Maine Writer

Its about people and issues I care about.

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Location: Topsham, MAINE, United States

My blogs are dedicated to the issues I care about. Thank you to all who take the time to read something I've written.

Monday, October 29, 2012

President Barack Obama - Leadership During Weather Crisis in Frankenstorm Sandy

http://www.policymic.com/articles/17699/hurricane-sandy-path-obama-holds-press-conference-on-frankenstorm


Obama Holds Press Conference on Hurricane Sandy: 

President Obama held a brief press conference on Monday at the White House at 12:45pm to discuss the preparedness of federal, state, and local agencies in the face of oncoming Hurricane Sandy. 
Many millions of Americans will be negatively impacted by this large and ferocious storm.

"The Monitor's Mark Clayton reports that, by 6 p.m., about 2.1 million people were without electricity in nine US eastern states."

Americans are inundated with "Frankenstorm" Hurricane Sandy news - an unprecedented storm of historic significance, creating the lowest Barometric pressure ever recorded for a storm north of Cape Hatteras.
 
"Hurricane Sandy Intensifies As Barometric Pressure Drops To 951 mb This Morning; Massive Storm Surges Expected And Winds To 80 mph In NYC!"http://www.davidmixner.com/2012/10/hurricane-sandy-intensifies-as-barometric-pressure-drops-to-951-mb-this-morning-massive-storm-surges-expected-and-winds-to-8.html?utm_source=feedburner+mod&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+modurban_media+(modurban_media)
  

President Obama said:  "We just had an excellent meeting with the FEMA team here, the various agencies that are in charge, including the Department of Defense, the Department of Energy and others that are going to need to respond very quickly."

Sandy's sad weather news is tortuous because of the unknown economic and human impact. Yet, Sandy isn't conspiracy FoxNews or pundits making up news. 

Frankenstorm Hurricane Sandy is real news....

Moreover, President Obama, as President of the United States, shows real leadership by affirming the support of disaster emergency management agencies to help after Sandy's weather danger finally dissipates.

Americans hired President Obama to lead our nation during times of uncertainty.  He does his job extremely well.  Of course, Americans will want to keep a highly competent, consistent leader for a re-elected more years.

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Sunday, October 28, 2012

Libya and Iraq - FoxNews Tragedies in a Dangerous Place

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq_and_weapons_of_mass_destruction
Bush asserted peaceful measures could not disarm Iraq of the weapons he alleged it to have and launched a second Gulf War,[9] despite multiple dissenting opinions[10] and questions of integrity[11][12][13] about the underlying intelligence.[14] 

FoxNews continues creating incendiary stories about the tragic loss of four American lives in Benghazi. But, do the right wing journalists  recall know how many people were killed in Iraq after the Americans invaded the country under the false premise that there were Weapons of Mass Destruction waiting to annihilate the world hidden in a mythical underground dessert sand dune?  http://antiwar.com/casualties/

American Military Casualties in Iraq 
Date
Total
In Combat
American Deaths 
Since war began (3/19/03):44883532
Since "Mission Accomplished" (5/1/03) (the list)
4347
3424
Since Handover (6/29/04):36272899
Since Obama Inauguration (1/20/09):257128
Read more »

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Messaging in Video Ads - Two Powerful President Obama Messages

Two motivating video pro-President Obama political ads currently
collecting views and likes....spread the word, these are meaningful....
and memorable....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLo0Jwj03JU

2,617,432 views
3,659 "likes"

In Marion, Illinois, workers were told to build a 30 foot "stage" platform that was
to be the podium where Bain Capital management investors told
employees they were "fired".....very powerful....
Mitt Romney made over $100,000 Million Dollars.....says employee
Priorities USA PAC

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nUDg-O93GU

Morgan Freeman voice over highlights challenging accomplishments
during the President Obama administration. It's a convincing narrative
with authoritative presentation by Freeman.

992,027 Views
7,177 "likes





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Friday, October 26, 2012

Glenn Beck is Like The Embarrassing Uncle- His Outbursts Startle When We Least Expect Him

"Morning Joe" MSNBC news ends by asking the pundit guest a question: "What did you learn today?".

Throughout this 2012 election, what I've learned isn't lighthearted or even helpful. Nonetheless, I've learned that some narcissistic people in America will abuse their right to free speech for the purpose of promoting their egos and showmanship.

Unfortunately, Glenn Beck is a person I've learned more about. Although I'd rather know as little as possible about this self proclaimed conservative pundit, his outrageous hate muckraking causes me to pay attention to his nefarious appeal. 

Beck passionately searches for alleged corruption and scandal by inventing arguments based upon his own interpretation of sources, like the Bible. Beck is not a minister, but he uses Scripture to create interpretation of politics. 

 Moreover, Beck uses Sacred Scripture to stir hate.

In other words, for people of faith, Beck is evil because no one in the universe is qualified to use the Bible to influence people about politics. 
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL01834E3E617E51F5

When I grew up, there were embarrassing relatives and friends who we never wanted to have in our midst.  Nonetheless, the family felt obligated to invite these people to certain gatherings while trying to maintain civility about the potential for them to create angst.

When the particular holiday or gathering passed, these embarrassing relatives would return home where we conveniently forgot about them until the next event.

Unfortunately, Glenn Beck lives on in YouTube and Fox News.

He's the Embarrassing Uncle with an immortal media life span.

Glenn Beck is a hateful man who makes his living stirring similar negative and destructive emotions in others.  Beck's right to free speech shouldn't allow him to take advantage of the vulnerability of others, who are his misguided followers.

Like our embarrassing relatives, Beck needs an elder of the family to speak with him about his terrible behavior, before he's allowed to speak publicly.  

Beck is horribly more pervasive than an embarrassing relative.  He's a dangerous embarrassment to free speech because he abuses his influence by misrepresenting information, skewed to his distorted view of the world order, according to him.  

It's time to un-invite Beck into our mainstream media and block his messaging for being intellectual pornography.

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Thursday, October 25, 2012

Women Voter Alert - War on Women is Real

My question is "why"?  Two women on social media tell me they're voting for Romney-Ryan, but they're unable to tell me "why?"  

These misguided women aren't voting in their own best interest.  Republicans have been clear about how their public policy will cut funding for Planned Parenthood, where middle and low income women currently have access to affordable health care including contraception.  These groupie Romney women don't remember the time, before the Planned Parenthood, when women had no access to contraception. In fact, Planned Parenthood was created by a group of largely Republican women to prevent unwanted pregnancies among young women. 

Reducing unwanted pregnancies allows women to focus on improving their human condition through education and jobs. They can aspire to work and earn retirement benefits, including qualifying for Social Security and Medicare. 

One twitter woman told me she believed women didn't need primary care provided by Planned Parenthood, or other health care providers, because "99 percent of women's health and wellness can be solved with exercise" (this statement falls under the "I can't make this stuff up" category).  As I'm a nurse, this completely misguided, wrong minded, "exercise" statement is counter to physiology.  Sure, exercise will reduce obesity risk and can postpone early onset diabetes. But exercise won't prevent endometriosis or female cancers of the breast, cervix or ovaries, where early diagnosis are essential for recovery.

Another misinformed twitter women said she'll vote for Romney-Ryan because Planned Parenthood in Washington state fraudulently billed Medicaid $700,000 to pay for abortions.  As a nurse, I told this misinformed lady how Medicaid doesn't pay for any abortions, so the claim is totally false.  Although I have no inside information about Washington State Medicaid billing, I know, for certain, how Medicaid can't be billed for abortion services.  Nonetheless, this twitter lady from Washington State claims she's voting for Romney.  Why? Her response to my questions receive serial misinformed statements, but no answers.

Meanwhile, Congressman Todd Akin is running for Senate in Missouri as a pro-life candidate. He clearly said there's such a heinous violent act he called "legitimate rape".
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/25/todd-akin-senate_n_2015666.html

"Since first uttering the regrettable comments about "legitimate rape," Missouri Republican Senate candidate Todd Akin has been his own most formidable foe – distracting attention from his big-government campaign theme against Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill by continuing to say quirky or questionable things."

Indiana Republican Richard Mourdock didn't get the memo Akin heard in stereo from women's groups about the physiology of pregnancy caused by rape.  Mourdock said something fanciful like pregnancy caused by rape is a ludicrous divine intention.  "..he refused to apologize Wednesday for saying that rape resulting in pregnancy is 'something God intended'."

Although I've fought the 140 character or less arguments with several of these misguided women, the results are disheartening Unfortunately, bully behavior by the "exercise" lady caused me to block her and the Washington State lady tells me I'm talking down to her when I explain how abortion isn't covered by Medicaid. 

It's even more disheartening to realize how these and other women probably represent many more who are just like them.

As a nurse, I know these women are harbingers for the future of women's health care.  Romney-Ryan have somehow mesmerized some women into believing health care is about exercise and Medicaid billing.  In other words, if these opinions prevail, women's health care will be driven by presumption rather than physiology.

Of course, when President Obama is re-elected, women can anticipate support for health care based upon medical research and physiological science.  I'm posting this blog link on twitter, with a prayer for the enlightenment of women who are misguided into voting against their own best health care interest.

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Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Tattoo Romney - A Classic "Romnesia" Cartoon from The New Yorker

"Romnesia" is a condition whereby Governor Romney claims a particular "position of the day" while conveniently forgetting previously stated convictions. 

Like "etch-a-sketch", Romney's political campaign positions change as regularly as the child's toy shakes clear the screen images. Moreover, Romney is emotionally erratic when under political pressure. He changes positions to please his audience. These erratic changes are well portrayed on the October 29, 2012 cover of The New Yorker.

This erratic leadership is dangerous for America. Our nation is pulling out of two undeclared wars while recovering from the greatest economic crises since the 1930s Great Depression. Our nation needs consistency and truthfulness from our President. Meanwhile, The New Yorker shows a Romney cartoon image, creating a "honky-tonk" candidate image, while he's sitting in a tattoo parlor chair, like a stone model.

This "Romnesia" cover seems intentionally nostalgic, reminiscent of a Norman Rockwell image. A skillful tattoo artist is graphically removing a litany of tattoo positions on the exposed arm of cartoon Governor Mitt Romney. Many of Romney's changing political positions and the baggage he carries in his controversial portfolio are exposed in cartoon.

Crossed off Romney's tattoo bicep are his changed positions:
1. Pro- choice - crossed off

2. Tax cuts - crossed off
3. Stem Cells - crossed off
4. 47 % - crossed off
5. "Romney cares" - crossed off
6. Outsourcing - crossed off
Floating around Romney's stoic cartoon likeness are controversial political icons of his GOP candidacy. It's as though he's thinking of new tattoo images like a "severely conservative" elephant, or a high hat loaded with Monopoly money. A typical clipper ship tattoo image carries the banner of Romney's wealthy offshore investments. "Corporations are people" ruling supported by the US Supreme Court seems like an appropriate tattoo. This image is a corporate office building, because it represents the decision permitting unprecedented amounts of money to support outrageously negative advertising to convince Americans why Romney is qualified to be president (because....???? he has more money???....).

Obviously, The New Yorker cover won't influence the outcome of the 2012 Presidential election. Nonetheless, the images are certainly more effective at communicating Romney's character flaws than the billion-plus dollars wasted during this year's decadently funded campaign.

It would be a relief if political cartoons replaced negative ads. They're succinct, people of all persuasions find them entertaining, and, potentially, cartoons have a remote chance to actually influence voter opinion. 

Unfortunately, entertaining political cartoons won't replace relentless and expensive negative ads. But, unprecedented amounts of money wasted in the 2012 election is proving to be ineffective in changing voters minds.  Rather, the outrageously costly ads seem like "one upmanship", duals and tit for tat discourses.  Voters aren't paying attention to them.

This late in the campaign, flooding money to influence the small number of undecided voters is as wasteful as time spent sitting like a stone statue for an expensive tattooer, who's vainly trying to fix bad tattoos.  

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Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Economic Growth and Taxes - Romney-Ryan Arithmetic

Steve Coll http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Coll  Pulitzer Prize winning American journalist and writer. Coll is currently president and CEO of the New American Foundation.

The New Yorker Steve Coll commentary in the October 22, 2012 exposes how close Congressman Ryan would be to executing startlingly extraordinary tax changes if he has influence over public policy.  Although Coll writes a serious commentary, the ramifications of his opinion are as alarming as anything we can spectre up on Halloween.  Let's never let this happen by voting Ryan out of government, altogether. 

For example, Coll writes, "Ryan opposes any increase in taxation, and he is a social conservative who advocates shrinking the federal government by degrees unprecedented in recent history.  Mitt Romney's decision to anoint Ryan as his running mate and ideas man remains the year's most revealing political move - a clear signal, amid the campaign noise, of what is at stake in (the) Presidential vote."

Moreover, Ryan accuses Democrats of regulating too much and "turning the (US) Constitution on its head."

Julie's opinion:  Ryan must not read the US Constitution because I certainly don't know of any clause where the government is required to be involved in regulations.  Regulatory policies and laws are enacted by the US Congress.  Ryan is in a Congressional leadership position to change regulations, if he doesn't like them.

Moreover, Ryan has no evidence that his tax policy (meaning, "no taxes") will work.  Coll writes, "...(although) the United States has economic and fiscal problems (the) evidence that they result from high taxes is scant.  America's top marginal federal income - tax rate this year - thirty-five per cent - is lower than that of Australia, Japan, Italy, France, Germany or Great Britain.  Nor is the US government disproportionately large.  The size of the government as a share of the economy is a is a quarter less than it is in France, and is well below the European average.  (Although) America's debt load is unsustainable, the history, math and common sense suggest that it can't be reduced, never mind retired, without some new tax revenue."

Americans must realize how raising expenses by paying for two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan while expanding the Medicare Part D pharmaceutical benefit, must be funded with responsible tax revenue.  Simple arithmetic exposes the false Ryan summation.  Either Ryan fully intends to cut more federal programs to create a balanced budget or he must support raising taxes.  

Most important is to realize how economic growth is stimulated by an investment of tax revenues.  For example, what's defense spending other than an investment of tax revenues in creating jobs?  This is the same rationale for tax revenue invested in education, in health care and space research, to name just a few programs.  

It's time Congressman Ryan learns basic arithmetic, while writing budgets, without increasing revenue.  Ryan in charge of America's fiscal policy is a horrific image.  Let's hope his ultra conservative ideas are very quickly thrown into a Halloween night bonfire.

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Who Americans Trust - Clearly Romney Flip Flops are Evidence of Character Flaw

"Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt." – Abraham Lincoln.  

This seems to be the Mitt Romney behind the flip flop political door during the third and final presidential debate.

Tuesday morning rehash, after Presidential debate 3, clearly demonstrated where the trust gene of the 2012 election resides. President Obama has it; Governor Romney lost it.

Governor Romney has flip-flopped too many times to count. Which door was the real Governor Romney standing behind in the third debate?  He was clearly behind the swinging door, the one that goes with the wind. Inconsistency is the one character trait where Governor Romney is consistent.

Americans should be asked today to vote up or down on each:
(a) truth telling 
(b) public policy consistency 
(c) presidential leadership 
(d) foreign policy vision and 
(e) who saved the US auto industry from bankruptcy- 

This election would definitely be over if the above were on the presidential ballot. Governor Mitt Romney is now running a campaign of fear. A Republican campaign is built on fear the economy will go into another recession, fear that Iran will build a nuclear bomb and, yes, fear that our nation is being taken over by immigrants.

It's time Americans rise above fear. Let's give our resounding vote of confidence to President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Hilary Clinton. They are a political and foreign policy leadership team we can clearly trust.

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Monday, October 22, 2012

Ownership of America - Koch Brothers Politics

http://www.forbes.com/sites/clareoconnor/2012/10/15/koch-brothers-pro-romney-letter-to-staff-is-koch-pac-non-partisan-as-they-claim/Koc

Filthy rich Koch brothers aren't satisfied being the wealthiest men in America. They mean to pay for control of American politics and the minds of people who work for them. They are exerting extraordinary undue influence over the presidential 2012 election by paying as much as it costs to win. 

Why do the Koch brothers want to own America? They can buy anything they want to own. Perhaps, America is a toy they want to redesign according to their greedy vision of the world.  They obviously don't care about the people they harm while exerting fiscal power.
Clare O'Connor reports in Forbes:

"It hasn’t been the best week for the billionaire Koch brothers. The lesser known Koch, David's twin brother Bill, stands accused of kidnapping and imprisoning an executive on his Colorado ranch. He denies all charges."

Koch brothers have so much money they can't spend it all in their lifetimes. Yet, they must believe they can control the political world according to them, while they're still living, because they appear to be unscrupulous about how they're willing to spend their fortune.

O'Connor writes, "Charles and David Koch are rarely out of the headlines, but Sunday’s news was more substantive than the usual speculation on where America’s richest brothers, worth $31 billion apiece, are secretly spending their cash this election."

As a matter of fact, O'Connor reports, "Liberal political magazine In These Times obtained and published a packet of voting information sent to 45,000 employees of Koch Industries paper subsidiary Georgia-Pacific. The materials include a list of Koch-endorsed candidates — those who 'have received support from a Koch company or Koch PAC', the company’s political action committee. For Oregon staffers, that list is comprised solely of Republicans: 14 of them at state level, plus the Romney/Ryan presidential ticket. The publication of this mailing comes on the heels of another highly publicized letter from a member of the one per cent. Timeshare mogul David Siegel wrote to his employees last week urging them to vote for Mitt Romney or risk losing their jobs." 

It seems to me these strong arm tactics are illegal.  Where's the Human Rights Commission, where these strong armed employees work?  I suppose it doesn't matter much if an employee wins a workplace suit through the Human Rights Commission, if there's no job for them at the end of the process.  

If the 2012 election is won based on who spends the most decadent amounts of money, paid for by unbridled rich people like the Koch brothers, then I predict America will become as regressive as a feudal society, where we'll pay kick backs to protect our freedoms. I don't make this scenario up, because my family lived in just such a country, the Philippines, during the 1970s when the Marcos administration managed under the equivalent ownership of the Koch Brothers. Marcos was owned by the "haves" of the Philippines while the "have nots" were subservient to the regime.

Americans must revolt against Koch brothers ownership of our nation.  Somehow, these rich moguls have kept a low profile while funding their takeover of America.  Unfortunately, Americans are unlikely to figure out how dangerous these rich men are until their power is untethered and they are out of control.

By re-electing President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, Americans will push back on Koch brothers ownership of our nation.  

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Sunday, October 21, 2012

Look Sensata Employees Eye to Eye and See the Hypocrisy of the Romney Campaign

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/16/mitt-romney-freeport-illinois-outsourcing_n_1676991.html

Although it's easy to create lists with reasons why Governor Mitt Romney is unqualified to lead our US nation, the most succinct, but, also, the most telling, is found in the truly sad story of the Freeport Illinois workers who were laid off employees of Sensata. They are unemployed because because Bain Capital negotiated the sale of their successful company jobs to China. 

Bain Capital is the investment company founded by Governor Mitt Romney. His political ads and rhetoric says he wants to be president because he knows how to create jobs. Okay. Where's the proof? Sensata employees certainly have something to say about how Governor Romney doesn't know how to create jobs unless, of course, those jobs are in China. That's what's happening to the Sensata jobs. An investment firm led by Bain Capital is now sending the Sensata jobs to China, where low wages paid to Chinese workers will generate higher profits for entrepreneurial investors.

What's worse, Sensata employees in Freeport Ill. were asked to train the Chinese workers who are replacing them, when the positions once held by the Americans are outsourced to China. 

One claim to fame in Freeport, Ill is the city was one of the locations for the historic 1858 Lincoln-Douglas debates.  Perhaps this city can again play a historic role in the 2012 election.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lincoln%E2%80%93Douglas_debates

Dear blog readers. This Sensata workers scenario is, at the least, hypocritical of the Romney campaign, because they're erroneously preaching about creating American jobs.  Where's the proof?

At worst, it's a symbol of how Americans are betrayed by the Romney for President misguided rhetoric.  When Romney created jobs, he did so to increase profits for investors of Bain Capital. Many of the jobs created by these financial transactions went to China and other countries outside of the USA.

Moreover, those voters who look a Freeport Illinois outsourced Sensata employee in the face and then vote for Governor Romney cannot explain to me the reasoning for their choice.  Or course, this raises the "elephant in the room" question of racial preference.

When a nurse looks at what treatment to recommend when a patient asks for guidance, we're trained to support methodologies where there's obvious outcome information available.  In other words, a nurse would not recommend a dermatologist for a person who asks where to receive the best treatment for cardiac care.  

That's why it's simply counter intuitive for people to vote for Mitt Romney because he says he'll create jobs.  It's like asking him where his enormous wealth is invested.  He can't do either without also protecting his wealth and those of all his enormously rich colleagues and friends - at the expense of middle class workers like those who lost their jobs at Sensata in Freeport, Ill.

Wake Up America (WUA- or Whooooaaaa)!  Vote to re-elect President Barack Obama because he is a leader we can trust.

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Friday, October 19, 2012

Romney Tax Plan is Finally Out of the Mayonnaise Jar- Link for Details

http://www.romneytaxplan.com/

This blog is short and sweet.  To learn more about the Romney Tax Plan, just check
the link above.  It's a short orientation.  There's no mysterious mayonnaise jar, anymore.

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Benghazi - Words, Terrorism and Communications Under Attack

As a nurse, I know how people respond to extreme stress.  That's why I understand mixed communications surrounding the tragically deadly attack on the American consulate in Benghazi, Libya where Ambassador Stevens and three other Americans were killed in the attack.

I've participated in critical incident stress debriefings and management, whereby eyewitnesses to tragedies sometimes tell emotionally different versions about fatal events.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_incident_stress_management

Critical Incident Stress Management is an adaptive, short-term psychological helping-process that focuses solely on an immediate and identifiable problem. It can include pre-incident preparedness to acute crisis management to post-crisis follow-up.

Of course, the purpose of C.I.S.M. is not usually to resolve the facts about an incident but, rather, to help those involved to overcome serious emotional stress.  In fact, C.I.S.M. is preventative to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (P.T.S.D.).  Nonetheless, second guessing post the Benghazi consulate attack uses a critical incident stress process to determine facts.  An emotional debriefing, in my experience, won't resolve the political wordsmith compulsion resulting from the incident.

Moreover, law enforcement officials I've known as an Emergency Medical Services nurse validates the inaccurate accounts of eye witness testimony, when subjected to cross examination.  

As a matter of fact, in a forensic psychology class, students in my class were asked to write on a piece of paper the describing characteristics of our professor, while he stood in front of us.  Our different discriptions were astounding!  We never described his age, height or even the correct color of his hair!  Our only unanimous agreement came in response to the professor wearing eyeglasses, but all the other information we described were totally wrong.

It should go without saying that politics shouldn't be involved in clinical responses to stress. Nonetheless, while investigators sort out details of the Benghazi attacks and the death of four Americans, both the Romney and the Obama campaigns are crafting the words used as a result of the traumatic events.

In fact, some point out how President Obama used the words "act of terror" twice, post the incident, while Governor Romney didn't initially "get" this connection, based upon only using the term once.  

"...Obama managed to label the attacks terrorism twice in the two days following the attacks before Romney used the term once."

Unfortunately, my clinical experience with post trauma stress and the lack of credibility of eyewitness testimony will never see the light of day in a political Presidential campaign.  

For what it's worth, there's no value in anybody trying to create a viable description of what happened when Ambassador Stevens and three others were killed in Benghazi. 

There is value, however, in determining whether or not Ambassador Stevens asked for additional security.  There is virtually no word crafting or eyewitness testimony to revise the answer to this question. Either he did ask for extra security, or not.  Therein  is the debate.  

Compulsion about how post a traumatic incident events are word crafted should be as valid as eyewitness testimony.  Political analysis made by people who were not at the scene should be less than useless.

Highly sensitive communications will never resolve or avenge what happened in Benghazi.  It's time to stop compulsing on words for the purpose of making political points, especially while everyone involved in the tragedy is still experiencing critical incident stress. 

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Thursday, October 18, 2012

When Words Mean What They Mean - Verbal Relativism

Right wing extremist radio braggart Rush Limbaugh doesn't need a "word smith" to redefine his use of the English language.  He's brutal.  What he says is what he means to say.

Nonetheless, other right wing extremists appear to reinvent, revise and reinterpret what they want other people to say, to fit their conservative motives.
For example, President Obama said the tragic assault and death of our ambassador in Behghazi was an "act of terror". Somehow, this literal description doesn't meet the intentionality of right wing extremists, who want to believe President Obama did not say what he said; therefore, they pretend he didn't say it, regardless of proof to substantiate the facts.  This technique has a new name. It's called "verbal relativism".  In other words, it's creating ambiguity around facts so they are not what they appear.  It's putting facts into a different context from where they are perceived to have occurred.  Verbal relativists create lies out of facts.
http://blogs.ajc.com/jay-bookman-blog/2012/10/17/on-benghazi-the-debate-and-acts-of-terror/?cxntfid=blogs_jay_bookman_blog

Blogger Jay Bookman writes:  "The most dramatic moment of last night’s (second) debate came when Mitt Romney insisted that President Obama had not immediately called the deadly attack on our consulate in Benghazi an act of terror. Obama just as boldly insisted that he had, and for a moment it appeared as if the two men were about to bet $10,000, if not the presidency itself, on the outcome of their disagreement."  

An example of verbal relativism.
Meanwhile, the re-crafting of language to fit a particular purpose is intended to stir ambiguity among people who want to believe "the best of time or worst of times" by believing the controlling message of the moment.

Right wing fundamentalist Christians believe in a concrete interpretation of the Bible. They sure don't believe in verbal relativism when it comes to the Sacred Scriptures. Many of these fundamentalist Christians recoil at the very hint of relativism in the Bible.  Yet, many of these and other followers of conservative political movements are quick to buy into words being crafted to suit the intention of a political motive.  

If President Obama said "act of terror" then he said what he meant to say.

It's horrifying for me and others to even remotely consider what our nation would be like if we're held hostage to people who craft language in the way they want to, for purpose of controlling others.

Political analysts like Karl Rove and those who pay his expensive bills know how to use words in ways to motivate people like psychological robots.  

These political "word smiths" have so much money to spend on their messaging, they could probably fill the entire medication donut hole for Senior Citizens, without using Medicare money.

Nevertheless, Rove and his rich kind don't care about any body's well being. They are fixated non their ability to control through political power, regardless of the consequences their actions bring upon others who disagree with them.

Many voters, especially some Independents trying to break away from partisan politics, are targeted by "word smith worms" who want to infest their minds with ambiguity.

Unfortunately, 2012 election politics is so daunting that it's impossible to keep up with the strategic tactics and mis-information.  I believe people have turned off political advertising, but networks and cable TV are raking in millions of dollars while few are listening to commercials paid for by unbelievable amounts of money, given in campaign contributions. 

,Meanwhile, oftentimes, pundits play to the political image of the moment, rather than messaging.  

For example, did President Obama and Governor Romney spar like roosters in the second debate?  Oh paleeze!  Was the title of the "presidential debate" changed to "presidential conversation"?  Of course not.  

Let's get back to analyzing words for what they mean, not what we want them to mean.  Let's read what candidates say and not fixate on how they are said.  In other words, let's elect a President who tells Americans the truth.  Let's re-elect a truthful President Barack Obama.

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Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Romney - Binders full of Women? Another Big Bird Romney Moment


Three major screwed up media moments in the Romney campaign in the past two weeks.  During the second presidential debate, Romney spoke about his "binders" full of women's names who, he said, were sent during the hiring process for his gubernatorial administration in Massachusetts.

This imagery presents a daunting sexist hiring selection process. Media needs to find out the pay the women selected from the binder received, after they were hired.  It's doubtful their pay was equal to the men who held the same or similar jobs.

An image of Romney with a big white binder is trending on social media. This is over the top imagery after the "Will Work for Food" picture of Big Bird being fired by Romney, who said he'll cut funding for public broadcasting - an eye drop amount of money, compared to the national budget.

Adding to these two caustic images, put the picture of Congressman Paul Ryan washing clean pots in a Youngstown, OH, St. Vincent de Paul soup kitchen.  Not the sort of dedicated caring for the poor St. Vincent de Paul advocated for during his long career of saintly service.  

"The poor have much to teach us," is a St. Vincent de Paul quote.

President Obama is telling American people the truth about his leadership - while Governor Romney continues to use theatrics throughout his campaign.  Romney's Big-Bird, white binder theatrics are smokescreens, fogging specifics about a tax plan hidden from public scrutiny.  

Let's re-elect our statesman, President Barack Obama. 

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Tuesday, October 16, 2012

President Obama Finally Tells Governor Romney to Tell the Truth

President Barack Obama was stellar this evening in the second Presidential Debate.

Governor Romney was finally prevented from grandstanding and did not get away with using bully tactics.


Yes, the President was finally able to hold Governor Romney accountable for claiming 47 percent of Americans consider themselves to be victims because they have earned their government benefits, like Social Security, Medicare, veterans care and student loans.

What pleased me most about the President Obama debate performance was the number of times Governor Romney was held accountable for not answering questions.  

Governor Romney never defended equal pay for women, like the Ledbetter Act. In fact, he misled about Massachusetts by saying he hired women for the governor's staff, but those women were paid less than their male counterparts. Even his family's maid was paid less than what a typical house staff person would be paid for helping with a family of six:

http://www.datalounge.com/cgi-bin/iowa/ajax.html?t=11235592#page:showThread,11235592
WASHINGTON -- For a woman with three houses and sixteen grandkids, Ann Romney doesn't have very much help around the house, according to her 2010 tax return.

IRS forms released Tuesday by Mitt Romney's presidential campaign show that despite reporting income of $21.7 million, the couple paid only $20,603 in taxable wages for household help in 2010. This figure was divided among four women: Rosania Costa ($4,808), Kelli Harrison ($8,667), Susan Moore ($2,238) and Valerie Cravens Anae ($4,890).

Candy Crowley was a good moderator and she was, thankfully, able to correct Governor Romney's mis-statement about how President Obama explained the violence in Benghazi, Libya.  

Clear debate victory for President Obama.

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Paul Ryan's St. Vincent de Paul Moment - Washing Clean Dishes

"Go to the poor: you will find God." - St Vincent de Paul


"Lord, help me to make time today to serve you in those who are most in need of encouragement or assistance." - St Vincent de Paul

Paul Ryan Scrubs Already Washed Soup-Kitchen Pots Because That’s How Much He Cares?

This photo op goes beyond a lack of judgement. It shows extraordinary insensitivity to the poor.

While Congressman Paul Ryan campaigned to become our nation's Vice-President, he set himself up for failing a St. Vincent de Paul moment. St. Vincent de Paul would give Congressman Ryan this advice:  "Lord, help me to make time today to serve you in those who are most in need of encouragement or assistance." - St Vincent de Paul. 


In other words, don't use the poor for photo ops.  If Ryan cares, he must not propose cuts to poverty assistance. Poor people who rely on St. Vincent de Paul services desperately need the help of programs Ryan proposes to cut.

Congressman Paul Ryan took advantage of a photo opportunity rather than sincerely demonstrating how he wants to help people who need the St. Vincent de Paul Soup Kitchen in Youngstown, Ohio.  Did Congressman Ryan even ask how many people use the soup kitchen and why they need it?

When Congressman Ryan saw clean pots, he should have asked if he could speak with any of the clients who might be working in the Soup Kitchen. Instead, he faked a photo op, cleaning pots that didn't need washing. 

He should have done anything, rather than be witnessed in a photograph pretending to wash pots, just to deceive people into believing he and his wife care about needy people who rely on St. Vincent de Paul food services. 

Ryan should have spoken with the St. Vincent de Paul Executive Director about how cuts to food assistance programs have negatively impacted on the St. Vincent de Paul centers and services around the nation.

Rather than wash clean dishes for a camera, Ryan needs to remember one of St. Vincent de Paul's most famous quotes:

"The Poor Have Much to Teach Us"

Did Congressman Ryan ask any questions beyond washing clean pots and creating a St. Vincent de Paul embarrassing moment?

"The poor are your masters. You are the servant." - St Vincent de Paul  
http://www.vinnies.org.au/st-vincent-quotes-nsw

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Monday, October 15, 2012

Social Media - Creating A Pundit Every Micro Second

http://www.11points.com/Web-Tech/11_Biggest_Reasons_People_Unfriend_You_On_Facebook

Social media right wing stalkers are like two headed monsters, espcially when they want to bully their political point of view.


Politics has gone viciously "viral" in the age of fast spreading social media news. Instantaneous news "according to the poster" has inflamed on-line bully behavior. People in the social media suddenly have found credibility, just because they can pound out whatever they want to say, often in 140 characters or less, while harming others in the process. They're disagreeable people who don't respond to rational thinking. Sadly, their numbers appear to be growing. My non-scientific, on line feedback, indicates that right wing social media men and women, the self proclaimed pundits, are ripe for vengeance against anybody who disagrees with them. Doubly unfortunately, right wing extremists fuel these on line stalkers because they scare us away from truth.
It's very concerning to find the growing number of people trolling the social media, under the protection of anonymity, while lurking for opportunities to bully and control conversations.

I'm worried about who these sick social media stalkers are influencing. Unfortunately, they must be impacting somebody, or they wouldn't continue to bully with vitriolic and nonsensical social media behavior. There would be no reinforcement for their irrational on-line behavior, unless people appear to be susceptible to their forceful communications techniques and tangential mis-information.
My response to these habitual social media stalkers is to be firm with facts, which is akin to putting a Crucifix in the face of a vampire. Reason is incomprehensible to these people. Often, they'll recoil in the face of truth, like a serpent into a rock, but, not for long. Although they'll never respond rationally to issues with which they disagree, they often come back to bite you with something ridiculous, like they have two demon heads. With each issue they can't rationalize, they grow a new head. It takes the equivilent of a social media Sir Galahad to deal with these serpents.

Many of these habitual bullies are voters. Moreover, they vote for the most extreme candidate who mirrors their limited view of the world, according to "them".


Although there's lots of on line etiquette to help people understand good social media manners, the bully zealots have no interest in reading anything that deviates from their quest to control others. My serious thinking friends simply won't engage on sites like "twitter" or "facebook", because they, understandably, won't deal with the stress these unreasonable bullies bring into their computers. Even some nice friends post political garbage on my facebook But, because I'm more polite than they are, I simply let it roll down my timeline until I replace the message with something else. I mean, it's okay to say you support some cause or candidate, it's not appropriate to feed me your opinion more than one time.

More important, it's totally inappropriate to bully. 

A right wing woman on twitter, who says she lives in Eastern Massachusetts  accused me of creating bold accusations, simply because I asked her why she would vote Republican, when her best interest for women's health are not represented by conservative candidates? Her response to me was that 99 percent of all women's health issues could be taken care of with exercise Ahaa! So, here's a moment when truth is like a Crucifix in the face of a vampire. I explained how exercise doesn't cure breast cancer, cervical cancer or protect women from incest or rape. That's when she accused me of making bold assumptions! It's that two headed monster thing. So, I blocked her, of course. 

I'm praying for these right wing social media stalkers to find the help they need to think clearly. It's not that they disagree, but they are so disagreeable. I'm hopeful these media stalkers will eventually find the correct medication to allow their brains to function rationally.  

Their one head is damaging the social media networks. None of us need more people with two irrational heads.  Additionally, truth needs to be kept in the face of these reproducing pundits, so they will take their bully behavior back into their rocks, where concrete thinking can be buried.

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Sunday, October 14, 2012

Carnac the Magnificent: Predicting the Romney Tax Plan


Johnny Carson was comically brilliant on the Tonight Show, when prognosticating as the mystical character named 
"Carnac the Magnificent"

If Johnny were still alive, he'd find the mythical Romney tax plan tucked away in Carnac's magical Mayonnaise Jar!

This is how the Tonight Show skit worked. Ed McMahon, who was Johnny Carson's side kick, gave the character, Carnac, noble fanfare before moving into a question and answer. Invariably, the audience reactions to the questions usually had a lot to do with how the predetermined comedy predictions were presented. 

Ed invariably led with this ( as per HuskerMax.com): 
"You know how this game is played. Carnac The Magnificent, with his mystic and sometime borderline powers will tell us the answers BEFORE he reads the questions!! I hold in my hand, the envelopes containing the questions. These envelopes have been hermetically sealed in a mayonnaise jar and stored at Funk & Wagnall's since NOON to day! NO ONE, NOT EVENT THE GREAT CARNAC has seen them! Are you ready to play?"
http://www.huskermax.com/huskerdan/20031105dan.html

Our nation's second presidential debate between President Obama and Governor Mitt Romney is coming up. Perhaps, the town hall style questions are hermetically sealed in a mayonnaise jar, because they'll be known only by selected audience members.  

Surely, someone in the town hall format will ask Governor Romney to explain his mystical tax plan, whereby, he proposes to magically fill a 5 trillion dollar national deficit, without raising taxes.  

If Carnac could answer the town hall audience question before it is even asked, it might go something like this:

Carnac: ...and the answer is, "A pig in a poke"

Ed says:  "A pig in a poke"

Carnac looks at the audience, ceremoniously opens the hermetically sealed envelope and reads the question:  "The Romney-Ryan tax plan".

God Rest Johnny Carson's soul.  
Long live Carnac the Magnificent.
I do believe "he got it".  

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Saturday, October 13, 2012

Malala Yousafzai is Only 14 Years Old - She's Now an Icon for Women of the World

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/10/world/asia/teen-school-activist-malala-yousafzai-survives-hit-by-pakistani-taliban.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20121010

There's absolutely no explanation for the shooting of Malala Yousafzai, 14, a Muslim girl, who was on her way to school.  Yet, she was the target of evil Taliban terrorists in Pakistan. 

Gunmen singled Malala out for execution, while she rode a school bus. Although she was known for being outspoken about Taliban tyranny against women, she never did anything to harm anyone.

Now, Malala and her family are tragically awaiting the status of her (hopeful) recovery. As a result of the meaningless assassination attempt, Malala is now an international icon for women's rights. She's much larger than a young girl trying to educate herself and inspire other Muslim girls to do likewise. Indeed, it's possible the 14 year old Malala, a Pakistani girl, may even make a difference for millions of women in the world who strive to improve themselves against tyranny. Maybe.

 By surviving (please God), Malala may do more to help Muslim women than the charismatic female leader Benazir Bhutto was unable to accomplish in her lifetime. Bhutto was assassinated in a bombing on 27 December 2007, during a campaign event while running for the office of Pakistani Prime Minister.  Interesting, Bhutto was the daughter of a politically successful Pakastini family who, was educated and previously had held elected positions in the government, before she was forced to live in exile.  She was well aware of her risk of assassination in 2007, while campaigning in Pakistan.  Her violent death was mourned, but the incident did not change anything for women in Pakistan. In fact, the government seems to have become more repressive toward women.

By shooting Malala while she was on her way to school, the Taliban have demonstrated their intolerance of women to the entire world. Her shooting forced Pakistani government officials to respond by offering support to her family while avenging the murderous attempt.

Other Muslim girls are inspired to take up Malala's cause for education. http://tribune.com.pk/story/450867/towering-teenager-civil-society-students-rally-behind-malala-her-mission/

It baffles me to no end how conservative movements throughout the world target women for discrimination.  An analogy is, of course, the American conservative movement's "war on women" when they collectively intend to eliminate funding for Planned Parenthood, including access to reproductive health care.  Right wing extremists who want to deny women the right to access reproductive health care are repressive.  Bombing abortion clinics is no different than attacking a school bus carrying girls to school.

Even more baffling is how some American women join political movements that support policies outside our best health and educational interests.  In other words, I don't get how women can vote for men who speak ignorantly, like Congressman Todd Akin of Missouri, about rape. Akin weirdly distinguished this violent act against women as somehow having a special attribute, called  "forcible rape", when women's bodies magically protect against pregnancy. Some Missouri women have forgiven Akin. Perhaps Akin can be forgiven, but not enough to vote for him.

We are praying for Malala's complete recovery, as she holds on to life after the removal of a Taliban bullet lodged in her neck. Undoubtedly, her recovery will take many months of rehabilitation to determine the extent of her injuries. Nonetheless, with every breath Malala takes, she continues to inspire women throughout the world, who instinctively know they might be a moment away from becoming a victim of violence, just because of their sex.

When we pray for Malala's recovery, we're also praying for the elimination of discrimination of women throughout the world, regardless of their socio-economic background or political affiliation.

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Friday, October 12, 2012

Over Verbalization Strategy- Congressman Paul Ryan Tried to Soak Up All the Debate Oxygen

http://online.duriwsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444799904578051533319607180.html

Republicans are miffed because Vice President Joe Biden wouldn't let Congressman Paul Ryan use over verbalization during their debate. Republicans who can't handle Biden being aggressively truthful in the debate are, frankly, full of malarkey.

In my opinion, the "keep talking technique" was a Republican strategy. Congressman Ryan intentionally soaked up his debate response time for the purpose of running over Vice President Joe Biden, but it didn't work. He couldn't over verbalize Biden.
The Wall Street Journal continues the whine:  "The vice-presidential debate Thursday night was full of interruptions (Joe Biden wouldn't let Paul Ryan finish a sentence) as both candidates (Paul Ryan interrupted too) tried to draw stark contrasts to rally their bases."  

Oh paaaleeeze, Wall Street Journal, get over it! What about substance?
I just don't know why telling the truth in a debate appears to be secondary to the presentation of the debaters. Of course, presentation, affect and respect are important attributes for debaters, especially for the President and the Vice-President of the United States. Yet, these attributes shouldn't trump truthfulness.

In my opinion, if Vice President Biden had been less animated than he was, the pundits would be calling him out for not doing enough to save the first debate performance of President Barack Obama.

President Barack Obama made no mistakes in his first Presidential debate opposite Republican Mitt Romney, yet pundits and public opinion tells us he "lost" the debate. Governor Romney, on the other hand, walked right into an avoidable debacle about firing the Sesame Street character Big Bird, saying he'd fire the popular show including one of its most popular characters. This should have tanked Romney's entire debate performance, but it turned out to be an inconsequential artifact. President Obama is perceived as having lost the debate because he didn't interrupt, he wasn't theatrical and he didn't use exaggerated gestures.  "I was too polite," Obama said.

My point, made on the first night of the Presidential debates continues, for what it's worth. Truthfulness should trump style.  Ryan's over verbalization, soaking up the oxygen in the Vice-Presidential debate, doesn't compensate for the flip flops he made about what Romney's tax plan includes or how women will be able to access confidential health care services under a Republican administration.

Republicans were waiting for Vice-President Joe Biden to make an irreversible gaff during the one and only debate he had with Congressman Paul Ryan.  When the Republicans didn't get their way, when Biden took charge of the debate, they resorted to whining about too many interruptions.  

It's time Americans interrupt the Republican one sided lie campaign and demand truthfulness before being critical of style subtleties.

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Malarkey - Flip-Flopping in the Romney-Ryan Campaign

"'That is a bunch of malarkey,' Joe Biden tells Paul Ryan during spirited debate...."

Regardless of how much Republican spin teams push back on Vice-President Joe Biden's excellent debate performance, the one word they can't reinvent is "malarkey".  

Vice-President Biden called the Romney-Ryan revisionist campaign mis-communication "malarkey".

Malarkey is slang for statements that are gobble-d-gook, make no sense, "rubbish". Malarkey is designed to obscure or mislead.

This one word summarizes what's wrong minded about the Romney-Ryan presidential 2012 Republican campaign and leadership. Here's my take away from the Vice-President Joe Biden and Congressman Paul Ryan debate last evening, October 10, 2012.


Unfortunately, the one word Vice-President Biden didn't use, but he should have referred to, was the wishy-washy term "flip-flop" because that's what's going on.  

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/OTUS/vice-presidential-debate-transcript-danvilel-ky-oct-11/story?id=17457175
All of a sudden, in last night's VP debate, Congressman Ryan supported a 2014 draw down of American troops fighting in Afghanistan   Where did that come from?  All of a sudden, Congressman Ryan told Americans the Romney position on abortion includes exceptions for rape, incest or health of the mother.  Since when?  All of a sudden, Congressman Ryan says the Romney tax plan doesn't exclude deductions for mortgage insurance, but where's the proof?  These and more points were revealed during the VP debate, like predictions from a Greek oracle.  I've never heard these points articulated prior to this debate.  Presumably, the Romney-Ryan plan creates public policy initiatives during election debates. That's just plain malarkey. Check the debate transcript (link above) to read about these revealing policies. They appear to be developed, learned and communicated while the Republicans invent and re-invent them during debates.  

It's known as "flip-flopping".

Biden was particularly excellent in holding Ryan accountable for appearing to want to send more American troops into the most dangerous western regions of Afghanistan (from transcript):   

BIDEN: R.C. East is the most dangerous (Afghan) place in the world. 

RYAN: That's right. That's why we don't want to send fewer
people to the...

BIDEN: That's - (oh?) that's why we should send Americans in to do the job (?), instead of the - you'd rather Americans be going in doing the job instead of the trainees?

RYAN: No. We are already sending Americans to do the job, but
fewer of them. That's the whole problem.

BIDEN: That's right. We're sending in more Afghans to do the
job, Afghans to do the job.(!!!)

Critics of the Vice-Presidential debate are overly harsh on Joe Biden's demeanor.  These Friday morning quarterbacks need to get a life.  But, Biden's outrage was an appropriate response to lies. He expressed frustration in response to the flip-flopping malarkey, the revealing concepts Congressman Ryan strategically put forth to monopolize the Vice-Presidential debate.  

It's time to spread the word "malarkey" throughout the Romney-Ryan strategy, so the boldness of their lies is revealed. 

Voters must put the Romney-Ryan oracle predictions back into Delphi and reveal them as lies and malarkey.  

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Thursday, October 11, 2012

Congratulations Vice President Joe Biden

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/borowitzreport/2012/10/poll-by-wide-margin-democrats-want-biden-in-all-remaining-debates.html

One of my Twitter followers said it all:  "I'd sure like to be Jill Biden tonight!"

Another follower named Angie said, "This debate is so exciting even my dog is watching it!"

Thank goodness Vice-President Joe Biden was able to push back on the confusing verbalization Congressman Ryan tried to shove through this evenings important debate.  I've said this before, but, forgive me, Congressman Ryan looks like The Little Rascals character Alfalfa, sort of grown up.

Unfortunately, Senator Mitch McConnell told Brian Williams on NBCNightly News that he thought Vice-President Joe Biden interrupted too much, but he didn't defend what Congressman Ryan said in the debate, especially about womens health.  

Vice-President spoke with authority throughout the debate.

In my mind, it was clearly a Congressman Ryan strategy to keep talking so he would force Vice President Biden to interrupt, because too much mis-information was just spewing out without opportunity for rebuttal.

My favorite points made by Vice President Biden had to do with his extraordinary defense of Medicare.  As for the war hungry Romney-Ryan compulsion about more defense spending, why do they ignore the advice of President Eisenhower  who warned about the military industrial complex?  

On domestic policy, I agree with pundits who are incredulous about how Congressman Ryan blamed his staff on having asked for stimulus money, when he voted against the bill!

On womens health, Congressman Ryan changed the focus. In fact, the Congressman said the government would pass laws to regulate how women access health care!  Whatever happened to "getting government out of our lives!. Oh, except for womens lives! This is very dangerous.

Well, I recommend that Vice-President Joe Biden should be the surrogate debate partner for President Barack Obama!

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Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Romney-Ryan Rolling Rhetoric - Chime Balls Clinking Lies

Why do Romney and Ryan continue to lie?  

They are like political Chinese chime balls. They're rolling around, "clink", then roll in another direction.  When will this rolling rhetoric stop?  Americans can't let these lies stand, because they're deplorable, deliberate and determined to detract from facts, like tax policy and health care reform.

This "lie" mantra against Romney is growing like an echo chamber of yodelers in the Swiss Alps.  "Liaria-iaira-iair!"  Yet, Romney believes his lies are catching on, so he won't stop telling them. This is dangerous.

"Etch-A-Sketch at Warp Speed - An extremely fast Liar", says Bob Shrum a Democratic strategist. "A trick to deceive voters to vote against themselves."

Here are just a few examples- there are literally hundreds of these examples in the current news cycles:

"Mitt Romney takes a position on tax policy, then his staff says something else. Romney takes a position on Iran, then his staff says something else. Romney takes a position on health care, then his staff says something else. Romney takes a position on his own immigration adviser, then his staff says something else."

"For months, Mitt Romney has argued repeatedly that President Obama raised taxes. It's not really true -- Obama has cut taxes repeatedly -- but it's a standard line of attack."

I'm not just talking about the occasional post-speech clarification, either. On immigration, Iran, taxes, and reproductive rights, Candidate Romney says one thing, while Team Romney says something else. It happened again last night.

Mitt Romney, Lies, and Videotape - by David Leopold

"'The truth shall set you free,' so the Bible teaches. But Gov. Mitt Romney understands it will cost him the election." (Julie's op-ed: Governor Romney knows market research- he doesn't know truth.)

"So during last Wednesday's debate he did his best to look presidential while he spewed lies, half-truths and inconsistencies at the American people. Romney lied about his tax plan, he lied about his plan for Americans with pre-existing medical conditions, and he lied about his plans for Medicare."

"President Obama was clearly off his game (during the debate), yet he did not yield a single embarrassing YouTube moment nor that say anything that could swing the election against him -- like Gerald Ford's infamous gaffe during his 1976 debate with Jimmy Carter when he claimed Eastern Europe was not under Soviet domination."

Americans should inform themselves by watching the PBS Frontline feature where Romney's motivation is discussed by people who are clearly not politically motivated. A link to the broadcast is available online or at http://ed.msnbc.com/

Romney-Ryan are outrageously continuing their Rolling Rhetoric. Americans must vote for President Barack Obama and against the rolling R's.

Although I know Romney-Ryan lie because they believe it will win them the 2012 election, the fact is, lies don't start and stop like water flowing through a faucet.  Any Romney-Ryan leadership will continue to be rolling in lies.

American voters must re-elect President Obama.

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