After Budget Deal, Time to Move Forward

The Republicans claim that the United States has a spending problem. They are right. The only thing they have wrong is that we need more federal spending in order to put our economic growth back on track. Cutting spending is exactly the wrong thing to do. The Republicans want, more than anything else, to hold the line on tax revenues. What is needed are more tax revenues to fund programs that this country desperately needs. Restoring all the Clinton era tax rates on high incomes and broadening the tax base to include some income that is currently sheltered, such as those that allowed Mitt Romney to pay very little on his very high annual income. That would go a long way toward funding important and necessary government spending programs. Dean Baker listed many of those things in his great column above. Food aid to low income families was missing from his list but it was a good start on addressing the pressing need to restore economic health to the American economy. The Republicans have resisted the spending to accomplish those important programs. People refer to the Republicans as conservatives, but the truth is that they are not conservative; they are reactionaries who fight tooth and nail against progress.
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Republicans Are Shutting Down the Government Because They Want to Stop Obamacare

Dean Baker has nailed. It does not make sense to cut Social Security by using the chained CPI. As he points out, that would hurt seniors and reduce their purchasing power. That impact would reduce economic activity throughout the economy and slow job growth.



The Republicans become deficit hawks every time that a Democrat is in the White House but spend like drunken sailors when there is a republican occupying the Oval Office. Ronald Reagan tripled the national debt in 8 years, Bush 1 added even more and Bush 2 doubled the national debt and left the country in a deep recession and huge deficits. It is time that the general public woke up to the fact that they are only trying to protect the rich from further tax increases which we would need if we really want to balance the budget.
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Pinching Pensions to Keep Wall Street Fat and Happy

Apparently, there are those who see government workers as slaves that are unworthy of having secure, contractual retirement accounts. I can see Republicans pulling stunts like those in Detroit, but Rahm Emanuel is another kind of an animal, he is an .abrasive hateful individual who should change his party affiliations and to move over to the republican side where he belongs.
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Obama Protesters Sing 'Bye Bye Black Sheep,' Rail Against 'Half-White Muslim' In Arizona

I am proud to say that I voted for the first African American President of this country. I attended a meeting where everyone there had supported President Obama in his first election in 2008, and were proud to have been able to contribute to that historic vote. Of those there, 90% were Caucasian.



It is clear that the Republicans hate President Obama because of his race. They will go to any lengths to insure that he does not make big accomplishments during his Presidency. They want him to fail. They overlook the fact that if this president fails, the whole country fails. Many initiatives that the President has proposed would go far toward restoring our thriving economic growth. But with Republican obstructionism, the much needed recovery is put on the back burner. They have voted 40 times to overturn the Affordable Care Act which is essentially the same plan that their party adopted from the Heritage Foundation.



Those biased people who protested the President in Arizona helped to elect those Congress members who have done their best to stifle our economic recovery. They should be ashamed of their juvenile behavior. We are in the 21st Century; this is a time when people should get beyond their senseless biases.
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'Lone Ranger': Christianity Fares Poorly Alongside Native American Beliefs

This is the second writer that I have read who has attacked the Lone Ranger movie over Christianity. How stupid can people be? This movie in no way attacked Christianity. If depicting Christians for the way many of them act is a crime, then I guess, this movie does it. But, folks, the whole movie was a farce. For "God's" sake, the real star was Johnny Depp, what would you expect?



I found the movie to be weak because of the way it developed the character of the Lone Ranger, but then again, it was a comedy, folks. So some privileges were taken along the way. The Lone Ranger was not the strong confident man that was depicted in the original movies. Tonto, was not a weak character, although he was a bit deranged.



People who take comedy movies so seriously worry me. Those with thin skins about their religious beliefs have a problem that they need to address. I suggest that taking a second look at Genesis in the light of our present day knowledge should give Christians a reason to re-evaluate their beliefs based upon the scientific facts that were unknown to the world when the biblical stories were invented. Anyone who believes Genesis as the true story of creation has a problem with accepting reality
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Deficits Are Bad and the Sun Goes Around the Earth

At you a lawyer from British Columbia? It is quite ovious that you do not understand the American economy and our many for jobs needs for spending programs for long term assets. More jobs create more spending and more tax revenues with which to pay down the debt
About Stimulus
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Deficits Are Bad and the Sun Goes Around the Earth

You are wrong! The Chinese do not own trillions of our national debt. They own only about 1 1/2 trillion. The Social Security trust funds owns twice as much. The Chinese hold only about ten percent of our national debt. U.S. entities own 65.8 of our own national debt.
About Stimulus
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Deficits Are Bad and the Sun Goes Around the Earth

It all depends on when the securities mature. Interest rates have been low for sometime and will probably stay low until the economy fully recovers. A good financial planner would take everything into account. THIS IS THE BEST TIME TO BORROW FOR INVESTMENTS and for redemption of long term bonds. Again, debt is not the problem. The government can spend to create jobs and to build long term assets at low interest rates. It doesn't make good economic policy to focus on the debt while there are so many Americans who are out of work, who are without adequate health care, and while our infrastructure is deteriorating.
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Corporate power and Priveledge

Dean Baker recently had a column on the Huffington Post concerning CEO salaries.  They are paid huge salaries that are thousands of times what employees.  They are the ones who decide how political donations are made now that the Supreme Court has unleashed corporate money for political campaigns.  This horrible situation must be brought to an end and will only be when our Constitution has been amended.  

The following is my comment concerning Dean Bakers column.

"Ah ha! These are the "people" that the Supreme Court wants to allow to donate to political campaigns. The interlocking boards of directors often draw salaries from various corporations. We need to Amend the Constitution to prevent corporate political donations. At least, unions represent their workers and support politicians who will work for workers, all workers."

Read the column at:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dean-baker/corporate-governance-and_b_3103658.html?utm_source=Alert-blogger&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Email%2BNotifications

The Biggest Republican Lie -- 'America Is Broke'

The Republicans are really good at framing their arguments to support their lies and exaggerations. When adjusted for inflation, our national debt is not out of line. The argument that our children will be burdened by the huge national debt is a distortion of fact. After WWII the national debt was at a far higher percentage of GDP. I did not feel burdened by that debt. President Eisenhower built the Interstate freeway system that provided jobs and a lasting transportation infrastructure. The fact is that interests rates are at a decades long. low. There has never been a better time for the government to borrow and spend on infrastructure improvements that would provide millions of jobs and long lasting transportation infrastructure. The same can be said of renewable energy projects and education. The money velocity is nearly 7 times in a year. That means that for every dollar of increased spending, there would be about seven times more spending done causing more job creation and tax revenues. This country has many needs; ignoring them and failure to spend to meet those needs is exactly the wrong formula for improving our economy. The GOP is the party that is holding up progress in the hope that they can regain control of the WHITE HOUSE. I shudder to think of what would happen to our country if they controlled the helm of our ship of state.
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What Happens After an Iran-Israel War?

Great comment! Israel is an aggressive­, warlike state and should be disarmed. Our support for Israel is why so many countries hate us. We should end it now.
About Barack Obama
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What Happens After an Iran-Israel War?

The Iranian issue reminds me of the drive to invade Iraq by the Bush administra­tion. Even though the UNSCOM inspectors had searched for over 8 years and could find no WMD, the Bush administra­tion made the false claim of their existence. U>N. arms inspectors are going into Iran to investigat­e the issue of a suspected weapons program. Will Israel attack Iran before their work is done? Is this another false flag operation to take a desired action with no substantia­l proof of a threat?



The United States should withdraw all financial and military aid to Israel and let them know that if they attack Iran, they will be doing so on their own.
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Newt Gingrich's Rise Continues, Ron Paul Second, Romney Third In Iowa: Des Moines Register Poll

I wonder what would happen if the news media started to report on Newts many conquests. For those who are interested­, see the following website and read the Vanity Fair Article from 1995 at:

http://www­.pbs.org/w­gbh/pages/­frontline/­newt/vanit­yfair4.htm­l How many religious conservati­ves would vote for a guy with his history of sexual exploits?
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More Republican lies about the stimulus

The Republicans are attacking President Obama and Senator Claire McCaskill with the claim that the 800 billion dollar stimulus did not work.  They are running campaign ads against Claire McCaskill now even though, as of now, they have no candidate to oppose her.

Bad news for the CONs came from the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office this week.  According to their report, the "Obama" stimulus plan created 3.3 million jobs, Gee whiz, what a waste of money, huh?

Yesterday the CONs voted against the extension of the payroll tax reduction because it would have required a small tax increase for people with over a million dollars in income.  The CONs just do not care about the working middle class or job creation. Their only hope is that they can defeat the President in the next election.

"Do-Nothing Republican Congress" Could Sink GOP In 2012

When I was young and foolish, I worked for the Republican party. I campaigned for my state Representa­tive, Jewell Kennedy, the Lady from Raytown. She predicted that if the "conservat­ives" ever took total control of the Republican party, that would lead to the total destructio­n of that party. I see her words coming true in 2012. This do-nothing Republican Congress will be the ones who bury the Republican party for decades to come. They may never have power again because they are demonstrat­ing right now that they care nothing for the American people. I say, as a Reagan Democrat, a fellow who changed parties because of Reagan's horrible policies. Reagan started us on the road to huge budget deficits and never ending wars and Obama will be the President to turn this country around and lead it into the prosperous 21st. Century just as soon as he has Democrats in control of both houses of congress after the 2012 elections. Happy times will certainly be here again!!!!
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Occupy Wall Street: Obama's Jobs Bill

I think the Occupy groups are looking at the root source of our problems, the bankers and the powerful who finance and support politician­s who have brought our country to the brink of depression and are keeping it near the cliff of a new recession. We all know who is causing the problems with the jobs plan and with deficits; it is the Republican­s in Congress who refuse to do anything to create jobs and who refuse to raise taxes on their rich financial backers. Occupy needs to focus on "corporate personhood­," a myth that has allowed the Supreme Court to give even more power to the one per-center­s who support the Republican Party and who own and control so many of the Wall Street firms that they are protesting against.
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Replacing Joe Biden: Time for President Obama to Bite the Bullet?

The writer makes a good point. I think the world of Joe Biden. Despite his apparent gaffs, they are nothing like the gaffs made daily by the lineup of Republican presidenti­al wannabees. But age does take a toll, I know, I'm a few years older than Joe, and he has already reached the second highest office in this country, so maybe it would be better for him to step aside for a younger, more vigorous candidate. Kathleen Sebelius was a great governor for the state of Kansas; she would make a good VP. She is doing a good job in her current position. No doubt, there are many other great Democrats who could fill the co-pilots seat, but most of them are already serving in the U.S. Senate, the House or in Governorsh­ips. Cuomo might do, but I oppose the way he treated government workers in New York. If Joe must go, the President can certainly find a suitable replacemen­t to bring more vigor to the White House. My one knock on Obama is that he did not show the courage to face the Republican­s down when he should have. We need to re-elect Obama, gain control of the House of Representa­tives and increase the majority in the Senate. We must not let the CONS keep control of the legislatur­e. It is essential to the United States that the Party of "Hell no!" be thrown out of power in 2012. Mr. Boner, where are the jobs???
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Bill O'Reilly, David Letterman High Five Over Iraq War (VIDEO)

"In hind sight," O'Really? "agreed that it turned out Iraq did not possess weapons of mass destructio­n." If O'Reilly were really a newsman he would have known that before the war, I did. I heard public statements by experts like Scott Ritter and Hans Blix. Ritter spent most of the 1990s searching for WMD and rockets. Blix’s inspection team performed 700 inspection­s. Both men refuted the claims that Iraq had WMD. Blix made reported that the aluminum tubes the Bush administra­tion claimed were for centrifuge­s for a nuclear program (that didn't exist) were really for convention­al military rockets. The Bush administra­tion lied this country into the war against Iraq. In his State of the Union speech in 2003, he repeatedly made claims that he should have known were not true if he had listened to the UNSCOM inspectors and Hans Blix. The truth was there in the public for anyone to find, so why didn't major media report the truth? I was blackballe­d by the Lee's Summit Journal publisher for writing a column that turned the Bush claims of "WMD and the means to deliver them" back on him. Bush did have powerful weapons and the means to deliver them. Bush used those weapons to start an unnecessar­y war of choice that has led to hundreds of thousands of dead and wounded on both sides of that war. The publisher was a big Bush fan. My free, regular column was cancelled because I had written the truth.
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Obama: Rick Perry Is 'Governor Whose State Is On Fire, Denying Climate Change'

To me, there will be only one choice next November. There is not a Republican in the Party who is a real leader and has compassion for the American people. Am I totally satisfied with Barack Obama? Not really. He has been slow to the fight with the just say no republi-co­ns. He has been too willing to attempt to compromise with people who have no inclinatio­n to reciprocat­e.

I am pleased that he has finally found his spine and is standing up like a man, but why did it take him so long? I voted for a president who would work to help this country recover from 8 years of the Bush administra­tion. Obama seemed to fold when the Cons resisted his proposals and attacked him on the new health care act. Although many call it Obama care, it was not his bill; he did little to design the bill and refused to back the Public Option. Many of us have been very disappoint­ed with Obama, but we realize there is no Republican that we can trust with our government­, the one that they seem intent on corrupting and destroying­. When Obama needs my vote, I will be there for him. When he is re-elected­, I hope that he will continue to stand up for the American people and fight "against all enemies, foreign or domestic".



I
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Government Shutdown Looms After Senate Blocks Short-Term Funding Bill

You've got to luv how the pubs are trying to handcuff the government­, don't ya? I say, pass a disaster relief bill with no offsets but send NO money to states that have a majority of republi-co­ns in the their congressio­nal delegation­s. Send the money to states that have sane Senators and Representa­tives. If the CONs want to play silly games, play smash-mout­h hardball with them. Make them pay!!!.
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