The Presidential Election

I've been fairly quiet because, like just about everyone else, I'm getting punch drunk from the enormous amounts of over analysis.

Here's the bottom line to my mind.

Obama hasn't done a very good job. He should have focused on unemployment and the economy before attacking Health Care and his foreign policy at times has me scratching my head.

But, that being said, his resume is not all that bad.

1. We're essentially out of Iraq
2. Afghanistan is winding down
3. The stimulus stopped the economic free fall and has at least stabilized things
4. We have a Health Care law that will extend medical care while lowering the deficit
5. Don't Ask Don't Tell is gone
6. The Defense of Marriage Act is on the way out

On the down side the economic stimulus has deepened the debt hole we're in. It's time to seriously do something about that but not at the expense of sending the economy back into recession.

From the Republican side, I've heard little but that we're going to cut taxes on the rich and increase defense spending. Why and why?

The top 5% don't need a tax cut and increasing investment dollars is not going to spur the economy without first shoring up demand.

We already spend six times on defense over what the next highest defense spender, China, spends. It's unclear to me that we need to even maintain the current level of defense spending never mind increase it.

Beyond that, I've heard little but often unjustified criticisms. If you want someone to change horses, explain how you're going to make things better. To my mind Romney has failed miserably at doing that.

If you consider Real Clear Politics and Intrade, Obama has a small but reasonable lead. The race is far from over but Romney may be running out of time. I certainly hope he lays a big egg at the upcoming debate so we can begin to lay this dog to rest and get on with solving the country's problems.

The Replacement NFL Refs II

*Kaboom!*

That's the sound of that ticking time bomb I talked about going off.

The final play in the Packers-Seahawks game set it off. I haven't seen the play yet, I'll watch it tonight a dozen or so times since I have NFL Replay, but from what I'm reading, and the one photo I see, the Packers have several reasons to be upset.

First, Golden Tate, who "caught" the touchdown pass, reportedly shoved Green Bay defender Sam Shields out of the way, which would be offensive pass interference. Granted, this is a judgement call. I'll see what the replay shows tonight.

Second there is the question of who actually caught the ball. In the photo I've seen M.D. Jennings of Green Bay appears to clearly have possesion while Tate's arms are wrapped around Jennings and, I assume, also holding onto the ball. The play was ruled "simultaneous possession," another judgement call, which by rule goes to the receiver.

From what I see in the photo, that's what we used to say was a "tough call" because we weren't allowed to use profanity.

This situation couldn't be much worse for the NFL. The final and deciding play of a Monday Night Football game that goes against the 2nd most popular team in the country (the Cowboys are still #1 based upon the most recent poll).

The fact of the matter is there would probably be bitching and moaning regardless of who was officiating the game but clearly the coaches, players and fans have no confidence at all in these replacement referees and that just cranks up the volume. Enough is enough already.

Should be interesting to see what Senior Goodell does about this. If the regular referees aren't back on the field next Sunday the owners should give Goodell his walking papers. This is ridiculous.

Iran and Israel

This is a powder keg that needs to be defused.

The Iranians are probably more rational than the Israelis if for no other reason that they don’t have to worry about fair elections. The Israelis clearly are not going to allow the Iranians to develop an atomic bomb.

As long as special forces operations continue to prevent that from happening, I don’t think we’ll see more than talk. Then again, all governments have hawks and Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, doesn’t strike me as the sharpest tool in the shed.

Netanyahu has managed to strain US-Israeli relations by calling for the international community to set “a clear red line” for the Iranians on their nuclear program. A call that the US and everyone else pretty much ignored.

That ticked off Netanyahu who said that the US has no “moral right” to prevent Israel from launching a military strike against Iran.

Perhaps not, but we do have a damned big stick.

The opposition party in Israel is making political points over all this. The opposition leader, Shaul Mofaz, chided Netanyahu from the floor of the Israeli parliament by asking “Please explain to us: who is Israel’s greatest enemy — the US or Iran? Who do you fear more — Ahmadinejad or Obama?”

Mofaz also accused Netanyahu of using scare tactics and frightening the Israeli people for no good reason over the Iran issue while saying that “Wars should only be waged when there is no choice.”

Netanyahu certainly has the Republican, Right Wing strategy of keep ‘em scared down pat. Sounds like Mofaz isn’t buying it though.

So what do I think you ask? I think the US should sit on Israel and let them know in no uncertain terms that if they take military action against Iran, they’re on their own.

The Iranians are years away from creating an atomic bomb and the current regime isn’t crazy enough to use it even if they did have one. If that changes, I reserve the right to reevaluate but I don’t think that’s going to happen any time soon.

Iran is Making Threats Again

I see the Iranians have again warned that an attack by Israel would result in an attack on US facilities in the region. The message probably isn’t aimed at Washington as much as it’s aimed at US allies in the Gulf. About the last thing they want is economic upheaval because of Israel.

Iran says it would attack US bases because it can’t imagine Israel going to war without US support.

What I’d like to ask the Iranians is does the phrase smoking pile of rubble conjure up a picture? Why not simply paint a huge target on your chest?

The damage that the Israelis can do to Iran and the damage that Iran can do to US bases in the region pales when compared to the damage US forces could do to Iran. Saber rattling isn’t going to impress the US even if it does frighten some of the Arab states in the gulf and the Iranians play a dangerous game when they talk about attacking western interests.

Iran survives only as long as the west doesn’t consider them a viable threat to the flow of oil coming out of the region. As soon as that changes, they’re toast, and they need to understand that.

The Replacement NFL Refs

This is a ticking time bomb waiting to blow up in the NFL’s face.

The replacements are trying the best they can but it is only a matter of time before they make a major blunder and, as the season progresses, that blunder is going to take on greater and greater perceived significance. Please, don’t let this continue into the play-offs.

Already the games have this feel of not being totally under control. Players are either getting away with everything short of robbing Fort Knox or there’s enough yellow linen on the field to make it look like daffodils have sprung.

Every play is a potential adventure. And the delays for no apparent reason. Yesterday’s Jets-Dolphins game took over four hours to play.

I find it hard to believe that a multi-billion dollar industry like the NFL can’t get things worked out with the referees. It seems strange that they are risking the integrity of the game over so little.

Chick-fil-A is not Changing Their Policy

According to Chick-fil-A's Dan Cathy, nothing has changed about the company's anti-gay stance.

Why doesn't this surprise me?

Chick-fil-A in Trouble Again

Our favorite bigoted fast food chain appears to be getting itself into more hot water.

In July, it’s COO Dan Cathy, started a ruckus by making a speech supporting “traditional marriage” and opposing same sex marriage. It was also revealed that Chick-fil-A regularly donated to anti-gay groups including some identified by the SPLC as hate groups. This led to a boycott call by pro-gay activists which led to a Chick-fil-A appreciation day instigated by Mike Huckabee.

The appreciation day was a whopping success, especially in the south where Chick-fil-A has most of its stores, and garnered the firm an estimated 50% increase in revenue for that day. There were pictures of long lines of people waiting to buy a chicken sandwich in support of God, the Bible, Traditional Marriage and who knows what else.

You can’t make this stuff up.

Gay supporters followed up with a “kiss-in” at Chick-fil-A restaurants. Like I said, you can’t make this stuff up.

Now, two months later, we hear from a Chicago Alderman and a pro-gay group the Civil Rights Agenda, that Chick-fil-A has turned over a new leaf, will no longer donate money to anti-gay groups and, in fact, hasn’t donated any all year.

To say the announcement was met with skepticism was to put it mildly.

Chick-fil-A didn’t help any by refusing to confirm or deny the claim and simply re-issued the same “we respect everyone regardless of…” press release.

No sooner was the ink on the announcement dry than Dan Cathy tweeted a photo of a WinShape, Chick-fil-A’s charity wing, event “Ride for the Family” supporting the Marriage and Family Foundation Inc.

It appears that Chick-fil-A either speaketh with forked tongue or have left hand not knowing what right hand doing problem. If the company was trying to have its cake and eat it too, they may have accomplished just the opposite and got everyone pissed off at them.

I started making it a point not to eat in Chick-fil-A long before the current boycott because I didn’t like Cathy’s politics. I’ve never eaten there actually so I wasn’t giving much up. This latest mess they appear to have gotten themselves into is sort of funny if you think about it.

My advice to Chick-fil-A is either (a) stick to your guns or (b) make a clean break and admit you were wrong. If you’re wishy-washy and trying to have it both ways you’re going to get clobbered from both sides and rightfully so.

The I Side With Quiz

ISideWith.com has a quiz you can take to see which presidential candidate you line up with. The site includes all candidates, including those from rather obscure parties.

It turns out I am in 93% agreement with Jill Stein, the Green Party nominee. Key areas where we disagree are on increasing offshore drilling (I say yes, she says no), whether illegal immigrants should have access to government sponsored health care (I say no, she says yes) and affirmative action (I say no, she says yes).

I got an 86% agreement mark with Barack Obama. Key areas where we disagree are on are whether foreign terrorism suspects should be given constitutional rights (I say yes, he says no), affirmative action (I say no, he says yes), more gun control (I say yes, he says no) and the death penalty (I say no, he says yes).

After that it was 70% agreement with Gary Johnson of the Libertarian Party (which surprised me slightly), 68% agreement with Rocky Anderson (who I never heard of) of the Justice Party, 41% agreement with Virgil Goode of the Constitution Party.

I got a paltry 18% agreement with Mitt Romney. That’s pretty pathetic considering Goode rejects the Theory of Evolution and thinks it shouldn’t be taught in public schools and I got 41% with him!

It also did a “by party” comparison. I got 96% agreement with the Democrats, 89% with the Green Party, 46% with the Libertarian Party and 8% with the Republicans.

Think about those numbers. It means the two major parties agree on almost nothing.

Jesus and his Wife?

A tiny, fourth century business card size piece of papyrus, written in Coptic, and unveiled by Harvard Divinity School historian Karen L. King contains the phrase “Jesus said to them, my wife…”

This raises two questions. First, is it genuine and second, if it is genuine, what does it mean?

Several experts in papyri and the Coptic language appear to believe the fragment is genuine. The probability that it is genuine is at least high enough to convince the Harvard Theological Review to publish King’s paper about the papyrus.

On the down side is the fact that the owner wants to remain anonymous and is apparently trying to sell a large segment of his collection to Harvard University. The anonymous owner has offered to donate the Gospel of Jesus’ Wife, as King calls it, to Harvard if they make the purchase.

The fragment also hasn’t be dated yet so the jury on whether it’s genuine or not is still sort of out. But, just for the sake of argument, let’s assume it is genuine. What does it mean?

Well, not a whole lot actually. There is already a known tradition among Gnostic Christians that women in general, and Mary Magdalene in particular, played a more prominent role in Jesus’ ministry than the misogynistic Paulist variety of Christianity will admit to. The idea that Jesus and Mary were husband and wife isn’t new either.

The most you can say about this fragment is it demonstrates that at least some Christians in the fourth century accepted the idea that Jesus was married. That doesn’t make it true. Imagine how misled about reality someone discovering a video 2,000 years from now containing the speeches from the recent Values Voter Summit or Republican convention would be.

Romney's 47%

According to a video tape smuggled out of a fund raiser, Mitt Romney claims that 47% of Americans pay no income tax and consider themselves “victims.” He went on to say that's he's not worried about them.

Here's reality. Let's focus purely on income taxes because that is the largest share of federal revenue, it's what most people view as taking the biggest bite out of their paycheck and it's what Romney was talking about.

Typically income and tax information is provided in quintiles each of which represents 20% of the population. According to the CBO, the bottom two quintiles, that's 40% of the households in the US, have negative income tax. In other words they actually get money rather than pay. If your gross family income is less than $38,000, you are most likely in one of these two quintiles.

The next quintile, income up to $62,000, pays 2.7% of the income taxes. The fourth quintile, up to about $102,000, pays 13.4%. The top 20% pays 94.1% of the income tax. The top 5%, income greater than $186,000, pays 63.9% of all income taxes.

So now you know where you are and how much tax burden your group shoulders. The issue is not with the tax laws. It's with the ungodly unfair distribution of income that has occurred since 1980. In 1981, with very similar tax tables, no quintile had a negative tax burden and the top quintile paid 64% of all income taxes compared with 94% today.

Romney is basically calling 47% of the population freeloaders based purely on income tax. Of course he ignores the Social Security payroll tax and the Medicare payments and the various sales taxes which everyone pays. If you work, then you're paying for Social Security and Medicare. They're not freebies.

Now for all you people whining about how you're supporting all those freeloaders. I'm in the top 5%, which pays 63.9% of all income taxes, so it's most likely, according to Romney's way of thinking, that I'm supporting YOU so welcome to the freeloaders club.

The Right Wing myth that has been sold to working class white Americans is they’re working to support a bunch of shiftless lazy bums at the bottom of the economic ladder. The reality is that everyone pitches in what he can. If it’s not through income tax it’s through the payroll tax and sales taxes.

It is a form of “from each according to their ability and to each according to their need.” The irony is that the folks that complain the loudest about supporting welfare cheats are actually themselves being supported by those making more money and those folks generally aren’t complaining about taxes. They’re too comfortable to complain.

Hey, I finally agree with Rick Santorum about Something

Santorum, speaking at the Values Voter Summit (also known as the Wide, Wide, World of Crazies), told the audience that the "elite, smart people" will never be on their side.

Goddamn he's right about that. No one with at least half a brain and capable of differentiating fact from fantasy would ever side with those lunatics.

Paul Ryan also spoke at the Values Voter Summit but both Ann Romney and Cardinal Timothy Dolan had the good taste to decline invitations. Exactly what Ryan thinks he's doing speaking to the nut jobs in that place baffles me.

Some other gems from the summit as reported by Right Wing Watch, with commentary.

Liberty Counsil's Matt Staver declared that any effort to "redesign the definition of marriage is, ultimately, unpatriotic."

I guess pissing on the 14th Amendment is the patriotic thing to do? It never ceases to amaze me that those who would discard cherished American principles such as equal protection under the law and the Seperation of Church and state have the unmitigated gall to call those who disagree with them "unpatriotic."

Kamal Saleem claims to be an ex-terrorist and said he came to the U.S. to wage a "cultural jihad." He said he and his fellow terrorists "met the professors" at American universities and colleges, which "were our playgrounds," in order to help "the professors to establish new curriculum purposefully" to brainwash students to change "your children to hit your nation with everything they've got."

Saleem went on to say that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is working with Islamic countries to eviscerate the Constitution and "subjugate American people to be arrested and put to jail and their churches and synagogues shut down." Supposedly this will happen early next year!

This putz is clearly delusion. I won't accuse him of being a liar because clearly he's incapable of telling reality from fantasy. These are the kind of people that the Republican Party has gotten into bed with. How the f--k can anyone vote Republican as long as they hob nob with wackos like this guy?

Representative Steven King said President Obama and "his leftist minions" are working every day "undermining the pillar of American exceptionalism, attempting to bring down the shining city on the hill [and] turn it into rubble."   But not to worry because King says "we're going to serve God and country, in that order, and defeat Obama in November, which will be a victory for God."  

Another one clearly struggling with delusions. Do you suppose there's any way of telling this fool that about the last thing God, if he existed, would want is his having a putz like King serve him? God needs Representative King to help him because he can't handle things himself? What a yutz. He's not rational enough to be a putz. Calling him a putz would be an insult to putzs around the world.  

This would be funny if these people and the sponsers of the summit didn't have political influence. They do.

The Vice-presidential candidate of the Republican party spoke to them. Mitt Romney, the Presidntial candidate, sent a video greeting.  

The fact that Romney and Ryan didn't just ignore these ass wipes reinforces why it makes no sense to vote Republican until the party cleans house and eliminates the influence of nut jobs like this.  

Why I'm not a Republican

This graph illustrating a poll taken by YouGov pretty much explains it all.

I would be curious to see a breakdown by education.

Muslims Denounce Film

Some people “get it” but apparently others don’t.

Here, with commentary, are some of the reactions from the religious to that low budget film insulting the prophet Muhammad which touched off the violence in Libya.

Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai:

"Desecration is not part of the freedom of expression, but a criminal act that has now badly affected the righteous sentiments of 1.5 billion Muslims all over the globe."

I suppose that depends upon the form the desecration takes. Physically damaging a religious icon owned by someone else, a house of worship or a religious cemetery is certainly a property crime. You know, like what the Taliban did when they blew up the statue of Buddha. Making fun of a religious icon in a low budget film isn’t. It’s rude but it’s not criminal.

Egyptian Prime Minister Hisham Kandil:

"We ask the American government to take a firm position toward this film's producers within the framework of international charters that criminalize acts that stir strife on the basis of race, color or religion."

Nope, sorry, can’t do that. A little thing called the 1st Amendment gets in the way. Allow me to suggest that Muslims grow a bit thicker skin. Why do you care what some fourth rate film says?

Pakistan issued a statement condemning "a defamatory video clip in the U.S., maligning the revered and pious personality of the Prophet Muhammad.”

This is perfectly OK. While the film maker was within his rights to make the film, the Pakistanis are within their rights to express their displeasure with the film. Perhaps they’d like to refuse all future U.S. aid in protest?

Iran's Mehr news agency quoted Iran's foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast as saying the United States has a "direct moral responsibility" to stop insults against holy Muslim figures.

Nope, that doesn’t work either. Freedom of Speech trumps your silly religious rules. To be quite honest with you insulting Islam may be rude and boorish but there’s no “moral responsibility” to keep people from being rude and boorish.

The Vatican in Rome got into the act as well. The Vatican’s chief spokesman Federico Lombardi said the violence showed the need to respect religions and avoid insulting believers and continued "The serious consequences of unjustified offence and provocations against the sensibilities of Muslim believers are once again evident in these days."

I agree that “unjustified” attacks or any gratuitous insults should be frowned upon and I think it's safe to put this film in that category. However, the response was all out of proportion to the offense and that's the problem. Until Muslims learn that they're not entitled to blow stuff up and kill people because their feelings are hurt, they'll be barbarians unworthy of respect.

However I disagree with the idea that religions need to be respected. Religions are silly things that do nothing to deserve respect. I put them on the same level as fairy tales. They're just not nearly as entertaining as most fairy tales so why the hell should I respect them or anyone who believes in them? Of course, simply because I don't respect something or someone doesn't give me the right to insult them without justification. No, I'm not being hypocritical. I know perfectly well I insulted religions just now but, to my mind, Freddy was asking for it and the insult was justified. Trust me, I will attack whenever some religious yahoo tries to tell me what to do.

Here’s the bottom line, Freedom of Speech is non-negotiable. You’re free not to like what someone says and exercise your Freedom of Speech in response but you are not allowed to use violence in an attempt to stifle the exercise of Free Speech. The Muslim world needs to understand and accept this simple fact.

Attack on Embassy in Libya

The Muslim world demonstrates once again that it’s uncivilized and on the edge of barbarism. Insulted by a film made by an Israeli film maker living in California called “The Innocence of Muslims” which, apparently, is less than complimentary to the prophet Muhammad, these pissants decided to attacked an American consulate killing the ambassador to Libya and three others. There were also protests reported in Egypt.

In the chaos the American Embassy in Egypt issued what sounded very much like a condemnation of the film while ignoring the acts of the Muslim protestors. This gave the Republicans, including Romney and over the hill moron Sarah Palin, an opportunity to act like complete assholes. Palin is still too stupid to see the benefits of democratic Arab governments while Romney is blaming Obama for the embassy announcement which was made without administration knowledge or approval.

So it seems Romney jumps to conclusions before learning all the facts? I doubt it. More likely he assumes the American public is too stupid to collect the facts. Personally I’m insulted and you should be too.

I do agree that the idiot in the embassy that issued the statement should be canned. If there is any principle that must be non-negotiable it is Freedom of Speech. Religion has no right to expect to be immune from criticism, satire or ridicule in a free society. The sooner the oft fleeced flock gets used to that idea, the easier things are going to be.

On the positive side, the President of Libya has condemned the attacks and is promising that the guilty will be brought to justice. Palin, on her Facebook page asks “how’s that Arab Spring working out for us now?”

Given the reaction of the Libyan and Egyptian governments in condemning the attacks, I’d say it’s working out pretty darn well. No one can control an entire populace. If we could, we wouldn’t have things like Columbine. If the guilty are actually caught and punished, I might even up that assessment.

So the Conventions are Over

Given that’s it’s a presidential election year, I haven’t had a whole lot to say. This reflects my general disgust with politics in general. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still funneling dollars to the Obama campaign and I’m supporting Bob Menendez for senator in New Jersey. I’ve also been supporting Equality Maine although not recently.

Menendez is up by about 10 points. Strangely enough a campaign worker for his opponent Joseph Kyrillos called my house looking for my daughter and, since she wasn’t there, made the mistake of talking to me. I told him I wouldn’t vote for a Republican if you held a gun to my head and neither would my daughter.

The latest polls in Maine show the proposal to approve Gay Marriage leading by anywhere from 9 to 15 points as of June 2012. But if the past is any indication, I wouldn’t get too excited yet.

There are also votes to repeal the same sex marriage laws passed in Washington and Maryland. In both states polls indicate that voters are in favor of Gay Marriage but, again, I wouldn’t get too excited since Gay Marriage has never been approved at the polls. One ray of hope is that black voters, at least in Maryland, appear to be more receptive to Gay Marriage since Obama’s change of heart.

In the biggie Barack Obama came out of the conventions with about the same lead that he went in with. For all intents and purposes the race is neck and neck but, at least for the moment, Obama appears to have the inside track. Real Clear Politics (RCP) has Obama with a 2 point popular vote lead, which is well within the margin of error, and a 221-191 vote lead in the electoral college with 126 votes in 10 swing states too close to call. Romney’s problem is that Obama has slight leads in 9 of those 10 states.

Intrade has Obama 59-41.

The next big event is the presidential debate on October 3, 2012.

Obama’s problem is the Republicans will still control congress and I don’t see why they won’t continue their campaign of allowing the country to burn in order to insure Obama doesn’t succeed. Romney’s big problem is the Democrats will have at least a non-closure proof number in the senate and I suspect they’ll be just as stubborn as the Republicans.

I’ve decided that the country is pretty much toast in any event therefore I’ve decided to volunteer my services as King. I mean, what the hell, could I do any worse?

Football and the Conventions

The biggest impact the party conventions are having on me is the NFL moved the opening game from Thursday to Wednesday.

I didn’t watch any of the Republican Convention and won’t watch any of the Democratic Convention. I’m going to go and watch the Cowboys and Giants slug it out instead.

My mind is made up. Despite my disappointment in his performance as president, I’m going to vote for Barack Obama once again. Perhaps I’m not so much voting FOR Obama as AGAINST the Republican Party.

The Republican Party has lost its rudder. It is drifting in a dangerous direction and doesn’t deserve the support of rational Americans until it manages to straighten some things out.

The “economic plan” of the Republicans would be an utter catastrophe. The so-called plan, which is really a few sound bites and slogans, is such nonsense that Romney would never in a million years ever attempt to implement it. The sound bites and slogans are purely intended to placate the under 80 IQ idiots known as the Republican base.

The nomination of Romney indicates that the business wing of the party is still in control. But it’s not firmly in control. There are far too many nuts in positions of influence and the party stands for too many things that I reject.

Republicans reject the Theory of Evolution. This isn’t an official plank (yet) but consider how many Republican law makers take this position. In the South they argue with each other about who rejects it more.

Republicans reject the science of Global Warming. This position is rapidly becoming as irrational as the rejection of evolution and it has far greater potential for harm in the short term. I’m finally convinced that the evidence is so strong that we need to consider actions that need to be taken.

Republicans reject access to abortion. Look, I’m the last guy in the word that would condone an abortion except under extreme circumstances but IT IS NOT MY DECISION. I’m never going to get pregnant and I think it’s safe to say I’m never again going to make anyone pregnant. No one can decide such matters for anyone else and the Republicans think they can. I firmly reject that idea.

Republicans reject the right of Gays to marry. I have to admit that this one baffles me. The state has chosen to confer certain rights upon married couples. The best science available indicates that sexual orientation is not a choice. Therefore not allowing Gay Marriage clearly violates the 14th Amendment guarantee of equal protection under the law. Republicans are allowing their religious views to infect their political views.

Republicans reject the Separation of Church and State. I base this upon the plank of the Republican Party of Texas and the prominence of people such as David Barton in the Republican Party. Let’s remember that George H.W. Bush said that atheists shouldn’t be considered citizens.

Republicans believe the economic solution is to tax the working and middle classes while cutting taxes to the wealthy. While this might work in an inflationary environment, it makes absolutely no sense when companies can’t sell what they can produce due to a soft buying market. The path to economic recovery is to put more money in the hands of people that will spend it locally and that’s the working and middle classes. The only thing that makes less sense than the Republican economic solution is why any working or middle class voter would ever vote for a Republican.

Republicans believe the way to balance the budget is through cutting social programs while increasing defense spending. This is just another way to funnel money to the already wealthy. The U.S. already spends six times what the next highest defense spender (China) spends on defense. To continue the current level of defense spending in the face of current budget deficits is little more than insanity. To take money away from social programs is to penalize the most vulnerable segment of the population. Since when did it become ok to take from seniors and the poor and give to the wealthy?

The Republicans nominated Judge Roy Moore for Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court. This alone, all by itself, would prevent me from voting for any Republican.

If you’re a Republican, or thinking of voting Republican, feel free to observe that not all Republicans agree with all of the above. That’s obviously a true statement, but the problem is that these represent mainstream positions of the majority of Republicans.

There were always nuts in both parties. The problem is in the Republican Party, the nuts appear to be running the show.

So, anyway, I’m going to the football game tonight. I don’t have to hear what the Democrats have to say because I already know they’re the only rational choice.