Forward!

The Obama campaign came out with an addition to their slogan this past week when they added an exclamation point to the back of their already well known word “forward� It might not seem like much but, in reality, the whole phrase word means a very great deal to so many Americans.

This nation, under Barack Obama’s leadership, has taken a great step forward over the last four years. As a matter of fact, it has been a series of steps. And, sometimes, it has seemed that it has been one step forward and one step back. The reason for the hurky jerky progress has been, all too often, the hindrances thrown up against the president by the Republican party on orders, also all too often, from their real masters, the libertarian and anti-regulatory millionaire and billionaire corporatist who control so much of this nations economy and are trying to control its political and social agenda as well. It should not be forgotten that many on the democrat side are also under the sway of these same people as they immorally play both sides of the road and the isle in their shameless attempts to foster a law of the jungle type of world in which the strongest (them) are unfairly guaranteed the ability to survive. To say that these people have gamed the system is the understatement of the century.

And, now, they are trying their best to game an election.

There are so many in this nation who simply want to lead a good life, raise a family, and contribute what they can to the betterment of the society in which they live. They have no other real ambitions than to do those things within the constraints placed upon them by circumstances all too often beyond their control. It is not asking to much, we think, that they be given that unfettered right. However, as we have stated previously, there are those who would take even the right to happiness away from those who want really nothing more from this all too often cruel world. How cruel can it be? Just look at what has happened on the upper east coast over the last week. In the very heart of the financial center of this nation, a storm came through that has left people of all ages and social classes gasping for air in its wake. And, the mayor of that town--Michael Bloomberg--himself a multi-billionaire, has finally decided that mankind itself may be the culprit in its own possibly looming destruction.

It is interesting to note that climate change was not mentioned once in any of the presidential debates and is not even an issue of concern out on the campaign trail. It is as if mother nature herself sent this hurricane Sandy to remind all of us collectively and individually that she has been wounded and ignored to a great degree and that she is going to repeatedly take out her vengeance on each and every one of us until we acknowledge her presence and her power over all of our lives. This is the second hurricane to strike the New York metropolitan area in just over a year and the intensity is progressing upward at an alarming rate! There are very few of us across this nation who have not directly seen the results of climate change over the last twelve months. Those who experienced the total lack of a winter last year stand in contrast to those who saw a drought consume almost the entire growing and crop producing part of this nation. And, they stand in contrast to those who, across individual regions such as the state of Texas and others, have seen their lands catch fire and be consumed by the flames of a righteous and angry nature gone amuck! And, amidst all of this stands, at the podium of the Republican national convention in late August of this year, one Mitt Romney who made fun of President Obama’s assertions four years ago that we might need and be able to do something to affect climate change. And Romney did this in the face of a hurricane that had forced cancellation of part of that very convention. Romney ruminated about how he would take care of American families instead of holding back the seas and healing the planet. No one will ever forget, we think, of the iconic pictures of average Americans beaten down by this storm placing their faces against the chest of a president who is overly sympathetic to their needs. It is the ultimate bit of irony that those sort of pictures of a president and his people might be the final nail in the coffin of a campaign that has looked at people as merely pawns in a bigger game of corporate dominance of our world.

We could ramble on here for several more lengthy paragraphs about what this nation and this world faces during the coming four years but there is no question that climate change, global warming, and the force and power of mother nature are the great, ignored elephants standing in the room of our current discontent. And, we feel that due simply to the stands taken by the neoconservative Republicans that they are not the ones who will be able to tackle these problems. A party and a group of souls like the neocons who cannot seem to make compromises of any kind about taxes or regulation are not going to be the people who can take on as issue like this when they are nothing more than a group of climate change deniers. If there is any thing that will solve the climate crisis it is going to entail a great deal of regulation. If Mitt Romney were to occupy the White House, just who would he gather around him to try to give him any advice concerning the future of this nation and this world when it comes to global warming while his base is out there ignoring the issue and disparaging it every minute of every day. If these people cannot even confront or confirm evolution, how in the name of God could they ever confront or even have any basis for understanding what climate change is or its bearing on the future of our world? The neocon Republican party has become known, after all, as the anti science party! If it is going to take a great deal of progressive thought and action to insure our future and all the neocon Republicans want to do is progressively take us back to a time now long, long gone away.

The next four years are going to be crucial in determining what happens to the human race and its existence on this planet. We can simply not stand very many more events like Sandy and be able to hold this nation together as a viable entity. Our social structure and our economy will simply not stand it! The neocon Republicans have spent thirty years bankrupting the nation of its ability to do what governments need to do by taking away so much of the nation’s savings and borrowing abilities that may now be needed to shore up the country against the possible coming onslaught or nature’s fury over the next few years. Sandy and her friends may overwhelm the nations insurance industry and place so much of the burden back on the government to make people whole once again.

In the face of all of this, there is only one candidate for president that has any viability. That candidate is the sitting president of the United States--Barack Obama. Mr. Obama has not mentioned climate change much because he realizes that the puppet masters of the neoconservative right have constantly poisoned the well against it and there is simply no reason, at least up to this point, to expend energy on a subject whose time has not yet come. Well! Sandy has come and that time, as Michael Bloomberg has stated, is finally here. And it is for those reasons among many not mentioned that we endorse Barack Obama for re-election as president of these united states.

While the presidents camapaign staff has put an exclamation point to the end of their slogan, it is hurricane sandy who has put the real exclamation point to the end of this campaign!

IOVHO,

Regards,

Joe

To say that "God exists" is the greatest understatement ever made across space and time.