August 2012 Shootings Report: 342 shootings, 77 dead, 265 wounded

Two kinds of reports keep being issued that the gun nuts cannot argue with.  The first is a list of mass shootings circulated by the Brady Campaign for Gun Violence, the other a periodical review of miscellaneous gun violence recently reported by CNN, “By the numbers: Guns in America.”  The facts are there for President Obama to see and let the American public know just what he will do to stop the onslaught of gun deaths.  Any rhetoric would be wasted on Mitt Romney.

Gun massacres in 2012: Oakland, Calif. in April, 7 were killed, 3 wounded; Neo-Nazi J.T. Ready killed 5 in Gilbert, Ariz., including an infant and himself in May; James Holmes killed 12, injuring 58 in an Aurora, Colo. movie in July; and the Sikh Temple shooting in Oak Creek, Wis. in August, 7 dead 3 wounded.  There are others dating back to the Columbine school shooting to the Tucson, Ariz. Bloodbath in 2011 that killed 6, severely wounding U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords.

Here’s a look at the numbers.  According to the Gallup Poll, only 26% of Americans favor a ban on handguns; most gun advocates agree handguns should be allowed in the home for protection.  310 million nonmilitary firearms in the U.S. as of 2009, almost one for each person in the country.  Only 47% told Gallup they owned a gun in 2011, which works out to two per household.  These are staggering figures making the U.S. unique in the world for gun ownership.

There are more numbers if you are interested that you can see on the CNN site above.  In the meantime, we are dealing with 2012 here and so far gun violence across the nation has proved to be escalating.  In my monthly shooting reports there have been 1,056 shootings since March resulting in 432 deaths.  Keep in mind that these figures are extremely conservative since I depend entirely on the media for my data.  The CDC reports 31,347 firearm deaths annually.

Here are the August 2012 results:

DATE	CITY/STATE	DEAD	WOUNDED	SHOOTINGS
8/1/2012	Amite, LA	1	1	2
8/1/2012	Chicago, IL	2	7	9
8/2/2012	Homestead, PA	1	3	4
8/2/2012	Chicago, IL	4	10	14
8/3-8/4/12	Chicago, IL	0	10	10
8/3-8/4/12	Patterson, NJ	3	1	4
8/5/2012	Omaha, NE	0	2	2
8/5/2012	Oak Creek, WI (Sikh Temple)	7	3	10
8/7/2012	New York, NY	0	10	10
8/8/2012	Tucson, AZ	0	1	1
8/8/2012	Chicago, IL	2	5	7
8/9/2012	Dothan, AL	3	0	3
8/9/2012	Detroit, MI	2	0	2
8/9/2010	Chicago, IL	1	3	4
8/10/2012	Seattle, WA	0	2	2
8/11/2012	Chicago, IL	0	21	21
8/11/2012	Tucson, AZ	2	1	3
8/12/2012	Washington, DC	0	2	2
8/12/2012	Oakland, CA	1	4	5
8/12/2012	Boston, MA	4	2	6
8/13/2012	Milwaukee, WI	1	6	7
8/13/2012	College Station, TX	3	4	7
8/14/2012	Dayton, OH	0	2	2
8/14-8/15/12	Chattanooga, TN	0	2	2
8/15/2012	Reno, NV	0	1	1
8/15/2012	Washington, DC	0	2	2
8/15/2012	Chicago, IL	1	5	6
8/16/2012	LaPlace, LA	2	2	4
8/16/2012	Muscatine, IA	0	1	1
8/17/2012	Atlanta, GA	0	2	2
8/17/2012	Phoenix, AZ	0	1	1
8/18/2012	Malden, MA	0	2	2
8/18/2012	Detroit, MI	1	1	2
8/18/2012	Odessa, TX	1	6	7
8/18-8/19/12	Chicago, IL	6	30	36
8/19/2012	Oakland, CA	0	2	2
8/19/2012	St. Louis, MO	2	1	3
8/20/2012	San Jose, CA	1	1	2
8/20/2012	Chicago, IL	0	3	3
8/20/2012	Cincinnati, OH	0	1	1
8/21/2012	Baton Rouge, LA	1	1	2
8/22/2012	Chicago, IL	2	0	2
8/23/2012	Chicago, IL	0	19	19
8/24/2012	New York, NY	1	8	9
8/24/2012	Chicago, IL	3	4	7
8/24/2012	Stuttgart, AR	0	3	3
8/24/2012	Surprise, AZ	0	2	2
8/24-8/26/12	Chicago, IL	9	37	46
8/25/2012	Rochester, NY	0	3	3
8/25/2012	Prospect, CT	0	1	1
8/25/2012	Oakland, CA	1	3	4
8/25/2012	Wilkinsburg, PA	2	1	3
8/25/2012	Scottsdale, AZ	1	0	1
8/25/2012	Tulsa, OK	1	0	1
8/25/2012	Muscatine, IA	0	1	1
8/26/2012	Wausaukee, WI	0	1	1
8/27/2012	Chicago, IL	0	10	10
8/27/2012	Perry Hall, MD	0	1	1
8/27/2012	Jacksonville, FL	0	1	1
8/28/2012	Randleman, NC	0	2	2
8/28/2012	Charleston, WV	2	3	5
8/30/2012	Avondale, AZ	0	1	1
8/31/2012	Old Bridge, NJ	3	0	3
	TOTALS	77	265	342

In the 6 months I have been doing this report, there have been 1,398 shootings resulting in 509 deaths.  After adding wounded to the report in June, 885 have been injured.  And these are the bare minimum figures but at least point out when and where the violence is occurring as a national representation.

You can link to earlier reports here: March, April, May, June, July.

SPECIAL SATURDAY REPORT: Democratic National convention a series of high points



Presiden6t Obama



Let’s get the latest jobs report out of the way first.  Not the best but not the worst.  Only 96,000 jobs added in August compared to 150,000 needed.  Almost 400,000 people dropping out of the job market, mostly age 16 to 24, giving up looking for a job.  My question here is what percentage of this group stopped looking to go back to school?  The unemployment rate dropped from 8.3% to 8.1%, primarily attributed to the 400,000 dropouts.

But knowing just what percent of that figure was to return to school could tell us how much of that .02 drop is valid.  Even one point would show success.  And another positive in the report is the fact that the jobs market improved for workers age 25 to 55, the backbone of the economy.  The unemployment rate for that group fell from 7.2% to 7.1%, which is extremely encouraging news.  A better report would have been welcomed by Obama but he can live with what he got.

Michelle Obama

Now to the convention itself.  David Gergen said on CNN following the Julian Castro, Michelle Obama and Bill Clinton talks: “It is possible that the electorate is so severely polarized at the moment that even a smashing convention or a smashing first debate can't really move the needle.”  All three of the above were smashing-plus and the President did on Thursday night just what he had to do.  Rebecca Sinderbrand says Obama hit the marks he needed.

He acknowledged that things aren’t “rosy.”  He didn’t say it but I will.  Barack Obama inherited the worst mess in the American economy and government since FDR’s Great Depression of 1932 and the New Deal.  Add to that the constant bickering and stonewalling of the President’s proposals by the GOP, with persistent refusals to this day to negotiate on most issues, once resulting in almost bringing down the U.S. economy.  Don’t forget this when you vote.



Bill Clinton



Obama had to look to the future and show us how his way would get us to our goals creating more jobs with overall economical improvements.  As an example of the things that can be done, he cited his rescue of the auto industry that has now saved 1.45 million jobs, and lowering taxes on the middle class to lift the burden they now face.  The Affordable Care Act, which will bring health care to 30 million Americans who desperately need it and free up emergency rooms.

In these cases, Mitt Romney would not have bailed out auto, would only lower taxes on the middle class with a huge decrease on the wealthy, and he and Ryan have  both vowed to repeal the health care bill.

The President told swing voters that he will work with Republicans in bipartisan efforts, reminding us that just last summer he negotiated with the GOP to cut $1 trillion in spending.  But he insisted it had to be a two-sided affair.  In the same vein he vowed not to approve new breaks for the wealthy, saying, “I refuse to go along with that. And as long as I'm President, I never will."  In a CBS/NYT poll recently, 65% of respondents said that the wealthy should be taxed more.

President Obama's full speech:

Michelle Obama talked about her husband’s personal side, painting a man who throughout all the trials and tribulations he has been put through, is the same strong person she knew in 2008, with the same goals and ideals for the country he had then.  During her speech, the President stayed home in Washington to see his daughters off on their first day of school.  If that picture of him with the girls watching Michelle doesn’t show family values, then nothing does.

V.P. Joe Biden

Vice President Joe Biden took us inside the White House saying, "Ladies and gentlemen, I'm here to tell you what I think you already know, that, I watch it up close, bravery resides in the heart of Barack Obama and, time and time again, I witnessed him summon it.”  He added, "This man has courage in his soul, compassion in his heart and a spine of steel…”  Then the classic, "Osama bin Laden is dead, and General Motors is alive!"

  

Of Bill Clinton’s talk, David Gergen said, “…he did what no other Democrat has done well: he saw the vulnerable holes in the Romney-Ryan budget plan and drove a Mack truck through them.”  CNN’s David Rothkopf said about Clinton, Obama “…is no doubt grateful for the brilliance with which Clinton defended his policies, the deftness with which he sliced up Mitt Romney with a razor made of finely honed, carefully forged praise for his Republican predecessors.”

In another article by Rebecca Sinderbrand, she commented on the 48 minute speech which some say was one-half ad-lib, saying it hit just about every item on the Obama “wish list.”  As an example:

• Appeal to the persuadable who cite bipartisanship as a key quality

• Re-frame Romney without alienating bipartisanship-worshipping swing voters

• Push back on the GOP's welfare attack

• Cast Obama as his ideological heir and most likely to bring back the Clinton boom years

You can read more about each in the above link.  Most interesting, I think, is how the legacy of the Clinton boom years was so carefully handed down to Obama, if the country re-elects him in November, and the GOP changes its policy of “no” to everything he proposes and begins to negotiate.  Also interesting will be the bump(s) the President gets from the convention.  One point, not a chance.

Leslie Elder died because she didn’t know Obama’s health care law was there?

I find this hard to understand with the deluge of information available on Obama’s Affordable Care Act that is available in the media, particularly with just simple question searches on the Internet that, if the answer isn’t complete, there is normally some direction to where you can find it.  If you were depending on your doctor or insurance company to know and they didn’t, hell, I would have called the White House and explain that my wife is dying and I need help.

Leslie Elder

The health care law is complex and can be confusing but if a loved one is terminally ill you go to any extent to do something about it, especially when you are sure that proper health care will save her life.  It’s almost as if Leslie Elder was in complete isolation.  Where were her friends and relatives? They should have been combing the countryside for answers.  It is obvious that Elder’s husband was under severe pressure and needed help which he didn’t get.

For this kind of problem there are high risk pools called the Pre-existing Condition Insurance Plan (PCIP) designed as a safety net for people like Leslie Elder.  In a CNN article, it was reported that of the “…200,000-375,000 people expected to enroll in PCIP in the first year, less than one-third have done it, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.”  This is partially due to confusion over the act but also due to inadequate promotion of benefits.

Video on how to apply for Pre-existing Condition Insurance Plan (PCIP):

Jim Elder, Leslie’s husband, admitted knowing little about the program.  He was thinking of the official year of 2014 when the pre-existing rule goes into effect, not knowing there was an emergency section available that could have saved his wife.  Elder said that conversations over health care had been confusing.  Much of that can be attributed to Republicans who have attacked the Act repeatedly with threats of repeal and astonishingly false interpretations of it benefits.

Leslie Elder’s friend, Liz Jacobs, a nurse and advocate and spokeswoman for the group National Nurses United said: “In a humane health care system, as much of the rest of the world has, no one would have to know the arcane minutiae of how to apply for a high risk pool.  Everyone would have (coverage) that qualifies you for health care when and where you need it."  Precisely President Obama’s plan, which is fought vehemently by conservatives, especially the Tea Party.

Elder’s health care professionals and her insurance company certainly have a stake in her unnecessary death.  The family and friends did play an integral part by not uncovering every stone out there.  Obviously, there was one that would have worked.  My wife has a background working for doctors and has taken several classes on medical issues.  I guarantee you that she would not have stopped searching until she had uncovered a solution to Leslie Elder’s problem.

GOP Party Platform the height of arrogance on gun rights

When you think you have reached the epitome of gun rights demands by the gun nuts—they, along with the National Rifle Assn. (NRA), have gutted gun control laws for the last few years—here comes an election and the Republicans are demanding even broader gun rights.  I can’t imagine what is left to gain other than the possibility that we establish an open air market where anyone can go, 24/7, and purchase a gun, taking it anywhere they want to.

Romney VP, Paul Ryan "packing"

I can see it now.  On the front row of displays will be an assortment of assault weapons and magazine clips that hold 100 or more rounds.  Behind that an array of handguns designed to kill with just one shot.  All for self-defense, of course.  Gun vendors would exclaim how the NRA has finally won its battle for gun rights and from now on everyone from Paul Ryan to a James Holmes can own the weapon of his or her choice and do with it as they choose.  NRA Nirvana.

To hell with human life like the lives lost in gun carnage from Columbine to the Wisconsin Sikh Temple.  And these are just the ones that get the attention.  Look at Chicago recently; hardly a day goes by without multiple killings.  Since March I have documented shootings in the U.S. with results of 1,056 shootings leaving 432 dead; these figures are very conservative coming only from the media.  The CDC reports 31,347 gun deaths annually, 10.2 per 100,000 population.

The above alone is reason enough to re-elect Barack Obama, even though he hasn’t come out forcefully enough for gun control, while at the same time knowing we will get nothing, zero, from the Mitt Romney/Paul Ryan gang.

Gun control advocates call it an “audacious” answer to those calling for more regulation after the mass shootings.  I call it pure disdain for those killed and wounded at the mercy of loose guns, and a highly insulting slap in the face to one of their own, Gabby Giffords, former U.S. Representative from Arizona who was severely wounded in the 2011 Tucson massacre where 6 died and 13 more injured.  By guns.  It is this kind of Bizarre thinking that kills Americans daily.

NY Sen. Chuck Schumer on Democrats and gun control:

Dan Gross, Pres. Of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence laments that by pushing this gun rights platform, The GOP have, "put themselves farther out of touch with their constituents."  In a Pew Research Poll following the Aurora, Colo. movie shooting, 47% of Americans favored more gun control compared to 46% who don’t.  With those figures, and considering the firearms bloodbaths in 2012 alone, any thinking individual knows that something must be done.

Does that mean the NRA and its members and supporters don’t think?  Their ability in this area is questionable, but the real reason is they just don’t care.  These gun fanatics value their arsenals over human life and this is despicable.

On July 24, 4 days after the Aurora, Colo. shooting, The White House hinted that President Obama might address the gun control issue.  His spokesman Jay Carney even recapped Obama’s support for an assault weapons ban.  But just 2 days before this Jay Carney was reported as saying the President doesn’t believe new gun control laws are needed.  And in a later statement in August, Carney insisted the problem isn’t guns, it’s violence.

Where the hell does Carney and the President think the violence comes from?  This bullshit about guns don’t kill, people do, is just that, bullshit.  It takes a person to pull the trigger and the reason there are so many triggers to pull is the GOP conservatives, prodded with money from the NRA, repeatedly loosen gun laws.

The Democratic convention started this week and the platform does have some mention of gun control, as follows: “Guns: We believe that the right to own firearms is subject to reasonable regulation. We understand the terrible consequences of gun violence; it serves as a reminder that life is fragile, and our time here is limited and precious. We believe in an honest, open national conversation about firearms.”  See the whole platform here.

But a headline in the Charlotte Observer on Monday read, “Don’t wimp out on gun-control platform,” with a subhead of “Democrats, let’s see a platform that pushes for more limits.”  In other words, they didn’t do enough. 

The author questions why the NRA thinks the President is the “most anti-gun president in modern times,” followed by a quote from the article saying, “Obama hasn’t proposed any anti-gun legislation during his first term, and his talk about gun control has been almost non-existent these last four years.”  I think we would be elated to hear something from Obama on gun control in his address tonight.  But we all will be satisfied if he just does something about it in his 2^nd term.

Can we supplement Social Security with junk mail?

More on this concept later but it is important to note first that, according to a new Associated Press-GfK poll on public attitudes about Social Security, “…53 percent of adults said they would rather raise taxes than cut benefits for future generations.”  Keep in mind that this is today’s adults thinking about their kids and grandchildren.  There are 36% that would cut benefits and most of us would agree that are the radical conservatives, including primarily the Tea Party.

To help balance the SS budget, another “…53 percent said they would raise the retirement age, while 35 percent said they would cut monthly payments.”  Because many low income seniors depend entirely on SS as their sole means of income, an across the board cut here would not be fair.  But Social Security is one of those American institutions that we have come to expect; sorta like setting a legal precedent that guides a court in their decisions.

Now the GOP would have us believe there are ways to play with SS and make it better.  Republican supposed genius, V.P. contender Paul Ryan, presented a plan in 2005 to privatize Social Security in a way that brought such a colossal price tag that even the Bush administration called it “irresponsible.”  Further, he wants to reduce the amount of money paid out overtime leaving seniors in the lurch when costs go up.  All because of a refusal to raise taxes on the wealthy.

47% said they trust President Obama to handle SS better than Mitt Romney at 44%.  Although Romney is against raising taxes on the higher incomes, he is for slowing the growth of benefits for those with higher incomes.  In 2008 Obama said he would raise the level on Social Security payroll tax from $110,100 to $250,000.  It is obvious that what is needed is a combination of increased taxes with program adjustments, and perhaps some limitation of benefits. 

The Young Turks on Social Security one year ago:

Only 20% of young adults (those under 35) think that SS will be there for them when they retire.  And this is where that wild idea of mind came into being some seven to eight years ago that we could supplement Social Security income in the future using some of the profits the junk mail list industry makes from the sale of your name and personal data.  I know this because I spent 35 years in junk mail selling you name and private information making a lot of money.

By my estimates—and this is because junk mailers refuse to release to the public just how much they make from what should be your personal property—the list industry grosses over $4 billion every year from you name and personal data.  I came up with a formula back in 2004 to determine what would happen if one-half of that $4 billion was placed in a simple interest-bearing account in the early stages of your working career that you could tap at age 65.

The outcome was that junk mail shoppers could supplement their retirement income by an average of $607 per month.  Since a majority of Americans do buy regularly through mail order, they would automatically enrolled in the program.  Plus, when the advantages of this program were noted by the balance of the population, junk mailers would naturally add new customers.  Those people remaining would then be more manageable for the feds.

In 2008, nearly 40% of retirees received their income from Social Security.  Maybe it is this group where junk mail supplement should be most applied, using some kind of formulation for fairness.  Another 19% have pensions and annuities, 23.7% from earnings, 15.4% from other assets such as IRAs.  However, in low-income households, 87.6 of their income came from Social Security, another profile the junk mail supplement should favor.

In all cases, high incomes and the wealthy would be eliminated from receiving the supplements.  These conditions combined would easily increase the $607 monthly figure for others.  

FDR signs SS Act in 1934

What we have agreed on here is the fact that we want to save Social Security and most of us prefer that it stays close to its current format.  Yes, we have to attack the two biggest drains on the economy, SS and Medicare, but we don’t have to take a scalpel to it as the GOP would have us do.  A junk mail supplement may be a far out answer to the problem but, then, Social Security was considered unparalleled when FDR signed the SS Act in 1934.

Betty White mimics Clint Eastwood at the Democratic National Convention

Well, it hasn’t happened yet, and it may not, but it could, if the Democrats read this blog and rush an invitation to Betty White, who is equally popular, and loved, as Clint Eastwood.  Apparently Clint is disenchanted with President Obama and said so with his comedy routine at the Republican National Convention recently using an empty chair, which was supposed to hold Obama.  But his shtick did more for Eastwood than it did for the Romney/Ryan ticket.

Betty White with Barack Obama

There is a petition being circulated saying Betty White should introduce Barack Obama at the Democratic National Convention.  Bret Lang says it would be a grabber for seniors who love her current TV series, “Hot in Cleveland,” which has just been renewed for its 4^th season on the TV Land channel.  White has publicly supported Barack Obama and his dog, Bo; she is an avid animal rights advocate.  But instead of introducing Obama, I would take a different approach…this way.

Betty White comes onto the stage to a roaring welcome and approaches the podium where a chair has been placed alongside.  Behind the podium she hesitates momentarily, and then sits down in the chair, looking up at the podium and smiling that famous smile.  She waits as if someone at the podium is talking to the audience, then, as if being asked a question, replies:

• “Yes, Mr. President, I agree that Medicare should be preserved and not gutted like those…oh my, I almost said a naughty word.”

• Waiting again while Obama speaks, she then interrupts him with a question.  “Can you tell me what Clint Eastwood meant when he said you were ‘hotdoggin’ it?  I thought you preferred hamburgers.”

• More time elapses in the President’s speech when an idea occurs to Betty.  She turns to the podium cutting in again, “You do know that there are some of those, shall we say puzzled, conservatives in Hollywood but they are pretty much like all those other…uh oh, I almost said a bad thing again.”

• After a while, “Uh, if you need someone to cry for you tonight, I’m available, just in case Oprah isn’t.”

• “Oh sorry, Mr. President, I wasn’t saying shut up to you.  I was saying it to myself to keep me from making another comment on, I forget, is it George Romney’s son? 

• A little later Betty looks up at Obama and says, “Excuse me, but I just want you to know that I am aware there are 12.8 million unemployed, not the 23 million I think what’s his name said.  But I won’t cry about it.”

Where's the chair?

• As the President hesitates for a moment, the actress waves her hand for attention and exclaims, “You don’t have to worry about me cracking crude jokes tonight but I do have some cute ones if you need them from Saturday Night Live.”

• More speech and then Betty White stops Obama again.  “If you remember, the cowboy with the guns the other night said something about the fact that people like him and me own this country.  Well, the way I see it, the guy he works for thinks he owns the country and has the wealth to back it up.”

• As President Obama concludes his speech, he looks over at Betty White and asks her if she has anything to add.  Of course actors always have to have the last word and she replies, “Well, Clint Eastwood asked Republicans to “Make his Day.”  I think most Americans know you have made our day by saving our economy.”

• Betty White gets up to more huge applause, leaving, and Obama shakes her hand in thanks.  Then she whispers in his ear and he laughs so hard he has to sit in the chair.  All of a sudden there is a hologram of Clint Eastwood that appears behind the podium and then it exits…stage right.

The hilarious Betty White talks about John McCain, Sarah Palin and Obama:

Unspoken but assumed, Barack Obama has made our last four years so please keep it up for the next four.

Rep. AZ Gov Jan Brewer endorses Barack Obama for President; Too stupid to cover but unforgettable

Arizona’s mind-challenged governor, Jan Brewer, did it again, and this one, perhaps, tops them all.  With that typically goofy but spacey smile on her face she said: "I know that if President Obama is elected in November, which I hope that he is, that he will be able to come together with all of us and come up with a solution and I believe he will secure our borders and therefore we can resolve all those other issues; it's a simple matter,"  “Simple” is the correct term for Brewer.



Brewer finger-waving incident

If anyone needs the border secured around them it is Brewer; to keep her in her office where she can utter all the stupid remarks she wants without embarrassing Arizona.  Again.  One of her most famous flubs was the brain freeze—the brain part is questionable—when she floundered for 2 minutes in an opening statement to a debate with her challenger Terry Goddard.  This is considered rare since it is pre-prepared and supposedly rehearsed over and over.  Uh huh.

But ding-a-lings never learn, as evidenced by Brewer’s finger-wagging incident with President Obama on an Arizona airport tarmac that hit the international wires, making many out-of-staters wonder just who elected this political flunky.  I can tell you first-hand; a ding-a-ling group of voters, many of whom are racist, that support her because she signed into law the anti-immigration bill SB-1070, most of which has been gutted, the rest under legal attack. 

Jan Brewer endorses Barack Obama:

Brewer, following President Obama’s move extending temporary work permits to more than a million undocumented young immigrants, passed a directive that said this group could not get Arizona driver’s licenses that would allow them to get to work.  Called mean-spirited, it is plainly the work of an intolerant radical that is obsessed with the power of her office.  What Brewer has done is require Arizona to defend even more lawsuits that are already being planned.

And just following the 2-minutes seen around the world, Brewer insisted on doing it again for the American public and her eager, pathetic Arizona followers.  She exclaimed one bright and sunny day that decapitated bodies had been found by law enforcement agencies along the US-Mexico border.  Of course the claim was bogus and once again she cried out, “I misspoke.”  The state only inherited this bungler because Janet Napolitano left office to join Barack Obama’s cabinet.

Brewer announces headless
bodies in the desert

Once upon a time the Arizona Republic—very conservative—was touting Jan Brewer for Vice President; that’s before the primary narrowed down to Mitt Romney.  Now I am no expert on choosing VPs but in my estimation, this would have ended up a bigger disaster then John McCain’s Sarah Palin.  I even envisioned Brewer on the ticket with Rick Perry where they would outdo the comedy team of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis.  Possibly even Laurel and Hardy.

In the Phoenix New Times James King said it is coffee spitting hilarity, if you read the Republic headline early in the morning with your first cup.  King did a poll at the end of his article asking, “Could Jan Brewer really become Vice President Jan Brewer?”  The voting answers were: “Yes,” “No” and “Kill me now.”  Yes and No pulled 7.2 percent and 26.3 percent, respectively.  Kill me now pulled a walloping 66.5 percent. 

It really says something when you’d rather join the deceased than live with Jan Brewer in Washington.  Unfortunately, progressive minded Arizonans are stuck with her until 2014.  She’s even considered a third term which is against the state constitution.  Now talk about revolt.