People's Pundit has moved

After seven years on Google's Blogger platform, People's Pundit is moving to a new home. The 2005 - 2012 archives will remain here. Peoples Pundit will carry posts from 2013 forward.

Thanks for the love, Google. Now we're moving on up like George and Weezy!

What the NRA should have said

Here's some free PR advice for the NRA: Stop talking about guns.

You took a week after the Newton mass shootings to tell us to ignore what our eyes see and our hearts feel. We see too much death, and all these killings have the same common denominator -- guns. Many of us feel that if we can just make fewer instruments of death available to the bad guys, they could inflict less pain.

When the NRA tells us the answer is more guns, it insults our sensibilities. Seeing the good guys and bad guys shooting it out when their own children are inside the school cannot be the answer. That's not a safer alternative. We know that in our hearts.

The NRA promised a meaningful contribution and then retreated to old talking points. Here's what a meaningful conversation from the NRA could have said:

The Newton children were in danger the moment the killer decided to act. Their lives were at risk the moment he started planning how he would enter the school and assail the teachers and students. They were in danger when he decided that killing innocent human beings was the answer to the problems he was facing.

Once he made that decision, he had a wide range of possibilities on the tools he would use to implement his plan. He chose a tool that millions of Americans own and use responsibly. He chose to use them for his destructive purposes.

What if we could get to him before he decided on that deadly path? We would like to invest into more research that helps us identify and predict why someone would choose such flagrant murder. We would like to intervene and help provide them with more appropriate alternatives.

This will be the NRA's meaningful contribution. We will begin work with the mental health, family services, education communities and any organizations that can help us accelerate the work to find answers. These mass murderers start as our brothers and sons before they choose to become killers. Let's give them other alternatives, so that a deadly path no longer seems like an attractive option.

This approach never mentions the word gun, never threatens the NRA mission, and doesn't offend our senses. In today's post Newton reality, the less the NRA talks about guns, the higher their chances of keeping some of them.

Study: Fox News, MSNBC more ‘extreme’ in final week of campaign – CNN Political Ticker

This just in from CNN - Fox News and MSNBC became more extreme at the end of the campaign. I guess that left CNN to own the bland category all by themselves.

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2012/11/20/study-fox-news-msnbc-more-extreme-in-final-week-of-campaign/

Rachel's rant: We are not going to do that

We are not going to have a Supreme Court that will overturn Roe vs. Wade. There will be no more Antonin Scalias or Samuel Alitos added to this court.

We are not going to repeal health reform. Nobody is going to kill medicare, or make old people in this generation or any other generation fight it out on the open market to try to get themselves health insurance. We are not going to do that.

We are not going to give the 20 percent tax cut to millionaires and billionaires and expect programs like food stamps and kids health insurance to cover the cost of that tax cut.

We're not going to make you clear it with your boss if you want to get birth control under the insurance plan that you're on.

We are not going to redefine rape. We're not going to amend the U.S. Constitution to stop gay people from getting married.

We're not going to double Guantanamo.

We're not eliminating the Department of Energy or the Department of Education or Housing at the federal level.

We're not going to spend $2 trillion on the military that the military doesn't want.

We're not scaling back on student loans because the country's new plan is that you should borrow money from your parents.

We're not vetoing the Dream Act. We are not self deporting. We are not letting Detroit go bankrupt. We are not starting a trade war with China on Inauguration Day in January.

We're not going to have as a president, a man who once led a mob of friends to run down a scared gay kid to hold him down and forcibly cut his hair off with a pair of scissors while that kid cried and screamed for help. And there was no apology, not ever.

We're not going to have a Secretary of State John Bolton. We're not bringing Dick Cheney back. We're not going to have a foreign policy shop stocked with architects of the Iraq War. We're not going to do it.

We had the chance to do that if we wanted to do that as a country. And we said no. Last night. Loudly.

Rachel Maddow, 11/7/2012

No need to secede, just GTFO

All those Americans in 19 states who signed a petition to have your states secede, you're making it too difficult. You don't need a petition, just a plane ticket.

You can take the advice of your candidate Mitt Romney and self deport. Leave. Go. Adios amigo.

The beauty of this country is not only that our shores are open to all who wish to enter, but we will also extend the same courtesy to those who wish to leave.

I'm thinking we can even start a GTFO fund to help them along. Pack your bags with all your permanent discontent and Get The Fuck Out.

No Presidente Romney?

Here's a stat that grabbed me on election night. If Mitt Romney had won the same percentage of hispanic voters as John McCain, we would have a President Elect Romney today.

I guess it wasn't to be...since Mitt wasn't the son of Mexican parents. Rosie Perez' web ad called it for us long before the election.

How this happened

This election cycle, I worked to elect Barack Obama. Virginia was a swing state. I couldn't live with myself if Pres. Obama lost, and I hadn't done anything to help. So I made calls and canvassed. I even gave money. I know this was a form letter, but it feels personal. You're welcome, Mr. President. --------------------------------- I'm about to go speak to the crowd here in Chicago, but I wanted to thank you first. I want you to know that this wasn't fate, and it wasn't an accident. You made this happen. You organized yourselves block by block. You took ownership of this campaign five and ten dollars at a time. And when it wasn't easy, you pressed forward. I will spend the rest of my presidency honoring your support, and doing what I can to finish what we started. But I want you to take real pride, as I do, in how we got the chance in the first place. Today is the clearest proof yet that, against the odds, ordinary Americans can overcome powerful interests. There's a lot more work to do. But for right now: Thank you. Barack