Demand Action Today: Why we need to push for universal background checks and an assualt weapons ban

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Charlotte Bacon, 6

Daniel Barden, 7

Rachel Davino, 29

Olivia Engel, 6

Josephine Gay, 7

Ana Marquez-Greene, 6

Dylan Hockley, 6

Dawn Hochsprung, 47

Madeleine Hsu, 6

Catherine Hubbard, 6

Chase Kowalski, 7

Jesse Lewis, 6

James Mattioli, 6

Grace McDonnell, 7

Anne Marie Murphy, 52

Emilie Parker, 6

Jack Pinto, 6

Noah Pozner, 6

Caroline Previdi, 6

Jessica Rekos, 6

Avielle Richman, 6

Lauren Rousseau, 30

Mary Sherlach, 56

Ava, five and Eden, four, these are my daughters, my lovely little rays of light that I cherish everyday and who’s names I hope will never be added to a list like the one above.  I am the daughter of Rick and Joyce Siege and the wife of Eddie Marks.  I am a daughter-in-law to Dan and Judy Marks and I am a cousin, a sister-in-law, and a friend to countless special people.  I am not a statistic and I don’t ever want to be one for gun violence.   The people and names above killed in Newtown or Aurora or countless other shootings for that matter are you and I.  Their lives are our lives.  Their tragedy is ours, their tears are our tears and their pain should be ours as well.  As the months pass since Newtown we should not forget what happened and settle for complacency on the issue of gun control.

I have wanted to write a blog about gun control and this whole disaster for sometime but I wanted to wait until I wasn’t so emotional.  The tragedy of Newtown still haunts me and I can’t even imagine the pain the victims families are enduring day in and day out.  What got me thinking that I was finally ready to blog on this was when I took my daughter recently to see a movie.  I sat in the theater with Ava and I thought, “What if?”  What would I do if a shooter came in and opened fire?  How sad that those were my thoughts as my sweet five year old was bouncing in her seat with excitement and I am thinking about how I would protect her if someone opened fire.   The simple pleasure of sharing a movie with my child is now something to worry about.  And it really is something to worry about because apparently we can’t agree on anything to curb gun violence in this country.  We have learned to accept the lowest common denominator on just about everything lately with all of the gridlock in DC however, with the safety of our children, parents and loved ones, I say enough is enough.  What is it going to take for us to demand change on this issue?  Thirty dead first graders, fifty, a hundred?  After Columbine, Virginia Tech, Gabby Gifford, Aurora, and Newtown, what else is it going to take to make this happen?  Are the NRA and the gun manufactures more important then our children?  Are their voices more important then ours? Furthermore why is the NRA dominating the conversation?  The NRA has come up with the brilliant solution to arm teachers and put them through hours of gun training so that our schools can become the Okay Corral.  Really?  This is the best we can come up with?  It sounds like an Onion piece but the fact that this is reality is so frightening it makes me want to laugh a nervous giggle, the kind I get right before I panic.

Speaking of panicking, here are some statistics that should really send chills down your spine:  In 2010 guns were used in 11,422 homicides.  In 2011 according to the CDC, either intentionally or accidently, 59,208 people were wounded by a gun.   Another way to look at this is three people are killed by a gun per hour and almost seven people are shot every 60 minutes.  There were 16,454,951 background checks on firearms purchases in 2011, or more than 45,000 each day of the year. This tally doesn't include the number sold at gun shows, where purchasers don't get screened. Of the transactions run through an instant background check, an average of 214 are rejected daily because the buyer is an ex-con, has been involuntarily committed to a mental hospital or is prohibited from owning a gun for another reason.  Quoted from: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/16/murders-shootings-and-gun-sales-per-day_n_2488664.html

Those are some pretty scary statistics.  Especially since this tally does not include guns sold and not background checked at gun shows.  Gun violence is an epidemic being sustained by an out of date and grossly misinterpreted second amendment.  Let’s discuss this for a moment.  There are hundreds people out there screaming and crying over their second amendments rights and their right to protect themselves and their property and to those people I say, go and read the actual amendment.  Because I don’t see your need to protect your house or to hunt an animal as more important then the safety of our population.   And since most of these defenders of our outdated amendment probably won’t go and read the 27 words that define the second amendment, I will go ahead and post it here so we can discuss it in a little more depth:

“A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”

Pretty straight forward.  What I don’t see here is the right of the individual to purchase military style weapons to protect their individual homes with enough fire power to take out dozens of people per second.  This was never what the founding fathers meant when the amendment was written.  It was about the states having the right to protect themselves against an invading force.  This was written after the Revolution and we were still a young country worried about foreign invaders and over reaching government powers.  This was written at a time when you needed a gun to hunt for your food, your closest neighbor was 40 miles away and we didn’t have an armed police force to protect us.  So clearly this amendment is outdated.  Furthermore anyone who is stupid enough think that a “well regulated militia” today can out power or out maneuver the US military is delusional.  Trust me when I say your rights are being picked away every day with the Patriot Act and other unprecedented Executive powers that are far more destructive then the restriction of your second amendment rights.  So seeing as there is a grocery store on every other corner and your nearest neighbor can hear you sneeze in most tract homes, I think it is safe to say that amending the second amendment is appropriate because it is outdated and obsolete in our modern era. 

With that said I am not so foolish to believe that we will get rid of all the guns tomorrow.  There are too many in circulation to hope for this but we need to start to solve this problem.  We need to start with gun legislation that makes sense.  We need to ban assault weapons.  We need to have a ban on high capacity ammunition clips and we need universal background checks.  In addition I would like to see gun programs for cash to start collecting assault weapons and I would go even further and make the penalties for owning such weapons a federal crime.  And as Chris Rock said we can always have bullet control!  Finally, for all the over emotional people out there screaming about background checks being a watch list and how their rights are being trampled on I have this to say to you:  Shut your mouth, turn on your brain and think about everything else you have to register for.  You register with the state when you get married.  When you buy a car you register it.  When you leave the country you have to show a passport which is registered.  When you have a child, he or she, will be registered with the government with a social security card. When you pay taxes you register with the IRS. Therefore if you buy a gun capable of killing a person you should have to have a background check and the gun should be registered.  The other side’s argument about having to register a weapon of “possible mass destruction” really shouldn’t be that big of a deal. Universal background checks are a must, and we should demand it. 

Speaking of demanding things, we should demand that our politicians move forward with gun control legislation.  It looks like this will now happen with a bi-partisan proposal from Sen. Joe Manchin, D-West Virginia and Pat Toomy, R-Pennsylvania which will require universal background checks on all gun sales other then private trades and gifts.  This is a good beginning because a few weeks back when Harry Reid said “we will not bring gun control to the floor because we don’t have enough votes,” I was absolutely shocked the Democrats were going to cave so quickly on this issue.  I still think they are not being bullish enough but at least we have a starting point. They should take a page out of the Republican playbook because they have brought Obamacare to the floor something like 30 times to repeal it knowing full well it would die on the floor of congress but that didn’t stop them.  The Democrats should bring an assault weapons ban to floor even if it dies there so the American people can see who cares about their safety and who doesn’t.  Remember in 2011 there were 11,422 homicides with a gun, I don’t think you need any more evidence that we need to do something and the American people want this.  Polls show the American people overwhelming favor gun control and an assault weapons ban.  So bring the bill to the floor and let’s see who cares about the American people and who cares about the gun lobby and gun manufacturers.  Let’s see every single republican vote “No” and then let’s see who gets re-elected in 2014.  This just clearly illustrates that corporations have more power then the people but before I digress that is a blog for another day.

In conclusion when we think about the smallest victims in 2012’s statistics on gun deaths, the children of Newtown, let’s stop and really think about what is worth more to us as a society?  Our loved ones safety in schools, movie theaters and malls or gun manufactures, the NRA and our beloved but grossly outdated second amendment.  There are other issues that also need to be addressed such as mental health and our countries love affair with violence but for today, for right now, we can start making positive changes with tougher gun control laws, universal background checks, an assault weapons ban and getting rid of high capacity ammo clips.  If you want to know how you can make a difference in this debate write your local congress person, Senator or join an organization working to change our gun laws.  Below are some resources.  Please get involved.   Change will only happen if we stand up and demand it!

Find your Congressional representative:

http://www.house.gov/representatives/find/

Find your Senator:

http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

Brady Campaign To Prevent Gun Violence:

http://www.bradycampaign.org

Coalition to Stop Gun Violence

http://www.csgv.org/index.php

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Why Today Matters for Tomorrow

It’s been a while since I last wrote a blog.  Life is busy, time slips by, but then one day you wake up and say, today is the day I have to say something. For weeks I have had this idea for a blog in my head inspired by a favorite quote and lyrics from a few favorite songs.  Sometimes in life you hear things, they move you, they make you think, they motivate you to action.  Well here is my example of what moves me, makes me think and motivates me to write this for all of you.

“Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing there is a field.  I’ll meet you there" Rumi

Here is a challenge, turn off your TV’s and your radios and turn on your brains.  Turn off the lies and face the truths that surround us.  Begin to imagine a world where we face our challenges head on and actually have a discussion about real issues and real ideas.  Imagine a world where compromise isn’t a dirty word and working for a better tomorrow together is a singular goal that we all share.  Imagine a world where we might have different ideas on how to solve our problems but our goal is to get to the same place and find a way to take the best of each of our ideas, and make them one.  Imagine a world where we don’t judge a man by his name or destroy him because of fear but we listen to that man that we as a nation elected to our highest office and we work together to make this world, this country a shining example of exceptionalism.  We show the world that no matter how big our differences are we can come together to solve our problems. Instead we try to eviscerate each other, we lie and we cheat and as a country, as a people, we pay the price for this childish behavior.  We lose our credit rating, our employment numbers are still low and our roads are still in decline.  Compounding all of this is the Republican party who’s only platform is to say “no” to reasonable ideas without offering real ideas of their own and so we sink a bit lower. Anyone who is married will tell you relationships are about compromise and right now to live in a better world today we need to learn to compromise and put forward real ideas that serve all our citizens not just the richest people, corporations and business.  If we want to have a future brighter then today we must put aside all that has happened yesterday and truly begin the hard work of solving our problems.  

We need to do this together, so let’s meet in a new field, with new ideas and be ready to compromise with each other, to listen and build on each others ideas.  Let’s create a future that makes sense for everybody.

“Don’t pay no mind to the demons –they fill you with fear” Phillip Phillips

Okay so Phillip Phillips didn’t write those lyrics but he sings them with passion.  The demons today that fill us with fear are beyond reproach.  Limbaugh, Coulter, Hannity, Fox news.  They will all tell you why Obama is evil and why he “hates” America. They might even try to tell you he isn’t really even an American.  They will disrespect the President at every single turn in a way that is unprecedented in modern culture.  They despise him for helping the poor, trying to sustain the middle class and asking the wealthy to pay their fair share of taxes.  They hate our President because he refuses to subscribe to the notion that corporations are people and because he wants to modernize our defense from a cold war military to a modern 21^st century military that can face the challenges of this era.  Submarines and fighter planes are not going to find terrorist in Times Square or reach extremist in the hills of Pakistan.   Furthermore they hate the President and anyone else who stands up for civil rights and who believes that if two people of the same sex love each other than they deserve to marry just like everyone else. They hate Obama because he believes you shouldn’t have to hide who you are to serve this great country.  In their obsession with returning this country to the 1950’s they loath Obama and the Democrats because they stand up for women and believe in equal pay for equal work.  Here is a news flash for the Tea Party Republicans:  This is the 21^st century and the time for discriminating because of gender is over. They hate the idea that the President and Mrs. Clinton will go to other countries and listens to their leaders and say, “let’s work together.” They hate the President yet he exemplifies the very best of what it means to be American.  They all say they love Jesus, yet they hate a man who represents the best of what Jesus preached.  They are the ones with the demons and they want to fill you with fear so you see their demons too.  Limbaugh, Coulter, Hannity, Fox news, and too many others to name will spend every single day of the year and every single hour of the next 8 weeks until the elections trying to convince you that Obama is the worst demon this country has ever seen.  And Mitt Romney, a man who has no original ideas of his own, who has outsourced his soul, who wants power so badly he literally would make a deal with the devil himself, will tell you the biggest lie of all.  He will tell you that he cares about the middle class, that he will keep you safe, raise America back up to greatness and save Medicare and Social Security.  He is lying.  His time at Bain clearly illustrates who he is.  He said, “Let the auto industry fail,” even if it cost thousands of AMERICAN jobs.  He said in his speech at the RNC that he wants to give parents the choice of where to send their kids to school, which is code for turning the public education system into a voucher system that favors the wealthy and will decimate schools for the poor.  Mitt Romney, as my husband likes to say, will paint you a Norman Rockwell vision of what our world would be like with him as President but I have news for all of you, it’s not 1950 and it never, ever will be again.  We need to move forward and Mitt Romney wants to take you back to a time that no longer exists and he wants to return to policies that have failed time and time again.  Mitt Romney wants to live a fantasy and he will sell you on this fantasy all the way to the poor house while his rich friends sit high atop the mountain eating all the cheese, bread and wine while the rest of suffer, struggle and wither.  Mitt Romney will fill you with fear, he will tell you Obama isn’t fit for our highest office, he will tell you that an American is fit and he will tell you he is that American. I am asking all of you to please not let the demons fill you with fear.

“Imagine all the people, sharing all the world” John Lennon

America has the opportunity to try and get it right.  We will need to be bold, we will need to be brave and we will need to be smart.  We need to rise up together, put our fears aside and make the right choice this November 6^th.  Barack Obama is the single best chance this country has to continue to heal the economic havoc left by the previous administration.  This is our chance to continue to guarantee a bright future for us, for our children and for the world.  The earth is small, it gets smaller every day, our resources, our environment, our livelihoods all depend on each other.  We have serious issues that face us and we need a leader who understands this and who will work with world leaders and our own elected officials to continue to take us forward and not back.  Americans love their independence.  It has served us well in our past and will continue to serve us well in the future. However the United States is not an island, the world is much smaller, our lives more intertwined, we need to make sure today that we make the right choices for tomorrow for all of us, you, me and even the world.  Please brush away your fears, please open your eyes, your minds and your hearts.  Please think of others, not just yourself and your pocketbook.  We need to make the right choice on November the 6^th to insure that our future continues to shine bright.  Please America get this one right!

Coming Back!

It has been a while but now that my life is a little more sane I plan to start giving those fingers a good keyboard work out and get back to blogging! What else does a mom of two have to do now that I left my full time job!  I guess I will have to give a running commentary on my thoughts on the state of our nation and the upcoming election to keep myself busy!  It will at the very least keep my mental chops active after a full day of playing make believe with my kids which is honestly so much more refreshing then listen to adults act like children.  Okay off to watch the State of the Union so I can hear about all that Obama has accomplished being that he is the President and hopefully people will realize that he is actually running against children, small, petty little brats really.  It's going to be an interesting 10 months, I can't wait to see a victory for Obama in November and if he loses I will have to seriously think about moving to an island away from all the crazy people who just really want to make the world better for the embryos and children . . .oh and their god corporate America. Peace People!

Healthcare and Our Fall from Grace

“The Path to Prosperity.” This is the cover page to the GOP budget proposal proudly displayed by Rep. Paul Ryan and John Boehner. Prosperity for who? I recently read an interesting article on the Huffington Post about what the budget proposal would do to our already strained healthcare system and it isn’t good. You can read the article here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/10/gop-budget-uninsured_n_860032.html
Basically it would decimate Medicaid, and millions more would be left uninsured. Medicaid currently covers some 60 million people and it is estimated to cover 76 million by 2021. Under the plan by the GOP the Kaiser Foundation estimates that 30-40 million people will lose coverage. Of course this plan doesn’t have a chance of being passed in the senate or by the President but it illustrates what can only be described as an all out war on the lower middle class and poor in this country not to mention that if we don’t get healthcare under control we are going to continue to decimate our economy and guess what tax payers, you are going to continue to pay the price of covering costly ER visits and skyrocketing premiums. All these items could and should start to be resolved through the Affordable Care Act passed last year. Weak as it is, it is a step in the right direction in starting to rein in the out of control fees associated with healthcare, unless of course it is repelled or stripped down.

Now let me paint you a different picture, one closer to home for most of you. I have a friend who works hard, has 2 kids, and has come upon some very difficult times. We will call my friend Ted. Ted and his family are in the real estate business so let’s just say his regular income has been decimated by the crash. His wife went back to work but can’t find a job with health insurance and his office doesn’t offer coverage and they lost their private insurance because they couldn’t afford it. Just recently Ted had an accident where he slipped and fell on his driveway and busted his elbow. It is not broken but it is hurt and he can’t use it or straighten it out. He isn’t sure what he did to his elbow but he isn’t going to have it looked at because he is afraid of the cost and doesn’t have health insurance. If he lived in Europe he could walk into any hospital and be treated. I am sure he can do the same thing here, except here it will cost him thousands of dollars for an x-ray, or an MRI plus treatment and can you imagine if he needed surgery? I know there are programs in place to help the poor but Ted is not poor, he just can’t afford his insurance and still put food on the table. Ted is just like you, but has fallen on some hard times and could possibly face being crippled because he can’t get care. It sounds like the dark ages but this is happening in 2011.

There are probably thousands of people out there just like Ted and as a nation what message are we sending to these people? Sorry, we are going to take Medicaid and other programs meant to act as a safety net away and you will just have to figure it out. Meanwhile insurance companies keep making profits hand over fist, the defense budget grows, education is slashed and the wealthy get wealthier. What does this say about our society? Are our values so shallow that we only care about the wealthy, warfare and corporate profits? We are supposedly to some, most definitely not me, a Christian nation. Well what would Jesus say about this nation today? Shouldn’t we care about our citizens, all of them, even the ones that we so often say are lazy and take advantage of the system? Those losers let them suffer and be miserable but it is okay because I am fine. Hmmm, not very Christian is it? There are for sure those that take advantage but more than not there are just a lot of hard working people with limited opportunities due to an ever increasing population that is slipping further and further into an abyss and that abyss is getting larger and larger and more and more are succumbing to its pull. If I could illustrate it with paint and a canvas perhaps it would be a modern day painting of “The Garden of Earthly Delights” a truly frightening painting from about the 1500’s that in some scholar’s minds displays the moral decay of the time or a warning of what will happen when morality declines.

Finally, what boggles my mind the most is this whole notion of small government and what is truly constitutional. When the government first formed we were a tiny country in our infancy. We are now a population of over 300 million. You can’t shrink the government and still care for a population of this size. This isn’t the 1700’s any more. In the 1700’s if you got sick you went and saw a doctor and you paid him with eggs or a chicken and a nice dinner. But as society grows you/we/the whole have to grow and change with it. We have to move forward and our thinking has to evolve with the times, which is what the Framers had in mind when they created the constitution. We can take care of our people, provide affordable care and not be communist/socialist and still have the American dream of LIFE, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. This dream is going to die hard for millions of people if we don’t stand up to the Tea Party and the GOP and say enough is enough. Healthcare is not a privilege in an advanced society it’s a right. In today’s world no one should suffer from a fall and face being crippled for life because they came upon hard times. They should be able to go into a hospital, get treatment and walk out with their dignity. There is a war brewing out there and it’s time for every day people to stand up and start talking, I fear if we don’t then more and more of the middle class is going to be chipped away and eventually it will be to late to save this country.  Like the third panel in the painting of “The Garden of Earthly Delights," America will be in an abyss, a dark black hole looking up at the light of the developing world and as we tumble further into the abyss and the light slowly fades to black we will truly fall from grace. The death of the American dream will be complete. This might not happen next year or even in ten years, but if we continue on this path it’s the future I see.

Why America Will Continue to Fail

#1: The republican front runners today are Michelle Bachman, The Donald (I know so sad) and Mitt Romney, a man who created a state wide health program in Massachutes that was the model for the national healthcare plan that Romney now wants to repeal. These are your choices today conservatives, how does it feel? Not good I hope. Donald Trump is a one man freak show and at best will provide comedians with enough material to last well into the next decade. Michelle Bachman is the new poster girl for demigods and Mitt Romney is the new poster boy for flip floppers, lets just call him Floppy Romney. We have serious issues in this country and we need serious candidates on both sides, not a right wing show of corporate greed and fairy tale believers. Obama should be feeling pretty good for right now because if this is his competition he should have no problem winning in 2012. Of course the year is young and who knows who else will step forward but let’s hope it is someone who can talk substance and has a platform that runs deeper then not cutting taxes, abortion and God.

#2: America is on a precipice, one that depending on which way we fall will shape the country and its people for years to come. Are we going to anoint the freaks or are we going to demand serious people with serious and real ideas to help us out of the mess we are currently in? The Democrats are the last fail safe we have against extreme right wing ideology. If we continue to let those like Bachman and for example Rep. Paul Ryan have a stage in politics we will continue to tread water and waste time. I find it amazing how many people came out and praised Paul Ryan’s budget, even Fareed Zakaria who I generally respect and like called his budget a good effort if not completely misguided. REALLY? What does that mean? Would a college professor tell a student well you did a pretty good job, all the words were spelled correctly in your paper and the grammar structure was good but you completely missed the entire point of the assignment, as a matter of fact you didn’t even read the right book! NO, the student would get an F. Paul Ryan and the congressional Republicans get an F on the budget in my opinion. How much time and effort was wasted trying to eliminate NPR, Planned Parenthood and other “entitlement” programs, where was the serious discussion about cutting the defense budget, continuing to reform healthcare, farm subsidies, raising taxes, oh right those don’t happen because that would just be un-American. Bill Maher has a great prop on his show, a plate of food, a large portion of mashed potatoes, chicken and some other side and then garnish, the garnish is the middle class and let me tell you, we have about one tiny sprig left on the plate, but no one touch the mashed potatoes and the chicken.

#3: President Obama, I blame him as well, not for the mess we are in but for how it has been handled since he took office. He needs to sack up and stand up to these extreme politicians, John Boehner and company to name a few. I want a president with some chutzpah who is going to put on some boxing gloves and get in the game. The conservative PR machine is excellent, so excellent it has convinced the middle class and poor that they are part of the great wealth and opportunity of this country and Obama and the Dems are going to take away from them something they have never and will currently never have, millions of dollars. Can the Democrats hire those guys because they need a restoration campaign and some lions of their own or else nothing and I mean nothing is going to change and things are only going to get worse.

#4: The American people. Here lies the crux of the issue. You – yes you, an ordinary American person, going to work every day, sipping your latte or serving that latte, driving your car, or taking the bus, listening to your iPod and twittering away, you need to wake up, educate yourself, turn off talk radio and turn on NPR, the news (but not FOX, sorry) and get in the game. This is your country, your home, your people, even the ones who look different then you and make less then you. The man on the corner with a sign, the women on the corner with a sign, the McDonalds worker and even the guy who makes more then you, the corporate CEO we are beholden to each other, a thought so totally un-American and socialist that I am sure just writing it will put me on a watch list but it is an undeniable truth, we are beholden to each other and we have to learn to help each other, care about each other and be nice to each other. We need to care about everything from the soil we eat from to the water we drink to the energy we use, to how we spend our money, individually and as a country, to every single struggling family we hear about and everything else in between. Then we need to elect serious, educated people to help solve these problems, preferable people who will not cave to lobbyists, no small feat I am sure, and who are willing to think outside of the proverbial “Washington DC” box. We need to move away from electing people on moral issues that will never ever be truly solved in the political arena and realize that it’s not God that is going to save us but ourselves. If we continue to elect people into office like Michelle Bachman who want to rewrite history, campaign on abortion and the evil EPA well guess what America you reap what you sow and what you are sowing is the destruction of the American dream, the continuation of corporate greed, you are feeding the top 1% of this country with your livelihoods, and guess what, gays are still going to be together, babies are still going to be aborted and the middle class is going to slip further and further into the abyss. Read it weep, without real change that is the future I see.

What I know?

During the course of the day today I have read a handful of articles scattered across the web and I’m left with such a sad feeling of helplessness against the forces at work in this country. I’m constantly telling my husband that the issues facing America today are so complicated that I really do believe it is too hard for the average American to understand and I am not trying to sound like an elitist when I say this. I am not even going to pretend I understand the ins and outs of the budget or what the new finance reform bill covers. The defense budget this year is proposed at 708 billion dollars and I couldn't tell you what that covers, what is needed and wasted. I am not an expert in every field. But here is what I can tell you:

I know that we have one of the best if not the best military on earth and if we took a few billion from the defense budget and allocated it to schools and invested in our children's education we would still have the most powerful military on earth and we would have well educated young people to run the military in the future.

I know that the fat cats on Wall Street make billions and some get taxed at a 15% tax rate through a special loophole (their income is often taxed at the capital gains rate) while the rest of us get taxed at a much higher rate. Why not raise their taxes and lower ours? Why isn't the Tea Party fighting that battle for the common good? Robert Reich in a post on the Huffington Post had this staggering statistic, “Last year, America's top thirteen hedge-fund managers earned an average of $1 billion each. One of them took home $5 billion. Much of their income is taxed as capital gains -- at 15 percent -- due to a tax loophole that Republican members of Congress have steadfastly guarded. If the earnings of those thirteen hedge-fund managers were taxed as ordinary income, the revenues generated would pay the salaries and benefits of over 5 million teachers. Who is more valuable to our society -- thirteen hedge-fund managers or 5 million teachers?” http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-reich/the-republican-strategy_b_825206.html

Really? If this doesn’t make you angry then you either have your head in the sand or you are a complete idiot, or both. This is what people are talking about when the say the highest concentration of wealth is with the top 1% of earners. The middle class in this country that supported the Republicans and the Tea Party and want smaller government should take a look at this statistic and then readjust their thinking. Hey Republican controlled congress, you want to shrink the budget gap, take a look at the tax code, not Planned Parenthood, NPR and Public Broadcasting.

I know that NPR and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting have some of the best reporting, journalist and educational programs around and what do the Republicans and Tea Party candidates want to do to it, slash or eliminate their budget as if this will solve the budget shortfall. Truly they don't like these institutions because they are the last man standing for unbiased and true grit reporting. I know the truth hurts and Republicans and radical Tea Party folks want to shut them down.

I know that the EPA tries to keep our waters safe, our soil clean and air breathable but what do Republicans want to do with the EPA, eliminate it and create a program that promotes jobs and allows companies to grow (translation make more money, pay less taxes and fines) and destroy our environment in the process because let’s face it all the evidence in the world shows that left to their own machinations big companies will cut every corner in the book on safety to save the almighty dollar. All together now everyone say Hinckley or more recently Gulf Coast Oil disaster.

I could go on and on about what I know and don’t know but what I really want to know is what do you know? What do you believe? Do you really think cutting programs like PBS, NPR, Planned Parenthood and destroying the EPA is going to make this country, better, stronger or is this just a straight up attack by a group of radical people in our government to strip away and destroy what is left of anything good in this country? Republicans and the Tea Party are using smoke screens and mirrors to make people believe their rights are being trampled on and that Obama and the Democrats are to blame for their troubles and trying to turn their beloved America into a socialist state, when really the Republicans and the Tea Party are going to turn this country into something we have never ever seen and guess who is going to suffer the most, the poor and the middle class. Wake up America, educate yourselves and get involved. Stop voting for people because of their views on abortion and because you like that they attend church. Look at the young people in Egypt, and across the middle east, they are fighting for a better life (let’s hope) and I say we stand up and say enough is enough as well because it might be your young children in 20 years protesting in the streets because of low wages, stagnation, and other terrible inequities in the land of freedom and equal opportunity. What do you think?

Helen Thomas

I'm sure that some of you are going to disagree with me here but it's amazing to me that a women who has been working the white house press core for more then 4 decades can lose her job over night while people like Glen Beck, Rush, Anne Coulter and Michelle Malkin can spew their lies all over the airwaves (with hardly any repercussions) on a daily basis shows just how upside down and stupid this country has truly become. Granted what Helen Thomas said was irresponsible, insensitive and of course totally unrealistic however I don't think she should have been fired for it which is basically what happened. The women has been up until a few days ago one of the most distinguished journalist on the white house press core. I understand that this country has deep ties with Israel and they are a powerful alley but I think it is unfair that Helen Thomas is treated like some horrible villain for again what was a very stupid comment when others can lie daily and hardly anyone bats an eyelash. It's maddening. Joseph Farah of World Daily Net on daily basis accuses Obama of not being a US citizen and some sort of communist Nazi yet do you ever hear people like Ari Fleischer (you know the really honest and upstanding person that he is) coming on CNN complaining about how offensive he is?? NO, I don't think so. But Fleischer didn't waste any time coming on to CNN yesterday to complain about how horrible Thomas is. Interesting where our priorities lie. I understand what Thomas said would be deeply offensive to many people but should a career as long as hers come to a halt over one off handed comment, no matter how off-base, I just don't think I'm comfortable with the destruction of one women's career over this. It's sad and although I don't agree with her comments in any way, I think what is more sad is we can go on the attack like this because of her comments about Israel but others can lie without repute daily and we (media & public) turn a deaf ear and laugh it off. I'm not sure which is more offensive.


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37555003/ns/politics/

Thoughts?