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

CNN calls it. Obama for America!

Barack Obama will be re-elected as president of the United States, CNN projects.

He will win the critical swing state of Ohio, putting him over the 270 electoral votes needed to secure the White House, CNN projects.


Watch CNN TV now or turn to http://CNN.com and CNN’s mobile apps for more news and analysis on this election and what lies ahead. Follow our live blog at http://CNN.com/conversation for continuing minute-by-minute updates.

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Enough with the debate performance

Enough of the debate performance blathering from the talking heads. Are we really judging a presidential debate by how well they "performed?"

I love Lawrence O'Donnell's new debate rules. I want to know how these candidates think and make decisions, not  perform.

Lawrence says it best.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Romney Economics

It will be fun to see how the Obama team uses social media during this election cycle. I just got notice of this site called Romney Economics, telling the "truth" about Romney's record as an entrepreneur and business man.

 

"You can't rehabilitate the hoodie"

Here comes Geraldo with another wince-inducing statement.

"The hoodie was as much responsible for Trayvon's death as Zimmerman," says Geraldo.

He warns parents of Black and Latino children not to let their kids go out wearing hoodies and other clothes that look "gangsta".

"You can't rehabilitate the hoodie. Stop wearing it," he says to the attendees of the hoodie march protests.

The other Fox News hosts nodded knowingly.

Here's another viewpoint. The hoodie doesn't need rehabilitating. Since white parents don't need to warn their kids not to wear a hoodie, apparently the garment alone isn't the problem.

Geraldo went on to discuss the visceral reaction he has when he sees someone with dark skin wearing a hoodie and how he connects it with surveillance video of crimes. The mental connection and reaction are all his own, and rather than owning them, he wants Black parents to do the changing.

I agree that you can't rehabilitate the hoodie. You shouldn't. The hoodie didn't shoot anyone. Stereotypical attitudes like Geraldo's killed Trayvon.

Black children should be just as safe in hoodies as white teens.

Rehabilitate the grownups who don't recognize that.

Sponsors abandon Rush. Finally!

I just ran across this headline

Rush Limbaugh Scandal Proves Contagious for Talk-Radio

Advertisers Ninety-eight major advertisers—including Ford and Geico—will no longer air spots on Premiere Networks’ ‘offensive’ programs. Insiders say the loss will rock right-wing talk radio.

Rush is learning the hard way...even if you are an arrogant Republican white man, you can't call a prissy white girl from Georgetown a slut. Too far, Rush. Too far.

The tide is turning in America, Rush. If Don Imus can't call black women, nappy headed hoes, you definitely can't slur an educated white woman who is speaking out on an issue ALL women care about.

Sooner or later all provocateurs overreach. Rush's absolute power over the Republican party absolutely corrupted him. Somewhere he is in a dark room cursing the liberals, while Ann Coulter shakes her head knowingly.

Too far, Rush. Too far.

On behalf of all the sponsors who have abandoned you, I'd like to proclaim a collective and long over due STFU award. Rush, shut the fuck up!

Who Dat! Live Blogging

Ok, I’m in the lobby of the Marriott Hotel New Orleans on Canal Street. How cool is this?

Chicken Little: The end is near

It seems Chicken Little was right after all. The sky really is falling...and has been falling for at least six months now. Chicken Little must have known that after 30 years of living like the sky was the limit, eventually it was bound to come crashing down. So he hunkered down and warned us.

We didn't believe. We spent and squandered. Now Washington and Wall Street want us to put up a trillion dollars to bail them out. We have to do it right now because the sky is falling...and quickly. Why are they so pressed? We're the ones with our you-know-what's in the air.

Who’s the real villain in the AIG bonus debacle?

Of course they took the money!

In all the congressional huffing and puffing about the $165 million bonuses given to AIG execs, Congress seems to ignore a basic of human nature: Nobody returns a $6 million bonus check from their boss, no matter how bad the business is doing. Ain’t gonna happen.

That said, I think it’s pretty safe to say that most Americans are outraged that AIG would pay bonuses to employees who engineered the current financial catastrophe. None are more outraged than Congress, however. Legislators, seeking a dramatic demonstration of their anger, are demanding that employees give back the money or have it taxed by 100 percent.

Seems to me that they are punishing the wrong villains. We know the employees don’t deserve retention awards or “bonuses” by any other name, but they were promised and paid.

If you are looking for villains now, how about Congress, who shoveled billions from taxpayer coffers to the banks. This same outraged Congress didn't ask basic questions about whether banks would be forced to actually loan money or if employees could scamper out the door with some of the bailout loot. How about the board of directors and senior management, who approved and disbursed the bonuses while they were still begging America for a handout. How about a Secretary of the Treasury, who had no clue that the bonuses were planned while selling the “rescue” plan. How about a complicit media, who didn’t report on the substance of the stimulus bills but rather focused on who was winning or losing the fight.

None of the true villains want to take responsibility, so they point at the employees who accepted the bonuses rather than the knuckleheads who paid them. Now they want the employees to voluntarily give them back. Who does that? Certainly none of the real culprits.

The $165 million question

What the hell were they thinking?

Sent from my iPhone.

‘Too much, too soon’

Pres. Obama is trying to do too much, too soon. That’s this week’s constant refrain from Republicans in Congress. Focus on the economy, they warn. Do that first. You can get to health care later. We can deal with education down the road. We need to fix the banks now. Then the legislators retire to their offices in the sterile, white buildings that bookend the Capitol.

Those offices are so far from the regular person who might be struggling to keep health insurance after losing a job. The person who might be counting the days until unemployment insurance runs out, having already lost health insurance. The person who wants to pin their hopes on a better life for a child stuck in a school system that is failing them. Just wait, guys...to educate you, keep you afloat and healthy between jobs is too much, too soon. We’ll get to you later.

To dismiss the urgent needs of millions of Americans as too much, too soon is the antithesis of the Golden Rule. Worse, it’s an overly simplistic view of governance. Why does the president need to focus on only one thing? Is it like he’s actually doing it himself? Should all of the employees in the Department of Health and Human Services cool their heels while their counterparts at the Department of Treasury get their acts together? Employees at the Department of Education must really be thrilled to know that no one will ask anything of them for at least three years. To ask them to focus on their jobs would be too much, too soon.

I’m guessing congressional Republicans aren’t used to seeing leadership in action. The idea of a president who will set a lofty vision and challenge different communities to work toward a common purpose must be totally foreign. How about setting a goal and holding people accountable for the results? I don’t think so, Brownie.

I like that Pres. Obama is trying to do so much so soon. There’s a lot of work to do. He has to repair and rebuild almost simultaneously. He has to do it before a fickle public gets bored and impatient. He has to do it or risk becoming irrelevant. He has to do it...now.

I like that he presses on with his agenda, ignoring the chihuahuas snipping at his heels. Critics will always criticize. “Strategists” who have never had to make a decision of any consequence will always pontificate. And envious politicians will try to limit your effectiveness by challenging your ambition. Too much, too soon. Puhleeze. I say do it all. Do it now.

It seems Steele don’t really ‘be da man’

Bless his little heart. Michael Steele really thought he was in charge of the Republicans. He eked his way into the position of Chairman of the Republican National Committee in a very competitive race, then started making the rounds to sell “his” party.

You might excuse him for thinking he was in charge after his ‘endorsement’ by Rep. Michele Bachmann. After Steele finished speaking to the Conservative Political Action Conference, Bachmann belted out “You be da man!” That moment would have been awkward anywhere else but the CPAC. Not one person from the Conference seemed to get it or has since acknowledged her comments might be construed as inappropriate.

Anyway, fresh with that endorsement, Michael Steele went on D.L. Hughley’s CNN show and proclaimed that Rush wasn’t the head of the Republican Party. Steele said that HE was the head of the party.

“Rush Limbaugh is an entertainer. Rush Limbaugh — his whole thing is entertainment. He has this incendiary — yes, it's ugly,” Steele said.

Now an interesting thing happened in between that exchange and Rush’s response. On CBS’ Face the Nation, Rahm Emanuel reinforced that Rush was the head of the Republican Party.

“When a Republican did attack him (Rush), he was — clearly had to turn around and come back and basically said that he's apologizing and was wrong.”

Ok, back to Michael and Rush.

As you might expect, Rush didn’t take too kindly to Steele’s comments.

“I hope the RNC chairman will realize he’s not a talking head pundit, that he is supposed to be working on the grassroots and rebuilding it and maybe doing something about our open primary system and fixing it so that Democrats don’t nominate our candidates,” Limbaugh said, his voice rising. “It’s time, Mr. Steele, for you to go behind the scenes and start doing the work that you were elected to do instead of trying to be some talking head media star, which you’re having a tough time pulling off.”

Ooooh... Well Michael Steele couldn’t let those comments go without a response, could he?

“I went back at that tape and I realized words that I said weren’t what I was thinking,” Steele said. "It was one of those things where I thinking I was saying one thing, and it came out differently. What I was trying to say was a lot of people … want to make Rush the scapegoat, the bogeyman, and he’s not."

“I’m not going to engage these guys and sit back and provide them the popcorn for a fight between me and Rush Limbaugh,” Steele added. “No such thing is going to happen. … I wasn’t trying to slam him or anything.”

An apology? Actually, three. After that apology, Steele called Limbaugh and apologized in person. Steele then issued another statement saying that he had apologized, and Rush had accepted him back into the fold. I guess now he can “go behind the scenes and do the work he was elected to do,” just as Rush had instructed.

Excuse me… who’s the head of the Republican Party?

Bless his little heart... He really thought he was in charge.

Would you follow my Twitter?

After hearing about this Twitter thing, I decided to try my hand at the new technology. I've set up the Peoples Pundit Twitter update page. I'm still figuring it out, but for the moment, I think I'll use Twitter for short dispatches that come to me during the day.

I've embedded a feed to keep updated between blog posts. In Twitter speak, when you are tuned in to someone, they say you are "following" them. If you follow my blog, I invite you to follow my Twitter. :-)

Gibbs v. Santelli: The rant and response

Point. Counterpoint.

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