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TGIF & some News
featured pic is a campaign poster –
President Obama will be in the NYC today speaking from a General Electric Plant about JOBs and our economy he will then go to Maryland for a retreat with others from the Democratic Party.
Changes are happening …they are in the air and i like it.
If you listen to the tone of the Republican Tea Party since the midterm elections… the talk seems filled with a little more fear. The promises made to create JOBs have yet to happen or be attempted and while the public is beginning to finally hear, see and reject the carpetbaggers for who they really are I wonder if it will take all of the next two years for the Republican Tea Party to stop saying the midterm elections signaled a change and they heard the American people and are doing what they want. It is a fact that contrary to what Republicans keep saying …”talking points” or lies the polls by CBS say 48% want to keep President Obama’s new health care law and just 40% want to repeal it. In addition, pundits, reporters and talking heads suggest that politicians on both sides of the aisle are beginning to not only understand the new law better but are starting to like the new HCR law because it will help older folks, women, folks with pre-existing condition and children under 26 years old. It would be tragic if legislation done in a good faith effort for the people were struck down by Republican Tea Party. Still, I cannot begin to express how offensive the right was by campaigning with the promise to work on Jobs, Jobs, Jobs only to have decided to denounce and malign President Obama like Michele Bachmann who stated she and her comrades want to repeal not just legislation but this President instead of working for We the People to create Jobs.
The negative, nasty, ugly diatribe coming from the very people we placed in positions of power who get paid by American tax payers seem to be abusing it because the latest comments definitely give this voter the idea that they do not represent all the people of their States but those from Corporate America.
In an article this morning, the USA today reported that conservatives would end the federal government support of Amtrak, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, The National Endowment for the Arts and the U.S. Agency for International Development. I believe that this is just a start because rumors before the midterm elections were that the Departments of Educational and Agriculture would be cut if they had their way. The group promises to eliminate about $200 million a year for the District of Columbia. The article quotes Democratic Rep. Chris Van Hollen, calling the GOP proposal “radical” and Van Hollen’s spokesman, Doug Thornell told ABC news “Putting forward a plan that puts more people out of work and endangers our economic recovery calls into question how serious the GOP is about tackling our nation’s most difficult challenges.” This plan along with some other conflicts in what needs to be cut from the federal budget is developing a GOP rift. In contrast, an interview today among other things, President Obama stated,”Republicans will need to explain to taxpayers how tax cuts for the wealthy squares with their desire to start reducing deficits and debt.”
While Folks like palin, cheney, boehner, limbaugh and other Republicans Conservatives continue to attack Obama for any move toward collaboration with other countries calling him a Socialist, twisting his words and the meaning, practicing fear mongering and otherwise being obstacles of change… which, is what we need … a way forward, an implementation of the changes “We the People” (53%) put President Obama into office that will move Americans toward the 21st Century contrary to what the right seems to want to do.
What was the past has to be accepted, exorcised and released for room to provide change we can believe in.
my take
Other News …
**Vets and Doctors reports say that unless you don’t care it is better to stop letting you pets share your bed, lick you or kiss …. for fear of detrimental diseases -cats are far more likely to infect you …open cuts sores etc.
**Gov.Brewer continues to make it harder for people to get the help they need for transplants -at least 2 patients have died -now she wants to drop folks from Medicaid …specifically those with mental issues
**Congresswoman Giffords will be moved to Houston for great care and so her husband will be able to work and be close to him as well
**WSJ reports 50% approve of what our President is doing …across the board
**Iran and 6 World Powers begin nuke talks
**Obama picks GE Chief for Board —focus on jobs
**House GOP wants to cut $2.5trillion in the fed budget by – go to USAtoday.com for article
**Obama states “Republicans will need to explain to taxpayers how tax cuts for the wealthy squares with their desire to start reducing deficits and debt.”
**Manson denied parole
**FBI nabs numorous mafia
**rep. Cantwell is reported as looking for ways to put Boeing back on top
**Gov.Brown says Education is a civil rights issue
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Bankrate.com
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The Obameter: Tracking Obama’s Campaign Promises …from PolitiFact
PolitiFact has compiled about 500 promises that Barack Obama made during the campaign and is tracking their progress on our Obameter. We rate their status as No Action, In the Works or Stalled. Once we find action is completed, we rate them Promise Kept, Compromise or Promise Broken.
No. 2: Eliminate all oil and gas tax loopholes
“Eliminating special tax breaks for oil and gas companies: including repealing special expensing rules, foreign tax credit benefits, and manufacturing deductions for oil and gas firms.”
No. 3: Eliminate capital gains taxes for small businesses and start-ups
“Barack Obama understands that small businesses are the engines of our economy, and he will eliminate all capital gains taxes on investments in small and start-up firms.”
No. 4: Extend child tax credits and marriage-penalty fixes
Will extend aspects of the Bush tax cuts such as child credit expansions and changes to marriage bonuses and penalties.
No. 5: Expand the earned income tax credit
Expand the earned income tax credit for workers without children and taxpayers with more than three children. Equalize threshholds for married filers and head of household filers.
No. 6: Create an Advanced Manufacturing Fund to invest in peer-reviewed manufacturing processes
“Will create an Advanced Manufacturing Fund to identify and invest in the most compelling advanced manufacturing strategies. The Fund will have a peer-review selection and award process based on the Michigan 21st Century Jobs Fund, a state-level initiative that has awarded over $125 million to Michigan businesses with the most innovative proposals to create new products and new jobs in the state.”
No. 7: Double funding for the Manufacturing Extension Partnership, a program that encourages manufacturing efficiency
“The Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) works with manufacturers across the country to improve efficiency, implement new technology and strengthen company growth. This highly-successful program has engaged in more than 350,000 projects across the country and in 2006 alone, helped create and protect over 50,000 jobs. But despite this success, funding for MEP has been slashed by the Bush administration. Barack Obama and Joe Biden will double funding for the MEP so its training centers can continue to bolster the competitiveness of U.S. manufacturers.”
No. 8: Include environmental and labor standards in trade agreements
“He will use trade agreements to spread good labor and environmental standards around the world”
No. 10: Expand the child and dependent care credit
Expand and make refundable the child and dependent care credit.
No. 11: Require publicly traded financial partnerships to pay the corporate income tax
Require publicly traded financial partnerships to pay the corporate income tax.
No. 12: Create an international tax haven watch list
Create an international tax haven watch list of countries that do not share information returns with the United States.
No. 14: Close loopholes in the corporate tax deductibility of CEO pay
Congress has set rules regarding the tax deductibility of the salaries of CEOs, but forms of non-salary compensation have become popular. Obama would look at revamping definitions of compensation.
No. 15: Create a foreclosure prevention fund for homeowners
Create a $10 billion fund to help homeowners refinance or sell their homes. “The Fund will not help speculators, people who bought vacation homes or people who falsely represented their incomes.”
No. 16: Increase minority access to capital
“Strengthen Small Business Administration programs that provide capital to minority-owned businesses, support outreach programs that help minority business owners apply for loans, and work to encourage the growth and capacity of minority firms.”
No. 17: Require economic justification for tax changes
Adopt the economic substance doctrine, a policy that states that tax changes must have significant economic justification, as a federal law.
No. 18: Provide option for a pre-filled-out tax form
Will direct the Internal Revenue Service to “give taxpayers the option of a pre-filled tax form to verify, sign and return to the IRS or online. This will eliminate the need for Americans to hire expensive tax preparers and to gather information that the federal government already has on file.”
No. 19: Create a mortgage interest tax credit for non-itemizers
Create a refundable tax credit equal to 10 percent of mortgage interest for nonitemizers, up to a maximum credit of $800.
No. 20: Make permanent the Research & Development tax credit
The Research & Development tax credit and the renewable energy production tax credit are intended to spur innovation in the private sector, but the tax credits have expiration dates under current law. Obama would make them permanent.
No. 21: Require automatic enrollment in 401(k) plans
Automatic enrollment in 401(k) plans for workers whose employers offer retirement plans.
No. 22: Require automatic enrollment in IRA plans
Require employers who do not offer retirement plans to offer their workers access to automatic IRAs and contribute via payroll deduction.
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Don’t Let GOP Censor the Smithsonian
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Incoming House Speaker John Boehner and Majority Leader Eric Cantor have thrown the weight of government into efforts by the Religious Right to shut down an acclaimed art exhibit at the National Portrait Gallery. The Hide/Seek exhibit explores evolving expressions of sexuality in art. The Religious Right — in this instance led by the always-hysterical Bill Donohue and his fringe Catholic League — and its allies in Congress have been quick to try to whip their base into a fervor over themes they didn’t even try to understand before condemning as “anti-Christian.”
Cantor ludicrously said the exhibit is an intentional attempt to offend Christians during the Christmas season. And Boehner, Cantor and other right-wing leaders have attacked the exhibit as a questionable use of taxpayer money, even though Smithsonian exhibits — including this one — are privately funded. They are now threatening to go after Smithsonian public funding and even to launch investigations into Smithsonian exhibits.
After you sign the petition to Reps. Boehner and Cantor, you’ll be asked to call the National Portrait Gallery and urge administrators there to stand strong against the Right in defense of free expression.
The Gallery was quick to cave on one piece of the Hide/Seek exhibit which was singled out by the Right: a video which included an 11-second segment depicting a Crucifix with ants crawling on it, a statement about the suffering of AIDS victims at the time the video was produced. The video, by the artist David Wojnarowicz, who himself died of AIDS in 1992, had been on display for a month without a single complaint from any museum attendees. The only complaints the Portrait Gallery received about the video or any parts of the exhibit were from Religious Right activists from around the country who had not actually seen the art. In a twist of sad irony, these activists were successful in getting the video taken down exactly one day before World AIDS Day. Hide/Seek is a courageous exhibit, but it’s an outrage that the Portrait Gallery would not show equal courage in defending the exhibit in its entirety against right-wing censorship.
We need to speak up to make sure that there are no more capitulations by the Smithsonian, and to make sure that Republican congressional leaders don’t get away with their ridiculous political pandering to the radical Religious Right.
Reps. Boehner and Cantor, along with virtually ever other congressional Republican leader, are working hard to block all business on Capitol Hill… holding the country hostage by insisting that no much-needed measures be passed until the Bush tax cuts are extended for the richest 2% of Americans… and all the while attacking the president for not doing enough to create jobs. Yet THIS is how they want to spend their time and taxpayer dollars — kowtowing to right-wing zealots like Bill Donohue by attacking the arts and investigating museums.
Shame on them.
Sincerely,
Michael Keegan, President
Be a Seed for Change 
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