Tag Archives: Chamber of Commerce

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

10 Crazy Things the Right Did This Week


By  The summer may be over, but it’s never the end of crazy season when it comes to conservatives–from the silly to the serious.

1. Republicans Threaten To Push Nation Into Default Unless Obama Agrees To Delay Obamacare For One Year: Ironically, the proposition could actually increase the deficit by billions of dollars.
2. Secret Koch Fund Decries ‘Corporate Welfare’ And Stimulus But Funds Their Top Defender: A tax-exempt group claims to fight runaway stimulus spending and “corporate welfare” but gave millions to the Chamber of Commerce, perhaps the top backer of those programs.
3. GOP Tries To Sink Uncontroversial Energy Bill With An Obamacare Amendment: An energy efficiency bill would be the first major energy legislation passed in the Senate since 2007, but Republican amendments aiming to repeal Obamacare threaten to sink a long-awaited bill that has broad bipartisan support.
4. Heritage Puts Anti-Obamacare Billboard In Times Square After State Announces Huge Premium Drop: The message is just the latest political stunt from the organization that first developed the individual health care mandate and later touted Obamacare-like reforms in Massachusetts.
5. The Origins Of An Epidemic: How Right-Wing Religious Communities Give Measles A Chance To Spread: A recent measles outbreak in Texas was traced to an evangelical church that preached against vaccines. That’s not an isolated incident.
6. Five Reasons Congress Can’t Blame The Calendar For Delaying Immigration Reform: House Republicans are telling the media they simply don’t have time to pass immigration reform this year. They’re wrong.
7. Benghazi Conspiracy Rally On Capitol Hill Attracts Dozens Of People: It was meant to be a rallying moment for thousands of conservatives to demand the truth about Benghazi. Less than a hundred bothered to show up.
8. Conservatives Pressure Textbook Publishers To Downplay Existence Of Climate Change, Evolution: Prominent creationists with little scientific background or training are asking publishers include disclaimers about existing scientific theories.
9. Meet The Maryland Republicans Who Want To Secede:  The group, which calls itself the Western Maryland Initiative, is dissatisfied with the fact that, in a democracy, people with minority views are frequently outvoted by people with more common views.
10. Mitch McConnell Exploits Syria Conflict For Campaign Fundraising: The letter opened with the claim that Mitch McConnell “does not politicize issues of national security” but went on to argue that the senator’s opposition to the authorization for use of force is “a ringing example of why we need to keep Mitch fighting for us in the United States Senate.”

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

a message from Alan Grayson



What We Need on Nov. 6, And After That.

We spend so much time thinking about who will be elected to office, and so little time thinking about what they will do when they get there.  Campaign consultants tell candidates that promises are inconvenient; you might have to keep them.  And candidates dance around the issues as though they were lit firecrackers.

Not me.  Here are my goals, after Nov. 6:

(1) Full employment.
(2) Universal healthcare.
(3) Taking corporate money out of politics and government.
(4) Reinstituting progressive taxation, to reduce the deficit and the debt.
(5) Ending corporate welfare.
(6) Improving labor standards, including pensions, sick leave and paid vacations.
(7) Ending discrimination against minorities, women and gays.
(8) Providing higher education to every student who wants it.
(9) Ending the war, bringing the troops home, and reining in the military-industrial complex.
(10) Reducing the brutal and pervasive inequality in American life.

If that’s what you want for America, too, then you need to click here, and support our campaign.

I’m working 14 hours a day, seven days a week, to try to win our race for the House on Nov. 6.  I have to, because in 2010, I was the target of the most pitch-black, break-your-back, wolf-pack Super PAC attack that any Member of the House has ever seen.  The Koch Brothers, the insurance companies, the Chamber of Commerce and the Republican Party spent over $5 million to denigrate, deprecate, devastate and decimate me.  My friends, my neighbors and even my own children saw an average of 70 blistering negative ads against me on TV — paid for by nameless, faceless monsters.

It doesn’t matter.  That was then, and this is now.  We’re winning, and after the election, we’ve got work to do.  If I’m working 14 hours a day now, then I’ll work 16 hours a day after Nov. 6.  Because America’s problems can be solved, and they must be solved.

If you want to be part of that, then help make it happen.  Show your support for our ’30 Days to Victory’ Moneybomb.

But here’s the thing – a Congressman like me, who fights for progressive, fair taxation, can’t finance his campaign with “trickle down” checks from the super-rich.  A Congressman like me, who fights against corporate welfare, can’t finance his campaign with corporate PAC contributions.  A Congressman like me, who fights for peace, can’t finance his campaign with blood money from the military-industrial complex.

On the contrary, they’re the ones who firebombed us last time.

So I have only one choice.  I have to invite you to join – or re-join – our legion of contributors, who now number almost 100,000.  People who want nothing in return for their contributions but government of the people, by the people, and for the people.

When you contribute to our campaign, you give me the freedom not to kowtow to lobbyists and special interests.  You make it possible for me to do the job the way that you would do it  — honestly, and for the greater good.

In 2010, in House races around the country, big donors ($200+) supplied 92% of the cash, and small donors provided 8%.  In our race, we reversed those numbers.  And with your help, we’ll do it again.

With your help, we will win.  And then on November 7th, that’s when the real work starts.  If you want someone in Congress who will fight – every day – for justice, equality and peace, then click here, and show that you care.

Courage,

Alan Grayson

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Clean Air Under Attack … Union of Concerned Scientists


Union of Concerned Scientists

Clean Air Under Attack ,
The Chamber of Commerce and other groups who oppose climate action  are mounting a massive attack on the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) efforts to protect our health and the environment from the impacts of global warming.
Right now, we’re pumping too much carbon into the atmosphere and it’s having a dangerous effect on our climate. To help protect us, the EPA recently released draft standards that, for the first time ever, will limit carbon pollution from new power plants. Yesterday, UCS supporters heard directly from  senior White House and EPA officials about how these standards are a critical first step towards reducing the effects of global warming and protecting public health.
Unfortunately the Chamber of Commerce recently released a press statement vowing to do whatever it takes to overturn the EPA’s standard.
The chamber’s attacks are bogus.

We need these standards to start to address the threat of climate change—and the EPA is not only helping to address that threat, it is also meeting the mandate it was given by the Supreme Court five years ago to reduce carbon emissions found to be dangerous to the public health and welfare.
But that’s not stopping foes like the chamber. It’s critical that informed citizens like you speak up to protect these standards. You already submitted a public comment in support of the EPA’s carbon pollution standard, but now it’s time to take the next step. Tell the Chamber of Commerce to stop their attacks.
The opposition hasn’t quit and we can’t either.

 Take Action Today!
Sincerely, Chrissy Elles Chrissy Elles Outreach Associate UCS Climate and Energy Program
~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Economy: Obama Goes To The Chamber


Yesterday, President Obama addressed the leaders of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the influential, ideological right-wing trade association that represents mostly large multi-national corporations. Obama told the assembled executives and corporate lobbyists to “ask yourselves what you can do for America,” not just for company bottom lines. “I want to be clear: Even as we make America the best place on earth to do business, businesses also have a responsibility to America.” Citing a long history of corporate fearmongering about government regulations, Obama made a “robust argument in favor of an active regulatory role for the federal government.” Obama urged the audience of business executives to “get in the game” and spend some of the trillions of dollars corporations have banked in the past year on job creation. “We need to make America the best place on Earth to do business,” the president promised. The Chamber’s top lobbyist, R. Bruce Josten, quickly rejected the President’s promotion of the “social compact” with America’s working families. “Bottom line, the most patriotic thing a company can do is ensure it is in business and take steps to stay in business; otherwise everyone loses and more people lose their jobs.”

THE CHAMBER AND JOBS: Indeed, much of the Chamber’s executive leadership has spent the past few years rewarding themselves with millions of dollars in additional compensation while eliminating American jobs. Trucking manufacturer Navistar Inc., on the chamber’s board, has laid off workers at factories across the country. Meanwhile, the company has enjoyed healthy profits, and Navistar CEO Daniel Ustian increased his total compensation to $8.43 million. As agricultural manufacturer Deere and Co. recorded high profits, the company slashed hundreds of jobs in Illinois, Iowa, and North Dakota. Meanwhile, Deere CEO Samuel Allen was awarded a compensation package in 2010 of $12.29 million. Health insurance company WellPoint, also on the Chamber’s board, has reported record profits and extraordinary executive compensation. In 2009, WellPoint CEO Angela Braly was awarded a 51 percent compensation boost, from $8.7 million in 2008 to $13.1 million. As WellPoint’s trade association secretly transfered $86 million to the Chamber to fight health reform, the company shed thousands of jobs across the nation. Despite bloated rhetoric about the virtues of “free enterprise,” the Chamber demanded taxpayer bailouts for its bank members, billions in taxpayer money for its defense contract members, taxpayer money forcleaning up BP’s oil spill, and preferential tax cuts for its millionaire executives. The Chamber has a history of being singularly focused on boosting short-term profits, not creating American jobs by investing in the future. It has pushed for unfettered free trade deals, sponsored a series of conferences to teach businesses how to outsource jobs to China, and even lobbied against legislation that would have helped create over 1.7 million jobs.

THE CHAMBER AND POLLUTION: In his speech, Obama said American business needs to acknowledge that “not every regulation is bad.” At a Washington, D.C. press conference last week, U.S. Chamber of Commerce officials blasted Obama’s call for a clean energy future built on modern standards. Christopher Guith, vice president for policy at the Chamber’s Institute for 21st Century Energy, said a national clean-energy standard is “ridiculously premature,” even though 25 states have renewable and alternative energy standards. The Institute’s president, former Bush official Karen Harbert, said that the United States should instead allow “increased access to land for oil and gas drilling both onshore and offshore,” drilling a deeper hole with fossil fuel dependence. This opposition to clean-energy job creation on behalf of big oil is nothing new for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Throughout the last decade, the Chamber led the opposition to action on climate change, promoting global warming denial. Its history of defending pollution at the expense of the health of the American public and American jobs, however, goes deeper. Just as it is doing now, the Chamber petitioned to weaken the Clean Air Act in 1982, 1990, and 1997. The Chamber has opposed hazardous waste dumping bans, trade sanctions in NAFTA for failure to enforce environmental laws, and the reinstatement of Superfund taxes on toxic polluters. The Chamber’s anti-regulatory campaign is strongly supported by House Republicans. After the President’s speech, House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) lashed out: “Far from changing tack, his administration is taking steps to protect the job-crushing regulations in its health care and permanent bailout laws, while plotting a backdoor national energy tax.”

THE CHAMBER AND INFRASTRUCTURE: Following the President’s State of the Union address, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka and Chamber of Commerce President Thomas Donohue issued a rare joint statement supporting “Obama’s call to create jobs and grow the U.S. economy through investment in our nation’s infrastructure.” “Whether it is building roads, bridges, high-speed broadband, energy systems and schools,” they wrote, “these projects not only create jobs and demand for businesses, they are an investment in building the modern infrastructure the country needs to compete in a global economy.” Even with the support of business and labor, the president is going to have an uphill battle putting “more people to work rebuilding crumbling roads, rebuilding our bridges.” Many Republican leaders in Congress are strongly opposed to infrastructure investment. “I understand the goal, but right now this is going to be — anytime you talk about ‘investment’ it means new spending,” Sen. John Thune (R-SD) carped. Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), the House Budget Committee chairman, is planning “unimaginably steep reductions of 26 percent to transportation and housing.” The Republican Study Committee, a caucus of 175 House conservatives, “wants to completely de-fund Amtrak and high-speed rail.” Republican governors have killed billions of dollars worth of infrastructure projects in Ohio, Wisconsin, and New Jersey. It remains to be seen whether the heavily right-leaning Chamber will actually fight Republican leadership to invest in America.

~ my 2cents ...

Monday mashup &some News …


did you know …it’s Black History Month

Campaign 2011…

Today, President Obama will meet with the Chamber of Commerce …whom in my opinion helped the Republican Tea Party hold the middle class hostage until they gave the bush bonus giveaway to the rich.

I do not know about anyone else but debates are just a fraction of what i use to make my choice of who to vote for elections. I have been following what the Republicans have been saying and or doing over the months let alone the last few years, gone to YouTube to check out comments, questions and the behavior on the part of these candidates. What stands out for me is that they continue to backtrack, lie and or ignore legitimate questions. They often choose to be interviewed only on one station, usually with the same party line -that is troubling and should give pause to anyone who doesn’t know who they will vote for-words matter, anyone practicing exclusion, targeting minorities and willing to throw fellow Americans under the bus to take back their America-(what does that even mean)? In addition, politicians that are so extreme are not worthy to hold Public office or seat in Congress. These positions of power call for working for “We the People” not some or a select few -they say they want the Government out of our lives yet when it comes to “social issues”; they want to control All Americans by way of privatizing most if not all social programs. If you want less government, why among other things tell women what they can do with their own bodies. The stance on less government is definitely a joke when they pull out that whole family values platform. Republicans are for Profits before the People on steroids. They are into privatizing everything, which will put our democracy at risk from the bottom up -the real world understands that the government works for the people -Cops, Teachers, EMT, and Firefighters! In addition, shame on States that make people pay for such services. It makes you wonder about what these States did with the stimulus money targeted toward government programs. I wonder is there “a dirty little secret” in States that would choose to let your house burn down if you have not paid up your privatized service and let’s be honest if the Republican Tea Party gets back in control that is what will happen. If Republicans repeal replace or eliminate –Social Security and other governmental programs, which is more likely to happen because as of late -they, the Republican Tea Party have not announced an alternative plan. When will Republican Tea Party constituents ask themselves how will going back to the failed spending of 2007 be a good thing, telling people how to live or love and practice discriminatory behavior to folks considered under protected status.

Politicians say, do and offer up resolution or promises that are over the top and because the fight is on to win a seat in Congress or keep your seat, it is obvious it does not mean candidates will give great politics or ideology, but how much money you have to look good and out PR your opponent. I have to say it was nice to see that even with all the money thrown out there by Whitman, Fiorina, angle, O’Donnell and others running for midterm elections. The people were listening, watching and made a decision that these embarrassing women were unqualified to hold public office let alone be described as possible public servants of all the people not just some or a select few. In the en People with or without money can be offensive.

We live in a time when money is speaking excessively loud in the world of Politics, protected by activist judges like some in the Supreme Court. I absolutely believe it is time for all of us to complain and or call them out when one side decides to push the envelope too far right of center instead of the so-called “fair and balanced” news of old. The wonders and need to tweet, FB and or blog about how Republicans have all the cable, major newspapers, magazines and whatnot that dominate the airwaves are offensive. If you listen folks or companies like the Chamber of Commerce, who seems to not only represent right of center Corporate America but pushes business to outsourcing jobs. A guy like Murdoch gives to both sides of an issue and when one side becomes more of a commodity and gets more airtime he feeds it. The NRA supports 58 democrats as well as a whole lot of Republicans because they can make money on both sides of the issue, which is hypocritical and offensive.

Americans cannot do a thing about all the money given up by these corporate giants yet. We can object to the lies coming from Fox, fear mongering and race baiting this station engages in what seems like on a daily basis…even CNN has moved right of center and though that rhetoric has 1st amendment on its side it is still offensive. As a person of colour and as a mom hearing Glenn beck send subliminal nonsense out into the airwaves with actual people choosing to do the wrong thing instead of right -and people get hurt and now worse …that is my prob.

My sense of democracy means total cooperation from both sides of an economic collapse yet the Republican Tea Party has decided they will take all the money you’re handing out but vote no or scale down most if not all legislation as well as throw their own constituents under the bus in order to regain power -that is not democracy.

Other News …

**Packers defeat the Steelers -Superbowl

**Palestinians watch Egypt with a sense of hope

**Huff Post/ AOL deal -for $315million

**Missing Google exec released by authorities after sev days

**Thailand/Camboida still trading military fire…charges over ancient temple

**Cuomo’s budget moving through NY has hit NYC schools

**merger deals causing stocks to climb

**Groupon – epic failure –Superbowl commercial -tasteful comments on the back of what seems like Tibetans

**Justice Thomas‘s wife has decided to try her hand at being a lobbyist …

**Factories are doing well but no new hiring being done

CSPAN …

Senate Ethics Committee appoints special counsel in John Ensign case

http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2011/feb/01/senate-ethics-committee-appoints-special-counsel-j/

House Republicans move to slash domestic programs

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110203/ap_on_re_us/us_congress_budget_3

Obama signs nuclear treaty documents Wednesday

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110202/ap_on_re_us/us_obama_russia_nuclear

Shortly after announcing an overhaul of the nation’s homeland security measures, Janet Napolitano, Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), joins C‑SPAN’s Newsmakers to expound on the new approach to prevent terrorist attacks on U.S. soil. http://c-span.com/Events/DHS-Secretary-Janet-Napolitano/10737419403/

**

Egypt will not back to the way it was before protests disrupted the country, President Obama said tonight in a pre-Super Bowl interview. Speaking to Fox News commentator Bill O’Reilly, the President would not say when Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak would step down http://c-span.com/Events/President-Obama-Egypt-Not-Going-Back/10737419356/ 

Professor Elizabeth Varon teaches a class on fugitive slave laws in the run up to the Civil War at the University of Virginia. Passed in 1850, the Fugitive Slave Act indirectly resulted in the expansion of the Underground Railroad by which slaves could escape from Southern slave-holding states. http://c-span.com/Events/Lectures-in-History-Fugitive-Slave-Laws/10737419325/