Sunday, November 11, 2012

Wile E. Coyote Must Be A Republican

One thing you can say for Republicans - they stick to their guns, even when those guns blow up in their face.

Now they're blathering on about the "Fiscal Cliff".

Child please.

We don't have a spending problem. We don't have a debt problem. We have a revenue problem. We had a surplus in 2000 until it was burnt up by tax cuts for the wealthy and two un-paid-for wars. Never in the history of our country have we cut taxes in time of war. It's fiscally irresponsible. We have had a redistribution of wealth, all right - but it has been from the bottom to the top.

Let's call these tax cuts what they really are: spending.

Corporate taxes and taxes on the wealthiest are the lowest they've been in 40 years - and yet that did not magically lead to jobs and prosperity; in fact, the result was the exact opposite. Regulations did not 'strangle growth' - instead it was the lack of regulation that led to the banks and Wall Street's horrific gambling with Other People's Money which led to the tanking of the American economy - and the price has been paid by the taxpayers who did NOT cause the problem.

"Privatize the Profits and Socialize the Losses" is the modus operandi that led to this debacle. So more of the same is going to fix it? Cut taxes and regulation and "Happy Days Are Here Again"? Really? If that was so magical, why didn't it work before?

We got out of the Great Depression by A. shared sacrifice during a time of war - which we did not do; instead, we got tax cuts (which means spending) and B. government investment in jobs which put money in people's hands (for working) which they were able to then spend to stimulate the economy.

Austerity is not gonna cut it, I'm afraid. We need to invest in America and Americans if we want to have a snowball's chance in hell to get a middle class again. This is a time of crisis when borrowing is necessary. It's triage - stem the bleeding first. When we're back on our feet we can talk about deficit reduction and the like.

Saturday, November 03, 2012

If Lovin' The Big Dawg Is Wrong, I Don't Wanna Be Right!

Yes. I admit it. With all his failings and foibles, I love him still.

Bill Clinton was not a perfect President. And I'm not talking about Lewinsky - I could not care less about that. But NAFTA, the dismantling of Glass-Steagall and other financial deregulation, telecom deregulation, 'welfare reform' - those things I was not crazy about.

Imperfect as he is, nobody can communicate and lay out the fundamentals of what we believe as Democrats like the Big Dawg.
Day before yesterday, my husband David and I had the honor to sing the underscore for a great new GOTV video about Barack Obama (and about all Americans!) called "Yes, We Will." Actually, it's officially called "WATCH THIS. THEN VOTE." - an excellent and descriptive title. It is by Joel Silberman & Laura Napoli, who did the awesome Funny or Die video "Legitimate Rape Pharmaceutical Ad".

It's out today, and I hope everyone gets a chance to see it and be inspired in these last few days before the election. It clearly lays out President Obama's many accomplishments over the last four years - accomplishments made even more difficult because of the decimated economy he inherited from eight years of George W. Bush and by the stubborn opposition he met at every turn by Republicans determined to block anything that Obama tried to do, without regard to the best interests of the American people. The same Republicans who threatened Democrats with the 'nuclear option' and called them 'obstructionist' if they dared to consider filbustering anything Dubya asked for have happily filibustered their asses off to keep President Obama from

WATCH THIS. THEN VOTE. Inspirational New GOTV Video!

Day before yesterday, my husband David and I had the honor of singing the underscore to a great new GOTV video, "Yes, We Will", by Joel Silberman and Laura Napoli, who also did the hilarious Funny or Die video "Legitimate Rape Pharmaceutical Ad". It's actually officially called "WATCH THIS. THEN VOTE." which seems like a very useful and descriptive title.

It is out today. I hope everyone gets a chance to see this inspirational video in these last few days before the election, which highlights President Obama's many hard-won accomplishments - accomplishments even more amazing when you consider that he had inherited the worst economy since the Great Depression, thanks to eight years of George W. Bush and the conservative myth of "tax cuts for the wealthy + war + deregulation = prosperity". Not only that, at every turn he was faced with a Congress full of Republicans who were determined to block any and all Democratic legislation by the use of the filibuster (which they bitterly decried, threatening the 'nuclear option' when Democrats tried to use it when Bush was President), which required a super-majority of 60 votes to overcome, rendering the 51/49 Democratic Senate majority useless - and then paint Obama as ineffective.

President Obama has still made significant progress in the face of these overwhelming obstacles. Don't go backwards to a return of the failed policies that got us into this mess to begin with, and the rescinding of so many basic human rights that we thought had already been fought for and won that the extreme right wing is determined to take away from us - and in a good position to do so.

Fight back. Watch this video and then - get your ass to the polls and take your friends with you.

You may see me there - I'm a pollworker and, for the first time, so is my son! I am so grateful to be able to actively participate in my democracy by helping other Americans to vote.