Besides choosing a new governor here in Washington state (or as I like to call it, the real Washington), I'm keenly interested in the very real possibility that "Bonkers" Bachmann could lose her seat to a Democrat challenger who is so far right, I think even the Blue Dogs might be suspicious of him... but I hear he's very well funded.

Speakin' o' which! When all the dust has settled long about November 15th or so, assuming that we're not locked into a protracted battle over who actually won the Presidency, there's another cause that I think needs to be addressed- public financing for political campaigns.

The price tag for the White house has climbed north of $1,000,000,000 that we know about during the present campaign, and it hardly needs to be said that it'll be that much more expensive during all campaigns to come. The public's interests are not served by this auctioning off of important offices to the highest bidder, while Americans who might have brilliant ideas that could revolutionize our democracy and/or reinvigorate our manufacturing base are left out in the cold for no good reason except that they aren't personally acquainted with any billionaires.

There was a time not so long ago when I could have framed this as a non-partisan issue, but I'm afraid that is no longer the case; with the Citizens United decision being the law of the land, it's undeniably true that the field has been heavily slanted towards Republicans, by virtue of the (also undeniable) fact that most big corporations and extremely wealthy individuals contribute to the Republicans in order to have their narrow interests (i.e., the elimination of all taxes and all meaningful regulation and oversight) put ahead of policies that would benefit the public at large in areas like labor laws, workplace safety regulation, enviromental protection, public education, healthcare reform and many, many more.

For the righties who are about to get all indignant and start huffin' and puffin' about how the labor unions are also free to spend on elections: Stuff it. Labor union membership is now down to just 7% of the total U.S. workforce, and every union combined could not match what Wal-Mart spends on advertising in a single month, and you know it, so just knock it off.

The country is not served by having these circuses that go on for up to two years. The public interests are not being attended to when our Representatives must spend virtually all their time begging donations instead of doing their damned jobs. The door has been opened wide for foreign money to pour in to our electoral process, making us the only nation on Earth where that is legal! (I have to laugh at all the loonies raving that President Obama wants to impose Sharia law in America, while it's their own party that is taking money from the royal family of Saudi Arabia.)

The first step to changing this is to support Move to Amend, a bipartisan grass-roots movement which exists for one reason only: to amend our Constitution to read that only living human beings are people, not multi-national or foreign- owned corporations, and that money is not free speech. We must return accountability to the political process. It does not matter whether you're a John Bircher or a Maoist- you can see for yourself that the system as it is right now is not looking out for your best interests.

I'm gonna stop right there, having already gone on too long. Best wishes to our fellow citizens back East- it's possible that I may be dropping in on y'all soon, having had some experience with natural disasters in my life. At a time like this, we should (to borrow a phrase) forget about Red or Blue states, and work on the United States. Peace!

Really? Has anyone followed the economic damage caused by the GOP/Tea Beggers in their "House Of Hoodlum's?" Read! Research! Think about the economic and political damage caused by the GOP/RNC since 2009. Polls do not vote. People do.

When Obama, Biden and Clinton realize they are behind, and witnessing more momentum with Romney on women, independents and other demographics, it is easy to ramp up attacks on Romney, for example, whenever he opens his mouth. Voters will have a hard time finding much of a creditable record for Obama. Now we find that more radical Muslims are using Mexican drug cartel pipelines to access the U.S. and Homeland Security is largely asleep on this front, much as the U.S. was on the consulate attack that resulted in the deaths of four Americans. Despite pleas for help and additional security and calls from the local CIA for immediate help, no help was given in Benghazi, despite seeing the destruction of the consulate in real time. A photo op of the President with responders to a hurricane seem to pale beside watching Americans dying on the Obama watch, and doing nothing about it, but we find accomplishments where we can, during the election season. Hiding a terrorist attack behind a curtain of plausible deniability, citing a demonstration to a film that probably few, if any, saw just smacks of desperation just before an election, and the American people could just not handle the truth. I think they could, if they actually knew it, and were told, instead of mislead to outright lies.

... WHILE FIREFIGHTERS BATTLE SANDY, ROMNEY EYES CUTS TO FIREFIGHTER FUNDIUNG by: Sarah Jones

In Manhattan and everywhere Sandy is wreaking havoc, firefighters are serving their fellow citizens at a time of need. They were there when the crane fell in NYC, when a facade fell, in Atlantic City and more.

Firefighters matter in an emergency. Remember when Governor Romney mocked President Obama for saying we needed more firefighters? That wasn’t just political posturing. Mitt Romney has a long, sordid history of fighting firefighters, dating back to his term as Governor of Massachusetts when he “used a line-item veto to cut ‘millions of dollars for firefighting equipment,’ including firefighters’ ‘coats, pants, helmets and boots.’”

Romney also made cuts to firefighters, police and teachers that “led to the laying off of about 14,500 workers in total over the course of Romney’s term.” Furthermore, Paul Ryan’s budget would cut firefighting support by 19 percent.

In Iowa on June 8th of this year, Mitt Romney was mocking President Obama for saying we needed more firefighters, police and teachers. Romney said, “He wants another stimulus, he wants to hire more government workers. He says we need more firemen, more policemen, more teachers. Did he not get the message of Wisconsin? The American people did. It’s time for us to cut back on government and help the American people.”

Romney said Obama’s comments about firefighters and teachers would “go down in history as an extraordinary miscalculation and misunderstanding by a president who’s out of touch.”

Asked to respond to Romney’s May comments about not needing more firefighters, the president of the International Association of Firefighters told Salon, “It doesn’t surprise us at all. It’s very consistent with our experience with him and his view about our responsibility to keep our communities safe. His actions as governor, as candidate for president, have made it clear that he’s willing to jeopardize the safety of our communities.”

Salon reported on Romney’s epic battles with firefighters as Governor:

As governor of Massachusetts, Romney often ended up sparring with firefighters and their unions. He proposed stripping collective bargaining rights for firefighters and police officers in a city that needed a state bailout, and cut funding to a fire station to be built on the site where six firemen died. He also proposed tripling the state police budget to deal with homeland security concerns in the years after 9/11, but didn’t offer a dime for firefighters, angering many at the time.

In July, while fighting the Colorado fires, Aurora firefighter Steve Clapham responded to Romney’s comments about cutting federal funding to firefighters by telling Huffington Post, “Given the severe fire danger right now is there anyone who really believes we need less firefighters? The American people need leaders who will invest in firefighters and in public safety. We need the support of politicians who understand the importance of the job that we do.”

Romney said Obama’s comments about firefighters and teachers would “go down in history as an extraordinary miscalculation and misunderstanding by a president who’s out of touch.”

Asked to respond to Romney’s May comments about not needing more firefighters, the president of the International Association of Firefighters told Salon, “It doesn’t surprise us at all. It’s very consistent with our experience with him and his view about our responsibility to keep our communities safe. His actions as governor, as candidate for president, have made it clear that he’s willing to jeopardize the safety of our communities.”

Salon reported on Romney’s epic battles with firefighters as Governor:

As governor of Massachusetts, Romney often ended up sparring with firefighters and their unions. He proposed stripping collective bargaining rights for firefighters and police officers in a city that needed a state bailout, and cut funding to a fire station to be built on the site where six firemen died. He also proposed tripling the state police budget to deal with homeland security concerns in the years after 9/11, but didn’t offer a dime for firefighters, angering many at the time.

In July, while fighting the Colorado fires, Aurora firefighter Steve Clapham responded to Romney’s comments about cutting federal funding to firefighters by telling Huffington Post, “Given the severe fire danger right now is there anyone who really believes we need less firefighters? The American people need leaders who will invest in firefighters and in public safety. We need the support of politicians who understand the importance of the job that

It’s most telling that Romney wouldn’t walk back his June comments about cutting back on firefighters after he made them. The media was expecting him to explain that he had gaffed, but his campaign refused to respond directly to requests for clarification, while his surrogate Sununu referred to the “wisdom” of Romney’s comments. By now, when Romney won’t get specific, we get worried because it can only mean one thing: We won’t like the answer so he’d rather avoid telling us the truth.

The crisis of Sandy offers us yet another opportunity to understand the importance of our first responders and what the function of government is.

We do.”

Come on Massachusetts, send Obummer packing. Maybe with all his spare time, he can visit the graves of the Marines and Ambassador Stevens knowing full well he went to a party in Vegas as they were being murdered, and he didn't do a damn thing to help them.