Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Thursday, October 25, 2012
All in a days work..... NEW ELECTION WORDS
Here are my KEY WORDS of the SEASON! FLa-VA-OH (Florida, VA,Ohio) and WI-NewHamp-CO !! (pronouced we-newhamp-co . . yep! ! ! Wisconsin, New Hampshire and Colorado). Get It ???? It helps me memorize what's up for grabs!
Throw in Nevada and Iowa for good measure!
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
Obama is best choice for president
Americans have a clear choice between two presidential candidates with starkly different ideas for spurring the economy, providing for the health of our people, defending our interests abroad, educating our children and protecting our environment. We believe that President Barack Obama’s progress on these issues merits him a second term in the White House.
Four years ago on this page, we endorsed Republican U.S. Sen. John McCain of Arizona over Obama. We wrote that we were impressed with Obama, but McCain would “bring the Iraq war to a successful conclusion, work to end American dependence on foreign oil, reduce America's output of climate-changing gases and begin the rebuilding of our economy.”
The Democratic president has done all those things and more. He is calm under pressure and courageous in standing up for the rights of all Americans, including the poor, veterans, the elderly, women, gays and immigrants. In contrast, we’ve sometimes found it hard in the last few weeks to tell just what Obama’s challenger, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, really stands for.
Obama is not always as gregarious as many Americans might like him to be, but he is committed to his country and candid with it — to the point of releasing far more of his tax returns than Romney. While Obama commits the occasional gaffe, we can’t imagine him ever dismissing 47 percent of his fellow Americans — as Romney did, and later apologized for doing.
After weeks of challenges, Romney’s campaign was on an upswing last week after a decisive victory in the first debate. But Obama has had a generally strong four years. He and Vice President Joe Biden form a seasoned, consistent ticket, one much more promising and reliable than that of Romney and his running mate, U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin.
Under Obama’s policies, including the successful bailout of General Motors, the country averted what could have been a far worse economic disaster, maybe even a depression. The economy is slowly recovering — the national unemployment rate has finally fallen below 8 percent — and the president’s policies of continued government investment in infrastructure and education offer the best hope that the recovery will accelerate. Obama promises to cut spending and raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans, but keep taxes where they are for the vast majority.
Romney’s policies — warmed-over trickle-down economics — will make matters worse. We say that with a caveat, however, because Romney’s plans are ever-changing and it is hard to know just where his policies would end and those of the much more conservative Ryan would begin.
On national security, Obama has gotten American combat troops out of Iraq while winding down the American presence in Afghanistan. He has used American military might to fight international terrorism to a degree that no one anticipated in 2008. He showed strong leadership in ordering the successful raid that killed Osama bin Laden. The Obama foreign policy — as seen in Libya — requires our allies to handle a great share of our common defense burden, especially when the interests at stake are dearer to those allies.
We like the president’s stand on Iran, slowly but steadily undermining the Iranian economy rather than launching a premature military strike and setting off another Middle East war.
In contrast, Romney and his supporters have rattled the saber at Iran. Despite Romney’s efforts in the last few days to tone it down as he tacks to the middle, his foreign policy seems to come straight from George W. Bush. Some of Romney’s foreign-policy advisers are the former Bush neo-conservatives who got us into the unnecessary Iraq war.
We like Obama’s health-care plan, finding it far better than that offered by Romney, even if it is largely based on Romney’s own Massachusetts program. We see no sign that Romney, should he succeed in repealing “Obamacare,” would succeed in balancing the many competing health-care interests that Obama worked into a compromise.
We fear that Romney would turn Medicare into a voucher program that would not match the full cost of private insurance for the seniors. His hybrid plan would drive the sickest Americans into a government plan and let the insurance companies cherry-pick the healthiest clients.
On education, Romney, just as Republican leaders here, seems to believe that if we continue to cut public education, we will somehow educate our young well enough.
And on the environment, we’re concerned that Romney would gut protections Obama has restored.
Obama has a keen vision that he has worked hard to achieve, against considerable obstacles and often courageously. But the goal is in sight: An America respected worldwide as much for its prosperity as its defense of liberty and justice.
The Journal editorial board endorses Barack Obama for president
Four years ago on this page, we endorsed Republican U.S. Sen. John McCain of Arizona over Obama. We wrote that we were impressed with Obama, but McCain would “bring the Iraq war to a successful conclusion, work to end American dependence on foreign oil, reduce America's output of climate-changing gases and begin the rebuilding of our economy.”
The Democratic president has done all those things and more. He is calm under pressure and courageous in standing up for the rights of all Americans, including the poor, veterans, the elderly, women, gays and immigrants. In contrast, we’ve sometimes found it hard in the last few weeks to tell just what Obama’s challenger, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, really stands for.
Obama is not always as gregarious as many Americans might like him to be, but he is committed to his country and candid with it — to the point of releasing far more of his tax returns than Romney. While Obama commits the occasional gaffe, we can’t imagine him ever dismissing 47 percent of his fellow Americans — as Romney did, and later apologized for doing.
After weeks of challenges, Romney’s campaign was on an upswing last week after a decisive victory in the first debate. But Obama has had a generally strong four years. He and Vice President Joe Biden form a seasoned, consistent ticket, one much more promising and reliable than that of Romney and his running mate, U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin.
Under Obama’s policies, including the successful bailout of General Motors, the country averted what could have been a far worse economic disaster, maybe even a depression. The economy is slowly recovering — the national unemployment rate has finally fallen below 8 percent — and the president’s policies of continued government investment in infrastructure and education offer the best hope that the recovery will accelerate. Obama promises to cut spending and raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans, but keep taxes where they are for the vast majority.
Romney’s policies — warmed-over trickle-down economics — will make matters worse. We say that with a caveat, however, because Romney’s plans are ever-changing and it is hard to know just where his policies would end and those of the much more conservative Ryan would begin.
On national security, Obama has gotten American combat troops out of Iraq while winding down the American presence in Afghanistan. He has used American military might to fight international terrorism to a degree that no one anticipated in 2008. He showed strong leadership in ordering the successful raid that killed Osama bin Laden. The Obama foreign policy — as seen in Libya — requires our allies to handle a great share of our common defense burden, especially when the interests at stake are dearer to those allies.
We like the president’s stand on Iran, slowly but steadily undermining the Iranian economy rather than launching a premature military strike and setting off another Middle East war.
In contrast, Romney and his supporters have rattled the saber at Iran. Despite Romney’s efforts in the last few days to tone it down as he tacks to the middle, his foreign policy seems to come straight from George W. Bush. Some of Romney’s foreign-policy advisers are the former Bush neo-conservatives who got us into the unnecessary Iraq war.
We like Obama’s health-care plan, finding it far better than that offered by Romney, even if it is largely based on Romney’s own Massachusetts program. We see no sign that Romney, should he succeed in repealing “Obamacare,” would succeed in balancing the many competing health-care interests that Obama worked into a compromise.
We fear that Romney would turn Medicare into a voucher program that would not match the full cost of private insurance for the seniors. His hybrid plan would drive the sickest Americans into a government plan and let the insurance companies cherry-pick the healthiest clients.
On education, Romney, just as Republican leaders here, seems to believe that if we continue to cut public education, we will somehow educate our young well enough.
And on the environment, we’re concerned that Romney would gut protections Obama has restored.
Obama has a keen vision that he has worked hard to achieve, against considerable obstacles and often courageously. But the goal is in sight: An America respected worldwide as much for its prosperity as its defense of liberty and justice.
The Journal editorial board endorses Barack Obama for president
No time for complacency
Maya Angelou, guest columnist, says there's no time for complacency
The beauty of living to be my age and still having clear vision is that it allows me to look back and see how far we’ve come. Yet even if we live to be 100, we can scarcely perceive the magnitude of our progress as a country.
But North Carolina, I tell you: we have progressed.
I once debated with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. about whether an African American would ever be elected president. He believed it would happen within the next 40 years at the time; I believed it would never happen within my lifetime. I have never been happier to have been proven wrong.
And since Barack Obama’s historic election, under unforgiving economic circumstances and in the face of the unyielding opposition once in office, we have made remarkable progress as a country, together.
He rescued our economy from a depression and is leading us toward greater shared prosperity. He expanded educational opportunity for our students, from Head Start investments to Pell Grant scholarships. For women, he is leveling the playing field in the pay we receive for the work we do, and protecting our rights to make health-care decisions that are right for us. And he kept his promise to provide every family with access to quality, affordable health insurance, including the 1.5 million North Carolinians who are currently uninsured.
But as Rev. King wrote, “all progress is precarious.” The progress made by one president can be easily rolled back by the next. And that means voting is not just important. It is imperative.
In 2008, we helped President Obama win North Carolina by just 14,000 votes — just five votes per precinct. Every one of us can think of five people whose vote could have meant the difference. And believe it or not, this year will be even closer. So there is no time for complacency. We must make our voices heard.
Just imagine waking up the day after the election, knowing that you did not register and did not vote and the progress we’ve made slipped through our fingertips. You’d kick yourself. You’d bang your head against the wall. Let me spare you that self-admonition.
The good news is that you don’t have to wait until Election Day to vote. From Oct. 18 until Nov. 3, early vote locations will be open across North Carolina. During that time, you can register to vote and cast your ballot all in the same place on the same day. Early voting is that simple and convenient. And once you vote, you can focus on getting your friends and family and neighbors to the polls, always going back and ushering another to the ballot. That is how progress is made.
But if you can’t vote early, make sure you still vote on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 6, when polls will be open across the state from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Just visit Vote.BarackObama.com for all the information you need about where, when and how to vote.
And when you fill out that ballot, remember it is because of our right to vote that we’ve seen such a magnitude of progress in our country.
We are here in direct relation to the heroes and she-roes who paid with their lives for this right. Many of us are old enough to remember what it felt like to be told we could not register to vote without taking a test or paying a poll tax. Some were asked how many angels danced on a head of a pin, how many bubbles were in a bar of soap.
We are here because four courageous college freshmen sat down at a lunch counter in Greensboro in 1960, four years before the passage of the Civil Rights Act, to make a stand for equality. It’s a terrible thing to obstruct access to the ballot. But we follow all those who had the courage to dare to live so we can dare to live. Because of them, we are here.
So vote to keep moving us forward. And carry with you your friends, family and neighbors. Carry them from your congregations, your beauty salons and barbershops, your sororities and fraternities. Carry with you those five people whose vote could make the difference.
You may be pretty or plain, heavy or thin, gay or straight, poor or rich. But nobody has more votes than you. All human beings are more equal to each other than they are unequal. And voting is the great equalizer.
It is important. It is imperative. There is no time for complacency.
Maya Angelou is a poet and activist who lives inWinston-Salem
The beauty of living to be my age and still having clear vision is that it allows me to look back and see how far we’ve come. Yet even if we live to be 100, we can scarcely perceive the magnitude of our progress as a country.
But North Carolina, I tell you: we have progressed.
I once debated with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. about whether an African American would ever be elected president. He believed it would happen within the next 40 years at the time; I believed it would never happen within my lifetime. I have never been happier to have been proven wrong.
And since Barack Obama’s historic election, under unforgiving economic circumstances and in the face of the unyielding opposition once in office, we have made remarkable progress as a country, together.
He rescued our economy from a depression and is leading us toward greater shared prosperity. He expanded educational opportunity for our students, from Head Start investments to Pell Grant scholarships. For women, he is leveling the playing field in the pay we receive for the work we do, and protecting our rights to make health-care decisions that are right for us. And he kept his promise to provide every family with access to quality, affordable health insurance, including the 1.5 million North Carolinians who are currently uninsured.
But as Rev. King wrote, “all progress is precarious.” The progress made by one president can be easily rolled back by the next. And that means voting is not just important. It is imperative.
In 2008, we helped President Obama win North Carolina by just 14,000 votes — just five votes per precinct. Every one of us can think of five people whose vote could have meant the difference. And believe it or not, this year will be even closer. So there is no time for complacency. We must make our voices heard.
Just imagine waking up the day after the election, knowing that you did not register and did not vote and the progress we’ve made slipped through our fingertips. You’d kick yourself. You’d bang your head against the wall. Let me spare you that self-admonition.
The good news is that you don’t have to wait until Election Day to vote. From Oct. 18 until Nov. 3, early vote locations will be open across North Carolina. During that time, you can register to vote and cast your ballot all in the same place on the same day. Early voting is that simple and convenient. And once you vote, you can focus on getting your friends and family and neighbors to the polls, always going back and ushering another to the ballot. That is how progress is made.
But if you can’t vote early, make sure you still vote on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 6, when polls will be open across the state from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Just visit Vote.BarackObama.com for all the information you need about where, when and how to vote.
And when you fill out that ballot, remember it is because of our right to vote that we’ve seen such a magnitude of progress in our country.
We are here in direct relation to the heroes and she-roes who paid with their lives for this right. Many of us are old enough to remember what it felt like to be told we could not register to vote without taking a test or paying a poll tax. Some were asked how many angels danced on a head of a pin, how many bubbles were in a bar of soap.
We are here because four courageous college freshmen sat down at a lunch counter in Greensboro in 1960, four years before the passage of the Civil Rights Act, to make a stand for equality. It’s a terrible thing to obstruct access to the ballot. But we follow all those who had the courage to dare to live so we can dare to live. Because of them, we are here.
So vote to keep moving us forward. And carry with you your friends, family and neighbors. Carry them from your congregations, your beauty salons and barbershops, your sororities and fraternities. Carry with you those five people whose vote could make the difference.
You may be pretty or plain, heavy or thin, gay or straight, poor or rich. But nobody has more votes than you. All human beings are more equal to each other than they are unequal. And voting is the great equalizer.
It is important. It is imperative. There is no time for complacency.
Maya Angelou is a poet and activist who lives in
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)