Tag: Issues

If you were elected, what would your agenda be?

ChadInFL has already laid out his here:

Introducing Senator ChadInFL (D-FL)

On today’s agenda:

1. Passage of Universal Single-Payer Healthcare

2. Resolution to Urge President Obama to begin implementation of a speedy withdrawal of U.S. combat forces from Iraq

3. Passage of the Global Warming Reduction Act of 2009

4. Passage of a Bill Officially Withdrawing the United States from the NAFTA and CAFTA Agreements

5. Passage of the Employee Free Choice Act

6. Passage of an Expansion of Stem-Cell Research using Government Funds

7. Passage of an expansion of Hate Crimes Legislation to include Gays, Bisexuals, and Transgender Persons

8. Passage of a Bill Allowing United States Military Persons to Serve Openly Gay if They So Choose

9. Passage of Free, Universal College Education for all

Meanwhile, the heads of millions of right-wingers simultaneously explode.

What would yours be?

Mine is below the fold.

My agenda (in no particular order)

1a. a resolution to urge the president toward a speedy but reasonable withdrawal of u.s. combat forces in iraq

1b. a resolution to forbid the u.s. from committing combat forces to any military combat until afghanistan is considered to be in stable condition

1c. a bill to strengthen the power of congress in the war powers act

2. a bill ensuring network neutrality

3. a bill to legalize creative “derivative work” based on others’ creative work (thereby expanding the law from just allowing parody) (just a back-burner idea in my head; i’d really have to research the copyright law scene to figure this one out)

4a. a bill to end new drilling for oil on u.s. soil by some reasonable year (i wanna say NOW, but that’s nowhere near reasonable unfortunately…so maybe 2010 or 2012?)

4b. a resolution to differentiate between “clean coal” as in free of pollutants but still producing carbon dioxide and “clean coal” as in coal burned with carbon-capture to prevent carbon dioxide release to the atmosphere

4c. a bill to end tax credits for carbon-emitting energy technologies and to give tax credits for carbon-capturing or carbonless energy technologies

4d. a bill to give tax credits for carbon-capture technologies (even if they’re not part of an energy-producing process-chain)

5a. a bill to bail out the auto industry with the condition that it must focus on the development of hybrid-fuel and non-carbon-emitting-fuel vehicles

5b. a bill to mandate that treasury money given to banks be used for the credit market and not to buy other banks

5c. possibly (since i’m not yet clear on the details of this): a bill to increase oversight (even if not necessarily regulation) of the hedge fund, credit default swap, and derivatives markets

6. a bill to repeal the george w. bush tax cuts

7. a bill to fund a federal study on infrastructure repair needs and then to help fund states to make these repairs  (what, the i-80 bridge collapse wasn’t enough of a wake-up already???)

8. a bill to repeal no child left behind and instead set up a more comprehensive and less testing-oriented federal education mandate program, including funding for early childhood education, substance abuse prevention, and college scholarships

9. a bill to institute pay-as-you-go (is this even possible at this point?  i mean, even my stuff is probably crazy expensive)

10. (personal) an annual or even twice-a-year listening tour of my state or district to know what concerns my constituents

11. (personal) investigate flood control and wetland preservation options in the New Orleans area (including consulting Jim Harlan about his flood control plan)

12. reinstate the provisions that make Rep. Henry Brown Jr.’s actions illegal (in light of the news about the California wildfires, I suddenly have renewed reason to dislike him)

My concern is for #10 and #4a conflicting, as well as worry of the development of a gasoline black market if it becomes banned.  I’d have to keep it flowing at a restricted rate to combat that, though we might be able to make up the rest with carbon capture technologies…

Okay, I think that’s good enough for starters.  What are your ideas?

Blocked predatory lending crackdown, wants more giveaways to Wall Street

A devastating week for the U.S. financial sector has underscored the danger of congressional candidate Kirk Schuring’s economic policies for working families in the 16th Congressional District and across America.

Democratic candidate John Boccieri said today:

“Kirk Schuring’s economic philosophy is as bankrupt as Lehman Brothers. He is not offering the change that middle class families need to bounce back from this economic crisis.”

Schuring is staking his campaign on the same failed policies that caused the crisis by constantly siding with Wall Street over Main Street. His policy stances will actually worsen the impact of economic instability for middle class families.

FACT: Schuring blocked crackdowns on predatory lenders in the state legislature. In 2001, he helped push through a sham reform bill supported by predatory lenders in order to prevent Ohio’s local communities from regulating out-of-control predatory mortgage loans. HB 386; “Home Security,” The Columbus Dispatch, 9/21/05

FACT: Schuring’s top economic priority is giving more tax breaks to the Wall Street firms that created this financial mess. Corporate tax giveaways are the very first item in Schuring’s “jobs plan” – but he has not proposed a single tax cut directed at the middle class. www.schuringforcongress.com/issues, accessed 9/24/08

FACT: Schuring’s response to the crisis focuses only on helping Wall Street. In an interview on WHBC this morning, Schuring did not once call for direct assistance to the innocent homeowners at the heart of this crisis.

FACT: While Schuring claims to oppose out-of-control spending in Washington, he insists on an open-ended commitment to spending $5,000 per second in Iraq, which has already led to the largest budget deficit in American history, forced the government to borrow billions from nations like China, and left us with limited resources to stabilize our struggling economy. “16th District Notebook,” The Canton Repository, 9/21/08

FACT: Schuring has said “I think everything should be on the table” when it comes to Social Security. “Kirk Schuring on Social Security/Medicare,” accessed 9/24/08 Schuring’s Republican allies in Washington have been trying for years to turn Social Security over to Wall Street, and Schuring’s stunningly anti-senior record in the state legislature makes clear that he can’t be trusted to look out for older Americans in Congress. “Boccieri Calls for Protecting Social Security on 73rd Anniversary“

Let the facts speak for themselves; Kirk Schuring’s policy positions are not what the working families of Ohio’s 16th Congressional District need in the United States Congress.

Cross-posted from OH-16: John Boccieri for U.S. Congress:

The drumbeat about where Ohio State Senator Major John Bocceri lives started in the Democratic Primary Race for the United States House of Representative for Ohio’s 16th Congressional District. It was the only plank his Democratic Primary opponent could find to use against him and it didn’t stick. The Major won by nearly a 2-1 margin in all four counties of the 16th, Ashland, Medina, Stark and Wayne, in the March 4th Primary.

As if by some stroke of political genius, this drumbeat was supposed to stick through November as the big isssue. And, almost like a Rovellian tantric chant, it seems to keep popping up. John was actually hoping that “the carpetbagger” issue would remain a central theme to the campaign against him. The Major’s response to the issue has never changed:

“They are worried about where I lay my head down on the pillow at night, but I’m more worried about where people go to work in the morning.”

How historically hypocritical can they get? That would be a thing of beauty coming from a Republican opponent, but it seems the Democratic constituency in Ohio’s Fighting 16th are a more sophisticated voter than that!

So, without further adieu, thank you, GARY SCHERER of PERRY TOWNSHIP, you make this writer’s job so easy! He said:

But all that aside, let’s look at the final authority on this matter, the U.S. Constitution, which states in Article 1, Section 2, on the House of Representatives:

“No Person shall be a Representative who shall not have attained to the Age of twenty five Years and been seven years a Citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State in which he shall be chosen.”

As you can see, there is no requirement that a member of the House reside in the district he or she represents, only the state. And since Sen. Boccieri lives in Ohio – except when he has been called upon to serve in Iraq, which he has done numerous times – the residency issue appears to be a dead one.

Man, that just about makes me giddy! I swear I’ve already read that four or five times before I posted it. That draws on a huge distinction between the Democratic voter and the Republican voter in a generic comparison. It is this writer’s experience, Democratic voters tend to be logically issue driven and Republican voters tend to be passionately value driven. The smoke screen quietly drifts away into oblivion.

Over this past weekend, volunteers spread out across Ohio’s 16th Congressional District. Before it was over with they had knocked on some 500 doors talking to potential voters about State Senator Major John Bocccieri and the issues that are most important here; jobs and the economy, the War in Iraq, Health care, gas prices, the rising cost of groceries, and home heating/cooling prices.

In a bit of irony, the John Boccieri for U.S. Congress campaign won the “Most Patriotic” award for our entry in the Bethlehem Township parade. We had a decorated Ford truck and handed out flags. John walked in the parade with about five or six staff members and supporters. This is Ralph Regula’s home area. Pretty cool, indeed!

So, I sit here somewhat stymied after all of this exercise. A series of questions keep rolling through my mind. What do you want to debate Senator Schuring? The War in Iraq and The 100 year McCain Doctrine? The 21st Century GI Bill? Making immediate use of alternative energy solutions? Creating and keeping jobs in the 16th Congressional District? Health care for every child, woman or man in the 16th District? The outrageous cost of fuel at the pump? How about the Mortgage Crisis? Constitutionally funding our childrens education? It’s time to start speaking up; November 4th is closer than you think!

(HT: Ian & Chris)