Posts tagged ‘conservatives’

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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    The Tea Party’s—and Mitt Romney’s—Brand of Capitalism

    by , posted on Saturday, October 20th, 2012 at 3:34 pm

    This short video clip features a comment made by Ed Schultz on Friday while in Freeport, Illinois, broadcasting live from Bainport, the site of the protest by Sensata workers and their allies over the closing of the profitable plant by Bain Capital in order to move it to China.

    Ed’s comment was a simple and straightforward one: “I’m a capitalist, but I think you can cross the line between being being a capitalist and being a greedy son of a gun that hurts middle class families across America.”

    The video was shot, however, by a tea party activist by the name of Ulysses S. Arn, who describes himself as “the conservative movements warrior poet.” He labeled it: “Laugher of the Week: MSNBC’s Ed Schultz ‘I’m a Capitalist'”.

    Apparently conservatives like Arn think it’s laughable for a capitalist to believe that any such lines can be crossed. And it’s becoming increasingly clear that Mitt Romney thinks the rules don’t apply to people like him, either.

    Perhaps it’s time for us to start calling “free market” ideologues “laissez-faire capitalists” once again, and remind ourselves why we came to the conclusion that a regulated marketplace was needed in the first place.

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    Orwell’s Thought Police Meet the Baby Boomers

    by , posted on Tuesday, May 22nd, 2012 at 7:00 am

    It was a simple ride with a stranger on a train. She and I were both carrying signs from the Nurses United Rally in Chicago held on Friday, May 18. By our signs, we both knew we were on the same side of the political ‘discourse.’

    Of course, the word ‘discourse’ is such a polite word that it implies what is going on in our national political blood fest is polite. It is anything but. And that is exactly what we were talking about.

    “What can they be thinking?” I asked, thinking there is no real answer.

    “That’s the problem,” she replied. “They’re not.”

    And for the first time in a long time, I had the opportunity to think out loud with another person who was also thinking out loud about the nastiness, vitriol really, that is going on in our national political scene.

    For the first time I began to understand. I began to see the big picture of how and why people can so easily be influenced to believe and act in ways that are so contrary to their own self-interests.

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    Tea Party slogans and stuff

    by , posted on Monday, November 7th, 2011 at 11:17 am

    Enjoy the joys of being a Tea Party Patriot!

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