Motley Moose – Archive

President Obama held a press conference yesterday to discuss the mid-terms and his plans for the next two years two and a half months of his presidency, 805 days to be exact. The president has an advantage there, by the way. During those 805 days, if history is any guide, John Boehner’s and Ted Cruz’s Congress will be in session about 200 days … total.

The president also sent a letter to make sure that the important point was not missed because, frankly, the White House press corps’ interests are quite different from the American peoples’. From the White House:

… what stands out to me is that the message Americans sent yesterday is one you’ve sent for several elections in a row now. You expect the people you elect to work as hard as you do. You expect us to focus on your ambitions — not ours — and you want us to get the job done. Period.

I plan on spending every moment of the next two years rolling up my sleeves and working as hard as I can for the American people. This country has made real and undeniable progress in the six years since the 2008 economic crisis. But our work will not be done until every single American feels the gains of a growing economy where it matters most: in your own lives.

While I’m sure we’ll continue to disagree on some issues that we’re passionate about, I’m eager to work with Congress over the next two years to get the job done. The challenges that lay ahead of us are far too important to allow partisanship or ideology to prevent our progress as a nation.

The president was welcome to constructive changes to the Affordable Care Act, he asked for Congress’ help in procuring funds to fight Ebola and authorizing the use of military force against ISIL, and looked forward to working together on the budget, which expires on December 11. He hoped that comprehensive immigration reform could be passed.

But what he did not do is back down on his plans to issue an executive order expanding the deferred action program, giving millions of people who lack documentation a chance to get out from under the dark cloud of deportation.

That’s a commitment I made not just to the American people  — and to businesses and the evangelical community and the law enforcement folks and everybody who’s looked at this issue and thinks that we need immigration reform — that’s a commitment that I also made to John Boehner, that I would act in the absence of action by Congress.

So before the end of the year, we’re going to take whatever lawful actions that I can take that I believe will improve the functioning of our immigration system. […]

But what I’m not going to do is just wait.  I think it’s fair to say that I’ve shown a lot of patience and have tried to work on a bipartisan basis as much as possible, and I’m going to keep on doing so.  But in the meantime, let’s figure out what we can do lawfully through executive actions to improve the functioning of the existing system.

And when asked whether taking this action would somehow “poison the well”, a well that the Republicans have refused to drink from for 4 years, he called bs on the notion that the people upset by his actions are people who have any interest in immigration reform:

I have no doubt that there will be some Republicans who are angered or frustrated by any executive action that I may take.  Those are folks, I just have to say, who are also deeply opposed to immigration reform in any form and blocked the House from being able to pass a bipartisan bill. […]

… if, in fact, there is a great eagerness on the part of Republicans to tackle a broken immigration system, then they have every opportunity to do it.  My executive actions not only do not prevent them from passing a law that supersedes those actions, but should be a spur for them to actually try to get something done.

The president used the phrase “two years” over and over and over again throughout the press conference (I counted 12).

President Obama will not allow the Republicans to nullify the 2012 presidential election with their claims of a mandate from a low turnout mid-term election.  

To which I say, “Thanks, Obama”. 🙂

More …

As people head to the polls to vote today, and as we wait to hear election results come in this evening and late into the night-along with demographic data about turnout, and the inevitable dissections by pundits and analysts-one thing is clear, even before the results come in. We have been pushing hard to GOTV, and a key part of the mobilized electorate is black female voters. One major effort has been #BlackWomenVote.  As they put it:

Black women had the highest voter turnout in the 2012 presidential election, representing almost 70 percent of the Black electorate and surpassing our 2008 record-breaking numbers. Many are expecting us to stay home on November 4th, in fact only 37 percent of African Americans normally show up to the polls for midterm elections.

Black women have the potential to take this country by storm. We have the collective power to elect representatives who will champion our interests and support legislative actions that will improve education, health care and economic opportunities for our communities.

If you harbor any doubt as to how the Republicans prefer to hold onto power in states like Wisconsin, look no further than the comment by Wisconsin State Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R):

“… high turnout elections have typically favored Democrats while low turnouts favor the GOP …”

Fitzgerald is correct … but he will never be right. It can never be right to want to govern without the consent of those being governed, to wish that democracy fails so that you can ignore the will of the majority of the people.

Republicans all over the United States, like Fitzgerald, are glad when fewer people vote because they know that most people reject their puny vision of America.

I am reminded of what happened as the result of a low-turnout midterm 4 years ago. In February 2011, Gov. Scott Walker (R-WI) fulfilled his secret promises to his campaign donors and ended collective bargaining for public employees. People protested and the Democratic state senators left the state to deny Sen. Fitzgerald a quorum. Those were heady times for small d democracy as Walker discovered that winning an election with 32% of the registered voters of a state (25% of the voting age population) did not give him a mandate. He won the election but he lacked one very important thing: the Consent of the Governed.

Specifically, this consent, from Thomas Jefferson:

“Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”

It is time to stand up and be counted as one of the governed who does NOT consent to Scott Walker’s governance, one who rejects his minoritea rule.

There is no excuse to not vote today. No excuse to not take our state back from the special interests and elect a governor who cares about Wisconsin and wants to make life better for Wisconsinites. Mary Burke will have one focus: moving Wisconsin Forward.

       

A look at my favorite musician of all time (who died last week) after the jump ….

I post a weekly diary of historical notes, arts & science items, foreign news (often receiving little notice in the US) and whimsical pieces from the outside world that I often feature in “Cheers & Jeers”.

OK, you’ve been warned – here is this week’s tomfoolery material that I posted.

An overcast October day seemed like a great time to take a hike though Whatcom Falls Park (Bellingham WA) to get some pics of Whatcom Creek and the turning foliage. The city park has been around for over 100 years but some of the infrastructure was built during the depression era (WPA). The creek drains from Lake Whatcom and runs about 3 miles into Bellingham Bay. The drop of about 400 feet from the lake to the bay enables a number of picturesque waterfalls both within and outside of the park itself. At the head is a pond called Derby Pond , specifically designed for youngsters’ fishing in the spring – no adults allowed to fish. The park also houses a fish hatchery with Rainbow Trout as big as small salmon. On the Creek’s course to the bay, it runs through Whatcom Falls Park, an industrial area, then through town, and over a final waterfall into Marine Heritage Park where there is a salmon hatchery. Along the creek are popular and well used walking, running, and biking trails that meander through cedar, fir, vine and big leaf maple trees. All are illustrated below the tangled roots on the trail. Be careful not to trip on them.

Settle down, Dems pic.twitter.com/VFMyBVe4mo

— pourmecoffee (@pourmecoffee) November 1, 2014

In North Carolina …

North Carolina lines and signs in Cary NC today #KeepCalmVoteDem #UniteBlue @clayforNC @kayhagan VOTE 11/4 pic.twitter.com/utdJa2pVnv

— Music2MyEars  (@M2Meee) November 1, 2014

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Welcome to The Moose Pond! The Welcomings diaries give the Moose, old and new, a place to visit and share words about the weather, life, the world at large and the small parts of Moosylvania that we each inhabit.

The President’s Weekly Address post is also an Open News Thread. Feel free to share other news stories in the comments.

From the White House – Weekly Address

In this week’s address, the President highlighted the progress our economy is making, and the commonsense policies that could make it even stronger by ensuring that everyone who works hard has the opportunity to get ahead, especially women and working families.

This commitment has been a core part of the President’s Year of Action and a priority since the start of his administration, which is why he has put forth a range of policies that would help women and working families get ahead, from raising the minimum wage, to ensuring equal pay for equal work, to increasing access to high-quality child care and paid family leave. This week’s address follows remarks the President delivered on Friday at Rhode Island College, where he discussed the importance of harnessing our economy’s momentum by making policy choices that will help women and all working parents fully participate in and contribute to our economy.