I pledge to myself:

Social Security belongs to the people who have worked hard all their lives and contributed to it. Social Security is a promise that must not be broken. If you pay in, then you earn the right to benefits for yourself, your spouse and your dependent children when you retire, experience a severe disability, or die.

We need to strengthen Social Security, not cut it. I oppose any cuts to Social Security benefits, including increasing the retirement age. I also oppose any effort to privatize Social Security, in whole or in part.

AARON DANDREA

• Create the strongest consumer protections in history so that Americans always get the information they need to make smart financial decisions; and

• Rein in Wall Street abuses, hold the big banks accountable, and ensure that taxpayers never again have to bail them out; and

• Prevent lobbyist loopholes or exemptions from weakening reform.

Stand with our President as well.

I then took a shower in the clean water provided by the municipal water utility.

After that, I turned on the TV to one of the FCC regulated channels to see what the National Weather Service of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration determined the weather was going to be like using satellites designed, built, and launched by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. I watched this while eating my breakfast of US Department of Agriculture inspected food and taking the drugs which have been determined as safe by the Food and Drug Administration.

At the appropriate time as regulated by the US Congress and kept accurate by the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the US Naval Observatory, I get into my National Highway Traffic Safety Administration approved automobile and set out to work on the roads built by the local, state, and federal Departments of Transportation, possibly stopping to purchase additional fuel of a quality level determined by the Environmental Protection Agency, using legal tender issued by the Federal Reserve Bank. On the way out the door I deposit any mail I have to be sent out via the US Postal Service and drop the kids off at the public school.

Then, after spending another day not being maimed or killed at work thanks to the workplace regulations imposed by the Department of Labor and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, I drive back to my house which has not burned down in my absence because of the state and local building codes and the fire marshal’s inspection, and which has not been plundered of all its valuables thanks to the local police department.

I then log onto the Internet which was developed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Administration and post on freerepublic and fox news forums about how a government-run health care option is BAD because the government can’t do anything right.

According to a recent Gallup poll, President Obama has done just that.

That graph is just the world median… to see graphs for each region, check out the full article at Gallup.com.

1996 – Bill Clinton (D) for President. I remember we got a little yellow card in the mail with a little chart, showing where both Clinton and Bob Dole stood on several issues. I remember we talked it over in school. I remember making a little “Clinton/Gore” sign and sticking it in my yard, next to my mom’s rather more professional-looking Dole sign.

2000 – Al Gore (D) for President. To this day I think he would have been the better choice. We needed the war in Afghanistan, NOT the Iraq War. Bush was an idiot who couldn’t properly formulate a sentence. How he won the election is beyond me.

2002 – Robert Ehrlich (R) for Governor of Maryland. I figured our property taxes could be lowered, and our state budget could be restructured so we could have a surplus without even needing the money from the higher taxes.

2004 – John Kerry (D) for President. I hated the war, I hated the government watching everybody and holding suspected “terrorists” without warrants, and I hated George W. Bush. I hated these things so much I overlooked Kerry’s faults. Later I came to support many of the things I hated about Bush, except his “moral” conservatism and of course the Iraq War.

2006 – Martin O’Malley (D) for Governor. After the things I had hoped a Republican could do for Maryland did not occur at all, I began to change my mind. Ehrlich gave the state a massive deficit, and talked about slots as though they were the only solution.

2008 – Barack Obama (D) for President.

CNN Politics

In the last few months, we’ve made more progress on health insurance reform than we made in the previous 60 years. You can tell from the reaction of reform opponents that we’re doing something right.

Special interests who profit from the status quo are spreading brazen lies that stir up anger, and Republican leaders are chiming in with over-the-top rhetoric that detracts from the public debate. Just last week, Rush Limbaugh insinuated that President Obama was comparable to Adolf Hitler.

It’s a perfect example of “the old politics of fear and division” that President Obama talked about during his campaign. But there is too much at stake, too many Americans facing rising health care costs and shrinking paychecks, for us to let the politics of yesterday prevail.

The last thing opponents of reform want is a positive, civil debate. They know they’ll lose on the merits, so they’re turning to lies and division. It’s up to us to expose each distortion for what it is: a lie, plain and simple. If we do that, we’ll better our politics — and bring badly-needed reform.

Monday, the White House launched a new online resource that could help — a “Reality Check” site to help Americans clear up health care lies and misinformation. Visit the site today — and then send it to your friends so that everyone you know learns the truth.

Whether it’s a parent wondering how reform will affect seniors, an old friend confused about a lie they’ve heard, or just a concerned co-worker, we all know someone with questions about reform. The “Reality Check” site answers those questions and sets the record straight on lies that have been circulating.

But it’s up to each of you to make sure they see it — so make sure to send it their way today.

With news of disruptions at some town halls, it’s easy to forget the progress we’ve made. But because of your continued commitment, the tide is turning. Supporters of reform now outnumber opponents at many town halls. And when we win the fight for health insurance reform, it will be not only a momentous accomplishment, but a sign that it’s possible to defeat the angry politics of the past.

There are too many folks in Washington who are willing to lie for partisan gain, or engage in hateful rhetoric to score political points, for reform to come easily. We all need to step up — and it starts with you passing along “Reality Check” today:

http://democrats.org/RealityCheck

We face too many challenges together — we can’t afford to continue the slash and burn politics of yesterday. Please stand with me and fight for the truth.

Thank you,

Governor Tim Kaine
Chairman

It’s because that’s all they hear about on the news. But it depends which channel you’re watching.

Now it’s true that President Obama is putting into place some pretty radical reforms. Michael Steele called them “reckless liberal experiments.” But what we need to do is give them time to work. If they work, great. Everyone can look back and say, “President Obama did a lot of good for us.” If they don’t work, we obviously will say the opposite.

People need more access to positive media, instead of so much negative media like Fox News and the Washington Times. Today, the Times ran an article (which read like an ad) for anti-Obama paraphernelia. This is such blatant propaganda I almost got sick. Even the liberal media doesn’t do crap like this.

America needs to be better informed because many people will believe whatever they see on the news, or read in a newspaper.

Gah. This can be fixed. Luckily, it doesn’t matter if EVERYBODY, literally EVERYBODY hates Obama right now. He’s President until 2013. Deal with it.