Missouri GOP Leader Jokes About Flooding Poor Black Town!

Huffington Post article: Republican leader jokes about flooding poor Black majority town. From the hometown of conservative radio king Rush Limbaugh. Cape Girardeau, Missouri State Representative and Speaker of The Missouri House makes a insensitive joke about nearby town Cairo, Illinois being overwhelmed by a potential flooding crisis.


Due to high rains, waters at the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers are running dangerously high, and the mayor of Cairo, Illinois, located at the confluence, has asked residents to evacuate the town.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is considering a plan to destroy a levee, which would lower the floodwaters by a few feet and help protect Cairo. But the state of Missouri has vigorously objected to the plan, because it would badly damage around 130,000 acres of farmland, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Missouri's Republican House Speaker Steve Tilley was asked by reporters about the dilemma. "Would you rather have Missouri farmland flooded or Cairo underwater?" Tilley is asked.

Without hesitation, he replies, "Cairo. I’ve been there. Trust me. Cairo.”

As another reporter prepares to ask another question, Tilley goes on. “Have you been to Cairo? OK, then you know what I’m saying then.”

Cairo, Illinois (pronounced KAY-roh) was at the turn of the 20th century a bustling trade center. The 2,800-person town is now largely abandoned, two-thirds African-American, and deeply impoverished: nearly 50 percent of children under the age of 18 in Cairo live below the poverty level.

Many criticized the Speaker for what they described as insensitivity in the remarks. The Capitol Fax, which posted the video of Tilley's remarks, also has a press release from Illinois State Senator Gary Forby:

During a time when people are being asked to evacuate their homes and leave behind their belongings, it absolutely blows my mind that that type of dialogue is being thrown around by the Missouri Speaker. Not only is it in poor taste, but it absolutely disgusting that Speaker Tilley would joke about putting the lives of Cairo residents at risk by choosing farmland over a community.

The St. Louis Beacon notes that the Speaker has since issued an apology:

"I was asked a question about blowing up a dam in Missouri and the negative consequences that happened to Missouri," Tilley said. "As the speaker of the House, (I believe) my first responsibility is to Missourians. And in my effort to defend them, I went on to say some pretty insensitive and inappropriate remarks about Cairo."

Watch the remarks by Speaker Tilley:



Illinois State Senator Gary Forby (D) is speaking out after a YouTube video was released of Missouri Speaker of the House Steven Tilley (R) saying he would rather see Cairo underwater than Mississippi County, Missouri.

In the video taken by Freelance Reporter Jason Rosenbaum, Tilley, from Perryville, was asked about the plan to intentionally break a levee in Mississippi County.

"I've heard of that," Tilley said Wednesday.  "I haven't had an opportunity to visit with the local people and figure out what their, clearly I mean when you start blowing up a levee and you're going to flood thousands of acres of farmland, that's a pretty significant decision and you know, I'd like to take a look at what the alternatives are before I say whether I agree with it or disagree with it."

"Would you rather have Missouri farmland flooded or Cairo underwater?" someone asked Tilley off camera.
"Cairo," Tilley replied. "I've been there, trust me, Cairo."

"Have you been to Cairo?" Tilley asked.  "Ok, you know what I'm saying then."

"This is no laughing matter," Senator Forby (D-Benton) said in a released statement. "During a time when people are being asked to evacuate their homes and leave behind their belongings, it absolutely blows my mind that this type of talk is being thrown around by the Missouri Speaker. He should be ashamed of himself."
Tilley apologized for Thursday in another YouTube interview posted by Freelance Reporter Jason Rosenbaum.

"I was asked a question about blowing up a dam in Missouri and the negative consequences that happened to Missouri," Tilley said.  "As the Speaker of the House my first responsibility is Missourians and in my effort to defend them I went on to say I think some pretty insensitive and inappropriate remarks about Cairo.  I want to apologize for them and I think politicians that say something stupid or say something incorrect should admit that they say something dumb.  And so first, if anyone that I offended in Cairo I apologize.  I certainly wish no ill will to Cairo.  I will continue to fight for the citizens of southeast Missouri and the farmers and the residents there, but it shouldn't have led to any kind of inappropriate comments about Cairo.  For that I regret it."

Orange County CA Republican Leader Send Racist Email Depicting President Obama As A Monkey

Today’s installment of “heinous, unacceptable racism disguised as ‘jokes’” features a Republican official on Orange County, California, President Obama, and monkeys in photoshop. GOP official Marilyn Davenport is coming under fire for sending other Republican officials an email depicting President Obama as a chimpanzee, in the arms of chimpanzee “parents,” claiming, “Now you know why– no birth certificate! [sic].” Davenport is sticking to her guns, blaming the media for making too much of a fuss.
Among Davenport’s detractors (including, one would hope, “everyone else”), local news station KCAL caught up with former California Republican chairman Michael Schroder, who correctly posited: “no average person would send this out and feel comfortable with this, that this was just a joke.” Then again, Schroder also notes Davenport doesn’t come into this embarrassment with a clean slate– among the people in Orange County Republican politics she has defended are an official who sent an email with an illustration of the White House covered in watermelons and an official who opposed the installation of grass near beaches on the point that “grass attracts Mexicans.”
Nonetheless, Davenport said off-camera that she considered the email merely a “joke” and was confused as to why the media had blown the issue way out of proportion. She is still on the governing board of the county party, though one can expect that not for long.
More from Mediaite

Earlier this year, the Orange County Republican Party and various Tea Party groups protested a Islamic Mosque and hateful rhetoric was shouted at attendees.

$20 and not a penny more! - Minnesota GOP seek provisions to eliminate welfare!

Minnesota GOP wants it to be illegal to carry cash if you're poor

By Erin Carlyle

Kurt Daudt wants to crack down on cash for poor people

​For a political party that keeps harping on Democrats for trying to control people's lives, Republicans in Minnesota sure are doing some weird things. First, they want government to control decisions made between pregnant women and their physicians. Now they want to make sure that poor people never have more than $20 in their pockets. Poor people can't be trusted with cash, it seems.

A bill introduced by Rep. Kurt Daudt (R-Crown) would prohibit people who use EBT cards--government assistance on plastic--from withdrawing cash at ATMs with the cards, except for $20 per month.

We haven't been able to reach Daudt yet, but Angel Buechner of the Welfare Rights Committee is not amused.

"The Welfare Rights Committee would like to state that this Bill, House File 171, is not based in any common sense or fiscal responsibility," Buechner said at this week's hearing on the bill. "It is appears to be based on knee-jerk, ignorant bias and a desire to stigmatize the poor."

The bill (see the text here) would require cashiers to ask for photo ID and prohibit EBT-card holders from purchasing alcohol or cigs.

Steve Gottwalt (R-St. Cloud) thinks $20 is enough for the month

​As things stand now, people using EBT cards are allowed to withdraw cash, which works out well for them because a lot of stores don't have EBT hook-ups. If the bill passes, all those stores would have to get EBT connections, or poor people using the cards would have a limit on where they could shop.

We reached Jodi Boyne, director of public affairs for House Republican Caucus, and she confirmed that the intent of the bill is to crack down on public money used for bad stuff--those alcohol and cigs again--and actually, in some cases, at a casino, according to this KSTP news report.

"There is documented evidence that these cards have been used for fraudulent purposes, and it's looking at addressing that," Boyne says.

The KSTP report was the reason Daudt launched his bill--watch this video to see the report--and he is not the only Republican supporting it. A whole host of his fellow GOP-ers have signed on, as you can see here.

So much for the job pledge by Republicans!

GOP-led House is moving to restrict funding of abortions

By William Douglas | McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON — The battle over abortion takes center stage in Congress this week as two House subcommittees hold hearings on separate bills that would expand restrictions on federal funding of abortions.
The "No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act" would eliminate tax breaks for abortions. The "Protect Life Act" would restrict use of federal funds for abortions under the new health care law. While both may pass the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, their prospects of passing a Democratic-held Senate or escaping President Barack Obama's veto pen are slim to none.
"They can't expect this legislation to go beyond the House or Representatives," said Steve Smith, a political science professor at Washington University in St. Louis. "It allows the House Republicans to do something symbolically important for their coalition base."
Still, the bills have alarmed abortion-rights advocates, who say they are attempts to attack legalized abortion — federally funded or not — through the tax code and measures to deny women access to the procedure.
"These bills represent a new front in the abortion war," said Donna Crane, policy director for NARAL Pro-Choice America. "The idea...of using the tax code to impose political views, that's extremely alarming."
Opponents of legal abortion, emboldened by powerful support in a Republican-controlled House, say the bills are just the beginning.
"The Republicans in the House are definitely following the promise they made to undo the damage that's been done," said Kerry Brown, a spokeswoman for Susan B. Anthony List, an anti-abortion group.
The "No Taxpayer for Abortion Act," designated H.R. 3 and sponsored by Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.), seeks to codify provisions of the so-called Hyde Amendment, which prohibits federal funding for abortion but must be renewed by Congress annually.
In addition, Smith said his bill would "permanently end any U.S. government financial support for abortion whether it be direct funding or by tax credits or any other subsidy." A House Judiciary subcommittee will hold a hearing on it Tuesday.
Smith's bill stirred a huge uproar among abortion-rights advocates by listing victims of "forcible rape" among those who would be exempted from the bill.
"Forcible rape" wasn't fully defined in the bill, but abortion-rights supporters warned that the term could be used to block access to abortion for rape victims who were drugged, unconscious or mentally ill.
A spokesman for Smith said the term was dropped from the bill Thursday after Smith concluded that the term was being "misconstrued." That wasn't enough to satisfy abortion supporters.
"The fact that it took weeks of public outrage before the new House leadership was shamed into giving up one if its efforts to redefine rape to deny women access to abortion shows how out of touch they are with the values of the American people," said Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America. "Simply put, the now discarded 'forcible rape' provision is just the beginning of what's wrong with Rep. Smith's bill."
Like Smith's bill, the Protect Life Act, or H.R. 358, sponsored by Rep. Joe Pitts (R-Pa.), seeks to restrict the use of federal funds under the new health care law, but isn't as aggressive in terms of using the tax code. The House Energy and Commerce health subcommittee, which Pitts chairs, will hold a hearing on it Wednesday.
Late last week, abortion-rights supporters turned their attention to Pitts' bill, saying it contains language that would allow hospitals to deny a woman an abortion, even if her life were in jeopardy.
Andrew Wimer, a Pitts spokesman, calls the accusation false. He said the language is an attempt to include in the health care law a "conscience clause" for doctors and hospitals that object to performing abortions.
"These are typical attacks that come up," Wimer said.
Abortion foes both in and out of Congress say they're undeterred by criticism. Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said that taking on abortion would be a House priority under his leadership.
"A ban on taxpayer funding of abortions is the will of the people, and it ought to be the will of the land," Boehner told reporters last month. "The current law, particularly as enforced by this administration, does not reflect the will of the American people."
One of Boehner's guests at Obama's State of the Union address last month was Cardinal Donald Wuerl, archbishop of Washington, D.C. The United States National Conference of Catholic Bishops has endorsed both bills.
Brown of Susan B. Anthony's List said that backing from Boehner and 80 of the 87 new House Republicans will improve their chances of getting legislation through.
NARAL's Crane looks at the diminishing numbers of abortion supporters in the House and the rising GOP numbers in the Senate and worries. While many experts believe a measure to restrict access to legalized abortion couldn't make its way from the Senate to Obama's desk, Crane isn't so sure.
She counts 40 senators who solidly support abortion rights, 46 who oppose abortion — and the rest of them sitting on the fence.
NARAL's strategy for dealing with the changing landscape: "Make sure the White House is the ultimate firewall," Crane said.

Republicans, Believe President Obama is a "socialist"

gopleaders -

Tea Party Disputes Take Toll on Convention

By KATE ZERNIKE The New York Times,
Published: January 25, 2010

A Tea Party convention billed as the coming together of the grass-roots groups that began sprouting up around the country a year ago is unraveling as sponsors and participants pull out to protest its expense and express concerns about “profiteering.”

The convention’s difficulties highlight the fractiousness of the Tea Party groups, and the considerable suspicions among their members of anything that suggests the establishment.

The convention, to be held in Nashville in early February, made a splash by attracting big-name politicians. (Former Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska is scheduled to deliver the keynote speech.) But some groups have criticized the cost — $549 per ticket and a $9.95 fee, plus hotel and airfare — as out of reach for the average tea partier. And they have balked at Ms. Palin’s speaking fee, which news reports have put at $100,000, a figure that organizers will not confirm or deny.

Tea Party events exploded last winter, as increasingly large gatherings protested the federal stimulus bill, government bailouts and proposed health care legislation. While they vary by name, specific tenets and relative embrace of anarchy, such groups tend to unite around fiscal conservatism and a belief that the federal government — whether led by Republicans or Democrats — has overstepped its constitutional powers.

Tea Party Nation, the convention organizer, started as a social networking site for the groups last year, a kind of Facebook for conservatives to “form bonds, network and make plans for action.” But its founders, former sponsors and participants are now trading accusations.

Philip Glass, the national director of the National Precinct Alliance, announced late Sunday that “amid growing controversy” around the convention, his organization would no longer participate. His group seeks to take over the Republican Party from the bottom by filling the ranks of local and state parties with grass-roots conservatives, and Mr. Glass had been scheduled to lead workshops on its strategy.

“We are very concerned about the appearance of T.P.N. profiteering and exploitation of the grass-roots movement,” he said in a statement. “We were under the impression that T.P.N. was a nonprofit organization like N.P.A., interested only in uniting and educating Tea Party activists on how to make a real difference in the political arena.”

Mr. Glass said he was also concerned about the role in the convention of groups like Tea Party Express, which has held rallies across the country through two bus tours, and FreedomWorks, a Tea Party umbrella. He called them “Republican National Committee-related groups,” and added, “At best, it creates the appearance of an R.N.C. hijacking; at worst, it is one.”

Erick Erickson, the editor of the influential conservative blog RedState.com, wrote this month that something seemed “scammy” about the convention. And the American Liberty Alliance withdrew as a sponsor after its members expressed concerns about the convention’s finances being channeled through private bank accounts and its organizer being “for profit.”

“When we look at the $500 price tag for the event and the fact that many of the original leaders in the group left over similar issues, it’s hard for us not to assume the worst,” Eric Odom, the executive director of the American Liberty Alliance and an organizer of the tax day rallies last April, wrote on the group’s Web site.

Sherry Phillips, who founded and runs Tea Party Nation with her husband, Judson, said Monday that it is not a nonprofit group.

Ms. Phillips said the American Liberty Alliance was “a for-profit company that takes donations.” The National Precinct Alliance, she said, demanded compensation of around $3,000. “Our budget on this convention is very tight and we could not afford them,” she wrote in an e-mail message.

She declined to comment on Ms. Palin’s speaking fee.

“If there is any profit,” Ms. Phillips said, “the money will go toward furthering the cause of conservatism.”

Mr. Glass denied that his group had requested money and said convention organizers had asked his group to pay $2,200 to speak.

As for FreedomWorks, it is not a convention sponsor. Tea Party leaders in training sessions at the group’s headquarters on Monday said their members, for the most part, could not afford the convention or were not interested.

An earlier version of this article erroneously said that Sherry Phillips called the Tea Party a "nonprofit" group.

BROWN, MEET RED!

BROWN MEET RED

Republicans celebrate now, but the victory will be a reminder that you better get your act together. Democrats, now it's time to regroup. We can't allow the defeat down you! Best believe that the "tea party movement" is a thorn in the side. But it's best to line up a strategy.

Democrats lose the seat held by the late senator Ted Kennedy. The Democrats are now scrambling for a massive defensive. Republicans celebrate a strong victory. Scott Brown, now senator-elect, what's next?

President of The United States? Who knows, Drudge? Seriously, I think dude sees the same crystal ball I see!

Conservative activists are gloating now that Scott Brown may be the future of the once disgraced party. Republicans have channeled into the anger of the "angry white male". President Barack Obama ratings according to GALLUP is standing around 50% - 43%. The support among white voters is down significantly. Again, the conservative media, Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity, Michelle Malkin and Matt Drudge want the president to fail!

They'll line up a moderate Republican to defeat President Obama! And once again, the partisan gap increases. Independents are the key to election victories.

Democrats, it's time to step your game up! What's the problem? If I voted for a decent health care reform, I wanted it with the public option! If one thing has taught me about politicians, they are destructive! And to make this clear, Republicans are no better. If they were better, then Senator John McCain and Sarah Palin would run this country.

I seriously believe the Republicans want to continue to push the "angry white male", "concern housewife", "the gun owner who is concerned that President Obama will take his gun", "angry banker who wants to rip me and millions of other off with high deductible loans and foreclose on my home" and follow the "angry guy on the radio who spouts off!"

2012, is coming sooner then we think?

Martin Luther King, Jr.: We Shall Overcome

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr was born January 15, 1929. A native of Atlanta, Georgia, this young man who envisioned millions to believe in change. A change that demanded all Americans are to be treated equal in the racially segregated South. A man who would be celebrated across the country on this third Monday, a leader to envision Civil Rights for all Americans. If Dr. King was still alive, he would have celebrated his 81st birthday.

According to Wikipedia, The Southern Christian Leadership Conference was founded in January 1957, in the afterglow of the Montgomery Bus Boycott victory and consultations with Bayard Rustin, Ella Baker, and others, Dr King invited some 60 black ministers and leaders to Ebenezer Church in Atlanta. Their goal was to form an organization to coordinate and support nonviolent direct action as a method of desegregating bus systems across the South. In addition to Rustin and Baker, Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth of Birmingham, Rev Joseph Lowery of Mobile, Rev Ralph Abernathy of Montgomery, Rev C.K. Steele of Tallahassee, all played key roles in this meeting.

Today, the SCLC still holds true to these standards, combat discrimination, focus primarily on education, voter registration, and support for local struggles.

As we celebrate the birthday of Dr. King, I want to remind those who are reading that King was an American clergyman, activist and prominent leader in the African-American civil rights movement. His main legacy was to secure progress on civil rights in the United States, and he has become a human rights icon: King is recognized as a martyr by two Christian churches. A Baptist minister, King became a civil rights activist early in his career. He led the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott and helped found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in 1957, serving as its first president. King's efforts led to the 1963 March on Washington, where King delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech. There, he raised public consciousness of the civil rights movement and established himself as one of the greatest orators in U.S. history.

In 1964, King became the youngest person to receive the Nobel Peace Prize for his work to end racial segregation and racial discrimination through civil disobedience and other non-violent means. By the time of his death in 1968, he had refocused his efforts on ending poverty and opposing the Vietnam War, both from a religious perspective. King was assassinated on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee. He was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1977 and Congressional Gold Medal in 2004; Martin Luther King, Jr. Day was established as a U.S. national holiday in 1986.

Somehow politicians and organizations are quick to take credit for the success of Dr. Martin Luther King.

National Black Republican Association claims that Dr. King was a Republican.

The Democratic National Convention in Denver hosted SCLC President Bernice King and her bother, Emeritus Martin Luther King, III.

To bring an end to racism will take time, patience and continuation of the dream of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.