democrattotheend
democrattotheend's Journal600 weapons surrendered in gun buy-back in San Francisco
Source: San Francisco Chronicle
(12-15) 17:56 PST Oakland -- Arturo Hurtado of Richmond was still stricken with grief over the mass shooting in Newtown, Conn., that left 20 school children dead when he awoke Saturday morning.
So he decided to get rid of his gun - "that darn thing" as he called it - and purged it from his home.
"I've got kids, man," said Hurtado, who works at Waste Management in Oakland and has children ages 14, 10, 6, and 1. "Kids are curious. Kids don't know any better. I had it locked in a toolbox, so I don't know... I just know it had to go."
Hurtado was among hundreds of Bay Area residents who dropped off their firearms at "buy back" locations in Oakland and San Francisco Saturday, collecting $200 cash for their weapon, no questions asked.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/crime/article/600-weapons-surrendered-in-gun-buy-back-4121621.php#ixzz2FBAlRltP
This is slightly encouraging. Not going to solve the problem on its own but it's a start.
I think I read about something similar happening in Brooklyn. I hope more police departments around the country do this.
One upside to having a special election in MA
Is that we'll have polls to check again!
Has anyone else been going through withdrawal since the election?
For those who are saying Obama caved on Secretary of State
Check this out, from a couple weeks ago:
Two White House officials told the National Journal that both candidates are still under consideration, though Obama is leaning heavily toward Rice, one of his closest advisers since 2007.
“She and the president are on exactly the same page on all foreign-policy issues,” a White House official said, adding that “it would be clear to foreign leaders that when Susan Rice is speaking she’s speaking for the president.”
But Obama also “really respects John Kerry, who did an amazing job on debate prep. He respects Sen. Kerry as a leading figure in our party.”
The article also says Secretary Clinton favors Kerry as her replacement.
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/report-obama-genuinely-conflicted-over-whether-to-pick-kerry-or-rice-as-next-sec-of-state-choice-could-come-next-week/
So I think those who are alleging that Rice was President Obama's first choice and he caved to Republican pressure may be off base. Maybe she would have been his first choice if there were no controversy, but there were some valid concerns about whether she was the right fit personality-wise for that role. I think she would be much better suited to be the president's NSC chair if that position opens up, because he really respects her willingness to be blunt and challenge conventional wisdom. I would rather have someone like that advising the president and have someone who is better at conforming to diplomatic niceties and mediating conflicts at state.
On Edit: Somehow I didn't realize The Blaze was Glenn Beck's site. So here is a more credible source for most of the same information: http://www.nationaljournal.com/whitehouse/aides-obama-genuinely-conflicted-between-rice-and-kerry-20121204
Ronald Reagan was for gun control
Someone dug this up on Twitter. It's an op ed that Reagan published in the New York Times (?!) in 1991. Kind of surprising, but I guess it makes sense.
It was on that day 10 years ago that a deranged young man standing among reporters and photographers shot a policeman, a Secret Service agent, my press secretary and me on a Washington sidewalk.
I was lucky. The bullet that hit me bounced off a rib and lodged in my lung, an inch from my heart. It was a very close call. Twice they could not find my pulse. But the bullet's missing my heart, the skill of the doctors and nurses at George Washington University Hospital and the steadfast support of my wife, Nancy, saved my life.
Jim Brady, my press secretary, who was standing next to me, wasn't as lucky. A bullet entered the left side of his forehead, near his eye, and passed through the right side of his brain before it exited. The skills of the George Washington University medical team, plus his amazing determination and the grit and spirit of his wife, Sarah, pulled Jim through. His recovery has been remarkable, but he still lives with physical pain every day and must spend much of his time in a wheelchair.
http://www.nytimes.com/1991/03/29/opinion/why-i-m-for-the-brady-bill.html
Durbin: White House No Longer Considering Raising the Medicare Age
Source: Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — One of President Barack Obama's top Senate allies says he's been assured by the White House that the president won't yield to GOP demands to increase the eligibility age for Medicare.
Fellow Illinois Democrat Dick Durbin made the revelation to reporters after a Capitol Hill news conference.
Increasing the eligibility age is a key demand by Republicans seeking cost curbs in popular benefit programs in exchange for higher tax revenues.
Durbin said he's been told that increasing the eligibility age from 65 is "no longer one of the items being considered by the White House."
Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5j9yscctohCAHvvfjxWJucaXhF7sQ?docId=8423108b9cb64ee69b4ceec6d7f8b394
This is great news...it is nice to know that the president actually listens to the labor leaders, AARP, progressives on the Hill and grassroots activists who pushed back against this idea.
The bad news is, now I may need to pick a new topic for my health policy seminar. Oh well, small price to pay. I may still write it anyway...this probably isn't the last of this idiotic proposal.
Let's keep up the vigilance to oppose other cuts the GOP might demand.
Now back to my self-imposed exile from this site because I have a big exam tomorrow. Yell at me if I post anything else today.
Democrats see middle ground for revenue target
It’s a marked difference from the hard line the party is taking in favor of raising tax rates on top-wage earners and against calls for major entitlement changes.
But several Democratic lawmakers say they aren’t necessarily wedded to the multitrillion-dollar revenue target President Barack Obama is setting — which Republicans dismiss as unrealistic — as long as they get the prize of tax rate increases on the wealthy and ward off big rewrites of Medicare, Medicaid or Social Security.
...
Much of the year-end tax debate has thus far focused on how far Republicans are willing to move toward tax hikes. And House Democrats — like almost everyone else on Capitol Hill — remain on the outside of talks between House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Obama. But their importance could skyrocket if the speaker and the president are able to negotiate a year-end budget package. Democrats in the chamber — mostly relegated to afterthoughts after losing the majority in 2010 — will almost certainly be called on to move the package across the finish line to offset GOP defections.
http://www.politico.com/story/2012/12/democrats-see-middle-ground-for-revenue-target-85017.html
Basically, it seems like at least Democrats in the House (who are largely irrelevant right now, but that could change) are indicating that they would go lower on the tax rates if Republicans back off entitlements. Not likely to happen, but I could live with that.
Gov. Sandoval (R-NV) Supports Medicaid Expansion
Source: KLAS-TV Las Vegas
CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) -- Gov. Brian Sandoval said he'll support expanding Medicaid eligibility in Nevada as called for under the federal health care law.
Sandoval said expanding coverage will add 78,000 residents to the state's Medicaid rolls, but save the state $16 million in mental health programs that otherwise would be paid for out of the state general fund.
The first-term Republican governor said while he opposed the health care law, his decision will help tens of thousands of people.
He added that his budget will propose reducing taxes paid by small businesses to help them afford insurance coverage for their employees.
Read more: http://www.8newsnow.com/story/20320599/sandoval-supports-medicaid-expansion
This is good news. Is he the first Republican governor to accept the Medicaid expansion?
UPDATED: Boehner Counteroffer..Obama's offer contained "little movement on entitlement cuts"
Source: http://firstread.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/12/11/1584
House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) sent a new offer on Tuesday afternoon to President Barack Obama in hopes of reaching a deal to resolve the impending "fiscal cliff."
Specific details are scarce, but the proposal apparently was made as a counter-offer to something the White House had proposed over the last few days. Boehner spokesman Michael Steel told NBC News the following:
"We sent the White House a counter-offer that would achieve tax and entitlement reform to solve our looming debt crisis and create more American jobs. As the Speaker said today, we're still waiting for the White House to identify what spending cuts the president is willing to make as part of the "balanced approach" he promised the American people. The longer the White House slow-walks this process, the closer our economy gets to the fiscal cliff."
UPDATED: From Politico:
Obama sent House Republicans a counter offer to their original proposal Monday that called for $1.4 trillion in new revenue but little movement on entitlement cuts, sources said. Obama’s original revenue proposal was $1.6 trillion.
http://www.politico.com/story/2012/12/gop-makes-another-counter-offer-84932.html?hp=t1
Read more: First Read
Details emerging on Twitter...it looks like the president made an offer for $1.4 trillion (down from original $1.6 trillion, which was obviously an inflated starting point), and the GOP made a counter-offer for an unspecified amount in revenue, but presumably up from $800 billion.
I found this nugget encouraging:
[div class="excerpt"]A GOP aide opined to NBC News that the president must move more quickly on “the spending side” before any deal could hope to be accomplished. A major sticking point to date has involved how much ground Republicans would give on tax rates for the wealthy.
Hopefully that means the president is holding the line on the Medicare age. At the very least, there is no evidence he has offered it...if he had, the GOP would be leaking it because they don't want to own it.
Also see
http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/republicans-bring-obama-another-offer-in-fiscal-cliff
Obama to Weigh in on Michigan Right to Work During His Visit Tomorrow
On Monday, Obama is scheduled to give a speech on the fiscal cliff at the Daimler Detroit Diesel plant, as part of his public campaign to build support for raising taxes on the wealthiest Americans as he negotiates with congressional Republicans.
The Obama administration told labor leaders that the president will also be weighing in on the right-to-work fight in his speech, according to union officials who spoke with The Huffington Post.
----
"President Obama has long opposed so-called ‘right to work’ laws and he continues to oppose them now," said White House spokesman Matt Lehrich. "The president believes our economy is stronger when workers get good wages and good benefits, and he opposes attempts to roll back their rights. Michigan -- and its workers' role in the revival of the US automobile industry -– is a prime example of how unions have helped build a strong middle class and a strong American economy."
By addressing the issue in a high-profile speech, Obama would be giving it significantly more attention and providing a boost to activists on the ground who are attempting to raise awareness.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/09/obama-right-to-work-michigan_n_2268255.html?1355098110
This is encouraging...as the article says, the president can help call attention to it.
Cue the bashing him for not doing enough and complaining that his statement was too weak before you've even heard it...
Maybe Obama really is magic (snark alert)
As the front page diary on Daily Kos points out:
Ever since Barack Obama and his zombie army stole the presidency from its whiteful heir (again), he's been acting like he was legitimately re-elected—even going so far as to begin planning a second inauguration. Despite not having won a Bush-like mandate, Obama seems determined to make House and Senate Republicans break their solemn vow and raise taxes on the job-creatingest Americans. This is most likely part of his secret plan to divide the country and redistribute it to the moochers who voted for him; and it's so crazy it just might work!
Yet if you go here or any other liberal blog today, you will learn that the president is a heartless ego-maniac fraud who wants to murder your grandparents to please his corporate cronies on Wall Street.
You have to hand it to him - simultaneously being a moocher-feeding, business-killing socialist redistributionist and a heartless corporate shill at the same time is a pretty impressive feat.
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