44 Senators want to raise taxes on poor

By Bill Scher

OurFuture.org

 

Yesterday the Senate passed legislation to end the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy, but extend them for annual income below $250,000. This passed with only Democratic votes, as Republicans for once decided not to filibuster.

The agreement not to filibuster included the opportunity for Senators to vote on a Republican alternative: which literally cut taxes for the wealthy (by extending the Bush tax cuts) while raising taxes on the poor and middle class (by refusing to extend Obama tax cuts for college tuition and for working families.

The Republican bill lost on the floor 45-54.

But how many Senators voted to raise taxes on the poor and the middle class, while cutting them for the wealthy ... and then refused to back the Democratic bill extending the Bush tax cuts to the middle class only?

In other words, how many Senators believe the problem is the rich pay too much and the poor pay too little in taxes?

44 of 'em. Here they are.

Alexander (R-TN)
Ayotte (R-NH)
Barrasso (R-WY)
Blunt (R-MO)
Boozman (R-AR)
Burr (R-NC)
Chambliss (R-GA)
Coats (R-IN)
Coburn (R-OK)
Cochran (R-MS)
Corker (R-TN)
Cornyn (R-TX)
Crapo (R-ID)
DeMint (R-SC)
Enzi (R-WY)
Graham (R-SC)
Grassley (R-IA)
Hatch (R-UT)
Heller (R-NV)
Hoeven (R-ND)
Hutchison (R-TX)
Inhofe (R-OK)
Isakson (R-GA)
Johanns (R-NE)
Johnson (R-WI)
Kyl (R-AZ)
Lee (R-UT)
Lugar (R-IN)
McCain (R-AZ)
McConnell (R-KY)
Moran (R-KS)
Murkowski (R-AK)
Paul (R-KY)
Portman (R-OH)
Risch (R-ID)
Roberts (R-KS)
Rubio (R-FL)
Sessions (R-AL)
Shelby (R-AL)
Snowe (R-ME)
Thune (R-SD)
Toomey (R-PA)
Vitter (R-LA)
Wicker (R-MS)

If one of them belongs to you, you might consider picking up the phone and telling them how you feel about that.

Fire restrictions lifted on Tonto forest

PHOENIX (July 24, 2011) – All campfire, smoking, and target shooting restrictions affecting the Tonto National Forest are being lifted, effective 8 a.m., Wednesday, July 25.

The fire restrictions, which covered the entire forest, are no longer needed because fire danger has been reduced by increased moisture and humidity from the annual monsoon weather. These conditions prompted officials to lift the forest fire restrictions which have been in place since May 15.

“Although campfires and cooking fires will now be allowed throughout the forest, we ask visitors to remain cautious and properly extinguish their fires. Campfires have to be cold enough to touch before they are left,” said Acting Fire Staff Helen Graham.  “Campfires should be put out by drowning with water and stirring the ashes with first a shovel, then bare hands, to ensure the fire is cold -- and dead out.”

“The use of tracer bullets and incendiary ammo is banned on all national forests at all times,” concluded Graham, “whether we are in fire restrictions or not.  We are concerned because an increasing number of fire starts on our forest are attributed to target or recreational shooting.”

Acting Forest Supervisor Clay Templin acknowledged the cooperation of the visiting public during the period of fire restrictions which began two months ago. 

“We appreciate the public’s support during these fire restrictions,” Templin said. “We thank everyone for their patience and understanding while access and activities on the Tonto were restricted during this wildfire season.  We appreciate our visitors’ patience and support of the restrictions.”

                 For more information regarding forest recreation sites and fire restrictions, please contact the Tonto National Forest at (602) 225-5200, or check online at www.fs.usda.gov/tonto

Romney finally talks about his dog

satire alert

By Andy Borowitz

borowitzreport.com

NEW HAMPSHIRE (The Borowitz Report)—In a new effort to settle nagging questions about his finances, Republican Presidential pick Mitt Romney today told reporters that his dog ate his tax returns and also served as C.E.O. of Bain Capital from 1999 to 2002.

Mr. Romney’s narrative about the Irish setter Seamus Romney, shared with reporters during a campaign stop in New Hampshire, was perhaps the most emotional invocation of a pet by a politician since Richard M. Nixon’s famed Checkers speech of 1952.

“Seamus was more than a dog,” Mr. Romney said, his voice beginning to quaver. “As C.E.O. of Bain, he was a job creator.”

But Mr. Romney’s revelations about his dog’s career in private equity may have raised more questions than it answered, as a spokesperson for People For the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) questioned the G.O.P. candidate’s latest version of events.

“If we are to believe Mitt Romney, in 2002 while Seamus was supposedly running Bain Capital he would have been at least 140 years old [in dog years],” said PETA’s Carol Foyler. “This shaggy-dog story represents Mitt Romney’s latest act of animal cruelty.”
Minutes after PETA’s response, Mr. Romney released an amended statement, saying that Seamus Romney had served as C.E.O. of Bain “posthumously.”

It was a quieter day for Mr. Romney’s wife Ann, who, after her recent “you people” gaffe on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” was seen riding home on the roof of Mr. Romney’s car.

Lax US gun controls just plain crazy

By Juan Cole

Informed Comment

readersupportednews.org

22 July 12

umber of Murders, United States, 2010: 12,996

Number of Murders by Firearms, US, 2010: 8,775

Number of Murders, Britain, 2011*: 638
(Since Britain's population is 1/5 that of US, this is equivalent to 3,095 US murders)

Number of Murders by firearms, Britain, 2011*: 58
(equivalent to 290 US murders)

Number of Murders by crossbow in Britain, 2011*: 2
(equivalent to 10 US murders).

The international comparisons show conclusively that fewer gun owners per capita produce not only fewer murders by firearm, but fewer murders per capita overall. In the case of Britain, firearms murders are 30 times fewer than in the US per capita.

Do hunters really need semi-automatic AR-15 assault weapons? Is that how they roll in deer season? 

* British crime statistics are September to September, so 2011 is actually 2010-2011.

The other tragedies in the Colorado shooting

Decay in our culture needs definition

By Bob Edwards

Gazette Contributor

(Gazette Blog Editor's note: Bob Edwards is a former Michigan state legislator and former mayor of Payson.)

 

Once again America is shocked by true evil and once again we have to ask, have we learned from our past.

Our politicians clearly have not, proving again that their number one goal is self preservation when their first reaction is to jump in front of the nearest camera to push whatever stance they support.

Likewise, our press once again proved they don’t understand that the first rule of a real journalist is to gather true information and impart it to the public in a true and unvarnished manner. This was demonstrated when ABC’s   Brian Ross, in an interview with George Stephanopoulos, made the false charge that the shooter was a member of the Tea Party. This was a very dangerous and damaging charge and to make it without proof should qualify Ross for the unemployment line. It was also disappointing to see a veteran newsperson like Stephanopoulos just accept the possibility without warning of possible error and to not make the point that the record of the Tea Party has been peaceful assembly and if the person had truly been a member he would clearly be a rogue member. 

In sharp contrast to the self-serving politicians and the knee jerk press is the action of military man Jon Blunk who put himself on top of his girl friend Jansen Young sacrificing his life to save hers.

Instead o f the politicians looking for self-aggrandizement they should be looking to define the decay of our culture that allows this type of action to take place on an all too frequent basis. America was created as a Christian nation based on a Judeo-Christian foundation; but today, that foundation is under attack with situation ethics as its replacement. This attack is done in the name of separation of church and state by those who misinterpret the Constitution and who see the church as an enemy. 

Whether you agree or disagree with this, it is hard to argue with the fact that these principles have served us better than the current “situation ethics” approach. However, before Christian churches look for others to blame for the America’s moral decay they need to look inward and ask if they are leading or following.

Alex de Tocqueville, a French political writer whose works about the American wonder are still used in universities today, visited America in its early days to find its secret of greatness. He concluded “America is great because America is good; and if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great.”

All countries and all men are as good as the principles that guide them, America has been good because it is guided by Judeo-Christian principles… should it walk away from these principles, it will fail to be the exceptional nation our forefathers designed and Tocqueville found.

An apparent conclusion to this type of tragedy is that if we are waiting for our political or church leaders to alter America’s moral structure to prevent future tragedies we will probably be disappointed… it would appear that it is on the shoulders of each peace and America loving citizen to take action.

Where's the alternative to Obamacare?

By Jim Hightower

nationofchange.org

Here's some useful advice from an old country saying: Never try to teach table manners to a pig — it doesn't work, it'll wear you out, and it just annoys the pig.

The same advice goes for anyone who thinks they can teach even a bit of common sense to the preening political ideologues who've taken over the Republican Party and the U.S. House of Representatives. As we've seen in their incessant, pigheaded attacks on the health care reform law, their minds are not merely fogged up with extremist anti-government theories, they're impervious to rational thought.

They failed to defeat Obamacare in 2010, despite trying to scare old people with mindless lies about "death panels." Now they're trying to repeal the law by getting people to swallow their hogwash that it contains "a massive tax hike on the middle class."

Really? No. One, it's not massive; two, it's a payment for direct benefit that people will receive, namely decent health care coverage; three, very few people will have to pay the so-called "tax" at all; and four, many people and small business will get tax credits and federal assistance to offset the cost of coverage.

Their greatest failure, however, is that they offer no alternative to Obamacare. During the debate on their latest attempt to repeal the law, a Democratic lawmaker asked for a copy of the GOP's health care plan so he could read it aloud to other members. Silence in the chamber.

The Republicans' political slogan has been to "repeal and replace" Obama's reform, but they've dropped the replace part, saying they can't offer an alternative until they complete the repeal.

No surprise — I doubt this bunch can walk and chew gun at the same time.

Though they're a tenacious bunch! Maybe not tenacious, more like dogmatic, obstinate and obtuse, too. Pigheaded — yeah, that's it.

So, once again, on July 11, GOP lawmakers threw a group hissy fit on the floor of the House over the Affordable Care Act that Obama and the Democrats passed two years ago — a law the Supreme Court has just recently ruled to be constitutional. The House Repubs hate, hate, hate that law. So, all 244 GOP members pursed their lips in a collective pout and voted in lockstep to outright repeal the blanket-blank ACA. That'll show Obama who's boss, they crowed!

Well, not really, since their "repeal" won't pass the Senate, much less get past the president's veto pen. But these pouty solons are not really interested in legislating — they're into political peacocking, putting on a show for the fans in the far-right-wing bleachers. And apparently it's an interminable farce, for this was the 31st time that they've voted to repeal the law!

Thirty-one replays with the same do-nothing result. Don't they have real work to do? At some point (probably back at about vote number 20 or 25), they crossed over from appearing ideologically steadfast ... to just plain stupid.

They snidely assailed the health care reform as "Obamacare," as though that's a pejorative. But as the law has begun taking affect, more and more Americans are liking it a lot, because it produces real benefits for us. Start with the 30 million people who get help in affording prescription drugs, plus all of us who get some relief from the gouging and constant denial of coverage by monopolistic insurance giants, and Obamacare becomes a label of pride.

If I were him, I'd run on it — and go after the petty politicos who're trying to take away the benefits it provides for people.

PSWID playing games with conservation signs

[The PSWID board has scheduled a board meeting for July 28^th at 10:00 AM in the Pine Cultural Center.]

By Sam Schwalm

Water for Pine Strawberry

On the Pine Strawberry Water Improvement District (PSWID) website, www.pwsid.org, the following has been posted:

“Our initial request to our customer’s to conserve water was issued while we resolved our mechanical issues with booster pumps and the subsequent filling of the water tanks in the Pine service area.

"While we believed the mechanical issue would not be sustained, we requested our customers to conserve water.

"Today, our Water Conservation and Drought Management Measures remain at Drought Stage 0. Despite remaining at Drought Stage 0, we still ask that our customers be conscious of their water use.”

Comment: PSWID found itself in the situation where they had lost a major chunk of stored water as part of the incident, they were hauling water to try and recover that storage, and they were heading into what is historically the highest summer water usage period, the Fourth of July. They were telling the community to curtail water use. One has to wonder just how bad it would have to get in order for them to declare a Drought Stage 1.

Comment: The Stages are meant as a tool to communicate to the community when there is a water supply problem. PSWID seems to see them as an admission of failure rather than a communication tool. Last summer there were several times when the water levels fell below the thresholds that would call for the changing the Stage level. No changes to the Stage were issued. When the board approved the new Stages, it was fairly clear that they were unlikely to ever be used. That thinking was confirmed when the next month the board agreed to take down the signs at Mr. Pugel’s request. A reminder of the past and bad for business. State law requires the conservation stage plan and a notification method, but doesn’t require that it be effective. So post office posting and an email to those who have signed up will be the only notice we get.

This update is from the group Water For Pine Strawberry. We will be sending out an update after each of the PSWID meetings with a summary of what the board did, additional facts that are relevant to what went on, and some commentary. Updates on earlier meetings are available on our website: www.WaterForPineStrawberry.com .

Water For Pine Strawberry is a group of residents who are concerned about the community’s water issues and how they can best be resolved. Visit our web site, www.WaterForPineStrawberry.com, for more information. The website for PSWID is www.pswid.org .

Clarifications can be submitted by anyone who is explicitly named, implicitly identifiable, or a board member to items in this update. Clarifications will be posted on our website. We reserve the right to post a response. Clarifications must deal with the topics discussed in the update that relate to the individual or the board. They must be in family friendly language and be non-abusive. When the clarification is accepted, it will be posted to the website and notice of that posting will be added to the next update.