Prime Minister of Japan coming to meet with him and that Prime Minister had to put out in public, because foreign leaders didn't have any contact information, the day before they were supposed to meet, that they didn't know where or when they were actually supposed to meet him. The Prime Minister didn't find out until he was already "wheels up" in Japan. The person that arranged and took a call from the leader of Taiwan which we (America) haven't recognized as a government since 1979 aggravating a diplomatic precedent we have with China. Who at the time of the Japan Prime Minister's visit hadn't even contacted the Pentagon or the State department. A man whose entire team was surprised that they were going to have to fill 4,000 positions within the government. A man who has still not filled many of the positions needed to run the government and the country, so much so that people in those positions are asking what they should do if January 20th comes and no one has shown up to trained. What they should do with all their files and such.
You can't fix stupidity, I just hope that this country is not beyond repair when this reality show ends.
Two Hugh Decisions By the U.S. Supreme Court This Week: The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) and Same-Sex Marriage
In the 5-4 ruling, Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote for the majority with
the four liberal justices. Each of the four conservative justices wrote
their own dissent.
Yesterday the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Same-Sex marriage licenses shall be issued, and as such, same-sex marriages shall be recognized by all 50 states. The summary in OBERGEFELL ET AL.v HODGES, DIRECTOR, OHIO DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, ET ALheld that:The Fourteenth Amendment requires a State to license a marriage between two people of the same sex and to recognize a marriage between two people of the same sex when their marriage was lawfully licensed and performed out-of-State.
Chief Justice John Roberts, joined by Justice Anthony Kennedy — who is often the Court’s
swing vote — and the four liberal justices, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor, and Elena Kagan were in the majority. Justice Antonin Scalia wrote
the dissent, joined by Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito.
On Thursday, June 25, 2015, The U.S. Supreme Court decided KING ET AL. v. BURWELL, SECRETARY OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, ET AL. This summary explains that this case: First, the Act adopts the guaranteed issue and community rating requirements. Second, the Act generally requires individuals to maintain health insurance coverage or make a payment to the IRS, unless the cost of buying insurance would exceed eight percent of that individual’s income. And third, the Act seeks to make insurance more affordable by giving refundable tax credits to individuals with household incomes between 100 percent and 400 percent of the federal poverty line. In addition to those three reforms, the Act requires the creation of an “Exchange” in each State—basically, a marketplace that allows people to compare and purchase insurance plans. The Act gives each State the opportunity to establish its own Exchange, but provides that the Federal Government will establish “such Exchange” if the State does not. Relatedly, the Act provides that tax credits “shall be allowed” for any “applicable taxpayer, but only if the taxpayer has enrolled in an insurance plan through “an Exchange established by the State under B(b)–(c).
An example of Gerrymandering: On the left district lines are drawn geographically, each party has equal chance for the vote. On the right, lines have been redrawn, "gerrymandered" and the pink dot party will win 3 out of 4 districts, therefore win all electoral votes for that state even though the same number of voters voted in both examples.
Coming Soon To The U.S. Supreme Court: Monday, June 29, 2015; Gerrymandering (The Redistricting of Congressional Districts To Give One Party An Unfair Advantage
Arizona State Legislature, Appellant v. Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission Et alis also extremely important if we are to work toward fair elections. Redistricting, or "Gerrymandering"is a way that certain State Legislatures use how they draw the voting district lines to help them win elections. Redistricting is the way in which we adjust the districts that determine who represents us. This case was filed on April 28, 2014. It was was argued before the U.S. Supreme Court on March 2, 2015. It is scheduled to issue the court's decision on Monday, June 29, 2015.
How districts are drawn and who gets to control the process is
something of the utmost importance. And because the outcome of this case
will set national precedence, the ramifications of a ruling either way
will be felt for a very, very long time.
Every 10 years, following the national census, Arizona
redraws its two voting district maps—one for the nine U.S. Congressional
delegates, and one for the 90 state legislators. Until 2000, the job of
delineating districts fell on the state Legislature to figure out.
But
since elected officials in this state are almost always Republicans,
some people started getting upset that one party held all of the
redistricting power and could manipulate boundaries to benefit their own
party and retain control. (This process is called gerrymandering.)
In
2000, Arizona voters approved Proposition 106, which took away the
map-drawing power from the Legislature and gave it to an independent
bi-partisan group called the Arizona Independent Redistricting
Commission. The AIRC is comprised of two Democrats, two Republicans, and
one Independent, and is tasked with deciding voter districts based the
following criteria:
That the boundaries of both congressional and legislative districts
be “contiguous, geographically compact, and respect communities of
interest—all to the extent practicable;”
That district lines follow “visible geographic features, city, town, and county boundaries, and undivided census tracts;”
And perhaps most importantly, that "competitive districts be
favored where doing so would not significantly detract from the goals
above.”
ger·ry·man·der
ˈjerēˌmandər/
verb
gerund or present participle: gerrymandering
manipulate the boundaries of (an electoral constituency) so as to favor one party or class.
achieve (a result) by manipulating the boundaries of an electoral constituency.
"a total freedom to gerrymander the results they want"
So, we'll be watching, and hoping, that the U.S. Supreme Court will continue making decisions that will help this country move forward, on Monday. I
am hopeful that enough people read this post and are encouraged, and motivated into taking action by contacting their Representatives to let them know
that we are out here (the Constituents) and watching how well, or poorly, we are being
represented.
The TPP is a massive, controversial "free trade" agreement currently
being pushed by big corporations and negotiated behind closed doors by
officials from the United States and 11 other countries – Australia,
Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru,
Singapore, and Vietnam.
I am writing this post to help spread the word on what "Fast-Track" and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is all about and how it will effect us in the future. Also, for
those who could use a little help finding YOUR Local, and State, Representatives, and YOUR U.S.
Congressmen and women, and YOUR U.S. Senators, and their contact information so YOU can call and/or e-mail them.
Last week 28 Democrats in the House of Representatives and 13 U.S. Senators in the Senate voted to give Fast Track Authority to President Obama to negotiate the TPP. What does this mean?
Public Citizen at Citizen.org/Fast Track describes it this way. Fast Track was an extreme and rarely-used procedure initially created by
President Richard Nixon to get around public debate and congressional
oversight. Fast Track is how we got into the job-killing,
wage-flattening North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the World Trade Organization (WTO). Thanks to Fast Track, NAFTA and the WTO included terms that promote the offshoring of U.S. jobs to low-wage countries.
President Obama resorted to asking Congress to give him extreme Fast
Track authority to try to railroad into place job-killing trade
agreements like the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).
After dogged, diverse grassroots pressure delivered major blows to Fast
Track, proponents used procedural gimmicks to pass Fast Track through
Congress by a one-vote margin. Anger about Fast Track's underhanded
passage will fuel the unprecedented movement fighting to stop the TPP.
YOU Can let YOUR Representatives Know What YOU Think
To FIND, and CONTACT, YOUR State Legislators enter your Zip Code at: Vote Smart
To FIND, and CONTACT, YOUR U.S. Congressmen/women enter your Zip Code at: Congress.gov
To FIND, and CONTACT, YOUR U.S. Senators enter your Zip Code at: Senate.gov
I have provided the links above to assist you in finding and contacting YOUR Representatives simply by typing in your
zip code at those sites. By contacting them by phone or e-mail you will let them know that you ARE paying attention to what they are doing, and what YOU want them to do.
The fact that multinational corporations are going to
be using arbitrators in countries like Vietnam and others to get the
things that they want, and those decisions that are made can not be
challenged in American courts, ABSOLUTELY show us that creating and
holding on to good paying jobs is not in the interests of these
corporations that will avail themselves of the provisions in the TPP. We
will not gain from giving the corporations who have spent hundreds of
millions of dollars lobbying for the TPP and other laws and policies that will do nothing for the people but plenty for increasing their profits. We will be losing
the little fragments of manufacturing that are left to child and slave
labor in other countries.
It's issues like this that I feel WE MUST ACT
ON. The only way we can have ANY influence on the "bought and paid for"
politicians (on both sides) is to absolutely FLOOD their phone lines and
e-mails to let them know that enough people are aware of how they
are voting on bills, what actions they are taking, and that this
particular issue (whichever one it may be) is one that is important to
us. You can TRACK your Representatives, and specific legislation (bills) on the sites that the links above lead you to. You can see how they voted on any bill. They must know that they WILL be fired at the next election if they don't represent you well. But for that to be effective we need people, like YOU, to do their part, and there in lies the
challenge. Sometimes it only takes a couple hundred calls to a local
office, sometimes they are forced to deal with systems crashing because
millions of e-mails have overloaded their capabilities. Either way they have no choice
but to take notice when an issue is one that people feel strongly about.
Please, if you feel that the TPP trade deal, and "Fast-tracking" is NOT
to your benefit CONTACT your Representatives. If you are in one of the States where those 28 Congressmen/women or 13 Senators are that voted to give fast-track authority to the President, let them know that they messed up, and will be fired in the election if they don't represent what YOU want. I always put
the links (above) so that people who may not be aware of who exactly
represents them in their districts, counties, States, can easily find out not only who their
Representatives are, but exactly how to contact them. And all you need
to do to become active is go the sites that the links above will bring you to and enter your zip code, these sites will tell you everything about the people who are in public office to represent YOU! This is just one of many articles that you can search out
to better understand what the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) is: https://www.eff.org/issues/tpp
Thirteen Senate Democrats on Tuesday helped advance fast-track trade
powers for President Barack Obama after overcoming their own concerns
about whether a related aid bill for workers would pass the
Republican-controlled Congress.
The final tally on the procedural
vote for granting Obama trade promotion authority was 60-37. Five
Republicans — including two running for president — broke with the GOP
and voted against advancing the bill.
The 13 Democrats were:
• Michael Bennet, Colorado
• Maria Cantwell, Washington
• Tom Carper, Delaware
• Chris Coons, Delaware
• Dianne Feinstein, California
• Heidi Heitkamp, North Dakota
• Tim Kaine, Virginia
• Claire McCaskill, Missouri
• Patty Murray, Washington
• Bill Nelson, Florida
• Jeanne Shaheen, New Hampshire
• Mark Warner, Virginia
• Ron Wyden, Oregon
Republicans who voted against advancing the fast-track bill were:
• Susan Collins, Maine
• Ted Cruz, Texas
• Rand Paul, Kentucky
• Jeff Sessions, Alabama
• Richard Shelby, Alabama
Those
were the same senators who voted against the measure in late May, with
the exception of Cruz, who announced his reversal Tuesday morning.
(Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah was also a “no” vote in May, but he
did not vote Tuesday.)
Now, House Democrats will have to choose whether to try and block worker
aid again, even though the fast-track bill is likely to become law
regardless of how they vote on TAA. Critics have said doing so would be
tantamount to punishing laid-off workers because Democrats lost the
bigger political fight.
Yesterday I felt I had to remind people how Former President George W. Bush, Former Vice President DICK Cheney, and that administration, had out right lied to the American people to sell them on going to war with Iraq. Post on my Facebook page April 29, 2015 Stop The Obstructionist Tea Party You can see how I recounted that they (Bush, Cheney) chose to lie about intelligence. President Bush sent Former Ambassador Joseph Miller to Niger to see if, in fact, Iraq had purchased a large amount of "Yellow Cake" uranium to be able to create nuclear weapons. Former President Bush at the time said he (Ambassador Miller) was the most qualified to obtain this information. When the Ambassador returned from his trip and said there was NO WAY it could have possibly happened. President Bush chose to go on TV shortly after that and said just the opposite. Lying, to "sell" the war to the American people he said they confirmed that Iraq had secured material to make nuclear weapons. When Joseph Miller went public and told what was happening, that the White House was in fact not telling the truth, the administration set out to destroy him, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_C._Wilson and his wife Valerie Plame, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valerie_Plame by "outing" his wife Valerie Plame as a CIA operative. When Cheney's friend Scooter Libby was indicted on two counts of perjury, two counts of making false statements to federal investigators, and one count of obstruction of justice. He was convicted on 4 of the 5 counts in the federal trial United States v. Libby. On June 5, 2007, the presiding trial judge, Libby was sentenced 30 months in federal prison, a fine of $250,000, and
two years of supervised release, including 400 hours of community service, and then ordered Libby to begin his sentence immediately. On July 2, 2007, when Libby's appeal of Walton's order failed, President Bush commuted Libby's 30-month prison sentence, the former President commuted his sentence. Vice President Cheney was very upset at the President for letting his friend Libby have to go through any of that and for not commuting the entire sentence immediately. So because Former Ambassador Joseph Miller didn't go along with the President of the United States completely lying to go to war their lives were put in jeopardy and destroyed.
Jon Stewart brings Another To Task For Protecting The Lies, Judith Miller
Judith Miller on "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart April 29, 2015
Last night on "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" Jon brings another person to task for trying to explain the lies taking place at that time, Judith Miller, in her new book "The Story - A Reporter's Journey." Below is a link to see last night's episode for anyone who really wants to know the truth about the lies told to sell the Iraq war to the American people. A war of convenience and profit. If anyone that believes, backs, supports, or otherwise tries to tell people that Former President George W. Bush wasn't responsible for thousands of American soldiers dying and being wounded, and for 655,000 Iraq civilians being killed for a war that was simply pushed onto America with lies, they should watch the episode below. It shows yet another person making money off that war by writing a book full of more lies. Even people who "only watch Faux News" will see that she is caught trying to sell the lies. An awful lot of lives and families were destroyed for a few peoples greed, arrogance, stupidity, and complete lack of morals.
He discusses another lie than the one I discussed in yesterday's post. He discusses the one about the aluminum tubes that were SAID to be used to manufacture nuclear weapons, when in fact, they knew, they were not that type of tubes that could be used to do so. More misleading propaganda, lies, used to sell the war of convenience and greed. When Jon Stewart reminds her (Judith Miller) that in her book she states that David Albright is the source that she utmost trusts in this area yet published an article saying the tubes were bought to make nuclear weapons without talking to him. He says that David Albright called her on that Tuesday after the page 1 article appeared and told her that her article was wrong, the tubes in question are used to make rockets, not centrifuges or nuclear weapons. He asked why didn't she mention that in a subsequent article she published a few days later (on page 13)? Why? Why did she ignore him that subsequent article? She said she did mention it. He corrected her again. He said no you didn't, it wasn't in the article. She says "maybe it was cut for space"! REALLY!? WAIT WHAT?! ARE YOU KIDDING ME? How stupid does she and all of the people on the "White House Iraq Group" (an actual group that was created in the White House, (undisputed) made up of people like Karl Rove and others who were given the task of fulfilling Donald Rumsfeld's request of "finding a pretext to go to war with Iraq.") "Find me a pretext to go to war with Iraq" is a direct quote from Donald Rumsfeld which also is not disputed. Here you have someone else profiting off the Iraq war by writing a book and trying, still, to protect the lies about why all those American soldiers were killed and maimed along with 655,000 Iraq civilians. It's truly sickening that the former President and his administration sold America on a war-for-profit and convenience and killed and injured so many people. For Bush or Cheney to offer ANY opinion they might have, or to say this President (who is still cleaning up their mess in foreign policy or economics is a slap in the face to all Americans.What is worse is that people listen to their garbage and to this day try to defend it.
Dirty Alberta Tar Sands Oil - Photo by: corpethics.org
Can
Congress overrule Obama on the Keystone XL pipeline? {Hope NOT!} The
State Department is in the midst of an extensive environmental and
national interest review of the pipeline, which supporters say will help
meet America’s energy and economic needs, and which opponents say will
accelerate climate change. Read more of the Washington Post article by Juliet Eilperin, "Can Congress Overrule Obama on the Keystone XL Pipeline?"
"Supporters
say will help meet America’s energy and economic needs," THAT'S A LIE!
The fact is that NONE of the tar sands crude will be used in America at
all. The crude to go through the pipeline to the Gulf is going to be
shipped to China and other nations. The refinery is owned by Shell Oil
and a Saudi Arabian oil company. As far as our economic needs, it has
been proven that the pipeline will cause gas prices to go up 25 to 40
cents per gallon at the pump. As far as jobs where as supporters
originally said the pipeline would create "tens of thousands of jobs,"
which they have backed down from, the pipeline will create approximately
2,000-4,000 construction jobs while it is being built, but once
operational will only create about 50 permanent jobs.
In an article written by Brendan Smith for Labor Network for Sustainability 5 Reasons Why the Keystone Pipeline is Bad for the Economy
After a year of extreme weather — at an extreme cost to the economy —
this age old jobs vs. environment debate is emerging as a false choice.
Hurricanes, floods, and droughts are already having a devastating
effect on American jobs, and that is nothing compared to what will
happen if we throw open the spigot to the tar sands from Canada,
considered the dirtiest oil in the world.
Here are 5 reasons why building the Keystone pipeline is bad for the economy — and workers:
1. Building the Keystone pipeline and opening up the Tar Sands will negatively impact national and local economies: Burning the recoverable tar sands oil will increase the earth’s temperature by a minimum of 2 degree Celsius, which NYU Law School’s Environmental Law Center estimates could permanently cut the US GDP by 2.5%.
2. The same fossil fuel interests pushing the Keystone pipeline have been cutting, not creating, jobs:
Despite generating $546 billion in profits between 2005 and 2010,
ExxonMobil, Chevron, Shell, and BP reduced their U.S. workforce by
11,200 employees over that period. In 2010 alone, the top five oil
companies slashed their global workforce by 4,400 employees — the same
year executives paid themselves nearly $220 million. But at least those
working in the industry as a whole get paid high wages, right? Turns out
that 40 percent of U.S oil-industry jobs consist of minimum-wage work
at gas stations. Instead of bankrolling an industry that is laying off
workers and threatening our economic future, isn’t it time to take the
billions in subsidies going to oil companies and invest instead in a
sector that both creates jobs and protects the planet?
3. Unemployment will rise: According to Mark Zandi, the Chief Economist of Moody’s Analytics:
“Superstorm Sandy wreaked havoc on the job market in November, slicing
an estimated 86,000 jobs from payrolls.” In the wake of Hurricane Irene,
the number of workers filing unemployment claims in Vermont went from 731 before Irene to 1,331 two weeks afterwards. Hurricane Katrina wiped out 129,000 jobs in the New Orleans region — nearly 20 percent. For the U.S. economy as a whole, 2011 cost US taxpayers $52 billion.
4. Poor and working people will be disproportionately affected:
KXL and projects like it result in disproportionately negative impact
on already struggling working families. According to a recent report by
the Center for American Progress called “Heavy Weather: How Climate Destruction Harms Middle- and Lower-Income Americans,
lower-and middle income households are disproportionately affected by
the most expensive extreme weather events. Sixteen states were afflicted
by five or more extreme weather events in 2011-12. Households in
disaster-declared counties in these states earn $48,137, or seven
percent below the U.S. median income.
5. Building the sustainable economy, not the Keystone pipeline, will create far more jobs:
Our nation is in desperate need of jobs. Approving the Keystone
pipeline locks our nation into a trajectory of guaranteed job loss and
threatens the stability of the US economy. Why keep the “job-killing”
course, when the alternative-energy path is already out-performing other
sectors of the economy. For example, the solar industry continues to be
an engine of job growth — creating jobs six times faster than the
overall job market. Research by the Solar Foundation shows a 13 percent growth
in high-skilled solar jobs spanning installations, sales, marketing,
manufacturing and software development — bringing total direct jobs to
119,000 in the sector. And according to the Political Economy Research Institute at the University
of Massachusetts–Amherst, investment in a green infrastructure program
would create nearly four times as many jobs as an equal investment in
oil and gas.
You may remember that when Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney
spoke of the 47% that would never vote for him, he referred to them as
"takers." The 1% has consistently referred to themselves as "Job
Creators," which just doesn't pan out and has been disproved.
“If you want to create jobs, cut taxes on the people who create jobs.” This plausible-sounding policy proposal, which translates politically
into lowering marginal tax rates on high earners, has generated massive
discussion. Forbes - June 2013 - Who are the Real Job Creators. Bottom Line
I am all in favor of government doing less, spending less, and
extracting less from the citizenry in taxes. There may be sound
rationales for skewing the tax cuts that emerge from such reforms toward
the highest earners. Attempting to foster long-term job creation in the
economy at large is not one of them.
People like Paul
Ryan, Mitt Romney and other members of the 1% often portrayed themselves
as "Job Creators," and take credit for creating the best economy in the
world. They pretend that they have superior knowledge, and through
their own hard
work, they have risen above the rest of the us in America in terms
of economic wealth and political power. Well the political power part is
true, mainly because of the U.S. Supreme Court 2010 Citizens United
decision, which allowed unlimited campaign contributions from
corporations, without even disclosing the donor. They claim to be held
back by the fact that so many of their
fellow citizens are "moochers" and expect a free ride and a free lunch
at their expense. The Bush tax cuts were in place for 10 years and when
Bush left office we were losing 700,000 jobs a month.
The
Keystone XL pipeline will carry the dirtiest fuels in the world, tar
sands oil. TransCanada wants to build the northern section of the
pipeline but needs approval of the President because it crosses an
international border. The Keystone XL pipeline, if built, will stretch
2,000 miles from Alberta Canada to the Gulf Coast of the United States.
The pipeline could cause devastating environmental damage to ecosystems,
water, and public health, there have been numerous disasters of late
with train derailments, chemical spills, and more that has already
caused damage. Imports of dirty tar sands would double with the Keystone
XL pipeline, which would transport it to refineries and ports on the
Gulf coast for international export. America would not benefit from a
drop of oil, but would sustain all the environmental, and other risks.
What will America gain? 50 permanent t jobs, an increase in our own gas
prices at the pump, of 25 to 40 cents per of gas, and risks. What will
the big oil companies, including Shell and that Saudi Arabian oil
company gain? Billions of dollars in increased profits, sound familiar?
Please contact your Representatives in Congress and the Senate by clicking on the "Find/Track Politicians, Bills, and Voting Records" page on the grey line above. Once on the page go to GovTrack
and by simply putting in your zip code it will find all your
Representatives and assist you in contacting them. The only way we can
make a difference is to call and write our Congressmen/women, and
Senators. When enough people contact them they have no choice but to
listen. Right now only the ultra-rich and corporations have their ear,
and the influence, and it's working, FOR THEM.
With Nothing Better To Do The House Disapproved of President Obama Exercising Authority To Suspend the Debt Ceiling
and Moved Forward on exempting any major swap participant or major security-based swap
participant from from the prohibition against federal assistance
H.J. Res 99 Passed 222-191
H. R. 992 Was Passed 292-122
H. J. Res 99
Relating to the disapproval of the President's exercise of authority to
suspend the debt limit, as submitted under section 1002(b) of the
Continuing Appropriations Act, 2014 on October 17, 2013.
Disapproves of the President's exercise of authority to suspend the debt limit. On passage Passed by the Yeas and Nays: 222 - 191, 2 Present (Roll no. 570).
See how YOUR Representative voted on H. R. 99 here
H.R. 992 (Related Bills H.RES.391, and H. R. 2374)
H.R. 992 is to amend provisions
in section 716 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer
Protection Act relating to Federal assistance for swaps entities, and
providing for consideration of the bill (H.R. 2374*) to amend the
Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to provide protections for retail
customers, and for other purposes.
H.R. 992 would extend to any major swap participant or major security-based swap
participant that is an uninsured U.S. branch or agency of a foreign bankthe exemption from the prohibition against federal assistance to swaps
entities which is currently limited to any major swap participant or
major security-based swap participant that is an FDIC-insured bank or
savings association. *H.R. 2374
(Sec. 3) Amends the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to prohibit the SEC
from promulgating a rule establishing an investment advisor standard of
conduct as the standard of conduct of brokers and dealers before it has
ascertained: (1) if retail customers are systematically harmed or
disadvantaged owing to the operation of brokers or dealers under
different standards of conduct than those that apply to investment
advisors under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, and (2) whether
adoption of a uniform fiduciary standard of care for brokers or dealers
and investment advisors would adversely impact retail investor access or
availability to personalized investment advice and recommendations. See how YOUR Representative voted on H. R. 2374 here
H.R. 4173 (111th): Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act was signed into law on July 21, 2010 and yet very little has actually been implemented. This law is supposed to put back the regulations from 1934 which prevented financial institutions from becoming too big to fail. Since the financial industry took most of middle America's net worth with the financial collapse of 2009 these institutions have actually grown, leaving us in the precarious position of it happening again. We need people to contact their representatives and tell them we want Dodd-Frank implemented completely, and now.
To find YOUR Congressmen/women, and Senators, and how to contact them use:
From David Simas Deputy Senior Advisor The White House
October 18, 2013
In his remarks, the President asked Congress to focus on finishing three specific policy priorities in the weeks to come.
First, that means passing a budget that invests in the things that
will create a better bargain for the middle class -- like educating our
children, and improving our infrastructure -- while continuing to cut
our deficit in a balanced way.
Second, it means fixing our broken immigration system so everyone
plays by the same rules. The Senate has already passed a bill that would
continue to strengthen our borders and grow our economy by bringing
millions of undocumented immigrants out of the shadows and give them the
chance to earn their citizenship by paying a fine and taxes, passing a
background check, and going to the back of the line.
And third, it means passing a farm bill that ranching and farming
families can rely on: one that protects working families and gives rural
communities opportunities to grow.
We'll be back in touch soon with more specific ways that every one of
us can support this work. But for now, we should all have the facts on
exactly what ending this shutdown means for all of us -- today, and in
the weeks to come.
