By Eric W. Dolan
Monday, July 25th, 2011 -- 7:56 pm

Environmental groups are aghast at proposed legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives, which they claim is "larded up with giveaways to polluters and corporate donors."

The U.S. House of Representatives began debate Monday on the Fiscal Year 2012 Interior and Environment Appropriations bill. The House Appropriations Committee approved the legislation by a 28 to 18 vote on July 12, allotting $27.5 billion in spending for the Department of the Interior, the Environment Protection Agency (EPA), the Forest Service, and various related agencies.

The legislation includes an 18 percent funding cut for the EPA and a 7 percent cut for the Department of the Interior.

"The House of Representatives, led by anti-environmental Republicans, are sharpening their knives to gut key health and wildlife protections that could benefit millions of Americans," Marty Hayden, Vice President of Policy and Legislation at Earthjustice, said in a statement. "These are no small cuts; this is a complete butchering of environmental safeguards."

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Title 1, Head Start, Special Education, Pell Grants are just a few areas that the House GOP propose to cut in the upcoming federal education budget.

House GOP Looks to Slash Education Spending

But it's not just the low income and special education children that will be targeted. The GOP is taking a sledge hammer to education funding.

When the new Republican majority took control over the U.S. of Representatives this week, not only did they break some of their Pledge to America, they broke their own rules as to how they would conduct the "people's" business.

MSNBC's Rachel Maddow noted Thursday that the party had only been in power for some 33 hours when they had already made, by her count, at least eight serious missteps.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/01/maddow-gop-declares-war-promises/

Maybe the Republicans were just kidding.

Congratulations to all of the candidates on their victories,to all of volunteers on their hard work and to all of the voters who came out to cast their votes.

U.S. Senator-elect Richard Blumenthal

U.S. Representative Rosa L. DeLauro

Governor-elect Dan Malloy

Lt. Governor-elect Nancy Wyman

Attorney General-elect George Jepsen

Secretary of the State-elect Denise Merrill

Treasurer Denise L. Nappier

Comptroller-elect Kevin Lembo

State Senator (14) Gayle Slossberg

State Representative (117) Paul Davis

State Representative-elect (118) Kim Rose

State Representative (119) Richard Roy

Judge of Probate Beverly Streit-Kefalas

Democratic Registrar of Voters Antoinette Carey

****The certification of the official results is scheduled to take place on November 25, 2010.****

All over the U.S. Democrats have been outspent. Whether it's by self-funded millionaire candidates (Linda McMahon/Tom Foley) or shadow groups funded by billionaires (Crossroads GPS = Karl Rove) or global business organizations (U.S. Chamber of Commerce), Republican candidates and their surrogates have spent millions of dollars in this election cycle.

"Citizen's United" Supreme Court ruling stating that corporations are people allowed this to happen. Corporations may be considered "people" under this ruling and therefore allowed to influence the elections through money and advertising, but in this election, we still have something they don't have under their control.

******We have the right, privilege and the ability to vote.******

Vote for People over Profits.

Vote for smart government over the privatization or defunding of government services.

Vote for people who believe that the government must work for the common good.

Vote Row B for the Democratic Team.

5 THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT THE NEW HEALTH CARE LAW

1. HEALTH INSURANCE EXCHANGES: What are health insurance Exchanges, and when do they launch?

2. PATIENT'S BILL OF RIGHTS: What is the Patient's Bill of Rights and how does it affect me?

3. PRE-EXISTING CONDITION INSURANCE PLAN: How do I know if I qualify and apply for insurance under this new program?

4. SMALL BUSINESS TAX CREDITS: Which small businesses qualify for health insurance tax credits, and how do I know if my business qualifies?

5. SENIORS AND MEDICARE RECIPIENTS: What actions are being taken under the Affordable Care Act to strengthen Medicare?

Find out what the new health care laws means for you.

October 25, 2010

"The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president."

-- Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), in an interview with the National Journal, describing his goal in retaking the Senate.

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GOP says compromise not on the agenda if they retake the House

By Michael O'Brien - 10/22/10

Republicans aren't interested in compromising with President Obama on major issues if they retake the House or Senate, a senior GOP lawmaker said.

"Look, the time to go along and get along is over," said Rep. Mike Pence (Ind.), the chairman of the House Republican Conference. "House Republicans know that.:

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Adding to the pressure on GOP leaders not to compromise will be the incoming class of conservative candidates backed by the Tea Party movement.

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What happened to creating jobs? What happened to governing on behalf of the American people?

Americans want action and help. We don't need more obstruction, delays and filibusters from the Party of "No".

Vote for the Democratic ticket on November 2nd.

United States: Poverty Rate based on Household Income, 2009: 14.3%

United States: Families below poverty level: 9.20%

Connecticut: Poverty Rate based on Household Income, 2009: 8.4%

Milford, CT: Families below poverty level: 333 families or 2.4 % of the population

Milford, CT: Median Household Income: at the time of the last survey was $61,183. The median household income in the U.S. was $41,994.

Milford, CT: Median Family Income in Ithe last complete census survey, the median family income in the community was $71,226. Median family income in the U.S. was 50,046.

Milford, CT: Per Capita Income in Milford in the last full census was 28,882. Per capita income in the U.S. was 21,587.

http://www.americantowns.com/ct/milford-information

In America, the gap between the wealthiest Americans and the poorest Americans is tremendous. The Middle Class is disappearing.

When 1 in 7 people in America currently live in poverty, those benefiting from the Bush Tax Cuts for the wealthiest 2% can surely afford to have their “federal tax rate” increase from the current 35% (starting at $186,825 for individuals and $373,650 for couples) to 39.6% (individuals earning $200,000 and couples earning $250,000).

In other words, Under President Obama’s plan, all Americans would receive a tax cut on the first $250,000 of their income. Every middle class family would receive the immediate certainty and comfort of knowing their tax cuts were permanently extended. Every American making more than $250,000 per year they would receive a tax cut on the first $250,000 of their income.