Tag Archives: White House

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Moment of truth

11/23/2010 Nativegrl77

Tell Congress & President Obama: The wealthiest 2% don’t need a tax cut. Demand Democrats fight the proposed giveaway:

Republicans in Congress are pushing to continue Bush’s tax cuts for the wealthiest 2% of Americans, at the same time that they’re opposing extending unemployment insurance for people struggling to find work. Democrats have started to talk tough, but have also given signals they might cave without a real fight. We need to make sure that doesn’t happen.

Please take a moment to demand that your representative, senators, and the President stand strong and oppose these tax breaks for the rich:

http://www.colorofchange.org/taxcuts/?id=2275-1238940

Many in Congress are working to extend tax cuts for the middle class, but Republicans have said that they’ll try to block tax cuts for the middle class unless Democrats agree to pass tax cuts for the very rich as well.¹ Of course, Republicans don’t want to look like they’re looking out for the richest Americans, so they want to vote on both tax cuts at the same time.

Democrats shouldn’t fall for it. Hundreds of thousands of people have stood up and called on Democrats in Congress to stand strong. Democratic leadership in the House appears ready to fight,² but the White House and leaders in the Senate are wavering. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has floated the idea of multiple votes (with one of them still attaching middle and upper-income tax cuts together),³ and the White House has said it might be open to “compromise”⁴ — in other words, giving in to the Republicans’ demands without forcing them to defend their position to the American public.

This discussion about extending tax cuts to the rich is happening amidst talk of making cuts to all kinds of programs that help the economy and protect the most vulnerable people in our society — because “we can’t afford” those programs. The fact that the same politicians making that argument would support massive tax breaks for the wealthy shows that they’re not really concerned about cutting spending or reducing the deficit — rather, they appear to be interested in protecting the wealthy at the expense of everyone else.

The battle around these tax cuts is a perfect opportunity to point this out. If we learned anything from this year’s midterm elections, it’s that Democrats need be bolder in fighting for everyday people and exposing the hypocrisy and greed represented by Republicans, conservative Democrats, and the wealthy corporate interests that dominate our government.

If Democrats cave to Republicans on this issue — even though a large majority of people are against extending tax cuts for the rich — it will show that Democrats have taken exactly the wrong lesson from the election. And it will demonstrate again that neither party can be counted on to stand up for the needs of working people when it really counts.

Democrats who oppose these tax cuts for the rich need to know that we’ll have their back if they fight. And the conservative Democrats and Republicans who want to keep handing more and more of our country over to the rich — while the rest of us are struggling — need to know that they’ll be called out and face actual consequences come election time. Please join us in calling on Congress and the White House to reject tax cuts for the rich:

http://www.colorofchange.org/taxcuts/?id=2275-1238940

Thanks and Peace,

— James, Gabriel, William, Dani, Natasha, and the rest of the ColorOfChange.org team
November 23rd, 2010

Help support our work. ColorOfChange.org is powered by YOU — your energy and dollars. We take no money from lobbyists or large corporations that don’t share our values, and our tiny staff ensures your contributions go a long way. You can contribute here:

http://act.colorofchange.org/go/5?akid=1727.1174326.dvaFbm&t=5

~ my 2cents ...

tempest Tuesday …&some News

11/23/2010 Nativegrl77

The President will be handing out the Medal of Freedom to Rep. John Lewis -we support this action and love John Lewis with all the things he has done for the rest of us so that we might be able to move forward, have access and achieve great things in our own lives as well as our children and their children in the future. Congratulations to Rep. John Lewis.

Day 3 of snow has the 206 gripped in panic closed schools and more snow on the way. The snow that fell yesterday has turned into a sheet of ice and in some parts of the 206; more snowfall is on top of that. The roads definitely look okay –they are not so stay home if you can because folks are clogging stalling and blocking the work that the people, who snow plow, dump salt, and or dirt. The ice is the problem currently causing a whole lot of accidents so again be safe than sorry and call in or ride the bus which is also causing delays what with all the SUV’s thinking they have this and obviously they do not or the number of cars trucks and SUV’s parked on streets would be a lot less. Stay home and let the good people do their jobs so people can begin to drive again. !

How odd it was to be watching the late night shows when all of a sudden breaking news that N.Korea opens fire with several rounds of fire on S.Korea and while there has been frayed contentious relations between these two the idea that a war ..An actual war could or would break out seems very strange and disturbing to say the least. The background story is that S.Korea usually holds drills at this time of year, they let N.Korea know a head of time but instead of dealing with this N.Korea decided on pre-emptive strikes against S.Korea and is by far not only violent in that several S.Koreans were injured at least 2 of their troops was killed.

The last thing for today

“Never doubt that a small Group of thoughtful, committed citizens change the World. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”

The 2008 Machine needs to get started now for the 2012 campaign -the base needs to hear from you!! Latinos, Women, Gays, the young ,our elders and with only 4.7% Blacks voting for the mid-term elections we need to go deep -rural as well, and last -Progressives need to be rubbed the right way to get their votes

Other News …

Rep.Ortiz concedes House race in TX

Plouffe to WH, Axelrod may exit sooner

Battle over who speaks for Tea Party movement

Jawbone not Holloway’s

S.Korea leader calls for enormous retaliation against NKorea

FCC updating 911 for the texting generation

11 arrested in terrorism probe, Belgian officials say

Wesley Snipes says no to being arrested by the IRS

Winter blows in fast and hard in the NWest and could complicate Thanksgiving travel

CSPAN …

American Association for Budget and Program Analysis 2010 Fall Symposium
Today

White House Briefing with Press Secretary Robert Gibbs
Monday

American Constitution Society Discussion on Arizona Immigrant Workers Law
Monday

NGA News Conference
Saturday

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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.

~ my 2cents ...

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 …

Freshmen House Members Class Photo
Today

Pres. Obama Remarks on GM
Thursday

House Republican Caucus Leadership Elections
Thursday

Defense Department Press Briefing
Thursday

House Financial Services Cmte. Hearing on Mortage Servicing Issues
Thursday

Senate Armed Services Cmte. Hearing on Military Nominations
Thursday

British House of Commons Liaison Cmte. Questions to the Prime Minister
Thursday

Pres. Obama Remarks on START Treaty
Thursday

Senate Commerce Subcmte. Hearing on Retransmission Consent and the Public Interest
Wednesday

Pres. Obama Awards Nat’l Medals of Science, Technology & Innovation
Wednesday

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Angry?

11/16/2010 Nativegrl77

Are you angry over the recent election? Good. You should be.

In 2011 we’re fighting back. We are not going to allow tea party radicals to dictate policy in Congress or the Statehouse. We are going to rebuild in all 50 states and focus on electing Democrats who will bring the bold change that our country needs.

But there are no silver bullets. No simple change of messaging or different White House strategy will be enough. We have to do the hard work of building up an army of skilled and trained organizers across the country with the goal of electing a real progressive majority.

Still angry? Good. Here’s what you can do right now.

Our National Field Organizers are working with grassroots activists like you right now to organize dozens of weekend campaign trainings in 2011. And you have the power to bring one of these great trainings to your city.

Apply to host a DFA Campaign Academy in 2011.

Since 2004, DFA has been building the progressive movement by training thousands of progressive activists and candidates every year. We’ve brought our training program to over 100 cities across the country and trained over 12,000 progressive activists.

A DFA Campaign Academy is more than just a series of interesting lectures. They are gatherings of like-minded and passionate progressives where we assess what’s worked before, learn cutting edge campaign skills and make plans for the future. We bring the best political talent in the country to your city to fire up the local progressive movement.

Want one of these trainings in your community in 2011? Then it’s time to get started now.

Apply to host a DFA Campaign Academy in 2011.

As we begin our 8th year of providing this great resource to progressive communities the demand is very high. We’re determining where in the country these trainings can have the biggest impact and we have to hear from you.

These elections were a disappointment to be sure. But I’m still here and still fighting. So is DFA and so are you. And we’re not going to be stopped because of one election.

-Matt

Matt Blizek, Field Director
Democracy for America

P.S. We’re scheduling our 2011 Campaign Academies right now and if you want one in your community you need to act fast.

Forward this email on to 5 of your local progressive friends and see if they want to help bring one of these great trainings to your community.