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POPSAn Open Letter to the Far Right Rep. Gabrielle Giffords isn't much older than I am. She served in the Arizona State House of Representatives, and the Arizona State Senate, before being elected to three successive terms in the U.S. House of Representatives. She once described herself as a "former Republican," and is today considered a "Blue Dog" Democrat, meaning she holds a number of conservative political positions. This is not terribly surprising, given the generally conservative political bent of the state she has served for the last ten years. She was married four years ago to a space shuttle commander who had served as a Naval aviator, and who flew 39 combat missions in Desert Storm, before volunteering for astronaut training.
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POPSDemocrat Representative Shot In Ariaona Last March, after the final approval of the Democrats’ health care law, which Ms. Giffords supported, the windows of her office in Tucson were broken or shot out in an act of vandalism. Similar acts were reported by other members of Congress, and several arrests were made, including that of a man who had threatened to kill Senator Patty Murray, Democrat of Washington. And in August 2009, when there were demonstrations against the health care measure across the nation, a protester who showed up to meet Ms. Giffords at a supermarket event similar to Saturday’s was removed by the police when the pistol he had holstered under his armpit fell and bounced on the floor.
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POPSHow We Got Here
A CAMPAIGN OF OBSTRUCTION: When the economy was spiraling out of control, Republicans filibustered the recovery. When out-of-control health premiums threatened to sink the entire federal budget, Republicans conspired to make health reform Obama's "Waterloo." When persistent unemployment cried out for a more aggressive Federal Reserve, Republicans blocked Obama's Nobel Prize winning Fed nominee. Even something as basic as regulating the same Wall Street banks that nearly destroyed the American economy nearly fell before a GOP filibuster. This campaign of obstruction was not limited to big ticket items. As of last August, fully 372 bills had passed the House -- many of them unanimously -- but few of them are likely to every receive a vote in the obstructionist-laden Senate. Meanwhile, Obama's judges are being confirmed at only half the rate of President Bush's, and Republicans even stalled key economic policy makers in the midst of a recession. As this campaign of obstruction began to un
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POPSLabor Unions Fear Rollback of Rights if G.O.P. Wins A Republican-led House or Senate is expected to be more eager than a Democratic-controlled one to approve free trade agreements that unions oppose, and to be more reluctant to enact stimulus plans that unions have supported, like the recent bill that gave states $26 billion to help save the jobs of teachers, police officers and other government employees. A Republican-controlled House or Senate would probably block a labor-backed bill that would give firefighters and police officers in every state the right to unionize.
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POPS I Remember This is a powerful video. This is a must see for everyone. Remember just what it was like? Take a look at this one and you wil !!
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POPSCement Flaws linked to well failure Halliburton and BP both had results in March showing that a very similar foam slurry design to the one actually pumped at the Macondo well would be unstable, but neither acted upon that data.”
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POPSBig Gifts to G.O.P. Groups Push Donor to New Level Because donations to some politically active groups are anonymous, it is impossible to know exactly how much Mr. Perry has given over the years, but an associate who spoke on the condition of anonymity placed the figure at “well over $20 million.” Mr. Perry, as he often does, ignored the attacks and continued making donations. In a rare interview in 2002, Mr. Perry said, “I have been fortunate to gain more financial strength in recent years, and I made a decision to be more involved in campaigns that I think are important.”
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POPSAre RNC fundraising tactics out of line? Time and time again, we see that today's GOP is committed to catering to its new Tea Party base. That this is as true in fund-raising as it is in policy matters should come as no surprise.
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POPSThe New "Coffee Party" The mission statement declares that the federal government is “not the enemy of the people, but the expression of our collective will, and that we must participate in the democratic process in order to address the challenges we face as Americans
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POPSCalifornia State HMOs deny 1 in 5 claims It's time to stop talking about make believe death panels, and talk about the real ones. I had been going on the assumption the health insurance industry made (kept) $13,000,000,000 last year in profits. I was off by a couple billion dollars...it is closer to $16,000,000,000...opps!
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POPSFighting Health Care Overhaul, and Proud of It Mr. DeMint does not get too many questions about it, but it has drawn some criticism. Frank Knapp, chief executive of the South Carolina Small Business Chamber of Commerce, said that the plan had no sustainable financing mechanism and that Mr. DeMint came up with it only to give himself credibility in criticizing Mr. Obama’s plan.
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POPSGOP and Gay Marrage. Times Change Steve Schmidt, who was the senior strategist to Senator John McCain of Arizona during his presidential campaign, said in a speech and an interview that Republicans were in danger of losing these younger voters unless the party comes to appreciate how issues like gay marriage resonate, or do not resonate, with them. “Republicans should re-examine the extent to which we are being defined by positions on issues that I don’t believe are among our core values, and that put us at odds with what I expect will become, over time, if not a consensus view, then the view of a substantial majority of voters,” he said in a speech.
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