President Obama made a 10-minute phone call to John Boehner about the payroll tax fiasco. 10 minutes? How long does it take to ask “What the #@%&*& is wrong with you?” An aide said Boehner told the President that “we should not waste the next 10 days simply because it is an inconvenient time of year.” So THAT’s what Republicans really think of Christmas! Republicans don’t want to call Christmas “the holidays.” They want to call it what it is—the birthday of Jesus... and an inconvenient time of year! I’m not on many GOP Christmas card lists. Do their cards say things like “Wishing joy for you and your family during this inconvenient time of year!” I’ll tell you what, House Republicans—this time of year was never anywhere near this inconvenient until you started screwing around.
House Republicans are calling this their “Braveheart moment.” This fiasco does remind me of the name of a Mel Gibson movie, but it’s more like “Apocalypto,” “Edge of Darkness,” “Chicken Run,” “Payback,” or “The Year of Living Dangerously.” Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-GA) said the House Republicans told Boehner that “this is a Braveheart moment. You, Mr. Speaker, are our William Wallace.” Ugh! Please, don’t encourage John Boehner! That’s what the booze is for. How exactly is John Boehner like Mel Gibson’s William Wallace character? Is it because he’s going to try and get his way by holding his breath until his face turns blue? Actually, it wouldn’t be a bad idea for John Boehner to paint his face bright blue—it would look more natural than his current bright orange shade. Why do these guys want to emulate Mel Gibson playing Scottish warrior William Wallace? We’re talking about a nasty, brutish man living in the 13th century—and that’s just Mel Gibson!
Finally, this holiday season, you might want to perform some random act of kindness for a stranger. People need to have something nice done for them. Remember, there are some 160 million people out there who stand to lose a thousand dollars from their paychecks next year. There are a lot of opportunities to help people because there are so many people in need. That’s the upside to having Republicans screwing up the economic recovery.
Listen to me Monday though Friday 6 PM to 8 PM on WWRL AM 1600.
So, the House Republicans who two weeks ago didn't want to extend a payroll tax cut now want a one year extension or nothing. Who do they think they're kidding? They don't want an extension at all, unless it's attached to so many noxious riders and amendments that no Democrat will support it. It's political brinkmanship that theatens the economic well being of millions of Americans.
While it's the true the payroll tax cut is a relatively small amount, about $1500 a year for most taxpayers, the extension of unemployment benefits that would have come with it had much higher stakes. The Tea Party Republicans who voted no to a two month extension know this, and wanted to make it more difficult to get those same benefits.
Why, you might ask? Getting rid of Barack Obama is only part of the answer. The other is a direct result of the disconnect between these lawmakers and the rest of America. They simply don't "get it" that millions of people across this country are hurting. What else to explain trying to attach everything from an oil pipeline to family planning funding for DC to travel restrictions for Cuban Americans trying to visit Cuba? Fact is, these jackals (and I'm being charitable) are willing to make themselves and their leader John Boehner look like fools to satisfy the greed and avarice of a very small group of people.
The question then is, what to do about all this? It may sound crazy, but maybe the answer is on the continent of Africa, namely, Egypt. There, 10,000 women took to the street to protest brutality on the part of the military. What does this have to do with a payroll tax cut, you ask? Plenty, if you consider that Egyptian society has a patriarchal base, and has for centuries. The women there stood as one, and made the world take notice.
Perhaps it's time for a similar show of strength here in the US. Yes, we've had the Occupy Movement, but there's been a conscious effort to marginalize them recently. This is about more than extending the payroll tax cut, or extending unemployment benefits. It's about what kind of America want for ourselves, and those we bring into the world.
We owe it to ourselves, and to them.
Listen to me Monday through Friday from 6 AM to 9 AM on WWRL AM 1600.
Mr. Do Nothing by Randi Rhodes,posted Dec 21 2011 6:18PM
The House has gone home for their Christmas break without extending the middle class payroll tax extension. They could have at least been honest about it, and passed a resolution saying “Bah, humbug!” before they left. The House Republicans just screwed over 160 million Americans out of around a thousand dollars a year. I hope they’re nicer to the other people on their Christmas gift list. Make no mistake, the House Republicans are kicking you in the teeth for the sole reason that there is a slight chance you will blame Barack Obama for it.
John Boehner released a letter he sent to the President urging him to order the Senate back from Christmas break to take part in more negotiations. No, John—you caused this fiasco, you fix it. All Boehner has to do is end this thing, but he’s asking President Obama to call the entire Senate back from vacation so that they can all start from scratch! The two-month extension was passed on a non-partisan vote by 89 Senators. No sane person would refuse to pass it. The problem is how few sane persons there are in the House.
Boehner has even appointed House Republican negotiators for a non-existent conference committee with an adjourned Senate. Where is this fantasy conference going to take place, John? Through the Looking Glass? One of Boehner’s House negotiators, Fred Upton of Michigan, says he has already told his wife he won’t be home for Christmas. I hope you didn’t tell her why, Fred, or she’s going to be mighty pissed off. “I can’t come home for Christmas, dear. I have to spend it sitting in a conference room with other Republicans, negotiating with nobody.”
Don’t fret that most of the public will blame Obama for this fiasco. Nobody is as dumb as Republicans think Americans are... not even Republicans. Heck, even the people who are on the side of the Republicans on this tax issue aren’t dumb enough to actually believe them. They just hate Obama enough to pretend to believe them. When it comes to “protecting the middle class,” polls show 50 percent trust Obama versus only 35 percent who trust the Republicans. Maybe that’s because the main thing that the middle class needs to be protected from is the Republicans.
Listen to me Monday through Friday from 6 PM to 8 PM on WWRL AM 1600.
Congress is now taking their payroll tax cut fight to the media. Speaker of the House John Boehner and his Tea Party zombies played the Grinch yesterday – refusing to even hold a vote on the Senate’s payroll tax cut extension bill – meaning in just 10 days – taxes will go up on 160 million Americans. You can call it the Tea Party Tax Increase. House Republicans left town last night to head home for the holidays – leaving behind a few members to stick around in DC to put pressure on the Senate to come back in session. House Democrats plan to stay in town, too – to put pressure on House Republicans to pass the Senate’s bipartisan compromise bill on the payroll tax cut. So now it comes down to who’ll blink first. As House Republicans make it virtually impossible to pass a tax cut for working Americans – it’s glaringly obvious why Congress has it’s lowest approval rating ever of just 11%.
Listen to me Monday through Friday from 3 PM to 6 PM on WWRL AM 1600.
House Republicans have prepared a measure that rejects the Senate tax cut extension bill while at the same time calling for a conference with the Senate to work out a new bill. That way, when the tax cut expires, they can claim they were trying to save it. They want it to look like they were performing CPR on the tax cut, when they were actually strangling it to death. They must think voters are stupid. Luckily for them, most Republican voters are. The House Republican plan doesn’t make a lot of sense. This seems like the kind of thing that John Boehner would come up with about two-thirds of the way through a bottle of merlot. Why do Republicans always have to play these games of political brinksmanship with everything? It’s a game of chicken being played by a bunch of turkeys.
The problem is that Speaker Boehner can’t control his troops. Boehner is being hung out to dry by his caucus. The good news for John is that it’s going to take a long, long time for him to dry out. Boehner isn’t leading his House Republicans. In fact, he’s doing a terrible job of even trying to follow them. Boehner claims that this is all part of his plan. John, if this is your plan, then that actually makes you look worse. Just admit that you can’t control your people. It’s better than saying you’re in control of them when they’re doing the kind of crap that they’re doing now.
Census figures show that now fully half of Americans are in poverty or are classified as low-income. If you’re wondering where the middle class went, in a word, it went down. Broken down by age, children are the group most likely to be low-income. And remember, children are the future. So, the future is going to be even more low-income.
Mitt Romney delivered the Top 10 List on David Letterman’s show last night. At least Mitt can poke fun at his wooden awkwardness... in a wooden, awkward kind of way. Watching Mitt Romney perform a comedy bit is about as awkward as watching Newt Gingrich performing Swan Lake... and almost as funny. The good news for Mitt is that he managed to get through the Top 10 without flip-flopping. It would have looked pretty bad if item number 3 was the total opposite of item number 6.
Listen to me Monday through Friday 6 PM to 8 PM on WWRL AM 1600.
You need to know this. Just a few days after the Japanese Prime Minister declared the nuclear crisis at Fukushima is over – there’s shocking new evidence that the disaster may have led to the deaths of as many as 14,000 people…in the United States! According to a new peer-reviewed study published in the December edition of the International Journal of Health Services – researchers found that there were 14,000 excess deaths in America in the 14 weeks after the Fukushima meltdown - and they believe these deaths can be traced back to radioactive fallout.
Most of the deaths were infants – under the age of one – and studies show that despite infant death DECREASING by more than 8% this year in the weeks leading UP to Fukushima – infant death in American INCREASED this year by nearly 2% in the weeks AFTER Fukushima. A similar phenomenon was studied at Chernobyl in 1986 – where more than 16,000 excess deaths were reported weeks after the meltdown. Numbers by the Center for Disease Control back up this study – finding that deaths in America’s biggest cities spiked 4-and-a-half percent from last year in the weeks after Fukushima.
Sadly – we’re just scratching the surface when it comes to how dangerous nuclear power is – yet we keep subsidizing reactors with our tax dollars.
Listen to me Monday through Friday from 3 PM to 6 PM on WWRL AM 1600.
Tis the season... the Republicans just might be giving 160 million Americans a big tax increase as a holiday gift. I’m sure Republicans would dispute that—they prefer the term “Christmas gift” to “holiday gift.” The Republicans in the Senate would only agree to extend the middle-class payroll tax cut by two months. That was the most un-Christmas like action of the season... until the House balked at extending the tax cut at all. With the two-month extension idea, the Senate did this an incredibly half-assed way. Then the House stepped up and did it in a full-assed way. Classic, the Senate punted, and then the House fumbled. John Boehner is being a real Grinch—except that eventually, the Grinch’s heart grew by several sizes. That’s not going to happen with Boehner. Well, maybe his liver will grow by several sizes.
Newt Gingrich has begun to collapse under his own weight—and that’s a mighty big collapse. Newt’s numbers have been abnormally bloated. But then you could say the same thing about Newt himself. In two weeks, Newt’s poll numbers have gone from 27 to 22 to 14 percent. At this point, Newt is about as popular in Iowa as a surfboard shop. He’s definitely crashing to earth. And earth is not a place where Newt feels comfortable.
Gingrich is saying that as president, he would send federal officials to arrest “activist” judges and haul them in front of Congress to justify their rulings. I’m just surprised he even got Congress involved. I would think Newt would just have them dragged to his own Throne Room. Yes, vote to make Newt Gingrich president… especially if you’ve always wondered what the National Mall would look like with a guillotine on it. Newt is totally out of the mainstream. And that’s probably a good thing, since Newt would pollute any stream that he touched.
Finally, have you seen the picture of Mitt Romney and his colleagues at Bain Capital posing with a bunch of $20 bills? It’s available here, or you could probably find it by Googling the phrase “gifts to the Obama re-election campaign.”
Listen to me Monday through Friday 6 PM to 8 PM on WWRL AM 1600.
According to the latest poll out of Iowa – Ron Paul is the new front-runner in the Iowa Caucus. However – Republican Party officials in Iowa are scrambling to defend the upcoming caucuses against a possible cyber attack by the hack-activist group known as Anonymous. A video message – believed to be from Anonymous – called for a “peaceful shut down” of the January 3rd Iowa Caucuses.
Party officials are calling on individual precincts to use paper ballots as a backup to Internet databases and websites that would normally calculate and display the voting results. We learned a few months ago that Diebold voting machines that are used all around the country to vote can be hacked into with just ten bucks worth of materials and a basic knowledge of technology. We have one of the most insecure voting systems in the developed world.
Time to kick corporate profits out of voting – stop buying non secured e-voting machines – and go back to using good ol’ fashioned paper ballots.
Listen to me Monday through Friday 3 PM to 6 PM on WWRL AM 1600.
I am and always have been a political shopper.I didn’t buy orange juice from Florida or drink Snapple when Rush Limbaugh endorsed it.I won’t buy things made in sweat shops; I want to support American workers best I can.I don’t buy any Krupp or Bayer products because they used concentration camp workers at their plants. And now, I won’t shop at Lowe’s and neither will many Americans.
Lowe’s pulled it’s advertising from”All American Muslim,” a reality show on The Learning Channel/TLC. You would think Lowe’s did this because of hundreds or thousands who refused to buy their product or shop at their stores, but no, they did this in response to pressure from ONE organization: The Family Association, a fundamental Christian group that claims the program “riskily hides the Islamic agenda’s clear and present danger to American liberities and traditional values.”
Funny, I wasn’t aware that hate, prejudice and discrimination were traditional values.This from Christians backing a guy for President who has had 3 marriages, 2 divorces and has committed adultery.
I don’t understand why we still hate Muslims.They are approximately .6% of our the American population.We’re far from the terrible event of September 11th, Osama bin Laden is dead and most rational thinking Americans know that Muslims aren’t all terrorists anymore than all Christians bomb abortion clinics.
Why can’t we learn from history?Prior to World War II, the Germans first stopped patronizing Jewish shops and businesses, then they made it illegal to shop there, then they closed them down, then they moved the Jews to camps and then….well, you know what they did then, they killed them; they murdered them.
During World War II in our own country we interned Americans who were of Japanese ancestry or anyone who appeared to be Asian.
Next year our Supreme Court will rule on the constitutionality or targeting people in Arizona who “Look” illegal- translation- Mexican.
I have a question for you: Do you ask the police what religion they are when they’re saving you from potentially being a victim of a crime? Do you ask a firefighter what is their religion when they’re carrying you out of a burning building?I didn’t think so.
My husband was raised Muslim and his parents are Muslim. Both he and his parents are physicians and I find it odd that no one asks, when my husband is saving their lives, as he does weekly ( he is an Orthopedic Sports and Trauma surgeon), what his religion is; they just want him to help them remain alive. No one asked my mother in law who delivered over 3000 American babies- who brought forth life-her religion when she was helping them bring their baby into the world. Perhaps the Muslims Doctors should start asking the patients what their religion is.
The reality is that Lowes has the right to advertise when/where they want. But where does not advertising on a program that shows us that American Muslims are just like those who aren’t Muslim, that they’re American; become choice verses discrimination, prejudice and bigotry.
I used to be a Christian. But it is the hate that groups such as the Florida Family Association and the hypocrisy of those and other Christian groups have illustrated time and time again that kept me away. Much like Gandi, I could not find Christ among them.
Perhaps the Florida Family Association should read their bible and follow the example of the man they claim is their savior: Jesus.I believe he said: “love your enemy” ( as obviously they perceive Muslims to be) and “those of you without sin cast the first stone;” just two examples, guess they missed those.
Lowes does have a right to advertise where it wants. And we have the right to shop where we want. Let us show Lowes and the Florida Family Association that we love our country, our diversity, our differences; and that we have a first amendment constitutional right to worship freely, Muslims included.
Stop shopping at Lowes and show them that the voices of tolerance outweigh the voices of hate; if we don’t’ we’re no different than the nazi’s, or by the way, the terrorists.
Listen to me Monday through Friday from Midnight to 1 AM on WWRL AM 1600.
One day after Oregon's Democratic Senator Ron Wyden teamed up with Republican Congressman Paul Ryan to end Medicare as we know it - the Democratic backlash is underway. Several Democratic Members of Congress - and the President - have rejected the Wyden-Ryan plan, which turns Medicare into a public option - giving senior citizens a voucher to buy private health insurance instead of Medicare.
The President's Press Secretary Jay Carney called the plan "radical," although Republican Presidential candidates are praising the plan. That's when you know it is a really bad idea.
Time to call Senator Wyden's office - and ask him to quit drinking the $300 bottles of wine with Paul Ryan and his billionaire buddies. We can't afford it.
Listen to me Monday through Friday from 3 PM to 6 PM on WWRL AM 1600.
The middle class is becoming an endangered species in America. According to the latest census data - half of the country is now living in poverty or just scraping by in a low-income lifestyle. And this problem is being made worse as conservative Governors cut funding to critical social welfare programs. A survey of 29 mayors around America found that 1-in-4 Americans in need of food assistance did not receive any help.
Since the banksters wrecked our economy - 4 million homes have been foreclosed on - and each year more than one-and-a-half million children end up homeless. Meanwhile corporate CEOs saw a 40% increase last year in their pay. And at 25 of our biggest corporations, CEOs were paid more than the entire corporation paid in taxes.
And the folks at GOP TV still can't understand why people are occupying the streets? It's the inequality, stupid!
Listen to me Monday through Friday from 3 PM to 6 PM.
The callous murder of NYPD officer Peter Figoski has filled New Yorkers will revulsion and rage. A 22 year member of the force and single father of four children, Figoski was by all accounts one of the good guys. The alleged shooter, Lamont Pride has a long rap sheet, as do the other four alleged players in this ugly, tragic drama.
Two separate yet connected pieces of information have come together to make Figoski's murder even more infuriating. Twice Pride was released from jail here in New York despite the fact that he was wanted for a shooting in North Carolina. Police here say that's because authorities in North Carolina declined to have him extradited. Of course, being released from jail twice means Pride was busted twice, once for possessing a knife in September and again in November for drug possession.
There will be back and forth between New York and North Carolina officials about who did what and who made mistakes. Here in New York, there's some heat being brought on Judge Evelyn Laporte of Brooklyn Criminal Court. She released Pride without bail and he didn't show for his next court appearance. Shortly after that, he met Officer Figoski in an East New York hallway.
Yet even as these questions and others get asked, the central one remains exposed but unanswered. How did Lamont Pride get the gun he allegedly used to kill Figoski? We do know where the gun originally came from. It's a place called Dance's Sporting Goods in Colonial Heights, Va. 21 years ago, a nine month old child named Rayvon Jamison was killed by a gun bought at that same store. Little Rayvon would just now be old enough to have his first drink, to vote, to serve in the US armed forces. Instead, he's just a memory, just a statistic.
In case you've forgotten, Virginia is the place where 33 people were killed in "07 at Virginia Tech, and where violence and death recently revisted that same campus. When will this gun madness in our country end?
Republican Presidential front-runner Newt Gingrich doesn’t just want to throw you in jail for smoking pot – he wants to execute you! As Speaker of the House back in 1996 – Gingrich introduced the “Drug Importer Death Penalty Act of 1996” – a bill calling for the execution of anyone convicted more than once of carrying two ounces of marijuana across the border.
Defending the bill – Gingrich said, “I have made the decision that I love our children enough that we will kill you if you do this.”
Currently – more than half of all Americans support the legalization of marijuana – yet Gingrich is calling for the execution of those who carry it. How out of touch can you be?
Listen to me Monday through Friday from 3 PM to 6 PM on WWRL AM 1600.
OK, I’m exaggerating a bit, as my trip to DC this week was pretty amazing!
I met some wonderful people from both the labor movement and the occupy movement (which really are one and the same, even if some of them don’t want to admit it). And, as detailed in my last post, I witnessed history, as I was in the senate gallery to witness some Bernie Sanders brilliance.
Perhaps the most telling episodes of my trek to the nation’s capitol both came from the man who is supposed to be representing me in Congress, Allen West.
On Tuesday, along with a group of fellow constituents from Florida’s 22nd district, I went to see my congressman. Unfortunately, most of us were denied a meeting with him.
We waited for West to return to his office for two hours, spending that time split between his office waiting room and the hallway outside. While standing in the office, I was stunned by the nasty attitude toward all of us from West’s receptionist.
I attempted to engage her in polite conversation by asking, “How do you like working for Congressman West?”. When the question went unanswered, I gave her the benefit of the doubt and thought that, perhaps, she hadn’t heard me. So I tried again.
“Excuse me,” I said. “How do you like working for Congressman West?”. She looked straight at me with a scowl and proclaimed, “I’m not speaking with you!”
Is this how a congressional staffer is trained to interact with constituents? After all, my tax dollars pay this woman’s salary. I was truly cordial to her, and she treated me with such disrespect that I responded by saying she was a bitch, and walked out of the office into the hallway.
While my exchange with the receptionist was happening, two “leaders” of our group were in one of the offices with West’s Chief of Staff, Deputy Chief of Staff and two Capitol Police (I still haven’t figured out why the cops were necessary..). West’s staffers decided that only three of our group would be allowed to meet with our congressman We countered their offer by saying that we all wanted to go in.
They finally acquiesced, and said they’d allow four – big compromise! But the staffers also said that the two “leaders” (in a leaderless movement, there are no leaders) had to be among them. The group voted on two more, and I was one of them
However, I was barred from entering because I dared to call the receptionist a bitch - an apt description given her demeanor toward me.
So, I didn’t get to talk with him on Tuesday.
But I did get another chance this morning! I had an 8:30 flight from Washington National airport back to Ft. Lauderdale. Imagine my surprise when I got to the gate and saw Allen West sitting there, waiting to get on the same flight!
I walked by him and said “Good morning Congressman”. He looked up and his expression was priceless. He stammered a “good morning” back, and I kept walking. But then I reconsidered.
I turned around and walked back up to him. I said, “I’m a constituent and a radio host. I’d love to have you on the air for an interview.” He replied, “You can call my office.”
I told him that his press person, Angela Sachitano, does not return my calls or emails, to which he replied “I know who you are Nicole, and how you spoke to my staffer.”
I attempted to tell him that I tried to engage her with polite conversation, but he cut me off and dismissed me.
I was not looking for a confrontation, so I walked away.
I was, however, overjoyed to see him stuffed in a coach window seat, with the largest guy on the plane in the middle seat next to him.
As I was in the front row of coach, I exited the plane before him, and went right down to baggage claim. I guess it’s just as well that he apparently didn’t check any luggage, or I would have given him the opportunity to diss me a third time, that time with a tape recorder handy.
When it comes to privacy – we’re screwed. According to the Los Angeles Times – unmanned Predator drones aren’t just for hunting terrorists in the Middle East anymore – they’re being used to hunt American citizens too. Three men were arrested in North Dakota on suspicions they stole cattle from a nearby farm – and they were located thanks to the help of a Predator drone conducting surveillance above. Local police are now saying they’ve used Predator drones to run at least two dozen surveillance flights in North Dakota alone since June.
Although Congress authorized the drones to be used domestically in 2005 to patrol our Northern and Southern borders – their use for local law enforcement is increasing – with virtually no input by the American people. And privacy experts warn continued use of drones radically threatens the privacy of all of us. As Ryan Calo – the director of privacy and robotics at Stanford University – said, “Any time you have a tool like that in the hands of law enforcement that makes it easier to do surveillance, they will do more of it." The rise of the military industrial complex – and the militarization of our police are nearly complete.
As the chant goes – “this is what a police state looks like.”
Listen to me Monday through Friday from 3 PM to 6 PM on WWRL AM 1600.
Today is Pearl Harbor day—not an official holiday, so you don’t get off of work. And you certainly don’t have to attack each other with pepper spray at the Walmart. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, President Franklin Roosevelt guided us through the Second World War. But as Republicans would remind us, he never could have done it if George Bush had not waterboarded people.
Yesterday, President Obama channeled a different Roosevelt, Teddy, at a stirring speech in Osawatomie, Kansas—the same place TR gave his famous “New Nationalism” speech in 1910. Then, Roosevelt pointed out “the men who possess more than they have earned and the men who have earned more than they possess.” For those of you who don’t speak 1910, he’s talking about the 1 percent and the 99 percent. Much of what Teddy Roosevelt said about the concentration of wealth back in 1910 is true today, and the rest of it is even truer. When Teddy Roosevelt pointed out the wealth gap, he was called a socialist and a communist. At least nobody claimed he had been born in Kenya.
Yesterday the President said that Republican economic theory “doesn’t work. It’s never worked.” Well, to be fair, it’s worked GREAT for one percent of the population. President Obama said “This isn’t just another political debate. This is the defining issue of our time.” The difference is pretty clear—President Obama is for putting people back to work. Newt Gingrich is for putting kids into workhouses. Maybe that’s why Republicans are so much against abortion and birth control—they want children for the cheap labor they provide.
Yesterday Mitt Romney said he won’t take part in Donald Trump’s debate. Of course, when Mitt said he wasn’t doing Trump’s debate, he was careful not to offend Trump. Mitt politely explained that he had other debates to attend and “we just can’t do them all.” Ugh! Mitt Romney is more fake than Donald Trump’s hair. Grow a pair, Mitt. It’ll make it more difficult to cross your legs, but it’ll be worth it.
They called Bill Clinton the “Teflon President,” perhaps they'll be calling Newt Gingrich the “Teflon Speaker?”
Currently it would seem so. Although this is a man who spent decades in politics, because he has been in the "wilderness" he is perceived as an outsider, a non Washington guy, a non career politician. Despite two divorces, being married three times and the memories of him issuing divorce papers to his wife while she was in the hospital being treated for cancer, and despite him being a born again Catholic as opposed to an evangelical; the Christian right seems to be forgiving and embracing him.
Despite the number of bridges he burned with the Republicans when he was speaker, despite ethics investigations which led to one charge and a six-digit fine, despite leading his party on a witch hunt trying to impeach Bill Clinton (all the while Newt, quite the hypocrite, was having an affair) and despite being forced out of Congress and asked to step down as speaker; his harshest critics in Washington are being quiet and Republicans once again are opening their minds and their wallets.
The mindset for those still wanting anyone but Romney is that Newt will appeal to the ol' school GOP types; his ideas on immigration, former ideas on climate change and strong stance to keep Medicare funded will appeal to Independents. Republicans are also counting on the youth not knowing the old Newt; but alas, most of us do know him. There is the humble Newt which we saw when polls were down, but now, with the polls rising, the foot in mouth Newt that knows no boundaries is emerging again. (Poor children don't have a HABIT of working)
So Ms Pelosi's findings might not hurt Newt; but his own words will.
Listen to me Monday through Friday from Midnight to 1 AM on WWRL AM 1600.
If there's one story that's made the blood of New Yorkers boil this week, it's the one about the NYPD and the West Indian American Day parade. Let's be clear. New York has parades all through the year (except the dead of winter) in all five boros of this great city. Yet the racist, vile, offensive language some cops allegedly used in connection with the annual march down Brooklyn's Eastern Parkway is unique. A Facebook group that includes stuff like "savages" and "animals" in reference to revellers? Yes, people have the right to their opinion.
That opinion, however, takes on an added significance when the person carries a gun and is charged with protecting the safety of the people they disparage. This group grew to include 1200 users, not all of whom may have been police officers. Yet a forum that could easily have been used to vent about having to work on Labor Day turned into something much uglier. It ought to be pointed out that the attitudes expressed about the West Indian Day parade seem to be similar to those held by some (not all) cops about Occupy Wall St.
If that's true, and, as a listener pointed out, it stems from an imperial arrogance and superiority complex on the part of some cops, it's dangerous. The recent spate of police excess, from cuffing a city councilman at this year's parade, to alleged ticket fixiing, gun running, arresting journalists trying to cover a story, and drug planting on innocent people would seem to indicate a segment of the department out of control. Yet there's little appetite on the part of Police Commissioner Ray Kelly or Mayor Michael Bloomberg to even acknowledtge a problem exists.
The people of New York City deserve better, whether they're protesting in Lower Manhattan or marching down Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn. The feeble excuse that cops feel themselves in danger policing the carnival parade simply won't wash. The NYPD, all 34,000 of them, have the right to an opinion about their job. It must be pointed out, however, that people across America have lost jobs and even been subject to arrest over stuff they post on Facebook. The cops who posted to that now defunct Facebook group should find another line of work.
Listen to me Monday through Friday from 6 AM to 9 AM on WWRL AM 1600.
Newt Gingrich has emerged as the clear frontrunner in both Iowa and South Carolina. Yuck. The last thing anyone wants to see is the backside of Newt Gingrich. Surveys show Newt ahead of Mitt Romney on empathy! Newt Gingrich would score lower on the empathy scale than most species of snake. Mitt Romney does seem to be incapable of normal human emotion. On the other hand, Newt seems to be perfectly capable of many basic human emotions—like hatred, anger, greed, and petty vindictiveness.
Newt has been described as “erratic, undisciplined, and grandiose.” Just the attributes you want in a leader... if you’re looking for someone to lead Imperial Rome in the first century. The only difference between Newt Gingrich and Caligula is that Malcolm McDowell could play Caligula without wearing a fat suit. Newt’s basic problem isn’t so much that he speaks before he thinks—it’s that he speaks after he thinks—most people who think the kind of crap that Newt Gingrich thinks know enough to keep quiet about it.
Nancy Pelosi supposedly has some inside dirt on Newt Gingrich. That’s hardly necessary, when there’s so much outside dirt on Newt Gingrich. Pelosi spent a year on a committee investigating Newt for ethics violations. If there were such a thing as an ethics breathalyzer, Nancy Pelosi has seen Newt’s results. And I’m sure he was way over the legal limit. Pelosi said “I served on the investigative committee that investigated him, four of us locked in a room in an undisclosed location for a year.” Ugh! The last thing I would want to do is spend time in a confined space with Newt’s dirty laundry!
Actually, the information Pelosi was referring to is already public. You can find the ethics committee report on Newt online. A word of warning—check out the length of the ethics committee report before you hit the “print” button. You could easily go through several printer cartridges. The Gingrich Ethics Report comprises 11 extensive sections and an appendix. They really should have a Cliffs Notes version for people who just want to get a basic idea of what Newt Gingrich did wrong.
Listen to me Monday through Friday from 6 PM to 8 PM on WWRL AM 1600.
Occupy Wall Street is going off in a new direction today – occupying foreclosed homes. A day of action is planned today in 25 cities across America – including New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago to help Americans hardest hit by foreclosure. Occupy Wall Street patriots will take to the suburbs to stop cops from evicting people from their homes – and they’ll begin “occupying” already foreclosed and vacant homes.
According to a press release from the “Occupy Our Homes” movement: “We, the 99%, are standing up to Wall Street banks and demanding they negotiate with homeowners instead of fraudulently foreclosing on them." The bankster-caused Housing crisis sucked $7.7 trillion in wealth out of the middle class.
It’s time to start getting that money back, home-by-home, bank-by-bank.
Listen to me Monday through Friday from 3 PM to 6 PM on WWRL AM 1600.
Well, Herman Cain has pulled out... and not for the first time, judging from the fact that nobody has come forward with Herman’s love child. I would like to say that Herman Cain will be missed... because that would mean he was going to go away. But sadly that is not the case. Herman was defiant to the end… even to the point that he won’t admit that it’s the end. Cain shouted “I am not going to be silenced! And I’m not going away!” I’m sure he meant it as a promise, but it sounded more like a threat.
Of course, Herman had his wife, Gloria, there for his announcement, literally standing behind him and cheering him on. I hate to say this, but I’m starting to think she might actually deserve Herman Cain. How exactly did Herman convince Gloria to go along with this embarrassment? And by that, I mean their entire marriage. Classy move, having the little woman there, Herman. I don’t know if you got the memo, but standard practice these days is not to humiliate your spouse any further than you already have. That rule went into effect after clearly confused Mrs. Senator David Vitter wore a Bettie Page outfit to a press conference about her husband’s dalliances with hookers.
Another part of Cain’s new plan is to launch a website. I hope he came up with that idea himself, because if he got it from Newt Gingrich, it cost him a couple million dollars. It seems that a lot of Cain supporters are now gravitating to Newt Gingrich. “Gravitating” is a good word because it implies falling even further down. Going from Herman Cain to Newt Gingrich is like jumping from the slimy frying pan into the sleazy fire. But what else are these people going to do? After you’ve been with Herman Cain, who else would have you? Wake up, Republicans! When Newt Gingrich floats to the top, that’s a sign that something is seriously wrong... just like if a bloated corpse that Newt looks so much like floats to the surface of a lake. It’s time to drain the lake.
Today, Newt and the Donald announced that they were going to select 10 underprivileged students to serve as “apprenti” to Donald Trump. Yeesh. These kids would be better off in Newt’s original plan—scrubbing toilets.
Listen to me Monday through Friday from 6 PM to 8 PM on WWRL AM 1600.
The Post Office is screwed! The Republican plan to bankrupt the Post Office and it’s half a million unionized employees is working. Facing a fiscal crisis created solely by poison-pill legislation passed 5 years ago by a Republican Congress and signed by President Bush that required the Post Office – unlike any other company or government agency – to prefund 75 years worth of employee health benefits in a 10 year period – the Post Office is now moving forward with massive cuts in service.
Next-day mail delivery is the first to get the axe – but even more drastic cuts are coming down the pike, including closing nearly 4,000 local mail facilities and laying off as many as 100,000 postal workers. Meanwhile – Congress is doing nothing to repeal the poison pill legislation that’s threatening to kill off an institution was founded by Ben Franklin.
Call your lawmakers and tell them to help the post office and resist Republican efforts to completely privatize mail delivery in America.
Listen to me Monday through Friday from 3 PM to 6 PM on WWRL AM 1600.
The unemployment numbers for November are out, and they look good... unless you’re looking at them through Mitt Romney-colored glasses. The unemployment rate fell to 8.6 percent, the lowest rate in two-and-a-half years. That’s good news... and bad news. Don’t worry, it’s all good news for you. It’s only bad news if you’re a Republican candidate for president.
Mitt Romney used those unemployment figures to attack President Obama. Mitt, before you use something to attack with, take a look and make sure it makes an effective weapon. It’s a little hard to go after Obama for the crappy jobs numbers when the jobs numbers are good. You might as well attack Obama for getting rid of Moammar Gadhafi. Oh wait, they tried that too. Mitt said Obama will “have a hard time putting perfume on this pig.” That’s not a pig, you idiot. It’s more like Obama is bringing home the bacon. In 2008, the economy was crumbling, and John McCain kept saying “the fundamentals of the economy are strong.” Now the fundamentals of the economy are actually getting better, and Mitt Romney keeps saying that things are crumbling. The Republican candidates are always a lap behind.
Meanwhile, Newt Gingrich is doubling down on his plan to use poor children as janitors. Give Newt this much—when he comes up with a ridiculous idea, he sticks with it. Of course, Newt flip-flops, but he only changes his mind when he was previously for a good idea, like cap and trade, tackling climate change, or the individual health insurance mandate. Now Newt wants kids just to “mop the floor and clean the bathroom.” I think Newt believes that the objection to children being forced to work as janitors is that some people didn’t want them doing complicated tasks like calibrating a furnace. This is Newt’s way of saying “Don’t worry, we won’t have these kids doing anything that requires training. They’ll just be scrubbing toilets.”
Ron Paul has released what is being described as a “brutal” ad going after Newt Gingrich. The thing about going after Newt, though, is that if you just tell the truth, it’s going to be brutal. They say the truth hurts. And it doesn’t hurt anyone quite as much as it hurts Newt Gingrich.
Listen to me Monday thorugh Friday from 6 PM to 8 PM on WWRL AM 1600.
The Great Bush Crash of 2008 – resulted in a massive downgrade of the U.S. labor force. According to a new study out of Rutgers – only 7% of the millions and millions of Americans who lost their jobs during this second Republican Great Depression – have found a new job on par or better with the salary they were making before the 2008.
The vast majority of Americans say they are now living diminished lifestyles – with some saying they’ve taken drastic pay cuts that they fear will be permanent. Meanwhile – it took less that two years for Wall Street to return to the same profit levels as before the crash.
Still wondering why there’s a need for the Occupy Wall Street Movement? It’s because the 1% got bailed out – and the 99% got sold out.
Listen to me Monday through Friday from 3 PM to 6 PM on WWRL AM 1600.
Is Mitt Romney sinking? I hope not. If Mitt’s hair hits the water, we’re going to have a major oil slick. Mitt’s poll numbers are plummeting, while Newt Gingrich’s are on the rise. What a slap in the face to Mitt! He might not be the best candidate, but right now he’s losing to the worst candidate. I don’t use the term “worst” lightly when talking about Republicans. The other candidates are potential disasters, but Newt has the longest track record of actual disasters. Amazing. This summer, Newt Gingrich looked like a dead man walking. Now his campaign is going very well... but he still looks like a dead man. Newt always looks like a corpse that was pulled out of a lake. Every time I watch an episode of CSI, I think—hey, is that pasty, bloated mass of flesh Newt Gingrich? No, it’s just this week’s victim.
Mitt Romney got pretty worked up during a tough interview at Fox News. I know, there seem to be two things wrong with that statement—Mitt Romney getting worked up, and Fox doing a tough interview. Mitt should have clued in when he saw that he was going to be getting questions from Brett Baier, instead of getting a gentle, yet erotic massage from Sean Hannity. (And where was Sean Hannity? He was busy giving a sensual massage to Newt Gingrich. I didn’t watch all of it. I was afraid Newt was going to get a 'happy ending'.) Baier started listing some of the more notorious flip-flops in Mitt’s endless catalogue, and Mitt got annoyed. Mitt! Take a step back. Remember, there are two sides to everything. Oh wait, you’re the last person I have to point that out to. Mitt snapped at Baier “Your list is just not accurate.” Actually, Mitt, the list is quite accurate. It’s far from complete, but it’s accurate. At another point, Mitt crossed his legs in a manner so effeminate that I thought for a second he was married to Michele Bachmann. I don’t know if it’s possible for a guy to cross his legs that hard without crushing his you-know-whats. What does it tell you when Mitt is able to do that with no problem at all?
Newt Gingrich is making the mandatory “kiss the ring” pilgrimage to meet Donald Trump at Trump Tower on Monday. Trump Tower is a large building, but I don’t know if it’s large enough to hold both of those egos. Maybe they should meet at Madison Square Garden. I know I would pay to see that, especially if they went 15 rounds with no gloves on.
Listen to me Monday through Friday from 6 PM to 8 PM on WWRL AM 1600 and on our iPhone or Droid apps.
This winter – the poor are screwed. According to forecasts by the U.S. Energy Information Administration – the price of heating the average home with oil this winter is expected to spike 10% to $2,500 for the whole season. That’s a 45% increase from just two years ago. There are more than 8 million homes in America that rely on oil for heating purposes – and roughly 1-in-4 in the Northeast. Unrest in the Middle East – and rampant speculation on Wall Street are to blame for the oil price spike.
At the same time – thanks to Republicans demanding spending cuts – the LiHEAP program – or the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program – saw it’s budget nearly cut in half this year – meaning more and more poor people won’t be able stay warm in America during the winter. Currently 1-in-5 Americans are economically insecure – meaning they can’t afford to pay for the essential to live.
So thanks to Republicans – this winter – 20% of the country will have to make a choice – stay warm at home – or put food on the table. A disgraceful reality for the richest nation on the planet.
Listen to me Monday through Friday 3 PM to 6 PM on WWRL AM 1600 and on your iPhone and Droid apps.
Hello, New Yorkers, and welcome to the United State of Mike. Our mayor, it seems, has decided to create his own private country. Why would I say such a thing? Because our mayor says he's got what every tin-horn dictator has: an army. Michael Bloomberg actually boasted during a speech at MIT, quoting here, "I have my own army in the NYPD, which is the seventh largest army in the world".
The implications of such a statement are many. Does Bloomberg not know the difference between an army and a police force? He's not that stupid. Mike Bloomberg also doesn't often make gross misstatements. The conduct of his police force of late might indicate he's given Commissioner Ray Kelly license to operate the NYPD as an army. That should scare each and every resident of the greatest city in the world.
Armies, generally speaking, are created to conduct military actions, like wars, and quell insurrections. Police departments are supposed to fight crime. There are places in the world where these functions are co-mingled. Most New Yorkers wouldn't want to live in them. Yet, if we take two prominent functions of the NYPD, those being the stop and frisk program and the treatment of Occupy Wall St., one could conclude that somebody in city government sees the department as operating in a militaristic fashion. So now we know just who.
Mayor Bloomberg will likely respond to any media questions about his statement with a baleful stare and obvious irritation. He'll say something like, "You know what I meant. Next question". Yet the army reference isn't so easily dismissed, when combined with Commissioner Kelly's warlike boast to 60 Minutes about being able to shoot a plane out of the sky. It all boils down to this. Unless the mayor is looking to secede from the US, referring to the police as an army is whack. Even as an independent country (maybe not a bad idea), New York City would need an army AND a police force, not one operating as the other.
Or maybe this was just a boastful slip of the tongue, something we cynics shouldn't take seriously. That would be all well and good, if the NYPD was really about about professional policing.
The Senate Judiciary Committee has advanced a so-called comprehensive immigration plan. And, as usual, Democrats conceded to Republican demands in the name of compromise. Over the last five days, the Judiciary Committee members considered over...
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A new CNN poll shows Obama's favorability rating at 53 percent. That's up from 51 percent in April, and up from the 51.1 percent from the poll that really counted last November. Like before the scandals, 45 percent of people disapprove of the...
Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives have made their point – they hate Obamacare. And, just in case anyone didn't get the message the first 36 times they made that point, they're about to waste even more taxpayer...
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According to the U.S. Supreme Court, Monsanto has the right to control our food supply. In a unanimous ruling released this morning, the nine Justices sided with the agricultural giant, and held that an Indiana farmer violated Monsanto's...
Yesterday, Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives postponed all floor votes so they could hold their ninth hearing about Benghazi. Instead of working on any number of pressing issues effecting Americans, Republicans spent nine...
