COFFEE BREAK 238

+ updated at 4:01pm EST on Tuesday, January 11, 2011 (1/11/11)

+ Thom Hartmann offers "Could better gun control have prevented the Arizona massacre?"  It begins: "Could better gun control have prevented the Arizona massacre?  The President of the Brady Center to prevent gun violence perhaps put it best in an interview yesterday saying, '[Loughner] probably couldn’t have gotten a job at a fast food joint if they checked out any references, but we allow him to buy as many guns as he wants.'" Read More.

+ Repeal Healthcare Reform? Most Americans are not in favor. Check out a recent poll that shows only 37 per cent of Americans think it is Too Liberal. Don't let the GOP noisemakers fool you. Scroll down to "CNN/Opinion Research Corporation Poll. Dec. 17-19, 2010. N=1,008 adults nationwide. Margin of error ± 3" at http://www.pollingreport.com/health.htm

Scroll down to "McClatchy-Marist Poll. Nov. 15-18, 2010. N=810 registered voters nationwide. Margin of error ± 3.5" and discover something very important: A majority of Americans either want the Law to stand OR WANT TO EXPAND IT SO IT DOES MORE!!! ‎35 per cent said "Change it so it does more" as compared to 11 per cent saying "Change it so it does less." 33 per cent said "Repeal it." So, more people actually want to expand it than want to repeal it! ‎16 per cent said" Let It Stand."

Sadly, the GOP wants to make us believe most Americans are against it because it is Too Liberal. This is simply NOT TRUE as the CNN Poll definitely says that only a minority think it is Too Liberal.  Go to the Polling Report.

+ “And what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” -- Micah 6:8

+ The hate and violence rhetoric of the Right Wing is definitely a huge problem in this nation. Let's stop the denial. Yes, some on the Left also have this flaw in their character but it is not nearly as pervasive. The Talking Points Memo Muckraker offers "Before Shooting, A Campaign Season Rife With Gun Rhetoric" by Rachel Slajda. It begins: "The person who shot Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ), a federal judge and 18 other people Saturday may or may not have had a coherent political philosophy or a rational motive. But his actions still come after a campaign season rife with gun imagery and borderline violent rhetoric. There is, of course, Sarah Palin's map in which targeted districts were marked by crosshairs (spun as "surveyor's symbols" by Palin aides), but there was much, much more over the 2010 campaign." Read More.