Time For New Gun Laws

 What's it going to take?

 Semi-automatic military assault rifles belong on the battlefield -- not in Ma and Pa's cupboard, where crazy Johnny can get a hold of them.

 We need tighter restrictions on gun purchases now. The fact that mentally imbalanced individuals have such easy access to these military style assault weapons is almost as insane as the devastating tragic acts committed with the weapons.

 Updated gun regulations are long overdue. But every time there is a tragedy like the one in Newton, Conn., the National Rifle Association fights tooth and nail against these much needed reforms. No more.

 We need to pray. And we need to Act. To fight back and take action, check out this link: 
http://act.boldprogressives.org/survey/survey_gunpromise/?source=link-auto&referring_akid=a12452630.956868.ZYP70G

House GOP Bunch of Scrooges

To paraphrase Bruce Springsteen's Grammy-nominated song, the House Republicans continue to "take care of their own."

 So much for John Boehner and the House Republicans willingness to compromise with the President. If Boehner and his fat cat loyalists in the house truly gave a dam about the American middle class -- and small businesses -- they would have signed off on preserving tax cuts for the middle class by now.

 But nothing's changed. Boehner sounds like a broken record -- expressing his willingness compromise, but never backing up his words with action.This phony play that the wealthy House leaders are simply looking out for small business doesn't wash. Not when the overwhelming majority of small businesses would continue to get a tax break under President Obama's proposal.

 Clearly, the American public isn't buying this feigned concern for small struggling businesses. By refusing to budge on allowing the Bush era tax cuts for the rich to expire -- or agreeing to some form or fashion of an tax increase on millionaires and billionaires -- the House Republicans are
proving themselves to be true-to-life Scrooges and Mr. Potters.

 We need a Jimmy Stewart to emerge on Capital Hill.
 
  

Obama Win Renews Hope

It's over. And it's just beginning. Barack Obama's victory last night for a second term as our President scores a decisive blow in defense of truth and justice -- and against the dark forces that tried so desperately to rip them from us.

 We dodged a bullet. Now, the hard work begins. The past four years, has laid the groundwork for what could be four years of real change. You want to believe, like the President said in his victory speech, "the best is yet to come."

 So much to address. So much potential for real positive good. What lies ahead? That largely depends on the people. The same folks who saw through the right's deceptive fog and sleight of hand -- and voted Obama back in the White House --  have to stay alert.

 There's been a lot of talk about reaching across the aisle. We'll see. House Republicans kept their majority. It's going to be up to the people to continue doing the same things they've done the past several months -- to ensure Obama's second term.

 We can't afford to fall asleep after election day, thinking our work is done. Through phone calls, emails and even physical protests, we have to make sure our voices continue to be heard.  

Forecast Favorable For Second Term

 Like a confluence of two powerful atmospheric forces, ala Superstorm Sandy, Mitt Romney's last minute desperate lies about President Barack Obama's Jeep jobs record and the President's own high profile, proactive response to Sandy's devastation, forecast favorable conditions for a second term.

 While Romney can do nothing but pose, smile weakly and attack, the President is busy being the president -- and doing a good job. So much so that even one of his biggest critics, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is embracing him. This should be the turning point in the election. Just watch the poles.

  

"Past Four Years" of Betrayal

  As far as the "past four years" go, this really is all you need to know.

  The night of newly-elected president Barack Obama’s inauguration on January 20, 2009, amidst a devastating recession at the hands of Wall Street recklessness, a group of 15 key Republican Party players were summoned to urgent business at a pricey restaurant in Washington D.C.

  The mission? Betrayal.

  The cozy cluster, made up of Republican lawmakers like the eventual vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan and old time connivers like Newt Gingrich, needed to map out a plan for the next four years.

  And man, did this country need a plan. Some 750,000 Americans were losing their jobs each month. Millions had lost their homes, millions more would follow suit. Personal savings vanished into thin air.

  But, turns out, this group of conservatives wasn’t so concerned with all that. They long ago had conveniently tuned out the desperate cries of Main Street to heed the demands of Wall Street.

 After three hours of strategizing at that secret meeting, Republicans had resolved a simple goal: Make President Barack Obama a one term president.

  And the rest is – almost history. At every turn, the Republicans (mostly House Republicans) agreed they would conspire to obstruct President Obama at every turn – even as it meant further penalizing the people at a time their constituents needed them most.

 Then, with the economy still struggling to recover from the devastation – largely endorsed, even orchestrated, by the corporate-controlled right – Athe Republican leadership would corruptly and childishly point a finger at the president, laying all the blame for any failures on him.

 The seedy details of that private dinner convened at the Caucus Room in Washington the same day President Obama was sworn in, were revealed in Robert Draper’s book, “Do Not Ask What Good We Do: Inside the U.S. House of Representatives” released this past April.

  Amidst all the partisan vitriol and blatant fabrications, some of us may have missed that pertinent news. Many of us need to be reminded of that dastardly scheme borne out of sheer, power-hungry partisanship while our country teetered at cliff’s edge.

  So here’s your reminder. It’s the height of hypocrisy for Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney to stand before the American people and blame any lack of bi-partisanship on the President over the “past four years.”

 For the "past four years" House Republicans haven't seen their main duty as serving the people. Stemming the rise of foreclosures or passing job creating legislation or giving folks a helping hand took a back seat to tripping up the President whenever they got the chance.

 Take the President's American Jobs Act -- meant to create infrastructure jobs, offer tax credits for working Americans and employers and provide aid to state and local governments so they can avoid further layoffs of teachers, firefighters, police officers, and other public safety officials.

The American Jobs Act still awaits approval along with the American Veterans Corps Act, Farm Act, Violence Against Women Act among other bills, while House Republicans are taking a rare two month vacation that won't end until after the election. Surprised?

 For more than a year, House Republicans have consistently blocked President Obama's job legislation. Hey, partisanship is nothing new. But the extent the Right has pushed its agenda in these dire times encroaches on the side of criminal.

 It should be crystal clear to anyone paying attention that the unprecedented obstructionist House Republicans played an intricate role in any stagnation in Washington over the “past four years.”

 President Obama time and time gain over the “past four years” tried to reach across the aisle, only to get his hand smacked away by Speaker of The House John Boehner and his pals. Even the strongest of swimmers can get only so far with a ball and chain clasped around his ankle. 

  

 Americans are on the verge of being grifted again. The same crooks that robbed tens of millions of Americans of their homes, jobs and savings are now promising us the moon and the stars.

 

 Just because the Massachusetts Governor has made millions for himself and a privileged few as a big time investor, doesn’t make him fit to be president of the United States. Quite to the contrary. He’s got “Wall Street” written all over him.

 So, as you vote, keep in mind that privileged private meeting among Republicans “four years” ago and realize that for the “past four years” they’ve been working against progress just so they can insert a Big Money man in the White House.

 Realize that the Republicans not only have betrayed the President. They’ve betrayed the American people.

Winner and Still President ...

Same old lines. Same old lies. Same old underhanded tactics. Of course, "Past four years" is Mitt Romney's and the Republicans' catch phrase battle cry. Conservatives like to talk about the turbulent past four years as if they weren't intrinsically linked to them.

Like the first two presidential debates, Governor Mitt Romney in the third and final presidential debate Monday night may have put on a good show, but that's about it. 

 President Barack Obama was in control. He appeared informed, sincere and resolute. He looked like the president. Romney, on the other hand, didn't. The Governor simply came off as a poser -- a guy trying to attack and trip up the president in the same way the unprecedented House Republicans have made that their goal over the "past four years."

 The more Romney harped about "peace" and "strength" for America Monday night, the more he sounded like George W. Bush in his first debate with John Kerry in the Fall of 2003 -- when Bush kept repeating how the presidency was "hard work."

 To boot, Romney's persistent mention of peace in discussions of foreign policy matters seemed forced and hence, brought to mind another Bush moment in the spring of 2002 when the then president declared to the American people: "I have no war plans on my desk."

  No, they were in the desk drawer. We later learned, thanks to the Downing Street Memo, that just two months later Bush had decided to invade Iraq. The only hitch was -- he needed a good reason.

  But, more than any barbs over foreign or domestic policy, what was most revealing Monday night, and what really spoke volumes, was the clear difference between Romney's and the president's presence, if you will. Obama simply looked like the real commander in chief.

Biden's Righteous Anger Wins Out

Sometimes righteous anger is feisty and relentless in its defense of the truth, and in expression of complete and utter intolerance of puffed up, disingenuous, phony fabrications designed to fool the American people and ultimately destroy their democracy.

 Last night, in the first and only vice presidential debate in Kentucky with the younger self-important right wing windbag Raul Ryan, vice president Joe Biden represented that righteous anger. And we best see more it next week in the second presidential debate.