Healing Viet Nam--Thanks President Obama

This is why I support the President:


http://projectagentorange.com/simplemachinesforum/index.php?topic=181.msg2917#msg2917

and

http://projectagentorange.com/simplemachinesforum/index.php?topic=181.msg2918#msg2918

Why the Republicans Lost

We took down Allen West and some of his best Tea Party friends.

 Over a year ago, we decided to create CREDO SuperPAC in order to take down some of the most odious and extreme Tea Party Republicans in the House. People like Allen West who were just too crazy to serve in Congress and who set a new low for what is acceptable from Republicans in public life.

 On Tuesday we did just that. We took down Allen West. And Joe Walsh. And Chip Cravaack. And Frank Guinta. Dan Lungren is trailing his opponent as final provisional and absentee ballots are being counted. And Michele Bachmann got the biggest scare of her political career — she retained her seat by a shockingly small margin of just over 4,000 votes.

 To put in perspective just how difficult it was to pull off this feat, you need to know that 98% of incumbents win re-election. It is against those astonishing odds that we defeated five Tea Party Republicans who not only enjoyed the deep coffers of being a sitting member of Congress but who also were backed by tens of millions of dollars in rightwing super PAC ads which flooded the airwaves with negative television advertising attacking Democratic challengers.

 To defend the most extreme band of Republicans in federal office in history, outside groups spent hundreds of millions of dollars, mainly on broadcast television ads. The response of the Democratic establishment and some of the biggest liberal groups in Washington DC was to fight fire with fire, launching big money ad campaigns and millions in direct mail.

 We went a different way. We fought fire with water.

 Instead of raising and spending millions in anonymous contributions, we built our campaign with the donations of nearly 70,000 CREDO activists and customers, giving one $20 bill at a time.

 Instead of spending millions on huge ad buys in the districts, we empowered over 3,000 local volunteers to get involved and hold their extremist representatives accountable, deploying proven voter contact methods in the most cost-effective ways.

 Our campaign shaped these races, and put our progressive values squarely in the local and national conversations in this election. We hired progressive organizers and opened local storefront offices that quickly became community gathering places for activists working on our campaign. We held protests in their districts, we packed their town hall meetings, we got local and national journalists to cover the Tea Party Ten's extreme statements and actions.

 And then of course we knocked on over 120,000 doors. And made over a million phone calls. And had the volunteer-to-voter conversations which are the single most effective way to move voters. Thanks to this work, and in the wake of the defeat of Allen West and the other Tea Party Ten members, all Republicans are now on notice: If you continue your attacks on women, Medicare, minorities and the middle class there will be a high price to pay.
In the districts of the Tea Party Ten and Michele Bachmann, we were up against nearly $30 million in spending by conservative super PACs. We won five races but we didn't win them all. We fought valiant efforts to defeat Tea Party Republicans Mike Coffman (CO-6), Mike Fitzpatrick (PA-8), Sean Duffy (WI-7), Jim Renacci (OH-16) and Steve King (IA-4) but Republicans prevailed.

 We didn't pick any of these races because they were easy; we picked them because they were hard, close, competitive contests. Many of them we chose at the end of last year, knowing a lot would change but wanting to get started building this campaign, because we know that volunteer-driven field campaigns cannot be built overnight.

 We're proud of the work we've done, and so thankful to the donors, volunteers and activists who got involved and worked to make it happen. We look forward to continuing the fight together as we move forward.

 We learned in 2008 that election night is not the end of our work but the beginning. And now that we've built CREDO SuperPAC we're not about to hang it up on the shelf.

 Of course, there were a few other things decided on Tuesday as well.

 We're pleased to see our friend Elizabeth Warren will represent Massachusetts in the Senate, and that Tammy Baldwin will become the first openly gay Senator in American history. We also cheered the defeat of some of the most appallingly anti-woman Senate candidates like Todd Akin in Missouri and Richard Mourdock in Indiana.

 And of course, it's difficult to see Mitt Romney's defeat as anything other than a resounding referendum on his ideology, and a great disaster averted for our country. We will now continue to push President Obama not to deal away Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security benefits and to show at long last the real leadership we so desperately need to fight the urgent threat of climate change.

 There is much to do. But Tuesday's defeat of Allen West and his Tea Party compatriots from the House was a clear victory for grassroots activism and a clear defeat for the Tea Party ideology that has gridlocked Congress and worked to move us backwards.

We are grateful to everyone who has stood with us through this — CREDO's biggest electoral effort ever — in the past year, and for your continued efforts to fight for the progressive values we all share. Thank you so much for everything you have done.

Becky Bond and Michael Kieschnick
CREDO Action from Working Assets

Now Let's Really Change History

President Obama made a name for himself in Chicago. His first term was very much like the first term of Mayor Harold Washington. Harold Washington changed the whole fabric of Chicago during both terms, but the second term--well, he was just too great..

So, Mr. President, please live up to the legacy of Harold Washington--and do whatever has to be done.

Yes!

Yes!

The Sierra Club Endorses the President

Obama has made historic progress growing our clean energy economy, lowering our oil dependence, cutting climate-disrupting emissions, and slashing toxic pollution from coal-fired power plants. Romney named an oil executive and a coal lobbyist as his top energy advisers and released a plan to give Big Oil billions in tax giveaways while they drill on public lands.

--Sierra Club

Why Would A Woman Vote Republican?

Check these links out:

http://adaysencounter.com/wordpress/?p=1465

http://adaysencounter.wordpress.com/2012/10/24/republican-candidates-on-the-issue-of-rape-and-violence-towards-women/

Romney's Bain Capital Against Minority Voters

Apparently, media giant Clear Channel thinks its a-okay to use its billboards to intimidate voters in an effort to keep people of color from voting.

Last week, an anonymous group started plastering Black and Latino neighborhoods in Ohio and Wisconsin with billboards implying that people can be prosecuted for trying to vote. Despite widespread protests, Clear Channel has refused to take the billboards down, claiming that they aren’t responsible for the content.

Of course, Clear Channel has refused to put up political billboards before -- in fact, just a few months ago, they refused to let us put up a billboard denouncing the climate change-denying Heartland Institute, with the reasoning “you can’t criticize a corporation.”

Tell Clear Channel to stop profiting from voter intimidation -- take the billboards down NOW!.

We’ve seen unprecedented attempts to suppress voting in communities of color over the last year. State governments have tried to purge voter rolls, made registering to vote more difficult, and curbed early and absentee voting -- often at the behest of corporate-friendly lobbying groups like ALEC. Rightwing politicians say that these measures are meant to curb voter fraud, but so far, no one has found a single instance of voter fraud that these policies would have stopped. The real point of these laws is to make voting harder for poor people, students, and people of color.

Now Clear Channel -- which, surprise, surprise, is owned by Bain Capital -- is getting in on the action. We might not have much influence over the state governments of Ohio, Pennsylvania, or Wisconin, but Clear Channel, which is also the U.S.’s largest radio company, had better listen to us.

If Clear Channel is going to stop SumOfUs.org members from denounce big corporations for financing climate deniers, you can bet we’re not going to let them tell people not to vote.

Tell Clear Channel to take down these intimidating billboards.

Thanks

Kaytee, Rob, and the team at SumOfUs.org

Keeping Another Promise

By Mary Bruce


The President said:

“After losing about 800,000 jobs a month when I took office, our businesses have now added 5.2 million new jobs over the past two and a half years, and on Friday, we learned that the unemployment rate is now at its lowest level since I took office. More Americans are entering the work force. More Americans are getting jobs.

“Too many of our friends and neighbors are still looking for work or struggling to pay the bills – many of them since long before this crisis hit. We owe it to them to keep moving forward. We’ve come too far to turn back now. And we’ve made too much progress to return to the policies that got us into this mess in the first place.

“But for some reason, some Republicans in Congress are still waging an all-out battle to delay, defund and dismantle these common-sense new rules. Why? Do they think undoing rules that protect families from the worst practices of credit card companies and mortgage lenders will make the middle class stronger? Do they think getting rid of rules to prevent another crisis on Wall Street will make Main Street any safer?

“Republicans in Congress need to stop trying to refight the battles of the past few years, and finally start doing something to actually help the middle class get ahead.

“If we’re going to keep this economy moving forward, there’s no time for political games. Even in a political season. Everyone needs to do their part.”

So Maybe Monsanto Will Be The Real President If We Vote For Romney

Romney's first project with Bain in 1977: Help propel Monsanto
by S. D. Wells

(NaturalNews) One year before Mitt Romney began working on the Bain & Company project to rebuild "Monsanto" and cast their new image and focus on agriculture biotechnology, Congress passed a bill banning PCB (polychlorinated biphenyl), an odorless, tasteless, clear liquid known to cause cancer that was the "bread and butter" of Monsanto's profits. Monsanto was already branded and plagued with the label of having created the "Agent Orange" contaminated dioxins used in Vietnam. Now Monsanto would need a big save, financially and reputation-wise, so they could fool the public with their new image and a new "frontier," while secretly polluting and genetically modifying American agriculture with the new faceless poison known as Roundup.

Romney knew his first job at Bain was to propel an evil company that was on the brink of failure. He knew Monsanto's previous reputation and about all the litigation. Romney also knew he would be rewarded financially in the biggest way if he could pull the whole thing off, and he did. Romney changed Monsanto's image over the years, from a scandal ridden chemical giant to a seemingly "prestigious" Agri-business firm. (http://dprogram.net)

Fresh out of Harvard in 1977, Romney basically lead Monsanto down an unethical but highly lucrative path, helping sweep the PCB and dioxin scandals under the rug, since that negative public perception was crippling the company. Romney and Bain recommended to Monsanto that they focus the business on genetically engineered crops and RoundUp, the massively profitable weed killer. Monsanto finished developing and patenting the glyphosate molecule and has marketed Roundup ever since. (http://naturalsociety.com)

But it wasn't a "pretty" road to this infamous success for Romney. Monsanto was still bombarded with an onslaught of litigation throughout Romney's years at Bain, including a $180 million settlement covering the claims of over 50,000 troops that got cancer from hiking over and through Agent Orange in the burned up jungles of Vietnam. Agent Orange is on record to have contaminated a total of 10 million Vietnamese and American people, including children and babies. This was by far the largest chemical warfare operation in human history up until now, when Monsanto's RoundUp laced GMO vegetables like corn and soy have begun a cancer inducing genocide which could easily surpass the damage done in the Vietnam jungles just 50 years ago. (http://naturalsociety.com)

Romney would later use his Monsanto "payback money" and power to become the "private equity king," mowing down companies and robbing workers of their retirement savings. (http://dprogram.net) This is how Romney created jobs back then, and GMO is how he will create jobs and promote disease if he wins the presidency of the United States. Big Pharma, of course, is behind it all, because when people eat GM vegetables and get cancer, Big Pharma and the chemo scam make billions, if not trillions.

Romney has already chosen his biotech partners in crime

One of Mitt's advisory co-chairs was a key speaker at the 'Biotechnology Industry Organization' and said, "It is vital for the United States and other countries to support science-based standards and systems that will bring agricultural biotechnology products to the market to meet this demand." It's not hard to guess who will make up Romney's cabinet if he wins.

Do We Want Bain Capital to be President?

Romney was a huge Monsanto pusher when he worked for Bain! (Yep, they're both--Romney and Bain--Monsanto sellouts... is anyone surprised?

--NaturalNews Insider Alert

I Didn't Know the Koch Brothers Were Running for President

Big polluters like the Koch brothers are spending millions and millions of dollars in this election. In August alone, the Koch group Americans for Prosperity spent $25 million1 on attack ads targeting President Obama. And that's just one group, in one month, in one race. So far this year, there's been more than $150 million spent on ads promoting dirty-energy policies.2

Flooding the airwaves with misleading ads is all big polluters can do, because in their fight to tear down our clean-air and water protections, they know they don't have the facts on their side.

Now you can help your friends and family see through the fog of attack ads and soundbites... and get the facts about what's really at stake. The Sierra Club's new online Voter Guide puts that power in your hands.

Check out candidates running for office in your state with the Sierra Club's new Voter Guide, then share it with your friends on Facebook and Twitter:  http://content.sierraclub.org/voterguide/

To your friends, family, and neighbors, your opinion is worth a whole lot more than any 30-second ad paid for by polluters. That's why the best way to cut through the noise and the clutter of the election season is to simply talk to your friends and family. With our new online Voter Guide, we're giving you a powerful tool to arm them with the facts on some of the key races nationwide.

You can give them information on everything from how to register and where to vote, to where the candidates stand on key issues like:

Clean energy jobs
Clean air & water
America's wild legacy
Women's health
Climate disruption

Find your own slate of Sierra Club-endorsed candidates, and share our Voter Guide so your friends and family can get the facts too: http://content.sierraclub.org/voterguide/

Big polluters will do, say, or spend anything to put their profits before the future of our planet and the health of American families. This election, they've launched a full-scale assault on the safeguards that protect our kids from soot and mercury, and they're taking aim at the strong, new fuel-efficiency standards and clean-energy jobs that threaten their profits. And they've only just begun.

But we've got two things they don't have: people and facts. Find your candidates and go to  http://content.sierraclub.org/voterguide/ and email it, tweet it, share it, post it, pin it -- whatever you can do. Help your friends and family get the facts so they can stand up against the big polluters in this election.

Thanks for all you do to protect our environment,

Cathy Duvall
Sierra Club Political Director

P.S. Another great way to get the word out is to simply send a copy of this message to your friends and family

AND

Their fringe ideology completely ignores scientific fact. Instead, they take orders from Big Oil financiers like the Koch brothers, who have spent more than $100 million in attempts to defeat President Obama at every turn and completely take over Washington.

Sincerely,

Al Gore

Please Do Not Let Us Elect A Scientific Idiot

Romney said: "When you have a fire in an aircraft, there's no place to go, exactly, there's no — and you can't find any oxygen from outside the aircraft to get in the aircraft, because the windows don't open. I don't know why they don't do that. It's a real problem. So it's very dangerous."

Did he not finish college? Does he not understand "pressurized?" How can you vote for someone who doesn't even understand the simple concept of gravity, atmosphere, being dragged out of the window because of the difference in pressure between the outside of an airplane and the inside?

I'm voting for the candidate who has brains and ability--Obama.

Romney: “Let Detroit go bankrupt.”

Remember Mitt Romney’s solution to an auto industry teetering on the brink? “Let Detroit go bankrupt.”

I watched as he kicked autoworkers when they were down. You watched as he told us his “job isn’t to worry about” 47% of Americans.

But we can’t just watch any longer—with just 42 days left, polls are within the margin of error. If you want to elect President Obama and a Democratic majority — I need your support immediately.

Let’s win this.

Jennifer Granholm    


This is from me: Obama saved the Amercian auto industry after Bush tried his hardest (in my opinion) to destroy it--remember that.

Tea Party or Democarcy--the Choice is Obvious: We must support President Obama

What if Congress could protect thousands of American jobs just by passing a bill that has widespread support from across the nation and across the political spectrum? Seems like a no-brainer, right?

But right now, a bill to protect American jobs in the growing wind industry isn't going anywhere, because Speaker of the House John Boehner -- who sets the calendar for the House of Representatives -- doesn't want to schedule it for an up-or-down vote.

Under fierce pressure from the obstructionist Tea Party to let the wind industry wither and die, Boehner and the House leaders are playing a game of chicken with the economy and with thousands of Americans' livelihoods. Congress will keep heading toward disaster until we've put as much pressure on Boehner as the Tea Party has.

Rather than stand up for American workers and their families, Boehner is running out the clock on the wind industry. It's our job to make sure he understands that America knows exactly what's going on, and that we know who's responsible for keeping the Production Tax Credit bottled up in the House.

The wind industry employs 75,000 Americans in manufacturing, installation, and maintenance. These are good-paying jobs for skilled workers, and they're helping the country move beyond the wasteful and outdated energy technologies of the 19th century. And they're disappearing while Boehner delays action. What's he waiting for?

Layoffs have already begun as manufacturing and installation jobs are put on hold. According to news reports, more than 2,000 jobs have already been lost this year.1

The Production Tax Credit needs to be renewed, and it needs to happen now. The longer John Boehner waits to take action, the more jobs will be lost. It's that simple.

Thanks for all you do to protect the environment,

Mary Anne Hitt

Sierra Club Beyond Coal Campaign Director

Romney keeps relearning history's lessons

Romney keeps relearning history's gaffe lessons
By CONNIE CASS

WASHINGTON (AP) - Who says Mitt Romney doesn't worry much about the very poor? That he believes corporations are people, too? That his wife drives two Cadillacs?

Romney himself, that's who. When it comes to portraying the Republican nominee as an uncaring, out-of-touch rich guy, he's his own worst enemy, offering up a bonanza for Democratic attack ads.

Romney hit the trifecta this time by saying that 47 percent of Americans believe they are victims, think "government has a responsibility to care for them" and are unwilling to step up and support themselves.

Another Reason to Vote for President Obama

Go to this link:

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/trending-now/president-obama-gives-iowa-couple-huge-wedding-surprise-170605502.html

Romney and the People in Need

How can we let Romney win?

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/09/secret-video-romney-private-fundraiser

http://in.reuters.com/article/2012/09/18/us-usa-campaign-romney-video-idINBRE88G1H320120918

http://www.theday.com/article/20120918/NWS13/120919684/1047 :

Romney plans no apology for stating that nearly half of Americans "believe that they are victims." 

Today we learned that Mitt Romney said this about Obama supporters to fellow millionaires at a closed-door fundraiser: "There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the President no matter what. All right, there are 47 percent who are with him, who aredependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it. That that's an entitlement. And the government should give it to them. And they will vote for this president no matter what...These are people who pay no income tax ... "My job is not to worry about those people. I'll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives." The man who spoke these words -- who demonstrates such disgust and disdain for half of our fellow Americans -- is the other side's choice for president of the United States. He wants to lead our country.

Today we learned that Mitt Romney said this about Obama supporters to fellow millionaires at a closed-door fundraiser: "There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the President no matter what. All right, there are 47 percent who are with him, who aredependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it. That that's an entitlement. And the government should give it to them. And they will vote for this president no matter what...These are people who pay no income tax ... "My job is not to worry about those people. I'll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives." The man who spoke these words -- who demonstrates such disgust and disdain for half of our fellow Americans -- is the other side's choice for president of the United States. He wants to lead our country.

How can we let him win?

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/09/secret-video-romney-private-fundraiser

http://in.reuters.com/article/2012/09/18/us-usa-campaign-romney-video-idINBRE88G1H320120918

http://www.theday.com/article/20120918/NWS13/120919684/1047 :

Romney plans no apology for stating that nearly half of Americans "believe that they are victims." 

Do We Need An Act Before We Think President? No!!!!!

Romney under friendly fire for his response to embassy attack in Liby
By Holly Bailey, Yahoo! News

Steve Schmidt, who managed John McCain's 2008 campaign, told Yahoo News that Romney's decision to stand behind his initial criticism of Obama could damage his image with voters.

"For people who are running for president, this is a test where people evaluate their mettle as commander in chief, and the Romney campaign put out a statement before the facts were in that politicized the matter and gratuitously attacked the administration for something they did not do," Schmidt said. "The decision to double down on the initial mistake has put them into a potentially very dangerous political situation. During a foreign policy crisis, you can't build a position on a foundation of politics. … The situation remains serious, it's volatile and Romney is appearing to be very political."

The danger for Romney is that his response to the Middle East attacks feeds into a consensus among the news media that his campaign to unseat Obama is in serious trouble. For the fourth time in recent months, prominent conservatives have gone public with fretting over the direction of Romney's campaign—a panic set off most recently by conservative radio host Laura Ingraham's suggestion Monday that if Romney can't beat Obama then the Republican Party should be "shut down." On Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal editorial board piled on, suggesting Romney could lose the election because he's been too vague when it comes to explaining his policies.

Do You Really Like Romney's Medicare Program?

Obama to Use New Study to Attack Mitt Romney on Medicare

By Mary Bruce | ABC OTUS News 

MELBOURNE, Fla. - Campaigning in Florida today, President Obama will seize on a new analysis showing the Romney-Ryan plan would raise Medicare costs to launch fresh attacks against his opponents plan to "voucherize" the popular entitlement program.

Appealing to the large senior population in this key battleground state, the president will highlight anew study by the left-leaning Center for American Progress that found that, under the Romney-RyanMedicare plan, seniors turning 65 in 2023 would see their health care costs increase by $59,500 during retirement.

The analysis found the numbers are even higher for future generation. According to the study, a person who qualifies for Medicare in 2030 would, on average, have to pay an extra $125,000 inMedicare costs over the course of their retirement.

The president ramped up his hammering of his opponents' Medicare proposals on the road Saturday.

"No American should ever have to spend their golden years at the mercy of insurance companies. After a lifetime of labor, you should retire with dignity and respect. You've earned it," he told supporters in Kissimmee, Fla. "We do have to reform and we will strengthen Medicare over the long haul, but we're going to do it by reducing the costs of health care - not by dumping those costs on to seniors."

So Romney Now Likes What Obama Has Done With Healthcare

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, who has called for scrapping President Barack Obama's 2010 U.S. healthcare law, said in remarks aired on Sunday that he likes key parts of "Obamacare" despite his party's loathing of it and wants to retain them.

Romney, who faces Obama in the November 6 election, has vowed throughout the campaign to repeal and replace the Obama healthcare law. But asked about the Obama healthcare law on NBC's "Meet the Press" program, Romney said, "Well, I'm not getting rid of all of healthcare reform."

"Of course, there are a number of things that I like in healthcare reform that I'm going to put in place," Romney added. "One is to make sure that those with pre-existing conditions can get coverage. Two is to assure that the marketplace allows for individuals to have policies that cover their family up to whatever age they might like."

Why the Sierra Club and I am Voting for Obama

From the Sierra Club:

The conventions are over, the speeches are done, and the platforms from both parties have been approved. And when you get down to the details, the differences between President Obama and Mitt Romney couldn't be clearer.

"And yes, my plan will continue to reduce the carbon pollution that is heating our planet because climate change is not a hoax. More droughts and floods and wildfires are not a joke. They're a threat to our children's future. And in this election, you can do something about it."

- President Obama, 9/6/12

Vote for President Obama.

Why Sandra Fluke is Voting for Obama

On Wednesday night, I spoke on the floor at the Democratic Convention about what a Romney-Ryan America would mean for women.

An America in which access to birth control is controlled by people who will never use it.1 In which politicians redefine rape so survivors are victimized all over again.2 In which someone decides which victims of domestic violence deserve help, and which don’t.3

And six months from now, we could all be living in that America.

But we’ve also seen another future we could choose. An America in which our President -- when he hears a young woman has been verbally attacked -- thinks of his daughters. Not his delegates or donors.

We talk often about choice. Now, it's up to all of us to make the choice to support our President with a Democratic majority.

Will you add your name to say that you're standing with President Obama?

Thank you,

Sandra Fluke

Romney Supports Forced Labor and Poor Working Conditions

Earlier this month, Mitt Romney gave a speech with dozens of soot-stained coal miners behind him -- an attempt to show his support from the working class. One problem: Miners say they were forced to attend Romney's rally, without pay, by their bosses at Murray Energy. In the bizarre words of the coal company’s chief operating officer Robert Moore, “Attendance was mandatory but no one was forced to attend the event.”

Murray has a horrible safety record, significantly worse than the industry average, leading to a 2007 mine collapse that resulted in nine deaths -- and now it has taken a good day's wages from employees to shill for a candidate vowing to strip government oversight from their industry and undermine the workers’ safety on the job.

Tell Murray Energy to pay its workers for their mandatory Romney rally.

Murray Energy's CEO, Robert Murray, has used his position like a cudgel, holding weekly meetings for his employees in which he goes on tirades against President Obama and the union that supported him, the United Mineworkers of America. Workers report that they sometimes have their pay envelopes stuffed with political literature.

Even worse, employees said they are routinely pressured to donate to Republican causes and that the company keeps track of who gives and who doesn’t. But for many, being asked to support their boss's candidate, unpaid, was the final straw. One woman called in to a local radio show to speak about her husband, saying “he was really upset that they took his free time with his family away from him.” In general, she said “he felt like they were pushing the Republican choice on him and he felt a little intimidated by that.”

Murray Energy workers are forced to respond to their boss's whims in part because they work at a non-union mine, in an industry that has been vigorously undermining workers’ rights for years. Robert Murray has shown that he doesn't just want to control his employees' work while on the job -- he wants to own their voting habits as well. In an area where jobs are hard to come by, the risk of punishment for speaking up can be too high to do anything. But by standing together, SumOfUs.org members can help these workers use their voice, and fight back against abuses by tyrannical bosses.

Thank you,

Claiborne, Kaytee and the rest of us at SumOfUs.org

Republicans/Liars--Synonyms

Governor Romney and his allies are hell bent on taking President Obama down. And you better believe they're going to spend -- and say -- whatever it takes to make that happen, even if they have to make it up, like the phony attacks charging the President with weakening work requirements for welfare or the charge that he plundered Medicare, when in fact he added eight years to its solvency and closed the doughnut hole in the drug program!



--Bill Clinton

Entitlements

According to Nicholas Eberstadt of the Wall Street Journal (Saturday, 9/1/12--Review Section), Republicans talk the talk, but never walk the walk.

He states that under Republican presidents, entitlements have soared at least eight percent: "...in any given year (over the last fifty), it (entitlements) was on the whole roughly eight percent higher if the president happened to be a Republican rather than a Democrat."

More: "From a purely statistical standpoint, the growth of entitlements over the past half-century has been distinctly greater under Republican administrations than Democratic ones."

A Great Platform

“When you've…walked through that doorway of opportunity, you do not slam it shut behind you. You reach back, and you give other folks the same chances that helped you succeed.” –Michelle Obama

Today, the Democratic Party approved the following language in its 2012 platform:

"We support the right of all families to have equal respect, responsibilities, and protections under the law. We support marriage equality and support the movement to secure equal treatment under law for same-sex couples... 

We oppose discriminatory federal and state constitutional amendments and other attempts to deny equal protection of the laws to committed same-sex couples who seek the same respect and responsibilities as other married couples. We support the full repeal of the so-called Defense of Marriage Act and the passage of the Respect for Marriage Act ...

We know that putting America back to work is Job One, and we are committed to ensuring Americans do not face employment discrimination. We support the Employment Non-Discrimination Act because people should not be fired based on their sexual orientation or gender identity."

Platforms are more than pieces of paper -- they are outlines of where a party will go. President Obama and the Democrats are choosing to move forward.

When the delegates approved this platform today, they put us on the right side of history.

Make sure you and your friends are registered to vote, and show your support at the polls for the only party that's standing up for equality.

Thanks,
Jamie Citron

New Fuel Economy Standards

From the Sierra Clu

The new vehicle fuel-efficiency standards announced on August 28 are the Obama administration's biggest climate accomplishment -- a game changer and the biggest step any administration has ever taken to move us beyond oil. This latest victory is largely thanks to Sierra Club activists like you and will result in 570,000 new jobs, $1.7 trillion saved at the pump, and a nearly 10 percent drop in U.S. carbon emissions from current levels.

A History of Why We Must Vote for President Obama

The following is by Larry Smith,
Caliban Chronicles #5

I have sixty years of political memory. When I was in third grade I was already a committed Democrat and wore a “Stevenson button to school (even though my parents were Republican). My candidate didn’t win either of his runs for the White House, but Eisenhower didn’t turn out to be as bad as I thought he’d be.

Can you imagine any current Republican with the guts to send in the National Guard to desegregate the Little Rock public schools? Or to warn the nation about the danger of the “military-industrial complex”? I was ecstatic when JFK won, but was devastated by the string of assassinations in the 60s, taking the reformers, the champions of justice and equality, out of action.

There were forces of evil at work, but much of the country refused to acknowledge them. I had a first-hand glimpse of those forces when my friends and I attended a Young Americans for Freedom rally in New York City, 1961. We went because we couldn’t believe that there was an ultra-right wing movement for teenagers. What could possibly be the attraction?

After hearing speaker after speaker praise Sen. Joseph McCarthy and watching in horror as John Dos Passos recanted his leftist past and his passion for justice, we knew the ugliness was real. Then there was LBJ’s betrayal of everyone during the Vietnam War, the evil that would overshadow every good thing he did. That was followed by Nixon’s grim era, ending in Watergate. Jimmy Carter, with every good intention, stumbled badly.

Then there was Ronald Reagan, the man who as Governor of California unleashed hordes of Alameda Sheriff’s Deputies armed with shotguns on protestors in Berkeley in 1969, who opened his campaign for the presidency in Philadelphia, Mississippi, where civil rights activists Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner were tortured and killed by the local KKK. It was an ominous show of contempt for the Civil Rights Act of 1965 that has become even more strident today. Reagan was also the beginning of “supply-side economics and the deliberate dismantling of American unions.

He was followed by Daddy Bush, the first Gulf War, Clinton (who stumbled even more badly than Carter when taking on medical reform and the ban against gays in the military). Then there was a stolen presidential election, followed by another that was most likely stolen in Ohio by the manipulation of electronic voting machines that had no paper record.

All of this sounds horrible. There was a lot of darkness during those years, but I have recounted this history in order to suggest that what would ensue if Mitt Romney won the presidency would make all those preceding years look like a picnic. These are not the old.

Republicans, who actually had a liberal wing as well as moderates and conservatives. Through massive schemes of voter suppression, state laws intended to nullify Roe vs. Wade, even an attack on the legality of birth control, and plans to destroy Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, the EPA, and bank regulation, the current radical Republican Party has promised to undo every progressive act of the last 100 hundred years. And yet the media, the great American center, and even many progressives, do not seem concerned.

We are talking about a political coup that would turn on its head virtually everything we accept as modern America society. Have Americans been anesthetized? Hypnotized? This ultra-right incarnation of the Republican Party constitutes a shrinking minority. If they win in 2012, they will try to re-engineer everything, so that free and fair elections at the national level might never happen again. This is what Tom DeLay used to call the “permanent Republican majority”.

There are people who are attracted to right wing authoritarian rule. The excitement these people have in this election cycle is understandable. If you are not one of those people and you are not working to re-elect Barack Obama (a man who has achieved significant success in his first term) and stave off this disaster, I’m afraid you will wake up from your walking sleep only after it’s too late to do anything.

Environmentally, This Is Why We Actually Must Make the Right Choice

Click on this link to see how the Republicans and Democrats differ on environmental issues:

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151063271112572&set=a.72328147571.77213.6204742571&type=1

This is another reason why Obama is the only choice.

Ryan Tells Another Lie

Paul Ryan Trips Over Marathon Question
By Shushannah Walshe

COLUMBUS — Paul Ryan is an athlete, no question about it — we know he does the rigorous P90X exercise regime daily.

But is he a marathoner?

On Hugh Hewitt’s radio show Aug. 22, it sure sounded like he was, at least in his youth.

Hewitt asked the vice presidential candidate whether he is “still running.”

Ryan answered that he “hurt a disc” in his back,” so he doesn’t “run marathons anymore.” Instead, he said. he just runs 10 miles or less.

The conservative radio host then asked him what his personal best time is. For a marathoner this is a badge of honor, but

Ryan couldn’t recall exactly.

“Under three, high twos. I had a two hour and fifty-something,” Ryan said.

Hewitt was surprised, saying, “Holy smokes.”

Ryan replied: “I was fast when I was younger, yeah.”

But it turns out, he’s only run one and it wasn’t under three hours or even under four hours.

Do We Really Want to Vote for Karl Rove...Ooops, I Mean Romney?

Karl Rove said,: “We should sink Todd Akin. If he’s found mysteriously murdered, don’t look for my whereabouts!”

Rape and the Republican Party

Just so Republicans know--rape is always forcible. If a woman wanted to have sex, it would not be forcible. So by definition, rape is a crime because it is forcible or--and here’s other big words Republicans might want to learn--it's coerced, it's violent, it’s against their will. Rape is always forced.

De We Want Racists Running Our Country?

This happened at the Republican Convention. If this is not a wake up call to all minorities and everyone who wants to put racism to an end, I do not know what is. How can anyone choose to vote for a party full of racists? Here is an excerpt:

Peanuts thrown at black camerawoman at GOP meeting

By DAVID BAUDER--Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — A black camerawoman who works for CNN said Thursday that she was not surprised to have two people at the Republican National Convention throw peanuts at her and say "this is what we feed animals."

"I can't change these people's hearts and minds," the camerawoman, Patricia Carroll, said. "No, it doesn't feel good. But I know who I am. I'm a proud black woman. A lot of black people are upset. This should be a wake-up call to black people. ... People were living in euphoria for a while. People think we've gone further than we have."

Ryan's Speech--and His Missteps

Check out this link:

http://news.yahoo.com/fact-check-ryan-takes-factual-shortcuts-speech-070905927.html

Ryan's Lies

If you've seen any coverage of Paul Ryan's speech in Tampa, you know that the consensus among journalists and independent observers is that it was ... factually challenged. He lied about Medicare. He lied about the Recovery Act. He lied about the deficit and debt. He even dishonestly attacked Barack Obama for the closing of a GM plant in his hometown of Janesville, Wisconsin -- a plant that closed in December 2008 under George W. Bush. He also failed to offer one constructive idea about what he would do to move the country forward. Don't roll your eyes. We can't just groan and shrug and remark to our like-minded friends that this is ridiculous, because this is a significant moment in this campaign. The fact that this speech, on this huge stage, is this blatantly false represents a huge bet by the Romney campaign -- they've decided that facts, truth and reality will not be a brake on their campaign message. And they just signaled to the extremist billionaires and corporate interests that support them that they should go ahead and spend their hundreds of millions of dollars attacking Barack Obama with whatever lies can work. Jim Messina

Obama administration's biggest climate accomplishment

It's the Obama administration's biggest climate accomplishment.

Send the White House a thank you card for strong fuel efficiency and carbon pollution standards today!

This morning, the Obama administration took the biggest step of any administration in history to cut climate pollution.

After working with automakers, autoworkers, and environmental advocates, the White House has announced final rules for cleaner cars. Together with earlier standards, these rules will double average fuel efficiency for new cars to 54.5 mpg by 2025, cutting their carbon pollution in half.

This is huge! Cleaner, more fuel-efficient cars mean we will start to break our reliance on oil, save money at the pump, and drastically cut climate pollution.

Will you send the White House a thank you card for this historic environmental achievement?

June and July were the hottest months ever recorded. As if that wasn't enough, this summer has also seen an oil pipeline spill in Wisconsin, a refinery fire in California, and disturbing new tar sands pipeline plans in New England. It's never been clearer that our nation needs to move beyond oil. That's why the president's announcement on cleaner cars that rely on much less or even no oil is so important.

Combined with previously announced standards, these new rules will reduce U.S. oil use by 3 million barrels a day. More efficient vehicles will also save the average new-car buyer $8,000 at the pump, even after paying for fuel saving technology -- keeping trillions out of Big Oil's pockets. These standards will reduce U.S. climate pollution by 570 million metric tons in 2030 alone. That's nearly 10% of our current annual carbon output -- the equivalent of shutting down 140 coal plants! 1

This is the Obama administration's biggest climate accomplishment. Will you send a thank you card today?

From the environment to the economy, these new standards are nothing but good news. According to a recent Blue Green Alliance study, these new standards will help create 570,000 new jobs across America. 2

But this isn't just the administration's biggest climate accomplishment -- it's also yours. Over the past year, Sierra Club activists sent more than 160,000 letters to the administration in support of raising the bar on fuel efficiency and greenhouse gas pollution standards. We wrote hundreds of letters to the editor and turned out in droves to hearings in Detroit, Philadelphia, and San Francisco.

This kind of leadership will help move the U.S. beyond oil. We need to let the White House know the nation noticed and applauds -- send your thank you card to the White House today!

Time and time again, we've seen that when we speak with one voice, we can make a difference. Put the capstone on this victory today and reinforce it with a thank you card.

Thanks for all you do to protect our environment,

Ann Mesnikoff
Sierra Club Green Transportation Director

Mitt Romney's Intolerant Platform

Mitt Romney's platform calls for:

-- Turn Medicare into a voucher program to buy private insurance, forcing seniors to pay more out of pocket for their health care costs.

-- Outlaw all abortions without exception for rape or incest (including a "salute" to states like Virginia that have passed extreme ultrasound laws).

-- Ban marriage equality and reject civil unions of all kinds.

-- Won't protect the mortgage interest deduction for middle-class families if Romney enacts his tax plan, even though it helps more than 30 million middle-class families.

-- Kill investments in clean energy jobs and reject the wind production tax credit, which would cost up to 37,000 American jobs. 

No wonder why The New York Times calls it "mean-spirited" and "intolerant."

Intolerance or Obama? Obama is the only choice!

What is being passed at the Republican Party Convention:

The intolerant document calls for a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage. It condemns President Obama for not defending the Defense of Marriage Act. The platform fails to recognize civil unions for gay couples, and it rejects the "use of the military as a platform for social experimentation" -- a veiled dig at the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

This platform, which was written at the direction of Mitt Romney's campaign, defines the Republican Party today.
It's a sharp reminder of what we stand to lose if Romney and Ryan take the White House this November. One party supports our right to be equals in the eyes of the law, the other rejects it.

There is a clear choice in this election for the LGBT community and allies.

We've got to fight for the only candidate who has our back. Join Obama Pride on Dashboard, the campaign's online field office, and stay informed about campaign news, events, and opportunities to volunteer.

Jamie Citron

This is the evil of the Republican Party

As a prosecutor, I argued hundreds of rape cases—held survivors' hands, cried with them, and fought tooth and nail for justice. So when my opponent, Todd Akin, said that survivors of “legitimate” rape can’t get pregnant because “the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down,” it made me sick to my stomach. While Akin’s financiers publicly condemn him, the national Republican Party and Karl Rove still have $5.8 million in ad time reserved to support him. Paul Ryan called Akin a “great asset” while the two fought to bar pregnant rape survivors from the right to choose, and now Romney’s campaign refuses to talk about abortion in news interviews. But just because the extreme voting record of Romney’s running mate creates a political liability doesn’t mean Romney can ignore the rights of half of our nation. This isn’t about politics. This is about real rape survivors who would lose the right to choose if Republicans take over government and implement their agenda. --Claire McCaskill

Why Republicans Cannot be Allowed to Win

Republicans are taking the podium at their convention today. The message they'll hear will mirror the distortions Governor Romney has based his entire campaign on -- amplified 10,000 times. They're going to talk about the economy, but they won't mention that their $5 trillion plan gives big tax breaks to people who don't need them. They won't mention their plan to turn Medicare into a voucher system that could cost seniors up to $6,400 more per year. They'll talk a lot about strengthening the middle class, when their plan is to do the opposite: repeal Obamacare, cut Pell Grant scholarships and Head Start funding, and raise taxes on the average family.

Should We Elect a Man Who Does Not Pay Income Tax

Of course, not. Check out this link:

http://news.yahoo.com/bain-documents-romney-offshore-investments-used-blockers-avoid-185957445--abc-news-topstories.html

Bain Documents: Romney Offshore Investments Used 'Blockers' To Avoid Taxes

By MATTHEW MOSK and EMILY FRIEDMAN
ABC News

....The private equity firm founded by Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney made use of arcane techniques in several of its Cayman Islands-based funds to avoid U.S. taxes, according to a trove of Bain Capital's private audit and finance records made public on the website Gawker today.

The audited financial statements of one of the Cayman Islands funds make note of the use of "blocker" entities, which are used to help retirement accounts and nonprofit entities avoid some taxes. Financial statements for another fund note that it "intends to conduct its operations so it will … not be subject to United States federal income or withholding tax ..."

The newly released documents rekindle questions about one of the more technical tax questions that has emerged about Romney's investments – the use of so-called "blocker" entities. The blocker is a paper company that serves as a buffer between the investor and the fund holding the investments, Wilkins explained. That means the investment income can be counted as a dividend and in some cases avoid income tax.

In the financials for the Bain Capital Asia Fund, for instance, the audit describes the establishment of blocker corporations to hold more than $92 million in contributions from the fund.

Some experts have pointed to the blockers to help explain how Romney has been able to amass between $20.7 million and $101.6 million in a tax-free IRA, many times more than the typical amount an IRA can hold. Romney has not responded to questions about his IRA.

How Can We Really Consider Romney as a Serious Candidate?

By BETH FOUHY and JULIE PACE


Since selecting Ryan as his running mate, Romney has faced questions about how his policy positions differ from those espoused by Ryan, the architect of a controversial budget blueprint that would dramatically alter Medicare. On abortion, Romney does not oppose abortion in cases of rape and incest or if it will save the mother's life, while Ryan does oppose abortion in cases of rape and incest.

Another Reason Why the Tea Party is Dangerous

Michael — Did you see the breaking news?

Republican Congressman Todd Akin told a Missouri news station:

"First of all, from what I understand from doctors [pregnancy from rape] is really rare... If it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down."

Republican Todd Akin is staying in the race, and is leading the polls even after saying victims of “legitimate rape” can’t get pregnant because “the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.”

***Akin Polling Update***

Before:Akin leads 45-44

After:Akin leads 44-43

Today is absolutely critical: Akin vowed that he “has not yet begun to fight.”
--Guy Cecil    

My note:   Why do Missouri voters continue on this path? Do they not see this candidate is dangerous?

Romney's Taxes Are Important to Know About and Here's Why:

From an email to me--

Friday morning, I sent a letter to Mitt Romney's campaign manager, asking that Romney release just five years of tax returns. And I made a commitment that, if he does, this campaign would not demand more.


You should add your name. Here's why:

Right now, our opponent is proposing a $2,000 tax increase on middle-class families with kids in order to pay for tax breaks for millionaires like him.

He's asking Americans to put him in charge of their taxes, while refusing to come clean about his own.

This isn't going away because voters deserve better, and everyone but the Romney campaign seems to recognize that.

Call for Mitt Romney to join President Obama in this basic and traditional act of transparency.

Romney's refusal to release his returns is raising more questions than he's been willing to answer.

According to the one full year of returns he has released, Romney paid 13.9% in taxes on his income. Thursday, he said he went back and looked, and has never paid less than 13% over the last ten years.

Now we're asking him to put his money where his mouth is.

It is absolutely relevant for us to ask how much a presidential candidate paid in taxes, if he sheltered his money or tried to get out of paying taxes at all, why he started -- and continues to own -- a corporation offshore in Bermuda, why he keeps his finances offshore in the Cayman Islands, and why he opened a Swiss bank account.

In refusing to be transparent about it, he's not only breaking the trust he's asking voters to place in him, but also three decades of precedent that began with his own father's presidential campaign in 1968.

This issue isn't going away, and for good reason. Tell Romney to follow 30 years of precedent and release his tax returns:

http://my.barackobama.com/Release-the-Returns

Thanks,

Jim Messina

Release your taxes, Mr. Romney

You can tell us again and again how you gave to charity--all of us do--and how you paid about thirteen percent of your income to taxes, but until you release your tax filings, we have to believe you are not telling the truth--or bending it at the very least--and I'm being very nice here because there is no way I am voting for a liar, a con artist, a man who cannot back his words with action.

Romney said: "I'm not concerned about the very poor."

"Sister Simone Campbell has invited you--Mr. Romney--to spend a day with Catholic Sisters who work every day to meet the needs of struggling families in their communities. You have not responded to her invitation. Please RSVP to the nuns."

Is this because Romney said: "I'm not concerned about the very poor," in a televised interview on CNN after he won the Florida primary.

And now he's doubled down on that sentiment by naming Paul Ryan, whose budget would give $3 trillion in tax cuts to the richest Americans while drastically cutting food stamps for millions of poor Americans,1 to the Republican ticket.

Clearly, Romney and Ryan are dangerously out of touch. Thankfully, a group of righteous women who have dedicated their lives in service to the least among us have invited Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan to spend a day with them to learn about the struggles of some our poorest citizens.2

Tell Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan: RSVP to the nuns. You may be familiar with "Nuns on the Bus," a group of courageous women who have been traveling to the Congressional districts that would be hardest hit by Paul Ryan's immoral Tea Party budget that gives money to the ultra-rich while stripping vital services from the poorest Americans.

Now the nuns are turning their attention to the Republican presidential and vice presidential candidates directly. But neither Romney nor Ryan has RSVPed to the nuns who have asked them to "spend a day with Catholic Sisters who work every day to meet the needs of struggling families in their communities."3
Tell Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan: RSVP to the nuns.  In fact, the Romney-Ryan campaign hasn't responded at all to Sister Simone Campbell who issued the invitation on behalf of her Catholic sisters. If we can build more momentum for the "Nuns on a Bus" invitation to Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan, we can help them get a response from the campaign and bring more attention to the immoral dimensions of their heartless policies for the poor.

http://act.credoaction.com/r/?r=6939995&p=romney_rsvp&id=45251-5959716-dxxTQxx&t=10

Thank you for standing with the nuns.
Becky Bond, Political Director

CREDO Action from Working Assets





1. Pat Garofalo, "62 Percent Of The House Republican Budget Cuts Would Hit Programs For Low-Income Americans," Think Progress, March 23, 2012

2) Travis Waldron, "Nuns Challenge Romney To Spend A Day With Them To Learn About Plight Of America's Poor" Think Progress, August 8, 2012

3) ibid.

Do You Care About the Planet?

If you care about the earth at all--then read the email I recently received--and make the right decision: Vote against Romney:

Big polluters now have their dream ticket for the presidency.
With Romney's rhetoric and Ryan's record, it's clear what's top on their agenda: big profits for big polluters. Big Coal and Big Oil are going to pull out all the stops to make sure their friends win the presidency, the vice presidency, and dozens of House and Senate races all across the country.

In the race for the White House and control of Congress, big polluters are playing to win. Chip in with a donation of $5, $10 or more and help us fight back against the dirty money and dirty policies of the big polluters and their candidates this election.
With the one-two punch of Romney-Ryan, big polluters like the Koch brothers see a future where they can destroy our air and water protections. But it doesn't stop there.

Big polluters have good friends in congressional races in Ohio and California, in the Senate race in Massachusetts, and in other contests all across the country. Candidates like Dan Lungren, Heather Wilson -- and Paul Ryan -- think polluter profits should trump clean air and water, and the health and safety of our communities.

Paul Ryan and other candidates are fighting to keep massive taxpayer subsidies for big polluters that want to run dangerous pipelines through our neighborhoods.

They're promising to roll back the historic protections from toxic mercury pollution, putting thousands of lives every year at risk.

Romney, Ryan, and dozens of others are undermining the clean-energy companies that employ tens of thousands of Americans and are helping our country move away from dirty energy.
The Sierra Club is pulling back the curtain and showing America which candidates are bankrolled by Big Oil and Big Coal. We're helping elect environmental champions by recruiting thousands of volunteers in competitive races all across the country. And we're cutting through the political noise to share the truth about candidates' environmental records. Your support makes all that -- and more -- possible this election season.

We can't match Big Oil and Big Coal dollar-for-dollar in this election. But when we fight and effectively use our grassroots network to get the word out about these vital issues, we will win. Thanks for all you do to protect our environment,

Cathy Duvall

Sierra Club Political Director

Romney and Swiss Bank Accounts

So Romney had money hidden in Swiss Bank accounts. If it was you or me,  we would have incurred fines and/or jail time. But not him: he can hide money in Swiss bank accounts--and get away with it.

Remember: people hide money because they do not want to do something (pay taxes) or they want to hide illegal profits.

Can we vote for a man who knowingly breaks the law?

Of course not.

More On Ryan

When Mitt Romney chose Tea Party darling Paul Ryan as his running mate, he put the extremists one step closer to running this country into the ground.


If Romney and Ryan take the White House and Senate, the Tea Party fringe will control our entire government. Threats to bar abortion, destroy Medicare, and outlaw contraception will become real.

We can’t let the Tea Party oust President Obama and take over our country. Stop them: http://dscc.org/stopryanfund


Thanks for standing with us,

Guy Cecil

Why We Must Vote Against Paul Ryan--Tea Party Candidate

Mitt Romney's VP pick matters to women for so many important reasons.

Right now, we're having debates that we already had decades ago. We can't let these two men drag us back to the policies of the 1950s.

Let me tell you a little more about the man who, if we don't stop him, could be a heartbeat away from the presidency.

In his time in the House of Representatives, Rep. Ryan cast 59 anti-choice votes on abortion and reproductive-rights issues. He's committed to banning abortions, even for women who are the victims of incest and rape. Ryan co-sponsored the bill that would have allowed employers in public and private sectors the power to deny women birth control coverage if they had a moral or religious objection.

Rep. Ryan is also the co-sponsor of a truly radical bill that would define "personhood" as beginning at conception -- which could outlaw not just abortion, but many forms of birth control, including the pill. This kind of legislation is so far outside the mainstream, even socially conservative Mississippi voters rejected it.

Like Romney, Ryan wants to tear down Obamacare in its entirety, including specific benefits for women, like copay-free birth control and increased access to preventive health care services like cancer screenings and well-woman exams.

And the Ryan budget that Republicans are so proud of? It dismantles Medicaid and Medicare as we know them.

We've already fought and won these battles. But if the Romney-Ryan ticket takes the White House, we'll lose all of the progress we've made.

We can't let that happen.

There is too much at stake for women for us to stay quiet. Step up and fight today by joining Women for Obama:

http://my.barackobama.com/Protect-Our-Rights

Thanks,

Jen O'Malley Dillon

Jim Ryan--Now There is No Choice

Here is a letter emailed to me:

By choosing Paul Ryan as his running mate, Mitt just made the most radical choice possible.

Paul Ryan is the Tea Party's darling and architect of the GOP's plan to destroy Medicare. And while dismantling the nation's social safety net, he will give even more tax breaks to millionaires and billionaires like Mitt Romney.

We need your help to stop them. Right now.

We only have 86 days until the election.

You need to act now-- we cannot prevent a GOP takeover of the White House and Senate without you.

http://dscc.org/supportobama

Thanks for your help,

Harry Reid

And a video worth watching with additional comments:

http://www.barackobama.com/romney/ryan/?source=em12_20120811_da_nd&utm_medium=email&utm_source=obama&utm_campaign=em12_20120811_da_nd

The Tea Party in charge? We're on our way to fundamentalism and third world status if we even think to vote for them.

Let's Put a Criminal in Office--and we're not talking about the current president

So Romney is too good to show his income tax?

And what's with hiding money in a Swiss Bank for over a decade?

If any of us did this, we would definitely need legal counsel--but Romney? No. And why not? Because obviously he's above the law.

Howe can we even think to put a man who thinks he's above the law in the law's highest position?

A vote for Romney is a vote for white collar crime.

The President and Gay Marriage

A president with the guts to do the right thing:

Friend --

Today, I was asked a direct question and gave a direct answer:

I believe that same-sex couples should be allowed to marry.

I hope you'll take a moment to watch the conversation, consider it, and weigh in yourself on behalf of marriage equality: my.barackobama.com/Marriage

I've always believed that gay and lesbian Americans should be treated fairly and equally. I was reluctant to use the term marriage because of the very powerful traditions it evokes. And I thought civil union laws that conferred legal rights upon gay and lesbian couples were a solution.

But over the course of several years I've talked to friends and family about this. I've thought about members of my staff in long-term, committed, same-sex relationships who are raising kids together. Through our efforts to end the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, I've gotten to know some of the gay and lesbian troops who are serving our country with honor and distinction.

What I've come to realize is that for loving, same-sex couples, the denial of marriage equality means that, in their eyes and the eyes of their children, they are still considered less than full citizens.

Even at my own dinner table, when I look at Sasha and Malia, who have friends whose parents are same-sex couples, I know it wouldn't dawn on them that their friends' parents should be treated differently.

So I decided it was time to affirm my personal belief that same-sex couples should be allowed to marry.

I respect the beliefs of others, and the right of religious institutions to act in accordance with their own doctrines. But I believe that in the eyes of the law, all Americans should be treated equally. And where states enact same-sex marriage, no federal act should invalidate them.

If you agree, you can stand up with me here.

Thank you,

Barack

Student Loans

The President wants to extend the loans at their current rate. Republicans do not. That's a reason in itself to vote for President Obama. So once again the ones in need of assistance are the ones the rich (the Republicans) do not want to help. Notice I didn't say Tea Party members--they're hypocrites--they want the aid (social secutiry, medicaid, mobility units, college help for their children, etc., etc., etc.).

By the numbers: Student loans and the interest rate debate (infographic) By Siemond Chan and Chris Wilson

Senate Republicans blocked a vote Tuesday on a bill that would have extended the current low 3.4 percent interest rate on Stafford student loans, taking issue with how the Democratic bill would fund the extension. If Congress fails to pass such an extension by July, the rates will double.

The Republican Endorsement for Obama

The Republicans do not like Romney--but they settled:

Ron Paul made no endorsement at all.

The following links are to the other two main candidates who stayed the course:

Santorum's Late Night Enmdorsement Via Email

Ginrich's Sort of Endorsement

With endorsements like these, well...I don't know what to say.

Student Loans

Click here to listen to the President's view on student loans.

Obama and the Environment--Part 2

Obama and the Environment

Obama's accomplishments:

-- Setting the first-ever national standards on mercury and other forms of toxic air pollution from power plants, which will prevent up to 11,000 premature deaths, 4,700 heart attacks, and 130,000 asthma attacks every year when fully implemented
-- Developing fuel efficiency standards that will nearly double fuel economy for cars and light trucks by 2025 -- and save families thousands of dollars at the pump and save our country millions of barrels of oil

-- Establishing safeguards to cut interstate soot and smog-forming pollution from power plants by more than 50 percent and improve air quality for more than 75 percent of Americans

-- Investing more in clean energy than ever before -- and putting us on track to double our use of renewable sources by the end of the year

-- Signing one of the largest expansions of wilderness protections in a generation, setting aside more than 2 million acres of land

McCain Endorses Obama

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BojO0kymstI

And here are a few comments on the topic:


Reply

Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. Obama is the one he had in his heart to endorse and exactly that is who he endorsed, who is he deceiving?

zackadi2 3 months ago
lol flowing from his mouth are the issues of his heart!

atlblackbutt3rfly 3 months ago 

WoW!!! "The truth will set you free!!!" Mitt Romney is nothing like "President Obama". This is the most truthful thing I've heard McCain say in a long time! Freudian Slip that's what it was!

An actual letter from Rick Santorum

Here is another reason to vote for Obama--sanity in government. The below letter does not show any sanity at all.

An actual letter from Rick Santorum:

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/section/documentcloud&dckeyword=339033-santoletter

Dear fellow conservative,

Please rush me your signed reply just as soon as you've finished reading my letter.

Conservatives from across the heartland of America are rallying to this fight. This surge in support is how I've been able to score victories in Iowa, Missouri, Minnesota, Colorado, Tennessee, Oldahoma, North Dakota, Kansas, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana.

That's ll states so far -- the most won by a challenger to the Republican "establishment" since Ronald Reagan.

I'm in striking distance of winning this nomination fight.

I'm counting on your immediate help to take advantage of this opportunity. There It still time for conservatives if we act now to win this primary to make sure our party doesn i' nominate a Massachusetts Moderate to run against Obama.

It truly frightens me to think what'll happen if Mitt Romney is the nominee.

My friend, Republicans and conservatives will be crippled by a nominee who presents zero contrast with Barack Obama on the major issues of this election. Any attempt by Mitt Rorrmey to attack President Obama's positions on health-care,
energy policy, social issues, or the economy will be easily neutralized.

You and I simply cannot afford to give away issues like Obama-care.

The 2012 election hinges on offering voters a clear contrast with the disastrous

Paid for by Rick Santorum for President

Santorum for President Obama

Yes, even the Republicans agree--Obama is the better choice:

By Will Weissert associated Press


SAN ANTONIO — Presidential candidate Rick Santorum on Thursday said Republicans should give President Barack Obama another term if Santorum isn’t the GOP nominee and for a second day compared rival Mitt Romney to an Etch A Sketch toy.

Why the Health Care Plan is Great

Please click here.

Sarah Palin in Fantasyland

I can't even write about this. Sarah Palin, the woman who could not finish her first term in office as governor, who has the education of a fourth grader in geography and is making millions speaking to people who know less than her--and I'm not speaking of family values or ripping off the government because these things have already been documented (the motorized wheelchair tea party members, the motorized wheelchair industry and the child out of wedlock...).

Heres' a link that says what I want to say, only better:

http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2012/03/09/441316/sarah-palin-obama-civil-war/?mobile=nc

On Newt Gingrich--Need We Say More

First, let me apologize for being a week late with this.

We were ready to defend the  President's apology to the people of Afganistan, but then we found the following link:

http://nationalinterest.org/blog/jacob-heilbrunn/newt-gingrich-goes-bonkers-again-6570

As for Sarah Palin, doesn't she realize that she could  not finish her first term in office as governor because she lacked, well, just about everything--and I believe you can say it was her stupidity that helped the present president become president.

How do you know Republicans hate women?

How do you know Republicans hate women?

Click here to watch, read and listen. When you're done, please reflect on the term courage?

The President of the United States reached out to Sandra Fluke(a true hero who did not back down, but went forward)--and now:

http://nextgenjournal.com/2012/03/contraception-and-georgetown-university-students-reflect/

Who bailed out GM, Etc,?

In 2008 President Bush gave the auto industry in the USA over 17 billion dollars. Click here to read about it.

Or you can read about it here.

Or here from Fox News. Yep, that's Fox News, the same people hjo do not want you to remember it was Bush who started the bailout issue--700 billion and counting--before Obama became president.

And finally go to here to listen to Hightower Radio on the topic.

The Bias of Fox Morning News--February 28, 2112

I had an appointment this morning and was forced to watch—with about a half dozen others—Fox News (owned by the Murdoch’s—now on trial for crimes in England for another newspaper they ran). I only watched about one half hours worth and since this is the first time I really watched Fox News, I can show you how biased it is:

The first report was on the increase in gasoline at the pumps. Who do you think the commentator was who presented their tale of woe? Yep, a member of the Republican Tea Party. He went on and on about how everything was Obama’s fought. I waited patiently for a counterpoint. Nope, you guessed it—it did not happen.

Then they did the primary—and bashed the Obama Administration again. Was someone from the Obama Administration allowed to give another side to the story? Of course, not.

Another segment had two Southern governors complaining about how the Obama Administration has destroyed their state with his policies. For the Governor of Louisiana, I think we can go back to your own party on that one—or do you no longer remember Katrina and have you already forgotten how quickly the great oil spill was cleaned up under the jurisdiction of the current president?

I’ve saved the best for last. When they came to the health insurance program, the main speaker was the District Attorney from Florida who went on and on about how the health care plan was wrong and there was nothing right about it at all. There was no counter debate, no one for the health care plan, and then the clincher—the interviewer asked her who she was endorsing for the Republican Party Presidency candidate and she gave Romney a four minute free commercial that began, “As you know, I was one of the moderator’s during the debates here on Fox News…” I hope all of the other Republican candidates sue for equal time.

I guess money can buy anything—even a biased news cast so biased I don’t believe you can call it news.

Health Program for All of Us

This says it all:

http://screen.yahoo.com/maher-healthcare-28410803.html

The Republican Dictatorship

At a recent congressional hearing, the Republicans made a show of dictatorship force--or maybe we should be kind and just say they showed how their party is not at all in tune with the true meaning of  democracy.

As for  arguments the witness was not qualified, read the following:

Sandra Fluke is a third-year law student at Georgetown University Law Center and past president of Georgetown Law Students for Reproductive Justice.

So why was she not qualified?

Because she did not agree with the Republicans conducting the hearing.

Below are three links--the first has a transcripted interview with Ms. Fluke (scroll down once you open the link). The other two links are from news sources.

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/obama-rings-limbaugh-slut-georgetown-sandra-fluke-200016515.html

http://www.democracynow.org/2012/2/17/where_are_the_women_lawmakers_walk

http://www.nbcwashington.com/blogs/first-read-dmv/Norton-Walks-Out-of-Contraception-Hearing-After-Female-Witness-Barred-139460693.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/16/contraception-hearing-house-democrats-walk-out_n_1281730.html

We're Baaaack

We're back because too much is happening--and much of it isn't good--so we came out of hibernation. Yes, we stopped writing this blog when we felt it wasn't really going anywhere, but now, now we just do not care. We have things to say and we are going to say them.

So...

The definition of a liberal? Someone who cares about the welfare and wellbeing of others.

The definition of a conservative? Someone who does not.

The definition of a Democrat? For the most part someone who cares about the welfare and wellbeing of others.

The definition of a Republican? Someone who doesn't know what those words even mean.

The Beginning of the end for the Case for Obama: The Case Against Obama

Read this link:

Obama is in bed with the very ones who are still trying to poison the world. Click here to read about it.

Not much more to say, is there.