Tag Archives: news

Congress in Session -9/13/10


The Senate Convenes today at 2:30pmET

following any Leader remarks, the Senate will proceed to a period of morning business until 3:30pm with senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each.

At 3:30pm, the Senate will proceed to Executive Session to consider the nomination of Jane Stranch, of Tennessee, to be U.S. Circuit Judge for the Sixth Circuit. There will be 2 hours for debate with the time equally divided and controlled between Senators Leahy and Sessions, or their designees.

At 5:30pm on Monday, September 13, the Senate will proceed to vote on confirmation of the nomination of Jane Stranch to be U.S. Circuit Judge for the Sixth Circuit.

As a reminder, Senator Reid filed 4 cloture motions with respect to the Small Business Jobs bill (HR5297). The filing deadline for first degree amendments to HR5297 and the Reid for Baucus-Landrieu amendment #4594 (Substitute) is 3:00pm on Monday, September 13.
Votes:
230: Confirmation of Jane Stranch to be U.S. Circuit Judge for the Sixth Circuit; Confirmed: 71-21

The next meeting in the House will be on September 14, 2010 at 2:30

Monday mashup &some News


The President will be in WVA to talk about the economy.

Congress is back in Session for about a month and while there is so much on the table it is going to be very interesting to see what the Senate will consider as important to work on and what they will set aside before going on to campaign for the November elections.

The Senate convenes at 2:30pmET will debate and vote confirmation of a circuit judge for Tennessee then the Democratic Party will continue its efforts to help the Middle and Lower class create jobs with HR5297 …the Jobs Bill/small biz jobs bill.

Don’t let conservadem Members of Congress vote against the people !!! Ask Them will they pay for the continuation of the Bush tax cuts for the Wealthy?

This last weekend was full of News, anniversaries and celebrations. We finally decided to watch Spike Lees movie when the levees broke,” after avoiding it for a couple of weeks this weekend seemed like an appropriate time to view and confirm the time-line of events, see the interviews of the people who lived, live, work there and those that came to help but who have all felt the slap of reality.  I know and admit that people of all races, ages, class, religion and educational background felt the wrath of Katrina.  The ugly overwhelming fact remains that the huge percentage of the people were African Americans who not only felt the wrath of Katrina but were and now almost 10years later are still shut down told to shut up and are locked out of the loop of progress.

Though we really did not have to watch Spikes movie to know that the injustices that occurred in Katrina have yet to be resolved that the flooding viewed by some as just a storm compared to the BP disaster which is not only an outrageous comment but was made by a Public Servant who is suppose to be someone who works for all the people all Americans. The officials of the Gulf Coast in my opinion made obvious choices against the people. We may never know who first saw the potential use of such a disaster to get rid of project housing, social services for the poor and hope they decided not to come back. It is with great sadness to know anyone would be treated this way and to be honest this is how folks in Haiti were treated but come on the United States too! The possibilities of profits became the deal breaker for rebuilding housing on the Gulf Coast. The dollar signs in the eyes of officials every time they were interviewed was beyond offensive and when they showed the devastation each year the plan to rebuild started to sound like separating dark people from their land was definitely the final result. plain and simple

If you watch Spikes movie and everyone should because it serves as reminder, a documentation on how discrimination is handled not just in this 21st Century but on the down low. I was offended, surprised and outraged at how many groups had to come in to make local and or state Gulf Coast officials do the right thing. It would be stupid to say there has been no progress but that is a subjective comment when you find out that over 80% of the folks that have not come back are people of colour, disabled, and older definitely displaced folks with having had to leave homes built a hundred years ago. They were neighborhoods and yes communities located near beautiful land now empty of what was middle class,  moderate, low income and some were project housing now unavailable or priced to keep folks out. If you look at the film you see how a group of people had a secret development plan of building resorts type housing but at the cost of lives,  liberty, the pursuit of happiness and rights of those who used to live there.

Again, the various affected areas had what i believe as Republican Politicians with resorts on the brain instead of doing the right thing. There were folks like Gove Jindal who closed down and shut out social services. In my opinion it was a kind of  ethnic cleansing done on the down low in the name of previous plans to knock down project housing anyway. The movie in my opinion shows the viewer how viable these housing apartment buildings were but were demolished anyway and what followed was a green light to stop offering social services. It is discrimination by local government entities done without much notice by reporters. I watched the News and as the days months passed by, there was less and less News about the actual reasons or truth for why LA has given up rebuilding and now seem to be waiting out victims of Katrina. The idea that people with families ties of a hundred years plus could not come back unless they are willing to pay the new sum value of the land and area which now had a value of 3 times as much as it did is disturbing news to anyone with a lick of common sense.  The interviews of people who were paying 300-450 dollars for apartments are now listed at 800dollars are not only outrageous it is an issue of civil rights, housing and human rights legalities.

The movie, “When the levees broke,” by Spike Lee should be a reminder of what discrimination in the 21st Century looks like.  I was shocked at what happened without much TV coverage. I was upset that while so many people were yelling, screaming for help they were ignored and amazed at how and why folks engaged in complicit relationships were able to keep the truth away from the country. It is obvious that some relationships have come apart to an extent some people were more comfortable talking to Spike lee other relationships seem to be intact and a little dirty for me but even a child can see the truth has yet to be addressed.

The decisions made since the Katrina disaster have been by Republicans and the BP oil disaster decisions are being made by Republicans. When will people right of center get it. We are in trouble due to this Political Party and what better way to show the problems … watch “When the levees broke” and see separate and now  becoming more and more unequal in this 21st Century.

Other News …

**Reports are that Boehner is backing down from trying to use the Lower/ Middle Class to pay for the Bush tax cuts for the Wealthy…aren’t people listening? even Greenspan said they were wrong…

**Obama marks the beginning of this week as a celebration of Black Colleges

*The hiker is supposed to be released sometime this week with a 500thousand…something

**Imam is now considering options -possibly moving the islamic community center

**Clinton heads to Mideast

**Today starts the last season for the Oprah show

**US and Saudis near a deal on arms

**Congress is back in session -The Senate on Monday -The House on Tuesday

CSPAN …

Pres. Obama Remarks at Historically Black Colleges Reception Pres. Obama Remarks at Historically Black Colleges Reception

Colorado Senate Debate with Sen. Micheal Bennet (D) & Ken Buck (R) Colorado Senate Debate with Sen. Micheal Bennet (D) & Ken Buck (R)

Weekly Addresses Weekly Address

a message from DFA


We face a radicalized Republican Party who wants to take back control of our country and turn it into a Palinesque nightmare. DFA members have chosen John Boehner and Mitch McConnell as the top ‘Villains’ of progressives in 2010. Washington pundits think Democrats could lose the House, the Senate or both in November and then these two Villains will come to power.

We’re not going to let that happen.

With only 51 days left until Election Day, the stakes couldn’t be higher. On Saturday, October 2nd — exactly one month from Election Day — we’re organizing a National Day of Action to volunteer for progressive candidates in your state. We’ll get together for a live nationwide conference call with Jim Dean and other special guests to get fired up and focused on a progressive message for victory. Afterward, we’ll knock on doors, make phone calls, attend a campaign rally… whatever volunteer activity you want to do for the candidate of your choice.

We’re not going to sit around and hope for change, we’re going to keep working to make it happen — but the key to all of it is you. We’ve set a goal of at least 10 Day of Action events in Washington. Can we count on you to host an event?

Sign up to help organize an event in Seattle right now.

All the DC pundits are bleating about our imminent defeat in November. But there’s one thing they don’t see in the polls or hear about in their media bubble – it’s you. It’s because of you that we stopped George W. Bush from privatizing Social Security in 2005, won control of Congress in 2006, and elected Barack Obama in 2008. The pundits got all of these wrong then and they’ll be wrong again this year.

But we’ve just got 51 days to make it happen. Winning means dealing a crushing defeat to the tea party crowd and emboldening those Democrats too afraid to stand on progressive principles. Losing means saying goodbye to progressive Heroes like Barbara Boxer, Russ Feingold and Alan Grayson… and all we’ll have left will be Villains like John Boehner and Mitch McConnell.

The stakes couldn’t be higher and we’re counting on you to step up and make a difference once again.

Sign up to help organize an event today and one of our National Field Organizers will contact you next week to work with you on your event.

Working together, we’ll win in November.

-Matt

Matt Blizek, Field Director
Democracy for America

Dick Cheney’s Tax Cut


Nine years ago, George W. Bush and Dick Cheney gave the wealthiest Americans an unneeded tax cut.

To this day, America‘s top income-earners — households making more than $250,000 a year — aren’t paying their fair share in taxes. Letting these tax cuts for the wealthy continue for another decade would saddle middle class Americans, our kids, and our grandkids with an additional $680 billion of debt, largely payable to the Chinese government.1

The Bush-Cheney tax cuts for the wealthy are wrong. Thankfully they’re set to expire this December, unless Republicans in Congress get their way and renew them indefinitely.

With debate set to begin on the Senate floor as early as next week, we don’t have a lot of time to get this right.

Sign my joint petition with Democracy for America urging Congress to let the Bush-Cheney tax cuts for the wealthy expire this year.

Republicans in Congress think we ought to make the Bush-Cheney tax cuts for the wealthy permanent. And they’re using right-wing media to spread deception and bully Democrats facing tough re-election bids into joining their cause.

These elected officials need to know that you — and 69% of Americans recently polled — want the Bush-Cheney tax cuts for the wealthy to expire this year.

There’s a broad and growing consensus that it’s time for the wealthiest among us to pay their fair share in taxes.

Most economists agree, too: It just doesn’t make sense to give each of the 120,000 wealthiest Americans what amounts to, on average, a $3 million tax break over the next decade.2

Sign my joint petition with Democracy for America to end the Bush-Cheney tax cuts for the wealthy.

Some Republicans hope to take back Congress this November by telling Americans that Democrats want to “raise taxes on the middle class” and “hurt small businesses.” Of course these smears don’t contain a shred of truth, but that doesn’t matter.

If the right wing wants to score political points by taking money from our kids and grandkids, and handing it out to the wealthiest Americans, it’s up to us to stop them.

Please, sign our petition today. Copies of the petition signatures will be delivered to each member of Congress ahead of the first key vote.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

-Patrick

Patrick Leahy
U.S. Senator

The Tiniest Tiger in the World


Rainforest Action Network
Read Tiki’s story.
Tiki the Tiger with Sign
Be Tiki’s friend.

Deep in the beautiful Sumatran rainforests of Indonesia lives the tiniest tiger in the world. His name is Tiki.

Sumatran tigers are now the smallest tiger species in existence, ever since their relatives, the Javan tigers, went extinct. There are currently less than 500 Sumatran tigers left in the wild and Tiki is their new super cute superhero spokestiger.

Please help Tiki save the tiny tigers!

Start by reading Tiki’s story and sharing it with the children in your life.

Tiki’s home is in great danger. Every day, wood pulp and paper companies threaten the survival of these majestic felines by clear-cutting their precious rainforest habitat, draining wildlife rich (carbon-filled) peatlands, and turning these lands into plantations.

Tiki is calling on kids, parents, teachers, families and you to help him defend his rainforest home.

Be Tiki’s friend so he can keep you in the know about actions to save the tiny tigers of Sumatra.

Before Sumatran tigers like Tiki become just another extinct species for the history books or a special “last remaining” exhibit at the zoo, we must stop destructive paper companies from tearing down Indonesia’s precious rainforests.

Stay tuned for upcoming actions in your community and GET READY TO ROAR!

For the tigers,

Hillary Lehr
Grassroots Organizer