Letter to the Editor
It’s Christmas time and the Republicans are holding us hostage again. Both parties agree that taxes should stay low for the bottom 98% of Americans, but rather than pass that tax cut the Republicans are holding us hostage in order to get a tax cut for Wall Street. Wall Street are the ones who created this recession and they aren’t job creators. Wall Street is little more than the worlds largest casino where the super rich go to gamble and the rest of us have to cover their losses when they blow it. Taxing the rich is good for the economy and is good for America. I’m tired of being a Republican hostage and we won this election and we’re going to get our way.
Letter to the Editor
The President and the Democrats clearly won the tax the rich election and the Republicans lost defending the top 1% even with them pouring billions of untraceable money into the election. Republicans could be smart and take this opportunity to embrace the ideas of helping the poor, middle class, and the rest of the 99% of America and get rid of their reputation of being crazy and sold out to Wall Street. If Republicans, for example, were to embrace reality and start acting like reasonable people they could cut into the Democratic base and do better in future elections. I encourage them to do so. I’d rather vote for the party that accomplishes the most rather than the party that scares me the least
Letter to the Editor
Since we are facing the “fiscal cliff” that Congress artificially created the debate is about what is and what isn’t on the table. There are some things that can be done to make a deal happen and give both sides some political cover.
For example, it’s time for Obama to cave in on the Keystone Pipeline. This pipeline isn’t something that he’s really against and it’s just moving oil around so it’s really not a bad thing for the environment. But the Republicans have artificially elevated its importance and if Obama gives in it will give them an artificial ego boost as well as creating a lot of jobs.
During the elections Romney suggested the idea of caps on deductions limiting how much billionaires can write off. This is an idea that sounds good to me that Obama and the Democrats should agree to. Both sides should agree not to give the military more money than they are asking for. This will allow both sides to look good. I also think the payroll tax holiday should end because it’s really robbing Social Security and should be replaced with some other policy like an exemption for the first $10000 of income.
If Obama and the Democrats agree on these issues then that could create the political cover Republicans need to allow the Bust tax cuts to expire for the rich. This is the kind of deal that should work for both sides and make economic sense. If they get that far they can then focus on the spending cuts in a second round of deficit reduction.
Letter to the Editor
I am now convinced that Susan Rice would make a great Secretary of State because the Republicans like John McCain want very much to stop her nomination. Anyone who the Republicans are that much against must be highly qualified for the job. Senator John McCain needs to focus on what’s good for America rather than his personal grudges over losing to Obama.
Letter to the Editor
Franklin Graham – son of the renown evangelist Billy Graham – declared of last weeks election, “maybe God will have to bring our nation to our knees – to where that we just have a complete economic collapse … Maybe at that point, people will again call upon the name of almighty God”
As a Realist I feel like I’m impartial when it comes to determining the will of God. The way I understand the Bible, God is omnipotent, and God is in control. After all, if God weren’t omnipotent and in control then why would we call him God?
So – if Obama was reelected president then it’s because God wants Obama to be president. God voted for Obama! And if you believe that Obama became president in spite of what God wants, then it is you who are the Atheist. You’re the one, not I, who doesn’t believe! So I say to reverends Billy and Franklin Graham as well as any Christian reading this message – why should I believe in God’s divine plan when it’s clear you don’t believe?
Letter to the Editor
Some people call Senator John McCain a war hero but I call him a big baby. It’s been 4 years and another election ago and he still hasn’t got over losing to President Obama. Picking on Susan Rice? Really? If you’re going to take on Obama why don’t you do it face to face rather than by proxy. Only cowards pick on women for no reason.
I think it’s time McCain quit wining and remember that his job is to serve the best interests of the citizens and not act like a cry baby. You’re in your 70s dude. It’s time to grow up and be an adult.
Letter to the Editor
We just had a big election and we have the looming issues of the fiscal cliff, creating jobs, immigration reform, an the Republican civil war. But what is the news media obsessed with? They can’t stop talking about a sex scandal.
It’s like oh my God! A powerful 60+ year old man cheats on his wife with with a pretty woman in her 30s. Maybe someone should explain “the birds and the bees” to the news media. Why is this news? They did their investigation. Nothing happened that affected national security. No laws were broken. The reason the President and Senator Feinstein weren’t informed is because there was nothing to tell. This was even leaked to Republican leaders before the election and it was so uninteresting that the Republicans didn’t use it.
So please – stop it. I say to the news media – grow up! There’s news out there to report. Do your jobs.
Letter to the Editor
In 2008 the Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell declared that the number one goal for the Republican Party will be to make sure that President Obama is a one term president. They had one goal and that failed. America has suffered because of it. Last night America denied McConnell his goal and we reelected President Obama. So now it’s time for Republicans to give up the crazy nonsense and get to work doing their jobs. I’m hoping that Republican learn something from this and they follow Governor Chris Christie’s example as a new template for Republican behavior. It’s time for Republicans do what’s right and argue over who gets the credit rather than do what’s wrong and fight over who gets the blame.
Letter to the Editor
Eight years ago on the Friday before the election Osama bin Laden released a video giving Bush the boost he needed to win the 2004 election. Last year President Obama took out bin Laden making sure that doesn’t happen this year. Sure feels good knowing bin Laden is gone.
Letter to the Editor
I have to say that I am impressed with Governor of New Jersey Chris Christie and President Obama for working together in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. This is how Republicans and Democrats are supposed to work together in times of crisis. I’m hoping the Governor Christie and President Obama set an example for the rest of them in both parties and send a message that their job is to work together and server the people who elected them. I like what I see. I hope that it spreads.
Letter to the Editor
I want to encourage everyone to vote early where ever possible. There are a lot of people out there this year that are trying to cheat you out of your vote. The best way to protect your right to vote is to vote early. That way you don’t have to stand in line where there might not be enough working voting machines, or people who would disrupt the election or challenge your right to vote. Also, by voting early you will be one less person standing in line on election day so that it’s easier for everyone else to vote who weren’t as smart as to to vote early. Voting is not only a right but a responsibility and when you don’t vote other people decide your future for you. Voting is the core of what being American is about.
Letter to the Editor
Suppose we elect Mitt Romney for president and we found out he was lying. But – we all knew he was lying when he ran for president, so if he’s lying to us – isn’t he just keeping his campaign promise? Maybe we want to be lied to? Maybe we can’t handle the truth? But as a Realist I have to say that we might end up regretting choosing someone who we know isn’t being honest. Maybe it’s time for us as a country to come together and start making good choices.
Letter to the Editor
The people on the east coast are lucky that Obama is president because under a Romney administration there would be no federal help for disasters. Romney and the Republicans would eliminate the Federal Emergency Management Agency leaving the states to fend for themselves in case of a disaster. That way he can give the rich more tax cuts. We all know what happened to New Orleans under the Bush administration. When a natural disaster comes (or even an unnatural disaster) everyone looks to the Democrats to save the day.
Letter to the Editor
I’m watching the news and WOW! Senate candidate Richard Murdock said in a debate, “even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that it is something God intended to happen.” This guy says God intends women to be raped and impregnated? That is what he claims is God’s will? The Republicans are really going off the deep end this year. These people are F-ing crazy! Even as an Atheist I find that religiously offensive. It just seems to me that if you’re going to claim to be a Christian that you ought to at least put out the effort to understand what your religion is about. You’re not going to win souls for Jesus but telling people you believe it’s God’s will that rapists impregnate women and that is a “Gift from God”.
Letter to the Editor
It looked to me like this last presidential debate was the exact opposite of the first debate. This time it looked like Romney was asleep. The debate was officially about foreign policy, which is where Romney is week. But Obama kept hitting Romney on contradictions and Romney failed to respond. Romney also had a last chance to finally reveal the specifics of his plans for the economy and he failed to do so. It seemed to me that Romney realized that it’s just not going to happen for him, and Romney seemed as if he knew he wasn’t up to the job of being president of the United States.
Letter to the Editor
From what I see the Republicans are inhaling fear and exhaling anger. But the truth is that America has real problems. Problems that are going to take time to recover from even if we do everything right. And if we don’t do everything right we might not ever recover. The Republicans have yet to put a plan on the table to we can see if it passes the math test. I can’t vote for someone with an undisclosed plan.
The way I see it, fear and anger is not a good strategy. We need to grow up and act responsibly. We need to get past fear and anger so we can stand up, dust ourselves off, and as a united country, start the journey from where we are to where we need to be.
Letter to the Editor
Mitt Romney’s specialty at Bain Capital was to get companies, load them up with debt, chop then up and sell off the pieces. I think that’s what Romney intends to do with America. Mitt Romney is the undertaker. I think Romney intends to do to our country what he’s done to the businesses he’s destroyed. That’s why he won’t tell us what is plan for America is.
Letter to the Editor
I love early voting. I wish they wouldn’t call it absentee voting because the word implies that early voting is only for people who can’t make it on election day. I started voting by mail a few elections ago and I’m never going back.
What I like about early voting is that I can take my time voting in my own home. I can sit there with my laptop and do research online while I’m voting. I already know who I’m voting for for president, but when it comes to the ballot issues I need time to think those through. There are also lesser candidates like judges and school board members running who I don’t know it it allows me the time to make a good choice. If I want to take a few hours or a few days to vote I can do that.
When I vote at the polls I feel like I need to hurry up and get done so that the people in line aren’t waiting on me. I also have to not vote or skip the elections where I have no idea who these people are running for school board. Voting at home actually helps those who vote at the polls because when I’ve already voted, I’m one less person in line to hold up everyone else. And if you are in an area where there are long slow lines, voting at home might allow someone else a chance to vote at the polls because that’s just one less person standing in line. It is also good for the county clerk’s office because they can start counting the early votes at the beginning of election day and will have less ballots to count after the polls close. That gets the results out there sooner so we can all know who won.
So I encourage everyone out there – if you never voted early – try it. Once you try it you’ll be amazed like I was. It’s like WOW! I’m never going back to standing in line again.
Letter to the Editor
I watched the second debate and I’m not sure what’s worse. The thought of Romney’s binder women or the idea that he’s probably making that story up. Turns out that when Romney left office only 25% of his staff were women. I suppose that’s a lot for a Republican.
Letter to the Editor
2 weeks ago the press beat up on Obama saying he lost the debate. However it seems that Obama did nothing wrong except allow Romney to lie unchallenged. Obama’s positions were sound ideas and it wasn’t like there were any gaffes. Romney won on style but it’s easy to do that if you can say anything you want regardless as to if it’s true or not or if you are contradicting yourself or not. I just hope that when they score this next debate that honesty and substance count for something.
Letter to the Editor
I ask the question, “When is good news for America bad news?” When Republicans want to get elected. The job numbers came out and unemployment is at 7.8% and the Republicans are freaking out because it’s good news. It reminded me of when Clinton was president and there was good news all the time. They used to complain that the economy is “overheating” and the Fed was trying to put the brakes on to stop uncontrolled economic growth. And back then the Republicans were freaking out over, “What are we going to do about the surplus?”
And then there was Bush and the surplus problem went away fast and it was all bad news. Especially at the end what the whole economy was collapsing and 4 years ago we were in a state of crisis. The Republicans put us in such a deep hole that here we are 4 years later hoping to see some light at the end of the tunnel.
Which brings us to today’s news. Today we crossed an artificial line of below 8% unemployment which is at least a symbol that we are finally crawling out of the Bush hole and it’s good news for Democrats and bad news for Republicans. It seems to me that the choice in this election is clear. If you like good news then vote for the Democrats and if you like bad news then vote for the Republicans. Maybe we can send the Republicans a message that preferring bad news is the wrong answer.
Letter to the Editor
The Democrats are trying to make a big deal over Republicans registering dead people to vote in Florida. Of course Republicans are going to get the dead registered as Republicans because they know that dead people are more likely to support Republicans than Democrats.
Dead people don’t need Social Security, Medicare, or Medicaid, They don’t need housing, medical care, food or gasoline. Dead people don’t care about birth control coverage on their insurance or lifetime caps on coverage. It doesn’t matter if they lose their home mortgage deduction. But Republicans are more in favor of lowering the death tax which Republicans believe the dead would favor, if they weren’t dead.
So if Democrats are going to criticize Republicans for trying to turn out their base the Republicans should criticize Democrats for pandering to live people. If Democrats stop Republicans from registering dead people then aren’t Democrats the ones engaging in voter suppression?
Letter to the Editor
It’s time in this election to talk about the “B” word. I know some people, especially Republicans, don’t like the B word. What’s the B word? BUSH!
Remember 4 years ago this week the economy was collapsing. Huge banks and investment firms were collapsing every day. John McCain suspended his campaign so he could pose as being in control. And then President Bush appears on national TV looking as sober as I had ever seen him. “The sky is falling!”, he declared. Not a trace of a smirk on his face, a cold dead sober look that chilled me to the bone. America was collapsing. 750,000 people a month were losing their jobs. Things were so bad that Republicans begged Democrats for an emergency bailout. Those were scary and important times.
Now we have Mitt Romney who is another Republican wanting Bush’s old job. But I haven’t heard Romney articulate how he’s different than Bush. I would like to hear Romney tell us what he’s going to do that is different than what Bush did. So far everything Romney is for is the same things Bush did. How do we know that electing Romney wouldn’t be like a third term for Bush?
Letter to the Editor
I was listening to Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan and OMG I just realized that Grandma is a Communist! She thinks that she is entitled to get Social Security and Medicare after paying in for a lifetime. Quit being a victim Grandma! She thinks shes entitled to healthcare, to food, to housing! What’s wrong with her? Get a f-ing job!
Paul Ryan says it best though. He wants to privatize Social Security and Medicare in order to “break the back” of the collectivist philosophy. Ryan understands that to make money is the essence of human morality. Ryan understands that people who have earned a lot of wealth deserve to enjoy that wealth and that it is immoral to force them to the old, tired, sick, and poor. These people, like Grandma, are nothing more than looters. How dare she? How dare she!?
So Grandma – I’m voting Republican this year. Romney and Ryan are coming after you. I’m going to get my tax cut and you can go get your own food and home and medical care. I’m kicking Grandma to the curb. I’m a Republican. Go Mitt! WooHoo!
Letter to the Editor
I hear the Republicans talking about the “makers and takers” as if they are the “makers” and the people at the bottom 47% are the “takers”. The way I see it the makers are the people who get up and go to work in the factories and work real jobs paying payroll taxes, and the takers are the millionaires who sit at home trading stocks and commodity options on Wall Street who get most of the government handouts and bailouts leaving us makers stack with their deficits. When the rich complain that working class people don’t pay income taxes that’s because the rich have taken so much from the middle class that they are too poor to owe taxes.
Letter to the Editor
When I listen to the Republicans throwing out the words “Redistribution of Wealth” as the reason they should kick grandma to the curb I have to laugh. The way I see it the wealth is being redistributed from the poor and middle class to the rich. Half the country is owned by the top 1% who have trillions of dollars sitting in offshore accounts. When the super rich crashed the economy the government just handed them trillions of dollars that we taxpayers have to pay back. I’d like to see some wealth redistribution back to the rest of the country so we can get back some of the money the Romney types have been stealing from us.
Letter to the Editor
Every time I turn on the news all I see is a bunch of angry Muslims in the Mideast killing people and destroying property because someone said something they consider religiously offensive. Although I believe in Democracy I’m beginning to wonder if we’re better of leaving them in the hands of a brutal dictator if they aren’t mature enough to appreciate the freedom we helped them win.
The way I see it this kind of violence shows me that if there were such a thing as God that these people definitely have not found him. All I see is Muslims acting like barbarians. Although they would probably execute me for my beliefs, when I see how Muslims behave it makes me thank God I’m an Atheist.
Letter to the Editor
Rick Santorum addressed the Value Voters conference telling them, “We will never have the elite smart people on our side”. He probably didn’t realize it but he just admitted he’s not smart and he effectively called the Value Voters stupid. Of course it takes a smart elitist like myself to point this out.
Letter to the Editor
Mitt Romney is now saying that if he is elected president, he will emphasize the role of God in American society and will not “take God out of the public square.” But that raises the question as to whose God will have a role in American society.
Although I am now a Realist I was raised Jewish in a society where most people were Christians. From a Christian perspective they looked at themselves as Judaism 2.0. While keeping the Old Testament they added a New Testament which superseded Judaism. The added Jesus and the Holy Spirit. From a Jewish perspective Christianity was an unauthorized sequel. These new Gods were not our Gods.
Mitt Romney however is a Mormon and the Mormons have a Third Testament to the Bible. Mormons see themselves as Christianity 2.0 and Judaism 3.0. It also has the advantage of being “Made in America”. Perhaps Christians can appreciate what it’s like when another religion writes an unauthorized sequel.
The Book of Mormon is very different than the New Testament just as the New Testament is very different than the Old Testament. It’s not the same religion. That’s why Mormons come to Christian homes to try to convert Christians to Mormons.
Mitt Romney isn’t just a Mormon, he’s a Bishop in the Mormon Church. During the Vietnam War era Romney spent years living in France as a missionary converting European Christians to Mormons. So when Romney says that he will emphasize the role of God in American society, what does he really mean? If Romney is putting God on the table shouldn’t we at least ask Romney what God he’s talking about?
Letter to the Editor
18 percent of Americans over 65 don’t have the required photo ID to vote in Republican controlled states that passed voter ID laws. Republicans are denying seniors the ability to vote in an election where Republicans intend to make severe changes to Medicare and Social Security. Republicans are cheating seniors out of their right to representation.
The way I see it is that when a party has to cheat to win they are admitting through their conduct that they can’t win on the merits of their position. I think that it is UN-American to cheat seniors out of the right to vote and that the rest of us who still can vote should stand up for our seniors. After all, we will someday become seniors ourselves and when we take care of our seniors, we are taking care of ourselves and the values that America stands for. We have to show Republicans that dishonesty is not an American value.
