I Challenge YOU to Educate the Low-Information Voters Who Are Hurting Themselves and the Rest Of The Country – Really, This is a Challenge, You Game?

Most of us wonder how people can vote in political candidates and incumbents into, or back into elected office that clearly do not represent their own personal interests. How do women vote for a Governor that clearly is attacking women’s rights? Like when a Governor wants to force any woman who wants an abortion to be raped by requiring them to endure a trans-vaginal ultrasound even though no medical doctor prescribed it, or even says that it is not necessary, or any of the other disgraceful ways the TeaPublicans have attacked women and their rights. How do people who don’t/didn’t have any healthcare, whose state already gets much more money from Washington D.C. then it sends to the government, vote for politicians who refuse to expand Medicaid (which wouldn’t cost their state a dime for the 1st 3 years and then only 5-10% percent of the costs after that) and/or refuse to set-up healthcare exchanges to help those who can’t afford reasonable healthcare get affordable healthcare? After speaking to many people and getting a lot of feedback from people who actually live in those areas, like the Southeast, I found that we don’t understand something. It reminds me of a story I saw on the news many years ago that I still can’t, or won’t, forget. There was a 14 year old boy, attending Public School, in New York City, it was discovered that his parents were making him live in a coffin, whenever he wasn’t in school he would have to stay in a coffin. When he returned from school he had to get into his coffin, he had to eat, wash, and yes defecate in the coffin! When it hit the news the first question was obvious, “Why didn’t you tell anyone?” His answer? He was surprised by the question, “I thought everyone lived the same way I did.” Understandably the child was severely introverted and had no friends so he really didn’t talk to anyone unless he had to. But it made me realize that if you brought up a son or daughter in a green room for 5 years and told that child the color of the room was blue, what do you think that child would say the color of a green traffic light was? That’s why people in areas that receive more in social welfare like disability, food stamps, Social Security, and so forth, vote for politicians that claim the government is a socialist one and is bad! So why don’t they just get smarter? Watch more news? Read more? Well, some of them do, but what they are seeing, hearing, and reading is total bullcrap because the ultra-rich are controlling what they see, hear, and read. Did you know that the Koch Brothers went as far as paying off a State College in Tallahassee, Florida (FSU) to have the final word of who the economics department hired! Yea, no lie! Charles Koch Buys Rights To Control Who Florida State University Hires in their Economic Dept. The amount of money being spent on corrupting our politicians, elections, and on media (written, TV, internet, and other outlets) is absolutely insane. Why do they spend this money? Because it gives the 1% power, power through influence. What can we do? We can make sure that those people who “only watch Fox (faux – false) news” and only see, hear, and read, the misinformation they are being fed, that are told that the room is blue, get the facts, the truth, that the light is GREEN! We must find a way to get the truth to the “low-information voters,” whom many are not to blame for being wrong, and we must do it without the advantage that the ultra-rich billionaires have, which is billions of dollars. I want to challenge each and everyone of you who actually read this post. I want to challenge you to start a massive information blitz telling the facts, the truth, and get it out there in every way you know, in hopes of some of the information getting to those people who are only being told the room is blue. I thought I would try something. We know that those low-information people see very limited information, they may not read a lot, or watch much other than a source that misleads them, so we have to do something that is simple, interesting, and will appeal to those who can’t be bothered researching information. The information must be served in a way that will catch their attention. If enough of the information makes it to these people, perhaps we can get them to see that they are hurting themselves. That’s why I’m asking you, challenging you in fact, to join me in an information campaign targeting those low-information voters. Whatever you create and get out there, remember that it must be something that the target audience will relate to. For instance, I want to target the red states (9 out of 10 of the poorest states are Republican states) in the Southeast, so I’m going to start making memes (pictures with something you write on them) and I’m going to use NASCAR pictures. Here’s my 1st idea on how to start getting information to these people: I challenge each and everyone of you to the make and distribute the best meme, to educate the misinformed, one that will get widespread attention and circulation, so much so that it will make it’s way into the areas where these voters are, and to get widespread distribution of that meme so that it will reach our target audience. Don’t know how to make a meme? “No problem it’s not only easy, it’s fun. Below, I give you a couple really easy ways of doing it, and showing your creativity and sense of humor. So what do you say? Hey, if you share this and my blog post and get others involved we could have millions of these target oriented information memes circulating everywhere! Some of them are bound to reach our target audience and change some minds, AND VOTES! O.K. Let’s see what we can do. Contact me if you have any questions, and please involve as many people as you can by sharing this. Thanks so much for your anticipated cooperation.

How to Make a Meme

There are numerous free sites to assist you in your quest to make a meme, whether you want to be funny, creative, a mix sending a serious message and being a creative, funny, teacher. The site I’m going to recommend here is one that I found to be the easiest and quickest. You will make a meme in a few minutes, I promise. Go to quickmeme by clicking on the colored word (link) quickmeme in this sentence. This is what you will see:

Quickmeme – A Meme Generator

Step 1: On the black on top, instead of seeing a picture of me you will see the word “Login.” You will need to click this and register/Login, if you are on Facebook you can just click Log in with Facebook, or simply type in whatever information you need to, to create an account.

Step 2: Your ready to make a meme. You can use any of the pictures you see, or you can browse the web, or your personal photos, and “upload” a picture (more on uploading in a minute.) Pick a picture by simply clicking on the picture you want to use. I’ve picked one as an example, I chose one that they call “Condescending Wonka” this is what you’ll see:

Condescending Wonka from quickmeme

Step 3: Your almost done! Now put your creative, humorous thinking cap on and fill in the prompts; 1st think of a title, the title will only be seen when your meme is listed with other memes for people to see. Then fill in the “Top Caption, this is what will appear at the top of the picture. Finally fill in the “Bottom Caption.” Suggestion: The Top Caption should be the set-up for the point you want to make, the Bottom Caption should be the punchline to drive your point home. See what I’ve done here (mind you, I never claimed to be good at humor.):

quickmeme instruction on filling in the content of a meme

Step 4: Click “Create” Congratulations! You just made your very first meme! Don’t leave yet, you need to save your work! You can click on “File” and save it, or you can share it to Twitter or Facebook and then “save it as a picture” from there. Done!

Now that your an expert you may want to try other meme generators that give you a little more control, like picking what size the text is, and other options. I suggest you try Imgur.

I promised to tell you about “uploading” your own pictures. It’s very simple. If you’ve ever saved a picture on your computer it was shared into a “file” the default file would be “pictures” or “My Pictures”. If you want to use your own picture, instead of clicking on one of the pictures the meme generator offers, like when I picked Wonka, simply click on “Upload” a picture. that will bring you to your files on your computer, one of which is where you saved your pictures. Simply navigate to the picture you want to use and double click on it, or click on a picture and then click on “save” or “open”, your picture will be uploaded to the meme generator like Wonka was and you can do the same steps as before to create a meme.

Finally, and this is the best, if you have an idea for a meme and have a picture in mind that you would like to use, type the topic into your “search” box on the top of your browser and then click images, it will give you a bunch of pictures to choose from, then save it. This is a picture of my browser:

Google Screenshot

You’ll notice in Google the big white bar near the top of the screen, that’s the address bar. To the right of that is the “search box”, you can type in there whatever you want to find a picture of, ex: fire engine and hit enter, that will give you a list of articles on fire engines, but above the list of articles you’ll see the word “images”, simply click on that and you will have a number of pictures of fire engines. Save one into “pictures by right clicking on the picture you want, then left click “Save Image As” and it will open up your library of folders. click on the “Pictures” folder to open it, then name the picture in the box that says “File Name” and then click “Save”. You then have a picture you can upload to use in a meme. Note: instead of the search box you can click on the word “images” on the google screen, it’s just below the search box, then click in what picture you want to find.

GOOD LUCK! ENJOY! And PLEASE join this challenge so we can educate those who are being fed the ultra-rich garbage so we can keep the Senate and take back the house. If you have any questions use the “Contact Me” button on my blog ay www.Medic3569.com thanks for helping take back our Republic.

Many Problems We Have in this Country Can Be Fixed if We Get Money Out of Politics

Money in Politics
Photo by http://www.theprogressivesinfluence.com

The Day Money In Politics Took Our Republic Away

On January 21, 2010 the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) said that section 203 of H.R. 2356 (107th) the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 was “Unconstitutional.” Section 203 imposed limits on what corporations, unions, and organizations, could contribute to political campaigns to elect or defeat candidates running for public office. This ruling came in a decision on Citizens United v FEC (Federal Election Commission.) At least 3 things happened that day:

1) States lost their ability to control their own elections

Take a look at what happened in WI where Governor Scott Walker was “Recalled” by the people of Wisconsin after he took away the right of Public Employees to negotiate through “Collective Bargaining”. Outside money, $63 million dollars of it, was spent to help Walker win the recall election, the previous record for outside money was $37M. That $67M flooded into the state, from people who don’t live there, it came from people like Charles and David Koch, better known as the Koch Brothers, (who are also better known for paying fines for illegally funneling “Dark Money” but that’s a whole other story,) and SuperPACS (who desperately wanted to keep Scott Walker in place,) to support Walker for the recall election after citizens in Wisconsin were so angry that they actually gathered 1,000,000 signatures to force the recall election.Read more about Scott Walkers Recall election here: “Scott Walker Wins Wisconsin Recall Election” by CBS News.

The egregious levels of outside spending on the federal level are well documented. In the 2010 Congressional elections, spending by corporations and wealthy individuals totaled almost $300M.(i) In the 2012 election, the largest SuperPAC spent an astounding $142M. (ii) Altogether SuperPACS spent $609M in the 2012 election cycle. Overall outside spending topped $1.29 Billion. (iii) In comparison to these mammoth sums of money, it only takes a modest amount of money to have a transformative impact on a local election. If multi-million dollar SuperPACS can buy the victory of even Presidential candidates, then what’s stopping them from influencing local political elections? This paragraph and some other information is from Democracy is For People , we thank them for the material and their efforts in trying to get the U.S. Congress to pass a Constitutional Amendment to overturn Citizens United.

2) Limits on campaign contributions from corporations, unions, and organizations (SuperPACS) were lifted, allowing widespread corruption of our politicians and allowing elections to be bought.

McCutcheon v FEC (Federal Election Commission) is being called “Citizens United on Steroids
Thanks to Oil Change for America

 

There is actually a Trans-Partisan opposition to Citizens United. This is NOT a partisan issue. Money in politics is hurting this country in many different ways, and EVERYONE is noticing. Campaign finance reform – including efforts to limit political spending by corporations, unions, and the super-wealthy, has been part of the conservative legacy. The court’s decision rolled back nearly a century of laws passed by both sides of the aisle who, agreed that reasonable restrictions can and should be placed on campaign spending by powerful special interest in order to preserve our democracy.

Stalwart conservative statesmen have fought for campaign finance reform. No less a conservative movement icon than Republican Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona uttered these words in support of bipartisan campaign finance reform in 1983: “Our nation is facing a crisis of liberty if we do not control campaign expenditures. We must prove that elective office is not for sale. We must convince the people that elected officials are what James Madison intended us to be, agents of the sovereign people, not the hired hands of the rich givers, or what James Madison called factions,”

 Arizona Senator John McCain, Goldwater’s successor and the 2008 Republican Presidential nominee, called the Supreme Court’s ruling “a combination of arrogance, naivete and stupidity, the likes of which I have never seen.”

Most Republicans, including Tea Party supporters, think steps should be taken to curb this corrosive campaign spending. A March 2012 poll conducted by ABCNews/Washington Post, showed that over two-thirds of Americans (69%) felt SuperPACS should be illegal. Among Tea Party supporters, the numbers were the same: 69% of Tea Party supporters felt that SuperPACS should be outlawed.(iv)

Most Republicans think big campaign spenders, including corporations, can influence how a member of Congress votes. More than two-thirds of respondents (68%) to an April 2012 Opinion Research Corporation (ORC) including 71% of Republicans — also agreed that, “if a company spent $100,000 to help elect a member of Congress, it could successfully pressure him or her to change a vote on proposed legislation.” Only one in five disagreed. (v)

3) Americans Were Outraged By the Court’s Decision

Nearly nine in ten Americans (88%) say that big companies have too much power in Washington D.C. (vi).

Eight in ten respondents oppose the court’s decision in Citizens United. (vii)

Republicans, Democrats , and Independents who have heard about Citizens United believe by an almost 4-to-1 margin that the ruling is having a negative effect. (viii)

83% of Americans (85% of Democrats, 81% of Republicans and 78% of Independents) think there should be limits on how much money corporations can give in elections. And 90% of those with incomes over $100,000 support such limits. (ix)

By a 5-to-1 margin, Americans agree that “there would be less corruption if there were limits on how much could be given to SuperPACS.” Only 14% disagree with this proposition. 75% of Republicans and 78% of Democrats agree. (x)

What is it Going to Take Take To Change The Way Things Are Going?

In short, it’s going to take people like YOU to get involved. Above you will notice I have a “Page” button entitled “Find/Track Politicians, Bills, Voting Records,” Click on that page button and it will explain the links that are on the page and how to use them to find, track and contact YOUR Representatives. Using, for example, GovTrack to find who your U.S. Senators (2) are, and who your U.S.. Congressman or woman is, if you don’t already know, is very easy to do. Click on GovTrack and register at the site. Once registered it will be easy to search for a specific legislative bill, Track your politicians votes, and contact your Congressmen/women and U.S. Senators. If you would also like to contact YOUR State Representatives you can click on the “Vote Smart” link to help you locate your State Senators, Assemblymen/women, and other local politicians that are supposed to be representing you. Look, right now only the Super-rich and corporations have any real influence over our elections and politicians. The only time regular people gain influence on politicians that spend more than half their time raising money to keep their job in the next election, is when we show up in numbers. When enough people flood the offices of the U.S. Senators, U.S. Congressmen/women, State Senators, Assemblymen/women, and right on down the line with enough phone calls and e-mails, they don’t have a choice but to listen. The sites that I’ve provided links for on my “Find/Track Politicians, Bills, voting Records” page will walk you through the process of calling or e-mailing YOUR Representatives, and will send you an e-mail whenever they take action like sponsoring, co-sponsoring, or voting on a bill.   In short, please Get Involved For A Better America. Follow my Facebook page http://www.Facebook.com/StoptheObstructionistTeaParty, Subscribe to this blog by entering your e-mail address on the home page, or on Twitter @Medic3569, for up to date news on legislative action and information on upcoming issues that may effect you. McCutcheon v FEC is due to be announced by the SCOTUS and could very likely be decided by the same “Conservative-5” Justices the way that Citizens United was, in favor of the ultra-rich and corporations. Look at the meme above, do we really want to see those top donors from the fossil fuel industry contributing over $300M when we know that they can change how a congressman/woman will vote on proposed legislation?   Join the “Rapid Response” team that will take action the day the SCOTUS decision is announced at  “Money Out – Voters In” to check out and join the Rapid Response to McCutcheon v FEC the day it is announced.

Other interesting reading:

Bill Moyers – Seven Initiatives to Get Money Out of Politics

McCutcheon v FEC  and “Money out – Voters In” explained by the The Amendment Gazette,

Victor Tiffany is a Senior Columnist at The Amendment Gazette and the Acting State-Wide Coordinator for Move to Amend  one of the organizations working hard to get congress to pass a Constitutional Amendment to overturn Citizens United        

(i) Public Citizen’s analysis of Federal Election Commission (FEC) data. See Congress Watch (January 2011). “12 Months After: The Effects of Citizens United on Elections and the Integrity of the Legislative Process.”Retrieved 15 Sept. 2011, from http://www.citizen.org/documents/Citizens-United–20110113.pdf

(ii) Center for Responsive Politics, “Restore Our Future” Retrieved 22 April 2013 from: http://www.opensecrets.org/outsidespending/detail.php?cmte#C00490045&cycle#2012

(iii) Center for Responsive Politics, “Outside Spending.” Retrieved 22 April 2013 from: http://www.opensecrets.org/outsidespending/index.php.

(iv) Eggen, D (17 Feb. 2010, 15 Sept. 2011). “Poll: Large majority opposes Supreme Court’s decision on campaign financing.” Washington Post. Retrieved 15 Sept. 2011, from http://washingtonpost.com/wp:dyn/content/article/2010/02/17/AR2010021701151.html

(v) Brennen Center lbid.

(vi) New York City Public Advocate Bill De Blasio “New Report: Election Spending by Out-Of-State Non-Profits Surges 1500% in New York;

 

(vii) U.S. PIRG education Fund and People For the American Way Foundation. “Outside Spending, Outsized Influence: Big and Secret Money in New York In the 2012 Elections.” Retrieved July 8, 2013, from http://www.pfaw.org/sites/default/files/outsize_spending_NY.pdf

(viii) Coalition for Accountability in Political Spending (March, 2013). “From Social Welfare to Political Welfare: The Evolving Role of Nonprofits in Our Elections and Urgent Need for State Regulatory Action.” Retrieved July 8, 2013, fromhttp://politicalspending.org/501c4-Report.pdf

[ix] Coalition for Accountability in Political Spending (March, 2013). “From Social Welfare to Political Welfare: The Evolving Role of Nonprofits in Our Elections and Urgent Need for State Regulatory Action.” Retrieved July 8, 2013, from http://politicalspending.org/501c4 -Report.pdf

[x] Resolutions Week, “Resolutions Passed and Current Efforts” “http://www.resolutionsweek.org/?page_id=86

Note: Information provided here with footnotes was compiled by www.democracyisforpeople.org , please visit their site to view their material and to Get Involved For A Better America. We thank them for the resources, material, and for their efforts in trying to overturn Citizens United. Also involved, along with over 120 organizations  working on this task is www.united4thepeople.org which is a great site to see where the effort is, and how you can become involved in your area. Contact me at jasmith3569@gmail.com with any questions you may have, I’ll be glad to assist you.

J.P. Morgan Chase $13B Settlement To Be Announced Today, But Regulation Has Not Been Restored an No Deterent Is In Place To Prevent IThem From Doing It Again

Too Big To Fail Corporations Are Actually Bigger Than When They Caused The Biggest Financial Collapse Since The Great Depression

Remember What They Caused

On October 22, 2013 I posted an article on this site summarizing the chain of events that caused the 2008-2009 financial disastrous collapse Will the $13B Settlement Deter Others? After Bear Stearns was bailed out, and it was determined that Lehman Bros. would be allowed to fail, barring further government bailouts, Fed Chairman Tim Geithner and others had the other shoe drop, AIG. It was realized that through deregulation that had been in place since 1922 that AIG was Too Big To Fail, fearing total worldwide financial collapse. They, AIG, JP Morgan, and others had wiped out Americans net worth through there 401k’s and the housing debacle. The stock market went to 7900 (coincidentally the stock market went over 16,000 yesterday, doubling where it was after the collapse.) People not only lost their homes but with their 401k’s being severely reduced, found 65 year old people and many others without their retirement savings and having to look for work.

 What was done to Prevent This From Happening Again?

Well, on July 1, 2010 H.R. 4173 (111^th): Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act was signed by President Obama. This was to restore the regulations set after the great depression. Here is  how well we’re doing on implementing that law according to http://www.davispolk.com Dodd-Frank Progress Reports Monthly 

November 1, 2013 REPORT

• In the past month, no rulemaking requirement deadlines passed, six rulemaking requirements were proposed and one rule was finalized to meet a rulemaking requirement.
• As of November 1, 2013, a total of 280 Dodd-Frank rulemaking requirement deadlines have passed. Of these 280 passed deadlines, 170 (60.7%) have been missed and 110 (39.3%) have been met with finalized rules.
• In addition, 162 (40.7%) of the 398 total required rulemakings have been finalized, while 115 (28.9%) rulemaking requirements have not yet been proposed  

The World’s 29 Too Big To Fail Banks, JPMorgan At The Top

 The updated list of the world’s too big to fail banks is out today and JPMorgan Chase  along with HSBC are at the top.The Financial Stability Board amends the list each year after examining banks to decide which ones pose a threat to the global economy if they were  to fail. Forbes List of Banks Too Big To Fail The list of Too Big To Fail banks has grown and so has the banks themselves. They are actually bigger then when the financial crisis occurred. Their profits are growing, their bonuses have been back for awhile and the stock market has doubled since 2009. Middle class income and salaries are not growing and income equality is increasing.

Corporations Have Too Much Influence On Politicians

Since the Citizens United ruling by the Supreme Court things have only gotten worse. Things will not get any better unless there is a Constitutional Amendment to overturn Citizens United. This is not a partisan issue, it is not a Right/Left issue, it is not a Conservative/Liberal issue. Polling has long indicated support for an amendment. A 2010/2011 Peter Hart Poll found that 79% of all Americans, including 68% of Republicans, 82% of Independents, and 87% of Democrats support a Constitutional Amendment. An Opinion Research Corporation (ORC) poll found that overall 69% of Americans agreed that “new rules that let corporations, unions, and people give unlimited money to Super PACS will lead to corruption. Three out of four Republicans (74%) agreed with this statement. 71% of Republicans also agreed that “if a company spent $100,000 to help elect a member of Congress, it could successfully pressure him or her to change a vote on proposed legislation. A March 2012 poll conducted by ABC News/Washington Post showed that not only did two-thirds of Americans feel that Super PACS should be illegal, but 69% (two-thirds) of Tea Party supporters felt that Super PACS should be outlawed.

Nearly nine out of ten Americans (88%) say that big companies have too much power in Washington D.C. Super PACS, which became funnels for outside spending after an appeals court applied Citizens United, collectively spent more than $609 million dollars during the 2012 elections. Overall outside spending topped  $1.29 billion according to the Center for Responsive Politics “Outside Spending” April 22, 2013 “Outside Spending” by Center for Responsive Politics

Financial Reform is not at all where it should be 5 years after the worst financial collapse since the great depression. The banks have not only not been dismantled, but they have grown, the number of banks that are too big to fail has grown. WE MUST TAKE BACK THE POWER FROM THE CORPORATIONS! or face another, probably much worse, situation at the hands of the greedy and guilty people that caused the last crisis.

PLEASE use the links below to contact your Congressmen/women, and Senators RIGHT NOW, and OFTEN, and tell them that WE MUST PASS A CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT TO OVERTURN CITIZENS UNITED. Left in the hands of those who will NOT be going to jail but simply paying fines, is a bad place to be. I don’t care how much the fine is (it’s no where near what they stole from the people,) it will happen again rest assured. Perhaps the world economy will collapse next time. We can’t let that happen, it’s up to us to take action.

So, today they’ll announce a $13B settlement will be paid, no one will go to jail, and the too big to fail banks will keep getting even bigger. Call or E-mail your Congressmen/women and Senators NOW!

Here is a sample e-mail, if you wish, you can copy and paste it into your representatives e-mail comments;
—————————————————————————————————————
———————————————————————————————————————————–

Dear (ENTER YOUR Congressman, Congresswomen, or Senators NAME HERE)

I am writing you to tell you that I support a Constitutional Amendment to overturn the Citizens United ruling by the US Supreme Court. I believe, as does nearly nine out of ten Americans (88%) that big companies have too much power in Washington, D.C. With Super PACS spending $609 million during the 2012 election cycle and $1.29 billion from overall outside spending, I ask you to do whatever you need to do, to pass a Constitutional Amendment to overturn the Citizens United decision.

This is not a partisan issue, not a Republican/Democratic issue, nor a Conservative/Liberal issue. A 2010/2011 Peter Hart Poll found that 79% of all Americans including 68% of Republicans, 82% of Independents, and 87% of Democrats, support a Constitutional Amendment. An Opinion Research Corporation poll found that overall 69% of Americans agreed that “new rules that let corporations, unions, and people give unlimited money to Super PACS will lead to corruption. Three out of four Republicans (74%) agreed with this statement. 71% of Republicans also agreed that “if a company spent $100,000 to help elect a member of Congress, it could successfully pressure him or her to change a vote on proposed legislation. A March 2012 poll conducted by ABC News/Washington Post showed that not only did two-thirds of Americans feel that Super PACS should be illegal, but 69% (two-thirds) of Tea Party supporters felt that Super PACS should be outlawed.

I thank you for service and want you to know that I will track any legislation pertaining to this issue, and you, as my Representative, on GovTrack.us, Open Congress, Votesmart.org, or www.Senate.gov

Thanking you in advance for your anticipated cooperation, I am,

(YOUR NAME)
(YOUR ADDRESS)
(CITY, STATE, ZIP)
(E-MAIL, PHONE NUMBER)

—————————————————————————————————————
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To find and/or contact YOUR Congressmen/women click here:
Click Here To Find and/or Contact YOUR Congressmen/women

To find and/or contact YOUR Congressmen/women click here:
Click Here To Find YOUR Senator

THE DEFECTORS of HR 3350, Republicans concerned over Health Insurance Plans being Cancelled, Really?!

Did Your Congressman Defect? What Will Your Senators Do?

I thank Mike Allen of  Politico for listing THE DEFECTORS – of HR 3350 “Thirty-nine House Democrats, many from competitive districts, joined Republicans in voting for the ‘Keep Your Health Plan’ act sponsored by Energy and Commerce chairman Fred Upton [passed 261-157, over Obama veto threat ] … Ron Barber (Ariz.), John Barrow (Ga.), Ami Bera (Calif.), Tim Bishop (N.Y.), Bruce Braley (Iowa), Julia Brownley (Calif.), Cheri Bustos (Ill.), Jim Costa (Calif.), Peter DeFazio (Ore.), Suzan DelBene (Wash.), Tammy Duckworth (Ill.), Bill Enyart (Ill.), Elizabeth Esty (Conn.), Bill Foster (Ill.), Pete Gallego (Texas), John Garamendi (Calif.), Joe Garcia (Fla.), Ron Kind (Wis.), Ann McLane Kuster (N.H.), Dave Loebsack (Iowa)., Dan Maffei (N.Y.), Sean Patrick Maloney (N.Y.), Jim Matheson (Utah), Mike McIntyre (N.C.), Jerry McNerney (Calif.), Patrick Murphy (FL), Rick Nolan (Minn.), Bill Owens (N.Y.), Gary Peters (Mich.), Scott Peters (Calif.), Collin Peterson (Minn.), Nick Rahall (W. Va.), Raul Ruiz (Calif.), Brad Schneider (Ill.), Kurt Schrader (Ore.), Carol Shea-Porter (N.H.), Kyrsten Sinema (Ariz.), Filemon Vela (Texas), Tim Walz (Minn.).”

I was extremely disappointed to see my Congressman’s name as one of the defectors. I have sent a letter to my Congressman explaining my disappointment and asking for his view. I also sent the letter to my Senators asking what their intentions are once the bill gets to the Senate. Letter sent to Congressman Bishop and Senators Schumer and Gillibrand

“Why Republicans Suddenly Care About Cancelled Health Policies”

“Why Republicans Suddenly Care About Cancelled Health Policies” Nation of Change Article reminds us that until insurance cancellations became a political embarrassment for President Barack Obama, the usual right-wing reaction was silence. (Except for that awkward and revealing outburst during the 2012 Republican debates when a live audience howled its approval for the “let him die” plan.) What is the Republicans plan? No one did nothing for decades about the healthcare crisis. What do the Republicans have to help the 40 million people on this country who couldn’t afford healthcare. And many people seem to forget how much the cost of health insurance was going up every year before the Affordable Care Act slowed the increases in the cost of insurance. The fact that insurance companies will need to spend 85% of the money they receive from premiums on actual benefits for the policy holders caused people to get refund checks from insurance companies, many of those people probably didn’t realize why they got those checks. People who are not losing their policies because they got sick should know that they only still have their policy because of the affordable Care Act. And those people getting cancellation letters should look at the policies they had and realize just what they covered, and the fact that they would have been cancelled the minute they got sick anyway, only they would of continued to pay the premiums as long as they stayed healthy and didn’t make claims on the policy.

Senator Stacey Campfield Uses Ignorance From 1985 About HIV – Don’t Re-Elected Idiots!

We Must Not Re-Elected Stupid! TN Senator Stacey Campfield Uses Stupid about HIV and AIDS

My “Comment” to a post shared by Donavon C. Reed October 24, 2013

I don’t know if Donavon https://www.facebook.com/donavon.reed expected the kind of response he got when he shared a post with a Teabonics photo https://www.facebook.com/Teabonics about a TN Senator Stacey Campfield showing his deplorable ignorance, but he sure got it. I met Donavon on Facebook when I didn’t know anything about using social media and he was willing to have patience with my ignorance and guide me on how to use this media for good. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to hopefully educate some about the ridiculous people that have actually been elected by people into an office that should represent good people.  Donavon. 

Take a look at this post:

Senator Stacey Campfield’s Idiotic Facebook Post Shared by Donavon C. Reed

I, as many others lost a coworker, partly because of the ignorance that surrounded HIV and AIDS back in 1985. Back then the virus and disease was emerging and we just didn’t know much about it. There was also prejudice and mistreatment. Tracey (an Emergency Medical Technician ((EMT),) worked for New York City’s Emergency Medical Service NYC*EMS as did I. When she contracted the HIV the city decided to try to prosecute her instead of paying for her care or giving any assistance whatever.

I explain in my comment to Donavon’s post which I put here and is the photo above:

 In 1985, while HIV was emerging and we didn’t know much about it at all, I was teaching Paramedics at the New York City Emergency Medical Services academy. It was a scary time for healthcare providers and first responders. We weren’t really sure of all the ways it could be contracted, and not be contracted. Think about treating bloody, vomiting, spitting, patients and not knowing if you would contract a virus of which there was no cure for. I was very fortunate to be taught by Dr. Gillette who was one of eight physicians chosen by the government to disseminate information throughout the medical community as it was learned by the scientific and medical communities. Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) was initially known as LTV-1 and then LTV-2, (lymphatic T-cell Virus.) One of the biggest fears, and problems, was not knowing about how the the virus could be, and could not be, transmitted. An Emergency Medical Technician (EMT,) Tracey, contracted HIV by treated a patient in cardiac arrest. It progressed into Acquired Immunodeficiency Disease (AIDS.) She died at a very young age from treating a patient. There was a lot of prejudice back then. NYC*EMS chose to fight paying her medical bills and give any assistance, and instead chose to attack this EMT and spend a lot of money trying to prove that the disease was not work related and that she was promiscuous, and that she “probably contracted the disease through unprotected heterosexual sex.” She died after just a few tears while her and her family were actually going hungry. About a year after her death a judge decided that the city was “insane” with their claims and went off pretty good at the citie4s attorneys. He awarded the family some money. She was not able to get whatever little treatment that became available because the city chose to use the ignorance that was surrounding the disease. That was in 1985! We now know a tremendous amount about the virus and disease, how can this Senator, and other Tea Party members, and Republicans continue to use ignorance to try to win political gain is beyond me. Please go to www.Medic3569.blogspot.com

to find your Congressmen/women, and Senators, and their e-mail addresses and phone numbers to contact them about this, or any issue that you are passionate about. We must inundate their offices with our concerns to have any chance of being heard. I took the liberty of looking up this jackass’ contact information should you want to contact him. Please visit www.medic3569.blogspot.com

to contact YOUR representatives.

 Here is Senator Stacey Campfield’s contact information should you have something to say to him:

Senator Stacey Campfield

R-Knoxville
District 7 — Part of Knox County

 

district address

2011 Flagler
Knoxville, TN 37912

nashville address

301 6th Avenue North
Suite 317 War Memorial Bldg.
Nashville, TN 37243
Phone (615) 741-1766
sen.stacey.campfield@capitol.tn.gov

 And remember,
To contact YOUR Congressmen/women about anything you wish to be heard on, go to;
 Link to find YOUR Congressmen/women, their contact information, and how they voted

 And remember, to contact YOUR Senators about anything you wish to be heard on, go to;
Link to find your Senators, their contact information, and see how they voted

Have You Contacted Your 2 Senators and Your Congressmen/women Recently?

Use these links to find your Senators and Congressmen/women and e-mail or call them. You can also see how they voted on bills that interest you. Get involved in your government, tell them how you feel about issues that effect YOU.

To Find Your Senators, their Contact Information, and how they voted click on this link:
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

To Find Your Congressmen/women, their Contact Information, and how they voted click on this link:
 http://www.house.gov/representatives/find/

Let’s Hope America Can Start Moving Forward and Stop The Nonsense

Cartoon by web.media.mit.edu

Government Open, Debt Ceiling Lifted, Can We Move On To the Many Things That Have Been Neglected Now?

The fact that we got to this point, and how we got here, is not only embarrassing for the country, but it hurt the country in many ways, and very deeply. The economy lost a great deal. On October 1st Bloomberg News stated “A partial shutdown of the federal government will cost the U.S. at least $300 million a day in lost economic output at the start, according to IHS Inc. In sixteen days that would be $4.8 Billion, but it’s actually worse than that because it lasted so long. I guess we need to be grateful the end of the shutdown and the threat of default is behind us but it doesn’t feel like a time to celebrate. There are many families that have lost and will not be able to make back what was lost during this shutdown. Although the Federal workers may be paid for their time off, all the people, and businesses, that service them, and depend on income from tourists around our National Parks will never see the income they lost come back. For now, I guess we just have to be grateful it’s over.

Graphic by www.jpayplans.com

 Time to Start Rebuilding, Dealing With All The Other Issues That Were Neglected During the Obstructions

First we need to fix the enrollment computer problems for the Affordable Care Act. We have so many things that need tending it’s hard to think of what to do next; Jobs (maybe an infrastructure bill,) Immigration, Economy, Voting Rights, Equality, Climate, etc., etc.. The Congressmen/women and Senators must find a way to work together in the best interest of the people of this great country. The obstructionism and hatred has hurt this country but we shall overcome it. Perhaps we can at least start talking about some of these issues before the next round of talks about continuing resolutions and debt ceilings start again in January and February. There are many things in the works that need to be addressed like voter suppression laws in over 30 states, Women’s Rights that are being attacked, and the corruption of our politicians and elections that Citizen’s United has blown wide open. We’ll have to hope that the U.S. Supreme Court doesn’t make it ten times worse with McCutcheon v FEC. But “what can I do?” you might ask. You can gather facts from numerous sources, that’s important, and then contact your Congressmen/women and Senators.

Now is an Opportune Time to Contact YOUR Representatives to tell Them How YOU Feel about the Issues that We face

Graphic by capwiz.com

 Get the Facts First!

With news cycles being almost non-existent as far as how long a news cycle actually last with cable news and the internet it is more important than ever to make sure that you rely on more than one source, and the credibility  of those sources. I think it is extremely important to listen to different sources on any issue to know I’m hearing both sides, although at times I almost get sick to my stomach and wonder why it’s legal for our own politicians to knowingly go on TV or radio and lie, knowing damn well that they are lying. Once your sure you’ve formed an opinion from gathering facts from numerous sources e-mail, or call, your Congressmen/women, ans Senators (2) to tell them what YOU think would be better for yourself and the country. History shows that when the American people get involved and contact their representatives your voice gets louder and louder. You can make a difference. Finally, take the time to engage in conversation with your neighbors, your co-workers, your fellow Americans and have discussions on why you think a certain way. We obviously need to talk to the people who are representing us in the government, because right now all they hear is from the big money influences that only care about themselves having everything their way. The richest Americans have done extremely well since they took all the 401k’s, people’s equity in their homes (if they were able to keep their home at all,) basically their net worth. Middle class Americans have had stagnant wages and no growth because the 1% has all the money and the power because they control our lawmakers.

Use this link to find your Congressmen/women and how to call or e-mail them:

  http://www.house.gov/representatives/find/

Use this link to find your Two (2) Senators and how to call or e-mail them:

http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm 

Let’s Get Our Country Back to The Beautiful Country That It Is

Photo by walkerreort.blogspot.com

What Will Happen If We Actually Default, and Possibly Even Before The Deadline?

Photo by money.cnn.com

• Significantly increased interest costs on the national debt
• Long-term negative impacts for the U.S. economy
• Real, tangible, and costly consequences for everyday Americans
• Severe, unpredictable consequences for the U.S. and the world financial system
• Macroeconomic consequences that increase with each day the debt ceiling restrains activity
• An immense amount of unpredictable downside risk to the U.S. economy

 The Center For American Progress lists the above items as what will happen if our legislators don’t lift the debt ceiling in a timely manner. Actually, we can learn from the past and realize that we may not even have to hit the deadline before damage is done. When Standard and Poor’s downgraded the U. S. credit rating in August 2011it said “the downgrade reflects our view that the effectiveness, stability, and predictability of American policymaking and political institutions have weakened.” An increase in the interest premium paid on the federal debt of between 0.1 percentage points and 0.5 percentage points would cost taxpayers between $120 billion and $600 billion over the next 10 years.

See the Entire Center For American Progress article at www.americanprogress.org/issues/budget/report/2013/10/10/76713/what-should-we-expect-if-the-united-states-defaults-2/

 Virtually every kind of credit used by middle-class Americans—from credit cards to student, auto, and home loans—is connected to interest rates on Treasuries. Typically, the issuers of these credit products make their profits by charging an additional interest spread on top of Treasury rates, so an increase in the interest rate on Treasuries alone will drive up borrowing costs.

 Increased credit costs would have a significant direct effect on the recovery, even in the case of a very short-term default. As investors demand a larger risk premium on Treasuries, this cost will be passed through to financing costs in the housing and auto sectors. After struggling over the past few years, these sectors have recently regained steam and have begun to lead the recovery. Due in part to favorable lending conditions and pent-up demand, auto sales are on pace for their best year since 2007.

 None of these costs are trivial, especially at this fragile moment in the economic recovery. Default will carry long-lived increases in the risk premium paid on Treasury bonds, which filter through to every type of borrowing and banking done by Main Street America. Increased volatility in asset prices and decreases in consumer and business confidence as well as household wealth are harmful to an economy at any point; given the current state of the recovery, even these consequences—which are the least severe and most easily understood ones of a temporary default—will impose real, significant costs on average Americans.

 If the American economy were a typical one, a default would go something like this: Investors would get spooked, pull capital out of U.S. stocks and bonds, take losses, and move their money to safer assets in other countries. Back in the United States, interest rates would rise and asset prices and the U.S. dollar would fall. Imports would become more expensive and inflation would rise. Gross domestic product, or GDP, and employment would fall. A default would be catastrophic, but in an utterly predictable way. Over time, the fall in the value of the dollar would make U.S. manufacturing and exports more competitive, leading the economy out of a deep recession and bringing the country back to reasonable conditions after a mere lost decade or two.
 
 In part, in the conclusion of the article, Michael Madowitz an Economist at the Center for American Progress states that the United States has already been through one financial crisis, which taught us valuable lessons about the financial system. Legislators would be wise to consider those lessons now. The day-to-day U.S. economy is more reliant on a well-functioning financial system than previously thought, and there is a much clearer picture of how destabilizing financial market turmoil is to the real economy. The system is also less stable and less well understood than previously assumed—an especially important lesson for legislators who are proceeding as if they can use the U.S. economy as a bargaining chip in an unrelated, entirely political disagreement.
Political considerations aside, it is all but inconceivable that Congress would be irresponsible enough to not lift the debt ceiling. This belief is likely responsible for the lack of market movement against U.S. Treasuries so far, but the lack of movement underscores how destabilizing it could be if Congress fails to lift the debt ceiling before it affects the global financial system and American families.

It’s time that you spoke up. Contact YOUR Congressmen/women and Senators and tell them to STOP playing politics and do the work that they were elected to do. We’re OUT OF TIME!

Find and contact YOUR Congressmen/women by using this link where all you need is your zip code:
http://www.house.gov/representatives/find/ At this site it is very easy to find who your Congressmen/women are AND to send them an e-mail.

Find and contact YOUR Senators (2) by using this link where all you need is your zip code:
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm  At this site it is very easy to find who your Senators are AND to send them an e-mail.

Use this E-mail Template to Contact YOUR Senators and Congressmen to Institute the "Congressional Reform Act of 2013"

I am asking you to present/or move a bill called “The Congressional Reform Act of 2012.”  I just sent this to Senator Chuck Schumer, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, and Congressman Tim Bishop. Please feel free to copy and paste the template portion of this post.It contains the following;

1. No Tenure/No Pension

2.A Congressman/woman receives pay when they are in office, they receive no pay when not in office.

3.Congress (Past, Present, and Future)participates in Social Security.

4. All funds in the Congressional retirement fund move to the Social Security system immediately. All future funds flow into the Social Security system, and Congress participates with the American people.

5. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan, just as all Americans do.

6. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise. Congressional pay will raise the lower of CPI or 3%.

7. Congress loses their current health care insurance and participates in the health care marketplace exchanges.

8. Congress must equally abide by the impose on the American people.

9. All contracts with past and present Congressmen/women are void 12/01/2013. The American people did not make these contracts with the Congressmen/women.

I believe this may have been suggested by Warren Buffet as a way to lower the debt. Either way I think it’s a great proposal. I realize the Congress getting paid is in the constitution so if a constitutional amendment is called for, so be it.

Please let me know at your earliest convenience where you stand on this proposal.

Thank you for your great service in the past.

END OF TEMPLATE

Use this link to find and contact YOUR Senator: http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm 

Use this link to contact YOUR Congressmen/women: http://www.house.gov/representatives/ 

The “Congressional Reform Act information was from a post by Josh Duhamel on September 5, 2013.

Congressional Reform Act of 2012? "Warren Buffet-How To End The Deficit in 5 Minutes"

 Demand Our Congress Live Like The Rest of Americans and Tell Our Senate and Congress to Pass This

This appeared on my News Feed on Facebook from Josh Duhamel.   I think we should ALL save the picture and then send it to our Senators and Congressmen, demanding it be made a bill, passed by the House and Senate, and signed by the President.

I love this. I think we should e-mail it to all our Senators and Congressmen and tell them we want this to become a bill and passed by the house and Senate. In fact I’m going to send this picture to Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and Senator Chuck Schumer, my Senators, and Congressman Tim Timothy Bishop, my Congressman. I urge EVERYONE, RIGHT NOW, to use these links to find your Senators and Congressmen and their contact information and send this picture to them and demand it be made a bill, and passed;

To find your Senators and their contact information:
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

To find your Congressmen and their contact information:
http://www.house.gov/representatives/

I just sent an e-mail to my Senators and Congressmen. Please join me. It’s easier than you think, DO IT NOW!