President Obama’s second term has an inauspicious beginning.

             President Obama has a very aggressive second term agenda. He wants to get Gun Control, raise the minimum wage, equal pay for women, create more middle class jobs and get all kids into Pre-K education. The Sequester has hamstring his education efforts and Republicans have done their best on others. As well as the NRA and other lobbyist firms.

                 What is taking the headlines now is the DOJ getting phone records of the AP, Benghazi and its whistleblowers and the IRS targeting Tea Party groups. The DOJ taking the AP phone records is technically legal and Republicans are to blame for that. President Obama tried to put in a media shield but Republicans voted against it. That is not a large issue.

           Benghazi has turned into a political witch hunt. It is the Republicans way of damaging Hillary Clinton before the 2016 presidential election. Karl Rove released an attack ad, using Benghazi as his reason for Clinton not being a good candidate. All questions have been answered,  emails have been released and it is just Republicans playing defense. I don’t think I heard them mention Republicans voting to cut half a billion dollars from the State Department budget. That cost about 300 security personnel.

                The IRS may be the problem. I am a strong President Obama supporter, but if get was complicity with this he should be held responsible. I don’t think he did, but the fact that it happened links him to 43. Democrats need to find the truth because Republicans will pervert anything to take him down. As I said if he is complicit he should be held responsible.

               Shrouded in these “scandals” is some good things. Our economy is recovering, unemployment rate is down, the debt ceiling is improving as well as our shrinking deficit. Republicans stay away from these things, because they can’t use them against him. The President will move past these things like he always does, dignified and intelligently. Our nation is on the right track, look at the numbers.

Posted from WordPress for Android

President Obama represented Hope and Change. What do Republicans represent?

               When President Obama took his first oath of office it was in front of more people than ever before. He ran on Hope and Change and he truly attempted to do it. He did get a lot done for Americans, although he ran into Republican obstruction at every step. His first 4 years were tumultuous,  mostly because of Republicans. Our economy was improving we were getting closer to getting out of 2 wars. He was getting things done.

         His second term started off with a very ambitious State of the Union. He wanted gun control, to strengthen the middle class, allow gay marriage, raise the federal minimum wage and equal pay for women to name a few. Republicans immediately came out attacking trying to prevent these things. They have won on a few, list on a few and looked like complete fools at other times. But President Obama is a persistent guy and will accomplish many of these things. Democrats will work together and further the Presidents domestic agenda. We will see social improvement.

              To show how limited Republicans are in their attacks, they have had one major attack since 7 weeks into President Obama’s first term. They wanted to impeach him 7 weeks into his first term. They wanted to impeach him because he was destroying the country, by using executive orders. They wanted to impeach him 9 months into first term starting an impeachment petition. They wanted to impeach him for immigration, his real birth certificate, over DOMA, over Fast and Furious, The Debt Ceiling, to obstruct him from pursuing his agenda, because Russian will declare war on us, if he doesn’t extend the Bush Tax Cuts and he should be impeached over Gun Control and also because he aided and abetted the Black Panther Party to further his fascist agenda.

               This is plain ridiculus, they lost the election and instead of standing with the President, they are searching for ways to get rid of him. If they compromised and met him halfway and country would be in a better position, economically and politically. But instead they incite hatred of a man who is attempting to help Americans.

                 The sad part is that our country suffers for thus shenanigans. We need leaders who are wiling to work together to further our American agenda. I am sure they truly care about something aside from themselves but Republicans are failing to show that. I am afraid that Republicans are going to damage our country beyond repair and Democrats will let it happen. But instead of despair I am hopeful because the American spirit and will will somehow overcome the nonsense and more leaders will make solid decisions.

Posted from WordPress for Android

Republicans unanimously voted down raising the Federal Minimum Wage Raise.

          House Republicans unanimously voted against raising the federal minimum wage. Republicans effectively guaranteed that the working poor will deeper into poverty and giant retailers will continue posting record profits. The Republicans justified voting against the minimum wage hike with the same tired reasons they use to cut corporate taxes and kill regulations. It will drive up unemployment by making it harder got small businesses to hire. When President Obama called for a raise in the minimum wage during his State of the Union Address, Speaker John Boehner imeadiately dismissed the idea saying, “When you raise the price of employment, it makes it harder for small employers to hire people.” However, the Republicans arguement is not bourne out by facts or testimony from small business owners.

                   America’s CEOs saw their pay spike 15% last year, that’s after a 28% spike the year before. At the same time employees saw their inflation adjusted wages fall 2%. CEO pay spiked 725% between 1978-2011, while worker pay grew just 5.7% over the same period. That means that CEO pay grew 127 times faster than worker pay. The European Union, Switzerland and Berlin are attempting to cap excessive compensation packages.

                  Not only are Republicans willing to assault American workers on minimum wage, but they are willing to go much further. Representative Eric Cantor (R-VA) suggested that he would propose legislation to end overtime pay for hourly workers. As if the proposal were not preposterous itself, Cantor’s justification for such a proposal is even more ridiculous. He suggests that the more ideal incentive fir working more hours isn’t more pay. It is more time off to spend with your family by going on a field trip or attending a PTA meeting.

                 Several years ago Republicans were trying to lower and/or eliminate the minimum wage. At no point in recent history have Republicans sided withworking Americans. A person making the minimum wage,  which is $7.25/hour, would make about $15,000 per year. The Republicans going against Americans here shows the partys large problem of being out of touch with what Americans go through day to day, despite claiming they understand the people better than Democrats. Eliminating the minimum wage would allow companies to pay whatever they wanted, affording working Americans zero protection.

               67% of the american people support raising the minimum wage to $10/hour. Over half of Republican voters feel the same. 3.6 million workers had wages at or below the minimum wage in 2009, that accounts for aporoxamately 5% of all hourly workers. The Labor Department found Texas, West Virginian and Alabama had the highest amount of hourly workers earning at or below the federal minimum wage. If the minimum wage, which began in the 1930s, kept pace with inflation it would be $10/hour today.

               But again Republicans side with special interest groups and corporations. The American public does not matter to them until election day. I hope that these tactics will cause the fall of todays Republican party and their extremist Tea Party wing. Democrats are our only protection until something changes, they need to be more bold. Remember nothing changes if nothing changes.

Posted from WordPress for Android

State of the Union

       “We have cleared away the rubble of crisis, & we can say with,renewed confidence that the state of our union is strong.”  President Obama

       I beleive President Obamas state of the union address achieved what it was meant for. He was calling on the CITIZENS of this great nation to bring their case to our elected officials to push forward an agenda for the peopl. Lets move oast bi-partisanship & work together. Lets fix this broken institution, earn the respect of our people. Will his words be heeded or will the Republican response sum it up.

       He called on congress to bring items they have refused to vote to a vote, a yes or no doesnt matter because the American people deserve better. He called upon a room to invest in science, research, & manufacturing despite half of the room doesnt believe in science. He said beyond a shadow of a doubt that austerity is not the answer. We cannot cut our way to a balanced budget, & we cant put the burden just on the old, poor, & middle class. We need real contributions from the wealthy & corporate America. All with Senatir John Boehner making faces like he was chewing on a cat turd.

        President Obama called upon Congress to give poor young children access to pre-school, all of them. To make college a more achievable goal for those if us in the lower tax brackets. For Congress to raise minimum wage to $9/hr, Germanys minimum wage is $15/hr. He is asking both houses to put aside issues & egos to work for Americans not their next 4 years in office. He called for us to come together as a nation to work for the common good.

       The Republican response was to attack the President, attack the man who is trying to help American people. Republicans do not seem to care what the people want, only about special interest. President mentions gun control & immigration. Republicans rolled out their savior Marco Rubio who chose to go after President instead of offering a different option. Why does minority party get a response to the State of the Union? It is the State of the Union not the State of what tge opposite party thinks of President.

Posted from WordPress for Android