The Second Amendment to the Constitution of the United States reads: A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.

The right of the people to keep and bear arms has become THE quintessential right for a small but incredibly well organized group of Americans. The fact of the matter is that nobody can reasonably argue that a private citizen has the right to keep or bear a nuclear weapon. Working back from that premise it is reasonable that the Constitution allows the government to place restrictions on what arms may be kept and borne.

We the people need to have an honest conversation, without hyperbolic rhetoric about an effort to “take away your guns” specifically about the limits of the Second Amendment and the limits of what the American people should be required to bear…

Shall we continue to bear people keeping gun shops or working in gun shops without a criminal background check?

Shall we continue to bear private sales of guns or should those people that registered to own those guns keep them?

Shall we continue to bear people keeping their guns without keeping insurance to mitigate the damage those guns can perpetrate?

Shall we continue to bear people keeping their guns in an unsecured location where a child or intruder can get ahold of it?

Shall we continue to bear people getting around our laws by buying up to 40% of guns at a gun show?

Shall we continue to bear people keeping their silence if their gun is lost or stolen?

Shall we continue to bear people keeping clips that allow a shooter to fire more than 9 rounds without reloading?

Shall we continue to bear some people keeping assault weapons that can produce the kind of carnage that the communities of Aurora and Newtown suffered?

The right to keep and bear arms is NOT absolute, we have to define reasonable limits that protect the right and protect the innocent.

We can’t keep bearing this…

Note: artwork “Struggle by Morton D. Levin”

I’m not voting for Barack Obama because:

He ordered the detention center at Guantanamo Bay closed, even though the cowards in congress voted almost unanimously to thwart him.

He drug the Senate kicking and screaming to FINALLY pass healthcare reform, a sorely missing piece of the social safety net for 100 years.

He passed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, snidely referred to as “the stimulus” which really did save this country and all her citizens from the prospect of suffering another great depression.

He got us the hell out of the ridiculous folly that was Iraq, in a responsible and honorable fashion.

He refocused attention on bringing those who actually attacked us to justice and made the call that took Bin Laden out.

He stuck is neck out to save the auto industry, a crucial component to manufacturing in this country when more cynical voices wouldn’t bet on American workers and American jobs.

He ended Don’t Ask Don’t Tell which was a shameful policy that dishonored our men and women in uniform even as they risked their lives for their country.

He reformed student loans so that profiteers don’t make a buck off of government backed student loans, and in so doing has lowered the cost of a quality education.

He refused to defend the indefensible DOMA which is certainly unconstitutional and should be allowed to be struck down.

He issued an executive order functionally extending Dream Act protections to children who through no fault of their own are undocumented in this country, after Republicans filibustered it in the Senate, where it surely would have passed.

He tried over and over to work with Republicans, much to the chagrin of many on the left, only to be rebuffed even when the interests of the nation were compromised.

He passed Wall Street reform and created the Consumer Financial Protection Agency to stop the flagrant abuses of financial institutions that cannot be allowed to repeat their reckless pursuit of profit without regard for the risk to national stability.

He increased funding for Veterans Affairs to honor our country’s commitments to those who have given their all in the defense of their nation.

I’m not voting for Barack Obama because ANY of these things but rather because ALL of them…

In a terribly polarized political system…

Against coordinated opposition whose primary goal was to limit Obama to one term…

In the worst recession since the great depression…

As the first black president…

In the face of overt racism and hostility…

AND HE DID IT ALL WITH GRACE AND HUMILITY FOR ALL OF AMERICA.

I AM voting for Barack Obama, as a matter of fact, I already have.

Please vote.

The idea that something is sacred is born in the concept of consecration, when something has been consecrated it literally becomes sacred, at least to those that hold it so. The concept that any symbol that represents something that was so consecrated would carry the same sacred weight would seem an aberration of consecration.

There is a disconnect in this world between what IS sacred and the symbols of things that are sacred. There is a further disconnect between those who hold something sacred and those that quite simply do not.

Is the American flag sacred? Is it more disrespectful to burn it or wear it on your ass as a bikini? Is “The Bible” sacred? What about “a Bible”? And the Qur’an? The Talmud? What if they were printed on toilet paper? Wouldn’t the exposure of the user to the word outweigh the resulting, um, smear shall we say?

Don’t make the symbol of something more valuable than the values that something symbolizes.

Outrage, faux or otherwise is a powerful weapon that when unleashed is rarely discriminating. Those who would purposefully leverage outrage for the advantage of their ideology or the vilification of another’s arm that weapon without regard for the aim, figuratively they are firing into a crowd and those they manipulate are the bullets.

“The idea of the sacred is quite simply one of the most conservative notions in any culture, because it seeks to turn other ideas – uncertainty, progress, change – into crimes.” - Salman Rushdie

One man’s trash is another man’s treasure – conversely, one man’s sacred is another man’s crude joke. Why should the man that considers a thing sacred care what the man who doesn’t thinks? Your faith speaks to you, another’s faith speaks to them. Their truth is “the truth” for them, your truth is “the truth” for you. The truth is that the religion isn’t offended, flags aren’t offended, long dead prophets and messiahs are not offended… The men who attach the moniker of “sacred” are offended, their sensibilities compromised which compromises their sense.

Don’t make the symbol of something more valuable than the values that something symbolizes.

This is to say, not at all. Republicans cannot see the President; or rather they WILL not see the president.

Republicans have refused to see Obama for years now. Republicans see a Muslim (he is not). Republicans see a Kenyan (he is not). Republicans see a Socialist (he is not). Republicans see a radical (he is not). Republicans see him as the ultimate other.

The symbolism of the empty chair is perfect for the GOP. The void occupying the chair leaves just the space they need to project…  They project their fears into that chair, they project  their prejudices  into that chair and they project their distortions and biases into that chair… What they see is ugly but it doesn’t say anything about the president of the United States, it says something about those who will not see the man.

Republicans won’t be running against Barack Obama this year. They will continue to run against the characterization of Barack Obama that they have invented.

The Barack Obama that fits their increasingly narrowing world view.

The Barack Obama that plays into the narrative of their rapidly shrinking tent.

The only one they can see… Their fantasy of Barack Obama sitting in an empty chair.

Veracity…  accuracy, actuality, authenticity, candor, correctness, credibility, exactitude,  exactness, fact, fairness, fidelity, frankness, genuineness, gospel, honest-to-god truth, honesty, honor ,impartiality, integrity, like it is, openness, precision, probity, real McCoy, reality, rectitude, rightness, sincerity, straight stuff, trueness, truism, trustworthiness, truthfulness, uprightness, verisimilitude, verity

There has not been five minutes during the Republican National Convention so far that has honored any version of the word “veracity”. And the GOP has the audacity to claim to be the Party of values.

The ninth commandment demands – Thou Shalt Not Lie. I have no words.

James Humble was elected by the citizens of Catahoula Parish to the Louisiana Legislature, which met in New Orleans, Louisiana at the time. During the first session of the legislature, Mr. Humble said something that offended a short, five foot two inch, Creole legislator from New Orleans. The Creole immediately challenged the seven foot tall blacksmith to a duel.

Brother Humble said, “Sir, since you challenged me it is my understanding that I can choose the time, place and the weapons for the duel”. The Creole legislator said, “Sir, that is correct”. Brother Humble replied, “in that case, I choose daylight tomorrow morning, in six feet of water of Lake Pontchartrain, with sledge hammers”.

Our president might just as easily dispatch Mr. Romney by saying “Anywhere and everywhere, armed only with the truth.”

Mitt Romney hasn’t actually challenged the President to a duel. The challenge is far more crucial to the all of us than that. Mr. Romney has however chosen the weapons with which he will wage the campaign for the presidency. Lies, in six feet of racism…

“quietly announced” plans to eliminate work and job training requirements for welfare beneficiaries

“There’s only one president that I know of in history that robbed Medicare, $716 billion to pay for a new risky program of his own that we call Obamacare.”

 ”No one has ever asked to see my birth certificate, they know that this is the place that we were born and raised.”

“There’s no question in my mind that the president’s action was calculated to… shore up his base,”

These statements aren’t only disingenuous; they are specifically designed to “speak” to the lesser angels of the Republican Party, an increasingly large contingent.

Mitt already has every advantage possible in this race. Mitt is tall, white and rich. The economy isn’t particularly strong. Unemployment is disturbingly high. And yet Mitt Romney CANNOT compete without lying or invoking racial memes. Mitt is acting like a midget facing a duel in six feet of water with sledgehammers. Apparently he has decided that all he is capable of wielding is banjos…

If you made money leveraging companies and their employees into bankruptcy “you bilked that”

Mr. Romney likes to say that he “saved” the Winter Olympics in 2002. I don’t doubt that Mr. Romney’s skills as a manager were very beneficial. I do doubt the honesty of a man that claims government needs to “get out of the way” and then solicits over 400 million dollars from that same government. Who saved the games, Mr. Romney? You or the American taxpayers?

If you “saved” the Olympics by tapping the Federal Government for 400 million dollars “you bilked that”

Mr. Romney likes to think of himself and people like him as the reason that America is successful. The Romney’s write very big tax checks to the Federal Government. The size of those checks may never be known since Mr. Romney refuses to do what our current president has, release twelve years of returns.  Mr. Romney has given us some clues. We know that in 2010 Mitt paid a little less than 14% federal income tax rate. We know that he is very aggressive in exploiting the tax code to pay as little as possible. We know that he considers anything less than aggressive exploitation of our tax code would “disqualify” him as a presidential candidate. Where does that leave the United States as a society? If the social safety net must be shredded to “save” it, shouldn’t a portion of the conversation focus on the tax code? Should we entrust the future of that safety net to one who already possesses enormous tax advantages. Especially when he wants to enact even more cuts for people who already so effectively dodge so much of their tax bill?

If you hide cash in the Cayman’s to avoid paying taxes to your country “you bilked that”

I respect the free market. I participate in the free market. I applaud the free market. But the free market is never going to provide national security. The free market is never going to protect the air and water. The free market is never going to ensure equal access to all Americans. The free market is never going to self-regulate.

The government has a role to play, a crucial role. A role that matters to our lives and the lives of future Americans. Mr. Romney seems to view the government as something worth controlling so that he may more effectively cheat it for monetary gain. A position of power where he can wrest even more from America than he already has. If Mr. Romney becomes president, someday he will look over whatever is left of this great nation and laugh under his breath “I bilked that”.

The “fiscal cliff” is described as the expiration of the Bush Tax cuts, expiration of the temporary payroll tax holiday, reinstatement of the AMT and a series of cuts known as sequestration that were agreed to during the debt ceiling blackmail negotiation. It is not a great thing for an economy as fragile as ours, it is however, completely necessary for this economy to move beyond the hyperbole and absurd asshattery that is the Republican Party.

The Republican Party, you see, has pledged allegiance not the United States of America but rather to the vision of the unelected asshole known as Grover Norquist. The Republican Party was willing to cripple our fragile recovery and was willing to accept a credit downgrade to lick the boots of the asshole known as Grover. The GOP would rather throw their mothers to the mercy of Paul Ryan than dare draw the ire of Grover Norquist.

The beautiful thing about the cliff is that it is the one mechanism by which Grover Norquist loses all of his power in one swift stroke…

Rhetorically castrating Grover Norquist will provide two enormous benefits to Americans: First the vast majority of Republicans in this nation will be freed from their highly questionable pledge to Norquist at least with respect to the Bush tax cuts, the second is that the threat of the deficit is a much smaller problem after the Bush cuts sunset, a very welcome turn of events indeed.

Think about it. When everything detailed in the first paragraph of this post comes to pass, it will be no big deal to pass a reasonable middle class tax cut without gutting revenues (by maintaining tax cuts for the people whose personal wealth has exploded over the last few decades). It will be reasonable to avoid sequestration since tax increases will already be a fact… not merely an option that the GOP would never allow on the table.

Would it be better to come to a reasonable solution before facing the “fiscal cliff”? Sure. Is it likely that Republicans will BE reasonable in this negotiation? Those that cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it; apparently those who can are doomed to go off the cliff… Saddle up.

“Faithful to the self-evident truths enshrined in the Declaration of Independence, we assert the sanctity of human life, and affirm that the unborn child has a fundamental individual right to life, which cannot be infringed. We support a human life amendment to the Constitution, and endorse legislation to make clear that the Fourteenth Amendment’s protections apply to unborn children. We oppose using public revenues to promote or perform abortion, or fund organizations that would perform or advocate it, and will not fund or subsidize health care which includes abortion coverage.”

That’s right, the fourteenth amendment that several Republicans have vilified for encouraging “anchor babies” is now being distorted in an attempt to force women to carry to term a pregnancy caused by rape, or incest. Seriously, the GOP wants to throw the children of hard working Latinos out of the country, and legislate the children of rapists a path to citizenship.

The hypocrisy is staggering and exactly why the GOP is falling farther and farther behind with women and minorities. For the GOP apparently it comes down to anchor babies vs rapist babies and they choose to back the rapists

Rape is also too frequently accepted, excused or defended by the so called “right” in this nation, particularly by the so called “religious right”… Rape is rape.

Rape – Noun
The crime, committed by a person, of forcing another person to have sexual intercourse with them, esp. by the threat or use of violence.

Forcible rape? Legitimate rape? Why the hell would anyone want to parse the meaning of rape?
‘Tis but thy name that is my enemy;
Thou art thyself, though not a rape.
What’s a rape? it is nor hand, nor fist,
Nor armed, threat, nor almost any other part
Belonging to a man. O, be some other name!
What’s in a name? that which we call a rape
By any other name would be so vile…

Forced pregnancies, forced vaginal probes, forcing doctors to lie to women… The GOP is in the business of violating women… We will NOT make the mistake of characterizing this as any more than a violation, but we will not characterize it as anything less than the violation that it is. Rape is rape… it is violent, vile and without excuse, justification or defense…
Protect and defend our women and when protection fails respect and comfort them.
Rape by any other name is still rape… Respect the victim and SHUT THE FUCK UP.