Tuesday, September 29, 2015

OBOF TYMHM & MORE Vol 15 - No 18


THINGS YOU MAY HAVE MISSED (TYMHM)

YEAR ONE

YEAR TWO

YEAR THREE

YEAR FOUR

YEAR FIVE

 

OBOF YEAR FIVE INDEX
 
OBOF TYMHM
Jan. 07, 2015
OBOF TYMHM Vol 15 - No 1
Jan. 19, 2015
OBOF TYMHM Vol 15 - No 2
Feb.  03, 2015
OBOF TYMHM Vol 15 - No 3
Feb.  23, 2015
OBOF TYMHM Vol 15 - No 4
Mar.  02, 2015
OBOF TYMHM Vol 15 - No 5
Mar.  06, 2015
OBOF TYMHM Vol 15 - No 6
Mar.  13, 2015
OBOF TYMHM Vol 15 - No 7
Mar.   23, 2015
OBOF TYMHM Vol 15 - No 8
Mar.  28,  2015
OBOF TYMHM Vol 15 - No 9
Apr.  13,  2015
OBOF TYMHM Vol 15 - No 10
May  02,  2015
OBOF TYMHM Vol 15 - No 11
May  09,  2015
OBOF TYMHM Vol 15 - No 12
May  19, 2015
OBOF TYMHM Vol 15 - No 13
May  26, 2015
OBOF TYMHM Vol 15 - No 14
May  29, 2015
OBOF TYMHM Vol 15 - No 15
July   28, 2015
OBOF TYMHM Vol 15 - No 16
Sept.  15, 2015
OBOF TYMHM Vol 15 - No 17
Sept.  20, 2015
OBOF TYMHM Vol 15 - No 18
Sept.  27, 2015

 

Agenda


 


1.  FROM  FLOYD


 

2.  Boehner says: will avoid US government shutdown, clear more legislation.

 


3.  Popcorn time: Boehner calls GOP hard-liners 'false prophets'.


 

      4. The Dark Truth of John Boehner's Resignation


           An in depth analysis of the present day GOP.


A real eye opener.


 


5.  BERNIE for PRESIDENT.


 

6.  An Evangelical responds to Sanders' speech at Liberty U


 

Note:  Darn computer has a mind of it's own and has changed some type sizes, but I think everything is here for you.     Floyd. 

 

 

FROM  FLOYD

 

Hello Folks:  I'm a little late this week, but I want to tell you, this posting is filled with some real, what I think, is important and interesting information. 

I told you last week that this week I would give you something more that just Bernie Sanders for President.  I have kept my word.  The last two articles is all that is about Bernie.  Even so, I think you will find them really interesting. 

However, I want to say just a few words here about him.  As of last Thursday, a CNN poll showed ratings in Iowa and New Hampshire.  In Iowa Bernie 41%, Hillary 40%.  Just one month ago, Bernie was at 33%, Hillary at 52%.  In New Hampshire Bernie 44%, Hillary 37%

With regard to a question about "Trustworthiness and Honesty, Bernie 86%, Hillary 64%.  Iowa and New Hampshire are two first states to hold primary elections.

Bernie certainly does not have it sewed up by a long shot, BUT he is certainly going in the right direction.  Lets all keep pushing for him and support him with donations whenever you can.  That's all, I won't say anymore about Bernie at this time.

You no doubt know that Speaker Bohner has resigned as Speaker of the House of Representative after holding that post for almost 5 years.  Since I am sure you know about this latest development in Washington, I am only posting articles relating to the aftermath.  Right now, I think that is very important.

I am going to follow this close this week and month as what happens, particularly after October 30, could actually have us jumping out of the frying pan into the fire.  

Since I am a little late this week and there is so much here that is important, I will not post the next one until Sunday.  That way if some you only get to it on a week-end you will be able to see this one and have the next one, still on part of the week-end.

~~~

Boehner says: will avoid US government shutdown, clear more legislation

DAVID LAWDER Sep 27th  

 

U.S. House Speaker John Boehner vowed on Sunday that Congress will avoid a government shutdown this week and he would push through as much unfinished legislation as possible before leaving at the end of October.

 

U.S. House Speaker John Boehner vowed on Sunday that Congress will avoid a government shutdown this week and he would push through as much unfinished legislation as possible before leaving at the end of October.

 

Speaking on CBS' Face the Nation two days after his surprise resignation, he said the House this week would pass a government funding bill now moving through the Senate, which does not meet conservatives' demands to cut off money for Planned Parenthood.

 

Asked if passage would require Democratic votes, he responded: "I'm sure it will, but I suspect my Democratic colleagues want to keep the government open as much as I do."

The Ohio Republican also announced that he would convene a special committee to investigate Planned Parenthood's abortion practices, similar to the one probing deadly attacks on U.S. diplomatic facilities in Benghazi, Libya.

Boehner resigned amid deep divisions among House Republicans over a range of issues including a Sept. 30 deadline to approve new funding for federal agencies.

Conservative Republicans, some of whom have called for his ouster, have insisted on punishing Planned Parenthood by denying funds over allegations that the non-profit group improperly sold tissue harvested from aborted fetuses.

Planned Parenthood denies any wrongdoing.

Boehner lashed out at the conservative groups and lawmakers who made his position untenable, including Senator Ted Cruz, the Republican presidential candidate. He said they "whip people into a frenzy" to make "unrealistic" demands.

"I mean, this whole idea that we were going to shut down the government to get rid of Obamacare in 2013, this plan never had a chance," he said.

Boehner said he would try to clear as much of Congress' to-do-list as he could but did not name specific bills.

Congress faces several important fiscal deadlines, including a transportation spending bill needed in October and a larger budget deal that would go beyond the 10-week extension to be passed next week.

An increase in the federal debt ceiling also will be needed by December and lawmakers from both parties want to revive the idled U.S. Export-Import Bank, which Boehner has long supported.

The speaker's resignation frees him to put legislation to House votes without fear of a move to oust him.

"I expect that I might have a little more cooperation from some around town to get as much finished as possible," Boehner said. "I don't want to leave my successor a dirty barn."

 

 

 


Popcorn time: Boehner calls GOP hard-liners 'false prophets'


 


                                                                                   Sun Sep 27, 2015


 


Outgoing House Speaker John A. Boehner, in his first one-on-one interview since announcing his resignation last week, compared conservative hard-liners in his party to biblical "false prophets" who promise more than they can deliver.

 

Boehner announced Friday that he would step down Oct. 30 after nearly five years as speaker amid constant pressure from his party's right flank. Asked Sunday by host John Dickerson on a live broadcast of CBS's "Face the Nation" whether those hard-liners are "unrealistic about what can be done in government," Boehner exploded.

"Absolutely, they're unrealistic!" he said.  "But, you know, the Bible says beware of false prophets, and there are people out there spreading noise about how much can get done."

Boehner may have been the most ineffectual Speaker of the House, ever.  It wasn't just the dysfunction within his caucus, it was also his complete lack of vision.  But things can actually get worse for the GOP. Some are predicting that GOP Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy will be chosen to replace Boehner, but that wouldn't sit well with the hard-line teabag types who drove Boehner from office.  The hardline teabag types won't be satisfied until one of their own is in charge, which would be great fun, given the tea party's overwhelming unpopularity around the country.

 

The reactions of Republican presidential candidates have varied from gloating, to veiled gloating, to caution and concern—because many of them are at a loss as to what to do.  The GOP establishment created and fed off this extremist monster, and now it is devouring them.

~~~

        The Dark Truth of John Boehner's Resignation


 


 


An in depth analysis of the present day GOP.


A real eye opener.


 


This is something that should not slip by lightly.  The video above is of a roomful of Republican voters interrupting the speech of a Republican Senator and presidential candidate with a standing ovation at the news that the Republican House Speaker has been forced to resign.  It is hard to watch this outburst of joyful anger (or angry joy?) without wondering: what in the world is going on with the Republican party?  Why would news of the humiliating resignation of John Boehner spark an immediate Republican celebration?

 

Mr. Boehner certainly was unpopular with his own Republican voters.  The day of his resignation a WSJ/NBC poll found that "some 72% of Republican primary voters said they were dissatisfied with the ability of Mr. Boehner and GOP Senate leader Mitch McConnell to achieve Republican goals."  But that phrase - failure "to achieve Republican goals" - is remarkable.  As a very good "Abbreviated Pundit Round-up" details today, John Boehner and the Republicans overall never had the votes to impose Republican policies.  As Phillip Bump notes, the only "compromises" Boehner made "have been between reality and fantasy."  

 

Indeed, it is notable that when conservative writer Erick Erickson writes a column titled "Why John Boehner Had To Go," he can't actually name or describe anything Boehner did wrong - only arguing vaguely and nonsensically that Boehner (somehow) held his own Republican party "in contempt."  

 

When forced to explain this supposed "contempt," numerous Republicans (even presidential candidates) list not only Boehner's (non-existent) failure to stop Obamacare, but also his supposed enabling of Obamacare.  As Mike Huckabee explained, "When people sent [Republicans] here, they didn't send them to give the president more power on Obamacare[.]" Think about that: after total legislative obstruction, a government shut-down, more than 50 votes to repeal Obamacare, an ensuing presidential election, two Supreme Court lawsuits, and other pending litigation - - Republicans are livid with the belief that John Boehner has worked with the President to strengthen Obamacare.

 

No sane political observer could think that.  So, what gives?  As Jonathan Chait explains, we are witnessing a sort of collective Republican denial where they cannot accept that they are not the ruling party, not the "deciders" (to use a former president's phrase):

 

To understand the pressures that brought about Boehner’s demise as an ideological split badly     misconstrues the situation.  The small band of right-wing noisemakers in the House who made Boehner’s existence a living hell could not identify any important substantive disagreements with the object of their wrath. . . . The source of the disagreement was tactical, not philosophical.  Boehner’s tormentors refused to accept the limits of his political power. . . .

This discontent runs much deeper and wider than Boehner. . . . Boehner had the misfortune of leading, or attempting to lead, his party in an era when it had run up to the limits of crazy, where the only unexplored frontiers of extremism lay beyond the reach of its Constitutional powers.

 

What is important here is not that Republicans object to the limits of their power, but that Republicans apparently cannot accept that such limits even exist.  Greg Sargent recently caught this in a very revealing FOX News poll:

 

[Republicans] failed to block Obama’s transformation of the country; that must be because they didn’t even try, so they must be complicit.  But this failure, too, is structural.  Republicans don’t have the votes to surmount Dem filibusters or Obama vetoes.  The idea that this can be overcome through sheer force of will (the argument conservatives are making in favor of another shutdown fight) is just another version of [the "Big Lie"].

 

Indeed, the Fox News poll unwittingly captures what is particularly problematic about this last one.  It finds that 60 percent of Republicans feel betrayed by their party, and that 66 percent of Republicans don’t think their party did all it could to block Obama’s agenda. The poll asks why respondents think their party leaders failed at this: they didn’t really want to stop Obama; they weren’t smart enough; they would rather fight each other.  The Fox poll doesn’t even offer respondents the option of choosing the real reason — that Republicans structurally lack the votes!

 

You see?   Lack of majority political power is not even a possibility.  When, in the video above, Republican supporters jumped from their chairs at news of Boehner's resignation, it is because someone or something defective had to be blocking the Republicans' exercise of their undisputed authority.  With Boehner gone, Republicans have something legitimate to celebrate in their minds - the restoration of their thwarted authority.

 

It sounds crazy, I know, but this represents the true "dark side" of Boehner's resignation: it is another significant step in the Republican party's shocking withdrawal from our system of democratic governance.  Specifically, it presages a doubling-down of the Republicans' intentions to assert "negative control," where government shutdowns, hostage-taking, and (the immensely dangerous) debt-ceiling fights threaten to become more determinative than electoral outcomes and a functioning government.  As one Republican writer put it, the emerging Republican belief is that threats of government destruction combined with the inherent rightness of Republican beliefs "could be so strong (as Ted Cruz was of his proposal to defund Obamacare) that Senate Democrats, the Obama White House and the mainstream media would, for once, finally, this time, cave in and let the House Republicans have their way."  (And the use of the words "for once, finally" means "rightly," "appropriately," consistent with the "true" distribution of power.)

 

If anyone doubts that this is where we are increasingly headed, Steve Benen has a useful summary of the growing history of Republicans' "hostage governing":

 

 April 2011: House Republicans threaten a government shutdown unless Democrats accept GOP demands on spending cuts.

 

July 2011: Republicans create the first-ever debt-ceiling crisis, threatening to default on the nation’s debts unless Democrats accept GOP demands on spending cuts.

 

*September 2011: Republicans threaten another shutdown.

 

*April 2012: Republicans threaten another shutdown.

*December 2012: Republicans spend months refusing o negotiate in the lead up to the so-called “fiscal cliff.”

*January 2013: Republicans raise the specter of another debt-ceiling crisis.

*September 2013: Republicans threaten another shutdown.

*October 2013: Republicans actually shut down the government.

*February 2014: Republicans raise the specter of another debt-ceiling crisis.

*December 2014: Republicans threaten another shutdown.

*February 2015: Republicans threaten a Department of Homeland Security shutdown.

*September 2015: Republicans threaten another shutdown [over Planned Parenthood].

 

As Jonathan Chait, Greg Sargent and others note, the forced resignation of John Boehner is another step in the above line of this undemocratic behavior, and not some gossipy, intra-mural Republican politics.  

 

What we have here is one of two major political parties increasingly disengaging from the democratic process.  Did you know that President Obama is an illegitimate President because he is not a "natural born citizen"?  Or that he won election by promising "free stuff" to minorities?  That minorities and illegal aliens are engaged in massive voter fraud?  Or, that popular elections of U.S. Senators should be taken away?  That some "Boehner Rule" or "Hastert Rule" exists which neuters any Democratic House votes?  Or that is OK for Republicans to filibuster every proposed law while in the minority, but the filibuster should be repealed now that Republicans have a Senate majority?  Or that the Electoral College should be reformed to provide proportional votes only in "Blue States"?  . . . or, that policy outcomes should not be determined by elections but instead by holding hostage the federal government or the "full faith and credit" of the U.S.?

Most importantly, did you realize that all of the above are necessary to enact the majority will of the people? Because - believe it or not - that is what the Republicans believe.

The conclusion of Congressional scholars Thomas Mann and Norman Ornstein has been widely quoted, but not sufficiently absorbed:  

One of the two major parties, the Republican Party, has become an insurgent outlier — ideologically extreme; contemptuous of the inherited social and economic policy regime; scornful of compromise; unpersuaded by conventional understanding of facts, evidence and science; and dismissive of the legitimacy of its political opposition.

 

 


~~~


 

BERNIE for PRESIDENT.

                           by  Technowitch


Floyd

As you know, we launched our campaign almost five months ago and we’re doing very well so far.  We’ve seen leads in Iowa and New Hampshire, and continue to gain ground in states across the country.

 

And while we will never raise as much money as our opponents who receive huge donations from wealthy individuals and super PACs, I have been amazed by the outpouring of grassroots financial support that we have secured. In just a few months, we have received almost (as of 9-29-15 he has past 1M) 1 million individual contributions online. Incredibly, these donations average less than $30 per contribution.  In other words, while my opponents hold fundraising events in which a handful of millionaires make huge contributions, we are gaining extraordinary support with modest contributions coming from the working families and middle class of our country.

 

That's what my politics is all about.  That's what I want to do throughout this campaign.  And I want to thank all of you for your support.

 

Let me be very clear.  As I have mentioned before and will mention again and again, this campaign is not about Bernie Sanders.  It's about putting together a grassroots movement of Americans who stand up and say: "Enough is enough.  This country and our government belong to all of us, not just a handful of billionaires."

 

 

 Wow... kudos to Bernie (5+ / 0-)

Recommended by:


It's easy to give a stump speech in front of your supporters. Sure, it might be stirring and inspirational, but in the end you're only trying to persuade those who already like you on some level.

 

It takes a lot more courage to talk to the other side and, while still holding to one's own principles, point out all the ways there are actually broad areas of agreement.

 

Can any of you imagine any of the other candidates -- especially the GOPers -- EVER doing something like what Bernie did?  I can't.

 

For a few minutes today anyway, I'll set aside my usual cynicism and indulge in just a little hope things might get better...

~~~

 

An Evangelical responds to Sanders' speech at Liberty U


 


Wed Sep 16, 2015

 

An Evangelical pastoral counselor and Liberty University graduate posted a short sermon about Bernie Sanders' speech at Liberty University to reddit yesterday:


 

Partial transcript below:

 

He was convicting the Christian leaders and the religious leaders in that university, and calling us out for being complicit in the abandonment of those who suffer, the least of these, and siding with the powerful and rich, the masters of this world.  And he was convicting us and calling us out, and we scorned him, and we stared him down; and, with sour faces, we thought, "Who is this wacko, and why do all these people seem to follow him, seem to like him – this wild-haired Jew, crying out from the wilderness of the political left, in his hoarse voice?"

 

When I heard Bernie speaking in that way, when I saw that guy on stage at Liberty University, I saw John the Baptist...crying out to the religious leaders, the Pharisees of his day, calling them corrupt and complicit with those who have all the power and all the money and all the wealth, and abandoning the people that God loves, that God cares about...

 

 

As I heard Bernie Sanders crying out to the religious leaders at Liberty University, in his hoarse voice, with his wild hair – this Jew – and he proclaimed justice over us, he called us to account, for being complicit with those who are wealthy and those who are powerful, and for abandoning the poor, the least of these, who Jesus said he had come to bring good news to. And in that moment something occurred to me. As I saw Bernie Sanders up there, as I watched him, I realized Bernie Sanders for president is good news for the poor.  Bernie Sanders for president is Good News for the poor.  Bernie Sanders is gospel for the poor.  And Jesus said "I have come to bring gospel" – good news – "to the poor."

  

 

And lightning hit my heart at that moment. And I realized that we are evangelical Christians.  We believe the Bible.  We believe in Jesus.  We absolutely shun those who would attempt to find nuance and twisted and tortured interpretations of scripture that they would use to master all other broader interpretations, to find some kind of big message that they want to flout.  We absolutely scorn such things, and yet somehow we commit to the mental gymnastics necessary that allows us to abandon the least of these, to abandon the poor, to abandon the immigrants, to abandon those who are in prison.

 

I listened to Bernie Sanders as he said he wanted to welcome the immigrants and give them dignity, as he said he wanted to care for the sick children and mothers and fathers who do not have health care, as he said he wanted to decrease the amount of human beings who are corralled like cattle in the prisons, as he said he wanted to do justice for those who have nothing and live homeless.  And I remembered the words of Jesus who warned his disciples that there will be judgement, and on that day he will look to his friends, and he will say "Blessed are you for you cared for me, for I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you cared for me, I was hungry and you fed me, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was in prison and you came to visit me, I was homeless and you gave me shelter."  And his disciples said, "When did we do any of those things for you?" And he said, "If you have done it for the least of these, you have done it for me."

 

Those words echoed in my heart as I listened to that crazy, hoarse-voiced, wild-haired Jew standing in front of the religous leaders of the Evangelical Movement, calling us to account, as a Jew once did before, telling us that he intends to care for the least of these, to clothe the naked, to shelter the homeless, to care for the sick, to set the prisoners free.

 

I wouldn't be much of a Christian if I didn't stand on the side of gospel for the poor, because, the last time I checked, that's where my master Jesus stood, and I'll stand with Him.  And,   for now, that means I stand with Bernie Sanders.

 

COMMENTS:  There were 623 and many of them very long and thoughtful.   A few were almost full sermons.

 

It's easy to give a stump speech in front of your supporters. Sure, it might be stirring and inspirational, but in the end you're only trying to persuade those who already like you on some level.

 

It takes a lot more courage to talk to the other side and, while still holding to one's own principles, point out all the ways there are actually broad areas of agreement.

 

Can any of you imagine any of the other candidates -- especially the GOPers -- EVER doing something like what Bernie did?  I can't.

 

For a few minutes today anyway, I'll set aside my usual cynicism and indulge in just a little hope things might get better...


~~~

 

If the good Lord is willing and the creek don't rise, I'll talk with you again next week.  As I said earlier, I will be posting next week on Sunday, which would be October 4, 2015.

 

God Bless You All

&

God Bless the United States of America

 

Floyd

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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