I just got an email from Elizabeth Warren.  Please follow up with Harry Reid as Elizabeth Warren has suggested.

On 12/12/2012 6:22 PM, Elizabeth Warren for
Daily Kos wrote:

 

Steven, Just moments ago, I received a call from Sen. Harry Reid’s office, confirming my position on the Senate Banking Committee in January. I appreciate the faith that Leader Reid has put in me to take this assignment, and I am looking so forward to playing a role in Congressional oversight over big banks on Wall Street and the banking agencies in Washington. Middle class families need more watchdogs in Washington that will try to hold the big guys accountable and to stop bad deals for the American people. I’m ready to help. Please join me in thanking Leader Harry Reid for this incredible opportunity. Over the years, your faith in my work has strengthened me. You donated to my election campaign, you made phone calls to help identify volunteers and get out the vote in Massachusetts, and you pushed hard again and again to put wind in my sails in every way imaginable so that I could take on the big guys. Against the odds, you helped give me a real shot at winning. You’ve been there for me since the beginning, and I’m so grateful. This is how real change happens – we do it together. Of course, fighting for the middle class means more than talk or strongly worded emails. It means across-the-board, consistent accountability for anyone who breaks the law — no matter where they work or who their friends are. And that’s what we’re going to work hard to accomplish. But before we get started, please join me in thanking Leader Reid for his giving me this incredible opportunity. I’ve taken on Wall Street banks and other powerful interests for years, and, with your help, I’ll continue to do so for many years to come. Thank you for being a part of this, and keep fighting! Elizabeth

CNN has the story Angry with Obama, GOP threatens political war next year.

Conservative Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, promised the newly re-elected Obama “one hell of a fight” next year if the president forces through his plan for high-income earners to pay more taxes without agreeing to substantive steps to reduce the nation’s chronic federal deficits and debt.

“But there will come a time in February and March where we have to raise the debt ceiling,” Graham said Tuesday on “Piers Morgan Tonight” on CNN.

“I will not raise the debt ceiling ever again until we get significant entitlement reforms, because if we don’t reform entitlements, we’re going to become Greece,” adding that the situation presented a chance for Obama to lead. “But if he doesn’t lead, there’s going to be one hell of a fight over raising the debt ceiling.”

Do you need any more proof that we need to reform the filibuster rule in the Senate in order to disarm the Republicans who want to wage war against the country?

To take action see my previous post Reform The Filibuster – Don’t Just Stand There, Do Something. If the Republicans see the growth in signatures on this position every time they threaten the country, maybe they will get the message.  In any case, this reform needs to happen.  If the Republicans claim to be conservative and long for the good old days, then they should all be in favor of putting the filibuster rules back to their traditional status.  It was the recent change that made it too easy to stop the Senate with a mere threat of a filibuster that has brought this country to the sorry deadlock in which it finds itself.

ABC News has the story Oregon Mall Shooting Hero Gets Mom to Safety, Evacuated Others.

A store employee at the Clackamas Town Center mall used his knowledge of the shopping complex to hustle his mother out of the building during Tuesday’s shooting rampage and then twice went back inside to guide other shoppers to exits and safety.

This is particularly scary to us.  We used to frequent the Clackamas Town Center when we lived in Oregon.  We often ate at the Food Court, too.