Why America Is Failing – ‘Harry Reid, Mitch McConnell Reach Filibuster Reform Deal’

Harry Reid just handed the Republicans 2 more years of obstructionism.

Thank you harry Reid for blocking any chance of we Americans who actually want our Government to govern.

‘First, senators who wish to object or threaten a filibuster must actually come to the floor to do so’.

‘But the deal still requires Democrats to muster 60 votes to invoke cloture on that motion’.

‘An alternate route to get past the motion to proceed will be implemented as a change to the rules, and a filibuster on the motion would be barred if the majority can find eight members of the minority, including the minority leader, to sign a petition’.

‘But Democrats already have 55 members in their caucus, five short of the 60 needed to end a filibuster, so it’s unclear what the purpose of getting three additional Republicans would be’.
From : http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/24/harry-reid-mitch-mcconnell-filibuster_n_2541356.html

A word from your sponsor – The Electoral College

From a comment I received :

“I have created a petition at whitehouse.gov requesting the President publically support a constitutional amendment preserving the integrity of the popular vote. Please help this petition go viral, follow the link below to sign it with a clear conscience and ask everyone you know sign it with you. We need at least 100,000 signatures to force the administration to respond”.

https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/publically-support-constitutional-amendment-preserving-integrity-popular-vote/sW8jlWCp

It is very important.

Don’t think it is?

In 2000, George Bush was elected by the Electoral College, not the popular vote.

You DO remember the War in Afghanistan, the War in Iraq, the attempt to privatize Social Security, the inept early handling of the financial crisis?

And that was just George Bush.

Imagine what say a Rick Santorum, a Rand Paul would do………..

What is wrong with the Republican Party – ‘New Mexico Bill Would Criminalize Abortions After Rape As ‘Tampering With Evidence’

Yes. This is going to ‘protect’ women. Forcing them to give birth to babies conceived from rape and incest.
UPDATE: 12:25 p.m. — ‘Brown said in a statement Thursday that she introduced the bill with the goal of punishing the person who commits incest or rape and then procures or facilitates an abortion to destroy the evidence of the crime’.

“New Mexico needs to strengthen its laws to deter sex offenders,” said Brown. “By adding this law in New Mexico, we can help to protect women across our state.”

‘A Republican lawmaker in New Mexico introduced a bill on Wednesday that would legally require victims of rape to carry their pregnancies to term in order to use the fetus as evidence for a sexual assault trial’.

‘House Bill 206, introduced by state Rep. Cathrynn Brown (R), would charge a rape victim who ended her pregnancy with a third-degree felony for “tampering with evidence.”

“Tampering with evidence shall include procuring or facilitating an abortion, or compelling or coercing another to obtain an abortion, of a fetus that is the result of criminal sexual penetration or incest with the intent to destroy evidence of the crime,” the bill says’.

‘Third-degree felonies in New Mexico carry a sentence of up to three years in prison’.

‘Pat Davis of ProgressNow New Mexico, a progressive nonprofit opposing the bill, called it “blatantly unconstitutional” on Thursday’.

“The bill turns victims of rape and incest into felons and forces them to become incubators of evidence for the state,” he said. “According to Republican philosophy, victims who are ‘legitimately raped’ will now have to carry the fetus to term in order to prove their case.“
From : http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/24/new-mexico-abortion-bill_n_2541894.html

 

Republicans 2016 – ‘Bobby Jindal: GOP a ‘populist party’

Actually Bobby your party IS the Party of big business, big banks, big Wall Street and big corporate loopholes.

Just take a look at what you are doing to your State :

‘re: What Jindal has done for Louisiana…’
@ : http://www.tigerdroppings.com/rant/display.aspx?p=31954703&pg=2

‘Bobby Jindal Almost Done With Totally Ruining Louisiana Forever’
@ : http://wonkette.com/416829/bobby-jindal-almost-done-with-totally-ruining-louisiana-forever

‘Jindal’s selective concern for the poor’
@ : http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2012/12/12/15865707-jindals-selective-concern-for-the-poor

‘The speech ended with a call for Republicans to make seven changes, including: “stop insulting the intelligence of voters.”

Bobby then goes on to insult the intelligence of voters…..

‘Jindal worries that the GOP is becoming a party obsessed with austerity’

“We must quit ‘big,’” he said. “We are not the party of big business, big banks, big Wall Street bailouts, big corporate loopholes or big anything. We must not be the party that simply protects the well off so they can keep their toys … We are the party whose ideas will help the middle class, and help more folks join the middle class.”
From : http://www.politico.com/story/2013/01/jindal-gop-a-populist-party-86699.html

 

 

Blog Running – ‘Republican Electoral College Plan Would Undermine Democracy’

This really comes down to 5 or 6 States.

Just like 1 Senator blocking even debate on legislation.

‘Just like a small minority in the House blocking legislation.

5 or 6 States, gerrymandered and now with electoral votes divided by Congressional districts,  a Democrat could win the popular vote by 5 Million even 10 Million votes Nationally – and lose the election.

It’s time to do away with the Electoral College.

If we don’t consider this.

If the Republicans decide to keep hard right, Rick Santorum or Rand Paul could be the next President.

‘There is a chance that this system could be adopted by six battleground states that were carried by Obama in both 2008 and 2012 but where Republicans currently control the governorship and both houses of the legislature: Florida, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin’.

‘Several Republican governors and state legislative leaders in key battleground states have recently expressed support for a plan to change the method of awarding their state’s electoral votes from the current winner-take-all system to one in which one vote would be awarded to the winner of each congressional district in the state and two votes would be awarded to the statewide winner’.

‘The congressional district plan appears reasonable at first glance’.

‘After all, why give all of a state’s electoral votes to the candidate who wins statewide no matter how narrow that candidate’s margin? Awarding electoral votes by congressional district would seem to provide a fairer and more balanced alternative to the winner-take-all system’.

‘But there is a serious problem with this approach. Despite a superficial appearance of fairness, the congressional district plan would be profoundly undemocratic — skewing the results in favor of the party drawing the congressional district lines in a state and greatly increasing the chances of an Electoral College misfire (a victory by the candidate losing the national popular vote)’.

‘The congressional district system, if adopted for the entire nation, would give Republicans a major advantage in presidential elections’.

‘That’s because Republicans controlled the redistricting process after the 2010 census in far more states than Democrats as a result of the GOP’s big gains in the 2010 midterm elections’.

‘By drawing congressional districts that favored the GOP, Republican state legislatures and governors gave their party a big edge in the battle for control of the House of Representatives’.

‘The result was that in 2012, even though Democratic candidates outpolled Republican candidates by more than a million votes across the nation, Republicans kept control of the House by a margin of 234 seats to 201 seats’.

‘The results of GOP gerrymandering were also clearly evident in the presidential election’.

‘Across the nation, Obama defeated Mitt Romney by almost four percentage points and close to five million votes’.

‘However, based on the results that are currently available we can estimate that Romney carried 228 House districts to only 207 for Obama’.

‘So despite Obama’s comfortable margin in the national popular vote, a system that awarded one electoral vote for each House district plus two votes for the statewide winner would have resulted in a Romney victory by 276 electoral votes to 262 electoral votes’.

‘But there is a chance that this system could be adopted by six battleground states that were carried by Obama in both 2008 and 2012 but where Republicans currently control the governorship and both houses of the legislature: Florida, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin’.

‘If these six battleground states were to adopt the congressional district method of awarding electoral votes, it would not guarantee a Republican victory in the 2016 presidential election but it would make such a victory much more likely’.

‘That’s because the congressional district lines in these states were gerrymandered by Republican legislatures following the 2010 census to give their party a huge advantage’.

‘As a result, even though Obama carried all six states in 2012, it appears that Romney carried 61 House districts in these states to only 33 for Obama. Romney appears to have carried 16 of 27 House districts in Florida, 9 of 14 House districts in Michigan, 12 of 16 House districts in Ohio, 12 of 18 House districts in Pennsylvania, 7 of 11 House districts in Virginia and 5 of 8 House districts in Wisconsin’.

‘If the congressional district system had been used in these six states in 2012, instead of Obama winning all of their 106 electoral votes, it appears that Romney would have won 61 electoral votes to only 45 for Obama. As a result, Obama’s margin in the national electoral vote would have been reduced from 332-206 to only 271-267’.
From : http://www.centerforpolitics.org/crystalball/articles/republican-electoral-college-plan-would-undermine-democracy/