Buerkle: 5 Easy Lies

At the American Legion in Cato last night, we were slimed. Ann Marie Buerkle held one of her "town hall" meetings.


It is deceptive to hear Buerkle speak because her favored public front is one of smoothness, friendliness, clarity, competence.


Her claqueurs were there, heavily outnumbering people with tough questions. It felt intimidating.


Her handlers were handing her the softest of softball questions.


Lie #1:  "I will be independent." This became a platform plank early in the campaign as part of her Compact 25. The fact is that she has voted with her party and John Boehner 97% of the time, with the other 3% being missed and procedural votes, proves differently.


Lie #2:  "I will be accountable" is another plank from Compact 25. Yes, she holds town hall meetings. Then she fills them with supporters who ask her softball questions, and a moderator and staff who protect her from the hard ones.


Lie #3:  When questioned last night about her stance against women's health care and abortion she said, "you elected me as a Pro-Life candidate." Actually, she hid her Pro-Life platform during the campaign. When she first declared, she said that abortion was not the issue that would define her nor would it be a priority of her campaign. If you were new to the area, you would never have known about her ignominious history with Operation Rescue.


Lie #4:  "The government is not in the business of supporting energy." That does not match the tax-free business status of BP and other gas and oil companies in the US. It does not match the total green light that the nuclear industry has always had from the government.


Lie #5:  "There is no voucher for Medicaid in Congressman Paul Ryan's budget bill." Last night, five sentences later she said, "let me explain how the vouchers would work."


Blue Sky Girl doesn't think she actually knows what the truth would sound like.

Social Security Works Presents:

REP. ANN MARIE BUERKLE

Wants Us to Work ’Til We Die

•  Wants to cut our Social Security benefits and raise the retirement age 
•  Wants to take away Medicare as we know it
•  Wants to slash Medicaid―that’s health care for seniors, women, children and people with disabilities 
•  Wants to give wealthy Americans a huge tax cut

  

REP. BUERKLE’S DANGEROUS RECORD

Voted to create a “fast track” in Congress to cut Social Security benefits and raise the retirement age to 69 or more.  Voted to cut the Social Security Administration by $1.7 billion.  (Voted YES on H.Con.Res 34, the House Budget Resolution, April 15, 2011) http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2011/roll277.xml    (Voted YES on H.R. 1, Feb. 19, 2011; http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2011/roll147.xml)

Voted to take away Medicare as we know it and leave us at the mercy of insurance companies.  Voted to double seniors’ costs and to raise the age of eligibility for Medicare from 65 to 67. (Voted YES on H.Con.Res. 34, the House Budget Resolution, April 15, 2011) http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2011/roll277.xml

Voted to slash $1.4 trillion from Medicaid – the health care program for seniors, women, children and people with disabilities.  (Voted YES on H.Con.Res. 34, the House Budget Resolution, April 15, 2011) http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2011/roll277.xml

Voted to give a $1.1 trillion tax cut to the richest Americans and to cut their tax rate and the corporate tax rate from 35% to 25%.   (Voted YES on H.Con.Res. 34, the House Budget Resolution, April 15, 2011) http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2011/roll277.xml

TELL REP. BUERKLE: Hands Off Social Security, Medicare,  and Medicaid!

Explanation of Votes in Congress

The House Republican Budget Resolution (H.Con.Res. 34) sets forth the congressional budget for the federal government for Fiscal Year 2012, including the appropriate budgetary levels for FY2013-FY2021.  It was approved 235 to 193 on April 15, 2011 (Roll Call Vote 277).  It would drastically restructure the Medicare and Medicaid programs while implementing a “fast track” procedure for cutting Social Security benefits. Specifically it would:

 Voted to create a “fast track” procedure to force action on Social Security. This likely would result in significant benefit cuts, including an increase in the retirement age to 69 or more. It would require the President and Congress to take up Social Security reform under “expedited procedures” whenever there is a projected shortfall (there is currently a shortfall projected in 2037). The Republican budget endorses deep cuts to Social Security benefits, as described by Rep. Paul Ryan in “The Path to Prosperity.”

 Voted to take away Medicare as we know it – the traditional Medicare program. Beginning in 2022, new Medicare enrollees would have to buy coverage through a private insurance company.  Medicare would provide seniors with a subsidy to purchase coverage, but it would not keep pace with rising medical costs. By 2022 a 65-year-old’s average share of costs would be nearly $7,000 higher than under the current system, $12,500 rather than $5,630.  This increase would consume nearly 50 percent of their Social Security benefits. The increase in the Medicare eligibility age to 67, from 65, represents even further benefit cuts.

 Voted to slash $1.4 trillion from Medicaid. This would be achieved by converting the program into a block-grant to states and repealing the Affordable Care Act health care reform. A block-grant will cap the amount payable to states, which will respond by reducing eligibility and services and increasing cost sharing. Repealing the Affordable Care Act will eliminate 16 million new people estimated to get Medicaid coverage. 

 Voted give a $1.1 trillion tax cut to the richest Americans and to cut their tax rate and the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 25 percent. The Republican budget extended all of President Bush’s tax cuts, which would cut taxes by $700 billion over 10 years for the richest 2 percent of Americans. It also would cut taxes by $371.4 billion for the richest Americans by repealing the surtax on investment income and additional Hospital Insurance tax contained in the Affordable Care Act. The Republican budget also would cut the top marginal tax rate for individuals from 35 percent to 25 percent and reduce the corporate tax rate by the same amount. (No estimates are available about how much more that would save individuals and corporations in taxes.)   

Voted to cut the Social Security Administration by $1.7 billion, H.R. 1: This was a House Republican proposal to fund the government through the end of Fiscal Year 2011. It was approved 239 to 189 on February 19, 2011 (Roll Call Vote 147). Among its $61 billion in cuts from President Obama’s budget was a $1.7 billion cut to the Social Security Administration (SSA) below the level needed to provide promised service levels and to fund current projects. It was estimated that H.R. 1 would have the following effects: SSA would have had to furlough its workers for up to one month by the end of 2011; up to 400,000 people would have had their retirement, survivors, and Medicare applications significantly delayed, becoming part of a large and growing backlog; and up to 290,000 people would have had their disability benefit applications delayed.

Notes:

Paul Ryan, “Advancing Social Security Reforms,” in Path to Prosperity, April 2011, p. 48. Available at http://budget.house.gov/UploadedFiles/PathToProsperityFY2012.pdf. 

Kaiser Family Foundation, “Proposed Changes to Medicare in ‘Path to Prosperity,’” April 2011. Available at http://www.kff.org/medicare/upload/8179.pdf

Kaiser Family Foundation, “Medicaid and the Uninsured: Implications of a Federal Block Grant for Medicaid,” April 2011. Available at http://www.kff.org/medicaid/upload/8173.pdf 

Center on Budget & Policy Priorities, “Statement of Robert Greenstein, President, on Chairman Ryan’s Budget Plan,” April 20, 2011, available at http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=3452; Tax Policy Center, “Reduce Corporate Income Tax Rate and Repeal Various Income Tax and Payroll Tax Provisions: Impact on Tax Revenue vs. Current Policy Baseline, 2012-2021,” April 7, 2011, available at http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/numbers/Content/PDF/T11-0088.pdf.

Ibid, Path to Prosperity, p. 6. Available at  http://budget.house.gov/UploadedFiles/PathToProsperityFY2012.pdf  

H.R. 1 available at http://www.rules.house.gov/Media/file/PDF_112_1/legislativetext/2011crapprops/AppropCRFinal_xml.pdf

House Ways and Means Committee Democratic Staff, “Ways and Means Democrats Blast Republican Plan to Shut Down Social Security Administration,” February 15, 2011. Available at http://democrats.waysandmeans.house.gov/press/PRArticle.aspx?NewsID=11465

Calvin and Hobbes

Word Play

Ayn Rand Paul Ryan Ayn

Editorial Cartoon by Clay Bennett, Chattanooga Times Free Press

Ann Marie Buerkle and the Cormorants, Updated

The Oneida Lake Association is holding its 66th Annual Meeting tonight at Cicero-North Syracuse High School and Ann Marie Buerkle is invited to attend.

The announcement on Syracuse.com this morning takes Dan Maffei to task for "dropping the ball" last year with help against the cormorant problem. First of all, it is odd that Maffei "drops the ball", but Buerkle, if she fails to fund help with the cormorants, will claim streamlining government. 

She will be in an untenable position tonight in any event. She claims with every fiber that she means to cut government spending. Yet she would like to make friends with the 3500 members of the Association.

Second, last year following the 65th Annual Meeting this announcement appeared on the OLA's own web site: ...[W]e have good news right now—Congressmen Maffei, Owens, and Arcuri have requested that cormorant management funding be included in next year’s federal budget, and I have been told by Senator Gillibrand’s staff that she will support this legislation if it reaches the Senate.”

Looking forward to seeing what happens tonight....

Maybe, magically, some of Buerkle's own wealth will trickle down.

@@@@@@@@@@@

• Update from Syracuse.com on April 22     

Rep. Ann Marie Buerkle spoke briefly at the end of the meeting about her recognition that dealing with the cormorant issue was important because the health of the fishery is a major factor in the economy scene around the lake. She apologized that “the ball was dropped” in regard to the federally funded harassment program.

She said she and her staff will work hard with DEC and federal officials to somehow get the program back.

“This project is not just a handout,” she said. “It will ensure the economic vitality around Oneida Lake.”

• ...and this wonderful comment from chainsawmyke that followed:

"i'd like to hear the representative's definition of a project that IS just a handout. whenever funds are allocated and spent anywhere,anytime, they add to the economic vitality of the area they are spent in. i suppose if one decided to burn a pile of US currency, that may not add much to the economic vitality of the area but you would still have to buy matches from some store. i thought this person was elected to CUT federal spending. i guess it depends on where she's speaking at any given night as to what will be cut and what won't. republican hypocrisy at it's finest. more empty promises...we are getting used to them ann marie."

Ann Marie Buerkle: Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire

On March 25, I went to New York City to attend the centennial of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire. I looked through the crowd and public officials on stage, hoping against impossible odds that I would see Ann Marie Buerkle there. 

After all, the fire happened in her own state.  She does proudly and publicly proclaim about the humanitarian advocacy she has done for women and children. Other national figures including Labor Secretary Hilda Solis and Senator Chuck Schumer came to speak about and to witness the significance of this terrible disaster. 

Yet she was not there. It would have been a good thing for her to experience this solemn  annual gathering in recognition of the tragedy that took the lives of 146 women and girls working in sweat shops at the top of a loft building near Washington Square. 

It would have been good for her to know that the spirits of those women and girls lived on in the years that followed the fire. The tragedy triggered reform all over America. The rights of workers became a national priority. OSHA, NYS DIsability and Workers' Compensation law have their roots in that fire.  

Instead Buerkle has made it her priority as my Representative in Washington to gut the regulations that protect workers in America. She claims that regulations are bad for business.  

It's true. The deaths of those 146 Americans were bad for business. Greedy sweat shop owners were forced to unlock the doors during work hours and allow workers to go to the bathroom. They had to install sprinkler systems and fire escapes. They eventually had to stop using child labor. They had to install fans to draw the lint away from the shops, lint that triggered asthma and fueled fires.

Back in those days before safety regulations, the two wealthy factory owners of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory avoided all legal consequences of those 146 deaths, by the way. 

Ann Marie would not have liked to stand there in that crowd on March 25 and imagine girls and women jumping from the 8th, 9th and 10th floors of that building to their deaths. None of us do. But it would have been a good thing for her to witness anyway. Our laws and regulations protecting workers were put in place after years and years of hard fought reforms that have always been deemed in the national interest.

Is she so arrogant as to think that she can play the Washington game of partisan politics without consequences? Who is she to be a mindless follower in a deadly serious march to reduce one hundred years of reforms to rubble? When she thinks about a better environment for business, why is it that worker protections go on the line? 

Yes, I would have liked very much to have found her there at Greene St. on March 25.

War is Breaking Us

Thanks, Code Pink and War Resisters League!

Here is the fine print: 

Half this pie feeds war. 

Increase in military spending since 2000 

could cost the economy close to 2 million jobs in the long run. 

"Massive Defense Spending Leads to Job Loss," 

Center  for Economic and Policy Research, Nov. 2009 

(warresisters.org/federalpiechart)

Ann Marie: Read About What American People Want

When Ann Marie Buerkle, bit in her mouth in spite of winning by less than one percent, tells us she knows "what the American people want," I wonder what on earth she is thinking?

Then I remember that she has a reputation around here for making things up to fit her scheme. That scheme: her personal quest for power. 

Sorry, Tea Baggers: you've been had.

Polls Show Opposition To Medicare Cuts

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/15/polls-show-american-wary-_n_849725.html

April 15 and 16, 2011 / various polls

Study: Most Americans want wealth distribution similar to Sweden

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/09/25/poll-wealth-distribution-similar-sweden/

This article is particularly interesting: http://sociology.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/power/wealth.html

52% Want Troops Home from Afghanistan Within a Year

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/current_events/afghanistan/52_want_troops_home_from_afghanistan_within_a_year

Rasmussen poll March  7 2011

CNN Poll: Majority Of Americans Want The Government To Fund The Health Care Law

http://politicalcorrection.org/blog/201104120005

CNN April 12, 2011

Greg Sargent's blog

Poll: Majority Doesn’t Want Obama To Be Bipartisan

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/president-obama/poll-majority-doesnt-want-obama-to-be-bipartisan/

Plum Line, Feb 24, 2011

Americans Want Clean Energy: Poll after Poll Proves It

http://www.edf.org/article.cfm?contentID=10453

Posted: 30-Sep-2009; Updated: 23-Jun-2010

Environmental Defense Fund

Poll: 78% Of The American People Want “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” Repealed Now

http://thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/tell-congress-the-american-people-want-dont-ask-dont-tell-repealed-now/discrimination/2010/05/25/11156

by DAVID BADASH on MAY 25, 2010

CNN Poll

Poll: Majority of Americans Oppose GOP's Windfall for the Rich

http://littlegreenfootballs.com/article/37663_Poll-_Majority_of_Americans_Oppose_GOPs_Windfall_for_the_Rich

Charles Johnson
Fri Dec 3, 2010 

CBS News Poll

Poll: Majority of Americans Ready to Pay for Better Infrastructure but Demand Accountability

http://www.bafuture.org/news/press-release/poll-majority-americans-ready-pay-better-infrastructure-demand-accountability

Jan 8 2009

Luntz, Maslansky Strategic Research

Buerkle: Where's the Money Gone?

Politico: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0411/53315.html

House first-quarter fundraising (winners and) losers

Possibly most concerning for Republicans: Ann Marie Buerkle raised just $65,000 / AP Photo

By ALEX ISENSTADT | 4/16/11 6:56 PM EDT

This week’s release of first-quarter fundraising reports offers an early look into what is certain to be a dramatic battle for control of the House of Representatives next year.

Here’s what POLITICO learned from the Federal Election Commission reports:

Freshmen Follies

For several House GOP first-termers and relative political newcomers who were swept into office in November, the first fundraising quarter was an opportunity to prove they have political strength in districts that typically favor Democrats.

That didn’t happen.

Minnesota Rep. Chip Cravaack, a former commercial airline pilot who ousted powerful former Transportation Committee Chairman Jim Obserstar, raised a less-than-impressive $121,000, while Illinois Rep. Bobby Schilling, a pizzeria owner, took in $111,000. North Carolina Rep. Renee Ellmers, a former nurse, raised $117,000.

Most concerning to Republicans: Rep. Ann Marie Buerkle, the nurse who became assistant New York attorney general before coming to Washington, raised just $65,000 despite occupying a Democratic-leaning upstate New York seat that could become a target in redistricting.

Democrats have said for months that these four freshmen are atop their 2012 target list, and there’s nothing in their first quarter fundraising reports that will change that.

Ann Marie Buerkle: Crunch These

Federal Budget for 2010      
$3,456,000,000,000 - that reads Three Trillion Four Hundred and Fifty-six Billion Dollars


Federal Funds to Corporation For Public Broadcasting (NPR and Public Television) for 2010
$420,000,000 - Four Hundred Twenty Million Dollars


Federal Funds to Planned Parenthood nationally for 2010
$360,000,000 - Three Hundred and Sixty Million Dollars


Cost of LI HEAP -Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program for 2010
$5,100,000,000 - Five Billion One Hundred Million Dollars


Cost of Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan 2010
$130,000,000,000 - One Hundred Thirty Billion Dollars


Total Cost of Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan Ten Years 2001-2011
$1,179,000,000,000 - One Trillion One Hundred Seventy-nine Billion (approximately) -  see side bar on right column for up to date costs.


Total Cost to 25th Congressional District for Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan Ten Years 2001-2011
$3,473,000,000 - Three Billion Four Hundred Seventy-three Million (approximately) - go to web site Cost of War for exact numbers: http://costofwar.com/en/state/NY/congdistrict/25/


Taxes at a rate of 20% on Bill Gates' annual income would approximately equal the federal funds to Planned Parenthood for one year.

Our Teapartier's Manifesto According to Wordle

Why Only Vera House?

My respect for any agency that supports girls and women is great, and it is a good day when any public service agency makes the news.

When Ann Marie Buerkle is public in Washington about her support for Vera House in Syracuse, an agency that has long been rock solidly there for women and men who are victims of domestic violence and/or rape, I applaud her. That we are reminded of the need and the services every year at this time by the White Ribbon Campaign is important.

Therefore I cannot for the life of me think why Ann Marie would be so totally against Planned Parenthood. In so many ways Planned Parenthood and Vera House are similar, and the two agencies share many of the same values and concerns.

I cannot document with numbers but I think, based on years of work in many areas of social services, that there are crossover service needs between these two agencies and many other local programs as well.

Vera House and Planned Parenthood do not offer duplicate services. They offer companion services because any person who comes for services at either one may well have more than one need, not always able to be filled by the primary agency.

For example:

• A woman who has been raped may also want reproductive services, up to and including, though not necessarily, an abortion. Planned Parenthood is an option.
• While a woman is being seen for family planning services, the nurse may learn that the woman is in a situation at home that includes domestic abuse. Her children may also be in danger. The family may need sheltering. Vera House can help.
• A man or woman being abused at home may realize she/he needs to be tested for sexually transmitted diseases and ask for a referral to PP.
• A clinic patient may disclose her own childhood abuse and be referred to Vera House for counseling.

The budgets for the two agencies, Vera House and Planned Parenthood have many similarities. What I want to address from here onward is that both receive a share of their budgets from government entities. In fact they cannot operate without these monies. Our federal and state governments have both deemed human services as areas that smaller communities and individuals cannot provide by themselves.

On Vera House's website there are very nice pie charts showing the following, which cannot be copied to here but I recommend you visit. Here is Vera House's budget picture for 2009:

Support and Revenue

2009 Support and Revenue as %

Government Fees & Grants 71%

Private Donations 14%

United Way  9%

Fees 3%

Other Revenue 3%

2009 Support and Revenue in $

Government Fees & Grants $2,379,539

Private Donations 464,284

United Way 302,151

Fees 107,414

Other Revenue 105,003

Total Support & Revenue $3,358,391

Expenses

2009 Expenses as %

p = program expenses, s = program support expenses

Emergency Shelter  p 28%

Counseling  p 20%

Education & Awareness  p 20%

Outreach & Advocacy  p 18%

Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner  p 5%

Fundraising  s 4%

Alternatives  p 3%

Administrative  s 2%

Program Services (p) in $  =  94%

Emergency Shelter $852,549

Counseling 632,301

Education & Community Awareness 594,903

Outreach & Advocacy 565,195

Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner 156,467

Alternatives 124,350

Total Program Expenses $2,925,765

Supporting Services (s) in $  = 6%

Fundraising  $134,403

Administrative 57,718

Total Supporting Services  $192,121

Total Expenses $3,117,886

        _________________

Next is the national budget for Planned Parenthood. I do not have local numbers but believe that local numbers are more or less reflected in the national budget. The actual numbers for the two entities, Vera House and Planned Parenthood are obviously therefore miles apart. But there are programs comparable to Vera House all over the land who receive federal Titles money, for which I am thankful. I show this next budget to illustrate how Planned Parenthood compares to Vera House for reliance upon government funding:

Let me also say, for the record, that I wish sister agencies could look out for each other. What is being done to women by harming Planned Parenthood is violence of a sort. I wish for Vera House and its counterparts to find public ways to advocate for Planned Parenthood.

Ann Marie Buerkle, Let's Talk Men's Issues!

OK, so the budget stalemate is all coming down to the issue of abortion, is it?
Everybody knows, or ought to understand by now, that the War on Abortion is a war on women.
How about this: let's talk men's issues!
Henceforth:

• all prostate surgeries will take place in the town square (to put another slant on Live Action Princess Lila Rose's talk).
• any user of Viagra will have to be licensed. Any user will be required to view the results of his labors via ultrasound.
• all sperm must be accounted for daily (and I do mean every single one).
• sperm banks will go into mandatory bankruptcy.
• all rapes will be tried by female tribunals
• men will be 100% responsible for birth control
• men will spend 2 hours a week in community service teaching boys to respect girls and women, and handing out condoms at malls and high schools
• boys and men will voluntarily clean the toilet bowl rims at home every day
• boys and men must live with a Baby Think It Over Infant simulator doll for 3 months; if anyone neglects the "baby", he has to start over.

Florynce Kennedy said: "If men could get pregnant, abortion would be a sacrament."


I have no idea who wrote this; I cannot take credit for it. It's good:

               If men got pregnant:

• Maternity leave would last for two years...with full pay.
• There'd be a cure for stretch marks
• Natural childbirth would become obsolete
• Morning sickness would rank as the nation's number one health problem
• All methods of birth control would be improved to 100 percent effectiveness
• Children would be kept in the hospital until they were toilet trained
• Men would be EAGER to talk about commitment
• They wouldn't think twins were quite so cute
• Fathers would demand that their SONS be home from dates by 10:00pm
• Men could use THEIR briefcases as diaper bags
• They'd have to stop saying,"I'm afraid I'll drop him."
• Paternity suits would be a line of clothes
• They'd stay in bed for the entire nine months
• Menus at most restaurants would list ice cream and pickles as an entree
• Women would rule the world!

Finally, Florynce Kennedy, amazing and beautiful woman, said, "There are very few jobs that actually require a penis or vagina. All other jobs should be open to everybody." 

Another great Florynce Kennedy quote: "When a system of oppression has become institutionalized it is unnecessary for individuals to be oppressive."

A biography of Flo Kennedy is here:  http://revcom.us/a/v22/1090-99/1095/flo_kennedy.htm

Ann Marie Buerkle, Where Do You Stand?

This is to you personally, very personally, Ann Marie:

Shutting down the government tomorrow is a bad idea. Make no mistake, if that happens John Boehner and the Tea Party pressure groups will be to blame, and you will surely be blamed in the next election.

I used to think that Tea Party folks were arrested at the developmental level of "black and white" thinking. Now I think that would be preferable to the monochrome thinking of Tea Party extremists.

I find it shameful that tea partiers in Washington were cheering yesterday at the call to close the government. I wonder who will be complaining the loudest when the shutdown hits their pocketbooks?

I surely hope you, Ann Marie, do not expect to be paid if you are a part of this catastrophe.

Look around and you will see that the vast majority of citizens in this country do not want a government shutdown. You and all of your fellow Congresspeople were entrusted to act with the best interests of all of us in mind regardless of the margin of your win.

The enormous economic damage that a shutdown will cause will be laying right at your doorstep when next you go outside.

Ann Marie, Do These New Friends Make You Proud?

Abortions make up no more than three per cent of Planned Parenthood's services. Yet you, Ann Marie, would cut ALL federal funding despite the fact that using federal funds for abortion services is already disallowed by the Hyde amendment.

The current amendment to defund Planned Parenthood is co-sponsored by several US House representatives including Buerkle. These are among the most powerful people in the nation. Who, exactly, are these people?

Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN) Tea Party Caucuser with Michelle Bachmann; happy to have a total government shutdown (possibly by this Friday) rather than compromise (black and white thinking is immature on any developmental scale); explained his sponsorship of the amendment with fabrications, distortions, and lies because he can't make his arguments using the truth

Jean Schmidt (R-OH) "Mean Jean" to many people in Ohio; birther; Gulen (worth Googling) charter school pusher; undergoing House ethics investigation for accepting free legal services; she is the person who famously called decorated Marine and Rep. John Murtha a coward; graphically described abortion to a group of school children as young as 6

Virginia Foxx (R-NC) made the news by calling Matthew Shepard's murder a hoax, with his mother present as witness; says Obamacare will put elders to death; also claims there are no Americans who do not have health care; purple hair 

Vicky Hartzler (R-MO)  another rabid pro-lifer from Missouri; Tea Party Caucuser; wrote Running God's Way, a religious guide to winning elections ("This one-stop, easy to use resource outlines the winning strategies needed to succeed on Election Day. It combines the time-tested campaign strategies and wisdom outlined in the Bible with real-life insights and practical advice acquired from Vicky Hartzler's twelve years of on-the-ground campaigning as a three-term state representative and former campaign spokesperson for the Coalition to Protect Marriage in Missouri."); totally pro-hetero marriage; thinks if the gays have rights, then everyone will want them 

Renee Ellmers (R-NC) will be blaming the Dems if the government shuts down; to her credit, "voted to fund Obamacare" and is getting lambasted for it by her local militia; Islamophobe; confused about the definitions of "terrorist" and "Muslim", thereby engendering fear mongering, hatred and racism with her campaign ads 

Andy Harris (R-MD) member of Michele Bachmann's Tea Party Caucus; endorsed by the Club for Growth; motivated to run for Congress to counter his predecessor's vote to set a timetable for drawing down troop levels in Iraq; a doctor himself, he thinks universal health coverage is wrong, wrong, wrong, yet threw a fit when government coverage for his Congressional staff didn't start on day one; has buckets of money

and our own Ann Marie Buerkle (R-NY)  strong connections to Live Action and Susan B. Anthony List; was local Operation Rescue spokesperson and colleague of Randall Terry (who celebrated the murder of Dr. George Tiller); Palin endorsement in 2010 (this is becoming more damning every day); millionaire

                                                       ..................................................

Here is Right Wing Watch's [big thanks to this site; it is an invaluable source] take on the credentials of these extremists:   http://www.rightwingwatch.org/    (if you move your mouse over topics in the following list, live links will become underlined.)


Pence (R-IN) is using the discredited [Live Action]videos to promote his bill that would end federal funding of Planned Parenthood, imperiling women’s health services;

Schmidt railed against reproductive rights in a speech to 1st graders in an elementary school; 

Buerkle served as the spokesperson for the extreme group Operation Rescue; 

Hartzler backed bills that would compel women seeking an abortion to view their sonograms and even supported legislation that would force the state to file murder charges against women and their doctors if they performed a late-term abortion; 

Foxx wants to ban emergency contraception like RU-486 and Ella; 

Harris wanted to allow pharmacists to refuse contraception to customers and challenged a moderate pro-choice Republican incumbent in 2008, and 

Ellmers is an avowed opponent of legal abortion who recently justified receiving taxpayer-subsidized health care by claiming that Washington DC is too expensive to live in with a $174,000 per year salary, while pushing to defund health services for low-income women.

                                                    ....................................................

How does cutting any health care for women make this a better country? Who will provide these services if you cut Title X money to Planned Parenthood? Do you seriously think your predecessors who created Title X were wrong? Who do you think the government should be helping if it helps anyone at all? Corporations or people?

I ask you all, also, what have you done about jobs? You promised jobs. Where are they? What are you doing to increase expenditures where there will be a net gain of jobs? 

How does withdrawing government money from communities create stronger communities? How does cutting money for the education of children create a stronger nation, competitive in the coming decades?

Ann Marie, why are you wasting taxpayer time hurting real people? Why aren't you finding ways to use your taxpayer funded power to make this a strong, healthy, productive nation?

If you truly desire to find common ground with half of your constituents up here in Central New York, you might like to look over the credentials of the people with whom you are consorting in D.C. They are not helping anything, and we want so much more from you.