When I made this group, I made this in response to the loss of  dncfurs. However, at about the same time, someone else made . I feel that it's redundant and inefficient to have two separate groups for the same cause, so I'm shutting this group down.

If you're still a member of this group and you live in the United States, please follow . If you live in another country, then you should follow the left-wing political group that applies to your country, or create it if it doesn't exist.

I apologize for the inconvenience.

The person who pulled the trigger likely had mental problems prior to the shooting. It may not have been politically motivated, though the heated nature of our politics may have encouraged the individual.

It's time to start looking at how we can prevent this from happening again. Time and again, shooting after shooting, we see the problem getting worse. There needs to be some sort of intervention for these kinds of individuals.

Had there been tougher gun restrictions, it is possible that the shooting would not have happened in the first place. You do not need to protect yourself with 60 shots a minute. If the mental health treatment he'd been getting were more intrusive, that might have also worked.

There's a discussion on preventing people from threatening Congress, just like there are laws against threatening the president.

Here is a video of the entire Tucson Memorial. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGjpo2YWpSs

Here's an editorial regarding the heated nature of our politics: http://www.cnn.com/2011/OPINION/01/.....ex.html?hpt=C1

Congresswoman Gabriel Giffords (D-AZ) has been shot. Though it has not been confirmed whether the attack was politically motivated, given the current narrative I see no reason why it would not have been. This came shortly after bombs were sent to the governor of Maryland and DC.

Even if it wasn't, it's still a tragedy. When are we going to learn that our actions have consequences? When are we going to learn that violence is not the answer? This is a sad day, and it is very shameful that anyone would do such a thing.

Let's hope the person(s) responsible is punished to the fullest extent of the law. People need to put politics aside and condemn such acts.

Today is a historic day. The military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy regarding LGBT soldiers has been repealed by a final vote of 65-31. The policy will head to the President's desk, and discrimination in the military based on sexual orientation will be no more.

So, for those of you who haven't heard, there's a fight going on between the Democrats. Republicans, though in the minority, will not pass tax cuts for the middle class (or anything else) without passing budget-busting tax cuts for the wealthy. If the tax cuts for the wealthy expired, that money could be used to pay off the debt. If they don't, we'll be trillions of dollars more in the hole. Republicans keep telling us they're concerned about deficits. Then they tell us that taxes are too high.

Do you want low taxes or low deficits? PICK ONE OR THE OTHER. There is no third option. You cannot keep such a low tax rate without continuing to have soaring deficits.

People who follow Reaganomics tend to think that increasing taxes will always ruin the economy, ignoring the fact that during the 1990's we had a booming economy while the government generated a surplus. We didn't start going into debt until the Bush Tax Cuts were passed. There were record deficits at the time when Reagan passed his tax cuts.

So the only options we have left are to either a) pass all the tax cuts or b) let them all expire.

If they pass all the cuts, we'll have a huge debt (that Republicans will blame us for). If we don't, tax rates for the middle class will go up (again they'll blame us for that), unemployment insurance will run out and nothing else will get passed.

So, what next?

How could Barack Obama possibly be a Communist if he's sending ships to monitor North Korea and support to the South?

Go check them out.

These were not legitimate shouts either, just people trolling the group. You don't see us doing the same on their page as they do to ours.

Leftfurs needs your support in order to keep growing. Please contact some of your left-wing furry friends that we exist!

As the description states, " ...or has any left-wing political views regarding the economy, gay marriage, the environment, health care, or any other fiscal/social issue is welcome to join this group by watching." You don't have to agree with everything or be a self-described liberal, but you should have left-wing political views in some areas. Libertarians fit this description.

Also notice this, "For all others, we encourage a civil debate." You can also take part in discussions we'll bring up.

Also, as you can clearly see, we haven't brought up fiscal issues yet. When we do, you'll be able to take part in that discussion.

WE ARE LEGIT! I just got word from one of the admins that our group has been formally approved. Now we just have to work at expanding it.

Also, the Democratic Party has given its website a well-needed overhaul. I absolutely love the new interface. It's so much easier to navigate. It also makes canvassing and contributions for candidates much more easily. The web site heavily integrates social networking and is designed to appeal to young voters. People can even click "Espanol" so that they can see the site in Spanish.

The Democrats' new motto is "Change That Matters," so hopefully the energy that carries into 2008 will continue into 2010. I feel that this website will be a very effective tool in winning elections and gathering grassroots momentum. Whether it will be effective at gathering votes in 2010 remains to be seen.

With the election of the far-right Christine O' Donnell, the chances of the Republicans have gone down from 30% to 21%, according to FiveThirtyEight. Had the Tea Party candidate also won in New Hampshire, that chance would have dwindled to 15%.

Conclusion: Extremism is not the way to win elections. Reaching out to everybody will give you more votes, no matter what year it is.

Let's put politics aside and take time to remember those that have fallen on that fateful day.

The combat troops have left, and now the mission will be from "Operation Iraqi Freedom" to "Operation New Dawn." What will happen from then on? Only time will tell.

Proposition 8, the ban on gay marriage in California, has been declared unconstitutional by a federal judge Walker yesterday. The gay marriage ban violates the Due Process Clause and the Equal Protection Clause. The decision will be appealed, and should the ruling stand in a higher court, could have an effect on marriage laws in as many as 45 other states (meaning that gay marriage could become legal in ALL states).

Also, Elena Kagan has just been nominated to the Supreme Court.

I may be gone for three weeks starting tomorrow, and in that time I'd like people to start discussing ideas about how we can further the group. Any help and thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Please be polite with each other when discussing about politics.