Who is really to blame for Washington gridlock?

I just finished reading a great article by Chris Cilizza (People hate Congress. But most incumbents get re-elected. What gives?).

It got me thinking.
Personally, I'm not mad at Congress as a whole. I'm mad at a couple individuals who can't seem to wake up and get with the times. Those few are causing most, if not all, of the gridlock we see today.

So, I've come up with an idea for a poll of sorts. I'm aware that this would most likely be fairly expensive and time consuming, but it would really give everyone a true sense of how the entire country views each person's own representatives.

Pollsters should go to each and every district around the country and pull a sample (as statistically similar as possible) from each. Asking them four different questions.

1) Who are, in your opinion, the top two senators at fault for causing the problems in Washington? Why?

2) Who are, in your opinion, the two senators who are best suited to lead  to solutions? Why?

3) Who are, in your opinion, the top five representatives at fault for causing the problems in Washington? Why?

4 Who are, in your opinion, the five representatives who are best suited to lead to solutions? Why?

With these question, we could see who the country, as a whole, blames for the problems. And, that person in Ohio, who voted for John Boehner, can see the mistake he made.

A Letter To Lawrence O'Donnell

Dear Mr. O'Donnell,

I want to personally thank you for your "Rewrite" segment last night.

Thank you for showing your audience that we atheists aren't the hard, cold, unfeeling people that Fox News and others try to make us out to be. We don't hate Christmas. We love Christmas for 99% of the same reasons Christians do. Friends, family, memories, food, gifts, and fun. We just leave out the religious aspects of it. Some of us decorate trees (borrowed from earlier religions). Some of us sing songs (also borrowed from earlier religions). We (my husband and I) treat Christmas the same way Christianity does. We pick some of the fun traditions from cultures past, add a couple of our own to make it ours. I may not believe in a god, but I believe in love. Christmas is the season of love. It's the time of year to surround yourself in love. To celebrate it. To remember the love of people you've lost. To cherish the love of those still here.

Thank you!

Joshua Jenkins
(A gay atheist soon to be married to a gay atheist)

Super Serious Nonpartisan Post Time...

To all of my friends and family who live in the "battleground" states (OH, WI, CO, FL, NV, MI), please realize that it is us who are actually electing the president. Our votes matter more than any other states. All of the other states are basically predetermined to go a certain way because of the population of each party in these states. 

Sorry to the people in those states. 

Please, if you are registered, vote. Don't just sit around, or forget. Vote. Vote early. Just please make your voice heard. Yes, politics may be dirty and ugly at times, but remember, these people are the ones who make the laws. The laws that we have to live by. 

Please take notice how I used the word we, not you. 
We are a nation. We are in this together. We create our future. 

Please, if you are registered and were thinking about sitting this one out because of how ugly it's gotten, I beg of you, start paying attention. Educate your

self on what is happening. It has gotten this ugly for a reason. This is one of the most polar opposite tickets we've seen in quite some time. This election decides which of two VERY 

different futures the country has.

Please take notice how I used the word country, not you.
Educate yourself on what these candidates what to do to/for the country as a whole. Not just how will this election affect you personally. Think about your friends, your family, the people you know and care about. How will this election affect them? Are you voting for a person who's views and positions could potentially harm someone you care about? Both emotionally and possibly physically.

So please, friends, family, and loved ones in these states. If you are registered, make your voice heard. In these states, EVERY VOTE DOES COUNT.

Don't believe me? George W. Bush won the White House in 2000 by 537 votes. That's it. In the entire state of Florida there were 5,963,110 votes cast. And, the entire country's results were determined by 537 people.

People in these states, please, go vote!

Untitled

Mitt Romney wants to deregulate corporations. He believes that by getting rid of "cumbersome regulations" (including environmental regulations), corporations will hire more people, thus creating more private sector jobs. Even if this is true, the human cost of this would be devastating. With less restrictions on pollution, more people will get sick from unsafe air and water. 

Which brings me to my next point. 

Mitt Romney doesn't believe people have a right to health care. He wants to repeal the Affordable Care Act. A law that guarantees affordable coverage even if you have a pre-existing condition. With less environmental regulation, there will be a LOT more people with pre-existing conditions that will need long term, low cost, health care.

So, Mitt Romney wants to lift environmental regulations that are in place to keep people healthy. And, he wants to repeal a law that guarantees coverage to people no matter their current state of health.

A vote for Mitt Romney is a vote against humanity.

A Letter To The GOP

Dear GOP,
     I am constantly hearing your "Defense of Marriage" reasoning being that same-sex relationships are, according to the Bible, an abomination. Here's a new talking point for you...

     Please explain to me why you are against one "abomination" and fully support another? 

     Please read Ezekiel 18. All of it. According to this chapter, it's an abomination to charge interest on a loan. Making profit from helping someone in need. Who, in today's society, makes profit from helping someone in need? The banks. You put the banking industry on such a high pedestal that you can't reach to regulate. (Not that you would even attempt/want to.) Bankers are revered, but homosexuals are destroying the country by trying to redefine marriage? 

     How does this make sense?

     Please, try to justify this.
          -Me

False Advertising

The recent SCOTUS decision that found lying about receiving military service to be constitutionally protected under the First Amendment's Free Speech clause got me thinking...

When should lying to the public actually be illegal? 

If you are applying for a job, running for office included, aren't you selling something? You're selling yourself, as a product, an investment for whomever is hiring you. 

Now, the last time I checked, it is illegal to lie about a product that you are selling. It's called false advertising. If I'm looking to buy a product, I want to know what it does. The advertising will tell me all the reasons I should have it. The best example I can come up with is the Sketcher's Shape-Ups. If I'm going to spend over $80 for a pair of shoes, they better do exactly what they claim to. But, not surprisingly, they don't. As a result, Sketcher's has had to refund and/or recall all of them. 

Why? Because they lied about their product, and that is illegal.

Now, why can't we apply the same rules to people? I'm not saying that lying should be illegal. If it were, then anything that is a fabrication (books, television, movies, etc.) would be illegal. We already see that lying during a judicial proceeding is illegal. We even have a name for it, perjury. 

Anyone applying for a job, especially running for office, should not be able to lie. You should be hired based on what you can bring to the table, not for outlandish claims that make you seem better than competitors. You should not be able to claim that you possess a trait or skill that you don't. You also shouldn't be able to claim your competition has a trait or skill that may harm their chances when they don't. 

Companies that push false claims to sell a product get in trouble. Politicians should too.

Separation of Church and State Debate: State Mandated Birth Control in Catholic Institutions

There has been a lot of conversation in the political and religious worlds about birth control recently.

Let me start by saying this...

This is not an issue of religious freedoms, this is an issue of women's reproductive rights.

As an American, I will always fight for a fellow American's constitutional right to believe whatever they want, and to worship however they choose. But, those rights end when they take away or infringe on the rights of others not sharing the same faith.

The Supreme Court of the United States has already ruled on a case similar to this.

Bob Jones University v. United States

This case was regarding race discrimination based on religious reasons. Bob Jones University had to follow all anti-discrimination laws in place because they served the general public. As I said, religious rights end when they infringe on the rights of others.

If you are a religious institution that is not an actual church, and you employ or serve people of the general public, you must follow all laws and regulations regarding businesses. You follow the same labor laws that every other business does. Child labor laws, anti-discrimination hiring laws, workplace safety laws, and health insurance laws.

This is exactly why companies and businesses should not be responsible for health insurance for their employees. This is exactly why I support a single payer plan. When you remove any sort of employer bias from health care, everyone benefits. If you work for an employer that doesn't share your values and faith, you don't have to worry about that effecting your health care. If you lose your job, you don't have to worry about losing your health care. To paraphrase Lawrence O'Donnell, "Isn't losing your job bad enough?"

This is a winning issue for Democrats, Liberals and the Left. I really hope they stick to their guns on it.