Nothing ‘balanced’ about focusing on cuts for vulnerable Americans

The pressure is growing in the face-off over the so-called “fiscal cliff” in Washington.

The president put his plan on the table. Republican Speaker John Boehner rejected it out of hand. And then . . . nothing. Republicans refused to make a counteroffer.

They are apparently waiting for the president to make another offer. Obama made that mistake before and got nothing in return. He is not likely to make the same mistake again.

Republicans are demanding that to get any increase in revenue to bring down deficits, Democrats have to agree to cut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.

They have not said how much they want cut, but Senate leader Mitch McConnell suggested raising the eligibility age for Medicare by two years, and changing the cost-of-living index for Social Security so the benefits lose value over time. Republicans have also voted for a budget in the House that would turn Medicaid into a block grant to the states and dramatically cut the federal payment. These changes, we are told, are part of a “balanced” agreement.

Animal Rights Laws

As a registered voter and citizen of Ohio, I no longer have to wonder why we can't get animal abuse laws passed? During House Session-December 5, 2012-Part 2, our legislators can be heard joking and laughing about raping animals while they discuss a bestiality bill against raping dogs which I am unhappy to inform you is legal in OHIO, other than being charged with a misdemeanor Animal Abuse. They talked about how sheep don't have enough protection in Ohio; following by open laughter (65:38 time), not chuckles or snickers, out right belly laughing. There were even a couple comments by a business man about his personal relationship with his sheep. Again laughter, not chuckles or snickers, out right belly laughing. For our lawmakers out rightly joke and laugh out loud about animal abuse shows there is a bigger problem than most citizens and voters realize. This is such unprofessional and immoral, uncompassionate behavior for elected officials. Governor Kasich, VOTERS AND CITIZENS OF OHIO, you should be totally and utterly disgusted to have these kinds of people representing our state. I’M DISGUSTED and I want something done about this. How about you?

The turmoil in Washington over the “fiscal cliff” is a distraction from other crises besetting the nation

The lengthy and heated budget storm in Washington is zig-zagging toward a compromise that will in the end not have much of an effect on reducing the federal government’s deficits or national debt. Any foreseeable compromise will also not rule out future budget stalemates (e.g. on raising the debt ceiling). Any compromise in the works will additionally not reduce unemployment and underemployment, not reign in rising health costs, and not ameliorate the crisis. The list of important neglected issues does not end there. The compromises being considered would not lower the poverty rate, food insecurity, or other unmet needs associated with low incomes (i.e., 200% of the poverty line and below).

Teabag Tim

Timeline 2004 – One more look at the Ohio election

More than a year ago, a reporter named Craig Unger asked me a brilliant question about the 2004 presidential election in Ohio. Referring to reports that the counting of votes was rerouted through SMARTech computers in Chattanooga, Tennessee, at precisely 11:14 PM EST, and the possibility that the vote count was altered thereby, he asked me about the forensic evidence we had photographed or otherwise uncovered in eighteen counties in Ohio. He asked me to look at the timeline. Did the counties in which we found evidence of fraud report their results before 11:14 PM, or after? And, if after, was the evidence consistent with an after-the-fact effort to get the election records to match an altered vote count?

Backward Ho!

A few thoughts in praise of backwardness.
"We don't look backward," says President Obama in reference to imposing justice on powerful large-scale criminal suspects. Of course, as we don't prosecute future crimes but only crimes of the past, "not looking backward" is a euphemism for immunity -- an immunity not granted to those accused of small-scale crimes or crimes with no victims at all.

"Forward!" says President Obama, making that seemingly vacuous word his slogan. But the word has meaning; it means continuing thoughtlessly in the current direction, without seeking guidance from the mistakes or accomplishments or untested inspirations of the past.

The secrecy of the Obama White House, including record levels of classification, ground-breaking legal claims to secrecy, and record-level prosecutions of whistleblowers, moves us in practice to the position of rolling "forward" without a clear idea where we are or where we've just been. This is nearly as fatal to good public policy as "looking forward" is to law enforcement.

Book Review: Guest of Honor: Booker T. Washington, Theodore Roosevelt, and the White House Dinner That Shocked a Nation Deborah Davis

Guest of Honor: Booker T. Washington, Theodore Roosevelt, and the White House Dinner That Shocked a Nation
Deborah Davis
Atria Books
No doubt the vast majority of Americans did not realize that October 16 was the one hundred and eleventh anniversary of the day that Booker T. Washington, a former slave, dined at the White House at the invitation of President Theodore Roosevelt. When I relayed this information to my students, they did not get the significance of the invitation or the dinner. After all, I had taught them that black people built the White House, and it is currently occupied by a black family. What was the big deal about a dinner?

Internal Security Act clamped on Bangkok to stifle coup demand

BANGKOK, Thailand -- Four days after U.S. President Barack Obama praised Thailand's democracy, the government clamped parts of Bangkok under an Internal Security Act on Thursday (November 22), because "violence may be used" by protesters during their upcoming rally to demand an immediate coup.

"If a large number of people are mobilized by incitement, led by those who seek to overthrow an elected government and democratic rule -- [action] which is against the Constitution -- and there is evidence that violence may be used to achieve those ends, then this is a case of national security," Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra told the nation in a televised broadcast.

The Internal Security Act (ISA) "will be effective from November 22 to 30, 2012," Mrs. Yingluck said on Thursday evening.

A new "Law and Order Administrative Center, under the command of the Commissioner-General of the Royal Thai Police," will coordinate control, she said.

Thousands of anti-riot police and other security forces were rushing to Bangkok to control the anti-government demonstration.

My last day with my first dog

I’ve been meaning to share this for a very long time, and while it seems like I've continually let life get in the way, it probably has more to do with the reluctance of reliving this time in my life. But in holding onto this for so long, I feel it is causing many beloved companion animals to have their last moments on earth in a state of fear and anxiety, unnecessarily, when those final moments could be spent in safety and peace. So, in remembrance to my beloved Bear, who I lost this time 8 years ago, and in service to those presently nearing their last moments with their beloved companions, I’m finally sharing my story.

When I found Bear, I was newly married and not even looking for a dog. In fact, I had set out to the AFB base animal shelter merely in support of my mom, as she sought after a cat. While she was in the cattery, for some reason I was compelled to walk the cages and see the dogs at the shelter. As I was visiting with the inhabitants, they were all enthusiastically greeting me at their kennel gates, with what I would describe as their best efforts at selling themselves for liberation from this place; all but one.

Harvey's Radio Show: Green Power And Wellness – Legal Hemp & Marijuana

LEGAL HEMP & MARIJUANA! are celebrated on this landmark Solartopia Green Power & Wellness Show as Harvey is joined by long-time hemp campaigners Anndrea Hermann and Tom Murphy. We celebrate electoral victories in Colorado, Washington State and elsewhere. Then we explore the deep details of legalized hemp, now a half-billion-dollar/year industry in Canada. Based in Manitoba, Anndrea explains the realities of a hemp industry that employs tens of thousands of Canadians for a crop that’s used in food, cleansers, construction, paper, rope, twine and much much more. From Maine, Tom tells us of federal legislation aimed at finally bring the hemp industry back in the US, where it might well outstrip its smokable cousin in terms of revenue and employment. The future of cannabis—industrial and otherwise—is the future of American health, economy and agriculture.
Listen to the full hour

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