"Not one red cent of revenue": Nancy Pelosi's galvanizing speech

“Of course, we must all reduce the deficit. But is it our best to say we are going to use the debate to reduce the deficit to destroy the public space? Look at their Appropriations bills they’re bringing before us, destroying the public space of clean air, clean water, food safety, the education of our children, the health, financial security of our seniors through Medicare and Medicaid. That’s what they are doing...."

and,

"...but not one red cent of revenue while we are saying kids should pay more for their student loans." (re Boehner bill, which was defeated - as expected by Mr. Boehner himself.)

- Minority leader Nancy Pelosi, House of Representatives floor speech (excerpts), July 30, 2011

Per the linked website: It may have been Ms. Pelosi's "finest hour". Link to the site, which includes video and text of the hard-hitting speech. ((Which apparently was) time-limited via rules imposed by the Republican majority.) (Opens a new window:) http://thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/pelosi-speaks-on-debt-ceiling-bills-possibly-her-finest-hour-video/politics/2011/08/01/24712


Newly-minted deficit "hawks": Where were you from 2000 through 2008? Answer: Many were voting for/supporting deficit-increasing spending measures/tax-cuts-for-the-wealthy... throughout the Bush administration. (Including the expensive, charge-in-the-wrong-direction Iraq war.)

"This image is public domain."

 Most Americans (link) want common sense and real compromise in Washington.

 
Somebody needed to say it....Despite what is repeatedly broadcast from a strident minority, Ms. Pelosi speaks for many....

This is what oligarchy looks like: Koch-Tea Party war on workers

 Link to 2/23/11 Jason Linkins (Huffington Post) report about Wisconsin Tea Party dupe Scott Walker unwittingly revealing "his" strategies to undermine public employee unions, to Buffalo Beast editor Ian Murphy. Who successfully reached (call dodger) Walker by posing via a Skype call as "conservative" billionaire (read: Tea Party agenda major supporter/funder) David Koch.  (The Exec.VP of Koch Industries, second largest privately-held company in America.  No public shareholders to answer to...  "...(O)ver my dead body" (re ever offering public shares), one of the Koch brothers is attributed to have said.))


Link, including audio/partial transcript of The Beast's call (opens in a new window) http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/23/scott-walker-buffalo-beast-phone-prank_n_827058.html 

If it wasn't already painfully clear before the call, make no mistake: Koch - and his brother Charles - are Scott Walker's bosses....bankrollers....prime constituents...masters....divine leaders.... -- you name it.

Thanks for that, Tea Party chumps/voters. The individuals mentioned above - and those like them - care about one exclusive group: Obscenely compensated CEO money men, and other privileged, wealthy clients .
Not you. Not me. Not most Americans....

(screen cap, also a link to the website ...."The World's Only Website")


 

New York Times Nobel-winning columnist Paul Krugman had just previously written about the same general subject here (link to 2/20/11 article):
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/21/opinion/21krugman.html?

Democratic National Committee Chairman Tim Kaine: "Governors and others in state houses across this country on the Republican side have decided what they want to do is wage a war against their own employees," Kaine said (Saturday night). "Against public employees who are teaching our kids, who are caring for our parents in nursing homes, who are patrolling our neighborhoods." 

(Read more: http://nation.foxnews.com/politics/2011/02/21/dnc-chairman-wisconsin-governor-waging-war-public-workers#ixzz1Ep5zwgEv)

Update: "America's Finest News Source" (the Onion) gets this story right (link to 2/24/11 article): http://www.theonion.com/articles/governor-walker-should-be-flogged-for-his-inabilit,19309/

(If needed:)

ol·i·gar·chy  –noun

1.
a form of government in which all power is vested in a few persons or in a dominant class or clique; government by the few.


2.
a state or organization so ruled.

 

oligarchy. Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/oligarchy (accessed: February 23, 2011).

Nancy Pelosi tells it like it is on tax deal

Four brief paragraphs from Nancy Pelosi's 12/7/10 statement re President Obama's "cave in" to 'The Party of Billionaires" on expiring Bush tax cuts:

“The tax proposal announced by the president clearly presents the differences between Democrats and Republicans. Any provision must be judged by two criteria: does it create jobs to grow our economy and does it add to the deficit?

“The Democratic provisions will create jobs and help 155 million workers through tax cuts for the middle class, helping working families who are struggling and growing the economy.

“The Republican demands would provide tax cuts to the millionaires and billionaires, fail to create jobs and increase the deficit. And to add insult to injury, the Republican estate tax proposal would help only 39,000 of America’s richest families, while adding about $25 billion more to the deficit.

“Republicans have held the middle class hostage for provisions that benefit only the wealthiest 3 percent, do not create jobs, and add tens of billions of dollars to the deficit...."

(Link to source: http://www.politico.com/politico44/perm/1210/the_speaker_speaks_8c4c8df8-7cce-497c-83df-f7b817e2fd0e.html  )

Democratic legislators should draw a line here, and if all of the irresponsible Bush tax cuts expire at year end - so be it. Blame obstructionist Republicans who cater only to the wealthy. (Including for the probable loss of Democratic proposals that help the "rest of us" non-millionaires.) 

Hey....more (tax) revenue in 2011 to start to address the massive, Bush national deficit....(George: Cutting taxes while maintaining/increasing spending = burgeoning deficit. Duh.)

One final word: Compromise. (All parties...)

12/13/10 update: Link to 12/13 Reuters story re 'Moody's may cut U.S. 'Aaa' rating outlook if tax package enacted'. (Link to story.) 

(Comment: Moody's is "on it"! (Re government debt levels, deficit financing.) But, where were these "guys" (i.e, Wall Street credit rating agencies) prior to the 2008, sub-prime mortgage-induced financial "meltdown"?)

Member snapshot: Your new Congress

Even "You Lie!" Joe Wilson (shouted at the president in 2009) somehow weaseled his way back (in). Guess some folks are 'OK' with elected officials doing embarrassingly offensive things....

Please have a read of the following linked, 11/3/10 article from "The State". Then ask yourself how in the world this guy got re-elected. (Don't think about it too long though....Very depressing.) :

(link) http://www.thestate.com/2010/11/03/1542940/wilson-turns-back-strong-miller.html

BTW: Some actual facts about health care reform are linked here.

Old photo from Google/LIFE archives

Date taken:	July 1945
Photographer:	Herbert Gehr

A productive outgoing U.S. Congress: True story

As is often the case in the USA, the truth is ignored. Necessary change/reform is feared. Obstructed. (This time by "The Party of No".):

Link to 10/18/10, Associated Press news article by Jim Abrams: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_PROLIFIC_CONGRESS?SITE=TNMEM&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT


"Those who cannot remember the past are ..." -- you know the rest.

 Typical "world view" (for some in the U.S.)??

Image source:  https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNjRVebQCSLxLQrf4EUKGPua2UKIFg2WGoESf9fP4BBtgcMJwGyXu90z1Yq0SUJJNmFrzncNzYvcVqEERiaeqlDAsaHVJ7cWX2GOTxJXf8xUxMTchxnAKtetrt6laUKHvm5f6UfanIJH16/s1600-h/redneckmapsimplified.jpg

The Party of No. And no class.

What it is:
(And what they are:)

Link: 

An Absence of Class
 

Highest education level attained: Tea Party convention attendees?

Just curious.

If there had been an accurate way to tabulate the information, I would have liked to know the highest level of education attained by Nashville Tea Party convention attendees.

I'll cite a couple of U.S. Census Bureau statistics to elaborate a bit: Per 2008 data, the U.S. Census bureau reported that 87 percent of (25+ year-old) adults in the country had completed high school. And 29% had at least a bachelor's degree.

How did convention attendees (and perhaps speakers/leaders) compare with these statistics? Or "Tea Partiers" in general?

4/14/10 update: The following New York Times article by K. Zernike and M. Thee-Brenan contains interesting poll data asking similar questions. The link follows. This is my blog so I'll add (editorially) that we recently had eight years of an administration that largely favored the wealthy. We're still trying to undo the mess that these leaders facilitated, and will be doing so for quite awhile.(As with all major world economies, government stimulus spending has been part of the current solution. And could it be " working"? Link to a 4/15/10 Wall Street Journal article citing evidence mounting for a "strong recovery". Link: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304798204575183683432202678.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_LEFTWhatsNewsCollection)

Also, the ballooning federal budget deficit was increased significantly under the previous Republican administration, something a few (NYT) poll respondents have "selective amnesia" about: (Link to NYT article) http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/15/us/politics/15poll.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

(Back to the original post:)

One more item from the 2008 Census study to suggest a point here (direct quotation): "The U.S. Census Bureau announced today that workers with a bachelor’s degree earned about $26,000 more on average than workers with a high school diploma, according to new figures that outline 2008 educational trends and achievement levels."

In general  - there are exceptions (and assuming legal means used): It is an uphill "battle" to achieve a desirable standard of living in this country if you have not earned (at least) a college bachelor's degree.  And it has been that way for years.....

Some (maybe many) have significant disadvantages, especially affording college. (Without government-backed financial aid.) But, beyond that, your level of education in many instances is something that YOU mainly control.  (Perhaps more so as an adult.)

Isn't that correct, individual-freedom-touting, no "big"-government-aid Tea Partiers??