Saturday, November 10, 2012

Election Obituary.

Just a few "Highlights", or "Lowlights!" - depending on which persuasian you are.

One of the first of the facts that really hit me in the face was that Single Women went for The President over Romney by a margin of 38 ! Almost an unprecidented gap for any category !

Going to places that know Mr Romney, his home State of Michigan - where the trees are "Just the right Height" - was a Landslide for The President. Moving on to his other home State of Massachusetts, I guess you could call it a Double Landslide!

Moving on again, this time to Utah, which he did win, duh! But, George W Bush did better with Mormons than Romney did ! !

So, anywhere that the people really know him - the State that he was born in, the State that he was Governor of, and the home State of his Religion, it would appear that he is not that popular, to put it very mildly.

Just saying.

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

What happened?

Well that was unexpected! An "easy" Obama win. I was preparing myself for a Romney win and had even told a Republican friend that a Romney win would be better for the country!
My reasoning for this? Well if the Republicans had won, I feel that the Democrats would have co-operated with the Republicans to get the country moving again. Democrats are much more moderate, less polarized and more likely to "Reach accross the Aisle." But now we have the same stalemate that we had before. I am afraid that the Republicans will continue to stonewall the President and stop any movement towards change.
President Johnson (LBJ) had to deal with just one filibuster during his Presidency. President Obama has had to try to work with more than 250 ! And a filibuster now is not even the same as it was during Johnson's time. Then, a Senator had to stand up and talk continuosly for hours or even days on end. Now all they have to do is make a phone call and say, "We are going to filibuster that." But still, to end a filibuster you have to be able to get 60% of the vote - 60 out of 100 senators must agree !!!
So in effect instead of needing to have a simple majority to pass a bill - 51 to 49 for example - you now have to have a "Super Majority" of 60 to 40. This why nothing gets done. So even having "Control" of the Senate, means nothing!
Republicans were able in this way to block all President Obama's efforts to do anything. Even when he wanted to cut taxes to small businesses The republicans blocked him ! ! ! When he tried to cut spending, the Republicans blocked him ! ! !

What else lost Romney the election? I think the extreme extremism of his party and himself, although he had himself moved enormously toward the center, because of his extreme views during his selection process people did not know whether to believe what he was saying now, or what he had been saying for the last 1 1/2 to 2 years!

Then there were what I call The Crazies in his party, especially the Tea Party people. We have the people who think the Earth and the Universe is 9,000 years old, or is it 6,000 years old? Evolution is a theory from the "Pits of Hell." A woman can't get pregnant from rape. No women can die in childbirth now. How is it possible to govern when you have such fundamentalists preaching this kind of rubbish?

Finding abortion unacceptable, except in the case of rape, incest and the life of the mother, is certainly understandable and accepted by most people. But here again the Republicans, once a reasonable party with its fair share of Moderates, have said no to abortion, even where the life of the mother is in danger or in cases of rape or incest. But some of them have gone even further, they now want to ban contraception! In a world that is already vastly overpopulated.

Then there are the extreme views that we will not accept $1 in new taxes even in exchange for $10 in spending cuts! ZERO negotiating in ANY area.

There are many more examples of the modern Republican Party not fitting into today's world but I will end with one final example that may have been the final nail in Romney's coffin - apart from the doubt about if he pays taxes - and that is his view that 47% of Americans are layabouts who don't pay taxes and just want handouts! That may have been the final thing. Especially when it sank in that he and many of his rich friends and corporations (Who are people too!) don't pay taxes or pay very little in taxes, certainly less than the average American pays! And many of these Giant Companies and Banks and Wall Street get more in handouts than anyone.

(On the positive side - I think we are less likely to go to war with Iran now. We will now have affordable health care for everyone. We will now continue to search for affordable, environmentally clean energy. Our environment will gain as we continue to have an EPA (Environmental Protection Agency.), Clean Air and Clean Water Acts will remain, the Banks and Wall Street will be regulated, the increased mileage requirment will stay in place. And maybe we will even address Climate Change.)

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Guns, again.

I know, I know, enough about guns already! But this is just in - well its been in for a long time - so lets just call it a reminder.

The rate of firearms related homicides in the USA is 20 TIMES that of the next 22 richest nations COMBINED!!!

And that is just the homicides, if you include suicides and accidents it is even worse!!

And it would be so easy to reduce it considerably if it were not for organisations like the NRA and the Republican Party. Just a tiny little bit of common sense would say, "Don't let Alcoholics, and Drug Users have guns. Or people under 21, hey they can't drink, but they can carry handguns around, is it just me or is that dumb? Also anyone convicted of a gun related or violent crime, (including domestic violence.) And lets ban Assault guns too." Hello, Duh, even blondes know that is Dumb!! But not Republicans and NRA members.

If you value your life and that of your family, friends and neighbors, banning ownership of guns by Alcoholics, (Including people convicted of drinking and driving.) Drug Users, people convicted of Gun Crimes or Violent Crimes and anyone under the age of 21, would probably cut gun deaths by AT LEAST 50% or MORE! All people in these groups have reduced ability to forsee the consequences of their actions.

Those changes, plus requiring stricter background checks and a requirement to report all gun sales would I think reduce gun deaths by as much as 80% or 90%. Surely worth doing? How can any intelligent American with even a modicom of common sense object to that? Wait, we are talking about NRA and Republicans. Forget it, no common sense in either of those camps!