Thomas Jefferson is reported to have said "I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just."
The television media and radio talk shows devote a considerable amount of their broadcast time to commenting on and debating statements and attack ads by President Obama and Mitt Romney.
Who's up, who's down in key battleground states?
Is Mitt Romney going to release his tax returns for the years he was at Bain Capital; if so, when? If, not why not?
With or without the release of Romney's tax returns, unemployment remains at 8.2% -- and 14.4% in the African American community; housing foreclosures continue, and gun violence and murder in the African American community, at an all-time high, continues unabated.
What will be different on "day one" in the White House, whether President Obama is re-elected or Mitt Romney becomes our 45th president? Will there be any likelihood that presidential leadership will be exercised to address this issue?
Current Republican congressional leadership is committed to ensuring that President Obama is an only "a one-term president" by refusing to agree to support any proposal by him that could stimulate the economy and reduce unemployment. Therefore, it is unlikely that there will be any significant "uptick" in the reduction of monthly unemployment prior to this November's election.
Every day multimillion dollar numbers are cited to indicate the number of various negative TV ads that both Romney and Obama are running against one another in different parts of the country.
Under circumstances of an out-of-wedlock birthrate of up to 72% in the African American community and continued escalation of gun violence in in Chicago, Oakland, NYC, and other African American communities nation wide, the "ad wars" of Obama and Romney are reminiscent of deck chairs being re-arranged on the Titanic moments before it hit an iceberg.
Are there still political Neanderthals among the Tea Party or in the Republican Congress who really disbelieve that Obama was born in Hawaii and thus not eligible to serve as president? Or, that while a "citizen" he is also secretly a Muslim enabling Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to "protect" one of her high assistants who is a "secret agent" for the Muslim Brotherhood? I am not making this stuff up.
Yes, I, too, tremble for my country when, like Thomas Jefferson, "I reflect that God is just."
Will the release of Mitt Romney's tax returns make any meaningful difference in the lives of families and children living in "the domestic war zone" of gun violence and black-on-black crime in several African American communities throughout the United States?
Day one in the White House, whether Obama or Romney, will there be any material difference in the 24/7 lives of those residents and their children?
History may judge the presidential election of 2012 harshly. Are Obama and Romney, and more specifically, national and regional leaders, morally and politically fiddling while their communities -- like the great fire in Rome during AD 65 -- are "burning"? Will they ultimately be judged by and their inattention, inaction, or failure to implement domestic programs to put the fires out?
Both President Obama and Mitt Romney are Christians. During this presidential election they and their respective supporters and surrogates should pause and reflect on the biblical injunction in Matthew 16:26: What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world but forfeits his soul?
Is any anybody listening? Does anybody care?
Clarence B. Jones: Gun Violence in America II: Is Anybody Listening? Does Anybody Care?
I certainly find any such "solution" to be completely intolerable. Education is the only way I see out. Parents need options. The one's that care ask for more charters and/or vouchers. But the unions whine that charters aren't fair and Dems largely play along (although that has been changing). Charters cherry pick students, blah blah blah. Even though the criticisms about charter schools are generally half truths at best, let's assume they are accurate. Fine charters cherry pick students and that's not "fair." Well you know what neither is putting good kids in a place where they are outnumbered by bad kids. Get as many kids out of those hell holes as possible to preserve as much of their potential as possible before it is beaten out of them. Cut the cycle wherever you can and stop pretending that there is a perfect or "fair" solution to be found.
They are? I'm not CS Lewis, however, he spoke about a "Christian" as being one who accepts the teachings of the Apostles. Does that define Obama or Romney? I seriously doubt Obama does, and I KNOW Romney doesn't, his religion specifically states it does not hold to the teachings of the Apostles.
Aside from that, even if every single gun on the planet were melted down into plowshares, men would still kill each other. the problem is NOT the gun, it is the sinful nature, greed and envy.
"Day one in the White House, whether Obama or Romney, will there be any material difference in the 24/7 lives of those residents and their children?"
My prediction, with the looming economic meltdown, no matter who the president is...the same things happening across the pond will happen here.
My recommendation, learn how to protect yourself, LOVE your neighbor, do good to those who hurt you, pray for our rulers, GET READY!
Well said.
DUH!
But then he's not trying, is he. His Bully Pulpit remains unoccupied on those issues.
People born into this country have opportunities. They also have plenty of choices to make. Perhaps we should focus on breeding when we are financially stable? Or maybe you can teach a youth that it is cool to be good at science or math, not at gang banging.
This is a cultural issue, not one that the government or the rest of the populace should have to work to fix.
Gun control doesn't work, as others here have observed. But, as public policy, it gains votes from naive people. And where it exists, it is evidence of the naivete of the people who think the answer to our social problems is legislation.
According to the 2 gents on the bus next to me this morning...those Republicans are intentionally keeping the purse strings closed. There was "plenty of money" to fix everything.
That bus was in Detroit...for context...
"...and gun violence and murder in the African American community, at an all-time high, continues unabated."
Truth is, murder rates have gone down by about 50% in the past few decades.
Meanwhile it is still true that a demographic group that comprises less than 3% of our overall population commits more than 50% of our murders.
http://www.colorofcrime.com/colorofcrime2005.html
Political policies have crammed innumerable poor people into small geographic areas of inner cities. It seems sometimes they've rewarded failure and become the great enabler. An unintended consequence of well meaning but short-sighted policies seems to be a rise in gang related activity. Again, I am opposed to the notion that my rights should be limited because the government has failed to keep gangster safe from other gangsters.
Why do they vote them into office? I suppose there are a myriad of reasons. Often the reason is that a voter is voting against one candidate as opposed to voting FOR the other candidate. I usually vote against both of the "big two" candidates.
I disagree. Has "self-defense" become obsolete "in the 21st century"?...