Bert Dodson Answers The People's Call
Bert talking to Amherst Democrats
Yes friends it worked. Democrats throught the newly created 22nd district have been putting the bug in Bert's ear and urging him to throw his hat in the ring and become our Senator in Richmond. Bert Dodson has answered our call and will seek to be the First Democratic Senator from Virginia's 22nd District.
Man Of Vision
Bert will officially announce his quest on our behalf at 2:00 pm on Tuesday (June 7th) in front of the old Courthouse in Lynchburg. It is a great location to get a good thing started. Paid parking is available on the middle deck of the Clay Street Parking garage at $1 per hour. Friends it will be the most rewarding dollar you have ever spent.
Bert Dodson and "Skipper" Fitts
We have the opportunity to learn a lesson about good government, if we work hard and elect Bert we can have good government and representation in Richmond for the first time in a long time. I hope I will see you in the crowd in front of the old Courthouse at 2:00 pm on Tuesday June 7th.
Bert talking with crowd in Appomattox
Please make every honest attempt to join us. This is a be there moment so join the celebration. There will be TV coverage so you can relive the moment on the 6 pm and 11 pm broadcasts (and also the morning news the next day). June 7th at 2:00 pm in front of the old Courthouse in Lynchburg the journey begins and it ends with Bertram F. "Bert" Dodson, Jr. becoming our Senator in Richmond.
Bert addresses crowd from Lynchburg, Amherst County, Campbell County and Appomattox County
The 22nd District is Brand New and Bert Dodson is an old and trusted friend who can be counted on to make a difference for the people. We have something old, something new, the something blue is the Democratic color so borrow a ride from a friend if you have to and lets get this thing started in style.
Bert Dodson with Lynchburg Mayor Joan Foster
Ladies and Gentlemen. In the interest of Good Government let us gather in peace and love to celebrate Bert Dodson's decision to seek the Senatorial seat in the newly created 22nd district of Virginia. The time is 2:00 Pm. The Date June 7th. The Place, in front of the old Courthouse in Lynchburg Virginia. Paid parking is available on the middle deck of the Clay Street Parking garage at $1 per hour. Rest your voice between now
and then and plan on doing some cheering for Bert.
Bert will Fight to Protect Your Benefits.
Here's a update on the Fluvanna Strawberry Festival
Sunday, June 5, a large turnout, great food, and a chance to mingle with some local candidates as well as Bert Dodson, Jr (in the black shirt, center, above) who will seek the Democratic nomination for the new 22nd Virginia Senate District.
Amherst County Virginia Democratic News
Central Virginia Headlines and Happenings
Amherst County News (22nd)
Lynchburg News (22nd)
Appomattox News (22nd)
GOP Medicare Plan Really Unpopular, GOP Votes for it Again
Yet another poll demonstrates that the American public rejects the Republican budget plan to end Medicare so that the rich can get another tax break. According to a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey, a majority also don't think the GOP has cooperated enough with President Barack Obama and, for the first time since they won back control of the House last November, the number of Americans who say that Republican control of the chamber is good for the country has dropped below the 50 percent mark.
The poll indicates that 58 percent of the public opposes the Republican plan on Medicare, with 35 percent saying they support the proposal. The survey's Wednesday release comes as the president met with House Republicans to discuss, among other things, Medicare reform.
"Half of those we questioned say that the country would be worse off under the GOP Medicare proposals and 56 percent think that GOP plan would be bad for the elderly," says CNN Polling Director Keating Holland. "Opposition is highest among senior citizens, at 74 percent, suggesting that seniors are most worried about changes to Medicare even if those changes are presented as ones that would not affect existing Medicare recipients."
"A majority of all demographic groups don't favor the GOP Medicare proposals," Holland adds. "That includes conservatives—54 percent of them don't like the plan. As a result, rank-and-file Republicans are split right down the middle, with 48 percent favoring the GOP plan and 50 percent opposed."
Which is kind of fun, since Republicans voted, again, today to do away with Medicare. In a rule vote for passing Homeland Security appropriations, 231 Republicans voted to "deem and pass" the Republican budget and end Medicare. They'll be taking that vote again, and again, and again with every appropriations bill, because the Republican budget will be reflected in all the appropriations bills.
Rep. Ed Markey had some fun with the bill and recent news, explaining how the "Republican Rapture" brings "billionaires and Big Oil to the economic stratosphere" while leaving "grandma and students behind."
Seems like this bill is political purgatory for the GOP, but on a more serious note, there's a message in this polling and that from Anzalone Liszt Research, which was also released today. It also reinforces this message for Dems: "The public's support for Medicare in roughly its current form seems unshakable, and Dems have clearly succeeded in framing this fight as one between Medicare's saviors and its would-be destroyers. This will only
supply more grist to Democrats who are arguing that it would be insane for Dems to agree to Medicare benefits cuts, and that so doing could squander a situation in which Dems seem to be in total control of the debate."
Fluvanna County News (22nd)
Louisa County News (22nd)
Prince Edward County News (22nd)
Fix Medicare Instead of Killing It.
Despite Democrats taunting the many Republicans who obeyed their leaders and voted for Rep. Paul Ryan’s plan to dismantle Medicare and let seniors fend for themselves with discounted vouchers, the growth in Medicare spending is a real problem that must be addressed. The Paul Ryan Republican Budget Plan is Massively unpopular and growing more so each and every day. The problem with the Ryan Plan is that voters understand it. They know what it does and they've rejected the Republican Plan by huge numbers. The more the GOP pushes the plan the more voters push back.
Outbursts at town meetings and an unexpected Democratic victory in a special House election in New York quickly have highlighted the unpopularity of the cuts in the Republican budget plan. Republicans just don't get it and they keep pushing the hated Ryan Plan. What will voters have to do to get the republicans to sing a new tune?
Many who voted for the Ryan plan have been running for cover. Over half of House Republicans will privately admit the Ryan Plan was a terrible mistake but still follow leaderships orders and vote for it in public. Their “aye” votes could cost many of them re-election if the 2012 election were held this year. Sens. Olympia Snowe, Scott Brown and Susan Collins wisely voted against the budget plan written by Rep. Ryan, the chair of the House Budget Committee.
It appears that most seniors and many other Americans don’t want any tampering with Medicare. As Paul Krugman wrote in The New York Times, “The Ryan plan is turning into a disaster for Republicans, not because the plan’s critics are lying about it, but because they’re describing it accurately.” "The Truth is Killing Republicans".
But 2012 is still a long way off, and Medicare does indeed face a crisis. Health care costs keep soaring, and the number of participants is zooming as the baby boomers reach retirement age. The hotly defended system requires adjustment to continue long term. Democrats are willing to fix it but Republicans refuse to work on a fix and want to kill it outright.
Republican leaders, with a renewed interest in deficit and spending reduction thanks to the tea party, must not destroy Medicare if they want to maintain their House majority. And Democratic leaders can and must do something besides kicking the Republicans around over their headlong votes for the Ryan plan.
The situation needs compromise. Republicans should accept Medicare is here to stay and that taxes for the rich and big business are part of a sensible solution. Democrats should present their own plan to make Medicare sustainable. Most Americans probably would welcome a good-faith effort by both parties. Anything sensible from Republicans would be a big change in their temperment.
President Barack Obama’s health reform law, the Affordable Care Act, provides several cost-saving mechanisms that will come into play in future years. For example, digitization of medical care can provide data showing which procedures and devices are workable and reasonably priced and which are not. Republicans need to drop their harping and opposition to the Affordable Care Act and put Country above Politics and Party.
Republicans would also do well to follow the advice of New York Times columnist David Brooks. He suggested that they agree on raising the national debt with a bipartisan agreement to reduce the growth of Medicare spending. In exchange, he proposed that Republicans offer to raise taxes on the rich, get rid of interest deductions on mortgages over $500,000, close corporate loopholes and cap the health insurance deduction. In short Republicans need to think more about the Country and less about the rich and big business.
If the lawmakers can settle for negotiations, the way is open for agreement that a modified Medicare plan can continue to insure seniors with a system that maintains the safety net. The GOP will discover common sense or them holding any position of power will make no sense at all.
Buckingham County News (22nd)
Cumberland County News (22nd)
Goochland County News (22nd)
We Welcome Everyone in Virginia's New 22nd Senate District
Republicans Threaten to Default on the National Debt
Republicans sponsored a bill to raise the nation's debt ceiling only because they wanted to vote it down. They are risking economic disaster. Unfortunately the Republicans and The TEA Party are laughing as they push the country closer and closer to a potentially ruinous default.
If the showdown over debt and spending between the House majority and the White House isn't resolved before the first week of August, the federal government will no longer be able to send out Social Security checks, run Veterans Administration hospitals, pay Medicare costs or operate the national park system, to mention just a few significant items. Hundreds of thousands of federal workers would be furloughed without pay, and millions of seniors would stop spending money, slamming an economy that already seems stalled.
But the consequences of that unprecedented situation would reverberate around the world, as nearly every expert from the top bond trader, Mohamed El-Rian, to former Fed Chair Alan Greenspan has warned. When the World loses
its trust in the United States of America to pay its debts credit tightens and costs more. Republicans don't live in the real world. They march to an ideological drum pounding in their heads unaware that their imagined utopia does not exist.
Because both the U.S. dollar and U.S. Treasury notes are so important to world trade and investment, a default on U.S. debt could drive the global economy into a recession worse than that from which we have been slowly emerging. The same experts have warned against the Republicans' insistence on forcing more budget cuts before they will pass a higher debt ceiling.
Indeed, Greenspan is so concerned with the prospect of a debt default, either now or in the future, that he had
advocated increasing taxes to the same level as before the George W. Bush tax cuts. Congress must approve a
higher debt ceiling, said the conservative fiscal guru or risk catastrophe if the United States does not meet its obligations. The brinksmanship that had led to the current impasse in Washington, he told CNBC, is "an extraordinarily dangerous problem for this country."
Why is it so perilous for Republicans and their tea party backers to push toward default? The rating agency
Moody's, following a similar warning weeks ago from Standard & Poor's, is threatening to downgrade U.S. Treasury securities if an agreement isn't reached within the coming month. Such a historic event would be much worse
than embarrassing and the Moody's analysts now believe that a default is increasingly likely. Republicans refuse to put our country first.
"Although we fully expected political wrangling prior to an increase in the statutory debt limit," said a statement issued by the ratings firm, "the degree of entrenchment into conflicting positions has exceeded expectations."
Political polarization over the debt limit "has increased the odds of a short-lived default," it said, meaning that Moody's doesn't believe even the Republicans would permit the default to continue. But the nasty reverberations of even a brief default could last far longer, with sharply rising interest rates, crashing stock prices, a plunging dollar, and yet another blow to America's prestige and power.
Most economists also believe that the Republican insistence on cutting spending in a slowing recovery is simply wrong because it will reduce demand and cost jobs. The party's congressional leaders have yet to explain how they will boost the economy by throwing yet more people off federal and contractor payrolls, which will further depress the housing market, as well.
Remember that these are the same geniuses who opposed the auto bailout two years ago -- which has now proved not only to have saved hundreds of thousands and perhaps millions of jobs, but at a very low cost. Somehow they seemed to believe that Europe and China should build cars while we let our auto industry wither. These same idiots want to kill medicare and Women's health Care.
While cutting spending and restraining the debt sound appealing, they must be done with great care. The
Republican claim that there will be no harm in approaching default, or actually defaulting, is ridiculous to anyone who actually understands how markets work and the damage they can sometimes wreak. Simply put Republicans are not bright enough to run the country and those of you who vote GOP will have to deal with it or the country goes third world.
USA NEWS
POLITICAL NEWS
WORLD NEWS
SPORTS NEWS
Happenings of Interest Across the Area
SPECIAL NOTIFICATION
From Chairman David Burford
Tuesday, June 14, 7:00 PM - Amherst County Democrats will welcome to the Madison Hts Library, our special guest, Dr. Andrew Schmookler, seeking the Democratic nomination to run against Goodlatte in the 6th CD next year.
Dr. Schmookler - let's call him Andy, at least until he gets elected - has a powerful message that's sure to get the attention of voters here in the heart of the Commonwealth - and nationally, as well. He reminds us that progressive, liberal ideals and policies are indeed patriotic and moral. He calls Republicans to task for the destructive party they have become, while citing congressional Democrats' failure to confront them.
You won't want to miss this opportunity to meet Andy, hear what he has to say, and ask him the tough questions as we look toward the 2012 elections.
There is plenty of free parking at the Madisoin Heights Library and on Tuesday June 14th we will open the doors at 6:30 pm, with a meeting start time of 7 pm. Everyone is invited and urged to attend.
Thank You
David Burford, Chairman
Amherst County Democratic Committee
David Burford and Dr. Andrew Schmookler
Dr. Andrew Bard Schmookler will be special guest speaker at the June 14th Committee Meeting. 7 PM is the start time and the doors open at 6:30. There is plenty of free parking. The location is the Madison Heights Library located on the lower end of the shopping center below Lowes.
Dr. Schmookler
Behind Dr. Schmookler is Gerald Cheatham, the First Vice Chair of the Lynchburg Democrats
Everyone is invited. Remember June 14th Madison Heights Library 7 PM (doors open 6:30) Dr. Schmookler is on track to be the next Congressman from Virginia's 6th District.
ACVDN
Lets Take a Look at Virginia's New 22nd Senate District
Lynchburg (part) 41,719 John Lawrence
Amherst Co. 32,353 David Burford
Fluvanna Co. 25,691 Richard Koepsell & Catherine Hobbs
Prince Edward Co. 23,368 Pattie Cooper-Jones & Kenneth Jackson
Goochland Co. 21,717 Alan Tucker
Buckingham Co. 17,146 Roz Goin
Appomattox Co. 14,973 Ora McCoy
Cumberland Co. 10,052 John Sanderson
Louisa Co. (part) 9,166 Leslie Bielanski
Keep Your Eye On The Prize
It is better to vote for what you want and not get it than to vote for what you don't want and get it.
Eugene V. Debs
Eugene V. Debs
A citizen of America will cross the ocean to fight for democracy, but won't cross the street to vote in a
national election.
Bill Vaughan
Bad officials are the ones elected by good citizens who do not vote.
George Jean Nathan
A straw vote only shows which way the hot air blows.
O. Henry
O. Henry
And political parties, overanxious for vote catching, become tolerant to intolerant groups.
Wendell Willkie
Wendell Willkie
Amherst County Virginia Democratic News
No comments:
Post a Comment