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Boehner says his relationship with the President is frosty?

06 Nov

The Associated Press (AP) is reporting soon-to-be one term House Speaker John Boehner says his relationship with President Barack Obama has grown “a little frosty.”

Wow, really? His “relationship” with the President has grown “a little frosty”? First of all Mr. Speaker, you have to have had a relationship with someone before it can grow “frosty”; second, refer back to the first point.

The Republican Tea Party (GOTP) puppet spent a lot of time whining on ABC’s “This Week” that the President is engaging in “class warfare” by pushing for higher taxes for wealthy Americans.

Boehner says the rich pay enough taxes and it’s wrong for the president to “pit one set of Americans against another.”

To quote former president Ronald Reagan, “there you go again”.

First, how’s it class warfare if someone suggests the uber-wealthiest 2% of the country’s population should have its taxes increased before chopping, slashing and burning programs to the poorest and most vulnerable, but it’s not class warfare when you staunchly defend the tax rates of the uber-wealthy while pushing to end programs for the poorest and most vulnerable?

The GOTP is playing bait and switch hoping the majority of the American electorate is too obtuse to notice; problem for Boehner and company is they’re not. Voters are beginning to notice, and as Tip O’Neil once said, “All politics is local”. Putting the entire GOTP House on record voting in support of the infamous Ryan plan was one of the dumbest things any Speaker has ever done, and handed any Democratic opponent a huge stick to beat their GOTP rival with. And if that wasn’t bad enough, the House wasted the entire legislative year with political stunts while American’s are out of work; this is going to come back to roost in November 2012.

How’d the GOTP spend its time? By saying no to each and every piece of legislation proposed by the President; by playing political dodge ball with the nation’s debt ceiling; by placating the uber-conservative Tea Party minority when it introduced more than 100 bills aimed on ending a woman’s right to choose, grand standing by staging an elaborate reading the Constitution (while leaving out an entire article) and by reaffirming the national motto of “In God We Trust”.

Bill Clinton beat the Republican incumbent in 1992 by proclaiming “It’s the economy stupid!” And guess what? It’s still the economy stupid! The GOTP’s playing its collective fiddle while the nation’s economy’s burning; hope Boehner’s enjoyed his time as Speaker.

 
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Posted by on November 6, 2011 in 2012 Election

 

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06 Nov

 
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Posted by on November 6, 2011 in Humor

 

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Democrats Introduce Constitutional Amendment to Overturn Citizens United

04 Nov

While some in the Supreme Court may enjoy treating corporations like people who can spend whatever they want on elections, the American people don’t have to accept it, said Democratic senators who proposed a constitutional amendment this week to retake control of campaign spending.

The Huffington Post is reporting the amendment, introduced by Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.), while not directly addressing the justices’ legal finding that corporations have a right to free speech that was previously curtailed by election law, it would add to the Constitution language saying Congress and the states can regulate campaign contributions and expenditures.

The amendment would effectively reverse two landmark Supreme Court decisions — the 1976 ruling in Buckley v. Valeo, which said spending money in elections is a form of speech, and the 2010 ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, which ruled it unconstitutional to regulate the money spent to influence elections by corporations and unions.

The latter ruling has unleashed a flood of cash from corporations and super PACs into campaigns spending as much as they want without having to disclose where the money is coming from; theoretically opening up American elections to undo influence from a very limited group of citizens or perhaps even to wealthy foreign interests.

“Letting this go unchecked is a threat to our democracy. Campaigns should be about the best ideas, not the biggest checkbooks,” Udall said at the press conference.

Reportedly, the amendment has three main focuses: to authorize Congress to regulate the raising and spending of money for federal political campaign contributions and expenditures (including independent expenditures), to allow states to regulate that raising and spending at their level, and to permit Congress to pass campaign finance reform legislation that could withstand constitutional challenges. It does not specify what the reforms should be.

Also at the press conference, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), a co-sponsor of the proposed amendment, called the Buckley case “one of the worst decisions that the Supreme Court has rendered in the last hundred years” and described the Citizens United ruling as “Buckley on steroids.”

A constitutional amendment could be a welcome proposal for the thousands of demonstrators involved in the Occupy Wall Street movement, which holds a reversal of the Citizens United ruling as one of its oft-repeated demands.

“The extent to which money and corporations have taken over the [campaign] process is reflected across our cities in the Occupy movement,” said Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), another co-sponsor. “It is something we have to do something about if we are going to reclaim American democracy as the shining light to other countries that it has always been.”

The amendment faces a long, unlikely path even to win initial congressional approval. Senate Republicans last year opposed a Schumer measure, the Disclose Act, which simply required additional disclosure about campaign spenders. Big surprise the Republican Tea Party (GOTP) interests in the Senate opposed it; unfortunately we have effectively discovered that conservatives today – almost to the man and woman – serving in the Congress are wholly owned by big corporate business and uber-wealthy interests. They care more for their pocket books than for individual liberties.

 
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Posted by on November 4, 2011 in Supreme Court

 

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Ari R. Cullers

03 Nov

A local soldier described as selfless and proud to serve in the Army has been killed in Afghanistan, family and friends said Monday.

SGT Ari R. Cullers, 28, deployed to Afghanistan with the Fort Drum, N.Y.-based 10th Mountain Division earlier this year. He wrote on his Facebook page that he was a squad leader and mechanic in the Army.

Cullers would be the third Waterford High School graduate to die in combat in the Middle East. He graduated in 2001.

Army National Guard Staff Sgt. Edwin Rivera, 28, of the Class of 2000, was killed last year in eastern Afghanistan. Marine Cpl. Kemaphoom “Ahn” Chanawongse, Class of 1999, was killed in the opening days of the Iraq War in March 2003 during operations on the outskirts of Nasiriyah.

Waterford High School Principal Donald Macrino said Monday that he spoke to Cullers’ aunt, who also confirmed that Cullers was killed in Afghanistan Sunday.

Macrino remembered Cullers as “a very likeable young man” who played on the football team. Macrino’s daughter was in Cullers’ class.

“He was a hard worker at school and he, I think, actually found himself when he got into the service,” Macrino said. “I think that was a place where he felt he could really make his mark. I spoke to him a couple of times when he was home on leave and he told me he was doing well.”

A woman who answered the phone at the Waterford home of Cullers’ mother, Robin Cornele, said Cornele could not come to the phone and referred questions to Col. John Whitford, spokesman for the Connecticut National Guard.

Whitford said Monday afternoon that he could not confirm that a Connecticut resident had been killed because the Department of Defense had not issued an official release. The department gives the families up to 72 hours to grieve before making an announcement, according to a spokesman.

Kerri Flanagan, 26, was a year behind Cullers at the high school but said her husband, Patrick, was in the same class. Cullers’ younger brother, Jacob, graduated in 2004.

“Anything he said or did could make you laugh,” Flanagan said. “He just had that bubbly personally.”

Flanagan said she saw Cullers in August shortly before he deployed.

“He seemed to be so proud of what he was doing,” said Flanagan, the in-school suspension coordinator at the high school. “It was good to see him happy that last time.”

Cullers joined the Army soon after graduation, Macrino said, and previously deployed to Iraq. Macrino said he spoke with Cullers about the difficulties of serving in combat.

“He was very frank about it and he told me it was a very dangerous job,” Macrino said. “I understood that and admired him for the work he did. He also said he felt it was his niche and he had to go back.

“It’s very sad to hear this, but it seems to me he was doing what he wanted to do.”

SGT Cullers is the 1,830th American killed in Afghanistan … Ich hatt’ einen Kameraden

j.mcdermott@theday.com

 
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Posted by on November 3, 2011 in War on Terror

 

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Christopher D. Gailey and Sarina N. Butcher

03 Nov

The Department of Defense announced today the deaths of two soldiers who were supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.

They died Nov. 1, in Paktia province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked their vehicle with an improvised explosive device.  They were assigned to the 700th Brigade Support Battalion; 45th Infantry Brigade Combat Team; Oklahoma National Guard; Tulsa, OK.

Killed were SPC Christopher D. Gailey, 26, of Ochelata, Okla. and PFC Sarina N. Butcher, 19, of Checotah, Okla. died supporting Operation Enduring Freedom in the Paktia province of Afghanistan, the DOD said.

They suffered fatal wounds when enemy forces attacked their vehicle with an improvised explosive device, officials said.

PFC Butcher leaves behind her 2-year-old, Butcher’s family says.

Caney Valley High School Principal Debra Keil said she was a counselor when Gailey attended junior and senior high school in the Caney Valley Public Schools District.

“I can tell you I do remember when he was in school he was always — I know it sounds like a real cliché — but he always did have smile on his face. I remember him being a very cheerful and likable and outgoing kid,” said Keil. “We are as a community very saddened by this and all of our thoughts are with the family at this time.”

Read more: http://www.kjrh.com/dpp/news/local_news/oklahoma-military-members-killed-overseas-#ixzz1caJjUTUY

SPC Gailey and PFC Butcher are the 1,828th and 1,829th Americans killed in Afghanistan … Ich hatt’ einen Kameraden

 
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Posted by on November 3, 2011 in War on Terror

 

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David E. Cabrera

03 Nov

An Army lieutenant colonel from Houston was among those killed when a suicide bomber rammed an armored bus in the Afghan capital of Kabul on Saturday.

LTC David E. Cabrera, photo courtesy of Uniformed Services University

David E. Cabrera was a clinical social worker with the Army’s Medical Service Corps. He leaves behind his wife, August, and four children.

“LTC Cabrera was a soldier’s soldier,” said Navy Captain (Dr.) Mark Stephens, who was David’s boss as chair of the Department of Family Medicine at Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences in Bethesda, Md. “He was professionally happiest when in the field with his troops.  His sense of service, love of God, family and country are an inspiration to us all.”

Seventeen people died in Saturday’s attack on a NATO convoy in Kabul. The Department of Defense on Tuesday identified Cabrera as one of four soldiers killed. The other three were Sgt. James M Darrough of Austin; Staff Sgt. Christopher R. Newman of Shelby N.C.; and Carlo F. Eugenio of Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.

Cabrera was born in Florida but grew up in Houston, where he graduated from Sam Houston High School.

He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology from Texas A&M University and joined the U.S. Army as a medical service corps officer in Jan. 1996.

Cabrera was the director of social work at USU. As an assistant professor in the university’s Department of Family Medicine, he saw patients, taught military medical students, conducted research on post-traumatic stress disorder and post-traumatic growth, and participated in university field training exercises.

He was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel at a small ceremony on September 1, surrounded by his family, friends, and close colleagues.  On Sept. 30, Cabrera left the U.S. for Afghanistan. He had been in the country less than a month when he was killed on October 29.

LTC Cabrera is the 1,827th American killed in Afghanistan … Ich hatt’ einen Kameraden

 
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Posted by on November 3, 2011 in War on Terror

 

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Christopher R. Newman

03 Nov

SSG Christopher R. Newman, 26, of Shelby, N.C., assigned to Medical Company A, Tripler Army Medical Center, Hawaii, died on 29 Oct 11 in Kabul Province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his vehicle with a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device.

SSG Newman is the 1,826th American killed in Afghanistan … Ich hatt’ einen Kameraden

 
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Posted by on November 3, 2011 in War on Terror

 

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James M. Darrough

03 Nov

A 101st Airborne Division soldier was killed Saturday in an IED explosion in Afghanistan.

SGT James M. Darrough, 38, of Austin, Texas, died of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked a vehicle with a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device, according to a Department of Defense news release on Tuesday.

Three other soldiers died in the attack, which took place in Kabul Province.

Darrough was assigned to 101st Finance Company, 101st Special Troops Battalion, 101st Sustainment Brigade, Fort Campbell, the release said.

He joined the Army in February 2005 and arrived at Fort Campbell in July 2009.

His awards and decorations include: Bronze Star Medal; Purple Heart Medal; Joint Service Commendation Medal; Army Commendation Medal; Army Achievement Medal; Meritorious Unit Commendation; Army Good Conduct Medal; National Defense Service Medal with service star; Southwest Asia Service Medal with service star; Afghanistan Campaign Medal; Global War on Terrorism Service Medal; Armed Forces Service Medal; Noncommissioned Officers Professional Development Ribbon; Army Service Ribbon; Overseas Service Ribbon; United Nations Medal; North Atlantic Treaty Organization Medal; Kuwait Liberation Medal; Expert Field Medical Badge and Combat Action Badge.

Darrough is survived by his wife, Isaura Darrough of Clarksville; sons Justin and Jared Darrough and daughters Julianna and Jenna Darrough, all of Clarksville; his father, Robert Darrough of Charlotte, N.C.; and his mother, Janelle Darrough of Livingston, Texas.

A memorial service will be held for Darrough in Afghanistan. Fort Campbell holds a monthly Eagle Remembrance Ceremony to honor fallen Screaming Eagles. The next ceremony will be held Nov. 9 at 4 p.m.

SGT Darrough is the 1,825th American killed in Afghanistan … Ich hatt’ einen Kameraden

 
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Posted by on November 3, 2011 in War on Terror

 

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Carlo F. Eugenio

03 Nov

SGT Carlo F. Eugenio, 29, an Army National Guardsman and a graduate of Etiwanda High School, died in Afghanistan on Saturday when a suicide bomber attacked a NATO convoy in Kabul.

Eugenio is the first California National Guardsman to be killed in action during combat operations in Afghanistan.

On Monday, Eugenio’s relatives were at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware to attend to the arrival of his remains. Family members returned Tuesday evening, arriving at the L.A./Ontario International Airport and greeted by the veterans group Patriot Guard Riders and family of fallen soldiers. The Eugenio family is awaiting word on when his remains will be flown to Ontario.

Four other service members and eight International Security Assistance Force civilians along with Eugenio were killed in Kabul on Saturday when the car bomb crashed into their convoy.

This was Eugenio’s second deployment as an Army soldier. His first was to Kuwait, said Eugenio’s sister Cynthia Valdez.

Valdez remembers her brother as upbeat and surrounded by friends.

“He was always happy. It took a lot for him not to be sunny,” she said. “He didn’t just know people, he had relationships with everyone.”

Eugenio was the youngest of five children. The family resided in Fontana before moving to Rancho Cucamonga about 10 years ago.

He was a guy’s guy who loved the excitement of the outdoors.

“Motorcycle, dirt bike, snow boarding, any kind of extreme sport, he was into,” Valdez said.

Eugenio’s military banner was hung in front of the family home on Tuesday. The city gave the banner to the family after Eugenio’s first deployment.

It has been more than four years since a California National Guardsman was killed in Iraq, according to a California National Guard news release. Eugenio is the 28th California Guardsman to be killed in the conflicts of Iraq and Afghanistan since Sept. 11, 2001.

In a statement, Maj. Gen. David S. Baldwin, adjutant general for the California National Guard, said, “We extend our heartfelt condolences to Sgt. Eugenio’s family and commit to them our unwavering support. Sgt. Eugenio’s death, the first of a California Guardsman in Afghanistan, is a painfully wrenching testimony to the bravery, service and sacrifice of our state’s National Guardsmen.”

Eugenio was assigned to the Lancaster-based 756th Transportation Company, 746th Combat Sustainment Service Battalion and 224th Sustainment Brigade. His unit left in August for its one-year mission to Afghanistan.

Last month, the war in Afghanistan entered its 11th year. The conflict in Afghanistan has claimed the lives of two young men from Rancho Cucamonga. Army Spc. Ronnie Pallares, 19, a graduate of Alta Loma High School, died October 2010 from a roadside bomb.

Pallares’ mother, Brenda Pallares, was at the airport to greet Eugenio’s father, sister, brother and girlfriend on Tuesday as they returned from Delaware.

“This day is the hardest,” said Brenda Pallares. “All I could do is give back.”

The parents of Matthew Creed, an Army specialist from Covina who was killed during combat in Iraq, were also at the airport.

“I want families to know they’re not alone,” said Kim Creed, mother of Matthew Creed, now a Rancho Cucamonga resident. “October is just a horrible month.”

The Creeds marked the fifth year of their son’s death on Oct. 22. The Pallares family marked the one-year anniversary of Ronnie Pallares’ death on Oct. 23.

Read more: http://www.dailybulletin.com/news/ci_19239944#ixzz1car4efm5

SGT Eugenio is the 1,824th American killed in Afghanistan … Ich hatt’ einen Kameraden

 
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Posted by on November 3, 2011 in War on Terror

 

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Stephen J. Dunning

03 Nov

Marine SSG Stephen J. Dunning, 31, of Milpitas, was killed Thursday in Afghanistan.

The U.S. Department of Defense said Dunning was an explosive ordinance disposal technician, and was killed while attempting to disarm an explosive device in the Helmand province when he was killed.

Dunning has been awarded a posthumous Purple Heart.

During his career, he also collected many other service awards, including the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal, Combat Action Ribbon, Navy Unit Commendation, Navy Meritorious Unit Commendation, Good Conduct Medal, Afghanistan Campaign Medal, Sea Service Deployment Ribbon, National Defense Service Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Korean Defense Service Medal, and the NATO Medal-ISAF Afghanistan. He also received two letters of appreciation and a certificate of commendation, individual award.

Dunning joined the Marine Corps on April 19, 1999. At the time of his death, he was assigned to the 9th Engineer Support Battalion, 3rd Marine Logistics Group, III Marine Expeditionary Force, which is normally based in Okinawa, Japan, where he had been serving since June of 2009. His unit was recently sent to Afghanistan to support Operation Enduring Freedom.

Dunning was a graduate of Milpitas High School.

SSG Dunning is the 1,823rd American killed in Afghanistan … Ich hatt’ einen Kameraden

 
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Posted by on November 3, 2011 in War on Terror

 

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