Zero Salary for Congress | Common Dreams

Zero Salary for Congress | Common Dreams

Attack On LaborThe Big 10 Conference Connection

You've all seen & heard the news coming out of Ohio & Wisconsin, haven't you? Well here's what I think is behind it.....

NCAA Football

Yep! You heard me correctly. I said NCAA Football

Now HOW did I reach this "Radical" theory you ask? Simple.

It all started in Wisconsin (Home of the Wisconsin Badgers) as Governor Scott Walker (Eventually) RAMMED his UNION BUSTING JOB KILLING bill through state government. While Badger Country was in a state of political chaos, Ohio Governor (And former Fox News Host) John Kasich figured HE could "Slide" HIS union busting job killing bill through Ohio's legislature. Well he managed to do it (Mainly because the Progressive Democrats didn't have a snowball's chance in hell) but his bill goes too far as HE WENT AFTER POLICE, FIREFIGHTERS, EMS WORKERS & OTHER ESSENTIAL FIRST RESPONSE PERSONNEL in addition to teachers & other non-essential state employees.

As someone who has been in the WRONG end of MORE AMBULANCES THAN I CARE TO COUNT & spent more hours in MORE TRIPS TO THE EMERGENCY ROOM THAN I CARE TO COUNT (Including ONE WHICH SAVED MY LIFE I might add!), I was PISSED OFF!!

Now I feel fortunate I live here in Colorado (Which is primarily controlled by Democrats) & not in Ohio or Wisconsin, but still.....

Anyway, now Michigan Governor David Snyder is on the act & wants a piece of the action. That got me to noticing a pattern & wondering what sort of tricks the Republicans were up to in attempting to create YET ANOTHER belt for themselves & their rich friends.

Well I didn't have to go very far to look. In fact, I didn't need to look any further than Wikipedia (You know, the OTHER Wiki-based site that DOES NOT turn national secrets into dirty laundry). What I found was STAGGERINGLY MINDBLOWING.

Take a look.....

LIST OF REPUBLICAN GOVERNORS IN THE NEW BIG 10 CONFERENCE STATES

IOWA Terry Branstad
(Iowa Hawkeyes)

INDIANA Mitch Daniels (2005)
(Indiana Hoosiers, Purdue Boilermakers)

MICHIGAN David Snyder
(Michigan Wolverines, Michigan State Spartans)

NEBRASKA Dave Heineman (2005)
(Nebraska Cornhuskers)

OHIO John Kasich
(Ohio State Buckeyes)

PENNSYLVANIA Tom Corbett
(Penn State Nittany Lions)

WISCONSIN Scott Walker
(Wisconsin Badgers)


LIST OF DEMOCRATIC GOVERNORS IN THE NEW BIG 10 CONFERENCE STATES

ILLINOIS Pat Quinn
(Illinois Fighting Illini, Northwestern Wildcats)

MINNESOTA Mark Dayton
(Minnesota Golden Gophers)

STATE LEGISLATURES IN THE NEW BIG 10 CONFERENCE

HOUSE

ILLINOIS (Democrat) - 64-54
INDIANA (Republican) - 60-40
IOWA (Republican) - 60-40
MICHIGAN (Republican) - 63-47
MINNESOTA (Republican) - 72-62
NEBRASKA (NONPARTISAN)
OHIO (Republican) - 59-40
PENNSYLVANIA (Republican) - 112-91
WISCONSIN (Republican) - 60-38 (1 Independent)

SENATE

ILLINOIS (Democrat) - 35-24
INDIANA (Republican) - 37-13
IOWA (Democrat) - 26-24
MICHIGAN (Republican) - 26-12
MINNESOTA (Republican) - 37-30
NEBRASKA (NONPARTISAN)
OHIO (Republican) - 23-10
PENNSYLVANIA (Republican) - 30-20
WISCONSIN (Republican) - 19-14

TOTALS

GOVERNORSHIPS (Republican) 8-1
HOUSE (Republican) 540-412-1 with 7 of 9 states (1 Nonpartisan)
SENATE (Republican) 220-160 with 7 of 9 states (1 Nonpartisan)

CONCUSIONS

* 8 Of 9 New Big 10 Conference States Have Republican Governors. Of those, only TWO are incumbents (Indiana's Mitch Daniels & Nebraska's Dave Heineman). Nebraska is the newest member of the new Big 10 (Or the LONE remaining member of the OLD Big 12, depending on how you look at it

* Republicans control 7 of 9 states in BOTH the House & Senate with Illinois & Iowa being the lone Democratic strongholds (Iowa in the Senate ONLY) in the new Big 10 Conference & Nebraska being a Nonpartisan state in the legislative branch. Because of this, Nebraska was only counted in the state total but NOT counted in the seat total

Toss out Nebraska (Since they are the newest member to the conference & have a Nonpartisan State Legislature & Senate) & the Republicans STILL hold 6 of 8 states in the old Big 10 Conference with Illinois & Iowa being the lone Democrat strongholds

If THAT creating a new "Bible Belt", I dunno what is then.....

SOURCES & CREDITS

List Of Current United States Governors
List Of Current United States Legislatures
Wikipedia

This Is Not Only Wisconsin - But AMERICA As Well

America IS NOT for sale

GET THAT TEA PARTY NUTJOBS?????

Time For The World To HATE Hate Speech

If you watched the latest episode of my show on Mevio & StickAM (Such as it admittedly was :) *Embarrassed Look* *LOL!*) last week, you saw me bring up the subject of HATE SPEECH.

Well I believe it bears repeating here.

Hate speech is (To quote former President George H.W. Bush when he introduced his Drug Czar to America) A SCOURGE which MUST be stamped out. Those who persist in engaging in it must also be stamped out as well.

How do we stamp out Hate Speech & those who persist in engaging it you ask? Simple.

DO NOT GIVE IT & THOSE WHO PERSIST IN ENGAGING IN IT THE TIME OF DAY. Just ignore it. Ignore those who persist in engaging in it too.

By doing this, you don't perpetuate it in your response. Not only that, but you deprive THE ONE THING those who persist in engaging in Hate Speech NEED in order to continue doing it - AN AUDIENCE.

As long as you respond to Hate Speech, you give those who persist in engaging in it an audience. By depriving them of an audience, you deprive them of the incentive to engage in it. Once they lose the incentive, they'll eventually move on to more constructive things.

It's not rocket science folks. IT IS COMMON SENSE.

That said, let me close with a discalimer - While I'm favor of FREE SPEECH, that belief DOES NOT extend to HATE SPEECH. There IS a difference between the two.

Small Town Radio Station War Gets Personal

The things radio stations will do for ratings these days - SHEESH.....

Back To The Future

Full Overhead Latex Halloween Mask Of President George W. Bush

Now that the Midterm Elections are over & the Republicants have control of Congress, I have a vow which I want to share with you.

In an effort to hold the feet of Boehner (Whom EVERYONE & THEIR MOTHER believes will be the next House Speaker) & Co. to the proverbial fire, I will purchase one of these masks & wear it during EACH & EVERY video edition of my talk show called The Left Wing Conservative which will be streamed LIVE here (NEW URL!) & later podcast here for all to download later.

I may look a little silly in the process BUT if it means keeping Washington honest by keeping its collective feet to the fire, then SO BE IT.

If there's ONE thing you've gotta give Bush credit for, that would be being a TOUGH AS NAILS President. Whether he was sending a message to Congress or to Saddaam Hussein, he was almost ALWAYS TOUGH AS NAILS. This is one trait which President Obama doesn't seem to have & unless he develops one, then Senator Mitch McConnell's statement about him being a "One Term President" will come true in 2010 (Though not neccessarily for the reasons he SO HAPPILY likes to claim every time he plasters his face on our high def TV screens!).

The wearing of this mask will also be an attempt as holding President Obama's feet to the fire as well. He needs to start getting tougher & STOP BEING AFRAID TO THROW DOWN THE GAUNTLET. That's what Clinton did after the 1994 midterms. Look what that got HIM in 1996 - A SECOND TERM!!!

By the way, I found this mask by Googling it. Turns our that YOU TOO can have one of your very own. You can get it here or < a href="http://www.911buycostume.com/">here if you prefer a more direct link.

In the meantime, see ya soon with my new mask :)

CALLING ALL LIBERALS & OTHER PROGRESSIVES Let's Have A 24 Hour Blog-A-Thon

I realize this is VERY last minute, but this just might work.....

With it now being just a little over 24 hours before the first polling places open, I am calling on ALL my fellow Liberal brethren for a 24 hour Blog-A-Thon.

What's the purpose? Simple. POKE HOLES IN THE CLAIMS OF THE REPUBLICANTS in a last ditch effort to convert as many of those lost souls who've been BRAINWASHED by the likes of Sarah "Hockey Mom" Palin, Glenn BEAK, Bill O'REALLY, BUSH BIMBAUGH & many others as we possibly can in such a short time.

Who knows? With a little bit of luck, we just might pull it off.

Look at it this way, YOU JUST KNOW our blogging friends on the right are UNDOUBTEDLY planning to do the same in an effort to convert us. So why not counter it?

I'll be blogging as much as I can tomorrow. I hope you will too.