Collins Chooses Party Over Public Education

In spite of thousands of calls and emails and letters from her Maine constituents and from people all over the country, she voted to move the nomination of Betsy DeVos to the full Senate.  It really shows that she does not give a damn about what her Maine people think.  DeVos has given large sums of money to five members of the HELP Committee.  Those five should have recused themselves.  They are Richard Burr, Bill Cassidy, Lisa Murkowski, Timothy Scott and Todd Young.  She has stated that when she donates money she expects some thing in return.  So it is the old pay to play game.

In voting for DeVos Collins went along with DeVos' public education is "a deadend."  She also must believe that Charter Schools are better than public schools.  She advocates for the use of vouchers even for religious schools.  She has no teaching or administrative experience. She was not asked about the Common Core or how she would handle racial inequity in education.

What really angers me is the fact the Susan Collins would vote to approve someone even when her constituents plead with her to do otherwise.  Elected officials seem to forget that we pay their salary and the huge benefits that they have.

I suspect that she, Collins, will disappoint us again on other nominees.  I will address some of them in another post.  Even though we are angry and disappointed we must continue to call and make our positions known.  It is easy to give up but we cannot let up.

Reviving My Blog!

It has been a long time since I have used this blog but I have decided that I need to be able to express myself in a format other than Facebook and Twitter.  This will consist of opinions that I hold but will hopefully be based on facts.  If any of you do not want to receive posts by email just let me know and I will remove you from the list.  I will most likely post links to this blog on my Facebook page also.

I will probably post a couple of times a week but sometimes if events call for it I might post more frequently.  Those of you who have been selected to receive posts by email were selected because we share many things in common and you are special to me and I value your opinions even if they differ from mine.  So happy reading.  Be well and be safe!  More posts will arrive in the next few days.

Maine Senators and the President's Budget

I have not posted in a while as I have been so depressed and angry at the current state of politics in this country.  The level of hatred that is exhibited towards our President is outrageous and, frankly in my opinion, totally inexcusable and very unpatriotic.  I consider actions by John Boehner and Mitch McConnell and the forty seven senators that signed a letter to  the Iranians treasonable and seditious.  If the Democrats had done that to George Bush there would have been a hue and cry and all kinds of investigations.  I am so disappointed in our government.  I really do not trust many of our elected officials.  What a sad state of affairs.
Well to the purpose of this post.  I watched the news on WCSH TV last night when Senators King and Collins responded to the Presidents budget.  First of all they both talked about the national debt.  It is important to note that the programs the President is supporting are paid for by closing certain tax loopholes.  That to me is very sensible.  How can these two senators not support programs that will help many needy Maine families?  I have written the following letter to Senator Collins.  I will do a separate one for Senator King.  The letter is below.  I hope that I can urge many of you to write to them also.  I know it feels as though it does not do any good but sitting on our hands does not accomplish anything either.  So the eternal optimist that I am keeps on writing and making phone calls and hoping that others will do the same.

Dear Senator Collins,
As I watched your response to President Obama's budget on WCSH6 i was stunned to hear you mention the federal debt.  Might I remind you that you helped create that debt by voting to fund two wars that were never paid for and for tax cuts for corporations and the wealthiest citizens. And also allowing the former President Bush to borrow or I should say steal money from the Social Security fund and never paid it back.  President Reagan also did the same.

President Obama's budget pays for those programs by closing certain tax loopholes.  I support that.  I just paid my federal and state taxes and I am very angry that so many wealthy citizens and corporations pay less than I, a 78 year old woman, or that they pay nothing.  I am sure that you can see the inequality in that.  Everyone needs to pay their fair share  It is time for Congress to close all the loopholes and subsidies that they have created.

I would urge you to think again and support the President's budget that addresses the needs of many Maine citizens as well as those around the country.  If cuts need to made, make them from the military budget.  We are spending too much money on the military and there is too much waste there.  We spend more than nine other countries combined.  That is pretty outrageous.

Please stand up for the people and try to overcome the extreme hatred of our President.

Sincerely,
Priscilla Payne

MORE OMNIBUS SPENDING BILL!

This is a letter that I have sent to Senators King and Collins.  I wish there was some way that I could get other folks to do the same.  We, the people, need to stand up and let our views be known.  These people we have elected have a responsibility to us the citizens and not to their corporate donors.

Dear Senators King and Collins,

I am writing to let you know how disappointed and angry I am that you voted in favor of the 1.1 trillion dollar spending bill.  That bill contains many things that are detrimental to our economy and to us as individuals  Number one is the fact that the bill rolled back provisions in the Dodd-Frank bill that now allows the banks to gamble with taxpayer money.  The use of risky derivatives  could crash our economy again and we the taxpayers will have to bail them out!
Number two is the fact that now there will be even more money in politics since the cap on single donor contributions has been raised by a huge sum.  The programs that would have benefitted regular people and the poor have been slashed again.  WIC slashed 300 million dollars, food stamps slashed again, and allowing corporations to cut benefits for current employees of which I am one.  Maybe we should slash your benefits!  How would you like that?  But then most of the people in Congress are so wealthy they do not care!
Provisions that take away the ability of the EPA to regulate  and enforce the clean water act were also in that bill along with many other things that are harmful to out economy.
This bill was a give away to the the big banks, and corporations.  I have decided that the only time you and other elected officials care about your constituents is when you are trying to get elected.  Then you go to Washington and could care less about the general welfare of the people and the country as a whole.  It is pretty bad when a bank like Citigroup gets to write the legislation for you.  I suspect this is more often true than false.
I will try once again to have you listen (yes, i did call your office asking you to vote no on the spending bill and perhaps if enough had done so we could have had a better bill)as I urge you to vote against confirmation of Antonio Weiss for a top job in the Treasury Department.  It is rumored that the company he works for, Lazard Financial Services, will give him a 20 million dollar bonus if confirmed.  If this is true it is just a bigger sign of the corruption that has invaded Washington.  Why would you want another person in the treasury who has been advising Burger King to avoid millions in tax dollars so they can move their business to Canada!  Please do not vote to confirm him.
So you can tell that I am one angry and very disappointed constituent!  Our country has lost most of the values that we were founded on  Corruption is so rampant in our government that one does know who to trust anymore.  It is a very sad situation.

OMNIBUS SPENDING BILL

This is a letter that I have sent to Senators Angus King and Susan Collins.  I will also send it to Chellie Pingree.  I called their offices but those folks who answer the phones do not know what is in a bill so no blame goes to them.  I cannot believe that a spending bill had so many secret provisions added with no debate.  All I can say is Thanks to Elizabeth Warren for giving a blistering speech about the roll back of provisions in the Dodd Frank bill.

Dear Senators King and Collins,
I am so angry and frustrated about some of the provisions in this spending bill.  It is evident that the people of this country do not matter to Congress.  All they care about is getting the big contributions from the big banks, corporations and big donors and the average person's voice is not heard.  The heart and soul has been ripped out of our government by a corrupt Supreme Court and an equally corrupt Congress.
I am very concerned about the items that have been slipped into this bill such as the repeal of portions of the Dodd Frank bill that would protect the taxpayers against paying bail outs for risky bank behaviors.  Also I am concerned about a provision that allows pension benefits to be cut for current retirees.  Do you know what that would do to millions of seniors who are barely making it.  Wealthy donors can now give more money to political candidates.
Then in the area of the environment there is a provision that the EPA cannot enforce parts of the clean water act.  What kind of nonsense it that?
Safety??? Now truckers can now drive without adequate sleep.  That endangers all of us on the road.
What are you people there in Washington about?  It sure is not looking after the interests of the people who elected you!  I am so disgusted and disheartened.  Merry Christmas to the American people!  What a gift.  The only good thing is the government won't be shut down.

Priscilla Payne

HATE! GREED! FEAR!

I am certainly no psychologist but I have to confess that I do not understand the kind of HATE that seems to be rampant in this country at this time.  Has it always been there or are we just seeing it more in the open now?  What causes a man like John Boehner to hate so much that he will obstruct needed legislation in order to spend $500.00 an hour of taxpayer money to sue the President?  Is he so filled with hate that he will ignore the plight of people in this country who are struggling just to survive?  Is it hate or is it corruption or both?
Is it hate that makes a policeman shoot a little black 12 year old boy who had a toy gun?  Is it hate that makes a policeman shoot a bullet into a car windshield of a black father trying to get home to get his daughter's inhaler because she is having an asthma attack? What is driving this senseless shooting of black men and boys?  I thought we had come farther than this.
Power can be a very destructive force and I see those with power being driven by hate and rage.  It is very scary and I believe that chaos will be the result across this country as it has been in Ferguson.
Is it greed that drives people to trample one another trying to get the best deals on Black Friday?  Or is it desperation?  Is it Greed that drives men like John Boehner and Mitch McConnell to abuse their power so that they can line their pockets with huge campaign contributions?
Is it fear that drives someone like Senator Chuck Schumer to abandon his democratic values so that he can maybe keep his place in the Senate?  Is it fear of losing her support from campaign donors that someone like Susan Collins votes against the best interests of her constituents?
I am totally perplexed and concerned about where our country is heading.
Here it is the First Sunday of Advent, a time for waiting and reflecting.  In my mind it is a time to look inward and see where I am failing in my care for myself, my family and my country and then look for steps to correct these failings.  Today many people will light the first Advent candle of Hope yet how many are truly hopeful?

Honestly I am not a very prayerful person but today I would urge people to pray that this country can get back on track and that we can see that fewer and fewer people have to live in fear of being shot by a policeman who they should be able to trust, fear of being cold and hungry, fear of losing their homes, fear of not being able to access health care and fear so many other things.  I would hope that Hate, Greed and Fear can become a thing of the past and that we can be a more compassionate society.

CLARIFICATION

In my previous post I called the Democrats week willed and by and large they are.  But I did mean to point out that in the State of Maine two candidates stood out on their willingness to engage in the real issues and they were Shenna Bellows and Emily Cain.  Shenna ran an excellent campaign on little money taking on Susan Collins who was funded by large corporations and PACs, and addressed the real issues.  Emily Cain did the same and if it had not been the horrible, lying ads produced by Poliquin's campaign I think she would have won.  Kudos to both of these women.
On the national level the Democrats like Al Franken and Gary Peters won because they addressed the issues that people are concerned with  Instead of running away from the good things that have been accomplished during the Obama Administration they embraced them while others were afraid to do so and suffered the consequences.
Now let's hope that the basically corporate owned and corrupt Supreme Court does not take away the benefits of the Affordable Care Act (We need to stop calling it Obama Care and use its real name!) and toss millions of Americans off their health care.  Prayers are sure needed.
So folks maybe petitions and letters do not do anything but let's keep the pressure on and keep signing, writing and calling and maybe we can affect some change.