Yes, it's real. Good morning, and TGIF!

Your morning open thread begins below...

Congressional Republicans will try anything to keep tax breaks for the top 2% - even threatening to increase taxes for the middle class if they don't get their way. That's why MoveOn member Steve brings us this potent message: Republicans, don't hold the middle class hostage.

Call Rep. Eric Cantor today at (540) 825-8960 and tell him: Don't hold our middle class tax cuts hostage.

Congressional Republicans headed by Eric Cantor are stalling on reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). The Senate has already passed a bill that increases protection for Native, LGBT and undocumented immigrant women.

The reason they're stalling? Seems the GOP has a problem with the protections for Native American women:

VAWA, which has been reauthorized consistently for 18 years with little fanfare, was, for the first time, left to expire in Sept. 2011. The sticking point has been new protections for three particularly vulnerable groups: undocumented immigrants, members of the LGBT community and Native Americans. The additions are supported by Democrats and opposed by House Republicans, who are calling them politically driven. The Senate passed a bipartisan bill in April with the additional protections, and House Republicans passed their own bill in May that omitted those three provisions. Since then, the issue has gone nowhere...

But two sources familiar with negotiations on VAWA, both of whom requested anonymity given the sensitive nature of talks, have told HuffPost that Cantor is refusing to accept any added protections for Native American women that would give expanded jurisdiction to tribes, and is pressuring Democrats to concede on that front.

There is something we can do: Raise our voices to demand justice and protection for our sisters.

The Indian Law Resource Center has been fighting for a stronger VAWA which will increase protections for Native women. They have an online petition.

Contact your senators and representatives and urge them to pass a Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) that protects Native American women.

As Obama stated in 2012:

"it is unconscionable that crime rates in Indian Country are more than twice the national average and up to 20 times the national average on some reservations. And all of you believe, like I do, that when one in three Native American women will be raped in their lifetimes, that is an assault on our national conscience; it is an affront to our shared humanity; it is something that we cannot allow to continue."

Denise Oliver Velez has much, much more on this at Daily Kos, particularly the historical background that makes our Native American sisters the group of women who are the most likely to be raped, assaulted or murdered. In fact, one in three Native American women will be raped in their lifetime.

Via Eclectablog:

Cantor's speech was full of typical Republican talking points. In a nod to the 1%, Cantor created a straw man saying that there are many who want to "redistribute their wealth" and that this is the wrong thing to do. What we need, he said, is for the 1% to be generous to the rest of us.

Oh my. Here's a little more from the speech:

Through his example, you can see that America needs more than just a jobs plan. We need a "Steve Jobs Plan". In a Steve Jobs Plan, whether you're a Republican or a Democrat doesn't matter. In a Steve Jobs Plan, no American, regardless of their condition, believes that they are unable to rise up. And in a Steve Jobs Plan, we don't believe that those that succeed somehow take away from those still working their way up the ladder. Why? Because those that earn their success not only create good jobs and services that make our lives better, but they give back and help everyone move just a little bit further up the ladder and everybody can win.

I just finished reading the Walter Isaacson biography of Steve Jobs. For the record, it's worth noting that Steve Jobs was able to rise because he had help in his early years -- help he never, ever forgot. His first foray into electronics and computing was made possible because he reached out to Bill Hewlett for some parts to a device he was making. Hewlett gave him the parts and a job. Steve Jobs never forgot that, nor did he ever suggest he earned the right to Bill Hewlett's attention.

But I digress. Here's the reception Eric Cantor received from some members of the audience:

After his speech, over a dozen protesters stood up, removed their jackets to reveal shirts with various pro-99% slogans on them and then, one by one, turned their backs to Cantor and remained this way during his entire 30-minute question and answer session.

I guess they made a statement! Ann Arbor, of course, is right in the heart of Betsy and Dick DeVos-land, where I'm certain Mr. Cantor expected a warm and happy reception. I'm so glad some ticketholders were ready to make a statement instead.

For all the lofty rhetoric, Eric Cantor and his buddies are trying to remake America in a thin mold of feudal failed states. He would do well to take another lesson from his hero, Steve Jobs, as expressed in Jobs' sadness over the decline of the once-great Hewlett-Packard:

But getting back to Jobs' criticism. You don't build a great company by dismantling it and then trying to clone the strategies of other, less-successful companies. Certainly not if you're HP. Let's hope HP's board is smart enough to see Jobs' rebuke for what it is: good advice.