There is good news in the change department, check this out

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext .xpd?bill=h111-45

Seems our guys have taken the NRA seriously, with their claim that guns don't kill people, people kill people.

This bill before congress requires the gun owners to register before they can purchase a gun.

The registration process seems simlar to professions, so I guess they want to professionalize gun ownership, which seems like a great idea to me.

They have to be photographed and fingerprinted, certify that their firearms are safetly stored and kept from any unauthorized gun lovers, like anyone under eighteen, and anyone who isn't also registered.  They'd have to pass an exam to prove they know how to operate a firearm safety, and are aware of the risks of having guns around.

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I've been working in the substance abuse field through most of my professional career.  In this time I've interviewed tens of thousands, a significant percentage addicts.  I've interviewed at least twenty bank robbers over the past twenty years, who were either pre-trial or on probation but who could not pass their 'piss' tests.  I got to hear their stories. Mostly they were quite normal and nice people, when sober.

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As someone who was always a big 'saver' in the past, although I'm sure I've purchased my fair share of worthless crap, I find myself now in a position where I'm helping the economy.  It's about bang for the buck.

I have been remodeling a home, that makes my house a better investment cause it's less likely to fall down or get shaken off its moorings, so I've been investing in my own future. But, I'm also getting bang for my bucks on the local scene.

I hire contractors, some of whom employ helpers who need the money and spend it right away.  

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I think it's safe to say Barack has won in a landslide. There are still some nervous Nellie's and those who are superstitious and don't want to jinx the vote who refuse to start celebrating 'too soon,' but hey, I call it, it's over.

And here's why:

Barack was tied with John in early September and although Bill Clinton predicted he'd win handily, it was hardly a done deal then.

Here's why he won:

(1)  The long primary - john McCain was not getting any press during the primary season, it was 24/7 Hillary and Barack, they dominated the news and let us all forget about George Bush. (I think the voters were grateful for the early respite.  Plus, a lot of it was funny.)

(2)  Because John got no press he picked Sarah, to liven things up. He wrongly thought women are replaceable (not the first time he's made that mistake) so he tried to kill two birds with one stone - he gave us a girl Bush.  Sarah and Bush are the same person, incurious, pig-headed, vindictive, utterly incapable of mastering the job of president.  No one reminded the voters that this election is about Bush's big mess more than John when he irresponsibly choose Sarah.  

(3) Hillary's campaign.  Barack not only took over her huge group of experts and professionals, some who came out of retirement to help make the day one plans, he also took over her wonk identity and her 'it's a job, hire me' identity. Americans actually vote on competence factors, who knew? She field tested it.    

(4) My 401K.  Bush wrecked the economy some time back, but until the meltdown it was possible to 'hope' things wouldn't be so bad. No more, it's really really bad. I lost most of my 401K which I feel I donated to the Democrats, and which I think was worth it.

(5) John's base. (how embarrassing). Normal Republicans don't want to be identified with the 'good Americans' who spew hate and ignorance at John and Sarah rallies (which may be why hardly anyone attends them now).

And last but not least,

(6) Pugs won't go to the polls. It's all over the news, long lines, lawyers, voter intimidation, it's not a place for a dignified GOP member who knows John won't win anyway to spend hours of tense time.  

So, Good Luck Barack, you'll be getting lots of help and we all want you to be the best president. We've just had the worst one, we want the best one.  

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I just got the word on how this race ended, with something that didn't surprise me, after Maureen Dowd had written that the party would prefer losing with Barack than winning with Hillary. Everyone knows by now that I'm a Hillary supporter who always felt great about my candidate. I see her as girl wonk, smartest girl in the class, hardest working and nicest, the one that cares about women and kids and sick people and those that are the 'least' among us, and don't get listened to. I was proud of her campaign that hit the high roads and avoided being small.  

But Barack has won, and now it seems the party may just want his money base and don't care so much if we lose with him.  Maureen often has the inside track, she heard that gossip before I did.  

So, I'd like to help Barack prove them wrong. I'd like Barack to show that he can win and be a decent president, and I'm here to help him.  How? Of course the easiest way is to select Hillary as his VP, listen to her and put her to work. but maybe his money men can't bear anyone named Clinton, much less a girl Clinton, getting in their way when it comes to reshaping Washington in terms of power and influence (no one thinks they do anything for free).  So if they prevent you from getting the most qualified and bestest and nicest and most knowledgeable vice president, cause, you know you do owe them a lot, do the next best thing, steal her.  

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Back when this race was getting underway and no one had yet dropped out, I wrote about Barack's style of negative campaigning, in a diary published at kos called "Maureen Dowd, Not," which was a parody of Dowd's column championing Barack for stepping out onto the low road.  He'd made a joke that made Michelle laugh, alluding to Hillary's experience, married to Bill, and he wondered, in his now trademark style, how that qualified her to be president.  

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I don't speak for anyone but myself, but this particular Hillary supporter is tired of the 'myth of inevitability' that Barack's supporters keep trying to sell.  She wasn't, early on, although some claimed she thought she was, and she certainly appeared polished and confident, and he isn't either. The entire reason for super delegates is to overturn the delegate lead when that candidate can't get elected.  It's not just the economy, although that's why she's winning those so-called Reagan Democrats he claimed early on were for him. It's the electoral map, updated right here, that shows that even a dorky guy like John McCain can beat Barack Obama in the fall.  The pugs have a built in advantage, recall that we're a Republic, not a Democracy.  Recall now voter ID's are the law of the land. Recall they cheat.  Recall they will do and say anything to win, so that we can lose even more rights that will expand their built-in advantage for the coming elections.  

But, I don't just think she can win the nom and the GE, I think she will, and here's why.  

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As a degree carrying member of the professional class, I've had an easy life.  But I'm the first and only one in my family so far to earn a doctorate.  One grandfather was a bus driver and the other went into real estate.  My dad had a college degree, but my mom didn't. I grew up in a middle class family that profited from the post-war boom.  My parents bought their first house when I was a baby, and they stayed home owners, and had one to leave to me at their deaths.  My uncle, who was a fireman, owned his own home and through appreciation he died better off than my dad, who was an engineer.  

I find that conflating class with income is a strange concept.  Although I'm in the educated and often more affluent professional class, I identify with my extended family and friends, most of whom struggle to pay monthly bills and have few dreams of retirement at all, much less the retirement my parents and my fireman uncle enjoyed.

But if it's not income, what makes a someone an 'elite?' How is it that Hillary, my first choice for president, relates to working people better than her opponent, who's wife grew up in a struggling family?  

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I've been unsurprised to find that Senator Obama and his supporters are 'giving' Hillary their 'permission' to stay in the race, as long as she doesn't 'further diminish' Barack.  Some months back I wrote a diary about his strategy for winning the nomination that nullifies his reason to run in the first place - that he's a brand new kind of guy who represents change that is unifying and not divisive, but his strategy it to drive up Hillary's negatives through sarcastic and sexist character assassination. He's said he plays "Chicago Smack Down," and so he does.  Much of the media is now, and without apparent irony, blaming Barack's problems with the electorate on Hillary. I think that he's positioned himself to blame a GE loss on her, should he win the nomination and go down in flames.  

Outside the obvious conclusion, which is that he knows he hasn't won and his only real chance is to bully her out of the race before the voters have had their say and before the super delegates indicate which one they think will have the best chance of winning in November, it's clear that he's doing his best to shut the contest down, and anoint himself the 'winner,' so that he can claim to the super delegates that she'll never win the African American vote if she's seen as someone who has denied him his rightful destiny.   (Divide much lately?)  

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It seems that one of Barack's messages is that Hillary can stay as long as she likes.  That's kind of his campaign message in a nutshell, by giving her his permission (as if that's possible) he shows his supporters that he's in charge, he's the man.  Her message is that she'll stay in until someone's a winner, with the majority of votes.  So, it may very well go on through the convention, during which Michigan and Florida may do a revote and get counted without needing special party permission. Why is this good for Barack, Hillary and the Democratic Party?  

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