Fiscal Cliff as Looming Apocalypse; an Open Letter to John Boehner

What is going on Boehner, now is the time for action. I see you blaming the president every time you get on TV but you are the person responsible, for so many reasons.

1. President Obama has come to the negotiating table and done some actual negotiating.
1. He started with only raising taxes on those who make $250,000 or more. You came back with $1,000,000. He countered with $400,000 and you left him hanging. The way you reach an agreement is you keep talking until you come up with a compromise you can both live with. 
2. Now I know some people don't like the word compromise, and the easy response is "I won't compromise my principles." But just calling something a principle doesn't make it one. Are you saying that one of you principles is that people making $400k can't pay more but people making a million can? That is a pretty specific principle. Maybe you should trade that for a more reasonable principle like, "I will do what is fair and gets the economy moving again."
2. I know you are beholden to Grover Norquist but sometimes you need to do what is actually best for the country.
1. What made Grover such an expert that all Republicans bow down to him? Shouldn't you be thinking for yourselves.
2. I know he has threatened you with fighting your reelection if you don't follow him exactly but we can't let one man hold the whole country hostage. Explain to your constituents that sometimes taxes have to go up. Taxes will only go up on 1 or 2 % of them. If you can't convince them in spite of Grover you may need to work on your communicative and persuasive skills.
3. Raising taxes on people who make more than $400k, while lowering them or keeping the same for everyone else will help the economy in general which will eventually help everyone.
1. People making less than the cutoff will spend almost every extra dollar they save in taxes, now of course it would be better if they could save some but after a decade of stagnant wages and recessions they need to spend. And all those dollars they spend will kickstart the economy. Take those dollars away, and we're back in full scale recession.
2. People making more than $400k may spend or they may invest or they may save. They have more discretionary income. If they spend it great, but if they don't it's not going to help the economy as much. I know there is general value if they invest or save, but it is not as immediate or impactful.
4. I agree that there is a lot of waste in the federal budget but just cutting it willy-nilly, because you would rather do that than raise taxes is not the answer.
1. Do the hard work. Figure out which programs are wasteful and cut them or fix them. CUT THE PORK. Make every Congressperson and Senator agree to to up some of their pet programs. 
5. Finally let's get some more stimulus going. Now is the time to pull out all the stops and get the economy moving again. When the economy is healthy and we're running surpluses instead of deficits that is the time to pay down the debt and cut spending. 
1. Of course so many of you are so shortsighted that when that time comes you'll be handing out huge contracts to your friends in the hope of landing a lobbying job later. But if you could just remember these time when the good time come we could maybe get ahead of the game.

If you are reading this and your name is NOT John Boehner please call your representative. If you live in a blue state call your friends in a red state and ask them to call their representative.

Gun Battles

So what could actually help prevent another Newtown without gutting the Second Amendment?

Where was the breakdown?

Without getting too deep into the craziness I believe there are some changes that can be made while still protecting the rights of law abiding citizens.

1. Better mental health services. Ever since the 80s when Reagan emptied the asylums there has been less and less help available to those that need it. When the right talks about cutting spending this is one of the things they have in mind.
2. I know it sounds like a cliche but let's enforce the laws we already have, and strengthen them where needed.
1. 2 Strikes for gun crimes. With the 2nd offense the criminal gets a life sentence.
2. Same for murder, 1st offense minimum of 25 years, 2nd offense life.
3. Anyone convicted of buying, selling, transporting...guns illegally is banned from legal gun ownership for life. If convicted a 2nd time they get life in prison.
4. All transfers require a background check. No criminal, or sufferer of relevant mental health issues will be allowed to posses a gun.

These changes would stop most of the mass shootings, of course they would not stop all tragedies but really nothing can. Even if we somehow got rid of all the guns there would still be other ways to kill people.

So lets get guns out of the hands of criminals and the mentally unstable and see how much things improve.