Tag Archives: Republicans

The Politics behind the Killing of Americans

  By Walter Brasch | April 5, 2013 7:56 am - 7:56 am | , , , , ,
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Gov. Rick Perry (R-Texas) opposes the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), and vows to block the expansion of Medicaid in his state. At a news conference this past week, Perry, flanked by conservative senators Ted Cruz and John Cornyn, declared “Texas will not be held hostage by the Obama administration’s attempt to force us into the fool’s errand of adding more than a million Texans to a broken system.” About one-fourth of all Texans do not have health care coverage. According to an analysis by the Dallas Morning News, if Texas budgeted $15.6 billion over the next decade, it would receive more than $100 billion in federal Medicaid funds, allowing the state to cover about 1.5 million more residents, … Continue reading →

Look for the Union Bunny

  By Walter Brasch | March 31, 2013 1:53 pm - 1:53 pm | , , ,
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Bullied, harassed, and lied to, District 1 of the Amalgamated Association of Easter Bunnies, AFB-CIO (American Federation of Bunnies–Cottontails International Organization) went on strike, forcing a halt to this year’s Easter egg hunts. At Bunny Headquarters, Solomon P. Bunny, union executive secretary, and a militant corps of Easter bunnies were preparing picket signs. I walked in, notepad in hand. “Excuse me, Mr. Bunny, but why aren’t your members delivering eggs this week?” Bunny looked up from the papers on his desk, chomped harder on his cigar, looked at me, scowled, and answered harshly, “Don’t you know!?” “No, sir,” I replied apologetically. “I always thought you were happy and content passing out your Easter eggs.” “We love it,” growled Bunny, “but … Continue reading →

The Paul Ryan Magical Mystery Chop, Dice, and Slice Budget

  By Walter Brasch | March 22, 2013 6:34 am - 6:34 am | , , , , , ,
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  By Walter Brasch   In 2011, before he was the Republican nominee for vice-president, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) proposed a federal budget. He called it, “The Path to Prosperity: Restoring America’s Promise.” Two years later, now in his second year as chair of the House budget committee, he dusted off and polished his old proposal. He calls this one: “The Path to Prosperity: A Responsible Balanced Budget.” His plan is to cut the federal deficit by $4.6 trillion in four years, reducing the deficit to about $12.1 trillion. While the Republicans blame President Obama and the Democrats for wild tax-and-spend policies that led to the huge deficit, they conveniently overlook the reality that Bill Clinton left George W. Bush … Continue reading →

Holding the American People Hostage

  By Walter Brasch | March 15, 2013 8:27 am - 8:27 am | , , ,
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by Walter Brasch   Judges who wish to assure that a jury has no outside influence will sequester them. Legally, a sequestered jury is seized by authority and isolated from all outside influences. The jurors are escorted into and out of the courtroom. They aren’t allowed to read newspapers, listen to radio news, or watch TV news, ’lest they could be influenced by the media. They are escorted to and from meals, and isolated from other customers. They can’t discuss the case with family or friends. They can’t even go home at the end of the day; they’re housed in hotel rooms. In the summer of 2011, a bipartisan “super-committee” was supposed to come up with a reasonable budget to … Continue reading →

The Problem with the Bahmas

  By Walter Brasch | January 23, 2013 9:40 am - 9:40 am | , , , , , ,
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His face flushed, his cheeks puffing half-syllables of super-heated air, Sen. Porkbelly Fishbottom was about to swallow an aneurysm. I threw water on his face, trying to cool him. It just sputtered and sizzled. I tried quietly talking to him, trying to calm him down. He wasn’t listening. After five minutes, I was about to call 911 to report a stroke victim, when he said his first two-syllable word. “Bahma!” “Bama?” I asked. “Something wrong in Alabama? Is the school cancelling its professional football team?” “Bahma!” he said, spitting out both syllables. His fire-red cheeks drained into his neck, leaving a pasty-white face. He was returning to normal, and there would be no need to call out a $2,500 lifeflight … Continue reading →

Having Backed Obama, MoveOn Now Ready To Buck Him

  By Staff Writer | December 19, 2012 8:14 pm - 8:14 pm |
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MoveOn.org may have been one of a number of progressive groups that helped land President Obama back in the Oval Office for another four years, but now it’s looking potentially to take him on publicly over the future of Social Security. The organization emailed supporters Wednesday to express concern over an offer by the president to slash Social Security benefits by $112 billion over the coming decade as part of a deal to prevent the coming so-called fiscal cliff. “Standing up to a President we fought so hard to elect, right after an election, isn’t easy.  Which is why we urgently need your advice,” the email says. “As part of the ongoing fiscal negotiations in Washington, President Obama has offered … Continue reading →

Bloomberg Endorses Obama in the Wake of Hurricane Sandy

  By Pamela Leavey | November 1, 2012 7:33 pm - 7:33 pm | , , , , , , ,
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New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg endorsed President Obama for re-election today in the wake of Hurricane Sandy which left parts of New York City and New Jersey devastated. Bloomberg who is an Independent had not endorsed Obama in the last election. His last presidential endorsement was in 2004 for George W. Bush. Bloomberg said in his endorsement today, that “The devastation that Hurricane Sandy brought to New York City and much of the Northeast — in lost lives, lost homes and lost business — brought the stakes of Tuesday’s presidential election into sharp relief.” He could not be more right on that commentary. Although Bloomberg also noted other important issues such as a women’s right to choice, health care and … Continue reading →

The Choice is Clear

  By Pamela Leavey | October 22, 2012 8:04 pm - 8:04 pm | , , ,
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The choice is clear – Obama… The Romney-Ryan ticket represents a constricted and backward-looking vision of America: the privatization of the public good. In contrast, the sort of public investment championed by Obama—and exemplified by both the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and the Affordable Care Act—takes to heart the old civil-rights motto “Lifting as we climb.” That effort cannot, by itself, reverse the rise of inequality that has been under way for at least three decades. But we’ve already seen the future that Romney represents, and it doesn’t work. The reëlection of Barack Obama is a matter of great urgency. Not only are we in broad agreement with his policy directions; we also see in him what is absent in … Continue reading →