Posts tagged ‘Republicans’

Unions of Illinois Unite–Our Families Are Counting on You

by , posted on Wednesday, November 13th, 2013 at 8:41 pm

Okay Union leaders, Union members, Everybody and Anybody else who cares about Illinois families, get out of your comfort zone and get to work. The time for sitting on the sidelines is over.

We need to endorse another candidate to run for Governor. Quinn/Vallas would be a disaster. A Republican would be a disaster. We can no longer fear what traditional Democrats will think–or what traditional Republicans will think–if we ‘rebel’ against our ‘traditional’ party lines. They have both abandoned us in support of a corporate-driven tax loophole culture which is cannibalizing our schools and our state. We need to think of our children and their future in Illinois. Our kids are counting on us.

All of us who care about the education of our children, our tax burden, and the maintenance and structure of our beautiful state’s infrastructure need to open our eyes. We have a real crisis brewing and we cannot live in denial any longer.

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Quinn Picks Republican Running Mate

by , posted on Saturday, November 9th, 2013 at 5:40 pm

Who will you vote for on Nov. 5, 2014 if you are given the choice between voting for a Republican (pick one) and a Republican (Paul Vallas)?  Yep, Pat Quinn picked a Republican as his running mate, further alienating working people, minorities and women from the Democratic Party.

Four years ago, Vallas told host Jeff Berkowitz on the Public Affairs cable TV show that he’s now a Republican.

VALLAS: “I would take a Republican primary ballot.”
BERKOWITZ: “Do you think of yourself as a Republican?”
VALLAS: “I’m more of a Republican than a Democrat.”
BERKOWITZ: “If you run again for office you’d be running as a Republican?”
VALLAS: “I would, yes, yes.”

It gets better

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Hultgren and Ribble Republicans trying to end Social Security?

by , posted on Wednesday, October 16th, 2013 at 8:00 am

Looks like Randy Hultgren is finally trying to make good on some of the promises and agendas he offered at an Oswego Town Hall Meeting the summer of 2012 when he said “I’m not planning on Social Security. Most people my age aren’t planning on Social Security.” At the time, Hultgren actually paused a few moments and looked around for cheers which did not come forth. His pronouncements fell on dumbfounded ears–people could hardly believe he was attacking Social Security.

But now, over a year later, Hultgren has found about fifty other like-minded people in the House of Representatives. After joining the Suicide Caucus in August to shut down our government in their effort to defund Obamacare, Hultgren has additionally joined with fifty other Republican House members to demand Boehner use the government shutdown to negotiate Social Security reductions.

In a letter drafted by Wisconsin Representative Reid Ribble, and signed by Hultgren and 49 other House Representatives, the signers demand Boehner use the “ongoing fiscal discussions” and “this window of opportunity” (i.e. government shutdown), to address the “long-term viability of Social Security.” The letter has four demands, three which would clearly lower retiree benefits. Hultgren, Ribble and the rest, call for upping the retirement age, cutting retiree benefits by changing calculations, and for using ‘means testing’ for recipients.

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When Right is Wrong

by , posted on Sunday, October 13th, 2013 at 7:45 pm

What do all the following have in common?

  • Social Security
  • Medicare
  • Medicaid
  • Interstate highway system
  • 1964 Civil Rights Act
  • Labor Unions
  • Pensions, public and private
  • Man on the Moon
  • Universal Health Insurance
  • ERA…Equal Rights Amendment
  • EPA…Environmental Protection Agency
  • U.S. Postal Service
  • Answer: They all were opposed by Republicans in Congress.

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    Hultgren Goes Off the Reservation With Government Shut Down

    by , posted on Saturday, October 12th, 2013 at 6:25 pm

    By now, it is quite clear Randy Hultgren has aligned himself with the far right wing Republican contingent responsible for shutting down our government and threatening the debt ceiling crisis. Conservative commentator Charles Krauthammer has actually termed Hultgren and his contingent of about 79 other representatives as the “suicide caucus.”

    Hultgren and the rest of the Republican politicians known as the “suicide caucus” are called that because they signed Republican Mark Meadows’ letter, known as The Meadows Letter, which demands that House Speaker Boehner pass legislation to defund the Patient’s Rights and Affordability Care Act (ACA–Obamacare) and to commit to defund the ACA by using the continuing resolution to fund the government. In other words, shut down our government.

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    Hultgren and Roskam Too Expensive for Us

    by , posted on Sunday, September 29th, 2013 at 9:00 am

    We can’t afford to keep Randy Hultgren and Peter Roskam in office any longer. They continue to waste our taxpayer money in vain attempts, 42 at last count, to end the Affordable Care Act. Each Hultgren and Roskam attempt to defund the law, which was enacted by Congress and upheld by the Supreme Court, costs us taxpayers (according to research by CBS) approximately $1.45 million.

    Hultgren and Roskam join with the rest of the House Republicans in collectively spending 15% of its activity since 2011 on repealing the ACA (Obamacare), or about $17 million in Congressional Republican salaries– according to a recent report published by the New York Times.

    When considering all the facts, it becomes quite clear that the Republican temper-tantrum over the ACA is nothing more than them serving the financial services industry–their primary campaign donors–rather than any concern about American people.

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    Austerity Chicken

    by , posted on Sunday, March 3rd, 2013 at 6:23 pm

    In the maneuvering to affix blame for the mess that is sequestration, the Republicans in Congress would have us believe this was all the President’s idea to begin with,

    while the Obama Administration would have us believe that it was a deal that was never supposed to take effect. Not really. And yet, both sides voted for it. Both sides agreed to play this dangerous game.

    And that’s the problem. The debate has never been a question of whether or not we should even be pursuing a politics of austerity in the first place, it has merely been a question of the precise balance of pain that was to be exacted upon those less fortunate than those who will determine our fate.

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    Gerald Epstein: Rich Should Be Happy with Cliff Deal

    by , posted on Thursday, January 3rd, 2013 at 7:32 pm

    from The Real News Network

    President Obama did not have to make this deal. It’s a debacle being called a win.

    Gerald Epstein is Co-Director of the Political Economy Research Institute, and Professor of Economics, University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

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    Thom Hartmann: I thought we voted for Democrats

    by , posted on Thursday, December 20th, 2012 at 5:30 pm

    pf_pick_avatar_50 from The Big Picture, with Thom Hartmann (RT)

    With just 13 days to go until America goes over the fiscal cliff – progressives across America are asking why President Obama chose to put Social Security cuts on the bargaining table. Why is the president letting Republicans hack away at Social Security – instead of presenting progressive solutions that can help us avoid the cliff?

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    Will Obama, the Fed’s QE3 or Romney’s “Smaller Government” Create Jobs?

    by , posted on Tuesday, September 25th, 2012 at 11:12 am

    from The Real News Network

    Leo Panitch and Sam Gindin (authors of The Making of Global Capitalism: The Political Economy of American Empire): As long as effective demand remains low and banks demand austerity to protect their assets, the crisis will deepen.

    Part Two: The Crisis and Who Has the Power

    Major structural change or effective short term reforms requires addressing democratic decision making starting with making banks a public utility.

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