AFL-CIO To Democrats: We’ll Work To End Your Career If You Cut Social Security Or Medicare

October 22, 2013 — Suzan

From Huffington Post:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/21/social-security-cuts-afl-cio_n_4136470.html

10/21/2013

WASHINGTON — With fresh Capitol Hill budget battles on the horizon, the head of the leading labor federation planned to issue a blistering warning to unions’ Democratic allies on Monday, saying the AFL-CIO would “never stop working” to end the political careers of Democrats who cut entitlement programs.

“No politician … I don’t care the political party … will get away with cutting Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid benefits. Don’t try it,” AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said, according to prepared remarks for a speech in Las Vegas, Nev.

According to the draft, which was supplied to HuffPost by the AFL-CIO, Trumka stressed his point for Democrats who may be wobbly on the issue.

“This warning goes double for Democrats,” he said. “We will never forget. We will never forgive. And we will never stop working to end your career.”

The AFL-CIO has long opposed any cuts to Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid, and the labor federation has suggested in the past that it would consider pulling support from Democrats who help make those cuts happen. But Trumka’s remarks on the issue Monday amounted to a far more aggressive threat: That the AFL-CIO would actively use its war chest to unseat Democrats on the other side of the issue.

An AFL-CIO spokesperson clarified for HuffPost that the federation still considers so-called “chained CPI” to be part of the off-limits cuts to which Trumka was referring. A chained CPI inflation index would alter the way cost-of-living adjustments are made for Social Security recipients, slowing increases and reducing the benefits for seniors and the disabled. Many Democrats have shown an openness toward chained CPI, and the measure was included in President Barack Obama’s 2014 budget, where it was paired with extra money for the elderly and poor.

Damon Silvers, the AFL-CIO’s policy director, told The Washington Post last week that chained CPI was “the vampire of American politics,” saying that it “keeps being shot through the heart and it keeps reviving.” Silvers told the Post that the AFL-CIO also opposes a form of Medicare means testing in the president’s budget.

Continue reading at:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/21/social-security-cuts-afl-cio_n_4136470.html

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Ted Cruz’s Father Suggested His Son Is ‘Anointed’ to Bring About ‘End Time Transfer of Wealth’

October 22, 2013 — Suzan

From Alternet:  http://www.alternet.org/speakeasy/brucewilson/cruz-father-suggests-ted-cruz-anointed-bring-about-end-time-transfer-wealth?page=entire

by Bruce Wilson
October 17, 2013

“The pastor [Huch] referred to Proverbs 13:22, a little while ago, which says that the wealth of the wicked is stored for the righteous. And it is through the kings, anointed to take dominion, that that transfer of wealth is going to occur.” – Rafael Cruz, August 26, 2012

In a sermon last year at an Irving, Texas, megachurch that helped elect Ted Cruz to the United States Senate, Cruz’ father Rafael Cruz indicated that his son was among the evangelical Christians who are anointed as “kings” to take control of all sectors of society, an agenda commonly referred to as the “Seven Mountains” mandate, and “bring the spoils of war to the priests”, thus helping to bring about a prophesied “great transfer of wealth”, from the “wicked” to righteous gentile believers. link to video of Rafael Cruz describing the “great transfer of wealth” and the role of anointed “kings” in various sectors of society, including government, who are to “bring the spoils of war to the priests”.

Rafael Cruz’ dominionist sermon given August 26, 2012, at the New Beginnings Church of pastor Larry Huch, in Irving, Texas has already received considerable scrutiny due to an excellent Huffington Post commentary by Methodist Associate Pastor Morgan Guyton, who noted the explicitly dominionist nature of pastor Cruz’ sermon, which concerned the divine mandate for believers, with anointing of “kings” in their respective spheres, to take control over all sectors of society.

Cruz spoke of “Kings who are anointed to go to war, win the war, and bring the spoils of war to the priests.”

Discussion of the now-notorious speech by Rafael Cruz has missed the fact that Ted Cruz was subsequently blessed and anointed by prominent dominionist pastors, in effect as a “king” in the political/governmental sphere, at a special blessing ceremony at the Marriott Hotel in Des Moines, Iowa, at a July 19th-20th 2013 rally designed to draw pastors into politics.

But in a very real, mundane sense Ted Cruz has already helped deliver hundreds of millions of dollars, or more, to the evangelical right. Cruz’ past service – as a “king” who brought “spoils to the priests” – is a matter of established record; as I revealed in a prior story, no less than a top adviser to President George W. Bush has stated that in 1999 Ted Cruz played a major role in helping the Bush for President campaign lock down the conservative evangelical vote in the 2000 election.

Continue reading at:  http://www.alternet.org/speakeasy/brucewilson/cruz-father-suggests-ted-cruz-anointed-bring-about-end-time-transfer-wealth?page=entire

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Lily Myers – “Shrinking Women” (CUPSI 2013)

October 22, 2013 — Suzan

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