We are now six months into the GOP’S dominated Congressional session, and not one single jobs bill has been proposed by the Party. So, exactly what has the GOP been doing during the previous six months? And lest anyone forget: Our President, in what many Progressives consider his most controverisial move during his presidency compromised with the Republican party, providing the wealthiest in our Country a tax break, in order to garner unemployment benefits for those who were struggling in this economy.   So, in essence, the wealthiest in this country, along with the GOP held the unemployed “hostage” in order to get their tax break.  This event took place immediately prior to the Christmas break. 

Fast forward several months and what did all of us find the GOP working on at that time; cutting spending! Of course! Why not cut spending on those programs assisting the middle class, when you just placed quite a bit of money into the pockets of the wealthiest in the Country through tax breaks? And, once again: Our “progressive” President caved in again! However, not ONE jobs bill was provided by the Republicans. Do you want to know why? Because they do not have one! Their idea of job creation is simply to provide a tax break to Corporations and the wealthiest in the land with the “hopes” that those resources will “trickle” down to the middle class. The only problem is this: This has been the GOP’S argument since one can remember and it has NEVER worked!

Lest you think I am being too tough on the GOP, I have got to ask the question: Where is a jobs bill by our President? Currently, it seems to me that the GOP has our President on the ropes with this spending cut issue. Now that the Congress must vote on a Bill to raise the debt ceiling or risk defaulting on our loans with other Countries, it seems that this is the ONLY thing our President and the GOP is talking about. Yet, the talk on the Hill is all about cutting programs such as WIC, for example, which provides struggling people with basic essentials, like food, just to get them by. The comments from the right are insensitve to the plight of the middle-class however, demonstrated by the various arguments made on the floor of the House last week with some members of the GOP stating “we don’t need programs such as this, what we need is more efficiently run programs.” Tell that to those who will not be able to procure food for their children next month should these cuts pass. And what about the privatization of Medicare? Polls consistently demonstrate that people do not want Medicare touched, however, the GOP persists in trying to “sell” the Ryan plan under several versions which sound friendly. Yet, leading economists around the Country all are in agreement: We have to increase revenues in this Country! Even Senator Colburn admitted as much when interviewed by Chris Matthews last week!  Moreover, the former Congressman from Wyoming, indicated that the commitment the GOP has to Grover Norquest, is “absolutely insane.” Despite the voices of reason from the few moderates left in the GOP caucus, the prevailing winds are simple: Do not negotiate on taxes for the wealthy under any circumstance!  Moreover, walk out of the negotiations, if necessary to get your point across as the GOP members of the bi-partisan committee working on the debt-ceiling legislation did last week.  In other words, “we are going to force this President to do things OUR way!” 

Perhaps, the behavior of the current GOP is best illustrated by the several comments made by Senator Mitch McConnell, GOP Presidential nominee, Michele Bachman, and even Robert Bolton: “We need to make President Obama a one-term President.”  This has been their mantra since President Obama was elected into office and it continues on even at the risk of hurting our own Country! Please tell me the GOP would allow our Country to go down the tubes economically, default on our obligations, all because they want the current President to be a one-term leader! Morevove, please tell me the electorate is not this blind to not see what has been really going on in Washington since our President has taken office. 

So, once again Speaker Boehner: Just where ARE those jobs you promised the Country at the mid-term election.  All you have done while in office is re-litigate legislation which has already passed such as the Affordable Health Care Act of 2010, re-defined rape and incest in order to preserve your social agenda regarding abortion, attempted to tack on as an ammendment a repeal of DADT, and catered to the agenda which has been outlined for you by the likes of the Kock Brothers and other wealthy people who dug into their coffers to get you elected; thanks to the Citizen’s United ruling by the United States Supreme Court.   

How about you? What are your thoughts? Lets not get personal on this thread and leave the ivory tower thoughts at the door! What practical advice do you have for the President so he can regain some traction for re-election? If you were the President, what message would you have for the American people to bring them some level of reassurance while demonstrating the disparity in party values? Do you think the American electorate will be able to see beyond the gamesmanship being proffered by the GOP? Or, do you see the President paying the price on election day for not providing an alternative plan? I look forward to your comments!

The answer can be found here.

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Here’s what Forbes writer David Ewalt had to say about Milwaukee:

“It will come as no surprise that the residents of a city known as “The Nation’s Watering Hole” like to have a beer or two.

But Milwaukee isn’t just your average brewing town. It’s the hardest-drinking city in America, according to Forbes.com’s ranking of America’s Drunkest Cities.

Each city was ranked in five areas: state laws, number of drinkers, number of heavy drinkers, number of binge drinkers and alcoholism.”

It was interesting to see, that to this writer at least, Milwaukee is known as the “Nation’s Watering Hole.”  This is quite a contrast to the survey results reported by Alderman Witkowski quoted in Small Business Times as having said:

“In the most recent study, many people failed to respond on questions about their perception of Milwaukee, presumably because they have no perception of or knowledge of Milwaukee.”

Given that the Milwaukee Community and Economic Development Committee has created a task force to evaluate Milwaukee’s image, maybe their work is done for them and they should bow to reality and call the city “America’s Watering Hole”.  The entertainment venues around the city would love this and given a bit more marketing pizazz (and some good weather too), maybe Milwaukee could become the “New Orleans of the North”.  Water Street = Bourbon Street anyone?

UPDATE
Jumping on or leading the trend, USA Today also published a list from the Men’s Health March issue of America’s Drunkest Cities.  Their list was compiled based on the following criteria:

“death rates from alcoholic liver disease, booze-fueled car crashes, frequency of binge-drinking in the past month, number of DUI arrests, and severity of DUI penalties.”

By their ranking criteria, Milwaukee didn’t make the top of the list.  In fact Milwaukee rated a C at #58 on the list, while Madison was ahead of the Brew City and Watering Hole at #15 with a D-.  Their top 5 cities were

1. Fresno, Calif.
2. Reno, Nev.
3. Billings, Mont.
4. Riverside, Calif.
5. Austin