Category: politics & causes

Or, as Gwen Moore put it at the Obama rally in Milwaukee:  “If you can’t think of any reason to vote, then vote because they don’t want you to.”

She was referring, of course, to the rash of Voter ID laws through the United States which ultimately seek to prevent some kinds of people from voting. (Sarah Silverman explains it best.)

But for women: really, you have absolutely no excuse not to vote today. We fought and died and went to jail for the right, and there are still people who would prefer that we didn’t. So go. Do it.

& Yes, I’d be happier if you vote for Obama. I think I’ve made that more than clear.

FOUR MORE YEARS!

But even if you don’t, vote.

First off, don’t believe the hype. The United States has always done better economically with Demorats at the helm. Most recently, under Bill Clinton. Remember the surplus?

Second, Obama has not been the U.S.’ biggest spender, and not by a long shot.

Third, The Economist just endorsed Obama. The Economist! Neither Bloomberg nor The Economist are big old liberals. Both were somewhat reluctant endorsements: Bloomberg’s because he thinks Romney is too inconsistent, and The Economist’s vote was based both on Romney’s bad math and on Obama correcting the “scandal” of having so many people without health insurance in a country as rich as America.

Fourth, Mayor Bloomberg just endorsed him. If there’s a business guy in politics, it’s him.

#5: Global investors prefer Obama to Romney and see a second Obama term as good for American business: due both to the policy and the stability a second term brings.

#s 6, 7, & 8: Bill Gates, Paul Krugman, and Warren Buffet all endorsed him, and none of the three are lightweights in business and economics.

Starbucks’ CEO Howard Schulz fought Obamacare hard and still endorsed Obama.

Numbers 10 to a whole hell of a lot more: all of these other people!

If you go to Google, you can input your address and get your voting information, just like that.

That is so cool.

(Okay, that’s two. But stick with me.)

Mitt Romney just made an ad for this guy Rick Berg. Rick Berg believes women who get abortions due to rape should be imprisoned.

So as much as we all might joke about “binders full of women”, the reality is that Romney and (most of) his cohorts and completely out of touch with women. (And for those who still don’t understand why the binders were funny, try this on for size: he knew plenty of men who were qualified to be in his cabinet. That he didn’t know any women who would be qualified tells us all we need to know about how “equal” he thinks women are.)

The next President gets to choose Supreme Court justices, and a shift to the right for the SC could mean the undoing of Roe V. Wade. That’s actually the plan.

Planned Parenthood, which provides sex and health information to women, as well as breast cancer screenings, regular pap smears and birth control, is on Romney’s chopping block. Women’s health is not just a woman’s issue. Women’s health impacts everyone.

Then there’s the global gag rule, forced vaginal ultrasounds for women choosing abortion, the “personhood” of gametes — and, um, no Republicans voted for the Lily Ledbetter Act, which allows women to sue if it turns out they have been paid less than men in the same position.

Ladies, let’s do this. I will personally thank any Republican  who gets out there & votes for Obama only because of the Republican Party’s sexist and misogynist ideas about women. You have absolutely no excuse not to vote today. We fought and died and went to jail for the right, and there are still people who would prefer that we didn’t. So go. Do it. Tell your husband or your boyfriend you’ll vote his way if that’s what it takes & then vote how you want. That’s the whole point of the anonymous thing.

Romney’s asserted that there are 47% of Americans “who will vote for the president no matter what. All right, there are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it — that that’s an entitlement. And the government should give it to them. And they will vote for this president no matter what. … These are people who pay no income tax. … [M]y job is not to worry about those people. I’ll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives.”

A friend’s mother, Polly Snodgrass, wrote this to Romney in response:

Dear Mr. Romney,

I am a senior citizen and long past the time when insensitivity towards me can ruffle my feathers. But insensitivity toward others is another story. I have waited to respond to your 47% tirade so that I could try to inform or maybe even educate instead of just having a swearing temper fit. Each of those 47% has a story. Here is mine.

I worked for more than 25 years in programs designed to give families the skills and supports necessary to become self sufficient and to raise healthy, happy children. I willingly worked 60 to 80 hours weekly because the need was great and the cause was worthy. My husband, a Republican, also worked long and hard in the corporate world and volunteered many hours on behalf of others, including as a Red Cross volunteer assisting those living near and affected by the 9/11 disaster. We paid our full share of taxes all those years, and never tried to take unfair advantage of “loopholes”. We saved and invested to supplement our social security. We insured ourselves and our children so that we could take care of our health. When we retired, I think even you would agree that we had earned our social security pensions and medicare.

Unfortunately, my husband’s health has not allowed us the retirement we hoped for but we are just grateful that he could receive the care he needed and that we could still remain in our home. In a span of five years he has had emergency heart surgery, lymphoma and prostate cancer. He received excellent care and has made an amazing recovery although his health is still fragile. Without Medicare, we could never have afforded his treatment and would have lost everything we owned trying to.

Now that he’s stronger, he volunteers at the cancer center where he received his treatment. I spend my “leisure” time working in animal rescue. But in good times and bad, we have never forgotten that those who have, no matter how they came to be the “haves”, owe something to the “have nots” . If compassion and empathy just aren’t part of your make up, then please consider that you are one of those who owe a debt for your good fortune. I don’t care how hard you may or may not have worked for it, you have it and that means you are in a position to do all you can to make sure others at least have the bare minimum. Your jobs programs, your small government ideas will not feed hungry children and will not take care of the sick, the elderly, and the impoverished.

If you won’t do your share, then please get out of the way so others, including the government (of the people and by the people) can do theirs. You have underestimated us. We care and we won’t vote for someone who doesn’t. You lost me when you put your dog on top of your car, but now you have lost many more of us than you realize. It’s not too late to do the right thing. It may not win the election for you, but it will be more satisfying than you realize.

Interestingly, it’s as if Chris Christie heard her argument more than Romney did.

Because people on Medicare saved more than $4 million because of Obamacare this year. 21 million people will receive free preventative medicine – which is, of course, the most cost effective kind, & the kind working class and poor people put off due to financial constraints.

Dependents can stay on their parents’ plans until the age of 25.

Birth control will be free or affordable – and birth control is, of course, preventative medicine: birth control decreases the rate of abortion 75%.

& Pre-existing conditions don’t exist anymore.

Here’s a nice 11-point list of all the other cool stuff it does.