Tag Archives: Jon Kyl

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Stuck in a ditch …AFL – CIO

07/06/2011 Nativegrl77

When your car breaks down in a ditch and you need it to get to work, what do you do?

A. Fix it, even if you have to responsibly take out a loan—and work harder over time to pay off the debt, even if it means taking a second job.

B. Stay in the ditch, throw a tantrum and default on your mortgage.

The economy still is reverberating from the deepest financial crisis since the Great Depression. But rather than work to fix our economy, congressional Republicans are willing to keep it in a ditch.

Two leading Republicans—Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.) and Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.)—recently left budget negotiations and are threatening to force default on our national debt if they don’t get their way.

Tell President Obama and congressional Democrats: Stand up to bullies. Don’t let working families get stuck in a ditch. http://act.aflcio.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=UZ3aVnXHtxRDesymLrVOYnBq%2BlrJVD9v

When our economy’s broken, we need leaders who will fix it—not politicians who throw temper tantrums when millionaires and billionaires are asked to pay their fair share. Programs like Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security are not just lifelines for working people and poor families—they’re all that’s stopping our economy from falling off a cliff again.

With businesses not hiring and wages flat, every dollar in cuts will hurt the economy—and cuts that hurt middle-class and poor Americans will hurt the economy most. Some jaded Republican politicians are willing to let that happen. They figure that if the economy tanks, it’ll cost Barack Obama the 2012 election—and that’s all they care about.

To fix our economy, we can and should be building up the American middle class—not tearing it down. We need to educate our children, build a clean energy future and invest in 21st century American infrastructure that makes us competitive in the world. It’s time to act like the wealthy, compassionate, imaginative country we are—not let hypocritical politicians turn us into an impoverished nation.

Let President Obama and congressional Democrats know working people need them to reject radical demands and stand up to temper tantrums. Demand a fair budget deal that keeps our economy growing. http://act.aflcio.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=qp3JHjN2szJ7nA9DG22cUHBq%2BlrJVD9v

Some congressional Republicans say they’ll accept a temporary default on our national debt to get the cuts they demand. But it’s a big lie. A temporary default would hurt Wall Street and Big Banks more than it would hurt working folks. And Wall Street controls enough of our politics these days that it will never happen.

The reality is, a deal will have to be reached soon to keep us from defaulting on our national debt—and if President Obama and congressional Democrats stand strong, that deal doesn’t have to hurt working families.

Vice President Biden said, “We’re never going to get this done, we’re never going to solve our debt problem if we ask only those who are struggling in this economy to bear the burden and let the most fortunate among us off the hook.” We agree.

Urge the president—and congressional Democrats—to keep standing with working families against bullies, and to protect America’s future. http://act.aflcio.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=2I1tjcLTrunVxECYzq9tm11WX7swzlJA

Thank you for standing with us.

In Solidarity,

Richard L. Trumka
President, AFL-CIO

P.S. The ”Robin Hood in Reverse” budget ideas proposed by congressional Republicans are shocking:
Congressional Republicans want to end Medicare as we know it and put Americans at the mercy of private insurance companies. Congressional Republicans voted for a radical budget that would end Medicare and replace it with underfunded vouchers for private insurance. It would cause a typical 65-year-old to spend $6,359 more per year out of pocket for health care in 2022.

Congressional Republicans want hundreds of billions in cuts to Medicaid. These cuts would hurt millions of children and seniors in nursing homes. Medicaid is health care of last resort. It’s for poor kids and our most vulnerable senior citizens. It saves the lives of countless children each year and keeps senior citizens in quality nursing homes. According to Families USA, “Every federal Medicaid dollar that flows into a state stimulates business activity and generates jobs.” Cutting Medicaid will kill jobs—and there are way too few private-sector jobs to fill in the gap.

Congressional Republicans want to rob the Social Security Trust Fund. Social Security has a $2.6 trillion surplus—and will pay full benefits through 2037 if we just leave it alone. Even after that, it will pay 78 percent of benefits. It’s completely separate from the federal budget. We have time to make responsible fixes to shore up Social Security in the long term, separate from the immediate budget issues.

Tell President Obama and congressional Democrats: Don’t cut Medicare, Medicaid or Social Security. Make millionaires and billionaires pay their fair share.

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Crunch time: Four weeks only

12/30/2010 Nativegrl77

Help touch hearts, change minds, fight the right wing, and defend marriage equality.

Be one of 2,011 new HRC members as we head into 2011. Join today.

As a thank you, we’ll send you a handy USB car charger for your phone or iPod.

“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” may no longer be the law of the land, but the bigotry behind it is alive and well – in our schools, in our workplaces, and, perhaps most unfortunately, in the halls of Congress.

January will bring anti-gay leadership to the helm of the House of Representatives. The right-wing political machine – committed to destroying marriage equality everywhere – will be emboldened and aggressive.

We need your help to keep fighting back in 2011 and to protect our gains. The resources and political muscle we’ll need in 2011 can only come from HRC members. That’s why we’re launching a major campaign to get 2,011 supporters like you to become first-time HRC members this month – that’s just 62 from Washington.

We need you now. Be one of 2,011 new members. Join HRC today.

85 percent of our funding comes from people like you – not from grants and foundations.

So it’s no exaggeration to say that people like you won the debate on DADT. But the battle over this law revealed some shocking truths about the kinds of people who will be our next leaders in Congress.

On the day of the vote, John McCain launched into a ridiculous tirade against “liberal bastions” who supported repeal and declared, “Today is a very sad day.” He was so angry that he stormed out of the Senate.

And after we won, Sen. Jon Kyl said that allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly would literally “cost lives.”

Rep. Louie Gohmert suggested during the House debate that repealing DADT would move us “toward the end of [our] existence as a great nation.”

Carmen – we’ve got only four weeks to prepare for the next twelve months of attacks from right-wing groups and lawmakers alike. Extremists are emboldened across the country – and now there will be even more of them in Washington. They’re likely to go after marriage equality in multiple states, to introduce new bans on adoption rights, and to fight tooth and nail to roll back the anti-discrimination laws we’ve already passed.

Your membership gift will serve as a clear response to the urgent threats we face. With your support, we’ll go right to work in Congress and around the country, defending our progress and fighting for marriage equality. We’ll be keeping our foot on the gas as we take on opponents of equality like the National Organization for Marriage. Our NOM Exposed campaign has upended the marriage debate by uncovering the dirty secrets of this radical anti-LGBT group.

We’ve got a lot of work to do and very little time to do it. We can make 2011 a year of even more progress for the LGBT rights movement. Carmen, we need 62 members from Washington in 2011. Be one of them.

Join HRC today.

Everything we’ve achieved and everything we will achieve is because of you.

On to 2011,

Joe Solmonese
President

P.S. Please accept my deepest gratitude if you’ve already put a check in the mail or given to HRC by some other means. If you haven’t yet contributed, I hope you’ll consider making a gift now so that we can keep making progress toward a more equal nation.

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INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS: START To End

12/10/2010 Nativegrl77

One year ago today, President Obama accepted the Nobel Peace Prize, which was given in large part because of his commitment to nuclear arms reduction. Today, the administration’s signature foreign policy achievement, the successful negotiation of a new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) with Russia, which has been essential to rehabilitating relations between the two countries, is languishing in the Senate. Why? Republicans have consistently sought to delay and obstruct the treaty, but this opposition has now faded. It is now a question of time and whether Majority Leader Harry Reid will bring New START to the floor of the Senate. The treaty, if brought up, likely has the 67 votes to achieve ratification. But thus far, START has been put off. Meanwhile, the Senate is taking the weekend off with just one week left to go until the scheduled end of the session. START is critical for our national security and advances a major progressive priority of reducing the number of nuclear weapons in the world. Today, leaders from the national security, scientific, and religious communities are sending a letter to Reid urging him to “take up and approve New START now, if need be by extending the Senate in session beyond December 17.”

IT HAS THE VOTES: Early in the lame duck session, Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) “blindsided” the White House when he broke off months of negotiations and insisted on a delay of New START. Instead of caving, the White House fought back. The reaction was fierce. In the last month, more than 40 editorial boards from newspapers around the country urged ratification and ripped Kyl for putting politics above America’s national security. Republican threats to delay also exposed a deep rift within the Republican establishment, as a who’s who of Republican officials have come out urging ratification now, including this week President George H.W. Bush and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who joined Henry Kissinger, Colin Powell, James Baker, among others, in support of New START. These Republican officials join the U.S. military establishment and our Eastern European allies that live in the shadow of Russia in support of START. A recent CBS News poll found that 82 percent of the American people support the treaty. Against this wave of support, Republican intransigence has softened and now a split has emerged with a significant number of the Republican caucus favor a vote on START in the lame duck session — more than enough to ratify the treaty. Just this morning Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins said they will support START.

REID CAN FORCE A VOTE: Unlike normal Senate legislation, which can be blocked by a filibuster that requires 60 votes to overturn, a treaty only requires 50 votes to proceed to debate and a vote. The New START treaty was therefore not included in the letter from the Senate GOP caucus that threatened to block any legislation that was brought up before tax cuts. Unlike Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, where Republican senators who claimed to support repeal voted to filibuster on process grounds, on START, Republicans will have to vote on the actual treaty and can’t hide behind procedure. However, Foreign Policy’s Josh Rogin reported last night that some Republicans attempt to offer a number of “treaty killing” amendments that would alter the treaty and therefore require renegotiating with Russia. Yet, these amendments can be voted down by 50 votes and were already overcome during the vote in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee through the work of Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN). Republicans could use the amendment process in an effort to drag out the process, but this is why Reid should make clear that they would only be delaying their Christmas vacation.

DANGER OF DELAY: Some Republicans have suggested that START should be delayed for just a few months until January or February when a new Senate is sworn in. This is a ruse. At every step of the ratification process, Republicans — led by Kyl — have urged delay. Kyl was actually for holding a vote during the lame duck session, until, of course the lame duck session arrived. Furthermore, the willingness to offer treaty-killing amendments only further casts doubt on Kyl’s intentions. At the very least a delay in the treaty ratification process, which has taken nine months, would start from scratch. The new make up of the Senate would also make getting the 67 votes for ratification much harder and would make the ratification process much more dependent on Kyl, likely leading to only more leverage to extort nuclear pork funding. In the end, a delay would in all likelihood mean the death of the New START treaty. This would have huge consequences for our relationship with Russia, which is critical to dealing with Iran and supplying our troops in Afghanistan. Furthermore, the collapse of the verification measures that monitor Russia’s nuclear arsenal were in place under the original treaty, could eventually upset nuclear stability and lead to significant uncertainty in nuclear relations. Failure to ratify START would also send shockwaves around the world and would be seen as the U.S. putting a knife in the back of the whole nuclear non-proliferation regime. The consequences of delay and defeat of New START are grave.

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NATIONAL SECURITY: Time For A Vote On New START

11/19/2010 Nativegrl77 3 Comments

Last week, Center for American Progress President and CEO John Podesta explained that the New START treaty was a test for Republicans to see if they were ready to govern. It now appears as if the GOP is prepared to fail that test. In a sign that nothing is above partisan politics, Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ), the number two Republican in the Senate shocked the White House this week when he abruptly blew up months of negotiations and dismissed the prospects of a vote during the lame duck period. Republicans are stalling, either hoping to kill the treaty quietly to avoid giving President Obama a perceived victory, or to extort so much pork for the nuclear weapons-industrial complex that it makes further progress in this area impossible. Still, the vast majority of Republicans, including Kyl, refuse to say they actually oppose the treaty. The White House therefore is not backing down, as the New York Times writes today, “Mr. Obama on Thursday escalated ratification of the agreement, the so-called New Start treaty, into a public showdown.” After seven months of consideration in the Senate and more than 20 hearings on the treaty, Senate Republicans have had more than enough time to review the treaty. While back room talks with Kyl appear to be continuing, it is now up to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) to force Republicans to stop their equivocating by holding a vote on the Senate floor.

ENDANGERING NATIONAL SECURITY: By delaying the treaty, Senate Republicans put U.S. national security at risk. The original treaty expired last December, and it has now been 349 days since Americans have been on the ground in Russia monitoring and inspecting the country’s nuclear facilities — a vital provision that has helped maintain post-Cold War nuclear stability. As Vice President Biden said today, “We’re blind now.” The stakes are high, which is why the treaty has the unanimous support of the U.S. military and of a wide array of Republican foreign policy officials. Delaying a vote into the next senate would require that the treaty ratification process start from scratch. This promises to upset the “reset” with Russia, potentially destroying the careful coalition against Iran, which has seen Russia back sanctions and stop the sale of an anti-aircraft missile to Iran. U.S. troops in Afghanistan are also dependent on sensitive supply routes through Russia, which would also be at risk. More broadly, the delay and presumed defeat of the treaty would weaken Russian President Dmitri Medvedev, who pushed the treaty, and strengthen Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. Perhaps even worse is the impact on stopping states from acquiring nuclear weapons. Ambassador Richard Burt, who negotiated the original START treaty on behalf of President Reagan, said on PBS this week, “There are only two governments in the world that wouldn’t like to see this treaty ratified, the government in Tehran and the government in North Korea.”

PARTY ABOVE COUNTRY: Editorial pages in newspapers throughout the U.S. erupted in anger at news of Kyl’s stunt. He was described as “narrow-minded,” politically “craven,” and as putting forth “lame excuses.” West Virginia’s Charleston Gazzette noted, “What a galling situation. Kyl cares more about playing politics than about protecting America.” The New York Times editorialized, “The world’s nuclear wannabes, starting with Iran, should send a thank you note to Senator Jon Kyl. … [T]he objections from Mr. Kyl — and apparently the whole Republican leadership — are so absurd that the only explanation is their limitless desire to deny President Obama any legislative success.” The San Jose Mercury News summed it up, “If you doubted that Republicans could be so craven as to put their own political interests above national security, the proof was delivered Tuesday: Arizona Sen. Jon Kyl announced he will block New START.” Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN), the leading nuclear expert in the Senate and treaty backer, unloaded on his Republican colleagues for their dithering this week: “The Republican caucus is tied up in a situation where people don’t want to make choices. … Every senator has an obligation in the national security interest to take a stand, to do his or her duty. Maybe people would prefer not to do his or her duty right now. … There are still thousands of missiles out there. You better get that through your heads.”

FORCE A VOTE: Despite much of the press reporting, Kyl doesn’t run the Senate. Majority Leader Reid does. It is now up to Reid to find the time on the Senate floor to overcome Kyl’s inevitable obstructionism, which will draw out the process taking up considerable senate floor time. Importantly, the vast majority of Republicans, including Kyl, have not said they oppose the treaty. It is time to force them to make a decision. As Podesta explained in Politico yesterday, Reid and the White House have nothing to lose by forcing a vote: “Even if Republicans are actually willing to vote against New START in the lame duck session, why would anyone think they would more cooperative next year? Delay would simply reinforce partisan stalling tactics.” Lugar sent a clear message to Reid and the White House: “I’m advising that the treaty should come on the floor so people will have to vote aye or nay [even if there’s no deal with Kyl]. … I think when it finally comes down to it, we have sufficient number or senators who do have a sense of our national security. This is the time, this is the priority. Do it.” Given that 73 percent of Americans support the New START treaty, according to a just released CNN poll, the stance of Kyl and Senate Republicans is proving incredibly unpopular, and the time to have a vote is now.

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TGIF …&some News

11/19/2010 Nativegrl77

The weather is bad but it’s autumn right…so the goal today is to get through the day, cozy up with a hottie or a hot beverage such as cocoa or whatever is your preferred drink, sit back watch tv, movies use wii when you get a chance.

President Obama is on the road getting the Peoples business done.

I am without a doubt tired of the BS coming from the right of center politicians, “the White media” and those folks in the military who seem to want us to stay longer in a War waged by the last guy and is being used against our President on a daily basis. The other News of military action is coming from the new Republican Congress stating we need to go to war with the cartel on the borders currently affected which seems like another open ended war. It just seems like the focus should be on the unemployed, jobs and our economy but hey that’s just my opinion. I will continue to call Boehner, McConnell, Cantor as well as Kyl to stop stalling the START treaty with the sole promise to ruin our President is offensive and un-American. Those folks that voted for the RTP which will put them in charge of the 112th House should be ashamed of themselves because nothing good is coming if anything for the next 2yrs.

I am biased but it just seems like no matter what President Obama does it just is not good enough and it would be great if people would remember where we were before he was sworn into office and what happened weeks after he took office -this chaos was not his but knowing it was there he still said yes i will try to get America back on track. People need to be reminded we got hit with a recession like no other since the great depression and while the Democratic Party has been trying to do the right thing unlike Republicans in Congress have decided that a Black man in the office of President is not acceptable among other things this notion is beyond offensive. It use to be funny but the midterm elections were very upsetting to think folks stayed home or decided to vote for Republicans which will become clearer as the weeks and months go by that they voted against his or her best interest and for a lack of a better comment crazy. I ask myself what are people afraid of almost on a daily basis then I turn on cable and hear the sky is falling rhetoric that they push on viewers who unfortunately are buying into the noise. Though we all might feel we need to get Wall Street out of the White House and it is understandable but given what happened in our journey into what could have been a depression, who better to actually get us out of the ditch sooner rather than later. If you watch and listen the fix was and still is complicated and probably continues to be in flux. Progress is not something to be afraid of and while folks have bought into the BS coming from the various right of center cable stations owned by the big Corporate entities giving money to Republicans we have this incredible chance to move our entire broken down system into the 21st Century make sure all our people have health care, equal rights, FairPay and lives worth living. The ugly fact is …given what we have all heard or seen on radio or cable the Republican Tea Party is only interested in getting those Bush tax cuts permanently without having paid for them when the house of Bush signed off of them in 2001/2003 though that part of it just does not get airtime -they were like the 2wars he waged were put into action without paying yet Republicans have decided to enforce paygo which should be used for the upper 2% Bush giveaways, even one of the architects of the two Bush tax cuts stated that those tax cuts were not good and though folks making millions and or billions want to believe otherwise there is an expiration date that should be kept. Americans have experienced a very contentious 20 + months watching the moves by the democrats to get us back on track while Republican continue to stall, block and say No whenever possible with what seems like ridiculous reasons and the agenda which was laid out long ago by —– with his comments about finding President Obama’s waterloo —at any cost. The cost apparently is the FairPay Act for women, DADT, the Dream Act as well as the START treaty and now after the midterm elections put more Republicans not only on the floor of Congress but there are quite a few Republican Governors the problem some of us left of center feel that people are misreading the elections in fact this was a midterm usually treated unfortunately as the no bid deal election and yes the gotv was good yet the numbers of African Americans were low, unfortunately women, lgbt decided to vote for Republicans and reports are that Latinos actually saved quite a few of our Democratic candidates. It goes without saying hopefully that the White House and leaders in Congress will acknowledge and act for their base now to pass legislation that will change our lives for the better. I have yet to accept this President leaned too far left when the whole idea is to do things that will help not just America but Americans, it also lends itself to what will happen in the future for the 2012 elections. I say move left and get things done because there is nothing to lose but much to gain if those moves make an incredible positive impact on the lives of Americans.

Other News …

Wesley Snipes order to surrender in tax case

TSA faces legal challenges

Democrats are fighting each other while quite a few are disrespecting President Obama with comments

Federal Judge pleads guilty to 2 drug charges

Bernanke fights back at Fed critics

Israel and US struggle over settlement pact

Settlement for Black and Native American farmers today

Most 9/11 first responders settle about 500 turned the offer on the law suit

Obama states NATO Leaders back him on the START treaty

CSPAN …