Hysterical Raisins: The Devil and Daniel Webster

 This week, Rep. Daniel Webster (R-FL) conducted a town hall meeting in Astatula, FL.

During the event, a constituent asked Webster about how repealing health reform would affect citizens like her who have cancer (or other preexisting conditions) and found it next to impossible to get insurance in the private market.

Webster agreed with the constituent that – despite his voting to strip such protections in January – preexisting conditions ought to be covered by insurance.

Webster then went on to tell the audience that unless the health reform law, which covers preexisting conditions, is repealed, “we won’t have a country” anymore . . .

Daniel Webster beat Alan Grayson in the last congressional election. Ouch!

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Alan Grayson: Republican budget cuts would kill 70,000 children.

 In Washington, DC, the leaders of both parties are celebrating. “Woo-hoo, we made a deal! Isn’t that great?!”

Well, it depends on the deal.

There is one particular part of the federal budget that I’ve been following closely for the past couple of weeks. Since March 30th. When Rajiv Shah, the head of the US Agency for International Development, testified that Republican budget cuts would kill 70,000 children. 

“We estimate, and I believe these are very conservative estimates, that H.R. 1 [the original Republican budget proposal] would lead to 70,000 kids dying,” He said:

Of that 70,000, 30,000 would come from malaria control programs that would have to be scaled back specifically. The other 40,000 is broken out as [follows:] 24,000 would die because of a lack of support for immunizations and other investments, and 16,000 would [die] because of a lack of skilled attendants at birth.

Now, admittedly, all these children deliberately chose to be born outside the United States. To make things worse, they selected parents living in poverty. And, of course, most of them have brown skin.

Notwithstanding all that, I would very much prefer to see these children alive. Maybe it’s just me, but it disturbs me to think that 70,000 innocent children will die in pain from malaria or some other horrible disease, or die at birth because no one in the neighborhood happens to know how to perform an episiotomy.

Not to mention the mothers. Among women, at the time when my mother was born, the second leading cause of death was birth. Childbirth, specifically. That’s still true in some other parts of the world.

After I heard about Shah’s testimony, I looked up the bill he was referring to, H.R. 1. It’s true. In Title XI of the bill, the section on the State Department and Foreign Operations appropriations, there are big cuts.

Then yesterday, when the Republicans posted their new budget bill H.R. 1473 online,

I looked that up, too. And, starting on Page 364, I saw big cuts in the State Department and Foreign Operations appropriations. Not quite as big as H.R. 1. But still big.

Personally, I’d like to know how many children H.R. 1473 is going to kill. But no one in Washington, DC is likely to provide that figure, because the leaders of both parties are so busy celebrating the “compromise.”

But there is no compromise, there is no middle ground, between life and death.

The record for human sacrifice was established in 1487, by the Aztecs. Aztec priests slaughtered 80,000 prisoners of war, to celebrate their new temple. (The event was loosely portrayed in Mel Gibson’s 2006 movie Apocalypto.)

So no matter how many children H.R. 1473 may kill, it won’t set a record. At most, it will earn the silver medal for cruelty.

I just wish that someone, in either paOf that 70,000, 30,000 would come from malaria control programs that would have to be scaled back specifically. The other 40,000 is broken out as [follows:] 24,000 would die because of a lack of support for immunizations and other investments, and 16,000 would [die] because of a lack of skilled attendants at birth.rty, would make the case that the federal budget is not simply 500 pages of large numbers. It also represents our collective effort to feed the hungry, shelter the homeless, and heal the sick.

To help people accomplish whatever it is that they can accomplish in life, unburdened and undefeated by poverty, bigotry, hunger, unemployment, disease, racism, sexism and ignorance. Our collective effort to fulfill the last four words of the Pledge of Allegiance: “and justice for all.”
Ain’t that America?

Courage,

Alan Grayson
 
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The State of the Union message Alan Grayson would like to hear

 
President Obama is delivering his State of the Union message tomorrow. This is the speech that I would like to hear:

“My fellow Americans. Two years ago, 69 million of us voted for me to be our President. It was the largest vote for President that any person has ever received. But I understand that you did not support me merely because I have an unusual name. Especially the middle one. No, you supported me because I promised the change we need.

“We have been through two hard years, with many people losing their jobs, and many people losing their homes. You know that I did nothing to cause these problems, and I tried hard to solve them. Although our accomplishments have been substantial, an intransigent Republican minority in the Senate has blocked much of my legislative program.

“But a President is more than a legislative program. Although my title is ‘President,’ you did not elect me to preside. You elected me to lead.

“We are at a fork in the road. The Republican House Leadership demonstrated last week that its highest legislative priority is to prevent 30 million Americans from seeing a doctor when they are sick.

We can let Republican control of the House of Representatives doom us to no progress, no change, for the next two years. Or I can exercise my powers under the Constitution and our laws to deliver the change we need.

“I choose the latter. As for the Republican leaders, they can lead, follow, or just get out of the way.

“These are the things that I will do now, to give us the good government that we Americans deserve, and the change we need:

“First, to give the economy an immediate boost, I will direct the executive agencies to accelerate the obligation of federal contracts and grants, rather than waiting until the end of the fiscal year.

“Second, I will recognize the obvious, declare China a ‘currency manipulator,’ and end the forced currency union with China that we never asked for and we don’t want, which has cost us 5 million manufacturing jobs in the last decade. I will institute ‘anti-dumping’ actions to protect American jobs.

“Third, I will direct Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, the FHA and the VA to include in every home loan that they issue or finance a provision that requires mandatory mediation, at the bank’s expense, before foreclosure. Families who are in danger of losing their homes deserve at least that much.

“Fourth, I will direct both the Financial Stability Oversight Council and the Antitrust Division of the Justice Department to break up any financial institution that is considered ‘too big to fail.’ Too big to fail should mean too big to exist. There will be no more bailouts, no more Wall Street welfare.

“Fifth, I will ask the FBI to investigate and DOJ to prosecute anyone who committed criminal misconduct in connection with the collapse of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, AIG, Bear Stearns, Countrywide, Merrill Lynch, and all the rest.

I will ask the SEC to bar such people from publicly traded companies and the capital markets. In the 18 months before I took office, twenty percent of our national wealth was wiped out, and no one has been punished for that. If we leave the same people doing the same things, then those same disasters may well happen again. We can’t take that chance.

“Sixth, because corporate income tax revenues have dropped by half in the past decade, while Big Business is enjoying record profits, I will ask the IRS to audit every one of the Fortune 500. This will ensure that they are paying the taxes that are due, rather than evading taxes through transfer pricing and offshore tax havens. And I will ask FASB and the SEC to mandate that public companies keep one set of books, rather than one set for investors and a different one for the IRS.

“Seventh, I will direct the EPA to exercise its authority to treat carbon dioxide as a pollutant. I expect to be able to reduce our emissions and pollution as much as other countries do. If they can do it, then so can we.

“Eighth, I will ask the SEC to direct that shareholders in public companies must authorize all campaign expenditures in advance, and that public companies disclose all such expenditures within 48 hours.

We cannot allow trillion-dollar multinational companies to dictate the outcome of our elections secretly. We have to keep sewer money out of politics.

“Ninth, I ask the NLRB to take all available steps to ensure that the right of employees to organize, which is rooted in the Constitution’s ‘freedom of association,’ be defended – including the promulgation of ‘card check’ by regulation under the National Labor Relations Act.

“Finally, as Commander in Chief, I will bring all of our troops home from Iraq and Afghanistan by the end of this year, if not sooner. After a decade of war, it’s time for peace.

“Many of you heard me for the first time six years ago, when I said that I believe not in a Blue America or a Red America, but rather, I believe in America.

I still do. Americans deserve a good government, which delivers public services effectively and economically.

America also deserves leadership that recognizes our problems, attacks them, and solves them. That’s the change we need, and the change we deserve. I won’t settle for less.”

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Mediaite: Alan Grayson Shows How Bush Tax Cuts Will Benefit the GOP elite

Who are Rep. Alan Grayson's targets? The conservatives talking heads that populate Fox News every evening, often championing the very Bush Tax cuts at hand.

His strategy? Show just how much each pundit stands to make by the extending of the tax cuts.

The result? Brilliant television that is certain to both get attention and rile Grayson’s adversaries.

Just what he wants.

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Latest Congressman Alan Grayson ad

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Politico: Palin a 'half-baked Alaskan'

Alex Isenstadt - POLITICO.com 9/30/10 12:22 PM EDT
By ALEX ISENSTADT | 9/30/10 12:22 PM EDT
Florida Rep. Alan Grayson is hoping to raise money by warning supporters about an enemy even more menacing than “Taliban Dan Webster." That would be Sarah Palin’s zombie horde.

In a rambling, pop-culture-laden new fundraising appeal out Thursday morning, Grayson slams Palin, whom he derides as a “half-baked Alaskan” and “Her Tweetness" PLIN predictably endorsement grayson's GOP foe, Daniel Webster, on Palin’s Twitter account.

What is it about Sarah Palin and Twitter?” Grayson writes. “Is Palin fond of tweeting because she can draft a tweet on her palm? Is it that 140 characters represents the maximum length of Sarah Palin's attention span?
 

Grayson also claims that Palin is targeting him “like she was shooting a moose from a helicopter . . . "

See the rest of the story at http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0910/42948.html

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Alan Grayson: His opponent wants 'covenant marriage'

This is a funny email Rightardia got from Rep. Alan Grayson: 

My opponent Dan Webster -- endorsed in the primary by the Orlando Sentinel and by Jeb Bush -- may not have a clue on what to do about joblessness, homelessness, expensive healthcare, no money for schools or endless war. But he does know what to do about divorce.

Ban it.

In the Florida Legislature, Dan Webster sponsored and supported a bill to institute "covenant marriage." In a covenant marriage, you can't get divorced.
So Dan Webster's bill reduces the institution of marriage to a roach motel: You can check in, but you can't check out.

With one exception: adultery. So, let's say that your husband, God forbid, has been abusing you. And you need a divorce. You have only one option. According to Dan Webster's law, you would need to deliberately commit infidelity in order to get a divorce.

Ah, but here's the catch. Under Dan Webster's law, if both parties cheat on each other, then they can't get a divorce. Ever. They're locked in holy matrimony, forever. Like two scorpions in a bottle. So if you cheat on him to get away from him, and it turns out that he's cheated on you, well then . . . .

How can someone with such bizarre views even THINK about running for Congress, and making laws that would apply nationwide? Please contribute $25 or more now at CongressmanWithGuts.com toward my Money Bomb, and help me stop Daniel Webster.

There is only one place where in the entire world where both divorce and annulment are forbidden: The Taliban Government in Northwest Pakistan. And Taliban Dan wants to institute the same rule here. The man with the 19th century name wants to pass 13th century laws, which you and I will have to live by.
Stop Daniel Webster's "covenant marriage" scheme. Please donate $25 or more now at CongressmanWithGuts.com.

Dan Webster is not some fringe candidate. He was Speaker of the Florida House. He was Majority Leader of the Florida Senate. He was in the State Legislature for 28 years. And, as stated above, our daily newspaper and former Governor Jeb Bush have endorsed him in the primary.

We're in a real fight. Will you help?

Can you donate $25 or more now at CongressmanWithGuts.com to make sure that in 2011, I'm in Congress, not Dan Webster?

Truth,


Alan Grayson

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A Congressman with cojones

In 2008 Alan Grayson (D-FL Orlando) beat Republican incumbent Ric Keller 52-48% in a Republican-leaning district.

But instead of playing a defensive Republican-lite game, like so many red-district Democrats do, Grayson has become one of the most outspoken and effective champions of working families in Congress.

Ric Keller sat on the Education committee when he was in congress and allowed private lenders to refinance student loans. This was a real scam that did not serve the best interests of the students who had these loans.

Wirehead,  our IT writer, worked for a student loan company at the time and several of the senior managers in the company were making $5,000 a month in commissions  off of the backs of college students and graduates.

When Nancy Pelosi became Speaker of the House, this was one of the first Republican programs that was disbanded and unfunded. Student loans can no longer be consolidated and refinanced.

He may be public enemy #1 to reactionaries but he's been one of the rays of light for ordinary Americans looking for a plain-speaking and courageous member of Congress willing to stand up for us all.

Grayson has no fear, which drives the Republicans crazy. He was voted onto this page by a poll of all past Blue America donors.

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Putting a face on unemployment

Republicans should stop the name calling on the unemployed.

It is useful to put a face on and listen to the story of an unemployed person.

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Rep. Alan Grayson gets death threat

One day, a Republican operative offers $100 to anyone who'll punch me in the nose.

The next day, I get a death threat.

After Fox News spewed its usual clownish hatred about me yesterday, my office received a call. The caller told our receptionist - a young intern - that "10 people are going to kill the Congressman within 24 hours." We gave the information to the Capitol Police; they are investigating.

You'd think (Fox News) . . . would have learned their lesson after Dr. George Tiller was killed. And they did learn a lesson: a lesson in killing.

And why? Because I told the truth: the truth that by stalling on unemployment insurance, right-wingers revealed themselves to be heartless, selfish wretches, who have been taking food out of the mouths of children.

Am I the only one who has noticed this? Because if you're with me on this, I'd like your support. I need your support.

First threatened assault. Then threatened murder. Do you see how they ratchet up the bullying, and try to cow us?

In his poem "The Second Coming," the Irish poet William Butler Yeats described a time like ours as the "widening gyre." A time when "the centre cannot hold."

A time when "anarchy is loosed upon the world."

A time when "the best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity." Up to, and including, death threats on Members of Congress.

But we have to stand up, and we have to fight back. Because what is at stake is . . . everything.

Please, support our campaign. Stand with me. Fight back.

Truth,

Congressman Alan Grayson

TURNING and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

William Butler Yeats, "The Second Coming"

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Rep. Alan Grayson on unemployment extension

Alan Grayson explains how his grandfather got by by during the Depression looking for things to sell in a dump. The Republicans thinks the unemployed should just sell some of their stock, their art collection or sell one of their yachts!  

Grayson nails the GOP again. The Democrats broke the Senate filibuster on extending unemployment insurance today.

Grayson has developed into the heart and soul of the Democratic Party. 

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Oliver Stone: Contribute to Alan Grayson's Peace Party

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Politics Daily: Florida Tea Party's Peg Dunmire May Complicate GOP Hopes

One congressional district where the Tea Party movement may feed the worst fears of some Republicans is in Orlando, Fla. According to the Orlando Sentinel, The GOP sees a chance to unseat first-term Democratic Rep. Alan Grayson,  but must deal with a Tea Party candidate in the race.

Grayson is the combative, unabashedly progressive congressman who made headlines during the health care debate when he said, ""If you get sick America, the Republican health care plan is this: Die quickly."

Rightardia beleives Grayson is one Democrat that is greatly needed in the party.  Grayson doesn't roll over when Republican say something stupid which has been a daily occuruence latley. Grayson has a fabulous sense of humor.

There are seven Republicans who want to oppose Grayson in November, but they have been joined by Peg Dunmire, a business consultant running as the candidate of the Florida Tea Party.

The Orlando Sentinel said Dunmire has little chance of winning given that she is a political newcomer running as a third party candidate and has little funding. But Tom Tillison, a movement activist who is not connected to the formal party that tapped Dunmire, told the Sentinel:

Everyone understands the impact a Tea Party candidate could have in that race. It's clear that Peg Dunmire's candidacy stands to benefit Alan Grayson tremendously.

The challenge that a Tea Party third candidate poses to Republicans was reflected in a Quinnipiac University poll conducted last March.

On a generic congressional ballot, 44 percent of respondents said they would vote for the Republican while 39 percent would support the Democrat, with 16 percent undecided.

But if a Tea Party candidate would make it a three-way race: the Democrat would come out on top by 36 percent to 25 percent over the Republican, with 15 percent for the Tea Party standard bearer and 22 percent undecided, the poll said.

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Guess who won: Bachmann v. Grayson?

Civility reigned Wednesday during a health care debate between Reps. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.) and Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) on "Larry King Live."

Bachmann: An up or down vote is a good thing, Larry. It's just how many votes will it take. Will it take 50 votes or will it take 60 votes...
King: Well what's wrong with majority rules?
Bachmann: Well because that's not how the Senate works. The Senate works with 60 votes, and now what the president is promoting is a nuclear option which is 50 votes.
King: But it used the majority rules on the Bush tax cuts.
Bachmann: Well, the House uses straight majority rules, the Senate doesn't. So what this means is that the Senate has to break their own rules in order to pass the bill.

Story continues below

King: And that's wrong?
Bachmann: Oh, I think so. Sure.

Grayson responded:

My esteemed colleague from Minnesota is entirely wrong. There's nothing in the Senate rules that prevents reconciliation. It's been used 22 times overall and 14 times by Republicans. If it's good enough to provide tax cuts for the rich -- twice unter Bush -- it's good enough to provide health care for all Americans.

See the link for the video: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/03/grayson-bachmann-debate-h_n_485078.html

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Rep. Alan Grayson suggests Dick Cheney should STFU!

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Politico: Sen. Tom Coburn is ‘delusional

Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.) called Sen. Tom Coburn “delusional” on Wednesday night for telling seniors that they will “die sooner” if the Democrats’ proposed cuts to Medicare are enacted.

Sen. Coburn is a member of the fascist C Street organisation and tried to broker a deal for Sen. John Ensign with the family of a woman Ensign was having an affair with.

“There’s nothing in the Democrats’ health care bill that would put any senior at risk at all,” Grayson said during an interview on liberal host Alan Colmes’ radio show. “The basis for what he’s saying is delusion.”

Grayson made a similar claim on the House floor in September, saying that Republicans “want you to die quickly” in order to offset health care costs.

Coburn’s staff has rejected any comparison between the Oklahoma Republican and the Grayson, who also said Wednesday that there is “no valid comparison” between what he and Coburn said “unless lies are now the same as truth.”

“I know that people have been drawn to this idea that there is somehow this moral equivalence between what I said and what Senator Coburn said, but I think that’s ridiculous,” Grayson said. “What I said was the truth. I mean, I had a Harvard study to back me up."

source: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1209/30179.html

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A good idea from a Republican

In general Rightardia considers Libertarians to be irrelevant, but Rep. Ron Paul had a good idea when he suggested the Federal Reserve be audited. He and Rep. Alan Grayson, one of Rightardia's favorite representatives, are sponsoring a bill to audit the Federal reserve. This audit appears to be long overdue in view of the financial meltdown.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

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How about a Liberal ticket with cojones?

 
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Rep. Alan Grayson: A Congressman with Guts

Rep Grayson is looking for pledges:

On this November 2, the 2010 election will be one year away. I need you to show that when someone speaks out for progressive values, for American values, for YOU, he will have the support he needs to win. On that day, one year before the election, we're organizing a money bomb for our re-election campaign. This is a message to Republicans, to insiders, and to special interests that the truth is powerful.

Visit his web site at  http://congressmanwithguts.com/

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Rep. Grayson does a smackdown on an Acorn bill of attainder

According to Wikipedia, A bill of attainder (also known as an act or writ of attainder) is an act of the legislature declaring a person or group of persons guilty of some crime and punishing them without benefit of a trial. The bill of attainder is an interesting legal concept. 

Much of the legislation of the Party of No often has the qualities of a bill of attainder. The Defense of the Marriage Act is a good example. Besides the fact the federal government has no constitutional right to regulate marriage, it denied marriage privileges to gay and lesbian couples who were legally married in a state that allowed gay marraige and then moved to state that did not allow homosexual marriage.

This is the type of issue that should proceed though the courts, not the House and Senate. In California, when the courts upheld gay marriage, conservatives introduced a constitutional amendment banning it that passed.  A minority was punished without the benefit of trial.



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