May 26, 2012 by whitehouse
President Obama pays tribute to our men and women in uniform who have died in service to our country
Daily Archives: 05/28/2012
West Wing Week – May 18 – 24th
Welcome to the West Wing Week, your guide to everything that’s happening at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. This week, the President announced a major new initiative on food security, hosted the G8 and NATO summits, gave the commencement addresses in Joplin, Missouri and at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, and traveled to Iowa to urge Congress to act on the “To Do List,” invest in clean energy, and extend the Production Tax Credit that has bipartisan support. That’s May 18th to May 24th or “We Are Not Meant to Walk This Road Alone.”More
President Obama Speaks …
click on link below for video
President Obama urges Congress to act on the “To Do List,” specifically highlighting the need to invest in clean energy by extending and expanding tax credits that support clean energy manufacturing. May 24, 2012.More
Get ready to Vote ! Be Informed …
Please click on the photo to read what is says … Every State should be required to send this mailer out to each and every person with an address . Call your States Elections Office and push for the Presidential elections to be National process.
Charlotte 2012
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| Dear Charlotte in 2012 Supporter,Throughout my life I have had the opportunity to attend many Democratic Conventions. Both as a fresh out of college volunteer and throughout my tenure in Congress, I have seen a lot of behind the scenes moments, floor votes, and celebrations that make each convention special. I want to share a few of my own memorable moments with you.
Watch my Convention memory video here. Like my post as a “security guard,” Conventions always rely on people to help make them run. The 2012 Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina is no different. Because this Convention is the first in modern history NOT to be funded by corporations and lobbyists, we are relying on a grassroots network of support that includes you. Every dollar that you put towards this Convention makes our grassroots network of individuals that much stronger and engages more Americans in this process. Click here to watch other Convention Memory videos from Convention CEO Steve Kerrigan and me. I hope you’ll consider investing or reinvesting in this Convention. Whether it is $5, $10 or $25, you are the reason the first week of September will be a success. We cannot do it without you. Please watch and then give what you can right now. Sincerely, Representative Steny Hoyer House Minority Whip |
Stand with Wisconsin
Wisconsin holds a special place in my heart. I grew up in the suburbs outside Milwaukee in a small town called Mequon. Though my family moved to Michigan when I was in high school, I still consider Wisconsin home in many ways and I want to see its people succeed. When Gov. Scott Walker launched his attack on working families and Wisconsin communities last year, I wanted to find ways I could help. That’s why I will be using the new Friends and Neighbors (FAN) tool in the coming weeks to get the word out to friends and other Wisconsinites about recalling Walker and other anti-working family candidates on June 5. A recent poll shows the race is a dead heat1 and it is going to come down to the side that turns out the most people from now until June 5. Walker and his political allies are relying on millions in out-of-state donations from corporate donors and right-wing billionaires to blanket the state with misleading ads. They may have unlimited money, but we can cut through the noise by having real conversations with Wisconsinites about how Walker’s policies are wrong for them and their communities. Click here now to sign up for the FAN and get started connecting with Wisconsin voters. Let’s show Walker in these final weeks leading up to the recall elections on June 5 that working families in Wisconsin and across the country are more united than ever and ready to stand against the extreme policies that are leading our country in the wrong direction. In Solidarity, Andy Richards P..S. Need some more motivation? Check out this video that recently surfaced of Walker talking about his strategy to “divide and conquer” working families. |
some of the Daily Share’s …. Most Popular
HILARIOUS! Jon Stewart Opens Up A Can O’ Whoop Ass On Bigots In North Carolina
22,899 people recommend this.
Sen. Al Franken’s Eloquent (And Funny) Defense Of Gay Marriage In Forty-Five Seconds
10,641 people recommend this.
One Guy Totally Predicted What Today’s Big Problem Would Be—94 Years Ago!
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is Greyhound condoning racism?
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Traveling the country on a Greyhound bus can be terrifying — just ask Maria Castro. When armed U.S. Border Patrol agents boarded a Greyhound bus she was riding, Maria felt a moment of panic — she realized she wasn’t carrying proof of citizenship. Maria is an American citizen, but she’s Latina. “I watched as officers interrogated anyone who ‘looked’ like an immigrant,” Maria says. She remembers agents selectively questioning riders who had darker skin, including her, and further questioning passengers who spoke with accents. Maria was horrified by what happened, and angry that Greyhound allowed the Border Patrol agents to board the bus at all — because it turns out that the bus line doesn’t have to participate in random checks for proof of citizenship at all. So Maria started a petition on Change.org calling on Greyhound to stop participating in random immigration checks, and to stop allowing Border Patrol to board their buses and harass passengers. Click here to sign Maria’s petition now. When the Border Patrol agents boarded Maria’s bus, she says it was clear they were more likely to question and detain people who had accents and weren’t white. As a Latina American, this included Maria. And Border Patrol’s own records back this up. Agents keep “complexion records” of passengers arrested on buses and the overwhelming majority have “medium or black” complexions. Maria thinks that Greyhound will stop participating in these random checks if they hear from enough people who don’t want Border Patrol harassing passengers. Random immigration checks on buses have been controversial in the past, but public outcry has changed policies around these kind of checks before. Just last year, the Border Patrol agency itself agreed to scale back the number of buses they would board randomly along parts of the Northern border after a huge public outcry from advocates that it was infringing on the civil rights of passengers. If Border Patrol is willing to scale back random checks, then it shouldn’t be hard for Greyhound to end its voluntary participation in random immigration checks, too. Thanks for being a change-maker, Rachel LaBruyere, Change.org P.S. Thousands of people are using Change.org as a platform to fight for immigrant rights. Here are some urgent petitions started by other Change.org members:
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Media Matters for America: Wind, The Poor and FOX
Myths & Facts About Wind Power Following relentless attacks on the solar industry in the wake of Solyndra‘s bankruptcy, wind power has become the latest target of the right-wing campaign against renewable energy. But contrary to the myths propagated by the conservative media, wind power is safe, increasingly affordable, and has the potential to significantly reduce pollution and U.S. reliance on fossil fuels. Read More
Fox Mangles Data To Claim “The Poor” Are Getting “Richer” Fox’s John Stossel claimed that it’s a “myth” that “the poor are getting poorer” and that they are actually getting “richer.” In fact, incomes for the bottom fifth have shown almost no growth in recent decades, and the numbers Stossel used to support his argument were cherry-picked. Read More
the Progress Report: 30 Years of GOP Economics …
Mitt Romney Blows Up 30 Years of GOP Economics
Draconian Spending Cuts Are In Fact Bad for the Economy
Every so often, Mitt Romney is accidentally honest about something important. One such moment happened earlier this week. Here’s the rundown.
It’s Republican orthodoxy that the way to get our economy moving is to massively cut government spending, which they falsely claim is somehow “crowding out” private sector investments. Here’s Speaker Boehner (R-OH) wielding this theory in order to justify another manufactured crisis over the debt ceiling:
Boehner, by contrast, said cutting spending will spur the economy by giving “certainty” to the business community. “It would lift this cloud of uncertainty that’s causing employers to wonder what’s next.”
Unfortunately, the realities of economics say otherwise. When there isn’t enough demand (i.e. people buying things) in the economy to make it grow, cutting government spending only further reduces demand and exacerbates the problem (Exhibit A: Europe). Dealing with our debt and deficit is important and we should do so using a balanced approach including significant new revenues, but slashing spending in the short-term is just a prescription for pain.
So, suffice it to say that we were very surprised to see Mitt Romney admit the truth — that deep spending cuts are very damaging to the economy — during an interview with TIME earlier this week:
HALPERIN: You have a plan, as you said, over a number of years, to reduce spending dramatically. Why not in the first year, if you’re elected — why not in 2013, go all the way and propose the kind of budget with spending restraints, that you’d like to see after four years in office? Why not do it more quickly?
ROMNEY: Well because, if you take a trillion dollars for instance, out of the first year of the federal budget, that would shrink GDP over 5%. That is by definition throwing us into recession or depression. So I’m not going to do that, of course. What you do is you make adjustments on a basis that show, in the first year, actions that over time get you to a balanced budget.
Unfortunately, Romney’s entire economic plan is predicated on massive tax cuts for the wealthy and massive spending cuts. ThinkProgress’ Pat Garofalo explains the contradiction between Romney’s honest answer and the economic program he actually supports:
According to estimates from the Economic Policy Institute, the cuts in the House GOP budget — authored by Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) — would cost the economy 4.1 million jobs over the next two years due to the $400 billion in spending cuts for which it calls. As Esquire’s Charles Pierce, who flagged this particular exchange in the interview, wrote, “didn’t Romney, in saying that, pretty much blow up the entire rationale for over 30 years of Republican economics right there? Cutting government spending will throw us into a recession or depression?”
Europe is already struggling under the weight of austerity, with its economy contracting at the fastest pace in three years. Romney seems to understand the effect that cutting the budget indiscriminately in the short-term will have, yet he’s backing a budget that fails to acknowledge it.
IN ONE SENTENCE: It’s good that Mitt Romney recognizes that deep and swift spending cuts pose a danger to our economy; however, it’s unfortunate that that’s exactly what his economic plan calls for.
Evening Brief: Important Stories That You May Have Missed
Birther congressman explains the real reason why he walked back his conspiracy comments: “for political reasons”.
Is your CEO 3,489 times more valuable than you? He may get paid like it.
The problem with polling on people’s moral beliefs.
Yet another court strikes down DOMA.
Meet one of the Florida voters purged by Gov. Rick Scott.
Study provides scientific proof that we objectify women.
A federal judge found DOMA unconstitutional last night in the first federal court decision on the anti-equality law since President Obama came out in support of same-sex marriage.
Despite the initial hype, Facebook is officially the worst-performing IPO of the decade.
The Romney camp continues to stand by Donald Trump despite Trump’s declaration today that hes pretty sure President Obama was “born in Kenya.”
Other recent Progress Reports
May 24, 2012: Next Battle in the War on Women: Paycheck Fairness
Will Republicans Really Defend Paying Women Less? The Senate will soon take up the Paycheck Fairness Act, an important bill that protects women who sue over being paid less than their male counterparts. The law builds on the important foundations laid by the Equal Pay Act and Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. Republicans almost unanimously opposed [...]
May 23, 2012: Why Mitt Romney’s Time At Bain Capital Matters
Mitt Romney Was Not a Job Creator As we discussed yesterday, Mitt Romney’s tenure at Bain Capital is once again back in the news — big time. As President Obama said, this is not a distraction, it’s central to the main question of this campaign: do we create an economy that works for everyone, not [...]
May 22, 2012: The Top 10 GOP Attacks on Bain Capital
When Republicans Thought Bain Capital Was Fair Game Just as it did earlier this year during the Republican primary, Mitt Romney’s record of amassing a quarter-billion dollar fortune by bankrupting companies, shipping jobs overseas, and laying off thousands of American workers is dominating the headlines. The Romney campaign is claiming that the attacks amount to [...]
May 21, 2012: Sabotage?
Are Republicans Sabotaging the Economy Just to Hurt President Obama? Last year, the Republicans nearly destroyed the economy with their manufactured crisis over raising the nation’s debt ceiling. And then the spending cuts they demanded in return for avoiding a first-ever default on our obligations have slowed down the recovery and cost us hundreds of [...]
