House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, not having it with the Republicans' no-revenue, all-cuts proposals for the debt ceiling:
"This isn't just about them saying we should reduce the deficit," she said, adding: "This is an excuse. The budget deficit is an excuse for the Republicans to undermine government plain and simple. They don't just want to make cuts, they want to destroy. They want to destroy food safety, clean air, clean water, the department of education. They want to destroy your rights."
At right, found for sale on GOP.com, found and sent by Keven Veler of Alpharetta, Georgia.
The Republican Parking Sign goes for $15. The pitch: "8 inch x 12 inch metal sign with 3-dimensional embossing like a real parking sign! A great piece for your parking space at home, at the office, or just as decoration on your wall."
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Wow! The lady has the guts to say the truth. She's got more balls than some of the men.
You had to know the lady, (and yes, she is truly a lady), was tough and willing to tell the truth when repubs began so loudly and publicly villifying and demonizing her. Just imagine how much farther along we would be if Pelosi had been running the House, and Hilary the Senate for the first two years of Obama's administration.
Hurray for Mrs. Pelosi ! She said the truth in plain and simple language. Something the Refuclicans don't know anything about, with their convoluted doublespeak without an element of truth.
Now, if we could only get the Repub general electorate to differentiate right from wrong, it could be a landslide for our President in 2012.
Are you listening, Universe?
I knew I liked Nancy. She has just verbalized what I have been thinking for weeks, if not months. It is ridiculous that the Republicans are threatening to destoy the economy if we won't let them destroy our social safety nets and our middle class! It is time that the Democrats stand firm. Either the Republicans give in and raise taxes on the wealthiest 1 or 2 % of Americans ( A proposal supported by over 75% of Americans) or Obama raises the debt ceiling without any deal.
What the Republicans are doing, or frantically trying to do, has nothing to do with the deficit. If they were genuinely concerned about the deficit, they would first admit that they were guilty of having had an even larger part in creating it than those "big spending" Democrats that they're always whining about. They also wouldn't be playing politics with every aspect of negotiations because they would see cutting the debt as an act of national importance. If they were really worried about it, everything actually would be on the table.
But of course they *are* playing politics. Everything is most certainly not on the table. They are gerrymandering their cuts along completely political lines and acting as if they were doing so only out of concern for the national interest. Not only is that bullcrap, it's not even plausibly, slightly believable bullcrap. They are only trying to cut things they don't happen to like and not laying a finger on monstrously expensive things that they do happen to like. They desperately want to kill Medicare and Social Security and give the money to the filthy rich without it looking like that's what they're doing and they are trying to get the nauseatingly pliable Obama WH to help them. Which it kind of is.
Republicans can say all they want about Pelosi but when she was Speaker she kept her people in line. Boehner could have learned a lot from her.
They hate American Government, American pop culture, American Media, American Multiculturalism, American Progress, American Social Programs, and several large demographics of the American Population.
and then present themselves as the true patriots.
"How do you have patience for people who claim they love America, but clearly can't stand Americans?" -American President-
Taxes tie a country together, because when the fate of the richest is tied to the fate of the poorest it makes the richest a little less inclined to screw over the poorest.
Taxes are directly responsible for infrastructure, the things that we cannot do as individuals are achievable only when we work as a society.
1. Taxes are the cost of civilization.
2. Since the rich aren't rich any more because of their individual strength of arms, they need the forebearance of the poor in order to survive.
3. Even though the power elite might temporarily control the various security forces in the nation, history has shown us that today mass movements move much more quickly than in the past and control of the various security forces is not a guarantor of survival.
4. Until we change the way elected representatives are selected nothing is going to change because a small power elite will be controlling those representatives.
5. Let the rethugs crash the economy, what's a few more months of suffering for the elderly, the disabled, the poor, the unemployed, the veterans, etc. after the past 5 years of suffering because of the irresponsibility and destructive behavior of unruly children who happen to be the elected representatives of the people.
Point 4 is one that freaks me out... I don't know how to change it. Do you?
Point 5 horrifies me. And it is too bloody close to what I'm seeing. Except the Dems seem to be back-trackin.
Taxes are the basis of the historical contract as a social structure. We are too many to go back to the old feudalism. Or, at least I'd thought so till now.
Please, Ms. Pelosi... come back!! Put a workable bill on the floor.
Point 4 solution - Eliminate elections for legislative bodies and change it to a civic duty like jury duty, every eligible citizen is in the pool and through random selection each state and each district within the state gets its apportioned number of representatives, they serve one term, their employers are reimbursed their salary while they serve and their jobs are guaranteed when they are through, there would be a small, non partisan professional staff shared by all. Given the results we've seen from the present system over the past 30 years we can't do too much worse and who knows we might actually see some problem solving instead of problem creating going on. One side benefit would be that the big campaign contributors would now have to spread out their legal bribes over a longer period of time to a greater number of people, thus creating a mini redistribution of wealth scheme.
Point 5 - The oligarchs might let the nation's credit rating drop so they can get higher interest rates but they are not going to allow their indentured servants to crash the economy and put their wealth and power at risk.
American "democracy" is now and always has been an oligarchy, its just that in the past the oligarchs weren't united in their desire to control everything and everyone. Now they are and they really don't need to buy both political parties any more because one of them did a good job of destroying itself by failing to remember why it existed in the first place.
Funny thing about history, so many college graduates never really remember the lessons of history if they even learned it in the first place.
There is nothing new about what is happening today, it has been happening so many times, destroying so many civilizations throughout history, that we must admit that E.O. Wilson, Harvard evolutionary biologist is correct in his conclusion about the limitations of our mental machinery "far-off catastrophes engineered by our own species, are simply out of the range of human capacity for planning and action."
Washington politicians are just one more example of our failure to care for the needs of future generations as long as our politicians are able to satisfy their greediest lusts for money and power simply by selling out quality of life for future generations.
In fact, nothing has really changed since the good old medieval days when men made vows that indentured themselves to their lords, such as
"I will love what thou lovest; I will hate what thou hatest"
"As long as I shall live, I am bound to serve you and respect you."
"Thy friends will be my friends, thy enemies my enemies."
Its time for the President to stop being the nice guy, which we know he is; but to become the man that is needed to push back against the extremist! He took out Osama and Somila pirates, its time for that PRESIDENT to emerge and use his office to overcome the well of the hostage takers voted in 2010! Enough showing the American people your a centrist, we know that too! We need you to heard! You've been shouted over by a republican during an address before Congress, you've been called a liar on numerous occasions, and you've been forced to focus on an issue that never got any press! Its time for President Barack Obama to show the American people that he is the President of the United States and we will not stand for the continued hostage taking of our nation! The mid-term election produced extremist and protesters that are now elected officials that know nothing about the office they currently hold! Even when the President is willing to give them the ENTIRE HOUSE (not just the kitchen sink), they reject it! Its time, Mr. President! Its time to follow Nancy Pelosi's lead on this one! We need to see and hear Barry! We need to hear and see that this Congress will not be successful in destroying our nation!
Agreed, and I believe ultimately we'll see just that. These still very green (not the good kind, either) republicans - and many here, for that matter - continue to underestimate the man.
Former President Bill Clinton, who holds President Obama in high regard, recently made clear he would invoke the so-called constitutional option to raise the nation's debt ceiling "without hesitation, and force the courts to stop me" in order to prevent a default, should Congress and the President fail to achieve agreement before the August 2 deadline.
Here's the link to that article:
All of this hand-wringing is just the prelude to the real show that's still to come. Stay tuned. It's going to get VERY interesting, and very soon...
I'm sorry but this President, whom I contributed time and money to as well as a vote, is even more of a disappointment than Clinton was. Clinton at least ran as a centrist and a bit more to the right during his presidency, President Obama ran as a Progressive and moved so far to the right during his presidency so far that he could be described as a conservative democrat or a moderate republican (republican liberals are an extinct species). He can have his "Grand Deal" and hope that it gives him a better place in history than his being the first African American President. Unfortunately, I believe his only legacy is going to be exactly that. He better hope the Repubs don't come to their senses and nominate Romney, because if they do, Barack is a one term president.
And then we'll be back to square one, as if we're about to relive the eight years that followed 2000 all over again. Yeah, I can see how that could happen, but only because this country's citizens have memories like goldfish.
If we can get the Democrats as a whole to speak as clearly as Minority Speaker just did 2012 should be a great election year.
Of course first we have to survive the current GOP slash and burn tactics.
In the end the dems will cave. The rethugs know this and aren't going to compromise. The democratic party inside the beltway is a useless appendage needing to be removed. Its time for the dems to go the way of the Whigs and make room for a real working peoples party. For 30 years the dems have failed to protect the interests of the working (middle) classes in this nation and have participated in the greatest non violent transfer of wealth in world history. That transfer of wealth is the real issue of our time, just as slavery was the real issue 160 years ago. A political party that is unable or unwilling to protect the interests of its members has no justifiable reason to exist.
I was criticized for speaking my opinion about President Obama's speech. What I was trying to say was, there was so, so much he didn't say! I'm tired of his passivity and I can't understand why he's not calling the GOP out. Nancy Pelosi should be writing his speeches from now on, period!
I know he's in the ring with a bunch of 500 lb. guirillas, but he needs to swing back.
The GOP thinks we're all a bunch of idiots and the disrespect they show for the elected president of the USA is appalling... grandstanding the tan-man like he's equal was over the top for me.
A blank check! A blank check? I almost lost it altogether.
Agree but I think the problem is the 90% of America that he had to explain the problem to. Only the informed realize the Pelosi talk is dead on.
Well Nancy you record as being the best and most productive Speaker ever, will not be in Jeopardy for a long time.
lets see 7 months in you had what maybe around 60 bills on your way to over 400 in which 375 of them was for the best of the country as a whole!
here`s to making you SPEAKER AGAIN in 2012!!!
If the GOP is so concerned about jobs, why are they failing to approve the FAA Reauthorization Bill? This is not about jobs that might, maybe, some day, perhaps (but probably won't) be created if we continue to give huge corporations massive tax breaks and obscene federal pay-outs. This is about actual, real American jobs that are being lost RIGHT NOW because if their inability to act. This is about American companies being told to stop working, and American workers being told to go home.
Could this be any clearer? "GOP, if you approve this bill, as you have done dozens of times in the past few years, American companies will continue to be paid, and American workers will be able to remain on the job. If you don't, all this work will stop. So, whattaya gonna do?"
"Uh ... nothing."
If you're not outraged, you're not paying attention.
http://www.faa.gov/news/media/workstop/
The Republicans are interested in jobs that are below the minimum wage for the used to be middle class.
Remember, government is the problem -- not the solution.
As for jobs, the Congressional Republicans are totally about jobs. Theirs.
May I amend that by saying Rethuglicans are the problem - not the solution.
This coming from the woman who says "Austerity must be taken" when all signs point to the same exact things happening that caused the actual Great Depression (google-fu and wiki-fu for 10 minutes and you'll see the pattern).
A Clean bill or invoke the 14th amendment. Both of these options Obama has taken off the table and are the only ones that will make me vote for my officials again next election cycle. Either of the current Republican plan as proposed by Boehner or the republican plan as proposed by Reid are unacceptable. I didn't vote for the lesser of two evils and I will not vote for the lesser. Afraid of the more-evil side winning? Then don't be evil. It's that simple (it really is; representatives just need strength of convictions).
Bravo, This President and the Democratic Party under his leadership are no longer worthy of any working persons support. Their cowardice and incompetence in protecting the interests of the vast majority of working Americans has been demonstrated more by this fake debt ceiling crisis than anything else I've seen in my 60+ years on this planet. I've been disappointed by every Democratic President since Kennedy and this one provided the straw that broke the camel's back. After 40+ years as loyal and active Democrat, my party left me behind, and to tell the truth I don't want to catch up to it because I no longer feel at home in it.
That's funny; I'm 27 and I'm already tired of it.
Rachel,
Why don't you suggest that all people in favor of a stand alone debt ceiling bill march on DC and in their respective cities on Monday Aug 1st at noon, in protest of the GOP holding the country hostage over the debt ceiling???
If you were to suggest it on MSNBC and get behind it with Ed and Lawrence perhaps lending their support, I bet you could get enough people out to make enough the house GOP capitulate.
Let Democracy truly rule and the people's voices be heard!!
Do we want Rachel to become Faux News or the Daily Show. Her role is to report and analyze the news, not make it. You want to march on DC, figure out a way to provide transportation to D.C. for disabled vets, social security and disability recipients, special needs kids, poor kids on AFDC, food stamp recipients, and all the rest of the chaff of society the rethugs want to discard and you'll have something. For the vast majority of these millions of people missing one check is a disaster that will kill some, put many on the street, make many more even sicker than they are. Put that face of the human suffering caused by the children we call our elected officials and shame them into action.
I would be nervous that the reload don't retreat gang would be across the street with their guns strapped to their hips.
Andria, Rachel Maddow used to be an activist and might have done as you suggest (or might not - her gig was aids in prisons, hard to arrange prisoners to march on DC or any other city). In any case, she's not an activist any more, so as Fred says it is our job to take action.
If programs are going to be cut and Congress diminishes the federal government THEN IN GOD'S NAME WHY DO WE NEED ALL THOSE US SENATORS AND CONGRESSMEN? One senator for each state will save millions. Combine Congressional districts and cut their number. Then extend the terms in time but just one term. Take a little pension home with you and don't let the door hit you on the way out.
Get rid of congress altogether. We don't need to elect them, or even give them pensions, just make serving in Congress a civic duty like jury duty and randomly select people for one term and one term only. Pay them directly or their employer their current salary, provide them with a non partisan staff shared by all. Each state is represented just as it is now in terms of numbers, but the fact is when something is broken, like Congress, you fix it or replace it. We know the current system is corrupt and broken, the new one would at least allow the power elite to distribute their bribes to more people over more time, thus it would be a voluntary redistribution of wealth rather than the forced one we've experienced for 30 years.
They won't even pay for their parking. I thought they were for no new taxes. Guess it's ok to tax others. As long as they can keep their pledge to the devil. Traitors! Sell out the U.S. to Grover Norquist. Debit default is Grover's tax .
So I thought and I thought and I thought. (Obviously, if I were a politician it would have taken only one thought.)
I asked myself, how can the people win in this debt deal?
It comes out like this.
Yes, politicians are stupid. They appear smart because they play the people game while people are working on worthwhile projects. When people working on problems look up from their work they see this glib, confident, apparently smart person selling his wares and they think that person is smart and since all politicians are smart, that perp must be smart. After all, their health care plan is better than anybody's; they have the power to give themselves raises and retirement perks, and body guards. (How many of them would survive without bodyguards?)
So later you learn they are stupid after all. (If McConnell or Beaner were acting, they would win oscars, hands down.)
But back to the people. Time is too short now but if we had been quick we all could have started a multiple choice raffle entitled WHAT IS THE GAME?
We old folks could have put this year's SS pay in the pot.
Since we know both Dems and GOPs (Greedy Obstructioniist Powermongers) will collude for the sake of bribes and other input, the two sides must have a game going that is worth all the damage they are doing. Remember the Iraq war, Haliburton, Vietnam??
All the people who guess the game get to share the pot. That stimulates the economy enough to pay back the SS ante and raise the pay.
Sounds good, huh? But like I said. We are too late. Nevertheless, I would like to hear some guesses as to what folks think the game is. Or we can just wait until the world forecloses on the US.
I live in Billings, Montana, the site of the Exon-Mobile oil spill.
The EPA has been overseeing the cleanup and it has been extensive, with months to go. My point is The EPA has been overseeing the cleanup. If we were to eliminate the EPA, Montana would have to hire dozens of people to watch over the spill at a cost of many millions to the state. That would probably put the state budget over.
Montana is an oil producing state and depends on oil and gas production tax revenues to maintain services. We cannot afford to stop this production, nor can the nation. Montana, North Dakota and Canada share the Bakin oil sands. This is one of the largest oil discoveries in the world! This is ENERGY INDEPENDENCE FOR THE UNITED STATES. We must continue to produce this valuable resource. There will be problems with oil spills and we will have to deal with them. This is national resource and we should deal with them nationally. That is why we need the EPA in Montana.
But if the Republicans can cut the EPA's budget, that'll make the national budget look good. And that's all they care about at this point. (Well, that and making Obama look bad.) And if there's an oil spill in Montana, that's Montana's problem. That's why they're all about "states' rights." Pass the buck down the line to the states. Let them pay for everything.
And if 50 states have to create 50 different EPAs, and 50 different DOTs, and 50 different DOEs, that's the states' problem and the states' expense, not the feds. And, to pay for all that, if the states have to raise taxes or cut programs to pay for the duplication of 50 different copies of the same thing -- again, states' problem. The federal budget looks great!
Oh, except for all that oil. That's not Montana's oil. That's the nation's oil. So, hand it over. For the good of the nation.
Is Montana a red state? Doesn't sound you are in the majority there.
Since when has the will of the majority mattered in this country? We are governed by people who at best have the votes of 25% of registered voters. If 1/2 of all voters stay home during a national election and 2/3 stay home during a statewide election how can anything done in any legislative body have any claim to having majority support, perhaps acquiescence would be a better term. The vast majority of the American people gave up on the electoral system in this country a generation ago and its shown in how our legislatures and executives have acted since.
The NEOCONS are soooo close to getting what they want. Their plan hatached in the 190's to drag us into war and lower taxes had the specific goal to destroy the social safety net is now if full swing. The appointment of Scalia to the Sumpremes allowed them to install Bush as president and start their rape of the country - and the Democrats and Liberals are partly at fault. We did not protest hard enough. The de-regulation allowed Murdock and the Christian right to take over the media and brain wash the American public resulted in the birth of the Tea Party movement. The Republicans fail to realize that while vocal, they are a minority and are allowing themselves and the rest of the country to be led to rack and ruin. I have one word for the traditional Republicans,"Wisconsin". If you allow yourselves to be led by the Tea Party, you too could be subject to recall. For the Tea Party caucus, enjoy your one term in office, you will not get another one.