What Happens in Vegas Stays in Vegas...Hopefully

On the evening that Mitt Romney officially garners the delegatges required, he continues not to disavow the birther comments from the bloviate Trump. I am sorry, but this diminishes whatever other potential characteristics his canididacy may have for some. Mitt Romney through his silence, by his parading at a fund raiser with the low life, multi bankruptcy filing reality TV idiot Donald Trump, he distances himself from the mainstream normalcy that happily makes up the American electorate. For Romney to think his affiliation with the Donald works for him, is another indication of how totally underqualified and how awful a man, Mitt Romney really is. He should have stayed in Vegas. Where are you Americans for reason and truth?

Class Size

Mitt Romney says class size matters little in the ability for students to achieve. When was the last time he taught a class of 35 students at once? This man, born to wealth, educated in prep schools, thinking it cool to bully others, is speaking as if he has credibility on the issue? With each passing day, Mitt Romney shows his inadequacy and unpreparedness for higher office. As a teacher, I am insulted that he speaks to me, a voter, with such an obvious lack of understanding or conviction on every major issue. Back to School for you Mr. Romney, or else you'll find yourself the richest Presidential election loser in history.....and I hope so. Where are you Americans for reason and truth?

Mr. Education

Mitt Romney is attempting to develop bonafides for every issue that he has zero experience with. First, foreign policy and his statements have been reckless at best. Next, he touts his job creation performance and we know what the real numbers say. Now he is trying to distinguish himself as an education expert...there is a role to play for the Fed. and lets keep local control. Standard BS. Oh, and by the way, he blames the teacher unions for blocking progress. More demonization from the phoniest fake of a candidate in my lifetime. Where are you Americans for reason and truth?

Mr. Tweet

If you follow Twitter as a political geek, you would notice that Mayor Cory Booker from Newark is a gold medal twitterer. Whether it be at a fire, or a restaurant, or shoveling snow, he uses this form of instant media activity with much vigor. Mr. Booker is considered a rising star in Democratic circles and a supporter of the President. The kerfuffle over his criticisms of negative advertising as nauseating are being used by the conventional media to drive a wedge between him and the President. It is the topic of the next few days for sure. Romney will use this in his ads to suggest the negative influences in media by Obama while ignoring the constant vitriol and bull coming from their ads and there it goes. What is most striking however, is the way Booker's comments are being portrayed. He condemned the negativity on both sides , not just the Dems. and it is being suggested that he is critical of Obama and therefore this could be a great media wedge issue as they battle for network superiority. No big deal. Political advertising is nauseating and so are the five justices that let this all happen. Where are you Americans for reason and truth?

Republican Anti Regulation Attitudes

A two billion dollar loss at JP Morgan Chase may not be much for the behemoth bank, but its leader has been considered one of the geniuses of the industry. In front of his nose, the loss happened. What about other banks? Just as we turn a corner from severe financial distress and a deregulatory atmosphere toward at least rhetoric for change, another scam, yes scam occurs, jolting our confidence in the financial sector. The President has been calling for tighter reigns on the industry and the public seems to endorse this, but no matter what happens, short of a repeat of 1929, Republicans will fight tooth and nail, anything that regulates or controls banks. Even Dodd/Frank, ridiculed by Republicans, is giving us a watered down approach to regulatory needs. Many Democrats in fact avoided support for the tougher controls that we need. The problem is that we as citizens think of banks as safe havens for our money, for our mortgages, for small business loans and for our basic money needs. What has happened, is that they have become purveyors of financial scams that we simply do not understand. Ask the average citizen about synthetic derivatives as hedges against loss and they would think you are speaking Klingon. As such, we have become slaves to an industry that develops portfolios and risky financial ventures that go unchecked and unexplained. Why the Republicans continue to shy away from needed reform and why Mitt Romney endorses such recklessness is reason enough to condemn this approach and stay the course with the President. Good Luck to my AP Government students who are about to take their test. They worked hard and my thoughts are with them. Where are you Americans for reason and truth?

The President's Role

As my Advanced Placement Government students finish their preparation for next week's test, I cannot depart from the fact that President Obama's declaration in favor of same sex marriage is an issue appropriate for our final discussions. It is being complicated due to the diverse moral and religious opinions and interpretations that exist but it is really simple. Let us suppose, today, a woman and a man who cannot bear children decide to marry and a State Government decides to disallow the infertile from marrying. Would those who view marriage as a union for the purpose of propagation be offended? Maybe so. and if not,they are hypocrites. Suppose a black man were to go to the polls to vote and immediately as in days past was excluded based on race, would segregationist bigots have a problem with this? Probably not. These two extreme views that exist within a minority of our people today, would have been mainstream opinions during periods of our history. Yet, today, laws to protect the rights and liberties of individuals have been passed to insure the American mosaic is protected as part of our diversity. To treat one individual or group differently because of a characteristic, is anathema to most of us and our nation continues to march slowly toward acceptance, tolerance and a higher sense of right and wrong. A President is in the job to execute the laws and the laws of this great nation are designed to protect our rights and liberties, not to make decisions based on religious fundamentals. I do not quarrel with or object to anyone whose faith and conscience does not have room for same sex partnerships but I do quarrel with those who use these ideas to deny others the freedom to be who they are and to have the rights they are equally entitled to. The President is just doing his job. Thankfully so. Mitt Romney has no understanding of the role he feels entitled to have. Where are you Americans for reason and truth?

Civil Rights

The President supports civil rights for all Americans, Mitt Romney for selective Americans. No matter how you try and spin it, no matter what forces religious conscience may compel, no matter what your fears of gay people are, one thing is clear, you cannot in America, deny basic rights to any one group, one orientation or one ideology. Our civil rights and liberties are guaranteed and protected by our Constitution and our Bill of Rights. Politics aside, homophobes aside and religion aside, people are people, not animals not property and not able to be denied the freedoms and liberties due to us all. Where are you Americans for reason and truth?

Seniors

President Obama is losing amongst senior citizens. None that I am affiliated with, but across the nation he is. Now this makes no sense and I hope it isn't because the most capable and most experienced amongst us have lost their way, but rather due to a temporary case of amnesia. Mitt Romney supports the Ryan plan which would gut Social Security as we know it. Mitt Romney condemns Obamacare and Government run programs but Medicare is single payer and follows the pattern that Romney callously dismisses. Seniors tend to be fixed income focused and yet Romney supports the old tired and failed trickle down economic theories that gut the programs seniors most dearly rely on while trickling wealth into the pockets of the few. Mitt Romney would have allowed the auto industry to fail and there are many seniors today whose working lives relied on the manufacturing jobs that used to be in America. Instead, Romney's experience as a venture capitalist supported jobs overseas and shrunk companies or destroyed them, favoring productivity increases at all costs. President Obama has protected this nation from terrorism and seniors have a disproportionate belief in American security moreso than other age groups. So, once this case of amnesia clears, seniors will do the right thing, and that is not to support Mitt Romney. Where are you Americans for reason and truth?

Let's Play Gotcha

While Presidents attempt to do their jobs in an election year, the opposition loves to play gotcha, often because they just don't have anything original to offer. This is obviously more intense when it is a first termer running for reelection. So the advisors to the opposition listen all day to news reports, and look for verbal gaffes or made up issues so that they can enter the news cycle to embarrass their foe. Republicans are much better at this than Democrats. Yesterday, the Flunkies in the Romney campaign took the monthly jobs numbers and went on their talk shows and spun the numbers to make it appear as if it is all Obama's fault. Gotcha Mr. President. Well, let me play Gotcha too. This President more than any other, knows that there are jobs waiting to be filled, but we simply do not have the trained experts to fill them. He talks about funding community colleges and training programs and offers stimulus to do it. Romney's party says No, college is elitist. Gotcha. The March jobs report which caused consternation for many, was yesterday revised upward to the original consensus estimate, therefore not making it so bad after all. Republicans ignored that. Anyhow, we have had eight consecutive months of over 100,000 new jobs, the longest streak in a long while. Gotcha. Republicans like to blame the shrinking unemployment number on people leaving the work force as both sides always do. If you look at who is leaving, it is mostly the expected baby boomer retirees who perhaps see a better time to do so now rather than compete with soon to graduate college kids willing to work for less. So, in essence, it is real reduction in unemployment, the lowest in three years. Gotcha. Gas prices are starting to come down and whereas Obama deserves the same non credit for this as he did for the rise, it still helps Americans at the pump. Gotcha. Game over today. Mitt, go campaign in Kansas where their legislature passed the most extreme and nonsensical non scientific abuse of womens' rights in recent history. This seems to be your kind of legislature since you have denied, forgotten and condemned your own moderate credentials. Leave the rest to the President. Gotcha. Where are you Americans for reason and truth?

The Opposite

Yesterday in Virginia at a campaign rally, Mitt Romney was asked what he would do about the economy. His answer was that whatever the President did, he would do the opposite. So here is the Romney Plan....Study it well: -Tax Increases for every American. -The Dow at 6000. -Auto Industry left destroyed. -4 million less private sector jobs. -Unemployment trending up instead of down. -TARP program dismantled instead of continued. -Unemployment insurance extensions voided for long term unemployed. -Kick off all college grads. under 26 from their parents' Health plan. -Record corporate profits reversed. -Reliance on foreign oil to again go above 50% GREAT PLAN MITT. Where are you Americans for reason and truth?

Getting Worse and Worse

On September 11, 2001, over 3000 Americans were killed by Osama Bin Laden. After failed attempts to kill him, President Bush backed off from the priority of finding and killing him trying to change the narrative to hide his failures. As a candidate for President, Obama vied to get Bin Laden and to act alone if there was actionable intelligence to do so. Rudolph Giuliani supported this policy. Mitt Romney did not. Today marks the one year anniversary of President Obama's order to carry out the ultimately successful mission to kill Bin Laden and offer some sense of closure and revenge for that awful day. Presidents always take credit for their successess and try to mask their failures both during, after and separate from a campaign. The mean spirited swipes at this President by his enemies to deny the success and minimize it not only does an injustice to the bravery of those involved, but shows how singular in focus these people are. They care less for our country and more for their own self preservation. Particularly Mitt Romney who gets worse and worse and worse each day. Where are you Americans for reason and truth?