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Collins only Republican to vote for increased tax on wealthy to fund payroll tax cut

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine, right, accompanied by committee chairman Sen. Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn.)
AP
Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine, right, accompanied by committee chairman Sen. Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn.)
By Matt Wickenheiser, BDN Staff
Posted Dec. 01, 2011, at 3:55 p.m.
Last modified Dec. 01, 2011, at 9:45 p.m.
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Maine Sen. Susan Collins diverged from the GOP party line Thursday and voted for a Democratic plan to expand payroll tax cuts and funding them through increased taxes on millionaires.

She was the only Republican to vote for the measure, which sought to levy a 3.5 percent surtax on incomes over $1 million to cover the costs of the payroll tax cuts, which supporters said would help the middle class.

The measure, backed by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, fell short of the votes needed to move ahead to further debate.

Senate Republicans unveiled an alternative on Wednesday that relied on freezing federal workers’ pay through 2015 and reducing the government’s bureaucracy by 200,000 jobs. The GOP bill also would raise Medicare premiums for the wealthy, and take steps to deny unemployment benefits and food stamps to anyone with a seven-figure income.

It also failed to move forward, by a 20-78 vote Thursday night. Both Collins and Sen. Olympia Snowe voted for the measure.

“Congress should not be imposing higher taxes on hard-working families at a time when our nation’s economy remains fragile,” Collins said after Thursday night’s 51-49 Senate vote on the Reid plan. “However, it’s equally important that we not impose additional taxes on job creators who are so critical to our economic recovery.”

Collins has said she has been looking at separating out small business owners that file taxes as S-corporations from individuals who make more than $1 million a year.

In a 7-Point Jobs Plan she introduced last February, Collins called for a reduction in the employer portion of the payroll tax. One point was to reduce the employer portion of the payroll tax by 2 percent on the first $50,000 of payroll. This has the potential to lead to the creation of 1.4 million jobs and allows businesses to depreciate equipment more quickly to remain competitive, the plan said.

“I have long said that multimillionaires and billionaires who are not running businesses could pay more of their income to help us deal with the deficit. But I feel strongly that we must ensure that small business owners who pay taxes through the individual income tax system are protected,” she said Thursday.

“Protecting small businesses from the surtax is essential. Extending the payroll tax to employers will help them preserve and create jobs,” Collins said.

Snowe voted against the Democratic plan. “I do not want to see the existing payroll tax holiday end, and I could support a one-year extension if it is paid for sufficiently, fairly, and in a way that will not damage our economy. A permanent tax increase that will harm small businesses is the wrong prescription for our economy, and it won’t promote economic growth.”

A senior member of the Senate Finance Committee, Snowe has long called for comprehensive tax reform.

“It is of paramount importance that Congress end the partisan bickering and enact comprehensive tax reform that will end the need for these ‘all or nothing’ false alternatives,” she said after Thursday’s votes.

The expansion and extension was a centerpiece of President Barack Obama’s jobs bill.

“Senate Republicans chose to raise taxes on nearly 160 million hardworking Americans because they refused to ask a few hundred thousand millionaires and billionaires to pay their fair share,” the president said in a statement after the vote. “They voted against a bill that would have not only extended the $1,000 tax cut for a typical family, but expanded that tax cut to put an extra $1,500 in their pockets next year, and given nearly six million small business owners new incentives to expand and hire.

“That is unacceptable. It makes absolutely no sense to raise taxes on the middle class at a time when so many are still trying to get back on their feet,” the president said.

Collins said she would continue to work to find a way to reduce payroll taxes.

“My preference, and what I will be working on and unveil next week, is a bipartisan proposal that has a surtax on wealthy people but with a carve-out for small businesses,” she said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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  • Anonymous

    “Maine Sen. Susan Collins appears to be diverging from the GOP party line
    ahead of a vote tonight on expanding payroll tax cuts funded through
    increased taxes on millionaires.”

    Uh, yeah…that’s because she’s a RINO…

  • Anonymous

    “The GOP bill also would raise Medicare premiums for the wealthy, and take steps to deny unemployment benefits and food stamps to anyone with a seven-figure income.”  How on earth do you make 7 figures, and still get food stamps!  It’s so annoying to work in a convenience store and watch people order uncooked pizza’s, lobster, and clams to buy on their food stamps, then use there cash to buy there booz and cigs.  So much fraud!

  • Anonymous

    She was elected to represent the people in the state of Maine, not the republican party.

  • Anonymous

    No, it just might be that she has some integrity and is trying to do something to help the economy and the American people, instead of just adhering to a hard ideological line (just for the sake of doing that.)  But of course with your rigid thinking and calling her a name, you would not see it, no matter what.  Maybe she does not want to be an obstructionist just for the sake of being an obstructionist.

  • Anonymous

    Then there is Ms. Collins as a Republican. She makes predictions that prove false. She makes promises she cannot honor. She raises expectations she cannot meet. She reneges on commitments made in private. She surrenders positions staked in public. She is absent from serious issues in which she has a duty to be involved. She is overbearing when she ought to be absent.  If the Maine GOP leaders don’t declare DEFCON TWO on this opportunist misfit soon, then the  2012 GOP campaign for contributions will and should fail miserably. Most real Republicans have already left this decaying party… and moved to independent.

  • Anonymous

    Cutting out food stamps for the wealthy.  I bet that will bring in a whole lot of extra revenue.

  • Anonymous

    Well, there!  Out gal is Johnny-come-later but rather late than never.   Thanks you, Ms Collins.

  • StillRelaxin

    Even though I’m seldom in agreement with her and I can’t ever stand to listen to her THIS time she’s actually doing something intelligent and bold for the people of this country. Thank you for putting aside the mindless followership of some ding-a-ling political philosophy to for once do something right for the people who employ you. Congrats Suzy! I’d still like to see ya put out to pasture though. Now I’ll have the true elite as well as the faux elite to help me try.

  • Anonymous

    Too bad, so sad for you, Buster Brown who lives in a shoe.   The Senators are supposed to represent ALL Mainers not just those on the farrrrrr right!

  • Anonymous

    Senator Collins is the best we can hope for here in the Northeast, if we have to put up with a little bit of the liberal in her, so be it.  Imagine if we had Bernie Sanders, the other half the state would be on welfare.

  • Anonymous

    What the hell does that mean?

  • Anonymous

    Couldn’t you think of at least 6 more negatives to say about her?  Come one – spit it out. Get it out of your system.

  • Anonymous

    It’s nice to see a Republican who is not married to Grover Norquist.  That being said, I’m concerned that Susan Collin’s and Joe Leiberman appear to have been surgically attached to one another.

  • Anonymous

    I think separating out small business is a sensible compromise.  Lets hope others follow suit.  Many millionaires support being taxed more to help fund our economy. http://mainepolitics.net/content/925/wealthy-mainer-speaks-against-inequality

  • Anonymous

    Sounds like someone is trying to reason and solve problems.  A lot more of this is needed in government.
    Of course, this is going nowhere in the House.
    And why should the GOP propose an “alternative”. IF they both are good ideas, why not do both?
    After all, we need Both spending cuts and rising revenues to reduce deficits.

  • Anonymous

    Too little too late. Potato on the brain is leaking starch.

  • Anonymous

    The real joke is anyone thinking that any of this collected sur-tax will actually be used to close revenue shortfalls or to pay down debt.

    Sending a dollar to Washington is like letting a helium ballon go on top of Cadillac Mountain. Where it ends up no one knows for sure.

  • Anonymous

    No, it’s just that the BDN is lazy and cannot take the time to get a different photo of just Susan Collins.

  • kcjonez

    Raise the FICA ceiling!   

  • Anonymous

    Wow, this idea is sensible, realizes that being a millionare does not automatically make one a “job creator” and actually considers the fact that we have divided government and you need votes from both sides to get anything done.  I’m sure that the GOP army of the ideologically pure will eat her lunch for this. 

  • Anonymous

    I think Susan see’s the light…the other one,well you know the one they’re investigating for stealing millions of dollars via the Dept of Education w/her hubby the former governor of Maine,Snowe’s a zero  she’s got to go…..wonder what her retirement going to be???Elect any one but Snowe

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_TWPACSVHFZJV5BWDLOSTKDNKFQ John Perry

    Half the state is on welfare, Maine care, food stamps, cab fair assistance to get to thier methadone appointments……. Our “leaders” are giving away the candy store.

  • Anonymous

    You got it!

  • Anonymous

    Oh , that again.  They work together on many committees. I doubt it is anything but that.  They are also friends, god forbid.

  • Anonymous

    Would you rather people on food stamps rob your Saks Fifth Avenue lobster selling convenience store?

  • Anonymous

    collins vote would be no surprise to most.
    the problem of taxes and the idea that “the rich” are the problem is total bull. whether those rich people pay enough or not is really not the issue. whether the combined “we” pay  enough in taxes or not is the issue. the dems have supported obama’s class warfare plan to create the diversion, and now the media is fanning the flames.

    the problem is our government spends too much. end of story.

    forget the class warfare and tell your representatives to forget the class warfare, and cut the size and scope of government.

    tax reform is definitely needed, class warfare is not.

  • Anonymous

    Let’s just hope everyone benefits from this but you. That would be nice.

  • Anonymous

    i think they are attached. when was the last time you saw either, without the other.

  • Anonymous

    apparently enough too fund the added welfare.

  • Anonymous

    r i n o .      republican in name only.

    or a large african animal with a distinctive horn protruding out of its face.

  • Anonymous

    Time for Collins to go.  Just because some of us work harder and make more money does not mean we should carry the load for the lazy middle class. Let’s get together and get rid of this rino.

  • Anonymous

    Your just scaring up a few votes Suzie. The taxes only end up in the hands of you and your pals to pee away as you guys see fit. It will solve nothing. Why don’t you use your bully pulpit to urge people to buy American and put Mainers back to work? Is that so much to ask of a “public servant”. You can also tell all your friends who voted for those lop sided trade agreements to take those American flags off their lapels and replace them with Chinese ones. That is who they are in there fighting for, certainly not the American worker or American businesses. How about tightening up a few loop holes and get some shoe shops back to work here in Maine? Would it be too much to ask of you to stand up in front of the mic one time and tell people that we can’t keep sending our money and our jobs to China, and then wonder why we have no money or jobs. It makes us look like rubes.

  • Anonymous

    100% like!

  • Anonymous

    I doubt it is anything much either. He is married. Her romantic interests are of an alternative style.

  • Anonymous

    Can I be included? I really dont want to be benefited by this high tech larceny either.

  • Anonymous

    Always room for more of you—– better stop right there!

  • Anonymous

    Yes , he is.  And she is a single woman who never married. So what.  Neither did Katherine Hepburn ever marry.   She did not go for the “alternative style.”  I guess you assume the same about Repub Lyndsey Graham….single, never married.  Right.

  • Liberal Soup N Crackers

    I doubt you are a millionaire, income wise, and your notion that the middle class is lazy is just plain idiotic. Go run a new roll of tar paper over your shack.

  • Liberal Soup N Crackers

    Those “millionaires” are free to contribute as much as they want to the US Treasury anytime they wish.

  • Anonymous

    So is the fact that the percentage of income the wealthy pay in taxes is at a historic low just a coincidence?   Is the fact that ALEC and the Republicans are bent on tipping the balance of power totally toward corporations just a coincidence?   Do you think all those corporations are sending lobbyists to Washington so they can enact legislation that benefits the working class?   I don’t think so.

    Government can be a source of waste and corruption, true.   But if you trust corporations more than government, and if you think there is not already a class war being waged by the rich against the working class,  you have your head in the sand.

  • Anonymous

    Better stop what?

  • Anonymous

    Spend less!

  • Anonymous

    Congratulations on being a multimillionaire!

  • Anonymous

    I believe that as a Rino joke …

  • Anonymous

    100% like!

  • Anonymous

    This is idiotic, and to think you have the vote, too.

  • Anonymous

    You think they would be jumping at the chance for all the wonderful press they would get over it.

  • Anonymous

    Sure, raise the tax for the same period the lowered payroll taxes are in play. Then back to business as usual. Of course the other side will claim it as a tax cut for the rich………..

  • Anonymous

    Tax the rich, they have tax the poor most of the people smoke are poor people, and I cannot help but to feel sorry for them they have to smoke out in the freezing cold plus pay  so much tax on them, they tell me its how they take pressure off from their lives  by smoking I say tax the rich for a change no i am not a smoker

  • Anonymous

    Katherine Hepburn was known to date men and was seen with them in public. People like Howard Hughes for example.  

  • Anonymous

    Class warfare is when one group (the rich) get most, if not all, the wealth (and power), use it to insure that they get an ever-increasing share of the pie (that is actually how capitalism works – ever played a game of Monopoly? What’s the outcome?), then complain that someone else has anything at all.

    They target the welfare cheats as a smoke screen (as if anyone, liberal/conservative/moderate, like or support the cheats), ignore the business rip-offs of government (who actually cost us more with their few billion for an empty prison here or an unneeded/unrequested weapon there), and talk about taxes being a form of “taking other people’s money”. Never a mention that the millions in their accounts came from the rest of the people in some way or other.

    Working two jobs to make $50K a year, I have to pay the 20% tax rate plus the full employment tax as well as a variety of other taxes that puts the share of my income that goes to government much higher than their tax rate (that’s what Warren Buffet is talking about) and that doesn’t even consider the negligible capital gains tax on the money that their extra money makes for them without hardly lifting a finger (oh yeah, they have to call around for the latest inside information available only to those with connections) and even more annoying, the money they inherited for simply being born into a family of wealth that is not taxed at all (the capital gains passed on to heirs is never taxed and wasn’t taxed during the lifetime of the person who accumulated those gains).

    The wealthy are putting on an unprecedented push to pay even less than their already unfairly low share (greatly enhanced by the previous administration’s class warfare}, using their wealth to fund an amazing propaganda machine that makes them out to be “put upon” and the “victim’s” of a socialist mindset.

    So Bud, unless you are the Bud from Bangor that is one of those folks with way more money than you can spend, you are another lackey. If you are the Bud from Bangor who has all the money, go ahead and keep seeing if you can get more. After all, this is a game of Monopoly and we do want everyone else to go completely broke so we can have their money and properties.

  • luvGSD

    How do you propose they do that?  I don’t believe the US Government is set up to accept charitable gifts.

  • Anonymous

    You aren’t doing too well. An awful lot of assumptions. Yes, about Hepburn. However, some women may not meet the person they want to date, or are “married” to their careers. Well, once again then….Lyndsey Graham who is never seen dating a woman has said he is straight.  So either he is lying or else some people don’t date a lot.  Anyway, their business.

  • luvGSD

    FCINO.  Fiscal conservative in name only.  Pronounced f*k-eye-no.

  • Anonymous

    So glad to see the lawsuit in Mass against 5 big banks for their shady and unethical policies (incl Bank of America)  Yahoo!

  • Anonymous

    Maine GOP leaders????????? You mean like the Chairman of the Maine Republican Party? Is that the leader you are talking about?

  • Anonymous

    What does smoking have to do with being poor, that is quite the generalization.  I’m not rich but I don’t smoke.  I know of many people like me that don’t and do smoke, as well as people that are well off who do smoke.  Smoking is a horrible way to take off the pressure by the way, a little bit of a mental distraction and nicotine fix for other health problems later that will likely cause much more “pressure”.

  • Anonymous

    And we wonder why we have such a hard time competing in todays world?

  • Anonymous

    They should levy the tax and freeze pay for upper level positions in the federal gov’t.  Why can’t they do both?

  • Anonymous

    Our tax returns have a small box on them in which they ask if we would like to donate money to the Presidential Election Campaign. It seems that they have something in place to accept donations and charitable gifts already.

  • luvGSD

    Well, no they don’t Sal.

  • Anonymous
  • Anonymous

    I dont have to assume anything Lynne as I know the answer. 

  • Anonymous

    A word to the wise is don’t trust either Collins who is the classic case of a person elected to office from being a secretary in the Senate, that makes her qualified – Yeap, you voted again and again for this drone. To go one step further Joe the Lieberman would sell his soul for a bus ticket to Connn. he is at the same level of incompetence as Collins. Respectfully submitted. Truths sometimes hurts!

  • Anonymous

    Yes that is the same story that Cain is using, now you understand:)

  • luvGSD

    Do you? What should I do if I would like to do something other than reduce the public debt?

  • Anonymous

    He is as usual lying, that what they do when you elect them to represent YOU:)

  • Anonymous

    Give us the facts to what  you know, no bluffing:)

  • Anonymous

    a republican senator wants to tax the rich.  is today’s date april 1?

  • Anonymous

    You voted these losers over and over again:)

  • Anonymous

    Don’t count on your next meal from her loyalty, see would sell you for one good press release with her picture.

  • Anonymous

    not that there’s anything wrong with that.

  • Anonymous

    No, sorry, no  go. There is no comparison. Completely different situations. Once again, Cain has been accused by a lot of women of misconduct.  Joe Lieberman has been married for yrs to the same woman and no accusations of any extramarital affairs.  There is nothing going on between Collins and Lieberman.

    Also, Cain announced in New Hampshire today that he has been paying that woman Ginger for years ….you know, as a “friend”!!! (his “friend” of those 11 yrs. ) Oh, and Cain’s wife did not know about this before today (the payments….you know, the shush money.) Oh my…..I think this is the end of his Presidential run.

  • Anonymous

    She in reality is no RINO, her blood is pure GOP, don’t count on her for one minute, unless it is another press release on her wonderful work in u behalf:)

  • Anonymous

    Geez, what are you the person of “I can’t”? Just inflate you income when you file your return and/or don’t take deductions for which you are allowed.  IRS will not object to either.

  • Anonymous

    Isn’t that what you would think, but GOP’s don’t operate that way! They represent the lobbyists that own our Congress and fund their re-election each time. NOW you understand:)

  • Anonymous

    Until “Washington” figure’s out they already STEAL enough money from taxpayers this country is f@#$%*. They have recklessly mortgaged our children’s futures trying to buy votes from a bloated constituents on both sides of the aisle. Both republicans and democrats are guilty.  I pray that they will come to their senses but I think we will really have to suffer as a country to force us to be realistic about what government should be involved in and what it should stay the h@ll out of.

  • Anonymous

    Is that what you call a reasonable conservative A Rino?  A free thinking republican that hasn’t been assimilated into the Rush collective?

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_7T3YNF6MG3FPEAVTFIJC44VQUI Dlbrt

    This guy nailed it!

  • Anonymous

    Good one…OMG…

  • Anonymous

    She’s a RINO from the get-go. I’m not surprised. It’s time for the Republican party of Maine to find an alternative candidate. This proposal to tax the rich is nothing by robbery by the politicians trying to get votes and refusing to get serious about  run-away budget deficits and big burdensome government.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_7T3YNF6MG3FPEAVTFIJC44VQUI Dlbrt

    Its to late!

    Collins!

    The people are onto you!

    We don’t want you !

    You are a Phony!

  • Anonymous

    RINO.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_7T3YNF6MG3FPEAVTFIJC44VQUI Dlbrt

    Thats because she understands that the people are wise to these money grubbing job creator phonies!

  • Anonymous

    Typical lib, wants everyone to pay for them.

  • Anonymous

    Not a multi, but considered rich by Obama and the dems.

  • Anonymous

    This country has a huge class of people who feel that the government owes them a living. Nearly one half of all American are on the receiving end of some form of government give-away other than pensions. If the government doesn’t stop trying to cure every social ill, it won’t survive very long as we know it and we will all be worse off on account of it.

  • Anonymous

    You’re balloon analogy is really dumb, and this is like the third time you’ve posted it.  Time to put it to bed Sal.

  • Anonymous

    What is is specifically that you want to do?

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_7T3YNF6MG3FPEAVTFIJC44VQUI Dlbrt

    Get over it!

    Once its gone its no longer yours!

    Same as when you buy a pair of socks at Wal-mart!

    Being conservative doesn’t have to mean squeese the nickel until the Buffalo gives you fertiliser!

  • Anonymous

                                 ”Socialism is a philosophy of
    failure,

    the
    creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy,

    Its
    inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery..”

    –
    Winston Churchill

    These
    are possibly the 5 best sentences you’ll ever read: Unfortunately, most voters
    don’t know this.

    1. You
    cannot legislate the poor into prosperity, by legislating the wealth out of
    prosperity.

    2. What
    one person receives without working for, another person must work for without
    receiving.

    3. The
    government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first
    take from somebody else.

    4. You
    cannot multiply wealth by dividing it.

    5. When
    half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other
    half is going to take care of them; and when the other half gets the idea that
    it does no good to work, because somebody else is going to get what they work
    for, that is the beginning of the end of any nation

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_7T3YNF6MG3FPEAVTFIJC44VQUI Dlbrt

    class warfare !’

    As warren buffet said!

    The Republicans started that thirty years ago and WON!

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_7T3YNF6MG3FPEAVTFIJC44VQUI Dlbrt

    Collins voices support for increased tax on the wealthy to fund payroll tax cut

    voices?

    How would anybody know!

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_7T3YNF6MG3FPEAVTFIJC44VQUI Dlbrt

    Give it up!

    America is a Capatilistic Country out of control in desperate need of regulatory oversight!

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_7T3YNF6MG3FPEAVTFIJC44VQUI Dlbrt

    Its to late!

    The Rich own the Candy store and they dont share!

  • Anonymous

    False equivalency. Actually a common right wing tactic.

  • Anonymous

    Embellish much? The 28% tax bracket doesn’t start until an income of $93, 100 for a single person and $158,350 for a married couple.  A family of four making $50,000 paid federal income tax of $3,424 in 2001 and received a check for $34 in 2010 for a tax cut of $3,458 all but $800 of that from the “Bush” tax cuts.
    Who pays a larger percentage? From IRS figures.  In 2009, taxpayers who made $1 million or more paid on average 24.4 percent of their income in federal income taxes, according to the IRS. Those making $100,000 to $125,000 paid on average 9.9 percent in federal income taxes. Those making $50,000 to $60,000 paid an average of 6.3 percent.

  • Liberal Soup N Crackers

    You can make a payment to the US Treasury anytime you wish.

  • Anonymous

    I said most people are poor that smoke and that is true rich people can aford to go places do things that poor people can’t do I still feel sorry for them when I see them out in the freezing cold smoking ,smokers are so discrimated against for somthing that is still legal in USA I am so glad your all on your high horse so perfect but these people are human and treated  like trash

  • Anonymous

    Yet you apparently CAN legislate the wealthy into extreme stratospheric uber wealth. Remember Reagan era deregulation and all of the increased competition that was supposed to benefit the consumer?  How many locally owned retail stores in your neighborhood?  How many radio stations?  How many banks? Look at the Koch brothers. If they are so oppressively regulated and over taxed, how are they worth $50 billion?

  • Anonymous

    You pay for your own police protection and paved roads?

  • Anonymous

    If Senator Collins wishes to have the those wealthy people obtaining their money from other that business  pay a higher percentage it is very simple. Raise the capital gain tax not fool around with tax brackets and giving some type of tax break for income from businesses.  Raising taxes on everyone over $1 million does not raise the percentage of income paid in taxes by those billionaires making their money in capital gains by a whole lot. Just don’t expect the revenue to increase a whole lot.  The amount tax rates are applied to are not static.  They could very well decrease to the extent less revenue is brought in not more by raising rates.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_GBHAWY2DGMGS5W3VHFYLBPN7AU Jay C

    her voice does not carry much weight….

  • Anonymous

    It’s a lost cause . We know there is nothing wrong with it; he is the one who brought it into the conversation so tells you something.

  • Anonymous

    Yes, the phrase that we all need to hear, “We are the government and we are here to help”
    That should fix everything.

  • Tyke

    lol: You are not even able to copy and paste correctly !

  • Anonymous

    well I don’t consider myself a dimwit.  I have a highschool education, and work to support myself and family. I don’t  make as much as you.

    regardless of how much I make, I see no revolt or protesting going on to demand tax reform or reduced government. When the tea party started making noise, they were condemned  as losers and freaks. yet the occupy people seem to be accepted as the greatest thing since sliced bread. what bull s–t..

    class warfare is how our current politicians place the blame on any and every thing but themselves. the rich are their current target, and your  comment shows why they are getting away with it. class warfare will not solve the problem, because “rich” people are not all bad. our society has forever been geared to reward those that make money. that’s why you and I go to work each day. why would anyone expect “the rich” to not try to make money?

    the problem in this country is government.   its too big. its too expensive. it doesn’t work.

    how could those rich people work the system to their benefit if things in government were working? who are these nasty rich people buying off to get what they want?

    government.

  • Anonymous

    read my post above.

    who’s in control?   why?

  • Anonymous

    Time will show that the real RHINOS are the tea party.  Republican’s have always been smart, pragmatic, compromising, and moderate.  That is the definition of republicanism.  This story really is not news.  What is good (news)  is that tea party support (amongst republicans because obviously democrats aren’t tea party material) is on the downward slide not only in Maine but nationwide.  They don’t stand a snowball’s chance against the Senators of Maine.  I dare say the republican party might yet rear it’s head again once it’s done wallowing in the recent mud.       

  • Anonymous

     I never meant it to be my words , pretty obvious, and you noticed… WOW… it was copied and pasted enough for a third grade drop out like you to read

  • Anonymous

    thank you.

  • Anonymous

    luckily we are not all a perfect piece of kr@p like you.

  • Anonymous

    No, I would rather people go get off their lazy @rses and get a job to pay for the things they have, but instead people would rather sit at home and collect a check, food stamps, fuel assistance, and whatever other handouts they can socialist hands on that comes directly out of my paycheck.

  • Anonymous

    That’s why some form of it will pass Billy.  No harm, no foul…the modern definition of the politico.  

  • Anonymous

    the government can.   why are you not protesting about our out of control government?

  • Anonymous

    when you try to do everything, you end up doing nothing.

  • Anonymous

    ???????????

  • Anonymous

    I’ll tell ya what robbery is bud.  Robbery is disproportionally taxing the poor to fund the rich.  Hence people in the streets worldwide.  “run-away budget deficits and big burdensome government” is the product of board rooms, not living rooms.   

  • Anonymous

    I think it’s a great idea to go truly bipartisan and implement both the Republican and Democrat plan. Then we can raise taxes on the rich, cut payroll taxes, freeze feds pay, eliminate 200,000 jobs, and stop handouts to people who don’t need them…..

  • Anonymous

    remove all secrets….she truly is a RINO!!!!

  • Anonymous

    “Money grubbing,  job creating phonies!”  Yeah, I like that…corporate welfare in a nutshell.  

  • Anonymous

    I know exactly where it will go. It will get sent to some nearly-bankrupt green-energy firm as a payoff to yet another Obama campaign cash bundler.

  • Anonymous

    Somehow I bet you can spell communizm correctly though.

  • Anonymous

    Stealing from us again

  • Anonymous

    Whats Susan and Joe got going on with each other?

  • Anonymous

    One more reason people are saying that our elected officials are OUT OF TOUCH with the average american voter! Collins and Mrs. Snow should think before jumping on “Next big issue” . STOP spending and reduce the size of goverment, the rest of the issues will work themselves out. Our motto for up-coming elections should be some thing like “Collins and Snow are a NO GO”

  • Anonymous

    and most of the time collins is as much a nut as lieberman and all the dems.
    what is wrong with cutting all the wastefull spending?  never a need to raise tax, revenue is not the prob., overspending always gets everyone into trouble.also, why dont these frauds in washington, take a 80%pay cut?  they are not worth a nickel. these people are disgusting. she needs to be replaced with a real repub. along with snowjob.

  • Anonymous

    I take it you must receive at least a million dollars a year as income? I’m not even sure if this minor tax increase applies only to ordinary income or not. If it does, then your millions in capital gains are still safe.

  • Anonymous

    Yes, God bless her. If she’s not careful she may start giving Republicans a good name.

  • Anonymous

    he is still in the closet i think,graham

  • Anonymous

    If that’s the definition of Republicanism, then you must be living on another planet. On Planet Earth Republicans are known as irrational, hyper-partisan, fanatical apologists and errand boys for the rich and big business.

  • StillRelaxin

    Rich people good, poor and downtrodden are ALL bad (Socialist lazy @rses sitting home collecting handouts). Man (Or in this case) Momma, life must be easy with such a limited perspective of your neighbors. I hope the best for you (REALLY!) because if life ever throws you an economical/professional curve ball I’m pretty sure you’re gonna be in for a very rude awakening. Don’t worry no matter how hard you try to wipe out people with hearts there will always be some of us around to catch even you if you happen to tumble from your high perch.

  • Anonymous

    It’s not that hard….it was set up.    She votes with the minority on a positive vote.   That way, when the minority asks for reconsideration……she get’s to say that she is with the majority. and this is why you do not need to entetain the minority request.  (In order to ask for reconsideration, you will have needed to vote with the minority…….she can upend the whole argument, and move to abonish the reconsideration.)      My point is this,   if the minority is able to speak on reconsideration,   and she having voted with the minority, can speak as to why it should not be reconsidered.            Reed’s Rules of Parlimentary Procedure….    Thomas Reed, a representative from Maine.
    Reed’s Rules……used in most parlimentary proceedings…..

  • Anonymous

    The lazy middle class?  I’ve heard the poor called lazy many times but have never heard the American middle class, the foundation of our supposed ‘exceptional’ country, referred to as ‘lazy’.  Wow.  I disagree with you very much. 

  • HowdyNeighbor

    A Democrat masquerading as a Republican…

  • Anonymous

    The second amendment and 4×4 work fine.  Lazy libs need to rely on others.

  • Guest

    That’s some chip you have on your shoulder there.  Something tells me if you were poor and living destitute that you wouldn’t deserve the “socialist” government helping you survive day to day.  Nope everyone without a job is a worthless bum and is sucking off the state.  Some chip alright.  Some chip.  Enjoy bagging those food stamp socialist pig’s groceries. 

  • Anonymous

    Robbing Peter to pay Paul is your answer. What do you do when Paul runs out of money? Taking down the rich to bring up the poor won’t work. The poor will just continue to spend what is handed down to them until the supply is exhausted. What is needed is to get the rich to invest and create jobs and wealth. This way everyone benefits, except those who envy the rich. The latter will never be satisfied and so will always remain poor by choice. History bears that out.

  • Anonymous

    You feel sorry for the people standing out in the cold smoking because it is their choice to do so?  People get discriminated all the time, and to be discriminated over smoking is pretty minor compared to the way other groups actually get treated, and there are smokers in all groups.  They are not treated as badly as many would make it out to be.

  • Anonymous

    “It’s so annoying to work in a convenience store and watch people order uncooked pizza’s, lobster, and clams to buy on their food stamps, then use there cash to buy there booz and cigs.  So much fraud!”

    That’s not fraud. You can’t buy beer and cigs with Food Stamps. You should know that when you say these things if the rules change you won’t be able to do it either. I’ve never heard of or seen anybody saying these things that wasn’t doing it themselves or that didn’t have a friend or family member(s) that do it. Maybe you shouldn’t work in a convenience store that sells uncooked lobster…or maybe you are lying. What convenience store sells Lobster?

  • Anonymous

    I can’t imagine anybody as ignorant as you earning a real paycheck that pays all your bills for you and your family. I almost never say this, but it is so obvious that you are a leech, a hypocrite, and not a kind person.

  • Anonymous

    A convenience store located in a small town where there is no grocery store.  I didn’t say they were buying the beer and cig’s with the food stamps, they buy all there other luxury items with it, then find cash to buy those.  I have never taken a dime of state or federal aid and I don’t plan to.  When you or your spouse find yourselves unemployed, you do your best to find work, now for us with friends with small businesses it’s easier to find fill in work between jobs, but if you look hard enough, and want to support yourself bad enough, you make it work no matter what.

  • Anonymous

    I only work part time to help buy things we want, that my husband’s paycheck doesn’t cover.  We do pay all our bills, on time, without help.  He lost a job, found another one within days to keep our bills paid.. on time.  We have children and pay for there expenses out of pocket, including having there home births paid for before they were born.  We help out our family’s when they need it, and our friends as well.  I have a huge stockpile of canned food that I put up myself so I don’t need food stamps as we live off from what we can get ourselves.  I just don’t think it’s the government’s place to be doing this for people.  Live within your means, it’s not a hard concept!  

  • Anonymous

    We just recently went through a time where there was a job loss in our family, we came out just fine doing what we could with what we had, it wasn’t a rude awaking at all, and we didn’t need anyone to catch us.

  • Anonymous

    That is not true at all.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Regina-Hosebeast/100002095287763 Regina Hosebeast

    Who cares. Washington is full of blowhards and none of them can accomplish anything of any importance, except increase their own wealth and further distance themselves from mainstream America.

  • Anonymous

    Well, good for you, but people’s situations are different. We should not judge when we really do not know everyone’s particular lives and struggles.

  • Anonymous

    Finally, after 8 years of arm twisting by the Bush White House, and a couple more years by Mitch McConnell, Sen. Collins may be returning to the middle and representing the middle class. Collins deserves credit if she has returned to voting independently of Republican party machinery. Hopefully, this represents some real change in Washington.

  • Anonymous

    “Senate Republicans chose to raise taxes on nearly 160 million hardworking Americans because they refused to ask a few hundred thousand millionaires and billionaires to pay their fair share,” the president said in a statement after the vote. “They voted against a bill that would have not only extended the $1,000 tax cut for a typical family, but expanded that tax cut to put an extra $1,500 in their pockets next year, and given nearly six million small business owners new incentives to expand and hire.
    “That is unacceptable. It makes absolutely no sense to raise taxes on the middle class at a time when so many are still trying to get back on their feet,” the president said.

  • Anonymous

    Funny, Republicans finally found a tax cut they don’t like and coincidentally, it is one that benefits 160 million middle and working class Americans. LOL, and somehow they’re the ones not engaging in class warfare?

  • Anonymous

    They both get re-elected with like 20% margins. You’re out of touch with Mainers.

  • Anonymous

    Job Creators. They really have to lose that line, it’s tired and untrue. The economy, if anyone’s noticed, has contracted, not expanded in the ten years of tax cuts. Those tax cuts put us in this predicament. If it weren’t for these stupid tax cuts we wouldn’t be having this argument right now.

  • Anonymous

    Funny, she’s been in the Senate since 1996 and enjoys huge approval ratings. 

  • Anonymous

    That’s why the tax cut benefits job creators and not those who hoard their wealth. 

  • Anonymous

    Not really. 

  • Anonymous

    The Tea Party is now very mad at her.

  • Anonymous

    The republicans have already unknowingly voted themselves out of office in 2012 due to their lack of concern for Americas wellbeing. 

  • Anonymous

    Don’t hold your breath waiting for that to happen. The last republican that gave them a good name was Eisenhower.

  • Anonymous

    It is a small wonder Washington can’t fix the economy. Obama Math: US Bureau of Labor Statistics reports the October 2011 US civilian workforce at 153.7 million of which 13.9 million are unemployed for a net employment level of 139.8 million. So does this mean that the “160 million hardworking Americans” includes 20 million people working hard to get their entitlement checks?

  • Anonymous

    Just another ploy to get their tax increase. The evil
    rich against the poor folk. How about they cut the funding
    of some of the useless depts. and get funding that way? What
    a joke, throw the people a bone and make it sound wonderful.

  • Anonymous

    It is well beyond the time to vote this traitor out of office.

  • Anonymous

    Oh yes, they’re doing this bend over backwards ploy, voting to lower taxes for 160 million people…all in order to raise taxes. Makes loads of sense. 

  • Anonymous

    It’s a cut on payroll taxes. It cuts the taxes that come out of your pay check. Obviously.

  • Anonymous

    They do need to lose it, especially because it doesn’t work here. Not only does the Democrats’ proposal cut taxes for workers, it also cuts taxes for employers (the job creators). It’s the wealth hoarders that would be getting a surtax. 

  • Anonymous

    Ignorant. 

  • Anonymous

    How on earth do you make 7 figures, get unneeded tax breaks because you’re a “job creator” despite the fact that you don’t actually create jobs? 

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_7T3YNF6MG3FPEAVTFIJC44VQUI Dlbrt

    keyboard fatigue!

  • Anonymous

    What can one reasonably expect from a political harlot that couldn’t distinguish presidents from perjurers?

  • Anonymous

    And you send your children to private schools on private roads patrolled by private police officers of the private law?

  • Anonymous

    So you grow all your own food and never have eaten a dime’s worth of subsidized food?

  • Anonymous

    This is a 3.5% tax on annual income over One million dollars.

  • Anonymous

    If he does, it’s his to do with as he pleases.  Not yours to steal. Not Silly Susan’s. 

  • Anonymous

    What relevance does it have though? It doesn’t impact her ability to legislate. 

  • Anonymous

    Maine’s proud heritage of moderation and intelligent representation under siege.  How pathetic. 

  • Anonymous

    Because they can’t be seen as working and compromising with the socialists. 

  • Anonymous

    I get physically ill whenever I am reminded that she is my senator.

  • Anonymous

    This is called a payroll tax. Isn’t it taking away from our Social security which they say is already in trouble?

  • Anonymous

    Don’t judge lest ye be judged.  Period.

  • Anonymous

    Right …. This coming from the crew who didn’t pay from two wars, the Bush tax cuts and a Medicare part D. As of last night both the versions where voted down, it doesn’t look like anyone will be getting a holiday bonus this festive season. Collins isn’t the only one who needs to go. As far as the political landscape goes, a fleet of D9’s in DC would have more effect, voting is proving to produce little in the way of changing anything that matters.

  • Guest

     This liberal crew is just upset that you have not visited the occbang camp to help SUPPORT those slackers.

     As a successful, hard working American family, you are their worst enemy.

     Keep up the good work!

  • Guest

     Oh, and she almost forgot….. Cain is a Republican.

  • Anonymous

    Poll Question

    Do you support raising taxes on the rich to pay for an extension of the payroll tax cut? NEITHER.  I support drastically reducing the size of  the federal government across the board so that EVERYBODY gets a payroll tax cut.  Sorry folks, we can’t keep going the way we’re going.  The Democrat and Republican establishments are driving us right off the cliff.Ron Paul 2012

  • Anonymous

    the cracks are starting to emerge…

  • Anonymous

    Tread lightly.  When you begin the conversation as to who is stealing what and from whom, you’d be suprised at where it leads you.  Persecuting the poor and unfortunate is so easy, while scrutinizing the uber-rich and their practices is not.

  • Anonymous

    The problem with your posting is the fact your acceptance of the fetish that lobsters is rich people’s food whereas in a place such a Maine, its merely a local food.  This past summer, lobster was selling at $5.29/lb making it as cheap as – if not cheaper than – “imported” Iowa extra lean hamburger. 

    Moreover, the fiscal multiplier of food stamp purchases of lobster goes much further in a locavore context by keeping the wealth in Maine rather than exporting food stamps dollars to Iowa.  So whats so wrong with food stamp purchases of Made in Maine lobster? I would even go so far as to ask the pro libertarian Governor and Maine Legislators to pass a law permitting Maine residents licenses to  to trap lobsters with a couple of traps in the same way as in Massachusetts. 

    The real problem with the food stamp program is its eligibility standards. Total assets are not the same as annual income. If a person’s genuine total worth were part of the eligibility requirements,  food stamp fraud would be much less. 

  • Anonymous

    What the heck is “false equivalency”?

  • http://profiles.google.com/bchattertonluuring Barbara Chatterton

    Ms Collins, you do us proud. Thank you.

  • Anonymous

    Yep. Some of them are the 1,700 methadone addicts we have living in the Bangor area.

  • Anonymous

    I guess to you democrats are wonderful and republicans are evil?

  • Anonymous

    and so it begins.  

  • Anonymous

    you are correct.  false equality. the rich are taxed more for their success.  not equality at all.  they should pay their fair share of taxes as should everyone.  we are not going to balance the budget on the backs of the rich.  those same rich will take their money out of the country along with more of our businesses.  stupid.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1452684179 Jason Simonds

    Was her vote a tipping point for this bill?

    If her vote doesn’t really mean anything to the end result, is it possible she is pandering? The GOP wants to keep her seat and knows she needs to appear moderate in the next election, so they let her vote against them a few times ( on issues that are perhaps already dead) to placate the Maine people ??

    I do not trust the GOP to make decisions that are good for me or ME. I see them only making decisions to protect their party and those that support them.

  • Anonymous

    your’re kidding right?  the ‘uber’ rich are scrutinized and penalized all the time for being successful.  you can’t balance the budget on the backs of the rich.  they’ll leave the country.  don’t blame them; I would too if I were rich.

  • Anonymous

    going rogue!  you are spot on, momma!

  • DividedWeFall

    Thank you Susan. I might vote for you again after all. But as far as Snowe goes, forget about it!

  • Anonymous

    How much ya need? Open for business.

  • Anonymous

    Yes I feel sorry for the ones out in the freezing cold smoking its my opinion others  treated badly WHO? gays I don’t beleive that  I dont beleive the way you do so you might as well shut up to me I still say raise the tax on the rich

  • Anonymous

    What’s new… Why Collins continues to run as a Republican is beyond me.  Please Senator Collins, cross over to the Democratic party and allow Republicans in this State the opportunity to put forth a candidate that better represents conservative republican ideals!

  • Anonymous

    No, my friend, I’m not.  The fact of the matter is penalizing the poor is such an easy, and popular target these days.  Look at the facts, the rich are getting richer – and not always on merit, but on manipulation of the markets, and coziness with politicians.  It is, frankly, not a level playing field.  That’s not to say I believe in blindly accusing the wealthy and the 1% for our nation’s problems.  Not at all, it’s a multifaceted problem which will require complicated solutions.  BUt to persecute the least fortunate, claiming that all who receive benefits are criminals, lazy, and the like, well that is downright shameful.

  • newportres

    All a huge distraction while the politicians on both sides manage to do nothing at all about the real problem.
    They spend twice what they make on a monthly basis.  Nothing either side proposes will fix that.
    You can DOUBLE all of our taxes and it will still not cover what they spend let alone the debt on what they have already borrowed.
    They must stop trying to be all things to all people and all exemptions and tax loopholes have to go.
    All of them with no money returned through backdoor Earned Income Credit or Big money Credit type pay backs to special interests of any kind.

  • Anonymous

    So the GOP strategy is to inflict more pain on the middle class. 

  • Anonymous

    Doublespeak

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_FKTKHFPJKGUSNNTTQLMH4O3RQI paul

    if you people in Maine don’t vote these two RHINOS out of office than you surely deserve what you get

  • Anonymous

    I never said don’t raise the tax.  But though smokers are people too, kind of hard to sympathize with them when they themselves know the negative effect their habit has and that they made the choice to smoke, no one forced them to do it.

  • Anonymous

    Both Collins and Snowe are RINOs and will typically vote along democratic party lines. Even a tax on those making a million would not have been enough. Both parties don’t want to do the obvious and that’s cut spending. If the politicians really wanted “to feel the people’s pain”, they should consider taking a “pay holiday”!

  • Anonymous

    How do you put 200,000 people out of work and call it job creation.  Until there is a combination of down sizing government and tax reductions our economy and our goverment will continue to faulter. 

  • Anonymous

    There
    would be no need to raise taxes on anyone if these career politicians would
    stop spending our money with such little regard for how it is earned. The folks
    in congress have created a world of entitlements for themselves; a world that
    includes pensions, healthcare, and pay increases, all of which they voted for
    themselves. No social security for them so why should they worry about it? During
    this downturn in the economy those of us in the real world have dealt with cuts
    in pay and benefits; not so for congress, they just keep spending our money and
    asking for more. They will never impose term limits on themselves and stop the
    gravy train they’re on; the only solution is to vote them out after one term,
    whatever party they belong to, if politicians had to think about living in the
    real world after four years they would pay more attention to what’s happening
    in it.

  • Anonymous

    Life is a choice, and yes I still feel bad for the ones smoking out in the cold it is still legal to smoke so lets vote against smoking take them off the market I would vote  make them illegal, when I see someone out in the cold smoking I want to stop and ask them to get in my car and get warm, we have sympathy for everything else druggies , gays  what ever, but beleive we are voting on another issue  so yes raise the tax on the rich by my friiend

  • Anonymous

    There are some larger issues here, which Susan appears to ignore. 

  • Anonymous

    The senator has been a guest at certain functions I have been a guest of. These events have been hosted by our other US Senator and her husband, both of whom I have known personally for the last 15 years. I am the first cousin I have met Ms. Collins and her friends and it is not to hard of a thing to figure out.

  • Anonymous

    Yes, I have voted for Susan Collins because I believe she was less likely to do damage to me over Tom Allen or Chellie Pingree.

  • Anonymous

    I wonder if people have the same opinion of your posts? Being dumb I mean.

  • Anonymous

    Thats right it is not longer just mine, it is yours too, every citizens. It should be be used in a postive way to the benefit of not only me, but you and your family as well as every other poster here. But it is not, is it? 90% of it is being flushed down the drain.
    Do you really think one cent of this money collected from millionaires is ever going to end up back in your pocket in anyway?

  • Anonymous

    We just need to tax everything and everyone. A lot. A good 2-3% increase on anyone taking in money, unemployment, welfare, payroll checks, property tax, income tax increase the tax by 2-3%.  Then increase budget spending  by 3% or just a tad bit over the increased amount. Repeat every 8-10 years. And do not allow any tax breaks for investment into 401k, Roth IRA’s and and other retrement plans. And if companies move over seas, tax them additionally, if they remain tax them just a bit less. Easy now isn’t it.

  • Anonymous

    No, the surtax would cover the difference.

  • Anonymous

    There an idea. Let’s tax the pharmecutical companies. They are making a real killing off of selling perscription herion and speed to people with back pain and parents of hyperactive elementary school students.

  • pbmann

    Boy, the Heritage Foundation bloggers are working overtime today

  • Anonymous

    Because their bail out money and government subsidies ran out and their company “downsized”.

  • Anonymous

    False equivalency as a conservative tactic  makes me laugh. 
    Why vote for people whose best point is those others are so dumb and dishonest … 
    but at least we are not liberal,  so we are not really much worse. 

  • Anonymous

    The payroll tax is actually your social security deduction and while the employee benifits from this the employer is still paying the 6.2 per cent that you were paying.  this is not part of the Bush tax benifit as some may believe.  You think social security is in touble now continue this so called tax break and watch what happens.  The intent of this break did not materialize so let’s just continue to see if it will work.  Collins supported this and then turned around and supported the republican plan she walks on both sides of the fence.

  • Anonymous

    Your point is only valid if poor people had the same opportunity to choose how much tax to pay.  

    The over taxed rich  people can decide to earn less.

  • Anonymous

    ” What the heck is “false equivalency”?”
    It is like how it is only called “class warfare” once the poor start fighting bad.  

  • Anonymous

    So Billy, my apologies because the $1M + only have $750K + remaining to “subsist” on. Luckily they don’t have to pay any employment tax on most of their income and nothing on unrealized capital gains that will then be passed on to heirs tax free.
    “Larger percentage” = GOP smokescreen. The money of the poorest 50% is primarily used to subsist. The “larger percentage” taxes come from discretionary monies that would otherwise be passed on to give offspring an incredible advantage over the rest of the citizens.

    Now you will think I’m a “socialist”, but you would be wrong. I believe strongly in the capitalist system for the inherent rewards given to work; however,  just as in the game of Monopoly when the “winners” get a firm upper hand, the nature of the game is that it’s over and you will get it ALL, so there has to be a system whereby the “losers” get some incentive to continue to compete. In our system, that is called a progressive tax structure whereby those that have discretionary funds contribute to a system that has produced ENORMOUS rewards for them ( and don’t tell me they “worked harder”, because even if they did work “harder”, they don’t work 20 times harder or 50 times harder or 100 times harder -in fact I doubt they even work 2 times harder).

    All that said, I am strongly in favor of cutting government expense. There is enormous waste and not just in “giveaways” to low income folks, but in wasteful spending to “legitimate” business. Once the Tea Party and GOP starts talking about cutting ALL the waste and returning the tax rates to Clinton/Reagan levels to start to balance the budget (didn’t we have a balanced budget at some point not that long ago before W started the “giveaways” to the rich?), I will start to think of them as something other than greedy and self-serving (or in the case of poor people who offer support for their ideas as something other than ignorant lackeys).

    The problem with the GOP strategy of tax cutting in the last decade is that it should have been 2nd, not 1st on the list of priorities. The spending cuts should have come first: just like a family who has blown the budget, you don’t reduce your income as a first step in balancing expenditures/income – you reduce expenditures. They didn’t do that  -  and never will because that requires convincing all to participate in shared sacrifice, something as foreign to the rich as to the dependent poor.

  • Anonymous

    Remind me of why you think this would be  bad thing : 

    a “bill (that) also would raise Medicare premiums for the wealthy, and take steps to deny unemployment benefits and food stamps to anyone with a seven-figure income.”

  • Anonymous

    Both Dems and Repubs are owned by lobbyists. 

  • Anonymous

    > “I guess to you democrats are wonderful and republicans are evil?” 

    > ???????????

    To understand that just ask yourself what does HE really think . 
    Shrinks call it “projection” .
    It makes it easier for the  haters, and all those otherwise mentally handicapped or unstable, to think that everyone else  is really just like they are. 

  • Anonymous

    You are very smart!  Can you tell me what tonight’s winning lottery numbers are going to be?

  • Anonymous

    WHY is RINO a bad thing?  WHY is liberal a bad word?  WHY is conservative a bad word?

  • Anonymous

    So is your point how important food stamps are to the wealthy ?

  • Anonymous

    So what are your demands, Cheesecakes ?

  • Anonymous

    Jesus Christ was a liberal!

  • Anonymous

    “Don’t judge lest ye be judged.  Period.” 

    Actually,  if you read all that was said there, not just the first verse of that  chapter, “period” , the man goes to say that you MUST  judge the false witnesses, the greedy wolves in nice wool suits, those claiming to speak in his  name by the results of their policies… by the fruits that they bear in the secular world, didn’t he ? 

    So,  how well have the tax cuts for the wealthy worked for the the health of the US economy and its growth ?  
    What does the record show on that count … 
    what are real world results of, the fruits of, the Bush tax cuts ?  Don’t lie, now. 

    Then who opposes healing the sick, housing the homeless,
    and beating our swords into plowshares so we might, at least, begin to feed the worlds hungry ? 

    But in fairness, I can understand and forgive how fat cats,
     or fat camels, as the case might be, don’t really want to go though any changes, just so that they might pass though the eye of needle, or whatever. 

    Today’s meditation verse is taken from  Romans 13  vs 6 and 7 

    “Give to everyone what you owe them: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.” 

    Have  a qreat day !

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_7T3YNF6MG3FPEAVTFIJC44VQUI Dlbrt

    One thing that really erks me is the thought that rich people are successful all on thier own!

       America has freedoms that allow individuals opportunities! These freedoms are a result of the government ensuring those rights and priveledges are kept that way. They come at a cost and that cost is in Taxes.An individual who succeeds in commerce in the United States disproportionaly to the average does so because of the dissproportional usage of these rights, privledges and government infrastucture.

    However a certain party seems to think that these are some sort of special entities that deserve special treatment because of they are job creators. This is an a smoke screen for protecting a certain class.

    The true job creators are consumers and no one else!  

    Sam Walton  for example benefits proportionately far more that any individual from the government than you and I because he benefits  disproportionately from he Infrastructure, laws , and national defense.

    He should be taxed accordingly!

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_FKTKHFPJKGUSNNTTQLMH4O3RQI paul

    and that is the way it should be… although I freely expand your meaning.. it is up to us to help those who are in need.. but it is absolutely NOT up to the federal gov’t or the state gov’t to perform this duty…not now not ever…..

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_7T3YNF6MG3FPEAVTFIJC44VQUI Dlbrt

    A Lie!

  • Anonymous

    God love you. Don’t agree with you entirely but appreciate your honesty. I also think it wrong to tax one group over the other. It’s a type of discrimination. That’s wrong. Instead of targeting specific groups perhaps we should tax all equally. Get ride of the current convoluted tax code. 

  • Anonymous

    Greece and Italy get ready… we’re on our way! Yeehaw!

  • Anonymous

    What good is she? Nice lady, lousy Senator for our time. Maybe fine for another time but she is clueless.

  • Anonymous

    run for Vice President Susan

  • Anonymous

    These so-called “job creators” have been living high on the hog with the Bush tax cut——SO WHERE ARE ALL THOSE JOBS THEY ARE CREATING?????  You’ve had your tax cut for how many years?—-now put your money where your mouth is and create some jobs!

  • Anonymous

    I have no demands. I have an observation and a suggestion.
    Observation: There is an epidemic of drug based crime in Bangor. The police are dealing with 4 or 5 bath salt cases per day and have been since the spring. I have personally handed over to the police a bag of what I suspect was Bath Salts and and a heroin kit I found on my properties in the last 3 months. I was walking by a park near Key Plaza and overheard a Oxycontin deal go down in broad daylight last June. Police were notified. There is an epidemic of burglaries and petty break ins that have not made the news as yet. In a few day period this past summer there were seven newborn babies addicted to Methadone in the neonatal intensive care unit.

    The Bangor Police chief  ties this crime wave to the methadone addicts and their associates. The increase in this sort of crime has increased by magnitudes over the last three years.

    Suggestion: The city of Bangor needs to decide what kind of place we want to be. A nice friendly low crime drug free city or a haven for drug abuse and all the associated crime that goes with it. We need to have a community discussion over this topic with all the facts and the choices plainly laid out for all to see. Right now that isn’t happening in my opinion.

  • Anonymous

    SO WHERE ARE ALL THOSE JOBS THEY ARE CREATING????? 

    Answer : China, India and Pakistan

  • Anonymous

    Hell…run for president!

    We need a leader like her who is not scared to dissagree with her own party or intimidated in any way by special interests….

    She would do the right things and be a good leader!

  • Anonymous

    This is the height of ignorance. Getting rich is a reward enough. You should not get to pay lower taxes the more you make. Check General Electric, who we paid six billion to be in business. Taxes paid Zero. If they paid the same tax rate as a teacher I would be happy. If I paid the same tax rate as Warren Buffet I would be happy. Answer this. Why should you care that a multimillionaire gets to pay less tax than you do?

  • Anonymous

    They pay more because they are rich. They pay a lower percentage of their riches because they are rich and own congress critters. Why do you care about millionaires anyway? Why do you want their taxes to go down so yours can go up?

  • Anonymous

    I accuse you of using both logical argument and reckless application of facts. 

  • Anonymous

    You are right! So why are we giving the “job creators” tax cuts! They should pay more in taxes for sending jobs overseas.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Cecil-Gray/1027119962 Cecil Gray

    Even Ben Stein offered up that his Beverly Hills neighbors can afford a couple of grand a year and not even realize it.

  • Anonymous

    I really feel sorry for the poor millionaires – scrutinized and penalized all the time for being successful.

  • Anonymous

    This whole tax the rich bs is designed to kill the middle class.

    The true wealth ithis country belongs to people who don’t pay taxes like the rest!

    Blame that windbag Buffett..

    Collins please leave

  • Anonymous

    My children are home schooled, and I do pay taxes to pay for the roads, police officers, fire fighters, and the like, but I hate to see my tax money go to people who don’t really need it, or abuse it.

  • Anonymous

    Of course she voted for the increase in taxes for the rich. For the most part she knew that is what most Mainers think is correct and want. She already knew in advance that that it would not pass so why not vote yes. I guess this just another way to get re-elected by the uninformed citizens of Maine.

  • Anonymous

    Why would a multi millionair like Snow vote to increase her taxes?? This tax will never pass a republican controlled congress.

  • tag

    So Harry wants to raise taxes permanently on millionaires to pay for a temporary tax cut? Yeah, I trust them.

    I thought raising taxes on millionaires was the way they were planning on eliminating the debt?

    What will they do to pay for our increased health insurance costs to cover the poor and illegals? Wait, let me guess……

  • Anonymous

    I too am disturbed by the proliferation of bath salts and pharmeceuticals. Whatever happened to good old weed? Most of the pot smokers I know have jobs and don’t commit crimes.
    Bangor’s drug problem has little to do with tax policy, unless  you make the simplistic assumption that the bulk of the working poor are impoverished because of drug abuse. Two separate issues.

  • Anonymous

    It is rather upsetting to see our country borrowing money from China so millionaires, billionaires and corporations can get their tax breaks. Trillions of dollars handed out so far and growing. Eventually China will want their money back and who’s going to pay it? The middle-class can’t afford much more before our backs break, then where will these millionaires, billionaires and corporations be? Most likely they’ll relocate to some other tax haven country.

  • Anonymous

    Wish she’d come over from the dark side! I’m beginning to like her a lot! Proud she’s from Maine!

  • Anonymous

    What “larger isssues?” I’d like to hear some convoluted logic you may have to take away from her courageous vote. She is smart. She read the minds of Americans correctly. We are sick of subsidizing the rich by stealing from the poor.

  • Anonymous

    . Don’t be fooled by the politicians , they know how to minipulate. Remember all this come election time. They just don’t care

  • Dan Troop

    Collins has only removed all doubt that she is a RINO!!!!

    If she is so interested in the rich paying their fair share why isn’t the next bill she is introdcuing one that calls for all members of Congress to have their salaries reduced by half.

    It is time for Collins and everyone else, Repubican or Democrat, who has served more than two terms in Congress to be sent packing!!!

  • Anonymous

    Bingo!

  • Anonymous

    Plus, she has a conscience.

  • Anonymous

    Oh, isn’t that too bad!!!!

  • Anonymous

    His handle tells you a lot too.

  • Anonymous

    Right wing ideology. Tells them what to think and believe.

  • Anonymous

    Have you really read the part about “the eye of the needle.”  It does not favor the rich.

  • Anonymous

    I appreciate your comments, no arguments here

  • Anonymous

    Finally Susan.  I am certain you are not alone in realizing the people are being starved of opportunity and that the Do Nothing congress is going to be reviled.  I hope the Euro mess doesn’t result in your coming around a little too late.

  • Anonymous

    They show what they are made of.

  • Anonymous

    If you are not rich and voting Republican, you are voting against your own best interest.

  • Anonymous

    LOL…..good one!

  • Anonymous

    Well said!

  • Anonymous

    Why aren’t the police, the Feds, and others we pay getting rid of the drugs in the first place? Why has this problem gone on and on for years and decades? The public is just tolerating the proliferation of bath salts. Why is Bangor the number one spot on the east coast for this drug?

  • Anonymous

    her life long romance with Spencer Tracy

  • Anonymous

    insulting people again.  tsk tsk.  so nasty.

  • Anonymous

    Here’s a thought. The first  time I heard of “oxycontin,” in the context of abuse and addiction was in the late 1990s in my job taking referrals for treatment at a local  hospital. Abuse of this drug was rampant in Washington County, the poorest county in Maine and one of the poorest in the country. Now oxy abuse is everywhere and poverty has advanced into every county in Maine.

    Poverty, no jobs, no living wages, are problems related to drug abuse, alcohol abuse, and even spousal abuse! People who have good jobs with benefits are less likely to abuse substances.

    Where are the “job creators” when we need them!? 

  • Anonymous

    You might be annoyed, but that’s not fraud.

  • Anonymous

    We can’t steer away from the intent of the Reid bill. This would eliminate the raising of payroll taxes, but increase individual tax for those who make over $1 million. Yes most business owners are wealthy. These business owners don’t want an increase in payroll taxes because it will hurt their business. Yet there are hundreds of millionaires out there willing to pay more INDIVIDUAL taxes for what is over the million mark. Makes sense

  • Anonymous

    He disproportionately pays property taxes in every community also.

  • Anonymous

    Hank. I don’t think it has anything to do with tax policy either. It has more to do with “build it and they will come.” I believe. We have a pro-drug infrastructure. Meaning cottage industries build up around the 1,700 methadone addicts. Not only the clinics but every business and interest group that works with them. That is a lot of folks…. Medical, housing, social services right down to taxi drivers who shepherd these folks to the clinics and back. There is a lot of money in this but at what price to the community?
    When I gazed into that backpack full of drugs needles and burn-kits earlier his week I knew we have to do something or surrender. I just don’t know what that something is….

  • Anonymous

    But she voted for the National Defense Authorization Act.

    “The bill is an historic threat to American citizens and others because
    it expands and makes permanent the authority of the president to order
    the military to imprison without charge or trial American citizens.”

    Before the final vote, Sen. Rand Paul claimed passage of the defense
    bill would result in, “American citizens being sent to Guantanamo
    Bay…This should be alarming to everyone watching this proceeding today.
    Because it puts every single American citizen at risk.”

    I would like to hear her reasoning on her support of this…

    No mention of this in the BDN to my knowledge…Why the nice sugarcoated story and not all of the facts about Susie’s little adventures in DC this week….?????

  • Anonymous

    Where do right-wingers get the idea that the passage of a tax bill by our democratically elected representatives, consistent with a written Constitution is in any way analogous to “stealing?”  

  • Anonymous

    How do you define a “small business?” If a business generates net profits of a million dollars a year or more, then in my book it’s not a “small business.” The whole notion that raising taxes inevitably kills jobs just is not supported by evidence or the historical record. Marginal tax rates have some effect on financial behavior, but it’s much less than the right-wing talking point assumes. Right now, we’re being taxed at rates that have not been this low since the 1950′s. Long term capital gains, which form the bulk of the income of the “job creators” are only taxed at a maximum of 15%, regardless if your annual income is $15,000 or 15 billion dollars. Big business is sitting on trillions of dollars of profit. The rich have never been richer and the richest 1% currently receive something like 23.9% of all income growth in the entire country. If tax rates determine behavior, then we should be swimming in jobs. It ain’t happening, folks. Wake up. Lack of demand is the problem and there’s a lack of demand because of the great recession and because over the last 30 years the rich have been making out like bandits while everyone else stagnates. There’s not enough money in enough hands to create the demand necessary to create jobs. Every other “explanation” is right-wing hog wash.

  • Anonymous

    Lincoln.

  • Anonymous

    That has nothing to do with false equivalency…. the example of false equivalency I refer to is when someobody says : “Both parties are guilty” and people accept that as though both parties are equally corrupt. Only one party started two huge unfunded wars without congressional approval. Only one party ran the white house when we went from big surplus to massive deficit. One party floods the media with blatant lies WAY more than the other. Only one party denies the science of evolution and human induced global warming… which is another good example… Say a big corporate-biased mainstream media TV outlet has two speakers on a segment about climate change. One says global warming is real and caused by humans. The other says that there is no proof. The fact that viewers are presented with a one on one debate is itself false equivalency as it implies that the experts are divided half and half. Fair representation of this debate would have 99 pro global warming pundits with mountains of science and 1 (or fewer) global warming denier whose primary argument is “The polluting corporations I represent don’t want to change.” Just for an example.
    And get over this Rich people should pay the same rate as the middle class nonsense. Every advanced society has progressive taxation. Why? Let’s say I make about $30k a year. 10% of that, $3000, is a TON of money to me. If you make, say $10 million, 20% of that is $2 million. Is that 2 million $ going to affect one’s luxury lifestyle as much as three grand does for a working class person or family? What if the Koch brothers, worth a combined $50 BILLION dollars were taxed an extra $2 billion. How does this affect their lifestyle? They can buy fewer mediterranean principalities? Plus, most of these so-called tax increases on millionaires simply return their tax rate to what it was before the Bush tax cuts went into effect. If cutting taxes on the extremely wealthy was really the key to job creation and economic prosperity then we would be in great shape… because we already did that. Nice try. Trickle-down disproved yet again. 

  • Anonymous

    Fiscally, all Republicans are the same. Tea Partiers want Americans to be all Christian, defend marriage, oppose abortion, and are concerned with turning social progress back to the 1950s.

  • Anonymous

    Not always.

  • Anonymous

    Law enforcement loves drug scourges because it is a form of job security for them.

  • Anonymous

    There’s your class warfare!!

  • Anonymous

    “I have never taken a dime of state or federal aid and I don’t plan to.”
    So you don’t use paved roads, public water or sewer, police protection, never interact with anybody who ever went to a public school? Don’t eat any corn products? Don’t have an FDIC insured bank account or use electricity? Would not call the fire department if needed? Never flown on an airplane?

  • Anonymous

    Maybe she can get some of Maine’s LiHeap back. LePage is trying. Remember when he told President Obama to “Go to Hell!” last year? Well, a little good will might go a long way. Washington politics should be bipartisan and reciprocal.

  • Anonymous

    The governement is working just great. For rich people.

  • Anonymous

    Apparently so, wish more of them did!

  • Anonymous

    No.

  • Anonymous

    Which they won’t do because they know that their potential customers are broke. Because the job creators are hoarding all of the cash. And the poor spend their money, primarily on services provided by the rich. The FACT is that income inequality in the US is at a 60 year high. The question for all of you people defending the rich is: Is there a level of income inequality that would be bad? Sam Walton and the Koch brothers have every penny in existence and everybody else has Zero… would that be ok with you? It is the logical continuation of your argument so think about it.

  • Anonymous

    He’s dead.

  • Anonymous

     so you blame them? hello where the hell is our responsibility as citizens to trust them…Our founding fathers,especially Franklin warned us and told us to keep a vigilant
    eye on all our politicians …remember FREEDOM IS NOT FREE…it involves spending time to keep the ship on course…this we have done badly…Collins office knows my name well because I write and tell her my feelings on how she should vote…how many can say they’ve even called or written their congressman/woman…not many I’d wager

  • Anonymous

    why are all my comments reviewed when I use the term tea b*gger? Is it that offensive? 

  • Anonymous

    Ask the wealthy and they will tell you why they are not investing their money in America: Obama is scaring them off by threatening to raise their taxes and passing even more regulations than what he has done already. Would you be willing to invest in a venture if there was a very poor prospect of making any money? Of course not. Therein lies the main problem.

  • Anonymous

    people need to check out the web site “open congress”.  it will be an eye awakening experience for a lot of people.

  • Anonymous

    Amount ReceivedSen. Michael Crapo [R, ID]$0Sen. Jon Tester [D, MT]$0Sen. Joseph Lieberman [I, CT]$0Sen. Richard Burr [R, NC]$0Sen. Bernard Sanders [I, VT]$0Sen. David Vitter [R, LA]$0Sen. Mark Udall [D, CO]$0Sen. Michael Enzi [R, WY]$0Sen. Joe Manchin [D, WV]$0Sen. Orrin Hatch [R, UT]$0 Rep. George Miller [D, CA-7]$540Rep. Elton Gallegly [R, CA-24]$0Rep. Gary Ackerman [D, NY-5]$0Rep. Robert Goodlatte [R, VA-6]$0Rep. Lois Capps [D, CA-23]$0Rep. Bill Young [R, FL-10]$0Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger [D, MD-2]$0Rep. Dennis Kucinich [D, OH-10]$0Rep. Robert Brady [D, PA-1]$0Rep. John Kline [R, MN-2]$0

  • Anonymous

    these are several donations from private people etc. koch bros. included;  No Employer Listed or Found
    No employer listed or discovered (close)NameAmount ReceivedSen. Marco Rubio [R, FL]$586,245Sen. Mark Kirk [R, IL]$326,450Sen. Robert Portman [R, OH]$283,445Sen. Scott Brown [R, MA]$261,155Sen. Richard Burr [R, NC]$218,932Sen. Barbara Boxer [D, CA]$199,740Sen. Patrick Toomey [R, PA]$176,861Sen. David Vitter [R, LA]$137,401Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand [D, NY]$132,405Sen. Roy Blunt [R, MO]$130,801 Rep. Michael Capuano [D, MA-8]$291,400Rep. Michele Bachmann [R, MN-6]$182,836Rep. Stephen Fincher [R, TN-8]$122,302Rep. Brian Higgins [D, NY-27]$78,831Rep. David McKinley [R, WV-1]$74,598Rep. Addison Wilson [R, SC-2]$70,442Rep. Robert Andrews [D, NJ-1]$67,100Rep. Thomas Rooney [R, FL-16]$60,100Rep. Judy Chu [D, CA-32]$58,725Rep. John Fleming [R, LA-4]$57,204
     

  • Anonymous
  • Anonymous

    don’t know about Reps. but see sure is trying to give the Dems a corrupt name…hard for her to do that seeing that they are already corrupt…she works better with the Dems. then the Dems. do…just saying..
     

  • Anonymous

    we do not need any more taxes, need to cut the OVERSPENDING!

  • Anonymous

    The main issue I think of is restoring the American economy. Yes, unfairness must be rooted out. If we can’t figure out how to fix our economy, we are in trouble. I wish I could tell her how to do it.

  • Anonymous

    I think they would rather not have to deal with the danger inherent in this scourge.

  • Anonymous

    Revised based on updated information.

  • Anonymous

    Please remember these a just quotes.

  • Anonymous

    true 

  • Anonymous

    Retracted, I did not post this. My account keeps getting hacked. “Real Troopers and Detectives love their jobs or we wouldn’t have them. It’s a life decision to put yourself, your family, and friends in the line of fire for people all over the world to evaluatable.”

  • Anonymous

    I love to work with horses in the morning the other day and I ran about 40 miles down the trail and back to the barn. Mine don’t want to be out of the barn and want to run more.

  • Anonymous

    Thank you for summing that up. Very insightful of you to realize your mental and spiritual health issue. Hopefully, others will follow your example.

  • Anonymous

    Cocaine traffickers in the Bangor area have been cutting cocaine with bath salts so they can put almost no cocaine and use mostly bath salts. The customer doesn’t know the difference and if they did they’d think they were here to eat your brains. It’s a good question. So most of our lawyers and 55% of our doctors have been using bath salts. Good Luck rooting it out.

  • Anonymous

    Have you ever tried to thread a spinning needle? You can’t keep shifting your long term values for long term goals.

  • Anonymous

    The Food Stamp Program is a farm subsidy program. It’s not a welfare program designed for commie socialist rat bastaards living on your taxes. In fact none of your taxes are used to pay any of the social programs in America. You really owe it to  yourselves to research this stuff. I don’t put myself out to tell you these things just to argue.

  • Anonymous

    She’s either lying, lied too, a crook, or low IQ. I marched with them and a wide variety of union members. It’s not just a couple unions. They’re sticking together. It’s way worse than any of you think. Nobody wants to believe it, but the sky is falling in America.

  • Guest

    You are OTL.

  • Anonymous

    Whose arse were you sitting on when you wrote that, and may your car never roll and leave you disabled!

  • Anonymous

    But not judgemental (Matthew 7:1-2). Life is short, Enjoy your free gift of salvation while you can!

  • Anonymous

    Matthew 12:34
    Because Jesus wasn’t a momma’s boy.

  • Anonymous
  • Anonymous

    Saddam Hussein was worth an estimated $2 billion. Osama’s net worth was between $100 million and $300 million. W’s net worth is an estimated $26 million. Cheney’s net worth estimated at between $30 and $100 million… 

    http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45509829/ns/local_news-jacksonville_fl/t/study-half-iraq-war-veterans-homeless/ – Half of Iraq war vets homeless, says study

    Seems like the rich invented actual class warfare.

  • Anonymous

     Exactly how do you penalize the poor? By not giving them more stuff that they have sacrificed nothing for? I want to minimize the handouts to everyone, rich and poor alike.

  • Anonymous

    The same could be said for every bond issue. Why would people that don’t have to pay for them not vote for them? I am not rich, but I am not looking for a handout from the rich either.

  • Anonymous

    One, the rich pay most of the taxes, despite what you say.

    Two, GE made huge contributions to the Obama campaign, they got rewarded. This practice should wind up with people being prosecuted… no matter which side does it.

  • Anonymous

    We are borrowing so that we can have entitlements, pork and a multitude of other wasteful  spending projects. We need to stop the unneeded handouts to the rich, middle class and poor alike. We also need to eliminate loopholes used to avoid taxes.

  • Anonymous

    I don’t think anyone is looking for your pity. I don’t think they are looking to pay your way either. 

  • Anonymous

    I know plenty of people that are rich because they worked hard to get there. I also know plenty of people that are poor because they have found that it is easy to live off the toils of the rich. 

  • Anonymous

    Someone was looking for my pity. See the post I replied to. But you’re right. They pretty much keep everything to themselves. They have friends in high places, you know. Friends they probably bought.

  • Anonymous

    The unfunded wars were approved and supported by both parties. To lay that solely on one party is absurd. Both parties were guilty.

    Secondly, the White House does NOT control the budget. We should be thanking people like Newt Gingrich for his part in that.

    Fact is that the current administration along with a super majority in both houses for the best part of two years have done more harm and put us in more debt than anyone… ever!

    I don’t know whay the Republican party would want to claim equivalency, I certainly wouldn’t.

  • Anonymous

    Typical liberal, can’t deal with the truth. Point out where viper13 said that he thought someone’s taxes should go down (not that they shouldn’t).

    I care about millionaires because they pay a lions share of the taxes. I don’t want to see them leave.

  • Anonymous

    Yeah, so unlike liberals. How is that hope and change working for ya?

  • Anonymous

    Actually, voting for someone because they are not liberal makes good sense.

    Secondly, it is a tactic that is used more by liberals. That and the blame Bush tactic. Liberals hate to take responsibility for anything. 

  • Anonymous

    We need to give Collins the boot.

  • Anonymous

    So what you vote for is irrelevant.

    lol 

  • Anonymous

     You mean like GE did? I fully support stopping corporate welfare and tax loopholes. What I don’t support is taxing the rich for things like the earned income tax credit. Should be called the Unearned Income Tax Credit, since it is given to people that have not earned enough. Just stop the wasteful spending… everywhere.

  • Anonymous

    Putting the wood to the rich is a short-term solution to a problem that is likely longer-term.

  • Anonymous

    Only if you think that conservative values are irrelevant.

    lol

  • Anonymous

    Nothing, no real values, are irrelevant .

  • Anonymous

    She pays taxes for everyone of those services. That is not taking federal aid. Federal aid is when you take something that you don’t pay for. And don’t blame people because corn farmers and electric companies take money to increase their profit margin.

  • Steve Anderson

    Guess what? Most people on welfare do work their “@rses” off, but they’re still not able to make ends meet. Your view is terribly ignorant. 

  • Anonymous

    15 “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. 16 By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them. – Matthew 7:15-20

    http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/recognize - Defrinition of “recognize”

    http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/judge - Definition of “judge”

    By the way, inwardly I’m a ravenous wolf too.

  • Anonymous

    Maybe it would be wise to find out just where they plan
    on getting the money to suppliment the soc sec money
    that is lost because of this. Oh! Raise taxes on the rich!
    What a novel idea. Seems like that is the answer to all
    the things Obama wants to do. How about LOWERING
    the tax rate for the 53% who PAY for everyone else? Then
    the 160M will benefit a lot more than some “buy me a vote”
    pittance.

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