Hillary Clinton Testing 2016 Campaign Themes - Washington Post

“When you’ve got a complicated set of problems with a lot of moving parts — and even Albert Einstein couldn’t give you the right answer to every question — the only thing that works is cooperation,” Clinton said Sunday in Dale City.

Compromise will likely be the new "hope and change" theme for 2016, but Americans need to understand the risks and benefits of touting this politically opportune concept. 

Compromise should mean that Republicans want to strengthen Social Security and create a Medicare for all health insurance policy. Compromise shouldn't mean giving away the social contracts supported by Americans since the passage of the Social Security Act of 1935.  But, of course, Mrs. Clinton must get elected and voters are understandably weary of Washington DC's political acrimony.

The Washington Post reports that President Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton were testing out potential a 2016 "compromise" campaign theme during a recent tour of Norfolk VA.

NORFOLK — In recent stump speeches and policy remarks, the Clintons have offered sharp criticisms of the partisan gridlock paralyzing Washington, signaling a potential 2016 campaign theme if Hillary Clinton chooses to run for president.

The Clintons’ critiques in recent days are explicitly aimed at congressional Republicans, who helped spur a 16-day government shutdown and potential debt default in October. But, their remarks also seem to contain an implicit rebuke of President Obama’s failure to change Washington, as he pledged when first running for the White House.

The arguments suggest a way that Hillary Clinton could attempt to run in 2016 as an agent of change — potentially putting her at odds with the two-term Democrat she would be seeking to replace.

At campaign rallies and other appearances, both Clintons have called for soothing partisan tensions and have espoused a vision of governing by compromise. Barnstorming Virginia this week with longtime friend and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe, Bill Clinton repeatedly assailed ideological politics on both sides of the aisle.

“When people sneeringly say, ‘McAuliffe is a dealmaker,’ I say, ‘Oh, if we only had one in Washington during that shutdown,’ ” the former president said at a rally here in Norfolk on Monday. “It’s exhausting seeing politicians waste time with all these arguments. It is exhausting. People deserve somebody who will get this show on the road.”

Themes about change are particularly ironic for the Clintons, considering that one or the other has held public office in Washington for the past two decades. But, Bill Clinton’s tenure in office was also marked by fierce partisan battles that roiled the nation, including an impeachment fight and two government shutdowns.

In the 2008, Democratic primaries, Hillary Clinton dismissed Obama’s message of post-partisanship as woefully naive. But since stepping down as Obama’s secretary of state earlier this year, she has adopted a similar theme, repeatedly berating lawmakers for choosing “scorched earth over common ground.”

“We are careening from crisis to crisis instead of having a plan, bringing people to that plan, focusing on common-sense solutions and being relentless in driving toward them,” Clinton said last week during at a Center for American Progress gala.

Neither Clinton brought up Obama directly in their remarks or explicitly criticized his leadership. Still, the Clintons’ general critiques carry echoes of the charges Republicans have frequently leveled against the current president: that Obama doesn’t respect their ideas and resists compromise with them.Obama has been making his own pleas for bipartisanship, even if they fall on deaf ears on Capitol Hill. “Now more than ever, America needs public servants who are willing to place problem solving ahead of politics,” he said at Wednesday’s memorial service for former House speaker Thomas S. Foley (D-Wash.).

The Clintons have been careful to distinguish between promoting bipartisanship and ceding ground on core values. Hillary Clinton, for example, has been busy advocating for traditionally liberal issues such as minority voting rights, gay marriage equality and women’s rights. (But, what about Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Veterans Benefits, unemployment income security, access to public educational opportunities, immigration reform and disability benefits?)

Is the Clintons’ talk of brokering compromise, an implicit rebuke of Obama years

This appears to be an effort by Clinton, following a four-year hiatus from domestic politics, to cement ties to the Democratic Party’s progressive wing. If she runs, Clinton would want to avoid a repeat of the 2008 campaign, when Obama built support among liberal activists by running to her left on the Iraq war.

The Clintons’ message is one that Democrats across the country could carry into the 2014 midterm elections, where the battle for control of the Senate could come down to a handful of hotly contested races in states that lean Republican.

Rep. Gerald E. Connolly (D), who represents a Northern Virginia swing district, said after a recent McAuliffe rally that the message laid out by Bill Clinton would be “a really powerful theme into the next cycle.”

“We’re the party of governance,” Connolly added. “You want things to work? You have to eschew that hard-right, I-know-best ideology.”

In Kentucky, where Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes is challenging Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R), Clinton recorded a video endorsing Grimes in which he says the nation needs more political leaders “willing to work together across the lines of party, geography and philosophy.”

“We have simply got to have more people who are willing to reach across the aisle and say, ‘I’m ready to work with you to build a better future,’ ” said Clinton.

In his Virginia speeches, Clinton said that he learned through eight years as president and 12 years as Arkansas governor that it’s important to advocate for your own philosophy but a mistake to not consider your opponent’s.

“When you’ve got a complicated set of problems with a lot of moving parts — and even Albert Einstein couldn’t give you the right answer to every question — the only thing that works is cooperation,” Clinton said Sunday in Dale City.

Principled compromise, Clinton asserted later that evening in Hampton, Va., is “a moral position.”

“It simply recognizes that nobody’s right all the time, your life is as important as mine, your opinion is entitled to the same respect mine is, and we’re all in this together, so we might as well work together to row this boat and go somewhere,” Clinton said.

Clinton’s presidency, however, was marred by plenty of partisan battles. Republicans torpedoed his health-care reform proposal and won control of the House midway through his first term. In 1995, a budget stalemate with the GOP-controlled House led to two separate government shutdowns. Three years later, the House voted to impeach Clinton during the Monica Lewinsky scandal.

Nevertheless, Clinton credited his work across the aisle with balancing budgets and creating 22 million new jobs — and lamented the state of the country today.

“This economic thing, it’s terrible,” Clinton said in Hampton. “Median family income — after you adjust for inflation, is lower than it was the day I left office. That was a long time ago. And we need somebody who wants to do something about it.”

Many voters attending the rallies said they longed for a return to the Clinton era. “He’s the voice of reason,” said Sally Mullikin, 52, a self-described women’s rights advocate from Richmond.

“We’re tired of the fighting,” said Eileen Slade, 63, a Democrat from Midlothian, Va., who was wearing a “Ready for Hillary” button. “We want compromise — whatever it takes to get things done.”

This is the sentiment that both Clintons have been channeling. At his Virginia stops, Bill Clinton repeatedly said the Founding Fathers wanted elected officials to be practical above all else, designing a system of governing that would force them to negotiate with each other.

“Read the Constitution of the United States of America,” Clinton said Sunday in Richmond. “It might as well have been subtitled, ‘Let’s Make a Deal.’ ”

President Obama's Second Term Challenges

Unfortunately, Republicans are chasing windmills to undermine the launch of the Affordable Care Act aka "Obamacare".  Instead, they should be focused entirely on how to protect our national economy from more uncertainty and preventable "shutdown" turmoil.  

News anchors and pundits are quick to make news out of President Obama's second term challenges; but they're presenting only one side of the president's legacy.

Americans must remember what a mess President Obama inherited when he took office. Our news media has an obligation to remind Americans about how far we've come, in spite of Republican obstructionism on virtually every progressive issue.

Although these numbers don't tell the whole story of the first four-year term in office, they serve as snapshots and provide on-the-fly insight into the priorities, problems, policies and pastimes of Obama's first term presidency.

Economic indicators

National unemployment rate - Jan. 2009: 7.8 percent; Jan. 2013 (Dec. 12, 2012): 7.8 percent (Hit high of 10 percent in Oct. 2009, then slow decline over 35 months back to 7.8 percent)

National debt - Jan. 2009: $10.616 trillion; Jan. 2013: $16.432 trillion (At $5.8 trillion, it's the largest increase in the national debt under one president. Mr. Obama says $1.3 trillion was waiting for him on the day he took office. The debt equals 104 percent of GDP)

Gross Domestic Product - Jan. 2009: $13,939 trillion; Jan. 2013 (Q3 2012): $15,811 trillion (current dollar) (Quarter-to-quarter economic growth went negative in 2009 but returned to the positive side by the end of the year and then recorded lackluster quarterly hikes between 2 percent and 3 percent)

Dow Jones Industrial Average - Jan. 2009: 8,077; Jan. 2013 (1/18/2013): 13,616 (It's a 58 percent increase on Mr. Obama's watch)

In comparisom, the problems with the Obamacare website launch aren't having a significant impact on our national economy. On the other hand, Republicans who forced a government shutdown becasuse they just don't happen to like the Affordable Care Act, have created more problems than the launch glitches. 

Republicans, as usual, are wasting time by feeding news starved pundits with negativity about Obamacare. Rather than create anxiety about Obamacare, Republicans should, instead, be focused like a laser beam on how to avoid any more preventable economic anxiety.

President Obama's second term legacy may well be his steadfast leadership in the face of Republican seditious attempts to bring down the entire US government, for no rational reason. 

Many non-democratic countries would hang seditious leaders like Senator Ted Cruz, Senator Marco Rubio and right wing Congressional members like Michele Bachmann. Thankfully, President Obama's executive leadership allowed him to stand firm against right wing extremism. Nevertheless, these same right wing anarchists are waiting in the wings to repeat the chaos they created in October 2013, right after the beginning of the New Year. 

President Obama's second term challenges won't be defined by the launch of the Affordable Care Act, ie Obamacare. Instead, Obama's challenge is to protect America from a government takeover by right wing extremists. These neoconservatives, and their lock step followers, are intent on creating a minority government led by narrow minded and bigoted people who don't believe in the democracy our founding fathers envisioned.

It's the responsibility of the American main stream media to provide a balanced report on how to evaluate President Obama's presidency. A negative focus on the Obamacare launch is a useless diversion to take attention away from the unresolved drama impending with another anarchy attempt by right wing extremists. 

Preventing extremism from succeeding is President Obama's second term challenge.

Eliminate the Tea Party with Informed Voter Activism

Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont says right wing Tea Party has caused the US irreparable harm.

“What we have already witnessed is the hijacking of the democratic process by a few dozen extremists in the House who are actively trying to annul the results of the last election. This sets a terrible precedent for the legislative process and will likely be repeated year after year,” he said.

Dear Senator Sanders, I respect your experience and judgement regarding the extremist actions of the right wing Tea Party. Nevertheless, Americans know how to undo the irreparable harm caused  by right wing activism. We must use our democracy to rebuild build our nation as the beacon of hope, and enlightenment and thereby blind the dark forces of extremist regression.

Here's the report from Senator Sanders about the damage caused by the preventable US government shutdown:
Tuesday, October 15, 2013
“As Vermont's senator, I intend to do everything I can to reopen the government as soon as possible and keep our country from defaulting, which could drive the global economy into economic turmoil,” Sen. Bernie Sanders said on Tuesday. “My fear, however, is that no matter what happens in Congress in the next day or two, serious and long-lasting damage already has been done to our country by the right-wing extremists of the Tea Party.”

Sanders statement came as the government shutdown entered its third week on Tuesday and as a Thursday default deadline loomed unless Congress extends the Treasury Department’s authority to pay bills.

“What we have already witnessed is the hijacking of the democratic process by a few dozen extremists in the House who are actively trying to annul the results of the last election. This sets a terrible precedent for the legislative process and will likely be repeated year after year,” he said.

“What we have already witnessed is the anxiety befalling over 1 million federal employees who are not receiving the paychecks they deserve. Having gone three years without a pay raise, they are now wondering how they will pay their mortgages, their student loans and take care of other basic needs. How many experienced and high-quality federal employees will we be losing as a result of this shutdown? What is the long-term damage to the functioning of the federal government?

“What we have already witnessed is the fear of many of our most vulnerable citizens – the elderly, the sick, veterans, the disabled, Head Start families – that the payments and programs they depend upon may not be there when they need them. Their confidence in their own government to keep the promises and commitments made to them will be forever diminished.

“What we have already witnessed is a blow to our position in the international community. In our foreign relations, we should not be surprised that the United States government is now the laughing stock of the world. Can we really be the ‘strongest country on earth’ when we shut down the government and do not pay our bills? The Chinese, our biggest creditor, are now openly talking about the need to “de-Americanize” international affairs because of the constant brinkmanship by U.S. politicians over the possibility of a debt default.

“The American people are better than this. They deserve a better government,” he said.

My response:  If Tea Party regressive extremists sincerely care about supporting our nation's democracy (but they apparently don't), they would recognize how their minority position is untenable. 

Meanwhile, Americans must learn to rout out all extremism in the voting process. It's our civic responsibility, as citizens, to understand how sharing our nation's wealth through income distribution is how Capitalism is supposed to work. Government is supposed to work by the people and for the people.Tea Party activists aren't democratic at all. Rather, they're political terrorists who must be eliminated from having any influence over our democratically elected government.

There's only one way for a democracy to eliminate extremism. Americans must become engaged in supporting voter activism and eliminate extremism by eradicating it in the voting process.

Popes as We Knew Them

Pope Francis transcends the concept of change agent. By suspending the "Bishop of Bling" for his extraordinary lifestyle  (German Bishop Franz Peter Tebartz), he forever changed the nature of the Papacy.

After 2000 years of the papacy, Pope Francis may be too much to take for some old style Vatican types, but there's no turning back. Future pope's will have to prove themselves worthy of his legacy. Future Papal conclaves, those secret seminars where Popes are elected, will have to evaluate who is worthy to fill the shoes of St. Peter while retaining the humility standards now established by Pope Francis.

Given the pomp and circumstance of the Vatican, combined with the splendor of St. Peter's Basilica, has clouded modern faithful from reflecting on how humbly the first Popes must have lived. 
St. Peter was martyred and subsequent pontiffs were subject to persecution. I have no idea when Popes decided to become affluent, but this attribute accompanied centuries of corruption and some debauchery.  

Pope Francis put the brakes on the exclusivity of the papacy like pulling up the tracks on a runaway train. Hopefully, his progressive reforms won't create an irreparable Vatican train wreck. Nevertheless, living with a papal change agent (i.e. Pope Francis) isn't for the faint hearted. I'm thinking many in the Vatican are fleeing to villas where they can experience respite from the change drama.

Popes as we once knew them, as privileged pontiffs, are thankfully relics of a bygone era. When Pope Francis first met the ecstatic cheering crowds in St. Peter's Square, he instantly changed the papacy forever. 

Popes, as we knew them, will never, ever be the same. 

So, we pray for Pope Francis to live a long and happy life. Frankly, it's hard to imagine anyone in the College of Cardinals who can currently fill the shoes of this particular Jesuit who inherited the shoes of St. Peter, who, after all, was once a humble fisherman.

Republicans Obsessed with Obamacare and Wasting Time

House to waste more money voting to delay Obamacare.

This obsessive compulsive voting to deter the implementation of Obamacare is a total waste of taxpayer money. 

Moreover, if Republicans put the money wasted on repeal of Obamacare into productive time, our nation might see progress toward approving a budget, elimination of the stupid fiscal sequester and, of course, lifting the nation's debt ceiling. 

Instead, Republicans obsess over Obamacare. They even want to vote, yet again, to delay the implementation of the law. This is another wasted effort by a Republican party, ironically, built on a mission of austerity. 

Too many people and insurance exchange systems are invested in the implementation of health care reform to delay the implementation of Obamacare. To do so will incur a lost opportunity cost, because the delay would inevitably postpone expensive systems already in progress.

What makes sense regarding health care reform is doing what works. Americans already have health care reform that works called Medicare.

Medicare isn't free. Working people and their employees pay for Medicare through payroll deductions. Even when beneficiaries are receiving Medicare benefits, they continue to pay for the program with copays and through Social Security deductions. Everyone who pays for Medicare should have access to the benefit.

Republicans must stop wasting time and money to denigrate the human condition by voting to repeal Obamacare, frightening Americans by threatening to cut Social Security and medical coverage provided by Medicare. Instead, Republicans should focus on immigration reform, creating jobs by supporting the American Jobs Act and supporting investment in eduction for all American children, beginning with pre-school.  They must stop obsessing about Obamacare, Medicare, Medicaid, Veterans Benefits, Children's Health Insurance Programs (CHIP) and income security programs.

Nevertheless, Republicans are fighting among themselves about the nature of what it means to be right wing, conservative, neoconservative, Tea Party or libertarian. Meanwhile, obsessive Republicans are damaging America's reputation as a beacon of freedom to the world. America has earned a reputation for a country embroiled in so much partisanship that we can't get anything done, rather than a beacon of progressive idealism. 

Let's face it, the Republican Party has completely lost its way. In so doing, they're dragging the respectable and thoughtful people into their obsession with ideology over reason. Worse, Republican organizational chaos and disorganization is costing Americans time and money as the obsessive votes to repeal and delay Obamacare continue to consume their taxpayer paid time.

Republicans should obviously be fired for incompetence. This can't happen soon enough, as Americans must vote every one of them out of office and the sooner the better.

Obamacare - Health Care Reform Must Work

There's a saying about "timing is everything in life". It's a sense some people have about when to do something or, conversely, to avoid a particular situation. Timing is essential for capitalizing on some financial investments. For example, those who may have passed on a Microsoft investment during the 1990s, must pay dearly to try and catch up on this lost opportunity.

Those who accept the essential reforms offered in the Obamacare Health Care Reform initiatives have an opportunity to access health insurance, many for the first time in their lives.They're able to sign up for affordable health insurance heretofore unavailable to people with pre-existing conditions, or who work independently and therefore have been unable to access employee group policies. 

If Republicans, somehow, have their way with eliminating Obamacare, the people who qualify for the health insurance plans through the exchanges will not have the access to policies they can afford. There's no alternative to people who have health insurance through the exchanges if Obamacare is somehow eliminated. Those who are signing on these plans will be left without any coverage. 

In spite of problems with roll out of the health insurance exchanges, the timing issue is now a lost cause with grumbling Republicans who are "shocked, shocked" about the glitches with the computer sign on platforms. Uninsured people "get it" about how insurance exchanges are going to provide coverage when these systems are finally operational. Republicans won't be able to  put this genie back in the jar. Their timing on this issue was wasted by their over zealous government shutdown debacle. Rather than seize the moment, when Obamacare was in the throes of computer platform glitches, the Republicans focused, instead, on harming everybody in the nation with their preventable government shutdown efforts. Instead, Republicans should've "held their fire" regarding the Obamacare roll out and captured the timing of the frustration with the opening computer glitches. Now, when people are actually signing up for the insurance exchanges, the Republicans are the proverbial voices in the dessert. They're preaching negatively about the glitches, but 48 million uninsured people are more interested in how to access the exchanges than hearing from stupid Republicans who simply want to foil the Obamacare plan.

At this point, Obamacare must work.The timing is past when this important health care reform can be recalled. Entire health systems and insurance policies are now designed to accommodate the Obamacare reimbursement coverage for wellness care as well as the elimination of pre-existing conditions as a barrier to coverage.

Unless Republicans can offer an alternative to Obamacare, they should do whatever possible to support it's operational success. In so doing, insurance carriers can grow by creating exchanges to meet the needs of the uninsured. It's entirely possible to generate a profit by providing coverage for people who manage their health rather than use emergency departments for primary care, because they have no health insurance (like so many do now).

It's time for Obamacare to succeed. Republicans who waste time screeching about repeal have lost their sense of timing and, as Senator John McCain says, are engaged in a fool's errand.  

Obamacare's timing is right for our nation. It offers a market based system for providing affordable health insurance for everyone who qualifies for a plan, regardless of pre-existing heath conditions.  

It's essential for President Obama and Secretary of Health and Human Services Sibelius to urgently fix what's wrong with the Obamacare sign on platform. Health Care Reform must deliver the health care services vitally needed by the nation's 48 million uninsured who urgently need this reform. The time is right and success is essential. 

Ohio Governor Kasich Grabs the Political Pastrami Sandwich - Sees the Value of Accepting Federal Medicaid Funds

"Kasich, who is up for re-election next year, went around the state’s GOP-controlled legislature, which voted against accepting the (Federal expansion) funds last spring."

Governor Kasich Republican right wing of Ohio - apparently went for votes, from what he hopes will be a grateful group of uninsured Ohioans, who will have access to Medicaid resulting from his override of the state's legislature. 

Ohio's Tea Party driven legislature is vehemently opposed to Governor Kasich's override, but in going against them, he's reached for the political pastrami sandwich. Tea Party opposition to Obamacare is not going to help attract voters to Kasich's re-election. He grabbed the pastrami sandwich - he decided not to try the Tea Party lunch menu.

Republicans can squeal like frightened pigs about not wanting to expand Medicaid funding for people who qualify for Federal coverage under Obamacare. They can squeal, but free money is very hard for anybody to ignore.

These selfish anti Obamacare zealots don't care about the uninsured. They focus, instead, on not wanting to pay for health coverage with tax money. It doesn't resonate with these right wing zealots that somebody pays for uncompensated care, but they just don't get this fact.

Nevertheless, it takes a very stupid politician to ignore legal free money, especially if doing so improves important favorability ratings with the public. Governor Kasich needs improved favorability ratings, especially because his anti-women positions on reproductive health care is regressive.

It's doubtful if Governor Kasich can undo the damage he's done to women's health by having his state accept expanded Federal funds for Medicaid, but it can't hurt.

Whatever motivated Governor Kasich to override his state's right wing anti Obamacare legislature should be cloned, and sent to Maine and other states where equally conservative governors are reluctant to expand health insurance coverage, using free Federal dollars. Republicans are terrified of an expansion of the Medicaid program because it costs tax money.Yet, these same politicians don't understand how their salaries cost plenty of tax money. It makes more sense to cut  governors paychecks than to prevent worthy people from obtaining Medicaid.

Think about this. All Governor Kasich's health insurance for him and for his family are paid by tax payers. What's the different between Governor Kasich's health care coverage and Medicaid? Virtually no difference. Both are paid by the same taxpayers.

Regardless of why Governor Kasich overrode his state legislature, in so doing, he did what's right for his state's uninsured people.

From Politico:

After contentious debate and tricky legislative maneuvering, Ohio became the 25th state to accept Medicaid expansion funds from the federal government Monday. 
Acceptance of the funds was shepherded through by Ohio’s fiscally conservative Republican governor John Kasich against the will of his own party. The move represents a key symbolic victory for the Affordable Care Act at a time when the Obama administration has come under harsh scrutiny over how the rollout of the new law has been handled. Ohio is only the eighth state controlled by Republican governors to accept the money—the others are New Mexico, Nevada, North Dakota, New Jersey, Iowa, Arizona, and Michigan.
To move Ohio’s acceptance of Medicaid expansion forward, Kasich, who is up for re-election next year, went around the state’s GOP-controlled legislature, which voted against accepting the funds last spring. Instead, he enraged conservatives by delegating the responsibility to a seven-member “Controlling Board” tasked with reconciling the state budget with changes in federal funding throughout the year. The board voted 5-2 to accept federal funds to expand Medicaid, a wider than expected margin. Conservatives say Kasich illegally circumvented the legislature’s authority and lawsuits challenging the move are expected, Politico reports.
Read more: http://nation.time.com/2013/10/21/ohio-accepts-medicaid-expansion-funds/#ixzz2iV4H88C0

Governor Kasich apparently thinks he'll win votes by helping the uninsured to receive health insurance. Maybe, he's also motivated by doing what's right.

Kasich looks like a pastrami sandwich kind of guy.

Preventable Death Litany Grows

Two Multiple Homicides:

Preventable Death Incidents of the Day:

Nevada shooting: teacher and shooter dead. Another preventable gun violence incident in an American school.

By Erin McClam and Daniel Arkin, NBC News

A student opened fire at a Nevada middle school Monday, killing a teacher and wounding two boys, authorities said. The shooter was left dead.

At 7:16 a.m., just before school got underway, the unidentified suspect used a semiautomatic handgun to shoot and kill a math teacher and wound two other students, both 12, before taking his own life, authorities said at a Monday afternoon news conference. Police arrived at the scene in less than three minutes, the authorities said.

The two boys, who were originally transferred to a local hospital in critical condition, are now in stable condition with non-life-threatening injuries, Sparks deputy police chief Tom Miller said at the news conference.
Two Shot Dead at Senior Housing Complex Following Lover's Argument.

All those involved were residents of the 80-apartment Pablo Davis Elder Living Center in southwest Detroit.

Reda shot the first woman, who was aged in her 50s, while she sat on a bench outside the complex, police spokeswoman Kelly Miner told the Associated Press. Reda allegedly then went back inside and shot the second woman, who was aged in her 60s.

The first woman was pronounced dead at the hospital, the second died at the scene, police said.

“He came outside with an assault rifle and told me to get on my hands and knees and pray,” one resident told WDIV at the scene.

Americans become passionately wistful when reading name lists of those who were killed in wars.  No doubt, these same decent Americans, who abhor reading the names of fallen war dead, will disdain reading the daily list of people who are the victims of our nation's growing epidemic of gun violence.

The time is overdue when our nation's newspapers should be covering the names of people murdered by gun violence in America.

A map should alsobe included in each report showing the demographics describing where these deaths are occuring.

The purpose of these death reports are to raise awareness among those who are intimidated by National Rifle Associaiton (NRA) zealots who are obsessed about their gun rights.

Constitutional Second Amendment Rights to own guns should not be more important than human rights. Americans need to know how Second Amendment Rights are now more important than protecting human life.

Adding to this problem are zealous Right to Life groups that interfere with women's health care to protect human life. Nevertheless, these groups do virtually nothing to protect the lives preventably taken, prematurely, through gun violence.

All the more reason why Americans should be exposed to read daily lists of the names of people who increase the litany of those who are the victim of preventable death by gun violence.  

Republicans Offer No Alternative to Obamacare - Pointing Fingers Without Solutions

Republicans are masterful at pointing fingers but rarely do they offer solutions. This is clearly the situation with their compulsive political obsession against the health care reform law known as Obamacare.

Some 48 million Americans were uninsured in 2012, which was not statistically different from the prior year.

http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/stories/2013/september/17/census-numbers-uninsured-numbers-remain-nearly-unchanged.aspx

Republicans circle their political wagons around their fanatical opposition to Obamacare. Nevertheless, they don't offer an alternative to how our US health care system can afford to pay for 48 million uninsured, if they don't have insurance coverage.

When 48 million people are uninsured, they use the expensive hospital emergency departments for illness care. These bills are seldom paid. Hospitals are required to treat everyone who presents in an emergency department but they're unable to recover the cost of providing this "charity care". Therefore, hospitals pass the cost of caring for uninsured over to those who pay for their care in a very clever formula known as "cost shifting". In other words, a small percentage of every charity care bill is passed on to everyone else who pays their bills. Republicans offer no solution to this dynamic. Apparently, Republicans like cost shifting. If they don't like it, they'd do something to prevent the practice. This "something" could be "insurance exchanges." 

There's a well established precedence for insurance exchanges already working in Massachusetts. Republican Governor Mitt Romney designed this law. Governor Romney's support for the health care reform law, that later became the model for Obamacare, is working in Massachusetts and it was a Republican governor who put it in place. Now, this same law is not worthy of helping all Americans.

Therefore, if Republicans want to repeal Obamacare, just because they don't like it, they must find an alternative to replace it.  

Otherwise, 48 million Americans who are waiting to sign up for Obamacare insurance coverage, so they'll be able to pay their hospital bills, won't have any alternative but to continue to use emergency care if Republicans have their way. This is very bad for protecting the health of our Americana workforce. Americans must be healthy to be productive. Furthermore, the cost shifting of charity care becomes impossible to fund because this add-on drives up the cost of all health care.

America has an enormously successful health care system.This sytem is imploding in may places because the cost of providing care isn't being recovered through reimbursement. Republicans don't seem to think the benefits of our nation's world renown medical science is worth protecting, by allowing people to buy health insurance to pay for care. They don't like Obamacare but won't offer any alternative.

Until Republicans provide an alternative to Obamacare, those among them who screech, like Senator Ted Cruz and Congesswoman Michele Bachman, should be prevented from pointing fingers, when they offer no solutions.

Link to Affordable Care Act:  http://www.hhs.gov/opa/affordable-care-act/

Right Wing in France - Editorial from Le Monde: Speaking While Female

French blame "boozy dinners" for the following outburst, while Americans can easily draw parallels with our own discriminatory political quagmires.

In fact, right wing extremism is becoming as infectious as the highly contagious avian flu H1N1. 

Even Socialist France is reporting an outbreak. Le Monde, the French daily newspaper, writes the following editorial reprinted in "Best Columns of Europe", reported in the October 25th The Week and also in MailOnline News:

"Heckled for speaking while female"

From The Week: "Being rude to a colleague on the floor of the (French) National Assembly should bring more than just a slap on the wrist, said Le Monde. Last week, when Veronique Massonneau, a deputy from the Green Party, spoke on a pension reform bill, Philippe Le Ray of the center-right Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) began heckling her by clucking like a chicken. He refused to stop, even after an irate Massonneau snapped,"I am not a hen!". The president of the National Assembly was forced to suspend the session when other male UMP deputies broke out in laughter at Le Ray's "childish and ridiculous" behavior. Le Ray was clearly motivated by sexism playing on the fact that women in France are sometimes referred to derogatorily as "hens". But "Hen-gate" is more than just an example of misogyny. "It reflects a worrying deterioration in the level of public debate."  These days, the Right and Left "trade trade invective more often than they exchange ideas".  If we want to return civility to our discourse, "Le Ray's infantile and irresponsible squawking" should cost him more than a reprimand and a small fine.  Policymakers must be made to grasp "that when public debate degenerates to schoolyard taunts, the insult is to democracy itself".

Veronique Massonneau of the French National Assembly

MailOnline reports the story: Women...staged a walk out from the French parliament after their 'prehistoric' sexist male counterparts made clucking noises to imply that one was just a 'bird'.

Politicians from the ruling Socialist Party organised the protest yesterday, blaming 'boozy dinners' for the sexist culture in the National Assembly.   The worst culprits are said to be the UMP - the party of former president Nicolas Sarkozy - who will be particularly concerned by the row, as he contemplates a return to political power.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2451705/French-MP-Veronique-Massonneaus-fury-chicken-heckle.html#ixzz2iBzmWT97
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A Votre Sante, Veronique Massonneau!

Drug and Alcohol Testing the Congress

Americans deserve an explanation about how a minority within a minority political party could create such avoidable economic chaos. 

Republicans caused this chaos and, therefore, need to explain how it is they believed their minority could create such seditious tension.

Now Republicans are desperately trying to fix the damage they've done.

But they're in a defensive mode about how Republicans drove the crises they created. We hear the mantra repeated, "Both sides lost"....ahhh, I don't think so. 

It's a common diagnostic truism that a cure for disease begins with an understanding of the illness. In the case of Republican seditious obstructionism, there's certainly lots of explaining to do before people can understand how to fix the problem.  As Lucy Arnez knows, Republicans have lots of "splainin" to do.

In other words, political leaders who don't respond to normally accepted social cues like "majority rule", should have a competency cognitive exam. This includes blood and urine testing for drug and alcohol abuse.

There's precedent for this. Indeed, Medicaid beneficiaries are often threatened with drug and alcohol tests prior to being authorize to receive benefits. 

In fact, Medicaid beneficiaries are paid with US tax dollars.
They share this source of revenue in common with the US Congress  Both Medicaid beneficiaries and the US Congress are paid by US taxpayers. Therefore, Congress should be subject to the same requirements prior to receiving tax payer paid benefits.

Cognitive impairment is a commonly reported symptom of drug and alcohol addiction.  Is there any...any...other explanation for the extremist and fanciful thinking of minority egotistical politicians like Senator Ted Cruz (the Elmer Gantry of the Senate), House Speaker John Boehner and their lock step followers other than a physiological induced narcissism? 

Since Cruz and Boehner are paid with taxpayer money, they should be subject to drug and alcohol testing to assure their bosses, ie "Americans" that they're free of drug and alcohol induced cognitive impairment. 

Meanwhile, if these men, who are experiencing diminished public approval, have any self respect or reverence for democracy, they must move forward with preventing any further obstructionism while they're a minority party.

Senator Ted Cruz Should Pay Damages

It makes no sense to give Senator Ted Cruz any regnition, at all, post this preventable government fiscal crises. 

Senator Ted Cruz is unworthy of any mentions except to reference him with disdain. As a matter of fact, since Senator Cruz was the instigator of this terribly preventable crises, he should bear the brunt of the costs. Like a person who's responsible for preventable damages in a lawsuit, Senator Cruz should pay for the damages he created.

Senator Cruz has endured justifiable scorn from Republican colleagues and even a recall of his newspaper endorsement by the Houston Chronicle. Nevertheless, he continues to experience undue exposure because he pulled off a near coup in a seditious action to stop the American government, just because he could.  

Like an ill person who engages in delusional thinking as a result of cerebral dissociation disorders, his egotistical vision was coupled with an apparent Messianic complex. He was willing to become a sacrificial lamb to prove his cause, regardless of how his fools errand would harm others.  It didn't matter if he failed on his fool's error to eliminate health care reform called Obamacare.

 Senator Cruz obviously didn't consider the people he would harm in his seditious behavior.  He had a vision for causing trouble, regardless of the consequences to average people.

My experience with people who behave pompously is to look for a physiologic etiology, ie a "cause".  

In other words, Senator Cruz's behavior is not normal and he should have a mental evaluation, including drug testing, to determine if he is competent to be a United States Senator.  Meanwhile, he should be held accountable for the damages for his irresponsible behavior.

Repubicans - A Political Party that Eats its Young

Washington Post is describing a "Gotham Theory" about the future of the Republican Party. In other words, the confusion and disorganization within the Republican ranks is so profuse, it's best to just stand back and let the entire organization implode, like razing a building to create room for new development.

This theory is too simplistic, because the potentially "new and improved" Republican party, if such a creation is possible, needs to take a course in how democracy works. Understanding the Meaning of Majority Rules is course 101.

My question is this. How does a group of supposedly college educated politicians allow their political party to find itself so confused and disorganized? A political party that can't manage it's message or participate in our American democratic process without causing chaos isn't qualified to hold any status in our nation's democracy. Senator Harry Reid is correct when he described the Republicans who supported the stupid budget sequester, the government shutdown or putting America on the brink of defaulting on our nation's debt as anarchists.  In any other political system, the Tea-Party fringe of right wing extremists who hide beneath the shroud of the Republican Party would be tried for sedition and hanged.

The Washington Post predicts a big showdown looming for the control of the Republican Party in the 2016 presidential election. Although I'm obviously not a soothsayer, I disagree with The Washington Post writer Chris Cillizza. Republicans who care about America, the patriotic people who're intelligent enough to understand how democracy works, wouldn't want to be associated with the ignorant Tea Party zealots between now and 2016. 

An up and coming politician wouldn't want to associate with a political party that eats its young. I suspect Governor Christie and other bright Republicans will disassociate themselves with their party and reorganize as a third party.  Given the recent NBC New American Center party, this potential for a middle of the road party has more opportunity to win elections.  

Meanwhile, the Tea Party and its followers will go down in history as a group of Ku Klux Klan species survivors who decided to walk in the daylight without hoods. They're haunting and frightening specters of the past, who've come back to life as demons who represent racism, isolationism and McCarthyism.

Republicans must shed themselves of the toxic Tea Party poison before the 2016 election. Rand Paul, Ted Cruz,  Marco Rubio and their gang of bullies must leave the party. That's my op-ed response to The Washington Post.

Obama: 'We Can't Make Extortion Routine As Part of Our Democracy'

Obama did address the concept of using the 14th amendment or a platinum coin to act unilaterally to raise the ceiling. 

He was slightly vague, but said that 

"Setting aside the legal analysis, what matters is that if you start having a situation in which there's legal controversy about Treasury's authority to issue debt, the damage will have been done even if that were constitutional because people wouldn't be sure. It would be tied up in litigation for a long time. "

This preventable economic crises is caused by right wing extremist zealots who are engaged in treasonous acts to bring down our US government.  They must be held accountable. In any other form of government, they'd be removed, either by a vote of no confidence or hanged.

This terribly daunting fiscal power struggle, driven by a minority of right wing Tea Party politicians to bring down the world's economy for their own selfish intentions, can't succeed. The debt ceiling, a government shutdown and stupid sequester are crises we prayed would never happen when the metaphorical "red" (conservative) and "blue" (progressive) states were identified in political elections. Nevertheless, the inevitable time has arrived when the right wing nuts, who are determined to have their own way, in spite of living in a majority rule democracy, can't be allowed to divide the United States of America.

This is what President Obama said today and he must stick to this message:

At a Tuesday afternoon press conference, the president pushed against the Republican strategy on the government shutdown and the debt-ceiling, saying that he and his party are the ones who have been trying to negotiate, not Republicans. The president pointed to the 19 times that Republicans rejected a conference committee on a budget, saying that Republicans are willing to risk "economic chaos" if they don't get "100 percent" of what they want.

The president also high-lighted the risks of a debt-ceiling breach, saying that "a decision to actually go through with it, to actually permit default, according to many CEOs would be, insane, catastrophic, chaos—these are more polite words."

"Let's lift these threats from our families and our businesses," Obama said, and "get back to work."

Obama opened his White House statement on his earlier phone call with Speaker Boehner. The president said he told the speaker that he's "happy to talk with him and other Republicans about anything," but that he will only negotiate with congressional Republicans over the budget after the threat of a default and the government shutdown have concluded. The president signaled that he'd be willing to negotiate on the tax code, job creation policies, and the Affordable Care Act. This could bring changes in the health care law if Boehner takes up the offer, although it's not clear now how far the president is willing to go. The Speaker has been sticking firm in not allowing a "clean" (void of Obamacare stipulations) continuing resolution to reach the House floor.

Obama also called on Boehner to allow the House to vote on a measure that would extend the debt limit for a year. A clean one-year extension, however, seems like a long-shot right now. Speaker Boehner explicitly ruled out such a plan on Sunday, and certain Republican congressmen believe the administration is bluffing on the threat of the debt limit. The latest public polling shows 47 percent of the country believes the debt ceiling needs to be avoided, though there is a big partisan divide. Fifty-four percent of Republicans think we can pass the deadline "without major problems."

Speaker Boehner and House Republicans, for their part, are set to introduce a bill Tuesday that would establish a panel of House and Senate members to hash out a deal. This plan is already getting hammered as a blueprint for just another "super committee."

It's over. The full conference lasted for a bit over an hour, and aside from the news made by Harry Reid outside of it, we didn't learn much new. And we particularly didn't get any insight on one topic that wasn't raised by any of the reporters in the room: the roll-out of the Affordable Care Act.

UPDATE (3:20 p.m.): Towards the end of the conference, Obama talked about his negotiations with House Republicans and Speaker Boehner back in 2011: "Whenever I see John Boehner, to this day, I say, 'Shoulda taken the deal that I offered back then.'" If that's literally true, we imagine it could help to explain why the two don't get along better. That conversation could get repetitive.

UPDATE (3:05 p.m.): Asked about the possibility of a new "super committee" to come up with a budget, agreement, the president didn't immediately throw out the idea:

"I know that Speaker Boehner has talked about setting up some new processor some new super committee or what have you. The leaders up in congress can work through whatever processes they want. But the bottom line is ... you're having good faith negotiations in which there's give and take or you're not. "

At the same time, Obama dismissed some of the rumored parameters of the committee, saying that he isn't sure why Democrats would agree to a negotiation only on Republican terms.

UPDATE (3:05 p.m.): Obama, in his opening statement, attempted to describe the current situation in a way that many Americans could relate to: "You don't get a chance to call your bank and say I'm not going to pay my mortgage this month unless you throw in a new car and an Xbox." Conservatives and journalists, however, quickly mocked the Xbox line, on Twitter.

UPDATE (3:02 p.m.): In an otherwise pat bit of political speak about how "compromise" is not a dirty word, the president said that though he has flaws, an inability to compromise is not one of them. "I've been willing to compromise my whole political career."

UPDATE (2:56 p.m.): In other news... While the president was speaking, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced his plans to introduce a clean debt ceiling bill to the Senate later on Tuesday.

UPDATE (2:54 p.m.): Speaking about Citizens United and the state of U.S. politics, the president tried his hand at diagnosing how the U.S. has gotten into this political situation:

"A big chunk of the Republican right now are in gerrymandered districts where there's no competition. And those folks are much more worried about a tea party challenger than a general election…and in that environment, it's a lot harder for them to compromise."

UPDATE (2:48 p.m.): Hitting back on the idea that the Treasury Department has "other rabbits in [their] hat" to prevent a debt default, the president said that the department has already just about used up all the "extraordinary measures" available.

Obama did address the concept of using the 14th amendment or a platinum coin to act unilaterally to raise the ceiling. He was slightly vague, but said that

"Setting aside the legal analysis, what matters is that if you start having a situation in which there's legal controversy about Treasury's authority to issue debt, the damage will have been done even if that were constitutional because people wouldn't be sure. It would be tied up in litigation for a long time. "

"There are no magic bullets here," he said.

UPDATE (2:42 p.m.): The president tried to also make an oft-touted Democratic point that a "clean" budget already includes the sequestration "meat cleaver" cuts. Those cuts, Obama said, have already hurt thousands of families with cuts to Head Start. The shutdown just makes that worse.

UPDATE (2:38 p.m.): Obama, responding to a question, tried to speak to the people--including members of Congress--who don't view a debt-ceiling breach as a big deal:

"What I have to remind them is, we have a lot of other obligations, not just people who pay treasury bills. We have senior citizens counting on their social security arriving on time. We have veterans who are disabled who are counting on their benefits."

And to, you know, draw a clear line: "It is a big deal."

UPDATE (2:36 p.m.): The president, speaking about what would happen if Congress does not raise the debt-limit, made things personal:

"I say, imagine in your private life, if you decided that I'm not going to pay my mortgage for a month or two—first of all you're not saving money by not paying your mortgage. You're just a dead beat. And you can anticipate that will hurt your credit. "

"Which means that in addition to debt collectors calling, you're going to have trouble borrowing in the future. In you're able to borrow in future, it will be a higher rate. What's true for individuals is also true for nations, even the most powerful nation on earth. "

Illegal Meeting of Tea Party Conspirator in Absence of Leadership or Agenda at Washington Restaurant Tortilla Coast

Secret and politically illegal meeting of Republican Senator Ted Cruz at Washington DC Tortilla Coast Restaurant with T-Party conspirators. This meeting had no agenda, no advance notice, no minutes and no leadership attended = illegal.  This wasn't a meeting, it was sedition. This meeting was disclosed by fellow Republicans who inadvertently discovered they were excluded from attending. This discovery caused several who attended the meeting to deny they were there. Sounds like an adulterous affair but it's really political skulduggery.

Senator Ted Cruz is the leader of this traitorous behavior and he should be charged with sedition.

Roll Call Reports: Sen. Ted Cruz met with roughly 15 to 20 House Republicans for around two hours late Monday night in the basement at the Capitol Hill watering hole Tortilla Coast.

The group appeared to be talking strategy about how they should respond to a tentative Senate deal to reopen the government and raise the debt ceiling without addressing Obamacare in a substantive way, according to sources who witnessed the gathering. The Texas Republican senator and many of the House Republicans in attendance had insisted on including amendments aimed at dismantling Obamacare in the continuing resolution that was intended to avert the current shutdown.

Sources said the House Republicans meeting in the basement of Tortilla Coast with Cruz were some of the most conservative in the House: Reps. Louie Gohmert of Texas, Steve King of Iowa, Jim Jordan of Ohio, Raúl R. Labrador of Idaho, Justin Amash of Michigan, Marlin Stutzman of Indiana, Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Tim Huelskamp of Kansas.

The group is a collection of members who often give leadership headaches by opposing both compromise measures as well as packages crafted by fellow Republicans. And, it seems, leadership unwittingly became aware of the meetup.

While the dinner meeting was held in a private basement room, the group was spotted by Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., who was dining with some other members, including Gregg Harper, R-Miss. McCarthy is a regular at the Capitol Hill restaurant, and a source said he seemed particularly interested in what the group was up to. (This is incredibly seditious behavior.)

While the emerging deal to reopen the government and hike the debt ceiling increase may have been a hot topic, it was not immediately clear what the group actually discussed. But the fact that such a group met with Cruz at all could give House GOP leaders even more heartburn as they consider what to do if the Senate passes the measure.

The deal that is materializing in the Senate is one that Cruz and his House compatriots are unlikely to endorse. But it appears to be one that can pass both chambers with bipartisan support.

Of course, Cruz and his allies in the Senate could decide to attempt a filibuster of the deal, but doing so would likely push any Senate vote on final passage past the Thursday deadline to raise the debt ceiling. That would mean Cruz and his allies would bear the brunt of any political consequences that might come from a default, including a potential dramatic downturn in the stock market and/or the world economy. Conversely, allowing the deal to move through the Senate without a fight could cost Cruz his pugnacious conservative credentials.

But from the genesis of the fight to link government funding to defunding Obamacare, Cruz has primarily tried to keep the pressure on, and the fight in, the House.

Ho Ho Ho - denial! Surprise? But this push back, by those who attended the illegal meeting, is their way of backing out of their seditious activity:  

Correction 11:58 a.m.

An earlier version of this report stated that Mark Meadows of North Carolina, Steve Southerland II of Florida, and Tom Cotton of Arkansas were at the basement meeting. All three confirmed being at Tortilla Coast Monday night, but deny being part of the basement meeting.

Abby Livingston contributed to this report.

House Speaker Boehner Must be Under Threat of Blackmaiil of Unknown Origin: Why Else Would He Undermine Democracy? Vote!

Right wing extremist Republicans who are holding the US economy hostage are acting like the Peanuts cartoon character Lucy, who tricks Charlie Brown, every year, when she promises to hold the football, while he charges for a long yard kick. Every single time, Lucy pulls the football just before gullible Charlie Brown can kick the pigskin and he always falls flat on his rear end. It's supposed to be funny but not when it's an analogy for a political power struggle.

Everybody who follows comic books knows this predictable scheme. Nevertheless, Charlie Brown somehow falls for it, regardless of how many times he's foiled.  

That's why it's unbelievable that President Obama or any self respecting American can believe, even for one second, that Republican have any intention to resolve our nation's economic crises. They're lying to Americans with euphemisms like fiscal restraint  big government, Obamacare or voter identification. These words are simply smokescreen footballs. America's economy can expand and prosper with government investment, especially if President Obama's American Jobs Act is passed. Meanwhile, stupid Republicans are holding important infrastructure projects hostage to a budget sequester that serves no purpose, whatsoever, while bridges and highways are being maintained with piecemeal fixes.

If House Speaker Boehner called for a clean majority vote resolution, this entire avoidable and preventable crises would disappear. Nonetheless, he won't do it. Why?  He doesn't give any reason other than the Congress wants a repeal of President Obama's health care reform "Obamacare". Even if the President, for some reason, repealed his signature legislation, this wouldn't solve the "stupid sequester" or resolve the dangerous precedent this kind of hostage taking will set up for all future presidents.

Therefore, my opinion is that somebody must be using blackmail against House Speaker Boehner. Is the Speaker being bullied by right wing extremists who will, no doubt, put another right wing extremist up for election in a primary to remove the Speaker if he caves to majority rule? Well, so what? What could be worse than House Speaker Boehner? Not much.

My feeling is that House Speaker Boehner has a very dark skeleton in his closet and he'll do anything to keep it there, including bringing down the US economy.  

Where are investigative reporters who, once upon a time. routed out this kind of political dysfunction? Where are the Investigative Reporters and Editors?  They have a website but do they do anything? Honestly, I don't know what this IRE organization does, but surely nobody is working to uncover the "who" or "what" that holds House Speaker Boehner hostage and, perhaps, under threat of blackmail.

President Obama has two crises to resolve. He must save the American economy from the grips of a minority of extremists and he must prevent this type of hostage taking behavior from ever raising it's snake head in our nation, ever again. This might include a Constitutional Amendment to prevent anyone from shutting down government again, for any reason. He simply can't kick Lucy's football down the road.

It makes no sense for a minority of right wing extremists to control a democratic nation where majority rules. If House Speaker Boehner were a leader, he'd defy the right wing extremists and call for a clean resolution vote to purge our nation of minority rule.

Shutdown: Is Physiology at Fault? House Speaker Boehner and Senator Ted Cruz Need Medical Exams

It's totally incomprehensible for Americans to understand how a majority of "We the People" want the budget sequester repealed and an immediate end to the government shutdown. Moreover, "We the People" also want our government to pay our bills. Therefore, the idea of not raising the nation's debt limit is totally inconceivable, like driving up a bill on a credit card but refusing to pay when the bill is due.

"We the People" live in a democracy where our majority is supposed to rule. Our system of government can't conceive of a majority of people being overridden by a fringe minority of extremists who are upset because democracy didn't happen to win them the Republican 2012 election.  

It makes virtually no sense.

Therefore, from a clinical or scientific perspective, We the People must find the etiology of this strange "minority wants to rule" behavior. It's selfish.  It could also have a physiologic cause.

Let's look at the strange behaviors.  

House Speaker John Boehner won't call for a simple vote on a clean resolution to end this misery. If he did, the outcome of the vote could eliminate the agony all Americans are experiencing. Think about how the sequester would be gone, government would open and the debt ceiling would be lifted.  

Unfortunately, this remedy won't be entertained by Boehner and Republican House leadership.Why?

Should House Speaker John Boehner have a physicial and mental exam to evaluate his critical thinking skills? Think about this for a minute. Republicans want the people who receive Medicaid to have drug testing before they receive benefits. Politicians should do likewise. In my mind. all politicians are like welfare recipients with huge benefits. They are paid with taxpayer money. Likewise, they should also have drug testing.  

Maybe, if we insisted on a physician exam for House Speaker John Boehner, we could determine if his critical thinking skills are competent enough to lead the Congress. 

What's required for Medicaid beneficiaries should be the same for the Congress. Remember, Eric Cantor spoke about eliminating any Obamacare (aka health care reform) subsidy for Congress, thereby preventing differential treatment. 

Good. Let's ask Congressman Cantor to take a physical exam, too.

Now, let's find out what's wrong with the Elmer Gantry of the Senate Ted Cruz.  He also needs to have a physical exam.  

How does a man who's own Republican colleagues hold in disdain continue to control the right wing Congressional representatives in the House? House Speaker John Boehner is allowing the junior senator from Texas to control his caucus.  

This dysfunctional situation is unexplainable. Convoluted thinking like this seems to have a physiologic origin.  

A leader doesn't allow a junior politician from the Senate to speak authoritatively to the Congressional leadership caucus.  

Meanwhile, Senator Cruz has his own critical thinking problems.

Senator Cruz made a judgement on behalf of his constituents that uninsured people in Texas should not have access to affordable health insurance, offered in the Obamacare insurance exchanges. He wants to eliminate Obamacare and thereby prevent his uninsured constituents from buying health insurance.

In other words, Senator Cruz fancifully decided that he has the power to prevent Obamacare from being implemented, shutting down government to make his egotistical point, just because he doesn't want to obey the law.   

Senator Cruz also needs to have a physical exam where his critical thinking skills are evaluated.

Our world is in desperate need of our American  political leadership to be competent enough to make informed and rational decisions. Given the behaviors we've witnessed during this daunting and preventable economic crisis, it's time we see the medical records for Speaker Boehner and Senator Cruz.  

Since taxpayers pay for their medical coverage, seems like we should see what we're paying for. 

Ted Cruz Test: Republicans are Making a Mockery Out of Our Proud American Democracy

Are any Republicans out there who still believe in the majority rule in democracy?  Listen up!  It's time to count votes and eliminate the (a) stupid budget sequester (b) end the stupid government shut down and (c) stupid obstruction of lifting of America's debt ceiling.  
Can Senator Ted Cruz pass this 2 question test?  
Who said the following?

1.  "No mother would ever willingly sacrifice her sons for territorial gain, for economic advantage, for ideology."

2.  "Leadership is someone who brings people together."

Both of the above quotes were spoken by Republican presidents.
(1) Ronald Reagan (2) George W. Bush

Republicans and House Speaker John Boehner have departed from the Republican Party as we know it.  

Republican Olympia Snowe, former Senator from Maine says today's GOP is not a political party she recognizes anymore. This, from a leader who gave her all for the Republican party but she wasn't "conservative enough" (whatever that means!).

Snowe of Maine says the Republican Party has bowed to extreme elements, making it unrecognizable from the GOP she joined years ago. "Obviously it’s moved to the extremes. I wouldn’t characterize everybody within the tea party movement, but certainly there are broad elements within the party now that are driving their own agenda for their own advantage, irrespective of what implications it has for the Republican Party," Snowe told Ashleigh Banfield on CNN Newsroom. "And certainly, this isn’t a party that I recognize and the party that I joined when I first enrolled, and that’s regrettable."

Senator Snowe is correct, this mess with the economic shutdowns is regrettable but it's also preventable.  Republicans can recall all the misery they are currently causing themselves and the people being harmed by their right wing extremism by simply taking a vote to stop this madness.  In not calling for a vote, House Speaker John Boehner is in denial about the inevitable.  This power struggle is preventable and a majority vote of the House would fix all of it, presto (!) like a finger snap.  

In not taking a simple majority vote, Speaker Boehner is leading a party movement that's making a mockery of democracy for the world to see, like hanging our dirty laundry out for scrutiny.  Nobody wants to see dirty laundry especially when there's soap and water available.  A vote is the soap and water of this horribly ridiculous economic mess created by a Republican minority in Congress who are being puppet controlled by Tea Party right wing extremists.  This extremism must be eradicated.

Senator Tom Cruz should take a cruise. He needs to return to Canada, where he was born, to learn from their Parliamentary

system how a democracy can work, when the will of the people is the goal of government. 

Republicans must be voted out of office as soon as possible, before they so damage our American democracy, until it becomes unrecognizable. Republicans are on the road to dismantling our democracy and we must fire them all for their complete incompetence. ASAP.

Republicans Should Know (by now!) How to Vote - Simple Majority Can End This Economic Misery

Louisiana Governor Jindal said the Republicans must stop being the stupid party, but who ever thought his political party would forget how to count? Republicans behaved stupidly by driving a US government shutdown over the Obamacare health care reform law, without offering any alternative. 

Now, the same stupid Republicans, who believed their shutdown would change minds about Obamacare, don't seem to understand how to undo the damage they've caused.

Republicans must surely know how to vote. If House Speaker John Boehner called for a clean resolution vote to repeal the stupid budget sequester (a budget stifling gimmick Congress imposed on itself for no reason whatsoever), and then to lift the government shutdown topped off by a lifting of the US debt ceiling. Nothing, absolutely nothing could be easier. 

Apparently, Republicans need some help with this "count" thing. They need to understand how democracy depends on people who can count. A person or issue with the most votes wins over those that don't receive enough votes. Arriving at the "majority" decision requires votes to be counted. Many Republicans may need help from Sesame Street's "The Count", to learn how this counting system works.

Governor Jindal said: “We’ve (ie GOP) got to stop being the stupid party. It’s time for a new Republican Party that talks like adults,” he said. “We had a number of Republicans damage the brand this year with offensive and bizarre comments. I’m here to say, we’ve had enough of that.”
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/gov-bobby-jindal-gop-stop-stupid-party-article-1.1247645#ixzz2hSdy6ZNh

Unfortunately, Republicans, obviously, haven't had "enough" of being stupid, They just keep getting even more stupid.  

It was delusional for Republicans to be misled into believing they could garner support for a repeal of the Obamacare law (just because they don't like it) by shutting down government.

NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll adds to Republican shutdown woes; By Cathleen Decker  Los Angeles Times October 11, 2013, 4:00 a.m.

For Republicans, the last 10 days have felt like falling down a darkened elevator shaft: You want to hit bottom, but wonder about the odds of survival.

In what has become an almost daily occurrence, Thursday night brought another poll showing the damage the party has suffered as a result of the government shutdown. A new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll found that the party’s popularity had dropped and Americans were far more likely to blame them for the goings-on in Washington than their Democratic opponents.

Listen up, you number challenged Republicans! If House Speaker Boehner would just count, like "one, two, three..." and so on, he would find out if there are enough votes, in a simple majority, to fix America's economic crises. Please try.