Fighting back against the right wing

President Obama has just asked Congress to take a series of steps to fight gun violence, and has taken immediate action himself by signing multiple executive orders. **Write Congress TODAY, stand with President Obama, and demand action against gun violence** Spread the word by sharing this, and let's keep up the pressure. Reasonable people can differ on the exact steps needed, but if we (once again) take no action, we should be ashamed. Send a message, share, share, share, and make this happen!

"If At First the Idea Is Not Absurd, Then There Is No Hope for It" - Albert Einstein Just weeks after bringing America to the brink of fiscal-cliff disaster, Republicans are threatening to do it all over again by refusing to raise the nation's debt limit in February. Their actions threaten to plunge the world into a global recession, and they are already harming America's economy right now by depressing consumer confidence, causing business uncertainty, and slowing the still fragile recovery from the Great Recession. There is a solution: President Obama can authorize the minting of a million-dollar platinum coin. And it's a solution that has the backing of Nobel Prize winning economist Paul Krugman: "There's a legal loophole allowing the Treasury to mint platinum coins in any denomination the secretary chooses. Yes, it was intended to allow commemorative collector's items — but that's not what the letter of the law says. And by minting a $1 trillion coin, then depositing it at the Fed, the Treasury could acquire enough cash to sidestep the debt ceiling — while doing no economic harm at all." (source) Tell President Obama: Mint the trillion dollar coin & end the Republican debt limit threat. Yes, it sounds silly, but as Krugman also points out, President Obama will be faced with, "a choice between two alternatives: one that's silly but benign, the other that's equally silly but both vile and disastrous." The idea also has the support of the Philip Diel, the man who ran the U.S. Mint and helped write the law that would authorize the coin's minting. As Diel points out, while the coin might provoke laughter, it would have essentially zero negative impact: "There are no negative macroeconomic effects. This works just like additional tax revenue or borrowing under a higher debt limit. In fact, when the debt limit is raised, Treasury would sell more bonds, the $1 trillion dollars would be taken off the books, and the coin would be melted." (source) Silly? Yes. But better than the alternative? Undoubtedly. Tell President Obama: Mint the trillion dollar coin & end the Republican debt limit threat.

Tell Boehner: "Stop Holding Up Disaster Aid for Hurricane Sandy Victims" It's shocking and appalling. More than 2 months after Hurricane Sandy brought devastation and shattered the lives of millions of Americans, the House of Representatives still hasn’t approved disaster relief. The Senate moved quickly on a $60 billion dollar aid package, but John Boehner never held a vote in the House. And with a new Congress being sworn in, the Senate vote is wiped out, and work must start all over again. Boehner's callousness was so outrageous, that it's even been condemned by fellow Republicans: Rep. Peter King (R-NY) lit into House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and other House Republicans on Wednesday for adjourning the night before without taking up Hurricane Sandy relief legislation. "It's absolutely disgraceful," King said on CNN. "People in my party, they wonder why they're becoming a minority party. They're writing off New York, they're writing off New Jersey. Well, they've written me off, and they're gonna have a hard time getting my vote, I can tell you that." (source) Millions of Americans are waiting for help. It's time for Boehner to stop playing politics. Tell Boehner: "Stop Holding Up Disaster Aid for Hurricane Sandy Victims"

There were a lot of lies told in the 2012 campaign, but in the end, only one would take the honor as Politifact's "lie of the year." And the winner is... Mitt Romney! It was a lie told in the critical state of Ohio in the final days of a close campaign -- that Jeep was moving its U.S. production to China. It originated with a conservative blogger, who twisted an accurate news story into a falsehood. Then it picked up steam when the Drudge Report ran with it. Even though Jeep's parent company gave a quick and clear denial, Mitt Romney repeated it and his campaign turned it into a TV ad. And they stood by the claim, even as the media and the public expressed collective outrage against something so obviously false. (source) Send Mitt Romney a message, and congratulate him on winning lie of the year! It's not easy taking the top spot, but Mitt Romney proved that even a scrappy young underdog with nothing more than a dream* was up to the task! Hats off to you, Mitt! Send Mitt Romney a message, and congratulate him on winning lie of the year! * And a billion dollars

For too long, America has watched helplessly as the the Senate became the place where good bills go to die. The ridiculous, outdated, undemocratic filibuster meant that majority rule was turned on its head, and the stubbornness of 41 senators was enough to block the hard work and good will of 59 others. And with the Republican minority using the filibuster at an unprecedented pace, work and progress ground to a halt. When the Senate reconvenes in January, the Democratic majority will have the opportunity to fix this asinine rule. And it will be able to do so with a simple majority vote, if it acts in the critical first few days, when Senate rules are set for the term. Harry Reid did not act on this last term, and has since said he regrets it. But he has not yet committed to fix the filibuster this term. Reid's leadership will be essential to making this happen. Send Harry Reid a message. Tell him it's time to fix the filibuster. Some have argued against fixing the filibuster, asserting that it will be needed if the Democrats are again in the minority. However, keeping this rule in place now provides no protection for the future. There is nothing preventing the Republicans from eliminating it themselves if they gain the majority, regardless of what happens this term. Send Harry Reid a message. Tell him it's time to fix the filibuster.

Tell the GOP: Investigate REPUBLICAN Voter Fraud For years, Republican leaders have been feigning outrage over non-existent voter fraud, using it as a drummed up excuse to push voter ID laws that could disenfranchise millions. Well, turns out there IS fraud... from REPUBLICANS. And the reaction from the GOP? Crickets: In the wake of revelations that Strategic Allied Consulting, a controversial voter registration firm that has worked for the Republican National Committee, the Florida Republican Party, and the Romney campaign, is under investigation for turning in fraudulent voter registration forms in Florida, a Florida Congressman is calling for a bipartisan probe. Rep. Ted Deutch (D-FL) wrote Monday in a letter to Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R): "In light of the large and apparently growing voter fraud scandal engulfing the Republican Party of Florida, I urge you to immediately appoint a bipartisan task force to investigate the accusations and ensure that the integrity of our voting rolls will not be compromised by Strategic Allied Consulting’s deliberately fraudulent voter registration operations. I also urge you to ensure that that false registrations submitted by Strategic Allied Consulting do not remain on our rolls, and that you immediately investigative whether any employees involved in this scandal are still working for the Republican Party to register voters in Florida." Deutch observes that Scott's silence and inaction on the scandal, to date, are "shocking and hypocritical" in light of Scott's Ahab-like attempts to purge suspected non-citizen voters from the state’s voting rolls. (Source) Send the GOP a message, and tell them to investigate REAL voter fraud -- the fraud waged by Republicans.

For two years, John Boehner and his Tea Party Congress have blocked nearly every single item President Obama has proposed, all while pushing an extreme right-wing agenda. Tax cuts for millionaires. A war on women. Holding up the recovery for political purposes. Need we go on? If this makes you angry, then it's time to do something about it. It's time to tell John Boehner "you're fired." It's time to take back the House. Sign up, send a message to Boehner, and tell him you're going to do what you can to return the House to Democratic control, and put him out of a job. We can do it. A new PPP poll shows that Americans prefer Democrats be elected to Congress over Republicans by a 48% to 44% margin. And momentum is moving our way. Make this happen. Send a message today, pledge to help take back the House, and we will keep you updated on exactly what you can do to make it happen.

Left Action founder John Hlinko appears regularly as a pundit on TV, including on Fox, CNN, Current, and MSNBC. If you're interested in seeing his appearances, please check out the Hlinko Report.

A lively and timely debate over Mitt Romney's tax returns...