Politics Plus

Would you believe that the reason the unemployment rate is so high is that Senate Democrats have obstructed all the many Republican jobs bills that passed the House?  If you believe Speaker John Boehner, aka Agent Orange, that’s what has happened.  But believing Boehner is a very bad idea, because John Boehner is a liar, and here is the proof that he is lying.

I keep hearing this ridiculous canard in Republican debates and now from John Boehner about the alleged jobs bills the Republicans have passed that the "Democrat Senate" refuses to act upon. Since I watched the better part of their activity in real time, I know this is a lie. But most people aren’t obsessive-compulsive about government and politics and might not realize just how much of a lie it is. So without further ado, let me debunk this claim made by the disingenuous Speaker of the House…

…To make sure they back up their public claims with what might appear to be "fact", they’ve built a page on the House of Representatives site with a list of their so-called jobs bills [GOP delinked], which number 27 and not 30 as the Speaker claims. What follows is a list and a brief explanation of why they are not jobs bills. Feel free to share it widely with your friends who might be inclined to believe Mr. Tobacco Lobbyist Check Distributor without questioning it.

HR 3630 – The Middle Class Tax Relief & Job Creation Act of 2011 – This bill does indeed extend the "docfix" and unemployment insurance for a year, but with a hefty price [GOP delinked].

• In addition to freezing federal workers’ pay for three years, it requires issuance of a permit for the Keystone XL Pipeline in advance of the proposed routing by Nebraska, suspends the newly-issued mercury regulations and extends 100% expensing of business equipment (including private jets). Another so-called "jobs bill", HR 1938 [GOP delinked], was passed giving a November 1, 2011 deadline for the Keystone pipeline.
• With regard to unemployment insurance benefits, it cuts the 99-week maximum down to a 59-week maximum by mid-2012, allow states to drug-test UI recipients, and allow states to reduce state unemployment benefits and substitute federal funds. It also cuts funding for key provisions of the Affordable Care Act coming online, and adds the requirement to welfare payments that EBT cards cannot work in strip clubs, liquor stores and casinos.
• Provisions were included to auction more broadband spectrum and reclassify the 700mhz D Block as public safety broadband use only, which would be a huge payoff to Verizon Wireless lobbyists, who won that block with requirements that it remain open, after Google challenged the auction process.
• It would force Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to pay increased guarantee fees similar in scope to those due from large banks as a part of the Dodd-Frank Act, means-tests unemployment insurance benefits and food stamp programs and increases Federal employees’ contributions to their retirement system by 1.5% while freezing pay, so their pensions take a double-whammy.
• Finally, it repeals the new timing rules for estimated corporate tax payments for companies with assets of $1 billion or more so that they can use payments of estimated taxes as a timing tool for fourth quarter profit declarations.

None of the provisions outlined above create jobs. They called it a jobs act, but it was really just an act… [emphasis original]

Inserted from <Crooks and Liars>

Here’s the video of Boehner lying.

Now, I included the author’s coverage of only one of the bills that Boehner has lied about.  The author goes on to debunk all the rest, s I encourage you to click through for the rest.

The truth here is that Republicans have blocked virtually every measure to help the economy, and with it, the availability of jobs.  What they have not blocked outright, they have watered down and directed resources to millionaires, billionaires, and corporate criminals, instead of jobs.  They have intentionally sabotaged the economy, because the better America does, the worse their chances of lying their way into power, a catastrophic fate for the US.

I understand that Republicans carry a lot of hatred, inflamed as they are by disinformation from their candidates for office, and by even more extreme lies from the Republican Ministry of Propaganda, aka Fox.  However filled with hate they may be, there is absolutely no excuse for them to express it in a hate crime against a defenseless animal, just because the pet’s owner is the Campaign Manager for a Democrat.

The campaign manager of Arkansas Democratic congressional candidate Ken Aden arrived home last night to find his child’s pet cat murdered on the front porch with the word “LIBERAL” scrawled across its lifeless body.

Aden’s campaign manager, Jake Burris, lives in central Arkansas with his four kids. Blue Arkansas has more on the scene at Burris’s home (emphases are ours):

Last night, Jake and his four kids had come back to their Russellville home. As they were getting out of the car, one of his children discovered their family cat dead on the front porch. One side of the animal’s head had been bashed in and an eyeball was hanging out of its socket. But there was something even more horrifying to be found on the corpse. Written across the animal’s fur in black marker was the word “LIBERAL“.

…

…Pope County, where Burris lives, is a highly-conservative area of Arkansas… [emphasis original]

Inserted from <Think Progress>

Of course the Republican candidate running against Aden disavowed and denounced the act, to save face, but the tenor of Republican hatred building up ever since Obama and Biden defeated McConJob and Mooseolini fueled this act.

Gabrielle Giffords is a Blue Dog.  I did not always agree with her votes, but I have to admire her courage, and any Republican would have been far worse.  A little over a year ago, Sarah “Bullseye Barbie” Palin, former Republican candidate for Vice President, turned professional liar for Faux Noise, targeted Gabby with cross-hairs, and a madman, Jared Lee Loughner, pulled the trigger, killing six and wounding thirteen, including Gabby.  Yesterday Gabby announced her retirement.

Just over a year after being shot in the head by a crazed constituent at a Congress-on-your-corner event at a Tuscon [sic] super market, Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords on Sunday announced via Facebook that she is resigning her office.

“I have more work to do on my recovery so to do what is best for Arizona I will step down this week,” she said in a video statement posted on Facebook. The two-minute clip was overlaid with images of Giffords before and after the shooting, working with constituents and recovering. “I’m getting better every day,” she said. “My spirit is high.”

Giffords spent much of this month honoring the victims of the shooting, which wounded 13 and left six dead. The shooter, Jared Lee Loughner, is schizophrenic and courts are still trying to decide if he is competent to stand trial. He pleaded not guilty in March…

Inserted from <Time>

Here’s the video:

Farewell Gabby.  Thank you for your service and for your courage. I wish you and yours every happiness.

I certainly hope a Democrat wins Gabby’s seat.  Under the circumstances it would be most unjust for it to fall to the Party of Death.