Obama (Republican) 2012

Pres. Obama dealed out the Public Option > I cancelled my name from his newsletter. Since then it has been all whishey washy. President Obama is playing liberals and progressives like a fiddle he is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. He is one of them and doing a darn good job leading us along thinking otherwise. Go Obama (Republican) 2012.

What in the hell ever happened to common sense ? I have served in the Military , Army National Guard & USAF active duty . I have hunted & fished all my life , and have a number of friends and a member of my immediate family in law enforcment , therefore I can speak with some knowledge about gun control legislation . Presently retired , and physically unable to climb the hills anymore , I no longer big game hunt , so I have no need for a rifle. I keep a .357 Magnum revolver for home protection and a superimposed 20 Ga shotgun to shoot skeet and the occasional grouse , or pheasant , truth is ?, I miss my bird dog more than the shooting . Point is this ? Why in the hell does anyone besides law enforcemnt and the military need automatic and sem-automatic pistols and rifles ? If I can't stop a house breaker with six rounds from my Colt or get my deer , elk , or bear with any good lever action , pump , or bolt action rifle of the proper calibre with a half dozen shots or less , than I'd better give it up and buy all of my meat at the butcher shop . Assault rifles and high capacity semi automatic pistols ;are designed for one pjurpose ?, to take human life , and for most of us who have had the misfortune to have done so , it's sure as hell nothing to brag about . My fellow hunters and target shooters , get your heads out of your arses !, and lets reach a common sense gun control bill that will let the hunters & shooters do their thing , and save one hell of a lot of lives !

Progressives should dump Obama and go for a primary challenge or we will be forever taken for granted. Voting for the lesser of two evils is too predictable in a non parliamentary system and Nader seems to be right. We need to stop calculating and start standing on principle. We need to look father ahead than one issue or election at a time. Machiavellian thinking such as the enemy of my enemy is my friend is morally wrong and now it has also been proven to be so predictable that it is actually less effective than just doing the right thing.

In answer to the question "Is it time for a revolt, or is it too risky for the 99-ers?" It's clearly time to revolt or the whole middle class will be 99-ers. The Democratic Party and their leader (The President) STILL need to get the message that they are losing support because they have no spine.

Its the economy Thom Thom 140 billion for the wealthy and 600 billion for the rest of us. Plus the only tax cut is on income under 106,000. Read the economists' opinions for goodness sake.The elephant in the room is the economy. Right now that elephant is sitting on the republican side of the table, in two years, it will be firmly on the democrats side.

How can anyone view the current political scene as anything but pure theater. Are our elected leaders responsive to the voters? Go ask Paulson. Just how dominant is the shadow government? Three examples to consider.

1. National Security State infrastructure continues to be put in place. We are told that we must be irradiated or sexually violated in order to fly on a plane. (Of course, the commercial freight it the belly of that same plane is not screened...but I digress.) We are told that an "underwear bomber" got on board a plane last Christmas and we must guard against such threats. Credible eyewitness testimony (American attorney Kurt Haskell and wife) relate how this "terrorist" was escorted around security without a passort and placed on the flight by unknown official personnel with a non-explosive bomb in his underwear. To this day we are told that this apparent intelligence operation is the reason for the need for enhanced airport security.

2. It seems the only terrorist plots that are being exposed are those that are planned and executed by the FBI. The most recent case in Oregon (who it just so happens has opted out of participating in the DHS joint terrorism task force) involves a somewhat disturbed Arab from Sudan who after 15 months of encouragement and training is given a plan, a fake bomb and a truck...all provided by the FBI. As he executes this plan he is arrested and charged with attempted terrorism. This is only the latest case of entrapment as other terrorist plots sensationalized in previous years have had the same genesis.

3. The country, sick of extra-consitutional behavior of the executive branch (not to mention bonafide war crimes) throw out the Republicans in favor of the African-American, two year Illionois State Senator with a background in constitutional law and community activism expecting change. His mandate was to end the unconstutitional and illegal wars in Iraq and Afghanstan, end domestic surviellance, end institutionalized torture and rendition, investigate bank fraud, among other things. What did they get? More of the same authoritarian, secretive policies of the Bush years and worse....he protects his predecessors from prosecution for their criminal conduct. The questions raised by credible 911 atrocity forensic evidence are extremely disturbing. ( I'll believe science over government spokesmen or blovinating newsreader television personalities every time.)

The privitization of covert acitivies was revealed during the Iran-Contra affair of the Reagan years. While the congressional investigation was only a limited hangout (a fraction of the program was revealed), one could see that a totally covert, independently funded program of significant proportion, run by a handfull of men in critical postions could and did operate in total secrecy. Little coincidence that the same crowd who contolled that operation came to power again with George Bush,jr. It's a sure bet they have learned from their mistakes. No doubt in my mind that the shadow government has been operating all along. The only question I have is are they the ones formulating and executing the agenda...and to what end? To my mind, at this point, that supposition seems more likely that not.

Thom you should have listened to the right wing talk before you spoke. Limbaugh hates the deal. Say that again, Limbaugh hates the deal. Lets take a chill pill and give, the first black man with no birth certificate to be elected president, time to keep working his 86% successfull, to date, magic.

Called my Representative and Senators at their local offices, expressing my diapproval of the frame work.

Two out of the three were recordings, but at Sen. Cantwell's office talked to a gentleman personally.

Told him why I called, what my opinion was, then asked if they had gotten many calls on this. His response was that they were swamped and when I asked what the feed back was like, he said the vast majority was opposed to the frame work.

The more I look at this, the more I hear, this is nothing but a huge tax trap set by the Republicans. We might as well spring it now -two years out from an election rather than wait and be bashed with it in 2012.

Good idea but

the tax cuts revert after the first of the year, no more unemployment and the republicans will have the house. The president won some battles here, it cost him 100 billion (to the rich) to get 700 billion for the middle class and unemployed. It was a trade he had to make.

Gun Control

The worst thing to do is to take away guns from anyone. You do that, like Bush did after Katrina, and all Hell will break loose. So how do you deter people from buying a gun? By allowing or stressing to someone the importance of firearm safety. No, not just checking the breech to see if a gun is loaded only but cleaning.

http://www.buymilsurp.com/pictorials/mnpictorial.gif

This picture is the rifle I had before I sold it. The inner working. I had to break down the rifle, scrub every part of the rifle of carbon and rust, air dry it and put it back together. Now tell me, what person under 21 would have the patience to do this? Not many. You clean the rifle so that the rifle will not blow up in your face, killing you. What the NRA fails to tell the people is that, after shooting your new firearm, you have to clean it too.

I had a rifle, but sold it after shooting it once.

when I was young we didn't have crisply-folded blue paper towels, we had real chamois and used a wringer to wring them out. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chamois_leather

Dems should propose the following:

End the Bush tax cuts for the top earners and use the revenues raised from the "tax increase" and estate taxes to pay veterans benefits and the tab for the ongoing wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. None of which are being paid for now.

This is a three-fer. It forces Republicans to argue against deficit reduction, supporting our veterans and funding the wars -- all of their supposed sacred cows. Since most of the men and women in the military are working class families who are suffering the biggest personal and financial burdens of the wars, why not have the wealthiest and most sheltered among us help foot the bill at a time of economic hardship?

Republicans would have to argue against the above and they would be unmasked for simply wanting more money for rich folks. To hell with the vets, paying down the war debts, etc.

Link the higher taxes on the rich and their multimillion dollar estates to paying for something specific that everyone is supposedly united behind: supporting our troops and funding the so-called "war on terror." Let's do this instead of passing the burden along to our children or slashing social services, etc.

This is my idea of triangulation. Let's deal some cards and see how the Republicans respond. Obama's game is: I playing the hand I'm dealt. He doesn't realize that he's the dealer! The tail is wagging the dog. Can we see some imagination out of the Dems for a change?

Your thoughts welcomed.