The Biggest Moment from the Second Debate...

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Wednesday October 17, 2012 · 11:15 AM PDT

2012/10/17 · 11:15

...that no one is talking about because there were so many other moments to talk about.

It came a few seconds before the 20:00 minute mark; the question was about gas prices. They had both answered and the President was responding to Mitt's (fairly effective) attack that gas prices had been under $2 four years ago but were over $4 now.

The President had already take Romney down on the issues of oil (that -14% number Mitt used BTW was for one year, the four year number is +10%) and coal (although I wish he had mentioned the coal workers who had to take time off without pay to be Mitt's political backdrop.

On gas prices, the President agreed they had been lower but as a result of going through the biggest recession since the Great Depression. He then conceded that Mitt might well be able to return us to those lower gas prices "because with his policies, we might be back in that same mess." -- and the audience made a noise for the first time. Looking at faces of the people sitting behind the President it was clear that line really hit home. Some laughed uncomfortably, the girl in the front row sighed and rolled her eyes as if to say "no kidding".

I think this was the moment that President Obama knew he was doing alright and he settled down a little and just laid into Mitt for the rest of the night.

PS: My second favorite moment of the night was then Mitt basically accused the Democrats of painting him as someone who doesn't care about 100% of the population. Yes, Democrats are saying that Mitt, but you said it first (and best).

Health Care Hypocrisy

DavS

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Tuesday March 27, 2012 · 3:36 PM PDT

2012/03/27 · 15:36

The illogical hypocrisy of the right never ceases to confuse me. You’d think I’d learn by now but I just don’t understand it.
The people that are calling Sandra Fluke horrible names because they ‘don’t want to pay for her birth control’ are the same people up in arms because The President says everyone should pay their own health insurance premiums. They scream that women should be responsible for paying for their own birth control (even if they have insurance) at the same time they are fighting for their right to not have health insurance and make the rest of us pay for their health care.
The difference between Health Insurance and all of the other things being bandied about in the Supreme Court are the catastrophic costs associated with not having insurance. The government can’t make you buy broccoli, cars or even burial insurance because without them you’re not costing the government millions of dollars.
The broccoli/food argument is interesting because out in The Market insurance companies can in fact charge you more money for insurance if you aren’t living a healthy lifestyle. Everyone will be in this market and their choices affect their eventual healthcare, however, there are ample options in the marketplace for everyone to buy the food of their choice at reasonable prices.
Justice Alito brought up burial services because like healthcare everyone will be in this market eventually but that argument doesn’t hold up. If you die poor and the government pays for your burial it costs them a few hundred dollars exactly once.
A better argument is auto insurance. No one knows ahead of time if a car accident is going to cost $40 in touch up paint or millions in property damage and health care costs and that’s why we have to have it. Without healthcare every single American has the potential of costing the government and thereby other citizens exorbitant amounts of money over and over and over again.
The logical argument is that like choosing to drive a car, everyone should have to choose between healthcare and no healthcare. If you choose not to have healthcare, then don’t go to emergency rooms or doctor’s offices unless you can afford to pay the going rate. Obviously this is a terrible idea but it seems to be where the right wants to go.
The Obama administration chose The Mandate because it’s a solution that involves the free market where people have options. The only other solution to making sure everyone in America has access to the healthcare they need is a single payer option, crushing the market and making the government pay for everything. Imagine what the GOP would have thought of that?!?

Go and Do Likewise

DavS

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Monday March 19, 2012 · 1:41 PM PDT

2012/03/19 · 13:41

Go and Do Likewise

I am a Christian and I try to live by the examples I learned at church and read in The Bible. I grew up in a very Catholic family with nuns, a deacon and a priest. I never had a bad experience at church and I pray with my daughter every night but I don’t go to church anymore. I greatly respect individual Catholic churches but I can’t get over the Catholic leadership’s response (or lack thereof) to the abuse scandals over the years and I am greatly disturbed by their recent political stances. I don’t talk much about my faith because it’s very personal to me and because I’m not concerned about what other people think about my beliefs. I am by no means perfect; I fall far short of Jesus’ example. I’m saying this now so that so that if you choose to continue reading you know where I’m coming from.

Trying to live by the rules given in The Bible is a very admirable thing to do and I understand why Christians vote Republican, I really do. Abortion isn’t an easy subject for anyone. That said, despite all its bluster and proclamations, today’s GOP is a very un-Christian organization. They are fighting against the rights of women, homosexuals, minorities, immigrants and the poor. The party is demonizing President Obama for saying that to be a healthy country, everyone has to have healthcare. Seriously, Republicans are literally fighting for your right to be sick while fighting against women’s rights to make their own healthcare choices. They are challenging the Voting Rights Act. They’re making laws that compel brown people to prove they are Americans whenever they meet a police officer. They fight all aid to the poor and keep giving themselves tax breaks. Some of them want to do away with the Department of Education, which would be devastating to poor and middle-class Americans. Recently Rick Santorum even called President Obama a snob because he wants to make it easier for everyone to go to college. They seem to have forgotten that they claim to follow a man that made friends with sinners.

Personally, after twenty years of weekly Sunday service I came away thinking one part of The Bible was the most important:

"Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these."

Why do I focus on this quote? BECAUSE JESUS TOLD ME TOO!!! And I want to mention something else about that before I go on. Jesus followed His commandment with the parable of the Good Samaritan. Most people know the general story but in it Jesus chose a Samaritan because they were generally disliked by the Jews and Jesus wanted his Jewish audience to know that if this “unholy” person followed this commandment he would be favored by God above the two religious men that walked around the man in need. The parable ends:

"Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?" The expert in the law replied, "The one who had mercy on him." Jesus told him, "Go and do likewise."

Republican voters, I know you are worried about morality and abortion most of all but would Jesus have you address these problems by attacking women’s right to control their own healthcare? Jesus was a light on the path, not a whip driving a mule. I don’t know what the answer is; I know you aren’t all going to read this and become Democrats. The press calls you “value voters” because you vote with your heart and your faith. But I have to ask:

Are these really your values?

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