The day After and What Might Have Been

I learned a couple of things from Tuesday night’s election. We now have another category the GOP loses, the unmarried voter. I also learned the difference between independents and moderates in this present day. The independents are conservatives who have left the Republican Party for some reason and the moderates are Democrats who don’t align themselves with the progressives/ liberals. These labels change meanings from cycle to cycle.

The two major parties interpreted the results of the Tuesday night’s election results differently as we might expect. The GOP is split because some cheered Chris Christie’s landslide victory and others said that New Jersey was not a model to copy for the 2016 presidential election.

The Republican Party doesn’t think they lost the Virginia’s governor’s race because if they would have had a better candidate, poured more money into it, and emphasized the failure of Obamacare at the start, they would have won that contest. It’s another case of “if we would’ve scored more points “ logic.In fact, even though Ken Cuuccinelli admitted he lost, he has yet to call the governor elect Terry McAuliffe to congratulate him. The governor’s race in Virginia was very similar to the congressional race in Alabama where the business establishment ousted the tea party from gaining office. In Virginia, they withheld campaign funds and poured in money into the Alabama congressional race. The establish GOP beat the tea party this time around but not enough to discourage them from running candidates in 2014.

The DNC may be sorry for not putting up of much of a fight in the New Jersey governor’s race but they saw Christi winning since Cory Booker decided not to challenge him. Preliminary polls show Hillary Clinton beating the governor in his own state by six points, so the confidence that he can be beaten is there.

Democrats are like the team that kicks the last-second field goal for the win because they took the governorship of Virginia, but now they have to govern, no time to brag, analyze or declare a mandate. Terry McAuliffe has to find a way to convince the one chamber the GOP controls, to enroll in Obamacare.

Democrats saw new hope in passing minimum wage increase legislation. New Jersey passed a minimum wage hike despite having a Republican governor. The party was also delighted that New York City will get a very liberal mayor who will govern that way.

Republican leaders are trying to say Tuesday’s night’s election was the referendum on Obamacare, but that is very shortsighted. As he usually does, Jon Stewart went through his archives to show the same horror stories existed prior to 2009. Today we’re seeing the horror stories because a lot of lazy reporters are not doing their due diligence. October is usually the month health insurance companies reevaluate their policies with their customers.

As usual, the negativity has drowned out the good news. We just found out yesterday that our economy expanded to 2.8% annual rate during the months of July through September but then the shutdown came. The report stated that exports were rising, businesses were building their inventories in anticipation of sales, home construction was on the rise but then we got struck with another self- inflicted crisis. The naysayers are blaming President Obama and his policies for a stagnant economy but the economic data doesn’t support that.

I keep reading the letters about economic doom, but I don’t see any evidence of that. Yesterday, while I was at therapy, I overheard a conversation about a tamale order. The lady said that she was willing to pay $10.00 a dozen. Look at the cost of ingredients that go into making the delicacy; it wasn’t inflation that cost the price to rise from $7.25 a couple of years ago. I think the restaurants are taking advantage because that there are less people making good tamales these days. That’s just a small example where we can’t always use generally accepted economic reasoning to come to the same conclusion. We were led to believe that you can’t raise the minimum wage without hurting the economy but we know that’s just a myth. We no longer believe that we can’t raise taxes on the rich because it will hurt growth.

I don’t blame people for directing all their bitterness toward President Obama by trying to belittle his credentials, decisions, and policies because that comes with the territory, it’s called “sour grapes” I’ve noticed a pattern with these people; they don’t have an alternative solution. I’ve done my share of criticizing Ron Paul and President George W. Bush, but I submitted the details of why I felt that way.

OMG….Don’t Let Me Become One of Them

I was pleasantly surprised when “Morning Joe," announced as part of their “In the News” segment that California overcame their financial doldrums and are now reporting a budget surplus. California also reported that the transition to the Affordable Care Act is helping the cause because that state’s insurance rates are decreasing. Some of my “Shirley Sherrod Democrats” will never spread the good news because they are always cautiously optimistic. I call them Shirley Sherrod Democrats because they quickly secede to the noise from the right wing. Republicans never worry about being wrong because they are never punished for it.  A good example of that is that every Republican will point to Texas as a model for job creation, and few will ever counter by saying that Texas is among the worst at providing education and health care.  Some Democrats are afraid of  saying that most of those positions Republicans are bragging about are low paying ones because they fear being labeled as being anti-business. 

Before I go too far, I want to remind those that don't know what I'm talking about when I label some Democrats,Shirley Sherrod Democrats. Shirley Sherrod was a former  State Director of Rural Development for the United States Department of Agriculture who was thrown under the bus by the Obama Administration for an edited video where she allegedly made some racist remarks.  What makes this case remarkable was the source.  The media took the word of a well-known right wing propagandist, the late Andrew Breitbart  and worse without so much of a thought, the administration sought and  received her resignation. 

Joe Scarborough, routinely scours the newspapers for a headline or story that sheds an unfavorable light on the Obama Administration and holds it up for the camera to zoom in on it.  This morning he tried to tie the administration to a insider information scandal because the administration is explaining their stance on upcoming  legislation to hedge fund managers..  Joe had to back off when Eugene Washington of the Washington Post said “ Joe, you can’t complain that the president is not business friendly and then accuse him of insider trading when he meets with them.”

I know that its damaging politically if all a sudden, Democrats start to side with the Internal Revenue in the upcoming congressional hearings, but they shouldn’t just form a coalition with a party who caters to government hating constituents.  I wasn’t at all surprised that Joe Scarborough didn’t mention a Sunday New York Times article that shed some new light on the IRS story. The article pointed out the legitimacy of the IRS scrutiny practices outside of profiling. It would be prudent of an IRS employee to Google the website of an applicant for a 501 (c ) (4 ) once it arrives at their desk for evaluation.

A poster, Rufus Diggs, did a lot to counter the letter submitted by Carleton K. Thompson Jr. who was trying to say that the president did not live up to the code of U.S. Military Academy's honor code.  Not only did the Carleton Thompson omit several administrations ,he left out the part where those military academies did not live up to their standards. It would take but a minute to Google “military academy+scandal”  to pull up several results but there no reason to do that. I believe most of know  that perfection does not exist in our galaxy and we don’t try to pretend it does. Mr. Thompson is certainly entitled to his opinion but the fact that he served in two different branches of the military doesn’t make him an expert on the administration's involvement in the so-called scandals.

Not much politics this weekend except that it was surprising to hear Chris Wallace criticizing  the president wanting to tamp down our efforts on the war on terror. The right has never figured out that you can’t have a war on a tactic. Mr. Wallace did not think 12 years of war was too much and pointed all years of us being in a Cold War with then the Soviet Union.  I had to laugh when Senator Lindsey Graham blurted out that President Obama was the most tone deaf Commander in Chief of all time because  he is weakening America’s national security and emboldening radical Islam by prematurely declaring a drawdown in the War on Terror. Senator Graham's veins were bulging, and his eyes were flaring as he was running through his laundry list of military actions the president must take.  I don’t think many people side with Senator Graham’s neoconservative penchant for a never-ending  war.

It’s not always about the numbers sometimes it’s about people

Political conventions are supposed to gin up the base, bring together party leaders to work on a platform, hear partisan speeches, have a good time but most of all; it's a time when the nation tunes to hear their vision and plans.  I believe the Republicans accomplish what they wanted and last night the Democrats  got  off on the right foot.

I've been disappointed with the Democrats who have not embraced what we now lovingly  call Obamacare because they were too lazy to read the legislation and understand that it had to take small increment steps to succeed.  They should have recruited last night speaker, Stacy Linh, who told a story of her young daughter Zoe, who underwent two open heart surgeries.  It would not have been possible were it not for the repeal of the lifetime caps in Obamacare. Stacey said that Mitt Romney said he would repeal Obamacare, which would be devastating to her family because they could not afford to pay for Zoe's upcoming surgeries and care.  She had an answer for Mitt Romney's key line when he said,  "you know there's something wrong with the kind of job [Obama's] done as president when the best feeling you had was the day you voted for him. " She said,  that she knows that her best feeling was when she read the letter from her insurance company stating that Zoe would no longer have lifetime caps." The second best day for her was when the Supreme Court upheld Obamacare.

I think the Democrats did a great job of stagecraft because the under card speakers such as former Governor Strickland, Governor O'Malley, Rahm Emanuel, Tammy Duckworth made compelling reasons to reelect President Obama, and they were not there to promote their own agenda.  They effectively warmed up the crowd for the three speakers who would eventually bring it home.

Governor Deval Patrick of Massachusetts gave a fiery speech about Mitt Romney's lack of accomplishments and said, "All that today’s Republicans are saying is that if we just shrink government, cut taxes, crush unions, and wait, all will be well. Never mind that those are the very policies that got us into recession to begin with! Never mind that not one of the governors who preached that gospel in Tampa last week has the results to show for it. He left with a message I will remember when he said, "Quit waiting for pundits or polls or super PACs to tell us who the next President or Senator or Congressman is going to be. We’re Americans. We shape our own future. 

The keynote speaker was San Antonio's Mayor Julian Castro, who had all the pressure in the world for him to deliver a speech that would make him worthy of the honor of being the keynote speaker.  It was the first time I've ever heard the mayor speak, and I was impressed by his style.  He would smile, yet was firm in making his case of reelecting President Obama.  He told a story of coming from poverty and thanking those that made it possible for him to attend Stanford and Harvard.  His grandmother and mother were not(still aren't) wealthy, so he had to take advantage of Pell Grants, Affirmative Action, programs just to get the opportunity, so he could prosper.  He said that the kids at Stanford and Harvard were no different from the ones at Thomas Jefferson high school in San Antonio, so he spoke of “invest now for prosperity in the future. “ He spoke a little about the pre K program he's trying to start in San Antonio.  It's on the ballot for November, and it will cost taxpayers 1/8 of one penny or $7.81 per household.

I can't come up with enough accolades for Michelle Obama's speech last night.  It was an emotional plea to give her husband one more chance to complete the job.  She made an excellent point and brought the house down with these words " "Being president doesn't change who you are. ... It reveals who you are." I think she was trying to say that economic events changed but the president values never did. That message was for the undecided because most political strategists  say that those voters cast their vote for President Obama in 2008.

There's always that difference of opinion, Chris Wallace said the first lady, and the Democrats were just be asking for more government, and Charles Krathammer said it was a well-written speech and delivered brilliantly but said that"he didn't buy one single line of it.”

The first night is in the books, and the pundits on both sides will get their chance to evaluate it.

My wife thought that I was a little overboard last night, but I didn't want to miss a thing, so I used PIP to go back and forth between CNN's and MSNBC's coverage.  I also had my iPhone, so I could keep up with Tweets, and I used my iPad to watch ABC's special coverage application.  Tonight I'll have to watch the convention after the football game because I do have priorities.

The Democrats can thank their lucky stars that they have their version of  the old Mariano Rivera to pull them out of a bind; when they need it, like the "Big Dog" Bill Clinton…..Bill Clinton will be tonight's  keynote speaker tonight and there's no doubt that he will do what's he's been doing since he's became one of America's greatest politicians.

Is the media controlling the agenda?

I kept shaking my head in disgust the other night when I heard Wolf Blitzer tell Paul Ryan that he would have to wait for the fact checkers to verify the accuracy of his statement. Huh? I can't imagine Edward R. Murrow, Walter Cronkite, Tim Russert or even Dan Rather saying such a preposterous thing. Like a competent attorney, those four journalists, I mentioned knew the answer before asking the question. Wolf Blitzer is an excellent journalist, but he has access (or his staff has) to Google, Nexus Lexis and other tools; it's his job to ask the probing questions and to extract honest answers. They might lose some guests following that format but as my wife likes to say," Oh well."

The media is again trying to control the agenda; the first question that was asked of several democratic operatives was “How do you answer Mitt Romney's challenge when he asks if you're better off now than you were four years ago." To be perfectly honest it worked because it stumped Obama's people. They couldn't say that today was great, and they couldn't give a nuance answer without looking like they were babbling. Former President George W.Bush's political consultant, Matthew Dowd, gave the Obama people some good advice on answering that two-fold question. The first is that they should be judged on how they averted a depression, and the second should be to compare the future policies of both candidates. The election will not be about the latest four years or the previous eight years; it will be about the future.

The media on the eve of the Democratic National Convention is now trying to lay out the theme of Friday's job report and its importance because it will come out nine hours after President Obama gives his acceptance speech. The media seems to think that a bad jobs report will put a damper Obama's message keeping him from getting his counter bump to Romney's speech. I think a bump in the polls is no longer relevant because we are so polarized, and so many people have already made up their minds. The debates he might be the determining factor in swaying those independents (4%-6% of the vote).

 I was stunned to see Melissa- Harris- Perry of the MSNBC show bearing her name, lose it Saturday and go into several minute tirade.  Her guests mentioned that the entrepreneurs are the risk takers.  After hearing that she elevated her voice and said"What in the world is riskier than being a poor person in America? I live in a neighborhood where people are shot on my street corner. I live in a neighborhood where people have to figure out how to get their kid into school because maybe it will be a good school and maybe it won't. I'm sick of the idea that being wealthy is risky. No, there's a huge safety net, that whenever you fail, we'll catch you, and catch you, and catch you. Being poor is what is risky. We have to create a safety net for poor people and when we won't because they happen to look different from us, it is the pervasive ugliness. We cannot do that."

The Sunday talk shows provided a little excitement and some good information for a change. I've never heard David Gregory mix it up with a guest as much as he did with Newt Gingrich. The exchange was inevitable because Newt Gingrich wanted a fight with the media as he always does, and he thought he had the upper hand but he was not on Fox News. Newt Gingrich angrily stated that the "Democratic Party plank on abortion is the most extreme plank in the United States. The president of United States voted three times to protect the right of doctors to kill babies who came out of abortion still alive. That plank says tax-paid abortion at any moment of…meaning, partial birth abortion…that’s a 20 percent issue. The vast majority of women do not believe the taxpayers should pay to abort a child in the eighth or ninth month"…

New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman replied:

"I’m a Planned Parenthood Democrat on– on– on the issue of– of choice. And I think that is where the country should be. That is where many, many women in this country are. And I’m glad there are people running for the presidency who will defend that position. Period. Paragraph. End it."
With that, David Gregory said, “we’ve got to end there" as the red face guests prepared to depart.

ABC Sunday with George Stephanopoulos was equally exciting and educational because it shed some light on the strategy of the Romney campaign. According to one of Mitt Romney's top consultants, fact checkers are wrong. I think Matthew Dowd gave a great anecdote to that. Mr. Dowd said that Paul Ryan wanted his audience in the hall and those watching on television to believe that Barack Obama did not keep his promise of keeping the plant open in his hometown. Paul Ryan doctored the truth in order to create that impression. Although the Romney campaign is still running the ad in key swing states that lies about Obama removing the of work requirement for welfare; they did not mention it during the convention. I believe Bill Clinton will clear up any discrepancies when he speaks Wednesday night.

I've never seen Chris Wallace of Fox News Sunday, behave the way he did yesterday. He acted as though he was part of the Romney/Ryan ticket. He thought the numbers he put on the board were going to be the determining factors of the election. He was surprised when Brit Hume and Bill Kristol didn't exactly agree with him. I was surprised when Bill Kristol said Paul Ryan should have owned up to their part in the financial crisis because most people don't believe that the Democrats or Obama are solely to blame. Most people are aware of what the Obama administration inherited. He said it would have put pressure on Obama to admit that mistakes were made by both parties. Obama can now take the high road and say that he learned from those mistakes and if given four more years he will go out of his way to incorporate Republican ideas; even if giving a little more than he wants to.

Who in the world scheduled, Bill Clinton’s Democratic National Convention prime time speaking engagement on the same night that the Dallas Cowboys play the New York Giants? Hello Clint Eastwood fiasco, the Democrats will match that. That's going to be a long night for me because I will have to TiVo the convention and watch it after the game. Oh well, I'm retired.

Have a good Labor Day everyone.

What are they thinking?

And then they opened their mouth

It was a pretty exciting weekend for political junkies because the gloves came off and what you see is pretty much what you are going to get. The weekend talk shows didn't cover U.S. Representative Todd Akins’s ill-advised remark but instead focused on Joe Biden's stupid remark. Joe Biden will be the Democratic candidate for vice president, but as we speak, Senator Cornyn is looking for a legal way to replace Todd Akin, even though he had a slight lead over Senator Clair McCaskill for that important Missouri Senate race. The Republicans have already lost the woman's vote, but this might change the mind of some Republican women in this red state. This is the same Republican Congress that wanted to change the definition of rape earlier this year. It's not about one remark; it’s the cumulative of Neanderthal comments and actions coming from Republicans. It reminds me of Clayton Williams’s remark when he was running against Ann Richards, for governor of Texas, when he said, " If it's inevitable, just relax and enjoy it."

"Akin, a six-term congressman running against incumbent Democrat Sen. Claire McCaskill, was asked in an interview broadcast Sunday on St. Louis's television station KTVI if he would support abortions for women who have been raped.
"It seems to me first of all, from what I understand from doctors, that's really rare," Akin said. "If it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down," Akin said of a rape victim's chances of becoming pregnant.

Akin said in an emailed statement later Sunday that he "misspoke" during the interview, though the statement did not specify on which points or comments.

"In reviewing my off-the-cuff remarks, it's clear that I misspoke in this interview and it does not reflect the deep empathy I hold for the thousands of women who are raped and abused every year," Akin's statement said."

This week with George Stephanopoulos had a very interesting panel of partisans who laid out the Medicare arguments for both sides. Kimberley Strassel, Senator Pat Toomey, and Grover Norquist represented the right and Rep. Chris Van Hollen, Austan Goolsbee, and former inspector general of TARP represented the left. The right thinks a free market solution is best to save Medicare. They think that the voucher system will create a climate of competition, which will lead to lower prices. That's classic supply side but insurance companies will take the younger healthier customers, and the older folks will be will be sent to government Medicare leaving us with the same expensive system but now the burden will be an on recipient's not the government. On the other hand, the Democrats will gradually reduce pay to the providers while bringing in new patients to hopefully make up the difference. The elephant in the room is the repeal of the Affordable Health Care Act. The fundamental solution is to bend the cost curve because the" average, per-capita cost of providing healthcare services in the United States rose by 7.32% for the past 12 months ending in August, a rate of inflation wildly above the 1.1% overall inflation for the same period, according to new study by Standard & Poor's."

Meet the Press had an exciting panel which produced a rising new star in the Democratic Party, Mayor Kasim Reed. The Sunday talk shows are usually about each side trading talking points and with little interruption in between. Ted Cruz started out with praising Paul Ryan saying that he would bring conservative principles to the discussion. Peggy Noonan followed up with more praise for Paul Ryan until the mayor couldn't stand it anymore. Mayor Reed lit into Ted Cruz pointing out that Paul Ryan voted for all of Bush's tax cuts, two wars off the budget, Medicare Part D, which increased the deficit, causing Mr. Cruz to say he didn't agree with all the Paul Ryan's votes. That's just the point, if left unchallenged; people would have gone away thinking that Paul Ryan was a real deficit hawk as the media has portrayed him.

The Democrats of 2012 are now going on offense, a tactic I haven't seen since 1992. They can challenge the GOP when they rightfully go after Joe Biden stupid remark when he said, " “put y’all back in chains” by not defending that remark but reminding them that they are not one to lecture. I think the voter ID laws that will suppress the minority vote will do more harm than Biden's remark. It's going to be important to stay on offense because the “Swift Boaters" and Karl Rowe have just begun the play.

Where do they get those notions?

A letter writer in today's paper described Democratic Party as one that doles out the goodies in exchange for votes. Where did they get that notion is a rhetorical question because I know exactly where it came from. It's a generational myth that's been successfully passed down. That myth took off after the New Deal was passed, gained strength after Medicare, civil rights and affirmative action became law. It’s a simplistic view, but the writer believes it because he took the time to write a letter expressing his feelings knowing that his friends, neighbors, relatives and friends will now know how he feels. The letter writer wants his country back, but he had it from 2000-2008 and what did he do with it?

I wonder if anyone really thinks that a Democratic candidate goes around talking to potential voters while handing out stacks of food stamp applications? Do those same people think that Democrats should go around demonizing legislation that was passed by Congress and signed by a president? Democrats do support a safety net and the theory of social justice. The Democrats I know believes everyone should pull up themselves with their own bootstraps, but we also realize that some don't own a pair of boots. I believe in the type fiscal conservatism that means that the government should not spend more than it takes in, but I don't approve of austerity measures.

Let's pretend I’m a congressman who believes our country is spending much more than it takes in, but I also know that we are trying to turn our country around. My counterpart believes the same thing but has a different approach to solving our problem. I'm more flexible when it comes to balancing the budget because I know that we will have to make allowances for security measures, weather-related disasters and other unforeseen problems. I also know that we should never neglect education, innovation incentives, and infrastructure. I would walk away from the bargaining table if my counterpart didn't cut one dime from defense spending but instead increased it and, provided tax cuts for the wealthy, while making all his cuts on the safety net side. If the letter writer wants to call that “doling out the goods," then I am guilty as charged. I also believe that defunding Big Bird, Planned Parenthood, and other small items of the budget is just to satisfy a political interest. Its equivalent of sitting down at the kitchen table with your new budget, after the wife lost her job and the husband got his hours cut and the first thing that he throws out there is taking his own coffee and sack lunch to work. It's not a "you've got to start somewhere" situation because we know that entitlements and defense spending are the big-ticket items we need to bring back under control.

I would like to bring a different viewpoint to the “remember crash victims were also illegal" article because it's important to understand all viewpoints if we're going to make any headway in our divisive country. The title alone could be offensive because it doesn’t really matter if the crash victims were illegal; they are dead? It gives more clarity to the story and it's important to know but in the case of this article it was meant to send a message. It's not as if it was imperative for the letter writer to remind us of the crash victim's status. I knew right away that they entered this country illegally, but I didn't automatically reach for the word" criminal." I could agree with misdemeanor trespassing that led to their deaths and injuries, which could've been avoided, as other accidents that had nothing to do with entering this country illegally. I also knew that the race card would be used as an offensive and defensive weapon. The local Hispanics are defending people who look like them, so they don't particularly want them demonized. Others are saying, “don’t let your sympathy get the best of you" because those people were breaking the law. I believe it's becoming routine to ask after every major accident “were there any illegals involved?"  Here is the original article.This type of rhetoric will continue until Congress comes up with a comprehensive reform package, or we get back to 4.0% unemployment.

 Even with the new VA FB format ,I've noticed that when asked to present facts like actual cases of voter fraud or any subject where documented facts are important,posters will either go away  or changes the subject...It's as if it's a battle between myths & unverified postings against those wanting a discussion.

That's  the way I see it.

 I keep trying to get back to nonpolitical subjects that I would like to write about but the Advocate letters and comments and national politics are like a giant magnet.

A Great Sunday Read

I really enjoyed reading my Sunday Victoria Advocate this morning. The topics were tailored made for my enjoyment...There was the Chevy Volt article. Another one on the EPA, and even Michael Reagan came through with an insightful article about the recent GSA scandal. As always, Tina Dupuy wrote an excellent piece, and my wife said that the Parade issue about hoarding, described me to a tee.

I know I'm biased, but the Toyota Prius is a lot better than the Chevy Volt from what I read this morning. I don't have a plug- in, but I can ride around town all day at 35 miles an hour without using gasoline. According to my owner's manual, my "hybrid battery is recharged either through regenerative braking (kinetic energy from coasting/slowing down spins a generator to make potential energy in the battery) and/or by taking excess power from the gasoline engine (use the gasoline engine as a generator) to recharge the hybrid battery. There is no plug. No charging off the mains/local electric supply." I don't have to worry about being stranded at the airport. Mr. Griffin thinks the Volt is expensive, well that's about what I paid for my Prius in 2007. The Volt may have some new gadgets but the Prius has more than its share. The only negative I can see about the Prius is being stranded without a Toyota dealer in sight. I believe every small town has a Chevrolet dealer, but it may not have a Volt mechanic. Having to replace the battery pack after eight years of use, is a another negative.

Sonny Long wrote about the Victoria County Democrats supporting the legalization of marijuana. Why? How is that issue going to help the party? It seems like the emphasis would be on strategic way to get more Democrats elected. Unless I missed it, I didn't see environmental issues in the mix. Energy has always been a part of the Texas economy. The oil and gas industry will always have Republican support. The Democrats need to jump on the side of alternative sources.

There wasn't much Earth Day coverage, in fact, more attention was paid to 4/20 Day (4/20, which is slang for smoking marijuana) and the unveiling of the Willie Nelson statue in Austin, Texas. I think the climate-change argument has been lost for now, because of the bad economy. People just can't get excited enough to do anything to curtail the use of fossil fuels right now. That’s too bad. At least, the positive article about the EPA might make people aware of that agency's importance; I think the pictures were a nice touch.

I'm a little late in coming to the sewage plant issue, but I like Denise Rangel's answer of using modern technology over repairs and if it's correct that smell is no longer an issue, then location shouldn't be an issue. Like I said, I'm very late coming to this issue, so I might have missed a lot. I'm only going by today's article.

On another issue, wasn't the school board's decision on the standardized test is a bold proactive step in the right direction? We need to continue to keep the lines of communication open because eventually the good ideas will seep through the white noise.

Making the case for fair taxation

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Not class war fare

Honestly,the Democrats can never convince a country that is struggling from a stagnant economy; that their policies have worked. The policies were working until April, when the Greece economy hit rock bottom, and the tsunami-hit Japan but Americans don't want excuses and who can blame them.The country does not want nuance ;they want jobs and improvement. The only alternative is to make their side, the lesser of two evils, metaphorically speaking.

The liberals are ecstatic because President Obama is starting to show the same passion that he used in the 2008 campaign election.It may be too little too late, but he is calling out republicans by name and is no longer trying to extend the olive branch, which has been knocked out of his hands every time he has tried it. The president is showing up in Republican districts and giving his audience their representative's phone number, so they can call to have their bridge repaired. Since that is a ground level approach, it normally would take a little time to show results but not this time, voters in Seattle, Chicago, and elsewhere have been hanging large banners reading “Fix this bridge."The president has until the end of the year to make his case because next year the attention will turn to the alternative.

That next step is to take back the message that the Republicans have controlled for centuries. The democrats must explain that the budget will not be balanced if we only increase taxes on the rich, but they should be raised and asked to to pay a little more, rather than put the whole burden on the overextended middle class. The Republicans will fight back saying that taxing the achievers (job creators) would be counterproductive ,because it would cause them to recoil and quit hiring the unemployed. If you listen to people like Mark Cuban, Warren Buffett and the CEO of GE Jeffery Immelt, nothing could be farther from the truth. Ideally, they want more certainty from Washington on regulation and taxation, so they can adjust over the years. I'm reading Ron Suskind's new book called “Confidence Men" where he asked a CEO from Wall Street why he thought President Obama was bad and indifferent towards them. The CEO said that they sensed a weakness in the administration, because every time Wall Street cried foul, the administration would pull back and give them more goodies. The CEO said that they would continue doing this because it's working.

Democrats must learn that we cannot get the whole enchilada at one time, perhaps they should just settle for getting hedge fund managers to pay tax on their income at ordinary rates rather than the 15% for capital gains rate. The Democrats should be for tax reform but must continue to be against the flat tax, fair tax, or a consumption tax that will favor the wealthy and hurt the poor, in this period of inequality. When the lines between the wealthy, the middle-class come closer together, then it would be an appropriate time to devise some sort of a flatter tax that's simple and fair. To do that in this economy, will only benefit the rich. Remember, the wealthy can benefit in a bad economy because they're the ones that are buying up the hotels, residential homes, businesses, and other assets to sell when the economy improves.

It’s about time democrats

Democrats are finally taking charge and controlling the message. It wasn't that long ago when the republicans made the debt and the deficit the number one problem. The democrats have stuck with their job's message, and it's working,now all they have to do is hold it for dear life, for the next fifteen months.

I don't know whether President Obama intentionally upstaged the GOP's September 7th debate by asking for a televised joint session speech on jobs and the economy on the same night of their debate.. The president's spokesman said we only have one president, and the GOP will have about 20 debates, besides, they can schedule the debate after the president's speech. Yes, the GOP debate was scheduled a long time ago, but it's not easy to get national air time for a presidential speech. The Republican presidential candidates all have a chance to rebut the president's speech, and tell the country how they would create jobs. Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman have job's plans, but they are the same republican boilerplates plans; cut corporate taxes, zero taxes on dividends and capital gains, and repeal EPA regulations and Dodd-Frank. I still don't know how those plans will make consumers spend more because we have a housing crisis and a demand problem.

This August recess republican town hall meetings have been disrupted by people announcing their displeasure over Social Security and Medicare cuts while not asking for the top 2% to contribute more. A couple of nights ago one constituent stood up and asked a prominent republican to lift the cap on the Social Security wage tax on the employee and employer, in contrast to cutting benefits or raising the retirement age. Constituents all over the country are making their views known to the representatives, especially those that will serve on the super committee.

Most of the president's supporters want him to go for it all, knowing that the republicans won't pass his proposal, but it will give them an issue they can campaign on. The republicans will deny anything short of tax and spending cuts. The democrats will make their case that you can't lower the deficit and create the environment for more jobs at the same time. They will make the case that more jobs will create the tax revenues necessary to lower the deficit. The democrats will answer the demand problem by putting more people to work so they can afford to buy the big-ticket items, like cars and homes.

This morning Joe Scarborough was talking about in FDR's social programs, infrastructure projects, and a message of caring brought us back to prosperity. He said while not as severe, Ronald Reagan's policies brought us back from financial ruins of the 1980s by lowering taxes. That leads me to believe that economics' is not really a science because human beings can be manipulated. It's certainly not proof that Keynesian economics' does not work because a good percentage of the stimulus package was tax cuts. It may not be popular to say, but I think America is a hybrid nation with the basis being capitalism mixed in with a little of socialism. Since we have a central banking system, we will never have a true capitalist society because we like our VA medical care, Social Security and Medicare, we just don't like to take the steps to pay for them.

It's still early but the pundits are already saying Rick Perry is running away with the nomination because the Tea Party will never back Mitt Romney. Governor Perry cannot run away from what he wrote in his book 10 months ago; he took a pretty radical stand by calling Social Security a Ponzi scheme. I don't know what caused Ron Paul's fall to fifth place, but I suspect his interview with Anderson Cooper might have had something to do with it. They both argued over the role of FEMA where Ron Paul finally had to admit that government does have a role to play in rescue efforts. It didn't surprise me that kinky Friedman is now supporting Rick Perry; I listened to his message and knew instantly that he was not a Democrat.

It's still early in the whacky world of national politics.