Take a look at the guy from Vermont

Bernie Sanders is the guy from Vermont you want to look at.  Check his voting record out.  His record in the Senate and the Congress are all about the people.  He has backed or authored legislation for our elderly, our veterans, our kids schools, healthcare for all, and the list goes on and on.

Bernie Sanders is blowing away anyone running for president online.  The polling data is not even closely accurate.  How can a guy that shows up for a rally in Birmingham, Alabama draw 7,000 people?  Last time I checked Alabama was a die hard red state.  Red states are feeling the Bern and love Bernie Sanders.  Every event he shows up at in Iowa is to overflowing crowds.  Some town where the population is just 300 people including children and 700 people show up to hear his message.  People are driving over a hundred miles to hear him speak.  That fact is true because it happens EVERYWHERE he speaks.  In blue states, he fills to over capacity huge venues of over 20,000 people and has to have overflow crowds watch on monitors.  The data of the polls is way off base.  In every political blue states he is on fire with huge crowds having to move venues to larger and larger locations because the demand to see him is that huge.  Now in Red States he is having to move to bigger and bigger venues.  His opponent could reserve a few tables at Denny's to hold an event.  Crowd control is not a problem in their campaign. 

Side bar, what does it say about a Democrat/Independent/Democrat Socialist candidate for President of the United States of America message when he goes to die hard GOP states and holds a rally and 7,000 people come out to see him.  It says volumes.  Alabama is feeling the Bern.

Bernie Sanders is on the heartbeat of America and he is on fire.  He will win Iowa and New Hampshire by a landslide.  While I write this post his numbers are climbing in South Carolina and Nevada.  The so called "Fire Wall" for his opponent is crumbling because his opponent can not even grasp the idea of how to really get in touch with the people. The ability to insert or give enthusiasm to the people just is not there.  It's almost like she knows she is the next president, demands she is the next president, and knows she will be the next president.  Her big corporate sponsors are demanding it too.  Nobody is feeling the love though like they do for Bernie Sanders.

Bernie Sanders fight is our fight.  He does not have a Super PAC and he does not need one if We the People are funding his campaign.  His message is real, his attack plan once President is simple.  Bernie Sanders is going to fight for us and we are going to have to have his back once he is elected.  This campaign is not over once he takes the oath of office.  Bernie is going to need us ALL more than ever when he pushes his Medicare for all plan.  Bernie is going to need us all for his free college tuition at state colleges.  Bernie is going to need us all when he fights to correct our criminal justice system.  I could go on and on but you get the picture.  This battle does not end when we vote for him for President. 

We the people are the POLITICAL REVOLUTION.  We the people will have to stand up and be pitch fork carrying citizens to prod the congress to passing his and our wish list.  It is our country we are going to have to fight for an
d we can do that.  OR, we could vote Democrat across the ballot.  The House and Senate have to go blue for Bernie Sanders presidency to have a chance for all the programs he wants to pass.  If the House and Senate stay in control of the Republicans then he will face the same dilemma as President Obama.  A do nothing and obstructionist Congress.

We the People own our Government.  Time to stand up and join the Bernie Sanders political revolution.

Are you with us?  Donate.  He can't help you if you don't fund him.  BERNIE SANDERS FOR PREZ

Papamoka 

Bernie's Base is on Fire!

One of the things that I love about the Bernie Sanders campaign is the fact that it is all paid for by working class stiffs like you and me.  We can donate $25 or $35 and feel that we are putting the money to good use.  Our guy Bernie is fighting for us and our wallets!  Medicare for all would save this country and low income families billions of dollars.  College education for all would save our low income families billions of dollars and let many send their children to college because they simply do not have the income to do so!  Rebuilding our infrastructure would put 13 million people to work on our highways, bridges, water plants and the list goes on and on.

Hillary can out raise Bernie Sanders easily early but she can't keep that momentum up.  People get tapped out at the max that you can donate to a political campaign.  Bernie does not have that problem.  Most of his donors are contributing $30 and not $2400 or whatever the max out is.  2.3 million people have donated to Bernie Sanders for president.  That is far beyond what President Obama did in his entire campaign in 2008 and the first primary has not even been held yet!  Those 2.3 million contributors will donate again if the campaign needs them to and they are.  Our guy was under attack from the DNC and we went nuts and donated $1 million bucks in one single day!

Did the Sanders campaign screw up with the DNC, they sure as hell did?  Was I pissed?  You are damn straight I was very upset and disappointed.  But the campaign dealt with it and fired the person responsible.  That is how you deal with a wrong and make it right!  What troubles me is the DNC reaction to cut off all access to the data that the Sanders campaign is required to secure at the DNC server.  The system the DNC has is faulty, the Sanders campaign told them of the problem and they never fixed it 100%.

Now comes my main question.  The Sanders campaign accessed the system 24 times which was wrong, how many times did the Hillary Clinton campaign access the system during these breaches?  She has a greater communications system than Bernie Sanders could ever dream of having.  How much information did they download from the Sanders campaign data?

I've never signed up for anything to do with Hillary Clinton, neither have most of my friends that are very political.  Why are some of them getting emails from the Clinton campaign?  Something is rotten in the wood pile and we all know what it is.

Papamoka

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Bernie Sanders is the one 

Bernie Sanders is the ONE!

I chose this picture of Bernie Sanders because of the masses of people that show up for him and his message for a better America.  One million online contributors have donated to his campaign.  Bernie Sanders does not want or ever need to have a Super PAC.  We the people are his Super PAC.  We the people are the political revolution.  If you care to find out who Bernie Sanders is then you need to Google what his positions are on any issue.  He has voted consistently for the same issues he backs today for his run for President of the United States of America for decades.  He doesn't flip and flop because it polls better to be for or against anything.  Little known fact, Bernie does not pay for polling from his campaign.  It would not change his mind so why spend the money to ask? 

I am an online news junkie and for the life of me I can not see how the main stream media is not picking up on the fact that Bernie Sanders is beating the hell out of Hillary Clinton across the country?  Hillary shows up in Boston and a few folks show up.  Bernie Sanders shows up and the facility can not hold the 32,000 people that want to see him speak.  This is not the first time this has happened.  Seattle maxed out capacity, LA maxed out capacity, and the list goes on.  Everywhere Bernie Sanders wants to speak they have to upgrade capacity sites and still make room for people that can not fit into the facility.  If I were the person with the job of booking Bernie after the first debate, I would be looking at huge football stadiums and asking the recently tax free NFL to support democracy for free.  Cause this is America, the land of the free (bernie sanders is against citizens united decisions by the the supreme court that allows billionaires to buy elections).

Anywho, back to Bernie Sanders.  People put this label on him that he is a Socialist.  Wake up!  Teddy Roosevelt, a Republican, was a Socialist!  He broke up the big lobbies that controlled everything.  (bernie wants to break up the too big to fail banks and wall street firms) Teddy even protected land by starting the National Parks program. (bernie knows that global warming is proven by SCIENCE and we need to confront it now as a nation)

Then we have FDR that served four terms because America was broken and broke from the Great Depression.  Franklin Delano Roosevelt tried every idea that came across his desk to get America back on its feet.  The New Deal was a work in progress.  He put people to work building bridges, building damns, building our infrastructure that we all take for granted today (bernie sanders is proposing creating 13 million jobs to rebuild our crumbling infrastructure).  FDR created the first safety net called Social (socialist) Security to take care of our elderly that at the time were shuttered off to poor farms or cast into the street if they had no family to care for them.  That would be the check our retired friends and family get every month to support themselves after paying into a system that is OUTSIDE the federal government budget (bernie sanders wants to expand social security not repeal it).  Then FDR created the GI Bill for all of those that returned from WWII.  One of the most successful programs in history where 5.6 million veterans went to school or got other training to become part of the boom in future years (bernie sanders will pay for his college for all for free is by putting a tax on speculation on wall street.  we bailed them all out, time for pay back).

We can't fail to mention Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower, the man that created the boom of the 50's by building our highway system that started right here in Saint Charles, MO.  Then went on to expand Social Security to people that are disabled (bernie sanders wants to expand social security and medicare and not cut it). 

Fast forward to LBJ creating Medicare.  July 30th, 1965.  Holy crap, socialism hit America again.  If you are poor and elderly, this is your medical plan.  Medicare is one of the most efficient healthcare plans in the world today.  You may get away with double or triple billing an insurance company but Medicare with fine your ass for being incompetent.  Fast forward to Obama and he creates the Affordable Care Act that our friends on the right like to call Obama Care.  It is an amazing plan that despite all the doom and gloom opponents has actually dropped the rising costs of healthcare insurance.  17 million people have been added since it inception and the writing of this post.  If more states signed up for expanding Medicare then the number would triple or more of new people paying into the market (bernie sanders wants a Medicare for all system that is paid for)(everything bernie sanders proposes is paid for)

Last but not least, Bernie Sanders has been in the forefront for veterans and fighting to get them the benefits they all deserve for all of his political career.  Most of those bills were killed by the GOP controlled congress because they are such Hawks but do not care about the people coming back home that need care.  Send you to war and forget you after they put the flag down to accept a check from the companies that profited from you service to America.


Rock ON Bernie Sanders!  Loving what you are saying and backing you 100%. You are picking up the momentum and pulling the centrist people on the right like Morning Joe your way as well.  (you don't have any hidden email accounts I hope???).

Papamoka

PS.

For all you young college kids and high school kids that want a future that is better than what your parents had, scream at the top of your lungs who you support!  Vote for Bernie Sanders.  Make your generation the one that made a difference.  Show up at every event in massive numbers.  Bernie can not do this alone.  He needs your voice now and he will need you voice once he is President.  He can't do it alone.  Be a part of the political revolution!

Blood Libel Meaning

Sarah Palin put out a Facebook statement regarding the horrific events in Arizona and the death of far too many innocent people at the hands of a madman at Congress woman Giffords gathering. Having actually read the whole speech from Sarah Palin I honestly have to say that I think she was actually right on message. And this opinion is from a true blue blood Democrat.

Vigorous and spirited public debates during elections are among our most cherished traditions. And after the election, we shake hands and get back to work, and often both sides find common ground back in D.C. and elsewhere. If you don’t like a person’s vision for the country, you’re free to debate that vision. If you don’t like their ideas, you’re free to propose better ideas. But, especially within hours of a tragedy unfolding, journalists and pundits should not manufacture a blood libel that serves only to incite the very hatred and violence they purport to condemn. That is reprehensible. – Facebook

We live in a time when politics and the debate of just life in America is very harsh and cold. Political pundits with a microphone or television show will spin it to blame an opposing political party for the actions of a madman simply because they can. The pay for such so called political valor is high. I have to say that I have followed Sarah Palin online to see what she has to say and she used the term “Blood Libel” appropriately to describe the idiots behind the microphones. I believe that would be a “bitch slap” to Rush Limbaugh from the former Vice President Candidate from Alaska. She wasn’t looking to hurt anyone with the statement other than tell the shock jocks to shut the hell up.

Even Alan Dershowitz, the Harvard Law Proffesor agrees with me...

The term “blood libel” has taken on a broad metaphorical meaning in public discourse. Although its historical origins were in theologically based false accusations against the Jews and the Jewish People,its current usage is far broader. I myself have used it to describe false accusations against the State of Israel by the Goldstone Report. There is nothing improper and certainly nothing anti-Semitic in Sarah Palin using the term to characterize what she reasonably believes are false accusations that her words or images may have caused a mentally disturbed individual to kill and maim. The fact that two of the victims are Jewish is utterly irrelevant to the propriety of using this widely used term. – Big Government

Sarah Palin said nothing that was offensive unless you speak a language that is lost to the ages. Now I have to go throw up for defending her speech. I hope that she never has a more clear and to the point speech ever again.

Papamoka

***Crooks and Liars linking in... Thank you Mike!

Census Shift in Political Power

Some of the folks on the right side of the political aisle might be chuckling over the political shift of lost seats from the Northeast to the south and west of the nation but it is actually a double edged sword. Census results for 2010 have turned what was up and what was down upside down. Ergo the house of representatives is all in a tizzy over lost or won seats in red and blue states.

WASHINGTON — The Census Bureau rearranged the country’s political map on Tuesday, giving more Congressional seats to the South and the West, and taking away from the Northeast and the Midwest, in largely anticipated changes that will have far reaching implications for political life cycles over the next decade. – New York Times

Speaking as someone from the left side of the political spectrum, I look at this whole situation as a win for new political blood in states where there was nothing but desert before. It is all just a matter of perspective as to how the nation is just a bunch of migrant Americans that just happen to love warmer weather. Most of the movers are retired voting Democratic voters moving into warmer climates where they will vote. DNC operatives know this and now it is clear that some of those red states in the warm climates have an influx of blue state voters that just might want to be heard.

Time for the people that know how to actually run a political campaign and influence voters to start spending some time in states they thought were a “gimmee” to Republicans. There be Democats’ in them there states now!

Look at little old me for instance, once a New England die hard liberal now living in the land of the “Show Me” state of Missouri. Am I going to vote Republican just because my MA turned into MO on my return address labels? Hell no!

Papamoka

Is it the Economy Mr. President or Politics

It is a given fact that the buck stops at the president’s desk on all issues effecting the American people. It is his job to do the best that he can to move the country forward out of harms way so the economy can grow.

As much as President Obama’s detractors want to paint him as the worst president ever, the economy is growing jobs under his watch month after month and not the opposite which was job losses under President George W. Bush. President Obama has stopped the red ink in our nations treasury by ending the futile battles to control Iraq through military dominance which he did in fact inherit from his predecessor. That is what I would call the KBR money pit that this president just ended this past week.

That should put the Cheney family (Former CEO of KBR) on a tight budget from this point forward in life. NOT! Google search yourself to see how a Vice President enters the office a low millionaire and exit’s a mega millionaire. And Dick didn’t by a lottery ticket if you were even thinking that might be where he became the top 2% of income earners.

Fixing the economy is not an easy task and it takes the efforts of individual business owners that have guts to invest in new technology. Coming from Massachusetts, I know first hand how many start up technologies needed help to get going and unfortunately the government was and can be of help when the need to experiment comes into play. Biotechnology would not be a center of world wide focus in Massachusetts if the political climate to build that technology was not fostered and given the opportunity to lead in that science. If the local, state, and federal government did not insert the funds needed to make Biotechnology the place to be born and grown then it would never have happened.

New technologies sometimes need a helping hand to create thousands of high tech jobs that can not be outsourced. And that is what America does best… We as American’s find a way to do things better because we never stop thinking of a better way simply because we place no limits on our way of thinking!

Now we have President Obama offering a tax cut that Republican leaders in the congress could never say “NO!” too but I’m thinking they might just do that just for the sake of the November elections.

Obama to call for $100 billion business tax credit

By Anne E. Kornblut and Lori Montgomery
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, September 5, 2010; 9:01 PM

Under mounting pressure to intensify his focus on the economy ahead of the midterm elections, President Obama will call for a $100 billion business tax credit this week, using a speech in Cleveland on Wednesday to launch what administration officials said was a new policy push.

The business proposal - what one aide called a key part of a limited economic package - would increase and permanently extend research and development tax credits for businesses, rewarding companies that develop new technologies domestically and preserve American jobs.

It would be paid for by closing other corporate tax loopholes, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the policy has not yet been unveiled. - Washington Post

I’m wondering how the GOP will explain why a $100 Billion TAX CREDIT is a bad thing for American businesses that are moving our nation forward just one step ahead of the competition with new technology? I’m sure that Fox News and their crew will be able to work it out on a chalk board how this TAX CREDIT has something to do with the Anti-Christ or some socialist movement by the president, but I’m not privy to all the prep work and spread sheets needed to make that connection.

I do know this little factoid. Because the push is coming from the president and the Democrat’s then the GOP will find every single reason to shoot it down no matter how bat shit crazy it sounds. Michelle Bachman will head up that brigade and Rush Limbaugh will bring up the rear of Glenn Beck and Sara Palin. I’m thinking that the tax cuts that will be proposed to be taken away from old technology that doesn’t need a tax cut anymore might be right up there on the number one list for just saying “No“ from the GOP political machine in the Congress. Revenue neutral is an oxymoron over at the GOP where multiple wars are privately funded with government money simply because you wave a flag and call it patriotism. As long as the money ends up in GOP donors pockets then it is not a political or conservative issue because they shy away from factoids. Again, spread sheets and chalk boards and some expensive lunches and meetings to explain it all.

I am not even going to guess where the Tea Party group's will go with this tax cut issue. Which reminds me, I need to update my spell checker.

Papamoka

The GOP Does Not Get IT

Back in the day when George Bush Senior was concentrating on the world and ignored the folks at home there came a key phrase, “It’s the economy stupid”. And George Bush lost his bid for re-election to Bill Clinton for the White House.

While the GOP is full of piss and vinegar they still don’t get it. The economy is still in the tank and jobs are still scarce. People are still pissed and there is a reason why there are Tea Party groups and any other faction that leans right politically. The core reason for those factions is that the GOP ignored American’s while it stuffed its pockets under George W. Bush. Pick a subject and the GOP in power was stuffing big business pockets full of cash simply because they could. The war in Iraq, no bid contracts to KBR aka Dick Cheney’s former company that he was CEO for. Gasoline at $4.00 plus per gallon the last year W was president and there was no common sense reason for it other than stuffing the pockets of the president’s buddies. And there was never a conclusive investigation over it other than “Market” movement. Bullshit!

Now the GOP is shocked that they are having a hard time electing anyone in the special elections. The seat held by Jack Murtha in PA was a battlefield and still the GOP lost it by six or seven points. The exception to the rule is the seat once held by Teddy Kennedy that is now held by Scott Brown in Mass, but that could be explained easily when you look at what Martha Coakley, the Attorney General, brought to the table and that was nada. Then again, Massachusetts is the state that also votes in Republican Governors because the states people know that a one sided political government is never a good thing without some checks and balances. Why else would the bluest of the blues elect Ed King, Bill Weld, and Mitt Romney? Life long liberal here but voted for all three of the gentleman because I didn’t trust my state to be run by just one side.

If the GOP wants any chance of getting any seats then they have to face the fact that IT IS THE ECONOMY STUPID. When anyone wants to earn votes then tell the people what YOU will do to get jobs for your district. When people see that your GOP Chairman is spending money frivolously like he is a Lord in days of old because the trough will never run dry with donations then the election results are what they are. You would have to be an idiot to not know that the GOP is funded by mega corporations and the top income of America. Which is why I personally do not trust the GOP to offer me any information on local candidates for federal offices.

When you assume that everyone that is a Democrat will never vote Republican then the results are the same when you smack an intelligent person that is politically active regardless of their political affiliation in the face. In the end it comes down to the economy and the Republican leadership under Bush had a field day screwing it all up and Tea Party or whatever faction the GOP has now I want no part of it if the message is in ten parts because ten different groups now define the GOP and I’m thinking that is the basis of the GOP problem. Too many damn cooks in the kitchen.

Till then, we Democrats will clean up the mess that W and his crew left behind. We fixed the bank mess because the GOP striped regulation out of the industry, we are trying to fix Wall Street, we fixed Detroit and the auto makers because they are the largest contributor to the economy bar non, (GM just paid back its loan in full), we fixed healthcare, we fixed the massive loss of jobs under Bush, and we have a ton of other issues to clean up that 409 or Pinesol won’t have any effect on. And that is what matters at the polls when people vote.

And that is what Democrat’s do. So bite me. (Turrets)

Papamoka

Are Republican’s Goose Cooked on Healthcare

Now that Democrats are willing to go it alone without the help from their respected colleagues from the Republican Party in the house and senate it is not a surprise to see the minority political party begging for a super majority on any healthcare legislation. Translation, they can’t stop the progress of the current congress no matter how many antics they pull against healthcare reform. I personally think that some of the elected officials on the right are bought and paid for by the people that donated so much to their campaigns over the years of public service. But we need to redefine public service in their cases as servants to the folks that wrote the mega checks.

For the purpose of explaining Calvin Ball in the link below, that is from the now defunct Calvin and Hobbes cartoon strip where Calvin made up all the rules and they changed every time he played the game to please himself and win the game. Something the political right is trying to do now with the current debate on health care reform. Matthew Yglesias has a great piece on this game of legislative Calvin chess over at Think Progress…

Republicans Calling for Super-Supermajority for Health Care

In order to become law, a health care bill needs to secure a majority on the House Ways & Means Committee and also the House Energy & Commerce Committee and also the House Education & Labor Committee and, of course, the full United States House of Representatives. It also needs a majority on the Senate Finance Committee and the Senate Health Education Labor & Pensions Committee. And, of course, it needs a majority in the full United States Senate. Then thanks to the calvinball rules we’ve been playing with for the past 25 years, it actually needs a sixty vote supermajority to pass then Senate. After that, it would be subjected to presidential veto.

That’s a number of legislative hurdles that goes far beyond anything else found in major democracies. Naturally, key Republican Senators have decided that what’s needed is more calvinball. - Think Progress

There is just one thing that all politics comes down to and that is money. Political donations come into political campaigns from every cause imaginable and some of those donations just might influence a candidate, a congressman, a senator, or even a president. The insurance and pharmaceutical industry has their butt cheeks puckering in fear over this health care debate and their check books are wide open to defeat any healthcare reform. Money is no object to throw up in opposition to common sense when it comes to the billions in profits they see every single year.

This debate isn’t entirely about gutting health care as much as it is about tossing the Robber Baron’s out of health care. If competition is the basis of capitalism then the health insurer providers should be able to compete with the government with a public option. Everyone on the political right side of this debate claims that the government is bloated with fat and bureaucracy, which in turn makes one think that the government couldn’t even come close to competing with a private insurer and that nullifies their argument against a public option.

Or we could just do nothing and let the CEO’s of every private health insurance company buy another yacht, another vacation home, or just jet off to some distant land where they will be out of ear shot to hear the screams of millions of Americans without any health care plan other than the emergency room. And for the record, because you didn’t check the box where your mom or dad died from some form of cancer, the procedures you need now to save your life are no longer covered by your HMO. Deal with it!

Papamoka

Obama Bails On Public Option

President’ Obama and his spin doctors announced today that they are not blindly tied to the public option for healthcare reform that he fought for during his campaign for the Presidency. The translation of that statement for those of you that do not speak Politicism is that the private healthcare insurance industry has won the battle once more. Fifty million people will still not have health care and the cost for those of you that do will continue to rise unabated.

White House ready to drop ‘public option’? - MSNBC

WASHINGTON - Bowing to Republican pressure and an uneasy public, President Barack Obama's administration signaled Sunday it is ready to abandon the idea of giving Americans the option of government-run insurance as part of a new health care system.

Facing mounting opposition to the overhaul, administration officials left open the chance for a compromise with Republicans that would include health insurance cooperatives instead of a government-run plan. Such a concession would likely enrage his liberal supporters but could deliver Obama a much-needed win on a top domestic priority opposed by GOP lawmakers.

What it all comes down to is yet one more politician that happens to be the President selling out the millions of people that fought so hard for him to get elected. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton were the only ones with workable plans for a public option for health care during the election and that is why it was basically a battle of the super stars of politics right down to the actual vote in the presidential primary. And a public health care option is why so many people worked to elect a Democratic party lead congress in both houses.

As a Democrat, and now somewhat progressive in thought person, I feel like I just got stabbed in the back. If President Obama wanted the full healthcare bill passed then he could have simply negotiated with his own political party to get the job done. It makes no sense to me why he is even considering Republican debate on this at all. Or could it be that the healthcare insurance industry saw the potential to be knocked off like a Soprano character if a public option was passed by the congress and used its own negotiating powers to kill it instead? That sounds more logical. I find it unbelievable that the political party with all the votes to get real healthcare reform passed was or is being handed its head on a silver platter courtesy of the opposition. I’m not just upset with my President either, my political party ran for cover at the first sign of trouble when it came to healthcare. Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, and Senate President, Harry Reid may have said they were behind the President on healthcare reform but neither was willing to fight for it in the congress.

In the end the health care insurance industry will be handed free money by the government courtesy of the GOP as long as they (wink, wink) promise to cut cost to consumers. Ten years from now there will be not 50 million but 100 million Americans without healthcare but the government subsidy checks to the insurance companies will still be cashed. Isn’t that the way it always works, the little guys get screwed and the money gets doled out to the people screwing America over anyway!

Healthcare reform is officially a dead issue. Without the public option it is just another meaningless spending bill for special interest groups that have bigger teeth than John or Jane Doe in America. And that would be the way it is simply because John and Jane Doe don’t have healthcare insurance.

Papamoka

Just Roll With It Baby

With all the things going on in life these days we need to take a breath and just roll with it. Enjoy life and love the ones you have around you. So what if the neighbor next door has a D or an R next to their name on voting day, isn’t it great to have a neighbor that looks out for you and shares the spoils of their garden with you? Just as you do with them! Politics is one moment in time but neighbors and family are for life. We shouldn’t take one another for granted so just take a deep breath. Eight years from now the rolls of political fortune just might be reversed and then what? We are, and still will all be, American’s to the core.

With that thought in mind…

Video Link



Papamoka

Health Care Debate Violence

It doesn’t surprise me that this simple discussion about healthcare for all Americans has become violence prone. All sides of the debate are getting pissed, miffed, angry, and riotous and it makes no sense. Is it not fair to say that the argument on the right is being fed misinformation from organizations that just don’t want healthcare for everyone? There isn’t a Republican I know that would walk away from someone that was injured or bleeding on the street. Same goes for any Democrat, Green, or Independent that I know. Democrats are not being told the whole truth either given the White House’s recent backing off of a deal with the pharmaceutical companies that would have negotiated prescription drug pricing for people on Medicare.

I find it stupefying when you see people estimate healthcare for all Americans at one trillion dollars but leave out the fact that that is a Washington budgetary term that is in fact spread out over ten years. So the discussion should move to what can be cut in the federal budget to pay for health care for everyone? Can we cut tax subsidies for oil companies that are basically having a freebie on oil leases on public land and seas? Or can we even go so far as to cut the spending for maintaining a military presence in Iraq and Afghanistan and bring our troops all home and hopefully in one piece?

One thing is certain, America needs to fix its health care system and it will not get fixed when everyone is yelling and screaming at one another. It certainly won’t fix itself or even remotely heal with violence breaking out at Town Hall meetings to discuss health care. It’s one thing to discuss an issue, it is entirely another when violence becomes the high point of any political reporting on what the changes of our health care system are or can be.

When you really look at America, we have a diverse culture and collection of people. We can be best of friends on Facebook or Myspace and yet not recognize one another and become violent with one another over healthcare? Does that make sense to you? In the end, if the violence wins the day and kills healthcare for all Americans, what has the political movement on the right really won? David Frum has his opinion on that…

Makes me wonder if outside influences and special interests on both sides are pushing the buttons to force matters and discussions regarding healthcare into a violent end. Otherwise, I think we can all agree that Kate Smith had it right with her inspirational rendition of God Bless America. At the end of the day, we are all still Americans and we can not and should not ever forget that.

Video Link



Papamoka

Healthcare Boiled Over Debate

Anyone with a heartbeat has something to say on healthcare for all Americans or they damn sure as hell should have an opinion. From business owners that have seen the gross profiteering from their health care insurance providers to the employees of those same businesses that have seen their own cost rise but services cut. The only people winning are the mega structures built to provide a new home to the next generation of Robber Barons. And yet an industry that claims that they can police themselves is recording record profits while the rest of America is losing its shirt? Does that make any sense to you?

Teddy Roosevelt was a Republican bastard to industry and that is a political and historical fact. He saw a wrong, it was un-American for the times and he sure as hell fixed it. He carried his big stick and broke up the Robber Barons for a reason, they were killing the American economy. When any industry Robber Baron thinks that they are so powerful that the laws and the liberty of all Americans is no longer of their concern because they believe to have omnipotent power, then it is up to a strong President and Federal Government to protect the American people from them.

Capitalism in America is a funny business, sometimes it serves the many but often it serves the few. There is nothing wrong with any company making a profit to survive. If I were a CEO then that would be my objective one hundred and ten percent. We are talking health care though, not gas, not steel, not oil and things that could be commodity driven. Just health care is being discussed here and frankly I have to agree with Teddy Roosevelt that it is time to take out the federal government big stick and knock the sons of bitches down a notch. As the system stands now, you would have to work for your employer and forsake all of your wages twenty years from now just to see your doctor for the sniffles. Pay your soul to the company store for anything worse than that.

Reality is simple, do the math yourself. The more people without health care means that the cost to you will rise further and higher than it has in the past. People will look back kindly when co-pays only increased twenty percent per year. Health Care CEO’s will take hundred million dollar plus bonuses and wonder how they will increase their pay the next year?

Meanwhile, ten of millions of our fellow Americans will go without regular care, never see a doctor till the cost of care goes into the millions and the sun will shine the next day regardless of political opinion one way or the other. Just make sure you wear your sunglasses as you pass the conglomerate skyscraper HMO built to make sure you get your health care bill emailed, faxed, debited from your checking account, or sent to your cell phone before you even get home from your doctor.

The health care industry is broken. It isn’t the nurses and doctors that give the care fault. It’s the white shirts in a huge glass building hundreds or thousands of miles away from the table that you sit on where they ask you to roll up your sleeve or stick out your tongue. It’s not even the emergency room hospitals fault either. Most hospitals according to some reports have to waive the bills and eat the cost of caring for people without health insurance. Where do you think that cost gets passed on to? That two dollar treatment such as Aspirin or other medication of equal cost ends up costing $250 on an insurance form from the ER.

It is time for a Teddy Roosevelt big stick. Hell yes! President Obama needs to speak softly and carry a big stick when it comes to healthcare reform. Is that not one of the biggest reasons we voted to elect President Obama and a Democrat controlled Congress? I believe we have the votes to get it done so what is the problem? Just get the job done and lets move on to the next issue!

Papamoka

We All Need to Step-up and Help the President

Good Morning Papamoka Bloggers - I knew it would happen, but I hoped it would take longer to coalesce. In addition to the no-no-no GOP, President Obama is beginning to face opposition from both leading and rank-and-file Democrats on critical issues such as housing, global warming, and tax haven legislation. The signs are ominous, and the American people's critical change agenda may suffer damage if we don't watch it.

As usual, the bought-and-paid-for (to varying degrees) Washington insiders are ignoring the voters and making decisions based on special interest politics. We must stand ready to help the President!

It's the usual cast of characters. While most of them are committee leaders, there are also some junior members jumping into the debate. It almost makes you wonder who's paying their salary. Eliminating corporate tax loop-holes that hurt the middle-class has been an issue since President Kennedy. President Obama is right to try and tackle it, considering the fact that he campaigned on it - openly and honestly. Unfortunately, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) called for “further study” within minutes of the president’s announcement yesterday. That is the first step in trying to KILL something in DC speak.

The same kinds of responses are coming from Senator Barbara Boxer (I intend to write to her soon), as well as Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel (D-NY) and Committee Member Joseph Crowley (D-NY). We cannot allow their special interest alliances to undermine the President's effort to restructure the tax code to help honest American business. Eliminating tax loop-holes and shutting down tax havens is crucial to improving fairness in the American tax system.

Global warming is also at risk. It has a tremendous ally in my Congressman Henry Waxman (D-CA) who did a wonderful thing after he ousted Michigan Democrat John Dingell earlier this year taking over the powerful House Energy and Commerce Committee. Dingell was a close ally of the auto industry who aimed to water down any global warming legislation. Unfortunately, 14-term Congressman Rich Boucher (D-VA) is fighting hard to keep the fossil fuel companies happy. He has many allies, mostly from coal producing states. President Obama's "green economy" is at risk from many Democrats - as well as ALL Republicans.

It's incredible to think just how many "enemies" President Obama faces on every issue. Housing and the economy are probably the most complicated, so let's just say that he has dark forces massing on all fronts. Change in Washington is never easy, and President Obama is trying to pull off a miracle - for our future. We need him to succeed. What many Americans fail to understand is just how BROKEN the system is today. He's trying to repair it, while making improvements. The man is undoubtedly incredible, but he may need a miracle. The odds are against him.

So, I'm asking everybody who understands this critical situation to please contact your representatives to give President Obama and his "change agenda" as much support as possible. The dark forces representing the broken status quo, supported by special interest millions, have taken over politicians on both sides of the aisle. It's important for us, the American people, to do whatever we can to support POSITIVE CHANGE.

If you agree with the President on any one of his many initiatives, then step-up and support him with an email or phone call to your Senators or Congresspeople in DC. It's the least we can do considering all that he's trying to do for us.

Michael Boh
Papamoka's Left Coast Contributor
from Our Rants & Raves Blog

PS - If you decide to take action, here are a few links that may help you. Email President Obama, and/or your national elected officials. If you wish to call, simply call the White House at 202-456-1414, or the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121. I also suggest you contact your local newspaper. Please let them all know how feel. President Obama needs our help.

Time to Step Up

Times are tough all around for everyone and if you ask the folks that own a small business then they see it every single day. And yet the tide of gouging the people in the middle and lower class is at the beginning of the end. No more is America held ransom by the whims of Exxon and other oil conglomerates that had a free ride under Dubya. Hundreds of millions in tax cuts for big oil and billions of profit every single quarter screamed across all of the media while you and I wondered how to pay the bills to just survive. No more is America at the mercy of banks that think they owned democracy and could do as they damn well pleased. No more is America under the threat from hostile nations because we choose the big stick first with every conversation over diplomacy for every interaction with nations of the world that don’t think like we do on every issue. Times they are a changing and we have a hero in our midst and that hero is you the people. It is the change of political thought that is breaking the backs of those that would keep all of us little people down.

President Obama is on the fast track to fix as much of the past mistakes of his predecessor and the amount of CHANGE is evident with every passing day. Isn’t it nice to see that you don’t have to take out a loan to fill your gas tank anymore? Isn’t it nice to see that the Robber Barons of Wall Street are finally being called to task for corruption in the manipulative scams they ran for the past eight plus years? Isn’t it nice to see millionaire bankers balk at taking taxpayer bailout money but having stock holders screaming for their heads to be cut off. Is it not nice to see that corporate America needs to follow the same rules and laws that those of us that work for them or with them have to follow? Those laws would be the law of decency and fairness.

Change is here and you can thank the hero within America for it. President Obama gets some credit for the change in the future of America but he is just the messenger. And he continues on the positive message and that is what he was elected to do. Our government now answers to all of the people and not just the folks with the big bucks that can or try to influence policy. We have a long way to go, but change is happening and it happens one day at a time.

To the hero’s within that fought for what is right in America I give you the ultimate tribute from the best of America in our music industry…

Video Link



Now more than ever we need to all step up to the plate and back what we voted for. Change was what we wanted, we have to support the best our people can offer now more than ever before.

Papamoka

Patriotism GOP Style

Hello Papamoka Readers! I would like to point out again just how blind Republicans are to their own hypocrisy. We all know how Republicans refuse to acknowledge their own guilt in government, especially when it comes to lies, war profiteering, debt spending and ignoring the rule of law, but they also refuse to acknowledge their own anti-Americanism.

Democrats have endured being called unpatriotic and unAmerican for years. I call it the "patriot card," since it's kind of like the "race card." Republicans play it all the time, and have adopted the tactic as a specialty within the party. It's one of their favorite blunt instruments used to pummel everyone who's not Republican, including independents and the politically neutral-by-nature, into seeing the left-wing [or any non-Republican] as bad for America. It sounds crazy, but it's true.

The real irony is that Republicans are openly threatening to our government all the time, especially lately, and their methods are often blatantly unpatriotic, if not worse. I'm shocked the way Democrats ignore it. Why don't we learn from the Republicans and start calling those REPUBLICANS UNAMERICAN, or ANTI-AMERICAN, since they are, and it's effective. Allow me to start by saying that RUSH LIMBAUGH IS ANTI-AMERICAN and UNPATRIOTIC!

Republican leaders have been casual with their remarks lately about how they want President Obama to fail. Limbaugh has been their torch bearer. The Republicans have not only been unpatriotic, they've been downright treasonous. Yes, there have been many Republicans in the media suggesting treason. Sean Hannity even posted a poll on his website offering his viewers the opportunity to choose how they would start a new revolution, and every option included a violent overthrow of some kind. So let's say it together: SEAN HANNITY IS TREASONOUS!

Would they allow Democrats to get away with the same kind of unAmerican speech? NEVER!! They would have been screaming bloody murder by now. They would have used the "patriot card" to CRUSH and discredit the Democrats - both the media and the leadership. WAKE UP DEMS, for this is what Americans care about! This is how they create impressions about OUR leaders. We need to point out their hypocrisy and their evil intent. The Republicans have been talking trash so we need to TAKE OUT THE TRASH!

What can we do to help? Let's point out - whenever possible - just how unAmerican and unpatriotic the Republicans are these days. Let's start calling them out when they try to undermine the government and our elected leaders. Let's use the "patriot card" to discredit THEM. You never know, it may ultimately lose some of it power, like the "race card," and fade away. That would be a great day.

Michael Boh
Papamoka's Left Coast Contributor
from Our Rants & Raves Blog

Is Yes We Can Real?

In the closing days of this Presidential election is the voice of the American people, and the only way you can change America is by voting for a new hope, a new direction. America, and Americans are tired of being subjugated as not being worthy to be Americans because we think differently on where our nation needs to be. Is it wrong to think that all of us can and have the potential to be better, give our children a better life that we never saw the possibility of? Is it wrong to think that our children can not dream of higher goals and a better life than we as parents have had? We can do better than that and we must do better than raising them in fear, in the environment of fear, in fear of people we do not know. We can lead them to hope over desperation. We can lead them in the path that is not laden with landmines if you do not tow the strict "With us or against us" thought process. America is the last melting pot in the world and all America has a general investment in our nations future! Our next leader for President needs to reflect that sentiment and not deflect it.

America brings many challenges but it also comes with the possibility of many dreams that can come true if we simply believe that change is possible. We can be better over the shouts of cynics and those that would keep us all down as a people. We are not divided but we are one nation that deserves better and we can do that together as one people. United we can fight any battle that faces us all, divided we can only survive one attack at a time. America is about challenges and not fear of enemies our government tells us we should fear, it is about confronting the reasons they are our enemies. Diplomacy is an American virtue that has been corrupted and replaced with fear and war that has no end or no answer.

America provides so many opportunities and we need not hide behind the shadow of fear of “What If”? We as a people are able to provide a better tomorrow for our babies and it is up to you as a parent to make change possible in America. One nation is better than a divided nation based on political ideology that can only offer fear.

Voting for Barack Obama is the only way to bring about the change this nation needs. John McCain is not the answer when all he has to offer is opinions of why he should be President because his opponent is only offering hope. When it comes to the hopes and dreams of all Americans I can not think of one reason that anyone would vote out of fear. It isn’t in our American blood and upbringing to do so. We know what is right and what is wrong in America and that is why we are a land of laws. In that respect I offer this must see or listen to video…

Video Link



Barack Obama said his peace on National Telvision tonight on many of the networks in his half hour reach to you as Americans as to what he can do for you and our nation. That is who he is. This election is not about him as much as it is all about you, the left behind American. Where do you want to put America in the next four years? Vote accordingly.

Papamoka

To the Center has this post up!

Obama Double Digit Poll Leads

Battleground states are falling heavily for Barack Obama and by double digit leads according to MSNBC today. I believe these numbers are coming from the University of Wisconsin poll and this is what they show. Obama is ahead of McCain in Minnesota 19%, Wisconsin 13%, Michigan 22%, Iowa 13%, Illinois 29%, Indiana 10%, Ohio 12 % and Pennsylvania by 11%.

Video Link



Just for giggles I went over to Real Clear Politics and plugged this information into the Electoral Map. I love this feature and find myself using it at least a couple of days a week. Mind you the map starts out with Obama at 259 and McCain at 157 solid electoral college votes, leaning states move the map to 306 to 157 in Obama’s favor. That leaves 75 electoral college votes in toss up mode.

If you change all the states leaning to Obama or McCain and then plug in MN, WI, MI, IA, IL, IN, OH, PA all over to Obama and give John McCain all the toss up states (MT, ND, NV, MO, NC, FL) you end up with Obama winning 317 to 221.

If you look at the maps from another perspective and click on the “No Toss Ups” option, McCain would need to win OH, PA, IN, VA, NC, and FL to get to 270 to win the Presidency.

Papamoka

HeadzUp Political Cartoons

I came across this site today called HeadzUp TV and was laughing myself senseless. There isn't much in politics that is down and out funny. All of the candidates take themselves so serious and every once in a while they should all take a step back just to laugh.

Video Link

Latest Obama Ad

One of the things that has pissed me off in the Presidential election is the fact that neither of the candidates has been talking about the isssues that WE need them to be talking about. Finally, one of them is talking about the issues...



Finally! Now we can insert some common sense into this election process and get away from the cat fights between the candidates.

Papamoka

Heads up thanks to Jeff from WormTown Taxi on this post!

Racism in Politics

Sometimes you just have to call it like you see it from your own perspective in the world and I see racism in this election process for President. Something that most die hard liberals would love to concede as a war won in the late sixties and seventies but I dare to disagree and believe it has survived into the new Millenium.

In this great land we all love so much there is extreme racism and it is alive and well in the minds of the elite politicians on the right side of the political aisle. Dare I even say that it goes all the way up to the RNC candidate for President in 08? You can almost sense the “N” word coming out of the mouth of their candidate as if to say how dare he even try and compete with me? All of his commercials play that way? Tell me they don’t? Insert the “N” word wherever he mentions his opponent and you have the message sold to people that simply can not accept the fact that a Harvard graduate at the top of his class is not worthy of being President of the United States because of the color of his skin.

Where did the RNC candidate graduate in his class? Dare I say third from the bottom? Can we raise the bar on the education level needed to be President of the United States from third from the bottom of your class?

And yes, I am playing the race card simply because the Republican Party and their candidate is playing the sexist card. Tit for Tat or is that a sexist comment too? Dare I say Lipstick on a pig is still just a pig when it comes to describing a political issue? A phrase going back decades before Obama was born and used repeatedly in heated Republican debates over many issues in decades past. Is that now a sexist phrase banned from the English political language now because only white, rich, influential and Republican’s politicians can only use it? When your campaign has to reach to the lows of push polls against Jewish voters, Catholic voters, and any weak link in the democrat base that might have well as come from a phone bank of the KKK then I can not vote for John McCain. Even if he had nothing to do with the polling, people backing him did it, are doing it, and will continue to do it. That is not an America my children need to grow up in and it is not something I could ever condone.

Racism is alive and well over at the GOP and it is not just over the color of your skin but the income level you live. They have managed to separate Americans in multiple levels to declare us against them but somehow mask themselves as them when the push polls are issued and warranted in the need to raise votes?

This whole election is coming down to money and the tax cuts for the mega rich that need to be protected and defended at all cost. Or is it more than that? No, I’m pretty sure that Obama cutting the taxes on 90% of the people in America that is going to offset it by returning the tax rates of Bill Clinton is what it is all about. The top 2% of income earners like Warren Buffet (Democrat) will finally pay more percentage points in taxes than someone making $40,000 per year.

In my own life I have been blessed to live among people of many nationalities, colors, and just a diverse community of people. Our children play with our neighbors who are black, white, yellow, green, and blue. Yes, Papa Smurf also lives in my neighborhood and he and I are the best of friends because we do not see the color of a persons skin but the integrity of their heart. I love them all like family and they think the same simply because we are a well knit community of families looking out for one another. It’s the same thing your parents had in the sixties and seventies only the parents and friends just don’t all happen to be white. Their children are my families concern and my children are theirs. No race relations or disharmony here. With us, it’s our kids future and not racial problems of any magnitude. What we have here in the smaller neighborhoods of this major city is something that needs to be built up from the bottom up. Trickle down politics will never instill the spirit needed to foster a neighborly concern and love for all children amongst us. From our young children comes the growing together of the parents and the issues that separate us all that slowly will diminish, fade away, and disappear.

There are serious reasons why people like myself that are middle of the road voters no longer blindly follow one party or the other and it is the mudslinging crap that both sides in this election are so guilty of. Lately, it seems the McCain camp is intent on throwing tons of mud and hoping just one ounce sticks to the wall in one last ditch hope of scaring the electorate into voting for him. I’m not buying it and I voted for Ronald Reagan twice! Bill Weld as Governor, and Mitt Romney as Governor. At least Reagan had the guts to fight the elections on the damn issues and not lies. That is something John McCain is not doing and he is playing cards that he really does not want to hold in his hand as a Maverick. You can’t win a poker game when your Democrat opponent has legitimate cards to play based on the issues and the best you can do is bluff poorly.

When the election is over I hope and pray that we as Americans vote our pocket book and our children’s future. One candidate is offering them one, the other wants to enlist them in the next hundred year war. Not my babies, I hope?

Papamoka