OBAMA SAVES CHRISTMAS

REALITY-   Yesterday The Obama Administration cut a deal with congressional Republicans to continue long term extended unemployment benefits through 2011.  As part of the arrangement, President Obama agreed to continue the Bush Tax-Cuts for Americans earning over $200,000 per year.


      Many democrats and independents are outraged that President Barack Obama would go back on his campaign promise to end the Bush Tax-cuts for the top two percent of wage earners in America. But the fact is that he had no choice.

"We understand don't we Chewie? He had no choice."

      Governing is compromising, governing is prioritizing. Barack Obama was forced by the Republicans in Congress to compromise on tax-cuts for the wealthy because his priority was not campaign promises. Instead President Obama's priority was keeping Americans warm in the winter time. His loyalty was not to election rhetoric but to the people of America who need his help now.

     

      "You know I studied under a nobel prize winning economist and do you know what he taught me?"


      'Never let people go hungry and cold during Christmas.'




      The priority of The Republican Party was clearly to play politics for the sake of politics while American citizens went hungry on Christmas. 

      I'm not making this up, it is what their stated position is. Republicans in Congress, were it up to them, would allow unemployed American citizens, who would otherwise be working and hence providing for their own needs, to continue to suffer the consequences of the actions, inactions and ineptitudes of the most recent Republican President George W. Bush.

      Actions, inactions, and ineptitudes that have left The United States of America flailing in the largest economic crisis since The Great Depression. People call this "The Great Recession" I suspect because they're afraid of applying the "D" word to current economic circumstances.



      Either that or Rupert Murdoch will have them shot on the spot for uttering the phrase.


Republicans: Sen. Mitch McConnell, Rep. John Boehner, Gov. Haley Barbour

      Make no mistake about who the Republicans in Congress are. They have shown themselves to be heartless to the point of using the long-term unemployed as leverage to ensure that the rich get a little richer.



      The exact opposite of the famous character of Robin Hood who would steal from the rich and give to the poor, The Republicans are actually those who steal from all of us and give, literally give, to the wealthy.

      So that's how they became wealthy in the first place.



      Governing is prioritizing and compromising, this is what Barack Obama was elected to do.


      If John McCain had become president, the Bush-era Tax-Cuts for the wealthiest Americans would have been a slam dunk, it's possible that we'd be invading Russia over START, and when it comes to major health care reform the Republican Party would have three words for you.


     
      Don't Get Sick!





      However, with Barack Obama as President, in two years he and The Democrats in Congress have passed landmark legislation reforming health care and the way Wall Street does business.  The 700 Billion dollar bailout of Wall Street will apparently only cost about 30 billion. A nice bit of bargain shopping there.


      And, as I mentioned above, unemployed Americans, if the deal with Congressional Republicans is honored, will be able to buy their kids Christmas dinner. They'll be able to eat that dinner in a room that is warmer than the season would prefer. And maybe, just maybe, there will be a little something in everyone's Christmas stocking this year thanks to the gutsy deal that President Barack Obama and the Democrats in Congress were forced to make.

      Forced by Republicans who only represent the wealthy, apparently heartless, and of course themselves.



      And As Always,






      Happy Holidays Everybody

DEMOCRATS HAVE LOST THEIR MARBLES

REALITY- After the results of the 2010 Mid-Term Elections, many people have decried this election as a resurgence of The Republican Party. And I guess to some extent it was.

      The Tuesday before last The Republican Party gained control of next U.S. House of Representatives. As of last count The G.O.P. (Republicans...they go by so many different names) gained an impressive 60 seats there and 6 more seats in The United States Senate. Leaving the 112th Congress of The United States a divided one.

      The Republicans will have control over The House of Reps while The Democrats maintain control of The United States Senate.

      Wait What? In January when the next congress convenes The Democrats will still control The Senate and The White House. To listen to the media coverage of this past election you would have thought it was a Republican sweep. It wasn't.

      When the 112th Congress of The United States comes together The Republican Party will hold a 43 seat advantage in The House of Reps.

      The Democrats currently enjoy a 77 seat advantage, and with that margin The Democrats still had to fight to pass bills like Healthcare Reform and The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, the most sweeping change to financial regulation in the United States since the Great Depression.

      That Bill passed The House by a mere 21 votes. So by that example The Republicans don't have that large of an advantage after all.

      43 seats may not be enough to repeal what they call "Obamacare". A flippant term for legislation that allows those with pre-existing medical conditions access to health insurance.

      43 seats may not be enough to preserve the Don't Ask Don't Tell policy which received due but perhaps ill-timed attention leading up to the November 2nd election.

      Over the past two years The Democrats have had to fight for every political inch while they have been in control of the White House, The House of Reps, and The Senate. And if The Democrats know what is good for the continued employment they will fight harder for those political inches.
      Watching the coverage of The 2010 Mid-Term Elections, the media would have you take away only that The Republicans have somehow seized control over the entire United States Government.

      Nope, just The House of Representatives. And if history tells us anything, that may not be enough.


      All that having been read. Now that The United States has moved away, once again, from one party rule, Both sides of the political spectrum should now understand that they need to work together in order to further serve the needs of all of the American people not just the needs of those whom contribute the most cash to their respective campaigns.

      This does not mean however that The Democrats should just do what The Republicans want them to do, as a lot of people seem to define bi-partisan cooperation these days.
 
      No in fact just the opposite. This brings me to my final point of the day and it is why The Democrats lost control of The House and why they failed to gain further momentum in The Senate.

      The Democrats lost control of The House of Representatives not because the people didn't agree with the positions and policies of the candidates in question but because the Average American Voter did not believe that The Democrats would follow through on their promises.

      Because The Democrats have been missing something.

      Something that they had had going into the 2006 Mid-Term Elections.

      Something that carried them through The 2008 Presidential Election to the tune of total control over the House, The Senate, and landed them the first African-American President in United States history.

      The thing that The Democrats have been without this past year is


      Marbles, Huevos...



      The Democrats need to get some Balls.



      The Republicans fight their political battles with little else and American voters are attracted to that.
 
      It's high time that The Democrats rediscover their own "Testicular Fortitude" otherwise Barack Obama may find himself a one term president faster than we can all yell "Marbles".


 
      And As Always,
 

MID-TERM ELECTION COSTUME BALL

REALITY- It's that time again, no not time to blow as much cash as possible on a Halloween costume that will fall apart the next day, It's Election time.


      Lots of people seem to think that Election time only comes once every four years like the cast of Fox&Friends. In fact Major American Elections happen nearly all the time.



      So often in fact that if you lose one election you can just keep on campaigning until the next one.
Theoretically one could just continuously campaign for one major political office after another until the persistent candidate finally wins one.


      If one were so inclined.


     
      George Carlin once mused ironically that unsuccessful Miss America Pageant contestants should have to keep coming back until they win.

      "I just want to work on world peace... Fine sit down before you fall down."



      Is this what Sarah Palin is doing? In case no one else has noticed, Sarah Palin has not stopped campaigning since before she was elected to govern The Great State of Alaska.



      A job that she left early to campaign for The 2008 Republican Presidential Ticket, when John McCain's sputtering presidential campaign called on Palin to provide a 'hot poll numbers injection'.



      Another job that she left early, this time to campaign for The Republican Party's 2012 Presidential nomination. The move was made when she realized that the next President of The United States was to be President Barack Obama, not John McCain.

      And Sarah Palin is still out there, still on the campaign trail.



      In 30 or 40 years will Sarah Palin still be campaigning for herself, or for someone she owes money to, to be elected President or to Congress?



      Speaking of The United States Congress, on Tuesday, November 2, 2010, The United States will hold The 2010 Mid-Term Elections.

      These House and Senate Races will determine the membership of the 112th Congress of The United States of America.



      This time in honor of Halloween, The 2010 Elections are also a Costume Ball.

      That is to say a bit more of one than usual.



      The Democrats are actually going out as Democrats this year. A stark contrast from the costumes that they wore throughout The George W. Bush Administration.


      And The Republican Party has really gone all out this Halloween, even I have to hand it to them on this one. The Republican Party has actually gone so far as to try to dress themselves up as an entirely new political party.



      The Republican Party has been masquerading as the Tea Party in a desperate attempt to re-brand themselves in the wake of the worst president in U.S. history.



      George W. Bush, a Republican.

      In an effort to attract those, dreaded but needed, undecided "Swing Voters" The Republicans are actually trying to alter the title of their Grand Old Party.

      Again.
     
      Don't be fooled, The Tea Party Is The Republican Party.



      Keeping in mind of course that only the name of this party is changing. They have apparently decided to keep all the positions and policies that W. and Co. held so dear. Like tax cuts for the wealthy, whites-only lunch counters, and no healthcare for those with pre-existing conditions.



      George W. Bush's presidency was so awful, so previously unimaginably bad, that he ruined the brand names "G.O.P". and "Republican Party"



      In any case a rose by any other name is still a rose, even if it's still on the Bush.



      And As Always,



      Happy Halloween Everybody