Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Louie Gohmert is stupid again (Part 2)

Republican representative Louie Gohmert, makes no effort to hide the fact he's a loon, and today Louie makes another stunning effort in his race to be the top ranked moron in the House GOP!

Here is the text of Mr. Gohmert's comment: Well, it’s obvious that John McCain didn’t even read the letter because of what he said in accusing Michele and us of making these horrible accusations. There were five letters and there were many things that are stated that are facts in each letter. And I wish some of these numb nuts would go out and read the letter before they make these horrible allegations about the horrible accusations we’re making. But we also know that John McCain himself had said back in the early stages of stuff going on in Egypt that he was, in his words, “unalterably opposed to helping the Muslim Brotherhood.” Well, obviously the unalterable person has been altered, so he is okay with it now.

Full article with audio feed available here: http://thinkprogress.org/security/2012/07/24/576071/tea-party-congressman-calls-mccain-numb-nuts-for-criticizing-bachmanns-anti-muslim-witch-hunt/?mobile=nc

It appears Mr. Ghomert is allying himself with fellow house loon Michelle Bachmann (R-MN) in their two person crusade against Muslims. Recall it was Gohmert who, in the not too distant past, came up with the "terror babies" theory, where Muslim babies being born in the US are really a sleeper cell, that will be programmed to carry out terrorist attacks in the distant future. Ms. Bachmann has been making news (of the weird) with here attacks on a Muslim person in the Secretary of States Office who is a senior aide Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

With what we have seen from the republican party, this is one major tactic they use as an offensive weapon; that is distract with wild accusations and inane theories dealing with a "scary" threat to US and American freedom. In the 1950's republican Joseph McCarthy (WI) stirred up the country with his witch hunt for communists inside the US government, and here we have in 2012 a similar situation where fear mongering about Muslims inside the US government.

Again this begs the question: Just HOW do candidates like Louie Gohmert and Michelle Bachmann manage to get elected..............it really boggles the mind that anyone with any resemblance or sanity could actually walk into a voting booth and cast a ballot for candidates like Gohmert and Bachmann.

Friday, July 20, 2012

Louie Gohmert is stupid again!

In the wake of the tragic shootings last night in Aurora, Colorado, during a midnight showing of the new Batman movie, most politicians took time to denounce random acts of violence.

But not Louie Gohmert (R-TX) who used this insane incident to make yet another idiotic statement on the reasons behind the shooting by saying: "You know what really gets me, a Christian, is to see the ongoing attacks on Judeo-Christian beliefs, and then some senseless crazy act of a derelict takes place."

"Some of us happen to believe that when our founders talked about guarding our virtue of freedom, that was important," he said on the show, "People say...where was God in all of this? We've threatened high school graduation participation's if they use God''s name, they're going to be jailed... I mean that kind of stuff. Where was God? What have we done with God? We don't want him around."

Gohmert also criticized why no one in the theater struck back.

"It does make me wonder, with all those people in the theater, was there nobody that was carrying a gun that could have stopped this guy more quickly?" he said.


Full article here: http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2012/07/20/congressman-gohmert-says-colorado-shooting-linked-to-attacks-on-christianity

Now ol' Louie G is no stranger to making asinine comments and this example further entrenches his position as one of of Congresses looniest members. it's a tight race for looniest Republican between Michelle Bachmann (R MN), Virginia Foxx (R-NC), Louie Gohmert (R-TX), Alan West (R-FL) & Joe Walsh (R-IL)...........any one of these certifiable morons can pop off an idiotic statement at any given time.

Thursday, July 12, 2012

Actual Mitt Romney quotes! Was he a Democrat?

We know the Mitt Romney of today is not the same Mitt Romney who said the following in previous campaigns............wonder how these quotes would play with his supporters of 2012?!?!

1) "I believe abortion should be safe and legal in this country"

2) "I believe that, since Roe v. Wade has been the law for 20 years, we should sustain and support it"

3) "Look, I was an independent during the time or Reagan/Bush, I'm not trying to return to Reagan/Bush"

4) "I want universal coverage, I want everyone in Massachusetts and this country to have insurance"

5) "I'll be better than Ted Kennedy for gay rights"

From looking at the above quotes, it's pretty safe to say most DEMOCRATS would be happy to make the exact same claims!!

Now we all know people can change. Republican hero Ronald Reagan was himself, a Democrat before making big money in movies, and switching over to Republican, well, because he knew Republicans would better serve his new found wealth.

Are opinions on Health Care act changing?

Pew Research recently released new poll numbers on various issues surrounding the 2012 elections:

Over the last 4 Pew polls the numbers of pepole approving of the health care law (ACA) have yo-yo'ed back and forth. Seemed from 2009 through late 2011 every poll had more people in disapproval of the ACA.

Four recent polls Pew released from March 2012 through June 2012 shows the law gaining the edge with more people approving of the ACA in two of their four polls.

March 2012: 44% against vs 40% for
April 2012: 47% for vs 45% against
May 2012: 49% against vs 41% for
June 2012: 47% for vs 43% against.

Link to Pew results: http://www.people-press.org/files/legacy-pdf/7-12-12%20Political%20Release.pdf

So the populace seems to be finding a middle ground on the health care act with equal numbers on each side.

Now that the Supreme Court has made their ruling, that removes the technical "constitutionality" aspect of the law (though some will still remain adamant the law is unconstitutional). With the SC ruling out of the way and on record, it now comes down to the law itself. There is a huge amount of misinformation, misunderstanding and outright lies being tossed around regarding the law. However, if the real iron clad truth of the law gets through to people, I think we will see future polls slide to showing more people in favor of the law.

Once people see that there are benefits and that the law is not a government take over, not a tax on the middle class, does not cut from Medicare, does not ration health care and there are no "death panels", people should be seeing the positives that this law will bring to the people.

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Smallest Government Spender Since Eisenhower?

Here is a fact you absolutely, 100%, will not hear from republicans, right-wing pundits or Fox News:

In fiscal 2010 (the first Obama budget) spending fell 1.8% to $3.46 trillion.

In fiscal 2013 — the final budget of Obama’s term — spending is scheduled to fall 1.3% to $3.58 trillion.

The above information seems to refute the claims of republicans & the common mantra that "Obama is spending like a wild man".

For more info, see this link from of all sources FORBES?!?! Yep, that FORBES. The Forbes magazine who's publisher and founders son was a candidate for the GOP nomination in past election cycles.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/rickungar/2012/05/24/who-is-the-smallest-government-spender-since-eisenhower-would-you-believe-its-barack-obama/

Those who insist Obama is a wild spender will point to the 2009 budget, which did, indeed increase 17.9% from $2.98 trillion to $3.52 trillion. But this is erroneous as every presidents first year in office is served under the previous administrations budget, in this case the increase was the budget proposed by George W Bush, which congress approved.

Therefore, the first "Obama" budget was the 2010 budget which actually cut spending from 2009 levels.

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

The Health Care Law - The Govt takeover Lie

Now that the Supreme Court of the United States has ruled on the Patient Protection & Affordable Care Act (ACA) and validated the laws constitutionality, we can now sit back and brace ourselves for the endless streams of misinformation, myths and outright lies that will be foisted on the public from those who oppose the ACA.

Let's look at a few of the main misinformation, myths and lies that will ensue:

1) Calling the bill a “government takeover of health care” - This will be the biggest lie used to continue the Republican mantra that President Obama is a socialist and this ACA is the zenith of a huge government takeover of the country's Health Care system.

Nothing could be farther from the truth than this LIE. This law is a boon for PRIVATE Insurance companies as it brings in new customers that before might have avoided health insurance.

Not one doctor will switch from private practice to a government salary, not one medical clinic will be switched from private practice to government control and not one hospital will go from private/public (local municipality) ownership to a federally run operation. The only hospitals that are government run are the various VA (Veterans Administration) Hospitals.

This LIE was given the 2010 LIE OF THE YEAR award by PolitiFact: http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2010/dec/16/lie-year-government-takeover-health-care/

2) " ‘Obamacare’ puts the federal government between you and your doctor." - This is a favorite of Republicans was was used by Mitt Romney on the very day the Supreme Court issued their ruling.

Obviously Mitt Romney is taking the Fox News route/strategy, which is to keep saying and pounding away with the same LIE, to the point it becomes part of the national psyche. Similar to the Sarah Palin LIE about "Death Panels", she said it enough and with the aid of the mis-information machine that is Fox News, people actually bought into the falsehood that death panels were included in the law.

Things will remain the same under the ACA as they were before, because you will still be dealing with your private insurance provider.

The following is from PolitiFact: The overarching fact about the law is that it relies on the private sector. Employers still buy private health insurance for their workers. The law doesn’t change how much doctors are paid or what services they can provide, though it does create incentives and penalties to promote better care. (One example: It penalizes hospitals if patients are re-admitted soon after being discharged.)

It establishes a minimum benefits package for insurance plans and fosters competition among health insurance companies by creating shopping websites. These sites, called exchanges, will allow customers to pick insurance plans the same way they might buy other things online, such as refrigerators or airplane tickets.The law also gives subsidies to people of limited means so they can buy their own insurance.

If the health care law did get between doctors and patients, you would think most doctors would complain loudly. While some do, the leading physician advocacy group, the American Medical Association, does not. On the contrary, the AMA supports the law.


See full PolitiFact article here: http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2012/jul/09/mitt-romney/health-law-puts-government-between-patients-and-do/

3) "The health care law rations care, like systems in Canada and Great Britain." - This is the third Lie in the republican trifecta of mis-information against the ACA.

From Media Matters:  Insurance companies already ration care. Insurance companies acknowledge that they ration care, restricting coverage of procedures and tests like MRIs and CAT scans and denying coverage for pre-existing medical conditions.

I myself was limited by insurance to 1 of 3 tests my physician wanted me to undergo, because my insurance did not cover the stress test or colon-oscopy.

More from Media Matters: Insurance companies ration care by rescinding coverage. As former senior executive at CIGNA health insurance company Wendell Potter explained in June 24 Senate testimony, insurance companies restrict or deny coverage by rescinding health insurance policies on the grounds that people had undisclosed pre-existing conditions. President Obama recently cited one such example, noting that "[a] woman from Texas was diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer, was scheduled for a double mastectomy. Three days before surgery ... the insurance company canceled the policy, in part because she forgot to declare a case of acne. ... By the time she had her insurance reinstated, the cancer had more than doubled in size."

From AARP:
Fact: None of the health reform proposals being considered would stand between individuals and their doctors or prevent any American from choosing the best possible care.
Fact: Health care reform will NOT give the government the power to make life or death decisions for anyone regardless of their age. Those decisions will be made by an individual, their doctor and their family.
Fact: Health care reform will help ensure doctors are paid fairly so they will continue to treat Medicare patients.
Bottom Line: Health reform isn't about rationing; it's about giving people the peace of mind of knowing that they will be able to keep their doctors and that they will always have a choice of affordable health plans.
For more from AARP: http://aarp.convio.net/site/PageNavigator/Myths_vs_Facts