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Thursday, January 3, 2013

January 3, 2013 - Morning Headlines

- Hillary Clinton was discharged from a New York hospital yesterday after receiving treatment for a blood clot in her head (CNN): http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/02/politics/clinton-hospitalized/index.html?hpt=hp_t3

- After receiving heat from his own party, Speaker Boehner has pledged there will be two House votes on Hurricane Sandy relief aid by month's end (ABC News): http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2013/01/boehner-pledges-two-votes-on-sandy-aid-by-months-end

- The surviving students of Sandy Hook elementary are returning to school today, in what is being billed as a "normal" day by the superintendent (CBS News): http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57561765/newtown-shooting-survivors-go-back-to-school/

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4 comments:

  1. I realize John Boehner is everyone's favorite butt-monkey... BUT

    ...I wonder, did King OR Christie OR the REST of the PINHEADS who bashed him over the SENATE originated Sandy bill even 'READ it - to find out what's in it'?

    http://www.flashreport.org/blog/2013/01/03/prolific-pork-in-u-s-senate-bill-to-aid-victims-of-hurricane-sandy-is-shameful/

    Highlights include:

    $8 million to buy cars and equipment for the Homeland Security and Justice departments.
    $150 million for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to dole out to fisheries in Alaska
    $2 million for the Smithsonian Institution to repair museum roofs in DC.
    $207 million for the VA Manhattan Medical Center
    $3.3 million for the Plum Island Animal Disease Center
    $1.1 million to repair national cemeteries
    $58.8 million for forest restoration on private land.
    $10.78 billion for public transportation, most of which is allocated to future construction and improvements, not disaster relief.
    $17 billion for wasteful Community Development Block Grants (CDBG), a program that has become notorious for its use as a backdoor earmark program.
    $197 million “to… protect coastal ecosystems and habitat impacted by Hurricane Sandy.”
    $41 million to fix up eight military bases, including Guantanamo Bay, Cuba
    $4 million for repairs at Kennedy Space Center in Florida (because Florida is so close to New Jersey, right?)

    Oh yes, for good measure there is an eye-popping $13 billion slated to go to “mitigation” projects to prepare for future storms.

    The BULK of funds in this bill are for Dingy Harry and Co's PET PORK PROJECTS and NOT for Sandy victims...

    Maybe if Chris Christie had READ the bill - he'd be mad at the SENATE leader (DIMocrat Dingy Harry Reid) instead of Boehner - for loading it up with WASTEFUL SPENDING and using the Sandy Disaster to LINE THE POCKETS OF HIS FRIENDS...

    or maybe - Christie DID read it - and they're HIS friends as well? They're ALL so crooked, it's hard to know anymore.

    Anyway - Boehner DID his JOB (for once).

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  2. Hello Dara and Happy New Year!!!

    Well, the year may have changed but you and I disagreeing seems to still be the status quo :).

    Boehner's job is to reach comprimise and to allow a vote and such a critical issue. I have grown up on the Jersey shore for just about every summer of my life and now, my children are fortunate enough to have the same opportunity. I can't remember it EVER taking this long to approve emergency aid for disaster victims. Even in the Hurricane Katrina debacle, aid was approved within two weeks (I believe). It is not Boehner's job to determine, unilaterally, what does and does not get voted on. In the meantime, he is leaving hundreds of thousands to millions of people without the help they need. Contrary to popular belief, the insurance companies are not helping people. They are telling most folks (my father, and two co-workers of mine) that they are not covered - those are the only 3 people I asked... small sample size, yes, but I believe it shows the insurance companies are doing what they do, not helping those they are supposed to when they are supposed to. Also, most of these towns generate most of their revenues during the summers season. Without the funds that Boehner is blocking, these towns will not be ready to handle people for the summer. This will have a lasting affect on these towns. What he is doing is disgusting and for the R's to re-elect him as Speaker is equally disgusting. I think that all of the congressional leadership should change because I believe they are all equally inept and that not a single one of them is doing their job. A leader would have put the measure up for vote to allow his peers to decide. He could have simultaneously introduced a bill to defund the pork. That would have not only shown leadership but would have raised him above the BS by allowing the vote and, even if it passed, he could have then defunded the pork showing a genuine, and warranted, concern over the bill. At that point, win or lose, he did his job. Right now, he is a power hungry obstructionist doing anything but his job.. in my opinion!

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    Replies
    1. I agree that Boehner should NOT have been re-elected as speaker. I do NOT agree that he should have simply shoved a pork ladened bill on his peers... especially on the heels of the equally pork ladened fiscal 'deal'... this 'spending' bill should also NOT have originated in the SENATE. As with the SENATE originated fiscal cliff bill - NO ONE had taken the time to READ it.

      Also - WHY the big rush, now? When FEMA has stated publicly that they have ENOUGH funds to run through April.

      And IF, as they have stated, they HAVE the funds - WHY are people still waiting for help?

      The money is THERE, so WHO's dragging their feet to get help to these people... and WHY?

      Too many questions - too few answers.

      It seems like it's okay for BOTH parties to beat up on the R's, but the simple fact remains... BOTH parties are GUILTY AS CHARGED of wasting taxpayer money - they are BOTH GUILTY of sneaking 'goodies for their friends' into legislation and running up tabs that We the People can NO LONGER afford.

      Their mouths and pens are quite literally writing checks that OUR a$$es can NOT pay.

      It high time to DEMAND ALL spending bills be CLEAN and FREE from any costly and inefficient BACK DOOR promises of 'stuff' - separate and distinct from the 'problem' we're trying to 'fix' - 'earmarked' solely for the benefit of someone's 'friends.'

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    2. I don't think Boehner allowing a vote on something is pushing anything on anyone. It is simply allowing reasonable (allegedly) people from making a choice that is critical to a huge population block. That, in my opinion, is what his job is. Instead, he prefers the part of obstructionist, a role in which ALL congressional leaders have become quite adept.

      As for your questions, I have no answers for those. The money is needed now because the cities and towns affected by the storm need to rebuild roads, bulkheads, sidewalks, dunes, utility infrastructure, etc. I don't believe this is not FEMA money. Without that funding, these towns, who depend on the summer's for a LARGE bulk of their income, may fail. I can't remember any disaster, natural or otherwise, that has seen the government sit on their hands as long as this government has. We provided aide to Haiti faster than we're getting it to our own people. It is absolutely sickening as the insurance companies are doing the same thing... denying claim after claim. I've said it once and I'll keep saying it... the insurance industry is in itself a conflict of interest and MUST be regulated more stringently with meaningful penalties or must be taken out of the private sectors hands (not that I want it in the gov't hands but it can't be more against the people who need it than it already is) so that there will at least be transparency (FOIA, etc.).

      As for your last 3 paragraphs, I couldn't agree more and I'd imagine if put to a poll, we'd ALL be in 100% agreement. The fact that such a bill hasn't even been introduced (that I'm aware of) that would require 1 bill, 1 vote is the clearest example of a government gone wild and one that could care less about its constituents. It should pass both houses of congress unanimously. However, it won't because, like Boehner, NOBODY is doing their job!!!

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