The abve video is presented without comment.
Showing posts with label Senator Arlen Specter. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Senator Arlen Specter. Show all posts
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Friday, March 13, 2009
Human Events Lists Top 10 Senate RINOs
I'm not really surprised by any of the names on the list as compiled by Human Events based on their ACU ratings...
1. Olympia Snowe, Maine: (ACU Rating: 12) (Only one point higher than liberal Democrat Hillary Clinton who the ACU scored an 11, and an astonishing 4 points lower than Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid’s 16.)
2. Susan Collins, Maine: 20
(Collins received the same score as liberal Claire McCaskill, and 4 points lower than Russ Feingold’s 24)
3. Arlen Specter, PA: 42 (Only 10 points higher than Mary Landrieu’s 32)
4. George Voinovich, OH: 52
5. Lisa Murkowski, AL: 58
6. Mel Martinez, FL: 60
7. John McCain, AZ: 63
8. Richard Lugar, Ind: 63
9. Robert Bennett, UT: 64
10. Thad Cochran, Miss: 68
Hat Tip: PoliPundit
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Senator Specter’s payoff for betraying his party: betrayal of his state
We now know one of the payoffs that Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter received for being one of three Republican Senators who allowed President Obama’s trillion-dollar Spendulus bill to become law. WPXI in Pittsburgh reports that Specter has a 5.5 million dollar earmark for the crescent-shaped Flight 93 memorial in the omnibus spending bill just passed by the Senate.
Much as the people of Pennsylvania want to see a fitting memorial built, they yanked support for the crescent design in August 2007 after Tom Burnett Sr., father of Flight 93 hero Tom Jr., started warning the country that the memorial design is STILL packed to the gills with Islamic symbolism. Since that time the Memorial Project has hardly raised a dime, and a September 2007 interview with State Senator Jane Orie, who sponsors the Hearts of Steel memorial fund, makes clear that concerns about Islamic symbolism predominate. Here is her exchange with Pittsburgh talk-radio host Fred Honsberger:
Orie: “No matter who it is, and no matter where I went today for 9/11 events, everybody brought up this crescent. Whether it is intentional or not, it is disturbing to people.”
Honsberger: “So everyone is bringing it up to you.”
Orie: “Absolutely.”
Orie is talking here about the so-called “redesign.” The people of Pennsylvania know that the giant crescent, which the redesign was supposed to remove, is still there. The Park Service calls it “Circle of Embrace” now, but the circle is still broken, and the unbroken part of the circle——what is symbolically left standing in the wake of 9/11——remains exactly as it was in the original Crescent of Embrace (pictured above). Architect Paul Murdoch’s design is still a giant Islamic-shaped crescent, still pointing to Mecca.
Pennsylvanians have voted with their pocketbooks to reject this memorial to the terrorists, but Arlen Specter is determined to cram it down their throats anyway, the same way he helped Obama cram a trillion dollars of socialist pork down America’s throat.
Specter knows better than any other politician not just that the giant Islamic-shaped crescent is still there, but that it points to Mecca
Our group was actually very hopeful back in 2007 that Senator Specter might put and end to the memorial debacle. After Mr. Burnett’s public appeal, Specter’s office wanted a briefing on the Islamic symbolism that we have found in the crescent design. One of our most knowledgeable people then spent 45 minutes with Stan Caldwell, Executive Director of Senator Specter’s Pittsburgh office, explaining in detail the Islamic and terrorist memorializing symbolism.
Caldwell had no trouble understanding our graphical proof that the giant crescent points almost exactly at Mecca:
A person standing between the tips of the Crescent of Embrace and facing into the center of the crescent (red arrow) will be facing within two degrees of the Muslim prayer direction (qibla), which is calculated as the great circle direction to Mecca. (Green qibla graphic produced by the Mecca-direction calculator at Islam.com. Another calculator is available at QiblaLocator.com.)
Caldwell also had no trouble understanding that the giant crescent is still there. All the redesign did was place an extra arc of trees out behind the mouth of the crescent, an arc of trees that according to the Park Service’s own website explicitly represents a broken off part of the circle:
Animation starts with the bare naked Crescent of Embrace. The re-colored Circle of Embrace site plan is superimposed on top, then everything but the changes are removed. The only change is extra arc of trees (flashing) that explicitly represents a broken off part of the circle. Every particle of the original Crescent of Embrace design remains completely intact.
Our man also explained the significance of the Mecca orientation: that it turns the giant Islamic-shaped crescent into a mihrab (the Mecca-direction indicator around which every mosque is built). The planned memorial is actually the world’s largest mosque, and Arlen Specter’s office is fully aware of it.
Do Specter and Caldwell have some explanation? The press will never ask, but we can:
DC Phone: 202-224-4254
DC Fax: 202-228-1229
Another Washington Post cover-up
Dan Eggen reports how Families of Flight 93 (an adjunct to the Memorial Project, representing only those families who are backing the crescent design) have been in Washington seeking federal money. He includes no mention of WHY the private fundraising effort has failed. But State Senator Orie’s discussion of her fundraising difficulties is not hard to find. Any reporter doing a story on the memorial’s fundraising problems would presumably start here:
The whole first page of search results is our blogburst post about Orie. (“Fundraising difficulties” yields the same result.)
Either Dan Eggen is completely incompetent, or the Post is taking sides, refusing to report the facts that don’t support the terrorist memorializing side.
Perhaps ombudsman Andrew Alexander should weigh in on this. The Post has NEVER reported on Mr. Burnett’s long battle to stop the Park Service from planting a giant Islamic-shaped crescent atop his son’s grave. Mr. Burnett left a long comment on Dan Eggen’s article which Eggen simply ignored, along with private offers to talk.
So which is it Mr. Alexander? Is the Post incompetently ignorant of a controversy that has raged for years, or is it intentionally suppressing the facts about the giant Mecca-oriented crescent?
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Saturday, February 14, 2009
More Contact Info for Senators Collins, Snowe and Specter
I suggest that you call these Senators at least once a week, and remind them that you have not forgotten their vote on the Stimulus Package on Friday the 13th.
As a follow up on last night's Open Letter to Senators Collins, Snowe and Specter, I am posting more contect information for the offices of these "Republicans" that I found at The World According To Me:
SENATOR SUSAN COLLINS - REPUBLICAN (in name only)
DC PHONE: (202) 224-2523
DC FAX: (202) 224-2693
AUGUSTA PHONE: (207) 622-8414
AUGUSTA FAX: (207) 622-5884
EMAILS TO CONTACT:
Steve_Abbott@collins.senate.gov
Holly_Nesbit@collins.senate.gov
SENATOR OLYMPIA SNOWE - REPUBLICAN(in name only)
DC PHONE: (202) 224-5344
DC FAX: (202) 224-1946
BOSTON PHONE: (207) 622-8292
BOSTON FAX: (207) 622-7295
EMAILS TO CONTACT:
John_Richter@snowe.senate.gov
Anna_Levin@snowe.senate.gov
SENATOR ARLEN SPECTER - REPUBLICAN(in name only)
DC PHONE: (202) 224-4254
DC FAX: (202) 228-1229
HARRISBURG PHONE: (717) 782-3951
HARRISBURG FAX: (717) 782-4920
EMAILS TO CONTACT:
Friday, February 13, 2009
An Open Letter to Senators Collins, Specter and Snowe
You three "Republican" Senators have voted for this "Socialism for America" Act that is called a "Stimulus Plan".
Washington, D.C.
Friday, February 13, 2009 -
U.S. Senator Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) today made the following comments following his ‘aye’ vote on the economic stimulus package:
Senator Specter’s comments:
“The vote on the stimulus package was a very tough vote because of the very large deficit we have and the very large national debt faced by future generations. But the economy is in a desperate situation. Just in the month of January we lost 600,000 jobs, added to the loss of 2.8 million last year. There are millions of people who are having their homes foreclosed. The economists tell us that if we do not act that the current severe recession could well develop into a full-fledged depression like 1929.
“The agreement we reached was the best one we could under the circumstances. We were able to cut out $100 billion from the package and include 35% in tax relief in the overall bill. My preference would have been John McCain’s proposal, which I voted for, to have the stimulus package of $421 billion in tax cuts alone. I voted for the Reagan tax cuts back in 1981 and that would be the best course, but in a legislative body you don’t have exactly your own choice.
“I was impressed with the position of the United States Chamber of Commerce which was for the bill very solidly. The Chamber of Commerce, obviously, is a very conservative, Republican organization which has its hands on the economy and what’s happening to many, many businesses and they were for it. All factors considered, I thought that action had to be taken.
“I voted for it with reservations, as I have commented. One was I didn’t like the speed of the operation. When President Obama came to talk to the Republican Caucus and my turn came for a question I said, ‘Why the haste? Why do you have to move ahead on February 13?’ I reminded him of the bailout package of $700 billion where mistakes were made because the legislature didn’t go through what we call ‘regular order.’ The President responded that there was an emergency and that we had to act. Another factor which concerned me was that there is a good bit in this bill which should be in the regular appropriations process - important healthcare and education projects, but they ought to be in the regular budget where we establish overall spending and then make a determination of priorities.
“My vote was cast recognizing the very substantial political peril that I face. I know that there are many on the Republican political spectrum who do not like the vote. I remember, obviously, the tough primary fight I had in the year 2004. But I felt in the final analysis, given the very severe consequences which might befall the country, that my duty was to look out for the public interest and not my own personal political interest. That is why I voted as I did.”
Washington, D.C. -
I pledge my life savings against your electoral defeat. I will work tirelessly to set up networks exposing your hypocrisies. I will work to identify people on the ground in your states who will work with me to defeat you.
These are the next election cycle for these three US Senators:
2010 Senator Specter
2012 Senator Snowe
2014 Senator Collins
It is good indeed that I will have time between each election to focus on each of you individually.
**7.29pm**
Specter Comments on Stimulus Vote
 |  |
Friday, February 13, 2009 -
Senator Specter’s comments:
“The vote on the stimulus package was a very tough vote because of the very large deficit we have and the very large national debt faced by future generations. But the economy is in a desperate situation. Just in the month of January we lost 600,000 jobs, added to the loss of 2.8 million last year. There are millions of people who are having their homes foreclosed. The economists tell us that if we do not act that the current severe recession could well develop into a full-fledged depression like 1929.
“The agreement we reached was the best one we could under the circumstances. We were able to cut out $100 billion from the package and include 35% in tax relief in the overall bill. My preference would have been John McCain’s proposal, which I voted for, to have the stimulus package of $421 billion in tax cuts alone. I voted for the Reagan tax cuts back in 1981 and that would be the best course, but in a legislative body you don’t have exactly your own choice.
“I was impressed with the position of the United States Chamber of Commerce which was for the bill very solidly. The Chamber of Commerce, obviously, is a very conservative, Republican organization which has its hands on the economy and what’s happening to many, many businesses and they were for it. All factors considered, I thought that action had to be taken.
“I voted for it with reservations, as I have commented. One was I didn’t like the speed of the operation. When President Obama came to talk to the Republican Caucus and my turn came for a question I said, ‘Why the haste? Why do you have to move ahead on February 13?’ I reminded him of the bailout package of $700 billion where mistakes were made because the legislature didn’t go through what we call ‘regular order.’ The President responded that there was an emergency and that we had to act. Another factor which concerned me was that there is a good bit in this bill which should be in the regular appropriations process - important healthcare and education projects, but they ought to be in the regular budget where we establish overall spending and then make a determination of priorities.
“My vote was cast recognizing the very substantial political peril that I face. I know that there are many on the Republican political spectrum who do not like the vote. I remember, obviously, the tough primary fight I had in the year 2004. But I felt in the final analysis, given the very severe consequences which might befall the country, that my duty was to look out for the public interest and not my own personal political interest. That is why I voted as I did.”
And here is what Senator Snowe had to say for her self:
SNOWE PAVES WAY FOR STRONGER ECONOMY
Votes to Send Fiscal Stimulus Bill to Spur Job Growth & Help Displaced to President’s Desk for Signature
February 13, 2009
Washington, D.C. -
Paving the way for a critical jump-start to the ailing American economy, U.S. Senator Olympia J. Snowe (R-Maine) today voted for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act Conference Report. As a senior member of the Senate Finance Committee and longtime centrist policymaker, Senator Snowe served as a key architect in crafting the $789 billion compromise which is more fiscally sound and will create or retain 3.5 million jobs and provide tax relief for 95 percent of hard-working American families.
"Today, Washington sent a strong signal to the American people that this Congress is, indeed, committed to getting our economy back on the road to recovery," said Senator Snowe. "Facing one of the worst economic downturns in our nation’s history, inaction was not an option. Economists across the ideological spectrum have agreed on one truism – that fiscal stimulus is necessary to provide the positive jolt our economy urgently requires. From the outset, my criteria for including provisions into this package was simply finding items that get this critical job accomplished. Through consensus building, we were able to advance an aggressive fiscal stimulus that will provide an immediate jolt to the troubled economy, spur significant job growth and further help working families, seniors and entrepreneurs weather the economic storm."
Having been tapped by Vice President Biden to solicit views on potential key components for a second stimulus package as far back as last December, Senator Snowe actively worked with congressional leadership and the Administration to craft an economic stimulus package that creates jobs, helps those displaced by the economic downturn and bolsters the flagging economy.
"Throughout this entire process, I’ve called for an economic stimulus package that is timely, targeted and temporary. One that would not only effectively address the urgency of our economic crisis, but have credibility with the American people," Senator Snowe said. "Through a collaborative effort, I am pleased to say that the conference report achieved the critical equilibrium of creating jobs and helping those displaced by this economic crisis through no fault of their own.."
As a senior member on the Senate Finance Committee, Senator Snowe played a leading role in crafting the tax portion of the measure which makes up 61 percent of the entire stimulus package. Spending more than 10 hours marking up the tax portion of the bill,
Senator Snowe authored more than a dozen job-igniting provisions including: small business expensing to provide firms more rapid write-offs for making job-creating investments; the tax-free treatment of unemployment insurance benefits to help jobless workers, and additional funding to expand the New Markets Tax Credit which has a proven track record of boosting economic development and creating jobs in rural areas in Maine and throughout the rest of the country, to name a few.
"By allowing working families to keep more of their hard-earned dollars and providing American employers with the right incentives to grow their businesses, this legislation will restore confidence among Americans in the future of our economy," continued Senator Snowe.
Recognizing the financial strains of the American health care system and its impact on already imperiled economy, Senator Snowe fought for the inclusion of $28 billion for the adoption of Health Information Technology to help bring the health care system from the pen and paper age into the electronic age. This provision will result in $10 billion in savings and create more than 40,000 new jobs across the country. The Senator also secured $87 billion for Federal Medical Assistance Percentages (FMAP) to ensure states have access to the resources they need to meet Medicaid demands.
"As severe economic conditions cause more Americans to rely on Medicaid, state Medicaid funds are being rapidly depleted," said Senator Snowe, a member of the Health Subcommittee. "Under this provision, Maine is estimated to receive $420 million in additional federal Medicaid assistance, which will go a long way in helping our state to better meet these essential health care needs during challenging economic times."
As the Ranking Member on the Senate Small Business Committee, Senator Snowe championed several small business lending provisions to further assist America’s job generators including: provisions to temporarily reduce or eliminate various lender and borrower fees, bolster funding for the SBA’s microloan program; increase 7(a) and 504 loan sizes; and allow the Small Business Investment Companies to steer more dollars to start-up small businesses. Senator Snowe also worked to: secure compromise bill language to strengthen and expand the Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) program to better serve American workers, communities, firms and farmers; shield 30 million middle-class families from getting hit with Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT); extend energy tax incentives as well as strengthen and expand the child tax credit, among others.
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And Senator Collins hasn't update her website since Feb 6th.
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