BULLY KING PAUL NEEDS TO GO - FACEBOOK PAGE 700+ LIKES!

As I mentioned in a previous blog post, I started a facebook page called "Paul Lepage Must Resign" on June 21st, the day of his tasteless Vaseline outburst. So far we have managed to get over 700 likes. I do realize this is purely symbolic, but I feel its a good way to provide a clearing house for the majority of us Mainers who would like to see the back of this dude.

I also realize that not all people who think King Paul should go are liberal Democrats like myself. Many are more moderate Democrats or Republicans. Many are independent of course. And some probably aren't that interested in politics at all , but have been angered by the bully tactics that this man has used repeatedly. I would even encourage Republicans who care about their party's future in Maine to start a campaign to get a more reasonable member of the GOP to run against Lepage in the primary next year.

Tomorrow the legislature will take up, among other things, the budget, which Lepage vetoed. This may not be perfect, but it was painstakingly put together on a bipartisan basis by both parties in the Legislature. There is a sales tax increase which the Governor does not like. But this increase, which does have an expiry date, will allow some important programs, including Head Start, low cost drugs for the elderly, and job training, to avoid cuts. King Paul wants everything his way, or the highway. Well, he needs to hit the highway.

The Maine Senate will take up the important omnibus energy bill which Lepage vetoed. He was already overridden in the House by a 121 to 11 vote margin. It had most of the things in it he approved of, but that does not satisfy a man who wants to be an absolute monarch of this state. He has no respect for opposing viewpoints.

I want to try to get more people to "like" my Facebook page so I will put a link below.
https://www.facebook.com/Lepagehittheroad
And here Ray Charles and the Raelettes with a special message for King Paul...

And a later rendition...

RELIGIOUS FREEDOM AND SEPERATION OF CHURCH AND STATE

I wanted to re-post a video and a blog post from my Representative in the Maine State House, Mike Nadeau. I hope I can get them to a wider audience as I find them very offensive.

Here is  part on one of his blog posts that he wrote in response to the horrible Newtown massacre.

Where was God?
Well… we did make it illegal for God to be in school to the point of no talk about Him, no books about Him, no clothes with a cross, or His name on it
Some blame it on guns. Just as a speed limit sign does alot to slow down most traffic, it does slow it down. The ten commandments were converted to most laws we live by today and yet we can not post them in public places to remind people that we live by laws.
Reminders are good. If we saw a reminder of the laws to live by, TEN COMMANDMENTS, daily, I am convined that our country would be different.

Obviously this man does not believe in separation of Church and State and seems to have, at best, a tenuous understanding of our laws. Has he read the Establishment Clause of our constitution.?

He needs to be defeated next year!

INSPIRED BY THE REV JESSE JACKSON

Jesse Jackson was one of my first heroes.  I grew up in the Reagan era of the 1980's. As we all know, self  was in, and caring for others was out. I can remember when Jackson declared his run for the Presidency for the 1984 election, my Dad grumbled something like, "He'll never make it." And he didn't, but he made an impact.

Jackson championed issues like economic inequality,  poverty, cutting military spending and civil rights for all.  He was also the first major politician that I saw to stand up at a political convention and mention equal rights for gays and lesbians.

When he ran again for the 1988 Presidential race, I took it upon myself to write him a sort of heart felt fan letter, thanking him for the views that he championed. It took awhile, but I got back a signed photo (above) and a nice letter.

As a Senior in High School I wore one of his campaign buttons to school. Now, I live in a small rural town in Northern Maine. I don't think we had one African American in our high school at the time. I remember some redneck kid whispering to his friend in reference to Jackson button,"That's a N*****."

Despite Maine being one of the whitest states in the country, we do have quite a populist streak and a reputation for giving a lot a support to candidates like Jackson, Dennis Kucinich, and Paul Tsongas. Jackson got 27%  to Dukakis's 46% of the vote in Maine's Democratic caucuses in 1988. This proved that he could garner white support and this was trumpeted by the media.

He visited Northern Maine in the early 1990's, this was around that time the defense department announced the impending closure of Loring Air Force Base in Limestone, Me. I got the chance to see him speak at the University of Maine at Presque Isle. There was standing room only, and they had spillover into another room where they set up a television to broadcast the speech. The Maine legislature had recently voted against equal rights for gays and lesbians and I got to ask him a question about that. He spoke very eloquently on why he supported equality for all peoples, of any color, creed, religion and sexual orientation.  

I have followed Jackson over the years, I have been impressed by some of his actions and unimpressed by some others. At first he did not support gay marriage, just civil unions, but he did come around and is now a supporter.

Jesse Jackson is 71 now and probably in the twilight of his career. We've heard more about the struggles that his namesake, Jesse Jackson, Jr, has had with depression. But I will never forget the hope that Jesse Jackson,Sr. made me feel during a pivotal time in my life. His message was sorely needed at that time.
-Natty

COUNTDOWN TO NOV 4, 2014

Hello, I added a widget with a countdown to the next election. This is when hopefully we will vote for a new Governor. That is if he doesn't resign beforehand.  I would have set it as inauguration day 2015, but to my knowledge Maine doesn't have a set inauguration day. Here's hoping!

LEPAGE AIN'T GONNA RUN IN DISTRICT TWO

The Guvster mentioned that he was ruminating a run for the seat that Mike Michaud will be vacating. This was an offhand remark during an "apology" for his remark about Maine people who work in the woods.

Folks, he's blowing hot air. He is not going to run and knows he has as much chance of winning as he has of being given a Nobel prize for the advancement of personal lubricants. As we all know, he only got the Republican nomination for Governor last time because the field was packed with more moderate candidates. Then Mr Cutler "cut" the vote with Libby Mitchell.

He needs to go back to Marden's if they'll have him. I am sure they have shipments of off-brand petroleum jelly he could stock. He could do an add with that annoying Marden's lady playing her "Daddy" she's always talking about.

Or else he could replace Marty on top of Mt Washington. If they slap several coats of vaseline all over his body under his clothing the cold up there wont bother him.

REP MIKE NADEAU, YOUR SILENCE IS DEAFENING

Rep Mike Nadeau from house district one shares some of the same territory with Sen Troy Jackson. Interestingly, I am not aware that he has made any comment condemning his boss Lepage's offensive comments directed at his fellow legislator. I realize they are from different parties, but it seems like a degree of civility is called for here. Mike needs to come out and let us know his opinion on the Governor's comments directed at Troy. If he does not, I guess he must agree with Boss Paul Lepage.
Let Mike know how you feel here!

THANK YOU REP MCELWEE, REP MAREAN, REP TYLER & REP WILSON!

Amidst the latest swirl of press surrounding our illustrious Governor's latest lamentable remarks, I forgot to give a shout out to four brave Republicans in the Maine House. They are Rep Carol McElwee, Caribou, Rep Donald Marean, Hollis, Rep Tom Tyler R, Windham .and Rep Corey Wilson, Augusta.

These four brave souls voted in favor of Medicaid Expansion bill LD1066, even voting to override Gov Lepage's veto. I say "even during override" due to the fact that some Republicans have switched their vote to sustain a veto by Lepage, I suppose on order from above. However, these three ignored the wrath of their leadership and their Governor and stood by the Maine people. I have put a link to their websites attached to their names above. Please feel free to thank them.

GOV PAUL LEPAGE SHOULD RESIGN, ALREADY!!

Today's Lepage rant in its entirety

I started a Facebook group and page to encourage big mouthed Pauly to resign. He obviously does not like his job anyway. His latest comments concerning Sen Troy Jackson and the failure to adopt Medicaid expansion are the tipping point. This guy is going to permanently damage this State, its people, its image ands its pride. To paraphrase Harry Truman, "If he cant stand the heat he should get out of the Blaine House!"

We have crossed a rubicon folks, here is the link to my Facebook group again  https://www.facebook.com/groups/200340510121721/

And for those who wish the Facebook page, you can like https://www.facebook.com/Lepagehittheroad

Thanks everyone! Sorry if I'm going overboard, but I am mad.

MORE ON PAUL LEPAGE'S STUPID COMMENTS.

Interestingly, watching the WAGM local news tonight, I noticed they left an important part out of their coverage of Gov. Lepage's comments concerning Troy Jackson. They did not mention this comment about Sen Jackson:

 “People like Troy Jackson, they ought to go back into the woods and cut trees and let someone with a brain come down here and do some good work.”

To me this is worse than the Vaseline comment as it is a condescending jab at people in this area of our state that toil  in the woods. They did however show Lepage's "bad person" and "black heart" comments about Jackson which I hadn't seen in the earlier Bangor Daily News article. I can't, for the life of me, remeber a politician who has made such awful comments in public. I never thought I'd see it in this state, where I thought we were more civil.

I guess Jackson is taking it in stride, not letting bulldog Lepage ruffle his feathers. Lepage needs to invest in some anger management classes. We all have different visions for our state and different ideas of what will benefit it. My outrage with Lepage is not all because of his views, it's the way he has promoted them. His abrasiveness and school ground tactics invite disrespect for him and his office.
 

OUTRAGEOUS PETROLEUM BASED COMMENTS BY PAUL LEPAGE

Maybe he has sand in his Vaseline? Today motor mouth Paulie soared to new heights of tastelessness. In a rant about Senator Troy Jackson, he said that Jackson, “claims to be for the people but he’s the first one to give it to the people without providing Vaseline.”

 (photo courtesy Bangor Daily News)

Aside from the fact that, as anybody knows, Vaseline is no good for the act he was metaphorically referring to, ( Since it destroys latex in the condoms that everyone should be using), this is a childish, tasteless comment from a man who specializes in such comments.

Even worse he went on to say "People like Troy Jackson, they ought to go back into the woods and cut trees and let someone with a brain come down here and do some good work." What a disrespect for, not only those folks who toil in one of Maine's heritage industries, but for all working class peoples everywhere.

Hopefully this will help seal the deal when it comes to not only overriding his budget veto, but to getting this big mouthed imbecile out of office! God help us in the next year and a half or so. I am sure this will get picked up by the national news. I hope people know that Maine is a state of, not only hard working people from all walks of life, but  we also have some of the greatest educational institutions in the country.It is a great place of scenic beauty, knowledge and, despite the current Governor, good will and tolerance. Shut this guy up!
-Nat D

MAINE HOUSE FAILS TO OVERRIDE, THANKS REPUBLICANS

Sad news, our Maine State House has failed to override Lepage's veto of Medicaid expansion. They voted 97 to 52 in favor of expansion but apparently didn't get the needed moderate Republican support they were pushing for. This is unfathomable to me. Its indicative of the Republican party's war on the poor, many of whom are working poor. I am sure my Rep, Mike Nadeau, voted to support his boss Paul Lepage. He put this comment on his Facebook page today directed at House Speaker Mark Eves.

 "today I lost respect for the speaker of the house. games games games. trickery and devisive behavior. this man has done nothing but play devisive games. at a time when we need strong nonpartisan leadership all that we get is mockery of the system and the people!!!!!!"
*NOTE: devisive is spelled divisive and hold a few exclamation points Mike.*  

Well, my feeling is that the Speaker was using the power at his disposal to use legitimate parliamentary means to try to save this Medicaid expansion. I guess to an amateur like Nadeau, the whole process would be overwhelming. Guess we'll just have to put someone else in office that can work within the democratic system and advocate for the people.  

Apparently Kenneth, "man's brain" Fredette  really strong armed any Republicans in his caucus that showed the slightest inkling that they might vote to override. In the Press Herald article it reported that some Republicans tried to "walk" so their vote wouldn't be recorded. The Republicans will pay in next years election for failing the people.

This whole self-righteous attitude exhibited by the Republicans regarding the need for basic health care for all is baffling to me. Maybe if they got off their pedestals and went amongst the people of their community they would find that there are many people trying to keep their heads above water who cant afford pricey private coverage. Amazingly Republicans are able to garner support from some of the very people that would be helped by Medicaid expansion by labelling it a welfare program. Blaming all those nefarious "lazy leechers" for running up the cost of health care by running to the emergency room for a splinter. 

I worked with a young single mother once who would take her child to the emergency room when it was sick. At first, I thought to myself, "she's wasting taxpayer dollars." Then I realized this was a young girl with no husband, parents or grandparents to help and advise her. If  I was alone and my baby had a fever and wouldn't stop crying, I'd call a taxi and go to emergency too. I guess we Democrats have something called empathy that is not part of the vocabulary of the Republicans. They are very near sighted, not able to see the enormous costs of leaving people uninsured and without preventive medicine. 

Now, we really have to redouble our efforts to replace Gov. Lepage with a Democrat. This seems to be the only way to get health care to tens of thousands of deserving Mainers.

GOV. PAUL LEPAGE IS GETTIN' BUSH!

Did you hear the news! Our Guv is going to have a big name headliner at his big July reelection fundraiser in Kennebunkport... you guessed it, Jeb Bush! Well ain't that grand. Her they are in a photo with former Gov James Hunt, someone they could learn a thing or two from.

 And for 2000 bucks you can have your picture taken with Bushie and Stumpie Lepage. Other luminaries will include Olympia, Suzy Q Collins and many more. Isn't it amazing that moderate Republicans will still support any fellow Republican, even if they are farther to the right? If the Republicans wanted to keep hold of the Blaine House they should run a moderate in the primary and ditch Paulie. But they aren't going to do that which is to our advantage, I guess.

Apparently Cagey Lepagey isn't going to talk to Maine's newspapers anymore. He objected to an article on conflict of interest in his selection for Director of Maine's Environmental Protection Agency. So apparently his administration will just talk to the Conservative Maine Heritage Policy Center.( I love the way these right wing groups co-opt words like "heritage" "patriot" and such, as if they have the only heritage and are the only patriots.)  I'm sure this latest tantrum might be just as short lived as his boycott of his State House office. Just grand standing. Mr Lepage, if you want good coverage in the papers, do some good things!

INANE WHINING FROM REP MIKE NADEAU

Here is a rant that Rep Mike Nadeau posted on Facebook today:

"1:30 and we have about 1 hour of work done so far today, what a wreck, total waste of money and time. not 1 business in this country could survive 6 months run like this. now because we are at the end of session they want to pass most of the bills as emergency measure's. these folks are not getting it done!! the games they play are pitiful at best."

This isn't his first post in this vein, apparently he'd like his buddy Lepage to be dictator so that everything could be done on order from the King. Guess what, democracy moves slowly by its nature, it always has. Maybe if he got off his ass and tried to accomplish something in Augusta he wouldn't be so bored. He has not put forth one piece of legislation himself. 

I fully expect Mike to vote to uphold Gov Lepage's veto of the latest attempt at Medicaid expansion. I am sure he believes the false rhetoric that Pauly spouts about expansion. AFFORDABLE HEALTH CARE IS NOT WELFARE IT IS A RIGHT AND A NECESSITY!  Lepage even belittled the modest decrease in uninsured Mainers since 2001, mainly due to the Baldacci administration's state health care reform. Meanwhile nationally the percentage of uninsured people went up during the same time period.  I have said this before, but it bears repeating, I am so embarrassed to have Paul Lepage as Governor. He has brought political discord to a new low in the Pine Tree State. I am also ashamed to have Mike Nadeau representing the community I grew up in. Let's get a Democrat back in District 1! 
-Nat

MAINE CLEAN ELECTION FUNDS AND REP MIKE NADEAU

My legislator, Mike Nadeau, posted on facebook that the Democrats in the house voted to increase clean election funds in order "to allow candidates to have a tax payer funded party after an election.
Having read the bill, LD 1309, I don't see anything that says this. Of course, the comment by Nadeau is ridiculous, probably one of his Republicans mates told him this. I do believe he himself took public funds.

While you can argue for or against The Maine Clean Elections Act, it was approved by a Maine citizens initiative in 1996 to help remove special interest money from elections. Of course many candidates ditched the clean election choice after the Supreme Court ruled that corporations are people in the Citizens United ruling. Without public funds they don't have the strictures against taking private money so they can buy the election if they want. Increasing the amount of funds given would be a way to lure some candidates back into the fold and keep our elections more honest. 

But honesty is not the strong suit of Rep Mike Nadeau, so instead he chose to titillate his facebook psychophants by this idiotic comment. Not only did he send out a bogus mailing during his 2012 campaign stating that he was endorsed by the NRA, but funds were illegally spent on his behalf by an organization that his campaign treasurer, Phil Soucy, was also treasurer of. This violates Clean Election rules. Incidentally, Mike has stated he will not be a Clean Election Candidate next time around.
 -Nat

MEDICAID VOTE IN MAINE HOUSE NOT VETO PROOF

I have good news and bad news. The good news is that I just heard that the latest attempt to expand Medicaid in Maine as per the Affordable Care Act has passed the house. The bad news is that there are STILL not enough votes to override Governor Lepage's veto. Of course, even if enough Republicans had voted for the bill, providing for a veto proof majority, there is no telling that they might switch their votes to support their King Lepage's veto. They've done this before.

In case you don't know, this latest effort would have only approved the expansion for three years, during which time the Feds would pay 100% of the cost. Thereafter the State would have the option to withdraw rather than cover a small portion of the funding itself. This was a no brainer, but we are dealing with a brainless Republican party. What they are saying is that it is unfair to expand Medicaid while we still have mentally and physically disabled people on a waiting list for services. This is nothing but a ploy to excuse their heartless vote against expansion. They want to pit two different groups of needy Mainers against one another. Of course, we need to address this waiting line for disabled people, but the Medicaid expansion involves funds specifically earmarked  for specific groups of people provided under The Affordable Care Act. Why punish one group of people in need because another group is also in need? It seems more sensible to accept these extra funds and try to tackle the separate issue of a waiting line for disability services.

I am equally outraged that my state representative, Mike Nadeau, voted with most of the rest of his Republican colleagues against the latest attempt at expansion. This guy is a stooge of King Paul. Again, many of his constituents will lose because of his ignorance. I cannot imagine what he was thinking unless he just takes the right wing dogma spewed forth by some of his fellow Republicans at face value. I wonder how many people who have done business at his store  would benefit themselves personally, or have family and friends, who would benefit from healthcare expansion coverage. Apparently this does not occur to this guy. Shame on you Mike Nadeau!!!
-Louwis

GAY LOBBY IN THE VATICAN, OH MY!

I have been remiss about posting lately, but was struck by the report of Pope Francis' cryptic comment on the existence of a "gay lobby" at the Vatican. Given that this reference came after talk of a "stream of corruption in the curia", I imagine this was not meant to be a benign remark.

The church, or at least many in the church, seem to still hang on to the idea that gay and lesbians in the church, especially gay priests, are the problem. It indicates to me that they equate the child molestation scandal amongst the clergy, to homosexuality in the clergy. These are completely different issues. Child abuse is an evil sickness that is wrapped up in the need to have power over helpless children. Homosexuality is just a matter of being attracted to your own sex for an adult love interest.

I would like to see this pope concentrate more on liberalizing and democratizing the church, however, it seem, this is not going to happen. At least he could put more emphasis on economic justice and a more equitable distribution of wealth in our world. If he gets wrapped up in some kind of "night of the long knives" persecution of gay clergy and gay Catholics, he will be further throwing the church back into the dark ages as well as causing an exodus of fair minded Catholics to other faiths.

Personally I am not religious and have many more issues with the church I grew up in aside from its treatment of gays and lesbians. We all have an interest in reforming a huge institution like the Catholic Church. More so than its presence in the USA, it has a large sway with populations in places like Africa and South America. The Church could be a beacon for change in a troubled world but persecution of gays is definitely the wrong path and a very hateful one.
-Louwis

IRS SCANDAL HEARING NONSENSE

So the House Ways and Means Committee held its hearing today, so thst the poor conservative "social welfare" groups could lament the harassment they received from the IRS in their application for 501c4 tax exempt status. There were tears, talking of the "chilling" effect it had on them, and the "tyranny" we are living under. It was a regular crack pot lineup. Most Democrats showed little in the way of balls and did the whole la-dee-da crap like "we need to get to the bottom of this terrible betrayal of trust" and the like. Thank God that Rep McDermott from Washington showed some spunk and laid it on the line. They really need to call forth non-conservative and non-political groups who were scrutinized and find out what they had to go through to achieve their status.

My mother applied for 501c3 tax exemption for her animal welfare group that rescues stray cats, gets them needed health care including spay and neutering, and then finds homes for them. The process for them was very involved and took a year and a half. They wanted to see a detailed budget, names of volunteers, etc. They certainly are not a right wing political group.

We know that a deluge of applications for 501c4 status came forth in the last few years, especially from the right. They are basically dodging taxes which is an inadvertent way for the American people to finance their purely political purpose. This includes "progressive" political groups also.

I am not sure what the National Organization for Marriage was doing there as they have been tax exempt for a while. Their beef is an allegation that the IRS deliberately leaked donors names to pro-gay marriage groups for purposing of targeting said donors. This seems like a separate issue. Of course they would be required to release donors names if they were not hiding behind the 501c4 "social welfare group" status. The guy they sent, John Eastman, seemed REALLY angry. Interesting to see what "evidence" he has.

Look, I realize that they were not supposed to use conservative key words pinpointing groups to subject to further scrutiny. But we don't know how far reaching this so called "conspiracy" is. Also, lets open an investigation into the targeting of liberal groups, including the NAACP, Greenpeace,etc., by the Bush administration. Will they call these folks forth to testify too? I guess not.

For a few minutes I watched the Fox coverage of today's hearing, but had to switch to C-Span before I upchucked. The bubble headed bimbo reporting at the time kept interjecting her "unbiased" comments like how "shocking" this "impassioned" testimony was. Fair and balanced my ass. If you wonder where the Stepford Wives went, they were reprogrammed and set up at Fox news.

Hopefully the Dems get some hair on their chests and fight these idiotic conspiracy theories that the Dave Camp-Darrell Issa gang are pressing. If you don't yet have proof, gut feeling is not enough!
-Louwis