|
Info You are currently browsing the Democratic Party News - The News of the Democratic Party. weblog archives for September, 2009. Categories
Latest Postings
Links
Archives
|
Archive for September 2009The Democratic Platform for America: On Budget & Economy, July 2004.30. September 2009 by Democratic Party News - The News of the Democratic Party.
Cut the deficit in half over the next four years. We will roll back the Bush tax cuts for those making more than $200,000. We will restore commonsense budget rules that this Administration has abandoned, like “Pay-As-You-Go” rules that require the government to pay for new initiatives. We will commit to living within tough budget caps-real and enforceable limits on what the government can spend. We are committed to cutting the deficit in half over the next four years. Posted in Political History, The Democratic Party, Politics | 1 Comment » Democratic Senator Harry Reid Threatens ‘Nuclear Option’ To Pass Health Care Reform As Panel Starts Work.29. September 2009 by Democratic Party News - The News of the Democratic Party.
The Nevada senator threatened to use a budgetary tool called reconciliation — also known as the “nuclear option” — which would allow Democrats to pass key parts of health care legislation with a simple majority, as opposed to the 60 votes usually needed to avoid a filibuster. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid threatened on Tuesday to use a procedural maneuver to steamroll opponents of health care reform, even as a Senate panel began delicate negotiations over a package that could have the best chance at passing. The Nevada Democrat, who has issued similar threats before, spoke as the Senate Finance Committee began debate over Chairman Max Baucus’ reform plan. Reid threatened to use a budgetary tool called reconciliation — also known as the “nuclear option” — that would allow Democrats to pass key parts of the legislation with a simple majority, as opposed to the 60 votes needed to avoid a Republican filibuster. “If we can’t work this out to do something within the committee structure, then we’ll be forced to do the reconciliation,” Reid said, adding that he views that as a “last resort.” “It remains to be seen as to whether we will have to do reconciliation. I am confident and hopeful we won’t have to do that, but time will only tell,” Reid said. Republican Sen. Richard Burr, N.C., said reconciliation would be a “grave mistake,” and that Reid underestimates the public concerns over the bill. “I don’t think it’s a threat. I think that’s what Harry Reid intends to do,” Burr told FOX News. But the Senate Finance Committee pushed through tense and intensive talks Tuesday to reach common ground on the Baucus plan. Senators have filed 564 amendments, and on Tuesday afternoon Baucus released a slew of changes. Among them, Baucus agreed to cut in half the penalty attached to a government-mandated requirement to buy health insurance. Under the changes, families could be charged a maximum of $1,900 for failing to meet the requirement — as opposed to $3,800. Baucus also agreed to raise the threshold for insurance plans that would be subject to an excise tax. Under the revisions, plans worth $8,750 for individuals and $23,000 for families would be subject to the tax — the thresholds were previously $8,000 for individual plans and $21,000 for family plans. And he agreed to increase the value of tax credits low- and middle-income people would receive toward insurance. Officials said Baucus decided to commit an additional $50 billion over a decade toward making insurance more affordable for working class families. The Finance Committee is the last of five panels to have a say before the full Senate debates legislation. Baucus’ legislation is designed to make coverage more available and affordable, while restraining the growth in the cost of medical care generally. Its 10-year price tag is below $900 billion, according to the Congressional Budget Office. Baucus made numerous concessions to Republicans in his unsuccessful stab at bipartisan compromise, jettisoning calls for the government to sell insurance in competition with private industry, as well as a proposed requirement for large companies to offer insurance to their workers. In his opening remarks, Baucus sought to preempt Republican criticism. “Despite what some may say, this is no ‘government takeover’ of health care,” Baucus said. “Our plan does not include a public option. We did not include an employer mandate. And we have paid for every cent.” But Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, the panel’s ranking Republican, said the White House and Democratic leaders short-circuited the bipartisan talks by imposing a mid-September deadline. “I find it utterly and completely appalling,” he said. Grassley criticized many of the plan’s key components, from a requirement that all Americans get insurance, to the taxes that would pay for subsidies to make the coverage affordable. He also said the bill falls short in guaranteeing that illegal immigrants won’t get government help to buy insurance, as well as in preventing funding for abortion. The concerns are bipartisan. A number of committee Democrats had raised concerns about whether subsidies in Baucus’ bill are generous enough to make insurance truly affordable for low-income people. There also are worries about the new tax on high-cost insurance plans, which critics fear would hit some middle-class workers, including many union members in risky occupations such as mining and police work. Those concerns were shared by Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, whose support could become even more critical if legislation makes it to the Senate floor. Posted in The Democratic Party, Politics | No Comments » 66% Angry at Government Policies, 60% Say Neither Party Has Answers.29. September 2009 by Democratic Party News - The News of the Democratic Party.
Sixty-six percent (66%) of voters nationwide say they’re at least somewhat angry about the current policies of th e federal government. That figure includes 36% who are Very Angry. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that only 30% are not angry about the government’s policies, including 10% who are Not at All Angry. Adding to the voter frustration is the fact that 60% believe neither Republican nor Democratic political leaders have an understanding of what is needed today. Among those who are Very Angry about government policies, 80% say that neither political party’s leaders have the answers. Ninety percent (90%) of Republicans are at least somewhat angry along with 44% of Democrats and 77% of those not affiliated with either major party. More than seven-of-10 Republicans and unaffiliated voters say the neither party has the answers. Democrats are more evenly divided. Forty-three percent (43%) of voters nationwide are at least somewhat concerned that the political anger will spill over into violence, as some politicians have suggested. Twenty-two percent (22%) are Very Concerned. Sixty-three percent (63%) of Democrats are worried about the threat of political violence, while 71% of Republicans are not concerned. Among those not affiliated with either major party, 63% are not concerned. Among all voters, 54% are not that worried about potential political violence, including 36% who are not very concerned and 18% who are not at all concerned. Those who are most angry are the least concerned about violence. Among those who are Very Angry at the government’s policies, just 15% are Very Concerned about the possibility of violence. Among those who are Not at all Angry about government policies, 51% fear violence. This unhappiness with government policies and leaders is reflected in numerous other Rasmussen Reports surveys. Americans, for example, now view being a member of Congress as the least respected job one can hold. Fifty-seven percent (57%) of voters have an unfavorable opinion of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and they express similar negative views, not quite as strongly, about the other top Democratic and GOP congressional leaders. After a modest bounce following his recent health care speech to Congress, Obama’s approval ratings continue to track in negative territory in the Rasmussen Report daily President Tracking Poll. Opposition to the helth care plan proposed by the president and congressional Democrats has now hit a new high, Voters continue to oppose the government bailouts of General Motors and Chrysler, and opposition has grown to the president’s plan for greater government regulations of the financial sector. Posted in President Obama, The Democratic Party, Politics | No Comments » Take Our Poll.29. September 2009 by Democratic Party News - The News of the Democratic Party.
Are nearly all of the government officials in the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of government ignoring their oath to uphold and defend the Constitution?
Posted in Take Our Poll, Constitution Violations, Politics | No Comments » Charles Rangel and the Harlem Tax Revolt of 2009.29. September 2009 by Democratic Party News - The News of the Democratic Party.
Posted in The Democratic Party, Politics | Comments Off Help require all Members of Congress and their staff members to enroll in any new government-run health plan.28. September 2009 by Democratic Party News - The News of the Democratic Party.
On Tuesday, the Senate health committee voted 12-11 in favor of a two-page amendment, courtesy of Republican Tom Coburn which would require all Members of Congress and their staff members to enroll in any new government-run health plan. Congressman John Fleming has proposed an amendment that would require Congressmen and Senators to take the same health care plan that they would force on us. (Under proposed legislation they are exempt.) Congressman Fleming is encouraging people to go to his Website and sign his petition. The process is very simple: http://fleming.house.gov/index.html Senator Coburn and Congressman Fleming are both physicians. Regardless of your political beliefs, it sure seems reasonable that Congress should have exactly the same medical coverage that they impose on the rest of us. Please urge as many people as you can to do the same! Posted in Politics | No Comments » Clinton Corruption - It Keeps Going, And Going, And Going.28. September 2009 by Democratic Party News - The News of the Democratic Party.
Posted in President Clinton, The Democratic Party, Politics | No Comments » The Clinton Legacy28. September 2009 by Democratic Party News - The News of the Democratic Party.
We as Democrats need to clean out the corruption within The Democratic Party. That is why we have posted this information. The Clintons, to adapt a line from Dr. Johnson, were not only corrupt, they were the cause of corruption in others. Yet seldom in America have so many come to excuse so much mendacity and malfeasance as during the Clinton years. Here are some of the facts that have been buried. RECORDS SET * According to our best information, 40 government officials were indicted or convicted in the wake of Watergate. A reader computes that there was a total of 31 Reagan era convictions, including 14 because of Iran-Contra and 16 in the Department of Housing & Urban Development scandal. 47 individuals and businesses associated with the Clinton machine were convicted of or pleaded guilty to crimes with 33 of these occurring during the Clinton administration itself. There were in addition 61 indictments or misdemeanor charges. 14 persons were imprisoned. A key difference between the Clinton story and earlier ones was the number of criminals with whom he was associated before entering the White House. Using a far looser standard that included resignations, David R. Simon and D. Stanley Eitzen in Elite Deviance, say that 138 appointees of the Reagan administration either resigned under an ethical cloud or were criminally indicted. Curiously Haynes Johnson uses the same figure but with a different standard in “Sleep-Walking Through History: America in the Reagan Years: “By the end of his term, 138 administration officials had been convicted, had been indicted, or had been the subject of official investigations for official misconduct and/or criminal violations. In terms of number of officials involved, the record of his administration was the worst ever.” **Selene Walter accused Ronald Reagan of rape 39 years after the alleged assault in the 1950s. No further information is available on this case. The Juanita Broaddrick case involving Bill Clinton was investigated by the congressional impeachment counsel. According to counsel David Shippers those conducting the interview “have assured me that she is the most credible witness that either one of them have ever talked to” STARR-RAY INVESTIGATION - Number of Starr-Ray investigation convictions or guilty pleas (including one governor, one associate attorney general and two Clinton business partners): 14 CRIME STATS - Number of individuals and businesses associated with the Clinton machine who have been convicted of or pleaded guilty to crimes: 47 SMALTZ INVESTIGATION - Guilty pleas and convictions obtained by Donald Smaltz in cases involving charges of bribery and fraud against former Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy and associated individuals and businesses: 15 CAMPAIGN FINANCE INVESTIGATION - As of June 2000, the Justice Department listed 25 people indicted and 19 convicted because of the 1996 Clinton-Gore fundraising scandals. CLINTON MACHINE CRIMES FOR WHICH CONVICTIONS WERE OBTAINED Drug trafficking (3), racketeering, extortion, bribery (4), tax evasion, kickbacks, embezzlement (2), fraud (12), conspiracy (5), fraudulent loans, illegal gifts (1), illegal campaign contributions (5), money laundering (6), perjury, obstruction of justice. HISTORICAL CONTEXT - Number of independent counsel inquiries since the 1978 law was passed: 19 OTHER MATTERS INVESTIGATED BY SPECIAL PROSECUTORS AND CONGRESS, OR REPORTED IN THE MEDIA Bank and mail fraud, violations of campaign finance laws, illegal foreign campaign funding, improper exports of sensitive technology, physical violence and threats of violence, solicitation of perjury, intimidation of witnesses, bribery of witnesses, attempted intimidation of prosecutors, perjury before congressional committees, lying in statements to federal investigators and regulatory officials, flight of witnesses, obstruction of justice, bribery of cabinet members, real estate fraud, tax fraud, drug trafficking, failure to investigate drug trafficking, bribery of state officials, use of state police for personal purposes, exchange of promotions or benefits for sexual favors, using state police to provide false court testimony, laundering of drug money through a state agency, false reports by medical examiners and others investigating suspicious deaths, the firing of the RTC and FBI director when these agencies were investigating Clinton and his associates, failure to conduct autopsies in suspicious deaths, providing jobs in return for silence by witnesses, drug abuse, improper acquisition and use of 900 FBI files, improper futures trading, murder, sexual abuse of employees, false testimony before a federal judge, shredding of documents, withholding and concealment of subpoenaed documents, fabricated charges against (and improper firing of) White House employees, inviting drug traffickers, foreign agents and participants in organized crime to the White House. ARKANSAS ALTZHEIMER’S Number of times that Clinton figures who testified in court or before Congress said that they didn’t remember, didn’t know, or something similar. Bill Kennedy 116 FROM THE WASHINGTON TIMES: In the portions of President Clinton’s Jan. 17 deposition that have been made public in the Paula Jones case, his memory failed him 267 times. This is a list of his answers and how many times he gave each one. I don’t remember - 71 ARKANSAS SUDDEN DEATH SYNDROME - Number of persons in the Clinton machine orbit who are alleged to have committed suicide: 9 It is important in considering these fatal incidents to bear in mind the following:
ARKANSAS MONEY MANAGEMENT - Amount of an alleged electronic transfer from the Arkansas Development Financial Authority to a bank in the Cayman Islands during 1980s: $50 million THE MEDIA - Number of journalists covering Whitewater who have been fired, transferred off the beat, resigned or otherwise gotten into trouble because of their work on the scandals (Doug Frantz, Jim Wooten, Richard Behar, Christopher Ruddy, Michael Isikoff, David Eisenstadt, Yinh Chan, Jonathan Broder, James R. Norman, Zoh Hieronimus): 10 FRIENDS OF BILL - Number of times John Huang took the 5th Amendment in answer to questions during a Judicial Watch deposition: 1,000 UNEXPLAINED PHENOMENA - FBI files misappropriated by the White House: c. 900 THE HIDDEN ELECTION USA Today calls it “the hidden election,” in which nearly 7,000 state legislative seats are decided with only minimal media and public attention. But there was an important national story here: evidence of the disaster that Bill Clinton was for the Democratic Party. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, Democrats held a 1,542 seat lead in the state bodies in 1990. As of 1998 that lead had shrunk to 288. That’s a loss of over 1,200 state legislative seats, nearly all of them under Clinton. Across the US, the Democrats controled only 65 more state senate seats than the Republicans. Further, in 1992, the Democrats controlled 17 more state legislatures than the Republicans. After 1998, the Republicans controlled one more than the Democrats. Not only was this a loss of 9 legislatures under Clinton, but it was the first time since 1954 that the GOP had controlled more state legislatures than the Democrats (they tied in 1968). Here’s what happened to the Democrats under Clinton, based on our latest figures: - GOP seats gained in House since Clinton became president: 45 - Those corporatist media reporters who attempted to report the story often found themselves muzzled; some even lost their jobs. The only major dailies that consistently handled the story well were the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Times. - Nobody on this list has gotten rich and many you may not have even heard of. Taking on the Clintons typically has not been a happy or rewarding experience. At least ten reporters were fired, transferred off their beats, resigned, or otherwise got into trouble because of their work on the scandals. - Contrary to the popular impression, the politics of those listed ranges from the left to the right, and from the ideological to the independent. PUBLIC OFFICIALS MIGUEL RODRIGUEZ was a prosecutor on the staff of Kenneth Starr. His attempts to uncover the truth in the Vincent Foster death case were repeatedly foiled and he was the subject of planted stories undermining his credibility and implying that he was unstable. Rodriguez eventually resigned. JEAN DUFFEY: Head of a joint federal-county drug task force in Arkansas. Her first instructions from her boss: “Jean, you are not to use the drug task force to investigate any public official.” Duffey’s work, however, led deep into the heart of the Dixie Mafia, including members of the Clinton machine and the investigation of the so-called “train deaths.” Ambrose Evans-Pritchard reports that when she produced a star witness who could testify to Clinton’s involvement with cocaine, the local prosecuting attorney, Dan Harmon issued a subpoena for all the task force records, including “the incriminating files on his own activities. If Duffey had complied it would have exposed 30 witnesses and her confidential informants to violent retributions. She refused.” Harmon issued a warrant for her arrest and friendly cops told her that there was a $50,000 price on her head. She eventually fled to Texas. The once-untouchable Harmon was later convicted of racketeering, extortion and drug dealing. BILL DUNCAN: An IRS investigator in Arkansas who drafted some 30 federal indictments of Arkansas figures on money laundering and other charges. Clinton biographer Roger Morris quotes a source who reviewed the evidence: “Those indictments were a real slam dunk if there ever was one.” The cases were suppressed, many in the name of “national security.” Duncan was never called to testify. Other IRS agents and state police disavowed Duncan and turned on him. Said one source, “Somebody outside ordered it shut down and the walls went up.” RUSSELL WELCH: An Arkansas state police detective working with Duncan. Welch developed a 35-volume, 3,000 page archive on drug and money laundering operations at Mena. His investigation was so compromised that a high state police official even let one of the targets of the probe look through the file. At one point, Welch was sprayed in the face with poison, later identified by the Center for Disease Control as anthrax. He would write in his diary, “I feel like I live in Russia, waiting for the secret police to pounce down. A government has gotten out of control. Men find themselves in positions of power and suddenly crimes become legal.” Welch is no longer with the state police. DAN SMALTZ: Smaltz did an outstanding job investigating and prosecuting charges involving illegal payoffs to Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy, yet was treated with disparaging and highly inaccurate reporting by the likes of the David Broder and the NY Times. Espy was acquitted under a law that made it necessary to not only prove that he accepted gratuities but that he did something specific in return. On the other hand, Tyson Foods copped a plea in the same case, paying $6 million in fines and serving four years’ probation. The charge: that Tyson had illegally offered Espy $12,000 in airplane rides, football tickets and other payoffs. In the Espy investigation, Smaltz obtained 15 convictions and collected over $11 million in fines and civil penalties. Offenses for which convictions were obtained included false statements, concealing money from prohibited sources, illegal gratuities, illegal contributions, falsifying records, interstate transportation of stolen property, money laundering, and illegal receipt of USDA subsidies. In addition, Janet Reno blocked Smaltz from pursuing leads aimed at allegations of major drug trafficking in Arkansas and payoffs to the then governor of the state, WJ Clinton. Espy had become Ag secretary only after being flown to Arkansas to get the approval of chicken king Don Tyson. DAVID SCHIPPERS was House impeachment counsel and a Chicago Democrat. He did a highly creditable job but since he didn’t fit the right-wing conspiracy theory, the Clintonista media downplayed his work. Thus most Americans don’t know that he told Newsmax, “Let me tell you, if we had a chance to put on a case, I would have put live witnesses before the committee. But the House leadership, and I’m not talking about Henry Hyde, they just killed us as far as time was concerned. I begged them to let me take it into this year. Then I screamed for witnesses before the Senate. But there was nothing anybody could do to get those Senators to show any courage. They told us essentially, you’re not going to get 67 votes so why are you wasting our time.” Schippers also said that while a number of representatives had looked at additional evidence kept under seal in a nearby House building, not a single senator did. JOHN CLARKE: When Patrick Knowlton stopped to relieve himself in Ft. Marcy Park 70 minutes before the discovery of Vince Foster’s body, he saw things that got him into deep trouble. His interview statements were falsified and prior to testifying he claims he was overtly harassed by more than a score of men in a classic witness intimidation technique. In some cases there were witnesses. John Clarke was his dogged lawyer in the witness intimidation case that was largely ignored by the media, even when the three-judge panel overseeing the Starr investigation permitted Knowlton to append a 20 page addendum to the Starr Report. OTHER THE ARKANSAS COMMITTEE: What would later be known as the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy actually began on the left - as a group of progressive students at the University of Arkansas had formed the Arkansas Committee to look into Mena, drugs, money laundering, and Arkansas politics. This committee was the source of some of the important early Clinton stories including those published in the Progressive Review. CLINTON ADMINISTRATION SCANDALS E-LIST: Moderated by Ray Heizer, this list was subject to all the idiosyncrasies of Internet bulletin boards, but nonetheless proved invaluable to researchers and journalists. JOURNALISTS JERRY SEPER of the Washington Times was far and away the best beat reporter of the story, handling it week after week in the best tradition of investigative journalism. If other reporters had followed Seper’s lead, the history of the Clintons’ machine might have been quite different. AMBROSE EVANS-PRITCHARD of the London Telegraph did a remarkable job of digging into some of the seamiest tales from Arkansas and the Clinton past. Other early arrivals on the scene were Alexander Cockburn and Jeff Gerth. CHRISTOPHER RUDDY, among other fine reports on the Clinton scandals, did the best job laying out the facts in the Vince Foster death case. ROGER MORRIS AND SALLY DENTON wrote a major expose of events at Mena, but at the last moment the Washington Post’s brass ordered the story killed. It was published by Penthouse and later included in Morris’ “Partners in Power,” the best biography of the Clintons. OTHERS who helped get parts of the story out included reporters Philip Weiss, Carl Limbacher, Wes Phelan, David Bresnahan, William Sammon, Liza Myers, Mara Leveritt, Matt Drudge, Jim Ridgeway, Nat Hentoff, Michael Isikoff, Christopher Hitchens and Michael Kelly. Also independent investigator Hugh Sprunt and former White House FBI agent Gary Aldrich. SAM SMITH of the Progressive Review wrote the first book (Shadows of Hope, University of Indiana Press, 1994) deconstructing the Clinton myth. The Review provided extensive coverage of the topic. Posted in Political History, President Clinton, The Democratic Party, Politics | No Comments » Take Our Poll.28. September 2009 by Democratic Party News - The News of the Democratic Party.
Should any candidate within the Democratic Party receive future campaign financing if they didn’t honestly attempt to fulfill their previous campaign promises since last being elected into government office?
Posted in Take Our Poll, The Democratic Party, Politics | No Comments » Wakeup America - The Movie: Federal Reserve.27. September 2009 by Democratic Party News - The News of the Democratic Party.
Posted in Federal Reserve, WakeUp America, Politics | No Comments » Wakup America - Hyperinflation Nation26. September 2009 by Democratic Party News - The News of the Democratic Party.
Posted in WakeUp America, Politics | No Comments » Government Pensions Create Hidden Millionaires.25. September 2009 by Democratic Party News - The News of the Democratic Party.
Many fireman, police, congressman, senators, mayors, city employees, and many other government employees get over $100,000 a year pensions for life, even $200,000 and more per year, plus medical coverage — from citizens’ taxes. A regular citizen would have to save up over $3 million dollars to earn enough interest to have a return like that. So these pensioners are millionaires and even better, it is very hard for them to lose the government pension. In other words, this means your taxes are their millions by paying these pensions. The regular citizen can lose his millions in the stock market, real estatemarket, or be sued, and many other ways. But there are many more than 6.7 million households that are worth over 1 million when you consider the value of a lifetime pension at taxpayer expense. More importantly, many of them never paid into Social Security. Posted in Government Pensions, Politics | No Comments » |