Photo credit:CBS

I enjoyed watching last night’s Vice Presidential debate, as much as I cringed during the first Presidential debate.  Uncle Joe was magnificent.  We could easily determine the winner from the Republican Ministry of Propaganda, Faux Noise.  They called Biden rude, unhinged, and a cranky old man.  Their whining, instead of crowing, is a dead giveaway.  Here are some of my observations of the debate, but first, in case you missed it, here is the complete video.

Or if you prefer, the debate transcript is here.

If Ryan won a point it was the segment on Benghazi.  Biden correctly refuted that the Administration was wrong in their initial reports, because that’s the information they were getting from the intelligence community.  He also nailed Ryan for accusing Obama of inadequate security when Republicans, under Ryan’s budgetary leadership, cut $300 million from embassy security.  But he was not prepared to explain the entire issue.

Ryan embarrassed himself on Afghanistan.  He just could not understand how Afghan troops are replacing US troops being withdrawn.

On domestic policy, Biden won going away.  The high point was rubbing Ryan’s nose in his own letters requesting stimulus funds, because they would ‘create jobs’.  He also pinned Ryan to his record on Social Security, Medicare, Taxes and women’s rights.

The process was so upsetting to Ryan that he actually said something true by mistake once or twice, but he lived up to his reputation as Lyin’ Ryan.

Here are a few of Ryan’s lies:

He said the US should apologize for troops burning Korans and urinating on Afghan corpses, but he and Romney have criticized Obama for doing so.

He accused Obama of watering sanctions against Iran, when what Obama had done was negotiate a set of sanctions the international community would support.

He said Romney is a ‘car guy’, who supports auto workers.

He repeated the thoroughly debunked $716 billion Medicare lie.

He repeated the thoroughly debunked death panel lie.

He said Obamacare will force one out of six hospitals out of business.

He said Obamacare will make 21,000 lose their health insurance.

He said that a Democratic Senator from Oregon supports his Medicare plan.

He said that ending Bush tax cuts for the top 2% would raise the taxes of over one million small businesses.

He said Obama called Assad a reformer during the Syria crisis.

He said the greatest personal trait he offers is complete honesty.

That last one is a real doozy!  Now Ryan did not rise to the standard of Lord Willard, but who could ever outdo the Lord of Lies.

Chris Matthews with Joy-Ann Reid and Martin O’Malley think there may be a post-debate bounce.

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In the end, Biden had several advantages.  He is passionate about supporting the 99%.  The things, about which Ryan is passionate, are things he cannot afford to admit.  Biden is linked with Barack Obama.  Ryan is saddled with Willard Romney.  Ryan was outclassed by Biden’s skill.

Biden’s face was wonderfully animated, and will Ryan did well at keeping a silly grin pasted on his face, the way his beady eyes kept shifting left me with the image of Ryan in Eddie Munster mode at a time when Thing has escaped from his box, has worked his way up Ryan’s pants leg, and has struck pay dirt.

I do hope Obama follows suit.

Almost without exception Republican politicians are anti-union.  Their unequivocal support for so-called “right to work” laws, which really give employers the right to screw workers, leave unions no real way to protect workers against SCAB labor.  That’s why it is such a surprise when prominent Republicans condemn SCAB workers and support union workers as they have this week, resulting in a win for labor.

So long, replacement refs. The NFL’s regular crews will be back on the field starting Thursday night.

After two days of marathon negotiations — and mounting frustration among coaches, players and fans — the NFL and the referees’ union announced at midnight Thursday that a tentative agreement had been reached to end a lockout that began in June.

Commissioner Roger Goodell, who was at the bargaining table Tuesday and Wednesday, said the regular officials would work the Browns-Ravens game at Baltimore.

"Welcome back REFS," Buffalo Bills running back C.J. Spiller tweeted shortly after the news broke.

The replacements worked the first three weeks of games, triggering a wave of outrage that threatened to disrupt the rest of the season. After a missed call cost the Green Bay Packers a win on a chaotic final play at Seattle on Monday night, the two sides really got serious… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <Chicago Tribune>

Here’s video of that call:

As a member in good standing of the Church of the Ellipsoid Orb, this what happened, for those who do not understand.

Green Bay Quarterback, Aaron Rogers threw a pass end to the end zone, and Green Bay wide receiver Greg Jennings caught the ball, coming down in the end zone with the ball in his possession.  By NFL rules, the play was over at that point.  That’s where this should have ended, with Green Bay scoring a touchdown and winning the game.  But a Seattle defender, grabbed the ball and pulled it away from Jennings.  The replacement refs decided to call the play an interception, so Seattle won the game.

Now where politics comes into this is that it is a labor issue.  The NFL replacement refs are SCAB workers, completely unqualified to do the job.  Some have no higher experience than grade school football.  Some had no experience at all.  One had actually been fired for incompetence by the Lipstick League, a league featuring teams of scantily clad women.  The real officials were not there, because then NFL had locked them out over a dispute with their labor union.

SCAB workers, like the Replacement refs, are poster children for Republican union busting, so you would think that Republicans would be supporting their so-called “right to work”.  Not so much.  Few people are more notorious for union busting than Scott Walker, Fartfuhrer of the Totalitarian Corporate Plutocracy of Fitzwalkerstan (formerly Wisconsin).

Packers fans, Gov. Scott Walker and the president himself share your anger and anguish over Monday night’s Seahawks game.

In what many would have never thought possible, Walker and President Barack Obama are agreeing over a labor dispute. Tuesday morning, the Republican governor and Packers fan tweeted to a Twitter stream #Returntherealrefs dedicated to ending the lockout that has removed the real NFL referees from pro football games…

Inserted from <Milwaukee Journal Sentinel>

Equally notorious for union busting is Lord Willard’s boy wonder, Paul “Lyin’” Ryan.

GOP vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan on Tuesday criticized the replacement referees who made a disputed call that caused the Green Bay Packers to lose the Monday Night Football game.

“You guys watch that Packer game last night?” Ryan said at his Cincinnati, Ohio, town-hall meeting. “I mean give me a break. It’s time to get the real refs…

Inserted from <The Hill>

What a surprise!

For me, I’m glad to see the return of the union refs, and as for the anti-union Republicans…

Like last week, here is my 2012 election map with my projections.  Please understand that I am working with the election system we have, although I find that system to be grossly anti-democratic.  I shall cover how I would change it at end of the article.

Map credit: 270 to Win

I moved Wisconsin out of the blue column and put it back in the toss-up states, because Ryan’s activity there has moved the race closer than it was last week.  That makes the electoral vote count 237 for Obama and 191 for Romney, so Obama needs 33 more to win.

There are nine states too close to call, and here are the latest poll averages.

Toss-up States
State	EV	Obama	Romney
CO	9	48.3	45.3
FL	29	47.8	46.5
IA	6	45	44.8
NV	6	49	45.7
NH	4	47.3	43.3
NC	15	45	49.8
OH	18	48.5	44.3
VA	13	47.3	47
WI	10	48.2	46.8

Polling data credit: Real Clear Politics

Obama increased his lead in Colorado, Florida, New Hampshire and Ohio.  Romney increased his lead in North Carolina and decreased Obama’s lead in Virginia and Wisconsin.  Iowa and Nevada were unchanged.

While I still consider Obama’s reelection highly likely, that should not be cause for complacency.  There is no way for this projection to account for the votes that will not be cast, because of Republican measures to deprive legitimate Democratic voters of their right to vote.

Now, if I could I would change the system in two ways.  I would do away with the Electoral College and make the vote for President a national populate vote.  That would eliminate all the economic benefits of the election going to a few swing states.  It would also end the imbalance that makes a vote in Wyoming count over twice what a vote in California does.  Second, I would place plurality rile with true majority rule with preference voting in all elections.  Voters would cast ballots with their first second and third choice candidates.  If counting everyone’s first choice does not produce a majority the ballots would be recounted, substituting the highest choice that made the top two for all voters whose first choice did not.  In that way we get true majority rule without stigmatizing third parties.

Every Vote Counts

Especially YOURS!

A day has passed, and I got to spend most of it studying.  This is my best understanding of what happened and why, followed by three excellent video clips.  Please note that my thoughts on the motivations of Chief Justice Roberts are my own opinions only, and I do not present them as facts.

The Supreme Court’s 5-4 decision upholding the nation’s health care law marks an enormous political victory for President Barack Obama in the heat of a re-election campaign, and affirmation as well for the Democrats’ decades-long drive to extend coverage to millions of Americans who now go without.

Yet if the sweeping changes mandated by the law will go forward, so, too, the political controversy. Presidential challenger Mitt Romney and Republicans seeking control of Congress will see to that, seizing on Chief Justice John Roberts’ ruling that the law levies a new tax on anyone refusing to purchase coverage.

The decision was rich in irony as well as in history.

It was the second time in four days — a ruling Monday threw out much of an Arizona state law on immigration — that a Roberts’-led majority upheld the Obama administration’s position on a noisy, contentious issue that has roiled the nation’s politics for years.

On this case, at least, Roberts seemed to be ruling through gritted teeth when he upheld the requirement that all Americans purchase health care.

“We do not consider whether the (law) embodies sound policies,” he wrote of the health care legislation that Republicans have vowed to erase. “That judgment is entrusted to the Nation’s elected leaders.”… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <Washington Post>

Frankly, I think this was a partially incorrect decision.  Roberts effectively ruled that the commerce clause does not apply, because an individual does not enter the health care market until he becomes ill.  However, the knowledge that one can be treated in an emergency room often plays a large part in the decision not to purchase health care.  Effectively people who can afford coverage, but are depending on the rest of us to pay their way, if needed, have entered the health care market by virtue of that decision.  Roberts could have ruled that way without stretching.  But Roberts is a highly partisan Republican.  I think he did not want to set a precedent favoring use of the commerce clause.  However, the Constitutionality of Obamacare is such a no-brainer, that I think Roberts was too concerned over the legacy of the Court bearing his name to hand down another boldly unconstitutional ruling so soon after Citizens United.  By calling the individual mandate a tax, he gave Republicans an arrow for their quiver.  Nothing incites Teabuggery faster than a new tax.  He also opened the door to repealing the tax in a future reconciliation (cannot be filibustered) budget.  To do that, Republicans need to do three things.  Keep the House, take the Senate, and keep the Regime goose-stepping in lock step, against the will of the people.  Roberts did as much as he could for his Republican allies, without producing another injustice on the order of Citizens United or Dred Scott.

According to factcheck.org, the minimum tax for people who can afford to, but refuse to purchase coverage will be $95 per person in 2014, $325 in 2015, and $695 from 2016 on.  The maximum tax per family will be $2,085.  Bear in mind that most trips to the emergency room cost $3,000 or more.  This should effect no more than 4 million people, not all Americans as Republicans deceptively claim.

In addition, the Court struck down part of the penalty to states that refuse Medicaid expansion.  Instead to taking all their Medicaid funding, the federal government can withhold only the additional funding targeted to the Medicaid expansion.  Many think this will lead to a two tier system with expanded Medicaid only in blue states, leaving millions in red states uncovered.  I disagree.  Obamacare reimburses states for Medicaid Expansion at 95%.  As much as Republicans love to bellow and whine about federal spending, they usually have no trouble not only taking federal money, but also, lying to take credit for getting it.  States who lose the expansion money will end up with 100% of the cost of sick people, until they join the Republican health care plan and die.  What a great incentive that will be for such states to turn blue.

Barack Obama spoke on what the ACA does.

He should have given this speech long ago and should keep giving it often.

Lawrence O’Donnell interviewed Michael Moore.

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I’m pleased to note that Michael Moore, a demonstrably true progressive, supports Obama and Obamacare. I fully agree with Moore that we need to keep moving forward to improve Obamacare until it becomes like Medicare for for all.

Ed Schultz discussed what Obamacare will mean for America.

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I agree with Ed.  All things considered this is a historic victory for Obama, The Democratic Party, and most of all, the American people.