Paul Ryan calls Obama a Divider not a Uniter

Wasn't that left over from the Bush administration ?   Having said that, Ryan and his fellow republicans on the hill got together in a room 3 1/2 years ago and decided they would support NOTHING Obama was for.  If Obama was for the word Monday to start with the letter M they would still oppose it, no matter what. That was the blood pact.  Then, can you imagine them saying "just wait til we tell everyone that it's all HIS fault the country is divided."

While on the subject of Ryan, the Daily Show pointed out that while Ryan is known for being the one who hates the deficit more than anyone, it is worth mentioning that things like Bush Tax cuts, other tax cuts, two wars, TARP, and other things that ran up the debt were ALL THINGS PAUL RYAN VOTED FOR !!!!

HYPOCRITE

Is an entitlement always socialism

The most conservative of Americans talk about government handouts, entitlements, if you will, and call these things "socialism," yet few conservatives ever lump in things like the "untouchable" subsidies to big business. Subsidies that supposedly aren't "socialism" yet are government handouts.

10 Political & Economic Imponderables

What a friend of mine on the far right (and truly, NOT a common sense guy) posted on his facebook.   He hates Obama.  Some points are valid ...perhaps number 2 is a tad bit racist ...but even though I think there are arguments to be made against each of these statements, I will give him his due on them on face value.  This blog is, after all, about common sense. 

 

10 Political and Economic Imponderables that should Drive Every American Crazy

1. Only in America could politicians talk about the greed of the rich, at a $40,000-a-plate campaign fund raising event.



2. Only in America could people claim that the government still discriminates against black Americans when we have a black President, a black Attorney General and a federal workforce that is roughly 18% black when entire the black population is only 12%.



3. Only in America could we have had the two people most responsible for our tax code — Timothy Geithner, the head of the Treasury Department and Charles Rangel who once ran the Ways and Means Committee — turn out to be tax cheats who are in favor of higher taxes.



4. Only in America can we have terrorists kill people in the name of Allah and have the media primarily react by fretting that Muslims might be upset by the backlash.



5. Only in America would we make people who, want to legally become American citizens, wait for years in their home countries and pay tens of thousands of dollars for the privilege, while we discuss letting anyone who sneaks into the country illegally just become American citizens.



6. Only in America could the people who believe in balancing the budget and sticking by the country’s Constitution be thought of as “extremists.”



7. Only in America could you need to present a driver’s license to cash a check or buy alcohol, but not to vote.



8. Only in America could people demand the government investigate whether oil companies are gouging the public - because the price of gas went up - when the return on equity invested in a major U.S. oil company (Marathon Oil) is less than half of what a company that manufactures sports shoes and apparel overseas (Nike) makes.



9. Only in America could the government collect more tax dollars from the people than any nation in recorded history, still spend a trillion dollars more than it has per year for total spending ($7 million PER MINUTE), and complain that it doesn’t have nearly enough money.



10. Only in America could the rich people - who pay 86% of all income taxes - be accused of not paying their “fair share” by people who don’t pay any income taxes at all.

With fond ...or not so fond memories of Aqua's hit Barbie Girl , her comes Swiss Miss to perform Romney Girl, which details his swiss bank accounts and when he wins "he is rich, you are poor."


"I'm a Romney girl, i na Romney world"

Gotye Parody Obama I Used To Know

Whatever side of the aisle you are on, OBAMA that I USED TO KNOW is one of the best done and most creative youtube vids I have ever seen.   Stay with it to the end for the real message.




"You can get addicted to a certain kind of message -- like this is change we can believe in, yes we can. "But college ended had to pay my rent. At least you're the first gay president. But the change I got is that I moved in with my mother." And the chorus: "Because you won and then you cut me off. Now your speeches never soar as high as unemployment. You took ObamaCare so far, but you left me like a dog strapped on Romney's car."

Obama Should be lauded as a Conservative Legend ..but there is just NO common sense in politics.

IMAGINE if a Republican President

• pulled us out of the worst recession since the great depression, and possibly saved us from a modern depression.
• Produced 2 straight years of private sector growth
• created over 4 million jobs
• saved the American auto industry
• killed Osama Bin Laden
• aided in killing Ghadafi without an American Casualty
• Finally ended the War In Iraq (Mission Accomplished ?)
• Championed the lowest taxes in decades

He'd be considered a conservative legend but instead, he is called a socialist, anti American foreign born  Muslim who hates capitalism and small business (even made a speech in Roanoke about how MUCH he hates and disprespects small business by having the audacity to claim the tax payer road built the business owner drove to work on might just possibly have had a hand in his success)

These politics of misinformation and half truths must stop.  The Common Sense Party !

2012 Election is Gilligans Island

The Professor or Thurston Howell ?

Trailer Trash Red State Moment

Hot girls from a distance ?   Giving trailer Trash a new meaning ...just wondering how many teeth between the two of them ?  A dozen maybe ?

Now in case you didn't realize it ...these girls ..and the creator of the sign they stand in front of ...VOTE. Shouldn't you ?

Political Cartoon of the Day - whose entitlements ?

Here we have the duhhhhh Redneck Tea Party believer in all he believes having a little truth with his morning cup of coffee. When lower my taxes and cut entitlements becomes ...oh no not those entitlements.

Would He Support Obama Care ?

Two Lies of Culture

"Our culture has accepted two huge lies: The first is that if you disagree with someone's lifestyle, you must fear them or hate them. The second is that to love someone means you agree with everything they believe or do. Both are nonsense. You don't have to compromise convictions to be compassionate." - Rick Warren

Republican Conservatives Not What It Used To Be

On NPR Weekend Edition Sunday we heard from a man who was a lifelong conservative, who is disgusted with the way the ideals of Reagan are being put forth.  He says his party and beliefs have become very different than before.  Not FOR anything but only against things.  Too much hate. The base of his GOP in Kansas is simply exiling moderates.  "I think the lines have been drawn in the sand. Bridges have been burned. Everybody is all-in this election," says Jim Denning, one of the conservative candidates for the state's senate.  Tim Owens is Dennings political opponent and has been fending off Koch Brothers funded attacks saying he stands with Obama. 
"The conservative element today is a far cry from what the conservative was when I was growing up," he says. "It's angry. It's hateful.""Being a conservative Republican, I'm not crazy, I'm not vicious," he says. "I'm a very reasonable human being."

This culture of hatred has got to stop.

Monologue from The Newsroom on HBO

The character of Will McAvoy is played by Jeff Daniels ...who plays a SUPER smart and devoted to justice news anchor on cable. Think a better Keith Olberman.  (Is he KO?)  I knew that Aaron Sorkin is a genuis from The West Wing and The American President.  This is still the amazing writing of Sorkin but with good acting and drama around it.   A great cast including Olivia Munn. Here is the monologue that sold me and should sell everyone who votes on any awards show.    In the opening scene of the entire series, McAvoy is in a roundtable and is WHY is America The greatest country in the world...and he replies ....

Will McAvoy:
 It's not the greatest country in the world, professor, that's my answer.
Moderator: You're saying...
Will McAvoy: Yes.
Moderator: Let's talk about...
Will McAvoy: Fine. Sharon, the NEA is a loser. Yeah, it accounts for a penny out of our paychecks, but he gets to hit you with it anytime he wants. It doesn't cost money, it costs votes. It costs airtime and column inches. You know why people don't like liberals? Because they lose. If liberals are so fuckin' smart, how come they lose so GODDAM ALWAYS! And with a straight face, you're going to tell students that America's so starspangled awesome that we're the only ones in the world who have freedom? Canada has freedom, Japan has freedom, the UK, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Australia, Belgium has freedom. Two hundred seven sovereign states in the world, like 180 of them have freedom. And you... sorority girl. Yeah, just in case you accidentally wander into a voting booth one day, there are some things you should know, and one of them is that there is absolutely no evidence to support the statement that we're the greatest country in the world. We're seventh in literacy, twenty-seventh in math, twenty-second in science, forty-ninth in life expectancy, 178th in infant mortality, third in median household income, number four in labor force, and number four in exports. We lead the world in only three categories: number of incarcerated citizens per capita, number of adults who believe angels are real, and defense spending, where we spend more than the next twenty-six countries combined, twenty-five of whom are allies. None of this is the fault of a 20-year-old college student, but you, nonetheless, are without a doubt, a member of the WORST-period-GENERATION-period-EVER-period, so when you ask what makes us the greatest country in the world, I don't know what the fuck you're talking about? Yosemite? We sure used to be. We stood up for what was right! We fought for moral reasons, we passed and struck down laws for moral reasons. We waged wars on poverty, not poor people. We sacrificed, we cared about our neighbors, we put our money where our mouths were, and we never beat our chest. We built great big things, made ungodly technological advances, explored the universe, cured diseases, and cultivated the world's greatest artists and the world's greatest economy. We reached for the stars, and we acted like men. We aspired to intelligence; we didn't belittle it; it didn't make us feel inferior. We didn't identify ourselves by who we voted for in the last election, and we didn't scare so easy. And we were able to be all these things and do all these things because we were informed. By great men, men who were revered. The first step in solving any problem is recognizing there is one-America is not the greatest country in the world anymore.
[to moderator]
Will McAvoy: Enough?  

Romney and the Republican Hypocrisy

Mitt Romney and other Republicans are showing a level of hypocrisy that is unreal and counter productive.  Republican leaders have emphasized that they would rather see the economy fail than Obama win. 

Romney laments the toll outsourcing has taken on our economy, got rich
investing in companies that did that.

Romney urged Fla Gov Rick Scott to downplay good economic news in the
state (Bloomberg)

Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell says unemployment in this state is at its
lowest unemployment in 3 years ...admitting that its been falling
since Obama has been in office.Yet he is one of Obama's biggest critics and is on the list to be Romney's VP candidate.

Ohio unemployment fell three percent, mostly due to the auto industry
rescue ..yet the Republican governor there, John Kasich downplays it.

Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell has said his party's top
priority is to defeat Obama. Not to create jobs. Not to get our
economy going again. But to win an election.

Bipartisan ideas that would create as many as 1 million new jobs for
our teachers, police officers, firefighters and construction
workers.have been thwarted.

Because things are the way they are, things will not stay the way they
are." --Bertolt Brecht

Mitt Romney Vice President Choice -No Girls Allowed

So Mitt Romney has all but wrapped up the Republican nomination, and
its time to think about who will be his running mate.  Likely, he will
pick someone more conservative than he is perceived to be to bolster
the support of the Tea Party faction of the GOP, and maybe someone who
can help him in one of the states where the race is expected to be
razor thin between him and O'Bama.  While the independents went for
Obama last time, its expected that Romney will get his fair share of
those with his moderate policies.  Where he needs help is getting the
very conservative voters to get behind him with both their votes, and
their dollars.

This website believes that the ultea conservatives will come out in
droves on Election Day, not because of their love for Romney, but
more because they think less of the sitting president than even Mitt.

Will Paul Rubio be the choice ? Rubio actually thinks Jeb Bush would
be the ideal choice.  Chris Christie didn't want to run for prez but
he sure doesn't mind being thought of as a VP possibiltiy.  Dare
Romney go so far right as Paul Ryan of Wisconsin ?  Indiana Gov Mitch
Daniels and Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell are in the discussion.

This website wishes a common sense moderate like Mike Huckabee were
being considered, but common sense seems too much to ask.
Where are the women in the discussion?Sen. Kelly Ayotte of NH and Gov
Mary Fallin of Oklahoma ?  Not likely, and don't even think about
Sarah Palin.

Bruce Springsteen For President

Here is the stump speech for Bruce Springsteen, presidential candidate, composed using only lyrics and themes from Wrecking Ball. From Chris Richards, writing in the Washington Post.

My fellow Americans,
We’ve been traveling over rocky ground. Trudging through the dark in a world gone wrong. Forty days and nights of rain have washed this land.
No rifles cut us down, no bombs fell from the sky — but just as sure as the hand of god, all them fat cats, vultures, and robber barons brought death to our home.
They destroyed our families’ factories, and they took our homes. Their crimes have gone unpunished; they walk the street as free men now. Up on Banker’s Hill, the party’s still going strong. If I had a gun, I’d find the bastards and shoot ’em on sight.
Whoah-oh.
What is this land, America? The banker man grows fat, the working man grows thin. The gambling man rolls the dice, the working man pays the bill. The road of good intentions has gone dry as a bone.
What is this land, America? Where’s the eyes with the will to see? Where’s the promise, from sea to shining sea? We take care of our own? There ain’t no help.
Where you once had faith, now there’s only doubt.
Whoah-oh-whoah.
We will be alright. We made the steel that built the cities with the sweat of our two hands. Hammer the nails, harvest your crops. Pull that engine apart until she’s running right. Freedom is a dirty shirt — the sun on your face and your shovel in the dirt. These hands built the country. The McNichols, the Polaskis, the Smiths, Zerellis too — the blacks, the Irish, the Italians, the Germans and the Jews.
They died in the fields and factories. They died in Maryland in 1877, when the railroad workers made their stand. They were killed in 1963, one Sunday morning in Birmingham. They died last year, crossing the southern desert, children left behind in San Pablo. But their spirits rise to carry the fire.
We stood the job, now we’ll stand the flood.
We’ll start caring for one another. We take care of our own.
I will provide for you, and I’ll stand by your side. Dreams will not be thwarted. Faith will be rewarded. A new day is rising.
Raise your children, teach them to walk straight and true. Pick up the rock, son, and carry it on.
Grab your ticket and your suitcase. Meet me in a land of hope and dreams.
Whoah-oh-whoah.
I want everybody to stand up and be counted tonight. Hold tight to your anger, don’t fall to your fears.
There’s a new world coming. I can see the light.
Good night, and God bless America.

Would Jesus treat someone with a pre-existing condition ?

Shame that this dives the point home.  I think if the court overturns the healthcare law, insurance companies denial of service to those who need it most is more harmful to society than any of the so called socialism scares the right is conjuring.   As bad as those who hate Obamacare hate the government running things, the grip of insurance companies MUST be loosened somehow.

Obamacare death will be due to partisanship, NOT common sense

There was a SNL skit during the healthcare debate before congress where the players imitating the Republican members indicated that they could indeed support Obama if only he would change HIS position.  It was comical...but it was true....as their is often truth in the best comedy.

President Barack Obama: Sen. McConnell, as the Senate Minority Leader, I want you to have a voice too. Now, uh, what can I do to bring the rest of the Republican Party into the conversation.

Mitch McConnell : Well, uh, Mr. President, maybe I can explain the Republican position -- it's not that we don't want health care to fail. We don't! We just want you to fail. And defeating health care reform is the best way to do that.

[ President Obama clenches his jaw. ]

Mitch McConnell : Because if you fix health care, that would be a big victory for you and that's bad for us.

[ The President rubs his neck over and over. ]

Mitch McConnell : With that said, I could see us supporting health care but only if you switch your position to AGAINST it. 

Does anyone see the point ? Who on earth could be for giving the insurance companies even MORE dominance over our lives. Letting them continue to deny people who have indeed paid premiums all their lives to enrichen the insurance companies...DENY them life saving coverage when they may need it most because of pre-existing conditions.  Republicans can do that ..checking their moral character in the mirror on the way out the door, somehow telling themselves they saved the country from the socialism they so preach about.  I will consider the irony of the fact that I am now not required to buy medical insurance the next time I am at the DMV where the State of Virginia requires me to buy auto insurance, but somehow THIS doesn't threaten a cloud of socialism to anyone who has gone along with that program all along.  Republicans have been claiming they will defeat Obamacare at the ballot box.  Now with a partisan group of the 9 most powerful men and women in the world, MORE powerful easily than the congress, senate, or president (just ask Al Gore), about to drive the dagger into the most incredibly needed piece of legislation that has been passed in my lifetime. 

I am sad that partisan politics has come this far.  Ruining a good idea for the sake of that it wasn't their idea.   

Who Said It ..Romney or Burns

Limbaugh Lies and Offends EVERY Woman

Recently, Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) angrily walked out of a congressional hearing on the contraception coverage rule last month because the one female witness the Democrats brought,  was not allowed to speak because a republican deemed her  "unqualified" to contribute to the issue at hand.  She was to add the young woman's perspective, as a college student at Georgetown.   Basically, she could relate to a fellow student who lost an ovary because the birth control she needed for a medical condition was not affordable.  Sounds like many would say she DID have something to say. 

But Rush Limbaugh says she is a "slut" and a "prostitute."    Her name is Sandra Fluke.  She is a law student.  She is most certainly not a prostitute, and no woman deserves to be called the other name Limbaugh called her.  He also insulted young women by saying he would by aspirin for Georgetown girls to put between their legs. 

My problem is not a First Amendment problem...Mr. Limbaugh has the right to say whatever he feels and believes. But what this blog is becoming about, this discourse that it acceptable to some, is just poison. Because Limbaugh will certainly continue to be hated by his haters, but, a great many people will tune right in again to him, unoffended by this.  I think, personally, that broadcasters have been fired for less.  I'd like to see him pay with his job.  But, that won't happen, because he is basically self employed.  The only way to get rid of him is to complain to the station that broadcasts him and demand his removal ..but it will never happen.   What bothers me is that nobody walked out of the room Limbaugh was speaking to. 

Some of the poisonous diatribe in politics today is muddy half truths.  But, all too often, and dare I say all too often from the right, its just lies ..and in this case, a young and bright woman, a future lawyer, being the brunt of very hurtful lies, as Limbaugh said on his show about her,  "What does it say about the college co-ed Susan Fluke [sic] who goes before a congressional committee and essentially says that she must be paid to have sex -- what does that make her? It makes her a slut, right? It makes her a prostitute. She wants to be paid to have sex. She's having so much sex she can't afford the contraception. She wants you and me and the taxpayers to pay her to have sex."


Mr Limbaugh  ..and Mr Limbaugh's listeners and supporters, that is just undefendable BS.

As I always say on this blog ..go ahead and disagree and use whatever the facts are to back up your positions, and you probably can get accomplished whatever your agenda is.  But, folks, we with common sense, MUST begin to stand up against dialogue like this ....the half truths and the lies must exit from the conversation, or we are sunk as a society, because it makes the great idea of democracy, to ugly to stomach in it's current form.