According to both the New York Times and Politico.com President Obama is set to announce new mileage standards tomorrow. The new Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards are going to incorperate California’s strict standards for fuel mileage and emissions. The ultimate goal is to achieve 34 mpg by 2016.
Look, lets be realistic. This is a great thing for the Obama Administration to do. Automakers are fully capable of achieving these levels of fuel efficiency in most of their models. However, I think President Obama needs to be more aggressive when it comes to this, especially when it comes to the American auto makers. Demand hybrid vehicles in exchange for bail out cash, enact a “gas guzzler” tax accross the board on any vehicle that does not conform to the new standards (cause frankly, if you are buying a $230,000 Italian sports car, you can afford the gas guzzler tax), push for alternative fuels and cellulosic and sugar based ethanol, and much more. But none the less, this is a great step forward.
Here is a video from CNN yesterday that we talked about on PantherWire this morning. Here, Kyra Phillips is discussing a new factor that she will be judging Barack Obama after his first 100 days in office. Topic: “Swagga”
WTF CNN? It’s not like you ran out of news today? We have swine flu, Obama’s budget plan, Chrysler flushed down the bankruptcy toilet? Did you really compare Barack Obama to Lando Calrissian? TO SHAFT?!
However the best part of the clip has to be TJ Holmes trying not to be offended by the segment as a whole. Anyway, you can check it out while I look for another television news source that hasn’t completely lost it’s mind. I’m running out of options…
A large amount of people are outraged by the fact that President Obama shook the hand of Hugo Chavez. But really, partisan bullshit aside, what would one hve him do?
For those of you who may not live in Miami, or are not well versed in Latin American politics, Hugo Chavez is a big anti-American douche and communist dictator. The man is complete scum, but should that mean that formality and human decency should just fly out the window? They are both heads of state, imagine what would have happened if Obama had declined to shake his hand, or worse, slapped him in the face with a cold salmon.
Barack Obama is president of the United States, at a time where America’s standing with the global community is beginning to diminish due to our worsening economic situation and the fact that we are in debt up to our eyeballs. America has always wanted the world to conform to it rather than it to the world, and this situation is reflective of a new direction in American politics. We have lived eight years under the auspices of The Bush Doctrine and look what that has gotten us? We have lived eight long years without diplomacy that the sight of it gives people the creeps.
Yes, Hugo Chavez is an ingnoramus, a tyrant, a coward, and a feind, but should Obama’s perogative really be to give him more kindling for his fires of hatred towards America? No. He handled him professionally and as a head of state should treat another head of state regardless of their differences.
In News, Politics on February 23, 2009 at 11:22 am
Since the election of Barack Obama, and even during most of the election season, MSNBC has seemed to have this sort of love affair with our new president. MSNBC’s attempt to become the voice for this administration is so obvious that it borders on indecent. Chris Matthews said one that he ”I felt this thrill going up my leg,”. Now, slightly homosexual comments aside, MSNBC is now worthless to me in terms of media objectivity.
Oddly enough, I have noticed that with either extremes, CNN has become much more middle of the road, especially with all this twittering and i-reporting stuff. With MSNBC and FOX at either extreme. Look, bottom line is, all this Obama pandering isn’t doing anyone any good. If media outlets like MSNBC continue to kiss ass and talk about how Obama makes their legs feel, to what end does that help.
We, the Media, have an obligation to bring an unbiased perspective to you, the reader/viewer/consumer/person. Does it inform you when Chris Matthews goes on a rant about how great Obama is? No. Does it help you when Rush Limbaugh starts going nuts telling everyone how much he dislikes Obama, and how he wishes he could fail? Negative.
If MSNBC wants to be a news leader instead of the lapdog of an administration, they need to hold this administration accountable for everything, and not let one thing slide. I am not going to go as far as saying that FOX does this, as FOX usually pulls a lot of stuff out of their ass (and their top two pundits are egotistical blowhards who refuse to hear anyone over the sound of their own uninformed, biased opinion) but at least they are…doing something?
Today the market reacted to Tim Geithner’s New Bank Rescue plan…by dropping 382 points (or 4.6%).
Geithner outlined the plan today. CNN Money did a great job summing it all up so I’ll post an excerpt:
Testing the health of big banks to weather an even deeper economic downturn. Geithner said the Treasury will “stress-test” the biggest banks and provide capital to those that need it, as the nation sinks deeper into its worst recession in decades.
He said the stress test will apply to institutions with more than $100 billion in assets – a list that comprises 13 banks, from giant JPMorgan Chase (JPM, Fortune 500) to Cleveland’s KeyCorp (KEY, Fortune 500), according to a report from analysts at the Stanford Group in Washington.
Analysts say big U.S. banks could use at least $1 trillion in new capital as job losses mount and more borrowers default on mortgage, auto and credit card loans. But Geithner said the administration won’t ask Congress now for more money – raising the question of how much capital it actually expects to provide.
Making credit more available to consumers and businesses. The Treasury will provide $100 billion in seed money to expand the Federal Reserve’s Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility, in which investors in bonds backed by credit card and other loans can swap those bonds for Treasury securities, enabling them to get additional financing.
The move – which could create as much as $1 trillion in financing for consumers and businesses – shows the government is eager to bolster the capital markets, which provided a large percentage of funding for consumer loans before the bond markets seized up in late 2007.
Creating a private-public partnership to take toxic assets off banks’ balance sheets. Policymakers believe clearing bank balance sheets of badly deteriorated loans and securities is a prerequisite for restoring the normal flow of credit into the economy. Geithner said the plan will aim initially to use public financing to create as much as $500 billion in private sector buying capacity, with the prospect of an expansion to $1 trillion down the road.
Observers say drawing private capital back into the market is a key objective of any workable plan.
“Because the new program is designed to bring private sector equity contributions to make large-scale asset purchases, it not only minimizes public capital and maximizes private capital,” the Treasury Department said in a fact sheet about the plan. “It allows private sector buyers to determine the price for current troubled and previously illiquid assets.”
It remains to be seen, however, how the administration can break the stalemate between banks that are holding troubled assets at one price and investors who would buy only at a lower one.
Addressing the housing crisis. The Fed and Treasury will commit $50 billion to reduce mortgage payments and establish loan modification guidelines. Firms that receive federal aid will have to commit to participate in foreclosure mitigation plans, the Treasury Department said.
Am I optimistic? Not really. These banks are basically walking zombies. They are poorly capitalized and illiquid. Further more, the amount of money in this plan seems to be bit inadequate, given the fact that yes, we are talking about a large group of banks, not just one or two. However [which I will detail in another post] it does have a few strengths, but I think Geithner really didn’t go in to very much detail, so I am not going to outwardly condemn this plan either.
Let me know what you guys think. Will it work? Will it not? Leave a comment.
You know, I think Joe Biden is a cool dude. And if you don’t like Joe Biden well you can go sit on a tack. But like most people, Joe Biden has his faults. One of Joe Biden’s major fault is the fact that he has more friends in the RIAA and the BSA than a pro net neutrality guy like myself would want. Sadly, his scumbag friends are now full fledged scumbag government employees.
According to CNET, President Obama, Mr. Net Neutrality himself, is filling the Department of Justice with the RIAA’s best and brightest. The DOJ’s latest acquisition is Associate Deputy Attorney General Donald Verilli. His list of legal douchebagery includes shutting down Grokster, filing a lawsuit against Google and YouTube on behalf of Viacom, and suing a woman by the name of Jammie Thomas, who was accused of sharing 24 songs on KaZaA to the tune of $220,000. Yep that’s right, for 24 songs. Fortunately the judge threw out the verdict based on misleading jury instructions given by the RIAA. The RIAA I believe is still in the process of appealing the decision.
Gizmodo(one of my favorite tech blogs, props to you guys) sums up the rest of the new appointments quite nicely:
This follows up the naming of Tom Perrelli, from the Perrelli Family, as associate attorney general, the third-in-command post at the DoJ. Perrelli was and probably still is the favorite lawyer of the RIAA, suing people and companies left, right, and center in the name of the recording gang. He will be in charge of the DoJ’s civil, antitrust, and civil rights division.
But don’t go away, because there’s more. Who is the deputy attorney general, the second in command at the DoJ, do you ask? Mr. David Ogden, who-according to his previous job’s biography-represents “media and Internet industries, as well as major trade and professional associations.” He also as “part of the department who successfully defended the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act before the U.S. Supreme Court.”
Not enough? Don’t worry, because the VP has otherfriends in other places. Take Neil MacBride, another associate deputy attorney general, who previously was an aide to Biden himself. MacBride was the king of the legal hill at the Business Software Association. As the BSA’s antipiracy enforcer and general counsel, MacBride oversaw the creation of the program that rewarded people for phoning tips about suspected software piracy.
Honestly, all that net neutrality, “I love the Internet”, “come check out my Facebook” bullshit Barack Obama fed us during the election is very much going out the window with these sharks on the government payroll. Obama was notorious for proposing less restrictions for Internet and less power for the RIAA during the election. As soon as he mentioned that the joyfest in the tech community was heard far and wide. But with Joe Biden came a strong foothold for the likes of the RIAA to use to propagate their bogus agenda.
Take the RIAA’s case against Jaimme Thomas. Is $220,000 fair for sharing 24 songs on a P2P network? Do you think in times of economic strife it’s important for an organization such as the RIAA to start coming after individual citizens for large sums of money on the basis that quite possibly, MAYBE, someone could have downloaded one of those 24 songs? Her case for appeal was central on jury instruction No. 15, “which told jurors that she could be found guilty even if it couldn’t be proven that anyone actually downloaded the tracks she was sharing.”
Am I surprised? Hardly. I know how politics works, and regardless of the administration, the political party, or the person in charge, the RIAA will lobby, and make campaign contributions and buy politicians left and right. Barack Obama, sadly, is no different.
So after doing some soul searching, the GOP decided to revamp it’s website. Look familiar? Yeah…this is the new changified GOP website, GOP.gov. We got a couple of RSS feeds, some lame YouTube videos, and a bunch of other crap in what I like to call ‘”Barack New Roman”. New look, same crappy taste? Is this a move in the right direction for the GOP in terms of reaching out? Or is this just a shiny new wrapper on the same crap. What do you guys think? Drop me a comment. Also check out the original story over at Ars Technica for details and specifics on how they designed it.
The other day I was speaking to someone about politics. It wasn’t my choice, but this person is particularly submerged in their own [short] list of “political accomplishments”. Any conversation with them eventually leads to, of course, politics. Particularly their politics.
All throughout the discussion were various attacks on the opposite party. “Oh, so and so is such a dirty liberal, I could just kill her!”. I am sorry, I promise for the sake of non-partsianship I will find a douche bag democrat for my next anti-partisanship post. It’s not hard.
After a momentous election, and the inauguration of an African-American president, the world declared racism dead as a door nail. But assuming that is true (which it isn’t) then I think the next thing to replace it will be good ol’ fashion partisanship. Partisanship that extends beyond Washington and resides inside everyone.
Right now, all these political parties do is divide us as a nation, and empower close minded, ignorant people to form opinions based on party loyalty and not on logic, reason, sense of goodness, or self learning. They build walls between people, close them off from others. I ask you, is that any different from racism? When one person is insulted (or in this case threatened) based upon what they believe, how is that any different than insulting a person based on their race, gender, or religion?
These divisions form this sort of vernacular of…let’s face it, hatred amongst people. “Oh so and so is such a liberal I f**king hate them.” or “Oh so and so is a major conservative asshole.” How is this different from calling someone a spick, a cracker, or a nigger?
There are two types of people. People who like politics, who seek to understand it from both sides. Who read everything to stay educated, and who seek the opinions of others rather than push them away. Then there are those that gorge themselves on one side of everything. Who shun opinions and relaxed discourse for brash outbursts and personal attacks. Those who use their party loyalty as justification for not hearing another person out. For saying “No, I’m right. You’re wrong. Deal with it.”
People who are fiercely loyal to their party aren’t really helping anyone, least of all themselves. When one follows blindly, there is no one to call foul. No one to say “Hey guys, we’re doing this wrong why don’t we rethink this.” People will just continue to vote, learn, discuss, speak with party loyalty in mind.
In the 2008 elections, experts constantly reminded us that this election is going to come down to the swing voters, voters who don’t neccesarily ride on the party bandwagon. In a perfect world, we would all be swing voters.
“I have already intimated to you the danger of parties in the state, with particular reference to the founding of them on geographical discriminations. Let me now take a more comprehensive view, and warn you in the most solemn manner against the baneful effects of the spirit of party, generally.” – George Washington
Seriously, who gave George Washington a crystal ball that let him see in to the future? Even Washington noticed the potential walls political parties can build between people. Though not as high or as thick are they as the walls of Racism now, they can be.
Racism has held us back, and divided us. It has hurt us, and it’s scars are visible on the face of American history. Though my argument is that this hard line party loyalty that resides in most people has that same potential, now more than ever. We have a president who seeks to end this partisanship and unite where there was once division. But is it too late? Can our nation deal a blow to partisanship, much like the swearing in of Barack Obama dealt a blow to racism? Who knows.
“I adore political parties. They are the only place left to us where people don’t talk politics.” – Oscar Wilde
Tom Daschle asked President Obama to withdraw his name for consideration as health and human services secretary. And today he has accepted it. Here is an excerpt from the CNN report:
(CNN) — Former Sen. Tom Daschle has withdrawn his nomination to head the Department of Health and Human Services, according to a statement Tuesday from the White House.
Former Sen. Tom Daschle apologized for making mistakes on his tax records.
Daschle had been fighting to save his nomination as HHS secretary following controversy over his tax records and questions over his work in a field that some consider lobbying.
In a statement announcing his withdrawal, Daschle said it was an honor to be chosen to lead the reform of America’s health care system.
I am starting to question President Obama’s vetting process. However, Daschle is the classier of the two tax cheats and decided to withdraw his name. If only Tim Geithner would have done the same. Perhaps we would have had Treasury Secretary Larry Summers after all.
Point is, that all these cabinet choices are starting to shine some light on politicians and their neglegent tax choices. I could only imagine who else probably doesn’t pay their taxes.
Joe Biden apologized today for the first absolutely hilarious, yet mildy inappropriate comment he made about John Roberts. Here’s a excerpt from CNN:
An aide to Vice President Joe Biden tells CNN he called Chief Justice John Roberts last week to apologize for a light-hearted remark he made over the flubbed Inauguration Day oath of office.
“My memory is not as good as Justice Roberts, Chief Justice Roberts,” Biden said last Wednesday, as he asked for a copy of the oath he was using to swear in senior members of the White House staff.
Several staffers reacted to the comment with groans and laughter, though President Obama, standing next to Biden, did not crack a smile.
Another great thing is that this not only gave us a view in to the Willy Wonka Chocolate Factory that is Joe Biden’s mind, but we did get to see Barack Obama’s STFU face. And it is priceless.
Come on guys, this is Joe Biden at his best. Where most people think that this is Joe Biden’s flaw, I disagree. Joe Biden is one of my favorite democrats because he lives off the cuff and basically says what other people are thinking. Frankly in the dull world of politics, soaked in formalities and “ho hum” pleasantries, Joe Biden is REAL.
Barack Obama has potentially eight years in office, can you imagine what Joe Biden could say (or do) in those eight years. I personally can’t wait. Keep up the good work Joe.
So now that the inauguration is over, and the only thing George W. Bush is running is a tractor on his ranch we, collectively as a nation need to take a deep breath and a couple of steps back. Sure Barack Obama is a cool guy. I mean come on he is a president who has a cool website, he uses a blackberry, and he is determined to change government and fix everything the Bush Administration has messed up in the past eight years.
But I think right now we as a nation (and by that I mean the people, the media, etc.) have lost a lot of objectivity and perspective. You’re probably saying “Oh Jorge probably lost his remote and his TV is stuck on FOX News again…” but I promise you if that ever happened I’d just unplug my TV. But lets face it, we are all SO jazzed that tomorrow Obama can light a kitten on fire and we wouldn’t think much of it.
But he is a politician. And all I know is that usually when someone new comes in to power, I tend to aim my expectations very low. So that way, when they do f**k up, I won’t be so disappointed. I am sorry, but the past couple of years have only fueled my distrust in politicians. So aim low America! If Barack Obama saves this nation it will rock extra hard, and if he turns out to be like all the others, well at least you didn’t have your hopes up.
I promised myself I wouldn’t post about Sarah Palin anymore, but after this video from a new conservative documentary, it’s on like donkey kong. Watch this video…and then we’ll discuss. I am sorry to expose you to nine minutes of Sarah Palin, but it’s for a purpose:
Sarah Palin is blaming media’s bias for the fact that her ticket lost the election. I was going to let this video go by, considering it’s basically the same song and dance this woman likes to perform every time she is in front of a camera, but this time around she decided to spew her ignorance about bloggers, and well that just doesn’t fly with me. Just to refresh your memory, here is what she said:
“It’s a sad state of affairs in the world of the media today, mainstream media especially, if they are going to rely on anonymous bloggers for their hard news information. Very scary.”
See what Sarah Palin doesn’t understand is that the phenomenon that is blogging has taken us in to a sort of “Media 2.0″ situation. The blogging community has become so vital to mainstream media, because it gives the mainstream media something that it cannot achieve on it’s own, omnipresence. Currently with the help of bloggers, Twitter, Facebook, iReport, the media has an unbelievable reach, and it gives people like me, a common ground with mainstream media.
Sure, anyone can be a blogger, and anyone can spew misinformed ramblings on the internet for all to see. So I’ll give that to Palin, frankly I thought the rumors about her child not being hers were a bit much. But to say that it’s a “sad state of affairs” that bloggers are regarded and acknowledged by the mainstream media is just ignorant. Frankly, I as a blogger couldn’t let that slide.
The rest of the video speaks for itself. From the fact that she thinks people like Katie Couric and Tiny Fey exploited her (one mocked the ridiculousness that is her and the other just asked her questions…like a reporter should do) to her comparing a vice-presidential nomination to Caroline Kennedy’s Senate seat (come on…) just proves that Sarah Palin lives in her small, narrow world. Katie Couric might not be the center of the universe Sarah, but neither are you.
In the end, this documentary asks the question “How did Obama get elected?”. Where Sarah Palin is quick to cite the media’s “bias” towards Obama, she is ignoring the rather large gorilla in the room. Obama won this election partly on his own merit, his superbly run campaign, and his excellent election staff. But the major factors that secured the election for Obama were the Bush Administration’s gloriously awful track record for the past eight years, the GOP’s inability to provide an adequate candidate in this election, and Sarah Palin. If Palin is all the GOP has for 2012…then that is indeed a sad state of affairs.
And by jail I mean JAIL jail not house arrest in his two story Manhattan penthouse jail.
Bernie Madoff is a massive crook. The Madoff Ponzi scheme now holds the title of “biggest investor fraud case perpetrated by a single person” which is nothing to sneeze at considering he solidly wiped out $50 Billion in people’s hard earned cash. Last night on Mad Money, Jim Cramer had on advertising bad ass Donny Deutsche, who summed this entire situation up very well.
He called Madoff a “serial killer”, and the fact that he was not in jail yet was “an abomination”. Deustche cited a personal example of the parents of some close friends of his who lost all of their money in the scheme (close to $4 million). I agree with Donny 100%, Bernie Madoff IS a serial killer, and his victim isn’t so much the people he took money from. His main victim, the loss everyone has to mourn is the fact that now people are scared to invest. They are scared to buy and put their money out there because WOLVES like Bernie Madoff lurk in the shadows.
I think Obama has the right idea in putting financial crimes management under jurisdiction of the Justice Department. But he, and Eric Holder need to go further. People like Bernie Madoff need to pay, they need to be brought to justice. Bernie Madoff has ruined lives and torched accumulated wealth of people who have legitimately worked hard for their money and who are now left with nothing. At a time when consumer confidence is low, the Obama administration needs to make their stand clear and drop the hammer on crimes like these. If you have to bring back the RICO laws like Jim Cramer wants to then do it. Right now Obama and his administration needs to take a stand against financial killers like Bernie Madoff. These crimes will no longer carry lenient sentences in white collar prison resorts, they will be punished severely.
According to the Associated Press, Joe The DouchebagPlumber is headed to Israel to cover the war as a correspondent for pjtv.com. Here is the article…
TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) — Joe The Plumber is putting down his wrenches and picking up a reporter’s notebook.
The Ohio man who became a household name during the presidential campaign says he is heading to Israel as a war correspondent for the conservative Web site pjtv.com.
Samuel J. Wurzelbacher (WUR’-zuhl-bah-kur) says he’ll spend 10 days covering the fighting.
He tells WNWO-TV in Toledo that he wants to let Israel’s “‘Average Joes’ share their story.”
Wurzelbacher gained attention during the final weeks of the campaign when he asked Barack Obama about his tax plan.
He later joined Republican John McCain on the campaign trail. At one stop, he agreed with a McCain supporter who asked if he believed a vote for Obama was a vote for the death of Israel.
Yeah Sam Joe that’s exactly what the general population needs, your perspective on a conflict you learned about three days ago on Wikipedia. I am soglad that you “want to let Israel’s “‘Average Joes’ share their story.” Do us all a favor Joe, head down to the Gaza strip, hand out a couple of copies of your book and see if you can find some Average Joes there, and ask them to share their story.
I wish I can go back in time, and stop John McCain from mentioning this guy’s um…self given title? Joe The Plumber is not a plumber. He is not a politcal expert, a journalist, a country singer, and I would venture to say he didn’t write his own book so he is not even an author. Joe the Plumber is a man who was a poor choice to be an example of the working class. Sadly, he continues to cling to his already finished 15 minutes like a sinking ship. Now he thinks he is a journalist? I guess the whole plumber thing isn’t working out.
Barack Obama’s diverse cabinet at first seemed like a wacky idea. But it’s situations like these that prove Democrats wrong. An outgoing Bush Administration plan to engineer the first new nuclear warheads since the Cold War is currently being shelved until late next year pending review, which would put this well in the jurisdiction of President-Elect Obama. “During the campaign, Obama said that he seeks ‘a world without nuclear weapons,’ but he also said that the nation must ‘always maintain a strong (nuclear) deterrent as long as nuclear weapons exist.’” [USA Today]
Mean while Obama has not taken a stance on whether or not he supports a full renovation of our nuclear stockpile. This would involve decommissioning Cold War warheads and replacing them with newer warheads, Reliable Replacement Warheads or RRW, that employ various safety measures that prevent detonation in the event of theft.
I definitely would love to see a world without nukes some day, but this isn’t the day. Right now with threats like Iran, Syria, and North Korea, each pursuing illegal nuclear programs, and countries like Russia and China strengthening theirs daily, we can’t afford not to have the most up to date defenses. This is how current and future Secretary of Defense Robert Gates feels about the issue and insists that nuclear weapons are a “genie that can’t be put back in to the bottle just yet.”
I have always said that nuclear weapons are just as relevant now as they were during the Cold War. The only difference is that in terms of current day foreign affairs, showing the world you have them is much more powerful than actually using it. We need to keep in mind that, terrorist groups aside, the idea of mutually assured destruction would prevent any massive discharge of nuclear weapons from one political state to another. In the end, nuclear weapons carry more power quietly resting in their silos, then detonating over some unfortunate city.
However, I think Barack Obama is trying to find that common ground between nuclear development and non-proliferation and disarmament. It won’t be easy but I feel that in the end, pursuing some sort of disarmament talks with Russia and reinforcing non-proliferation programs, while strengthening our own deterrents will be the best possible thing in order to maintain a calm in the international community. Increasing sanctions on countries pursuing illegal nuclear research and uranium enrichment programs is also a great step not only in terms of non-proliferation, but in making sure that these weapons don’t end up in the wrong hands.
In News, Politics on December 10, 2008 at 12:10 pm
Governor Rod Blagojevich is the king douche nozzle. Solidly the most corrupt politician I have ever experienced in my twenty two years of life (sorry I wasn’t alive during Nixon). Blago’s list of douchery contains various entries, such as trying to pull $8 million dollars worth of funding from a children’s hospital after a CEO refused to make a $50,000 campaign contribution. Hitler is keeping your seat in hell warm you son of a bitch.
But along with that and some other things, Governor Blagojevich was literally trying to sell a Senate appointment nomination. In other words, you pay money, or get him or his wife a cushy job with a nice salary, and he’ll appoint you or anyone you’d like to the U.S. Senate as Barack Obama’s replacement. My GOD does this scare me to the core. Imagine if this had been successful, we would have had a corrupt appointment of a U.S. Senator. I am sure that has never happened before. (I have decided that the official TJZ sarcasm font is italics).
In the end, Ron Blagojevich is just one of many. The only difference is that Blago is a moron, while the others are crafty and much more cunning. We will never know what these Governors are up to, and the level of transparency I wish politics and government would have is insanely unattainable. But hey, what can you do? Prosecute the hell out of them.
You know, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Republican National Committee’s office looked something like this…
One side battling against all odds for new, fresh leadership within its ranks, like GOP bad ass and Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, and the others, for umm….Sarah Palin. The GOP right now is in quite a tough spot, considering that they just got owned by what appears to be the biggest party take over since FDR.
If the GOP wants to win in 2012 it would need to accomplish a few things, some easy and some hard. First the party needs to come together. The division of this party was apparent even during the primaries, where you needed an extra hand to count up all the republicans, of whom a few were actually viable candidates. This time around, the GOP needs to battle the campaign machine that is Barack Obama. The man runs a tight ship, a ship Obama then used to plow through the established foundations of the GOP.
The GOP needs someone fresh and new. A “Bizzaro Obama”, someone who will bring this party together and freshen up and energize the base of the Republican Party. Some of you are probably thinking this person is Sarah Palin, but I don’t agree, at all. You all know how I feel about Sarah Palin so I will spare you, but if by 2012, Sarah Palin is the angel on top of the RNC Christmas Tree, then it will no doubt be a clear sign that this party is still not ready. I can name atleast FIVE great Republican candidates who would definitely energize the base, but most importantly revitalize the party after the massacre of the 2008 Election. I’ll gladly take Bobby Jindal, Eric Cantor, Mitt Romney (a.k.a Captain America), John Thune, and John Hunstman, Jr. These guys not only great men and exceptional Republicans, but also they are leagues better than Sarah Palin.
Election 2012 is going to be an interesting one. One that will definitely be do or die for the GOP. Sarah Palin to me, is not a great choice to spearhead the party against Barack Obama in 2012. I am tired of seeing Sarah Palin traveling all over the country (instead of, you know, governing her state). The GOP has some soul searching to do. Maybe take a day off, sit on the beach, think about life…who knows.
Here is a link to a CNN story about how a recent study not only confirms the existence of Gulf War Syndrome, something that 1 in 4 Gulf War Vets suffer from. The study links the cause of GWS to anti-nerve gas pills issued to U.S. Troops during the conflict, and pesticides that they came in contact with.
According to the report, Gulf War illness is a “complex of multiple concurrent symptoms” that “typically includes persistent memory and concentration problems, chronic headaches, widespread pain, gastrointestinal problems, and other chronic abnormalities.”
The government has since wasted years trying to disprove that this illness even exists. Now with definitive proof, people affected by the illness can finally seek help from the Veterans Administration.
“Gulf War illness isn’t some imaginary syndrome,” said Ken Robinson, the senior intelligence officer for the initial Department of Defense investigation into Gulf War illness in 1996-97.
“This is real, and it has devastated families. Now is the time to restore the funding cuts that have been made in the Veterans Administration. Our mission has to be to ensure that these veterans get help and become whole again.”
What really bothers me the most is that our government spends massive amounts of money on defense, yet some how are troops are still underfunded and, much like sufferers of GWS, at risk. Our troops deserve the best care possible. These are men who have put their lives on the line to fight for and defend this nation. But once their term is up, injured soldiers usually find an endless maze of bureaucracy, and an up hill battle to get some help.
Fortunately there are many programs such as the Disabled American Veterans Charitable Service Trust, which helps veterans with various physical and psychological rehabilitation programs, meets needs of veterans with specific disabilities, and helps homeless vets get back on their feet. President-Elect Obama wants to change the status quo of government, I hope that he spreads some of that change on veterans affairs.
My friend Alan mailed this to me today and I decided that it deserved a quick glance.
After I gave it a “quick glance” I decided that it deserved a not so quick post.
First of all, let me go on and say that I do support Barack Obama as president-elect of the United States of America. And right now, I am trying to dig around and see if I get both sides, because Googling “Obama Civil Defense Force” takes me to a bunch of posts on Sean Hannity’s online forum, and frankly I’d rather smash my MacBook Air in to pieces than give that pompous blowhard a single hit from my IP Address. I also put out a very nice email to a few organizations that hopefully will send me a statement back. If they do I will add them below.
After reading a few websites and checking out excerpts from Congressman Emmanuel’s 2006 book The Plan: Big Ideas For America, I really don’t think I am going to particularly enjoy the other side of the argument either. It seems as though what Rahm Emmanuel is suggesting is a form of military training, not something along the lines of a first aid course or anything like that. A three month, intensive military training written off as a “civil duty”. Now the question is, should we start worrying now or later?
Worrying right now I don’t think is productive. Remember, Rahm Emmanuel will be White House Chief of Staff, and in this position will have no authority to change, create, or eliminate any policy. Barack Obama’s transition website change.gov, has no such goal or idea listed anywhere. If you want to stretch a bit the only thing even vaguely similar is the creation of the Civilian Assistance Corps (CAC) outlined here:
Create a Civilian Assistance Corps (CAC): Obama and Biden will create a national CAC of 25,000 personnel. This corps of civilian volunteers with special skill sets (doctors, lawyers, engineers, city planners, agriculture specialists, police, etc.) would be organized to provide each federal agency with a pool of volunteer experts willing to deploy in times of need at home and abroad.
But this is not only a volunteer driven initiative, it also was something that President Bush has implemented as outlined by this July 2008 State Department memo, under the name Civil Response Corps. Also one could stretch this out as part of the American Opportunity Tax Credit, which provides a $4,000 tax break in exchange for 100 hours of community service, though 100 hours does not equal three months.
How about worrying later? Eh, maybe. This is a particularly extreme view, one that definitely runs counter to the democratic party and the American way of life as a whole. Anything resembling the word “draft” coming out of a politician’s mouth has people running for the Canadian border. And after what Emmanuel said, I’d be lying if I said wasn’t checking rates on Travelocity as I type this. This seems to be more of a diet draft, same draft taste but with no calories.
This so called plan has no official reference as of yet. So until President-Elect Obama posts up another YouTube fireside chat to tell me all about it, I am going to go with what I know. I am all for serving my country. If America ever came under direct attack from a foreign country I would fight for this nation. However, what most important is not that we fight for this nation, but that we have the OPTION to fight for this nation.
I think that this is definitely in line with the rumors that President Bush was going to start conscripting people for the Iraq War. Even if he thought about it, the idea would be so insane that it just wouldn’t fly. This seems even more far fetched because again, this is definitely not in standing with any sort of ideal the democratic party would have. But hey, crazier things have happened before.
Look, I supported Barack Obama over John McCain because of many reasons I have cited ad nauseam. And regardless if I voted for him or not, I support him as president-elect of this nation as anyone should. However, I do recognize the fact that leaders, no matter how cool they are or how nice their website is are not perfect, and most of the time sometimes say one thing and do another. I don’t think this would fly with the American people. I am pretty sure Barack Obama doesn’t want to start a second American Revolution.
At first I thought a president that would constantly update his Twitter was a bit ridiculous. I’d be a bit perturbed if every time I checked my Twitter it would say something like “barackobama is having a sandwich and reading his autobiography” or “barackobama is in a cabinet meeting”. But it seems that Barack Obama is planning to do so much more than that.
Obama’s campaign has redefined the election process. Using the internet, he has raised more money than any presidential campaign in U.S. History, and single-handedly redefined the way presidential candidates will campaign for years to come. Amassing huge followings on Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter, Barack Obama has united a nation and secured an overwhelming vote. Using YouTube to publish speeches and rally footage, Barack Obama broadened the scope of his message from a few thousand rally goers to an entire nation.
President-Elect Obama is now preparing to integrate the Internet in to his administration, and in to the government as a whole. Following the Web 2.0 revolution, the Internet has become something much more profound. This is the Internet where someone like me can post something that can be seen by thousands of people. The power of the Internet is apparent in the recent social networking movement. News organizations are slowly moving away from print, making themselves 100% accessible on the Internet. Now imagine how the Internet has changed our lives, and now imagine how it would change our government as well.
Barack Obama’s Internet centered government stands on one basic principle. Internet for all. One cannot benefit from this “Government 2.0″ if they don’t have Internet. Barack Obama plans to use some of the money collected by the Universal Service Fund, a $7 Billion fund that is collected by the government to subsidize phone service in rural areas, to instead build high speed Internet lines that carry phone capabilities as well. This is a great idea, because not only is the money already there, but the technology is basic and not a dramatic change or step up from anything pre-existing.
Another thing I definitely like about this is that the Obama Administration (with the exception of Joe Biden) stands firmly on the idea of net neutrality. The Internet can’t grow if Internet providers pick and choose which types of data to accept, and which types of data to reject. Things like that, and like DRM would hinder the growth of this powerful tool, and hinder the goal Barack Obama wants to achieve. Passing a net neutrality act would go a long way in ending the the debate between supporters of net neutrality and companies like Comcast who want to regulate their bandwidth.
The Obama Administration has set some major goals in terms of technology. I was reading a great article in the Boston Globe that details them.
Obama wants to put YouTube-like videos of government meetings online, so citizens can see their federal agencies at work, and has proposed a Google-like database of federal grants and contracts, so people can see where their money is going. And he’ll require his Cabinet members to hold regular online town hall meetings, where they’ll field questions from the Internet audience.
I think this has a potential of being a revolutionary tool for the American people, in terms of government accountability. Some political scientists even go a step further, citing that this may be something much more, a whole new branch of the government. Technology and innovation is the next frontier for us. It’s something that will unite us, and impact out lives in many ways. Whether you agree with Barack Obama or not, it’s nice to see a President who feels the same way.
Being a technologically adept person, I believe that technology, no matter the field, is what drives us. It constantly pushes the envelope, and it allows us to evolve. Nothing makes me happier than to see a President who feels the same way. Junauzu.com gathered a bunch of Obama quotes on technology and how he will use it to drive this nation forward.
The historic U.S. Presidential election has come to an end with Barack Obama emerging victorious against John McCain. Obama will become the forty-fourth President of the United States and the first African-American to be elected for the highest office.
Some of my tech savvy readers are probably wondering how will Obama utilize technology to help improve the U.S. and world economy. That is why I’m going to share to you some of Barack Obama’s tech related quotes to learn more about his plans. I also included links to the quotes’ sources. Enjoy!
“To restore America’s competitiveness, we must recruit a new generation of science and technology leaders by investing in diversity.” SOURCE
“Together, we could open up government and invite citizens in, while connecting all of America to 21st century broadband. We could use technology to help achieve universal health care, to reach for a clean energy future, and to ensure that young Americans can compete — and win — in the global economy…” SOURCE
“I will recruit new teachers and make new investments in rural schools, we’ll connect all of America to 21st century technology and telecommunications.” SOURCE
“We are a land of moon shots and miracles of science and technology that have touched the lives of millions across the planet.” SOURCE
“As president, I will tap our natural gas reserves, invest in clean coal technology, and find ways to safely harness nuclear power.” SOURCE
“Ensuring that the US continues to lead the world in science and technology will be a central priority for my administration.” SOURCE
“I’ll change the posture of our federal government from being one of the most anti-science administrations in American history to one that embraces science and technology.” SOURCE
“We will fire government managers who aren’t getting results, we will cut funding for programs that are wasting your money, we will use technology and lessons from the private sector to improve efficiency across every level of government.” SOURCE
Obama said the nation needs to invest in solar, wind, biodiesel and clean coal technology “so the use of coal does not degrade our environment. We can do that if we are investing in the technology, the research and the development.” SOURCE
“We must adapt and make tradeoffs among systems originally designed for the Cold War and those required for current and future challenges. We need greater investment in advanced technology ranging from the revolutionary, like unmanned aerial vehicles and electronic warfare capabilities, to systems like the C-17 cargo and KC-X air refueling aircraft–which may not be glamorous to politicians, but are the backbone of our future ability to extend global power.” SOURCE
Obama said if elected his government would “harness technology to confront the biggest challenges that America faces”. SOURCE
Pointing to President Kennedy’s challenge to put a man on the moon, Mr. Obama said: “I will set big goals for this country as president – some so large that the technology to reach them does not yet exist.” SOURCE
Kick ass. He is doing what I did with my mom when I bought her a Mac, dragging this nation kicking and screaming in to the 21st century.
Wow, FOX News just reported that smokin’ hot conservative Elizabeth Hasselbeck has decided to support Barack Obama. I am mildly surprised, however I can see how she would eventually break after being yelled at by Joy Behar and Whoopie for so long. Anyway here is a full quote of the article, it’s brief. Peace Out.
The View’s conservative cutie Elizabeth Hasselbeck stunned viewers today by throwing her support behind president-elect Barack Obama.
Executive Producer Barbara Walters asked Hasselbeck, who campaigned with John McCain’s running mate Sarah Palin, how she felt after seeing McCain/Palin go down to defeat on election night.
Hasselbeck said her daughter Grace, 3, had asked her who won and who lost the election. “No one lost,” Hasselbeck said she told her child. “Seriously, today is a victory for this country.”
Hasselbeck said the massive voter turnout and the excitement of the presidential contest inspired her. “I will get in a long line of supporters … for this president,” she said.
Now that the election is over, regardless if your candidate won or lost, just take a deep breath and relax.
Whether or not you voted for Barack Obama, we all need to realize that he is OUR president. Now we are beyond liking or disliking him, as the nation has spoken and Barack Obama is our president elect. In the past eight years I have always voice my disagreements with George Bush, but I have never delegitimize him as a president. He was my leader, he was my president and he earned my respect because of that.
I think we need to put this bickering and complaining aside. I woke up this morning and checked my Facebook mini-feed and noticed all these people leaving comments. “Oh I am packing for Australia!” or “I am so disappointed in America!” are just a few of the messages posted, repeated over and over.
First of all it’s kind of stupid saying you are going to Australia…cause man, THATS socialism. But look, this isn’t the first time our nation has had a president that is not a Republican. In fact some of the presidents history considers great were Democrats. So don’t be disappointed in your nation, just because your side didn’t win. You win some, you lose some. Accept it, and place all your support behind Barack Obama, after all, he is going to be working for you too. Rejoice in the fact that WE can vote. That this man was elected by the majority
Last night, Barack Obama delivered a speech that did a good job to unite a country that has been divided by a long, bitter election. Here is a excerpt from the speech (full transcript here):
This is our chance to answer that call. This is our moment. This is our time – to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim the American Dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth – that out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope, and where we are met with cynicism, and doubt, and those who tell us that we cant, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people:
Yes We Can. Thank you, God bless you, and may God Bless the United States of America.
We are all in this together. Support this president, regardless of what you think, earned his post. When it comes to a president, we have a duty as voters, and as Americans to support him. We can praise him for his triumphs, and we can hold him accountable for their mistakes. This situation is no different. We need to set aside this partisan bickering once and for all. Peace Out.
As I sit here today and share my thoughts with you, I must say that I am proud of this country. I have witnessed America unite together and vote for an African-American president, transcending walls and barriers erected years ago, turning a new chapter in our history. I can honestly say that voting for Barack Obama was a vote against my norms, but I feel it was a right vote. I am optimistic about our path as a nation, and I am proud of the steps our nation has taken. Politics will always have it’s differences, and though people today may disagree with this choice, I refuse to believe that it can be any worse than what we have faced in the past eight years. The thing I love the most about this nation is that it is a free nation. A nation where our voices can be heard, and our votes count. I hope that no matter what, politics aside, America supports Barack Obama. Whether you voted for him or not he isn’t your president, he isn’t his president, he is OUR president.
This election is without a doubt amazing for many reasons. The first time we have an African-American president presidential candidate, the first time we have a woman as a vice-presidential nominee, but over all it is historical because this is the most poignant referendum on the Bush Administration and the Republican Party in American history.
As of right now, I am seeing on my tracker that it’s going 207/135 for Obama. Prior to this, McCain was in the double digits which is astounding. Barack Obama has maintained such a commanding lead that the west coast seems irrelevant. Everyone has convened together to vote in CHANGE. Barack Obama has come in, proven that he is a competent candidate, ran against a crippled, injured Republican Party.
John McCain came in as the underdog, but didn’t do much to change that. He didn’t try hard enough to separate himself from Bush, he chose an underdog VP to match his underdog campaign, and he quickly switched to brutal personal attacks and soured the campaign. Almost every facet of his campaign could have been done differently.
In eight years, George W. Bush has taken this country from an economic high point ran it straight to the ground. I won’t list all the failures because we all know them very well. But in the end, when some stand and wonder why they elected Barack Obama. Well, the answer is fairly clear.
Give it up for CNN guys, they totally owned this election as far as coverage goes. Whether it’s Wolf Blitzer walking in front of that giant 100 inch screen that looks like it might eat him, or John King twiddling around with his “MultiTouch Board of Awesomness” flicking and tapping away, cycling the different states between red or blue, or Campbell Brown totally schooling McCain spokesmen, CNN has had this down.
In all seriousness though, CNN I think has been on top of this election non stop. They have covered the primaries exceptionally, they have provided, I think, very unbiased, balanced coverage, and have asked great questions of the candidates. The Political Ticker has been a source of my blog constantly, their iReport and Fact Checking have been spot on.
What do you guys think? Agree or Disagree? Leave a comment. I am also trying to work with this Poll Daddy thing, so once that pops up, you can cast a vote on that.
I could go on and on about what a waste of genetic material Joe “The Plumber” Wurzelbacher truly is. But if I did, this blog would turn in to an 8 page dicertatcion with a bibliography and a table of contents with fancy roman numerals. Joe Wurzelbacher is a liar and a fraud. Yet John McCain has thrust this man in to the public spotlight, thinking he is an accurate representation of the middle class.
First of all, “Joe The Plumber” is not even a Joe. He is Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher. He is NOT a certified plumber. He does not have enough money to buy a pack of tropical Mentos much less a plumbing business that makes $250,000 a year (actually it makes less than $250,000 a year). And If he were telling the truth (which he obviously wasn’t), he might actually BENEFIT from Obama’s tax plan. But it seems as though he chose not to hear that part.
He has recently gone rogue by agreeing with another lunatic that “a vote for Obama is a vote for the death to Israel.” Are these people asking this moron POLICY QUESTIONS? And is he agreeing to this outright, obvious lie? Hell even FOX News had to back pedal from Wurzelbacher, that was too rich for them. Does his last name sound familiar? Yep it’s the same as the son-in-law of Charles Keating…from the Keating Five. You would think John McCain wouldn’t want people googling this guy and finding this instead.
So now, Joe Wurzelbacher has become a beast that cannot be fed. He is at every campaign rally, he is being asked policy questions, and is being paraded as the “symbol for the working man”. Yep, the symbol for the working man just hired a publicist, is working out the details for a country music album, and is considering a run for congressman. Oh, and they offered him a book deal. I honestly don’t know how he is going to fill up one chapter, much less ten. I bet it’ll have a lot of pictures.
It almost amazes me as to how dumb John McCain thinks we are by making an example this moron. Like we need an example of what a working class person looks like. Trust me Senator, I know what a working class person is like. If I need an example I’ll just walk outside and look at the woman who raised me, who supported a family of four by herself through thick and thin. A woman who worked her ass off to make sure I had a roof over my head, clothes on my back, and a school to go to every day.
Joe Wurzelbacher is not a great man. He is not a great example of a working class citizen. In the end, say what you will about Wurzelbacher, he is a pawn of the McCain campaign. From the second he approached Barack Obama in that crowd, thats what he became. He was a target of opportunity for the McCain campaign to capitalize on. But the magnifying glass of the media always digs up the truth, and this is no exception. “Joe The Plumber” is more evidence of the McCain campaign clinging to straws in current. Peace Out.
- Jorge “The Blogger Who’s Sick Of Joe The Plumber”
Just finished watching the 30 Minute Barack Obama ad. This one was indeed a doozey, a little too much Obama in one sitting I think. Sure the message was very nice, the production value was superb, and it seems as though that the McCain campaign is getting fired up about it, which should lead to some hilarious sound bytes and impromptu “Joe The Plumber” appreances. BTW you know they offered that moron a book deal? I am surprised he can put pen to paper. Anyway, let me save my anti-Joe comments for another blog (coming soon).
So in closing, let me make a bulleted list, cause, well I like bulleted lists and it’s my blog.
Was the 30-minute ad space worth it? Umm maybe? I mean he is doing very well, I personally would have gone with something brief. However the time did fly by and I always appreciate a nice field of wheat?
Was the 30-minute ad a bit larger than life? Absolutely. Barack Obama has raised way too much money and it’s obvious. Enough of that “broken promises” malarky. The man did what he had to do to make the cash he needs to be President. McCain didn’t take the “high road” and use public funds because he wanted to. He didn’t take it cause he likes being the underdog compared to Obama’s millions.
Will the 30-minute ad hurt Obama? Probably not. I don’t see this as more than another ad. It will fire up the Republicans thats for sure. I can imagine the asinine comments Sarah Palin has cooking in her wacko brain for tomorrow.
So in the end, all we can take from this ad is basically the same things Obama has been saying for the passed couple of months. Except with a nice, calm, field of wheat. Mmmmmm wheat.
I wanted to address a part of Barack Obama’s Foreign Policy very breifly. I know it’s rather old news, but I wanted to talk about this notion of sitting down with Iran and Cuba “without pre-conditions”. John McCain seems to think this is the most inexcusable act that a God fearing, American citizen could ever consider. But is it really?
Honestly, we seem to have this notion that we are America, and before we even meet with you, we want out demands to be met. In reality a true diplomatic sit down has no preconditions. It’s two parties who are willing to sit down peacefully to discuss terms and try to avoid escalation, and needless suffering. Last I checked, going to war was a bad thing. Shouldn’t we avoid it at all costs?
Brand new McCain ad...try not to stare it makes my brain hurt.
Being raised by my very Cuban family, and living in Miami, FL, has made me very knowledgable about Cuban history and life before la Revolución. It seems as though I always hear about how Cuba, pre-Castro was a utopia, where everything was better than America, and life was good. And trust me, I can believe it. You can see it in the faces of the people, family members, who lived there.
Seeing that Miami, FL is so saturated in Cuban culture, our poltics always have that “Cuban additive” in them. Candidates down here find themselves facing a slew of questions about their policy on the Cuban embargo, and what they plan to do about the regime. Try going north of Orlando and see if anyone cares.
Lately, one major comparison down here is that “People in Cuba wanted ‘Change’ and look what happened.” Castro led a military revolution to over throw Fulgencio Batista. He promised to hold elections and never did. He proclaimed to his people that if they even looked upon him poorly, he would relinquish power and leave peacefully. Fidel Castro was never an elected official. He is a MURDERER, a TYRANT, and a COMMUNIST.
Hmm, doesn’t seem like what’s going on here at all. I don’t see Barack Obama charging his forces through the streets. This is still a nation, with checks and balances and a constitution. Refer to my past post on Barack Obama and Socialism for more differences. And lets try to keep these asinine comparisons to dictators and tyrants to a minimum. Peace Out.
Frankly, I am fairly confident that Barack Obama will snag this election up by a fair majority and he really doesn’t need that half hour spot on all the major networks on Wednesday, but hey…thats just me. However, I do see a problem that Barack Obama could have in this election. One that maybe might even hand it over to John McCain.
Last week, I decided to go vote early. To my surprise I waited about an 1 hour, 45 minutes before I could vote. Since then the lines in my favorite battleground state (Florida) have only gotten bigger. Barack Obama, in my opinion, needs the youth vote in order to be able to lock this state up. I just don’t see the youth vote waiting outside for upwards of 3 hours to vote.
If Barack Obama wants to ensure that those voters who compromise a group I like to call “convenience voters” (voters who will only vote if it doesn’t screw up their day) he needs to start pushing alternative methods, i.e. the gloriously underrated Absentee Ballot.
So I pose the question to you guys. What do you think could be a wrench in the Obama campaign’s machine? Does John McCain still have hope? Comment below, Peace Out!
This post is for my friend Jen, who thinks that I am some what biased when it comes to the scope of my blog.
According to MSNBC, The Obama Campaign bumped the national anthem to make room for more speakers at the rally. Here is the excerpt from the post.
Not present, or at least not singing the National Anthem at the rally was Londonderry senior Zach Bencal.
Bencal, who sings the anthem for a number of school events and is actively involved in local community theatre, had been contacted by the Obama campaign to sing the anthem. He agreed to do so, then was told later in the evening the anthem had been scratched from the program. Bencal said he was told by the campaign the decision was a simple programming change to make room for another speaker.
“We regret the miscommunication with Zach about today’s event but we are pleased that several other New Hampshire residents were able to speak at today’s event, where thousands of voters in both parties gathered to hear Sen. Obama discuss his plan to bring the change we need to Washington.”
Sandra Abrevaya, communications director for the Obama campaign’s Manchester office, confirmed the choice had simply been a last-minute scratch from the rally’s program, which included the Pledge of Allegiance.
“I guess it just wasn’t meant to be,” Bencal said.
This isn’t very uncool I must say, I mean it IS the pledge of alliegance and the national anthem. It does show that the media in general seems to pick and choose what they report. And I am also including FOX News in this, because this definitely seems like something Bill O’Reilly would be foaming at the mouth over. The McCain campaign gets a lot of heat, sometimes it’s deserved, sometimes it’s not. The public scrutiny should go both ways. Lets make sure we as voters keep our political scopes relatively unfocused, so as to see the bigger picture, and keep focus on both candidates equally. Peace Out.
It seems as though when John McCain isn’t discussing what Joe “The Plumber” Wurzelbacher discussed with him during their morning conference call, he is calling Obama a socialist. Now, trying my hardest to spare you a lecture on the tenets of modern day socialism, I am going to explain why Barack Obama’s tax plan isn’t socialist, and why technically this nation isn’t capitalist.
First of all. Barack Obama’s tax plan isn’t socialist at all. In fact, when either Sen. Obama or Sen. McCain refer to is as a “distribution of wealth” or “spreadin’ the wealth around” thats just a dramatic over simplification, and in some respects even a misconception. Barack Obama is basically eliminating the Bush Tax Cuts, and raising the higher tax brackets to the same levels set during the Clinton Administration, which is remembered for it’s economic success (see a great stat sheet here in PDF form).
Barack Obama’s tax plan though more progressive, is no where near as Socialist as the GOP or John McCain make it sound. If you think a progressive, fair share tax plan is Socialism, then we have been a socialist nation for 100 years now. What Barack Obama’s plan is doing is basically closing these unfair loopholes that higher tax brackets take advantage of in order to pay the least amount possible. If you and I are paying our fair share, so should everyone else, right?
This idea of Socialism and “redistribution of wealth” is like a horse with blinders on, focused on one purpose but ignoring the facts around it. Every time the Government builds a road, makes a social security or welfare payment, or pays for an elderly persons medical care, that by definition IS a redistribution of wealth. People argue that the bailout bill is the “downfall of capitalism in America.” But are we all that capitalistic?
In reality the government involves itself in the economy all the time. The Pentagon procurements that keep defense contractors operating, creating defense technology and weapons is an example of government intervention in the military economy. The FDA is an example of government intervention in business, as it is the gateway for foods and medicines to the open market. No approval, no sale. Pre-college education, AMTRAK, and the USPS are all provided and controlled by the government. And our Bailout plan doesn’t really scream laissez faire either. In reality, we are a mixed economy, and I don’t think this has crept up on us out of no where.
Barack Obama’s tax plan & healthcare system may be progressive, but it is far from a radical shift to socialism. As I am flipping through the pages, I really don’t see any ideal that isn’t already in place. I don’t see Barack Obama’s plan to buy up the means of production, set production quotas, or abolish private property and capital. He is not buying up factories and forming “The Bureau of Wages” either. Have a great Friday.
Ok, before I delve in, I want to state a couple of things outright.
First, I want to repudiate the fact that my friends think I am a dirty, partisan liberal. I am not, I am a Republican, who saw what his party was becoming, and what it started to stand for, and decided to jump ship before it sucked me in to the abyss. I am an independent. Been one for quite a while now.
Lastly, I want to clearly communicate my beliefs, and show you that I am neither brain washed nor misinformed. I am an educated individual, capable of making my own decisions. It’s kind of insulting that some would think that.
I am willing to admit that in modern U.S. Politics we will never have a “perfect candidate”. That one candidate that will make everyone happy, and will make everything perfect. I think that the political state of this nation is choosing ”the lesser of two evils”, and this election is by no means different. Both candidates have their obvious flaws, they have had their ups and downs. But without a doubt, this campaign became an ugly one, a long time ago, and John McCain’s true colors bled out.
I think the McCain/Palin campaign has been launching accusations and attacks far more than they have been discussing issues. Look, I understand attacking Obama, it’s all part of the game. But these attacks are just baseless and borderline lunatic. I understand the Jeremiah Wright incident. However, I will give Obama the benefit of the doubt on this. I think a man should be judged by his actions and by his words. Barack Obama condemned Wright’s obviously insane comments. I have sat in front of many pastors that I have disagreed with in my life, I don’t think it’s fair to hold that against me. I have discussed ad-nauseam the Bill Ayers link so I’ll spare you, as I will also spare you the ignorant supporters that shout death threats. You all know what I have to say about that.
John McCain tends to hover over yet another misconception, this idea of “Barack the Socialist”. I’ll keep this brief. The GOP tends to blur the lines between Socialism and Communism, and people tend to forget what socialism is. Google Socialism, do some research, find out what Socialism TRULY is, and then if you still think Barack Obama is a Socialist, come back and talk to me.
On the subject of taxes, I do agree that raising the corporate gains tax does tend to affect what businesses do best…business. But at the same time, I think we are at a point in our economy where we can justify making any of the Bush tax cuts permanent. It just doesn’t make sense to me how cutting the government’s income is going to be a benefit to our current situation or the actions we intend to take about it. Here’s Sarah Palin on Biden’s stance on taxes:
“You said recently that higher taxes or asking for higher taxes or paying higher taxes is patriotic. In the middle class of America, which is where Todd and I have been all of our lives, that’s not patriotic.”
That is such a terrible, stupid thing to say. First of all, Obama has stressed that his tax cuts are for the middle class. But lets forget I said that. Governor Palin loves to make taxes seem like a major drag. I want to quote Thomas Friedman’s great article on this issue. Here is an excerpt, but read it all, it really is good.
I only wish she had been asked: “Gov. Palin, if paying taxes is not considered patriotic in your neighborhood, who is going to pay for the body armor that will protect your son in Iraq? Who is going to pay for the bailout you endorsed? If it isn’t from tax revenues, there are only two ways to pay for those big projects — printing more money or borrowing more money. Do you think borrowing money from China is more patriotic than raising it in taxes from Americans?” That is not putting America first. That is selling America first.
Is paying taxes patriotic? You are God damned right it is. Much like Friedman I was raised in a middle class family, where my single mother supported a family of four and always paid her share of taxes. Taxes are the life blood of this nation. Friedman went on to quote Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes. “I like paying taxes. With them I buy civilization.” Great quote.
While on the subject of Sarah Palin, I don’t think she can run this nation. Anybody got a nicer word than “inept”? I won’t even go to her links to secessionists (all lies right?) and the whack job Joe Vogler, because well, you already know that. I guess won’t bring up the entire Katie Couric interview, cause well, you know that too. But I want to bring up yet another “epic” quote.
“We believe that the best of America is in these small towns that we get to visit, and in these wonderful little pockets of what I call the real America, being here with all of you hard working very patriotic, um, very, um, pro-America areas of this great nation.”
Wow. Let that soak in a bit and then please tell me why you want this woman as the back-up to a 72 year old man with a not-so-hot track record for health. Sure, I have given her credit where it was due, but come on. The notion that some areas of the country are “better” or “real Americans” as opposed to others is the most narrow-minded dribble I have heard in a long time. Way to persuade voters guys!
Look in closing. I want to say that this isn’t some sort of radical overnight shift in my behavior. This is me, seeing the facts, looking at both sides of the issue, and making the choice I think is right. In the end, for these reasons, and many others, I cannot give my vote to John McCain. Barack Obama isn’t the greatest choice either, but in the end, John McCain is worse. If you can’t take my word for it, ask Colin Powell, or any of the other prominent Republicans who has given him their support. Peace out, thanks for listening.
P.S.
Notice, I didn’t once mention Joe The Plumber. Thats because he is insignificant.
Last night on Meet the Press (R.I.P Tim Russert) Colin Powell endorsed Barack Obama. If you sit quietly, you can still hear McCain cursing. Colin Powell is without a doubt one of my favorite, if not my most favorite Republicans. The man is one of the most effective and intelligent generals that has ever served this nation, he is a statesman, and in my opinion a true patriot, and someday even a great president. I even did my first book report in the sixth grade on his biography. However, what struck me the most is why he endorsed Barack Obama.
Powell sees Obama as a “transformational figure” and a “new generation coming onto the world stage…”. I couldn’t agree more. But most importantly of all, he addressed my major concern (and one of my major reasons) for not voting for John McCain. Here is a quick excerpt from the CNN article I found.
Powell said he was concerned about what he characterized as a recent negative turn of Republican candidate Sen. John McCain’s campaign, such as the campaign’s attempts to tie Obama to former 1960s radical Bill Ayers.
“I think that’s inappropriate. I understand what politics is about — I know how you can go after one another, and that’s good. But I think this goes too far, and I think it has made the McCain campaign look a little narrow. It’s not what the American people are looking for,” he said.
100% spot on.
Could this be the final nail in the coffin for the McCain/Palin campaign? Who knows? There is still plenty of time left, and frankly anything can happen. All I know is that the amount of respect I have for Colin Powell, and the fact that he has endorsed Barack Obama for the correct reasons will serve to reinforce the decision some have made to support him, and will cause others to re-think their decisions to support John McCain.
During the final presidential debate, John McCain said this about Bill Ayers
Yes, real quick. Mr. Ayers, I don’t care about an old washed-up terrorist.
So the focus of your entire campaign, more so than health care, more so than the economy is no longer a concern to you? Then why are auto dialing machines calling people with this message?
“You need to know that Barack Obama has worked closely with domestic terrorist Bill Ayers, whose organization bombed the U.S. Capitol, the Pentagon, a judge’s home, and killed Americans. And Democrats will enact an extreme leftist agenda if they take control of Washington. Barack Obama and his democratic allies lack the judgment to lead our country.”
Frankly, the McCain campaign is clinging to straws at this point. The campaign continues to allow these baseless accusations to go unchecked, letting them grow like wildfire. All this while John McCain demands of Obama to repudiate statements made against him. I am sorry Senator, this is very much a two way street. For every minute you attack Barack Obama for this nonsense is a minute you aren’t talking about the issues.
First of all, the debate tonight was a very interesting one. I do believe Barack Obama won this debate, however I give him this victory with a few caveats. Barack Obama was almost, a bit TOO mellow tonight. He had a few opportunities to come after John McCain on a few subjects. That being said, John McCain was on a major offensive tonight, especially at the beginning. However, I think John McCain did not succeed in staging his much needed and much anticipated “last stand”. In the first thirty minutes of the debate, John McCain did take the debate and was on the right track. As the debate went on, Obama maintained his cool while McCain lost his. McCain’s temprament and body language spoke volumes for him. it definitely showed McCain was angry and annoyed. With all the sighing and the expressions it was obvious. Despite that, it was definitely McCain’s best debate, definitely Obama’s worst debate. But in the end, on his worst debate, I think Barack Obama came out with a win based on the issues, based on his temperament, and based on staying germane to what’s important. But it was a close win none the less.
Like I have done before I want to touch on a few topics and discuss key moments in the overall debate. So lets jump in.
First of all I want to address what I thought was a very important part of the debate. John McCain, up until the point where he was discussing campaigning and the personal attacks in the campaigns. At this point is where, in my opinion, John McCain started to slip. I think he dragged this John Lewis incident on and on, almost as if he wanted Barack Obama to apologize on his behalf. People don’t want to hear about hurt feelings and partisan rambling. That being said, John McCain did go there as he promised he would. What Lewis said was not the issue. The issue is with what McCain said to Obama in regards to that.
Every time there’s been an out-of-bounds remark made by a Republican, no matter where they are, I have repudiated them. I hope that Sen. Obama will repudiate those remarks that were made by Congressman John Lewis, very unfair and totally inappropriate.
I was a bit appauled by this. John McCain’s supporters are shouting for Obama’s death, accusing the man of being a terrorist, and he wants Barack Obama to repudiate a negative statement against him and Sarah Palin? Barack Obama definitely kept his cool in this situation, something I can’t really say about myself. I’ve addressed this issue already, however I do want to emphasis one more point John McCain said in response to Barack Obama bringing these death threat remarks. John McCain treats this as an isolated incident and I whole heartedly disagree. It is obvious that this a larger problem that John McCain, but mainly Sarah Palin, refuse to address. If McCain wants repudiation for a single man’s comments, then he must give Obama the same in return. Either way this was a positive and negative aspect of the debate. Positive because it needed to be addressed face to face by both candidates, and negative because, frankly we are all sick of it.
In regards to the Economy, I definitely think it was a very “John McCain” dominated area. Coming right off the block, Sen. McCain had Obama on the defensive. John McCain definitely over shadowed Obama on this part of the debate. Obama did make the usual points he makes, but here I think is where John McCain’s offense paid off. This part here resounded with me the most:
The fact is that businesses in America today are paying the second highest tax rate of anywhere in the world. Our tax rate for business in America is 35 percent. Ireland, it’s 11 percent.
Where are companies going to go where they can create jobs and where they can do best in business?
We need to cut the business tax rate in America. We need to encourage business.
I do agree with this. I do think this would create some jobs now. But again, it’s times like these where tax cuts aren’t going to work. If the government is not taking in, we cannot pay out. My economics professor spoke about how during times of recession, the government has to observe a “contractionary” (He may have made that word up, bare with me) policy so to speak. This is where the government takes in more, and spends less. Cutting taxes is great, but they need to be precision cuts to the right people. I do think that Barack Obama keeps avoiding specifically what he plans to cut.
On health care, it’s a different story. I think Barack Obama was spot on when it came to his plan to alleviate the health care woes in this country. Not only did he reinforce his own policy changes, but I think he countered John McCain very well.
He says he’s going to give you all a $5,000 tax credit. That sounds pretty good. And you can go out and buy your own insurance.
Here’s the problem — that for about 20 million people, you may find yourselves no longer having employer-based health insurance. This is because younger people might be able to get health insurance for $5,000, young and healthy folks.
Older folks, let’s healthy folks, what’s going to end up happening is that you’re going to be the only ones left in your employer-based system, your employers won’t be able to afford it.
I wish I could fit a little more but I don’t want this blog to get too long.
This debate was a very close one. I think John McCain did bring his A game but at the same time, a mellowed out Barack held his on the the issues. To call a winner in this debate is going to come down to a personal preference. That’s how close it is. Some will call it for Obama, others will call it for McCain based soley on their alleigiance to the candidate. I, again gave it Obama for the simple reason that I agree with him the most. Most people will assign the winner in the same way I think. Either way, it was the better of the three debates no doubt, and definitely a valiant effort by John McCain. Will it be enough to get him a lead in the polls? I doubt it. But with 3 weeks left, anything can still happen. Peace Out!
With the third presidential debate drawing near, I have been noticing the media has been hinting that John McCain is going to be addressing Barack Obama’s link with domestic terrorism Bill Ayers during the debate itself. Frankly, if John McCain wants to go down this road, he needs to do one of two things. Either prepare to bring evidence showing an 8 year old Barack Obama lighting the fuses along side Bill Ayers, or prepare to be torn apart by Barack Obama for trying to assign him guilt by association and taking the focus off the issues like our current economic crisis during a debate. This debate is all or nothing for John McCain. He needs to leave these ignorant, baseless attacks to the stump speeches and start addressing issues. All this “Who is Barack Obama, and where did he come from?” nonsense needs to end. Are the two autobiographies, senate experience, and the two and a half years of media scrutiny not enough? Oh that’s right, Sarah Palin doesn’t read…my bad. Either way, John McCain better bring his A game tonight if he wants a hope of closing the gap in the polls a bit. I’ll definitely be back to give me post debate summary so stay tuned. Peace Out.
I have been saying this until I was blue in the face, and it has finally come true. I caught this story on CNN this morning before I left for Jiu Jitsu. Here is a video though I urge you to read the article:
There is nothing like getting booed by your own supporters. After this entire week, the McCain/Palin campaign has been jumping through hoops to try to connect Barack Obama to a “domestic terrorist” (while Obama was 8 years old) and who is currently reformed English professor and community activist. I responded to that link, I won’t go in to it again. But what I want people to notice is that now, these attacks have completely exploded in McCain’s face. His supporters are blathering the ignorant dribble that Sarah Palin has been pushing all week (like if she has known it her whole life) and simply taking it to the next level. ”I don’t trust Obama. I have read about him and he’s an Arab.” said one lady at that rally in Minnesota. Now John McCain has to back pedal because this level of ignorance, that was fueled like a furnace on Monday, stands to drag John McCain down today, much farther down that he already is at.
That one? Are you serious? I doubt John McCain could look any less like an a-hole by referring to his senate colleague as “that one”. I, frankly am suprised that the media hasn’t slammed him even more for this. Honestly, I believe Senator McCain sincerely doesn’t like Senator Obama, but he should at least dial it down a bit.
Despite that, Barack Obama commanded this debate in my opinion. He was on the offensive, always throwing McCain off his game. He definitely said things people wanted to hear, and the town hall format gave him the opportunity to defend against John McCain’s attacks on the fly. He reinforced his health care plan big time and it seemed as the people connected with his more than McCain’s. On Iraq and Afghanistan, Obama again reinforced the flaws and shortfalls of the war, and John McCain’s involvement with it. Here is a great line:
“Well, you know, Sen. McCain, in the last debate and today, again, suggested that I don’t understand. It’s true. There are some things I don’t understand.
I don’t understand how we ended up invading a country that had nothing to do with 9/11, while Osama Bin Laden and Al Qaeda are setting up base camps and safe havens to train terrorists to attack us.” — Sen. Barack Obama
In my opinion this stopped John McCain cold. This was in response to McCain saying that Obama “does not understand our national security challenges.” Obama went on to say:
“We’ve spent, so far, close to $700 billion and if we continue on the path that we’re on, as Sen. McCain is suggesting, it’s going to go well over $1 trillion. We’re spending $10 billion a month in Iraq at a time when the Iraqis have a $79 billion surplus, $79 billion. And we need that $10 billion a month here in the United States to put people back to work, to do all these wonderful things that Sen. McCain suggested we should be doing, but has not yet explained how he would pay for.” — Sen. Barack Obama
Boom. Barack Obama did a great job linking the Iraq and OUR economy monetarily. It really puts in to perspective just how the Iraq War has affected our economy. Obama was also strong on the environment. Though I agree, we should explore more nuclear power options, that should only play a small roll in a larger plan. A plan involving solar, wind, hydro-electric to name a few. This was by far my favorite line with regards to alternative fuels and the environment.
“Sen. McCain and I actually agree on something. He said a while back that the big problem with energy is that for 30 years, politicians in Washington haven’t done anything.
What Sen. McCain doesn’t mention is he’s been there 26 of them. And during that time, he voted 23 times against alternative fuels, 23 times.” — Sen. Barack Obama
Definitely a win for Obama. It was an undisputed win at that. I have no doubt that come tomorrow, boost Barack Obama even more in the polls.
P.S.
I used the CNN Political Ticker’s Transcript of the Debate for this post, visit it here!
I can’t watch this woman on TV anymore, she irritates me so much. Her voice, her empty baseless attacks that I am almost positive someone told her to say cause she doesn’t know a DAMN thing. I can’t take this hockey mom, joe six pack, “you betcha!” nonsense anymore. If she winks at the camera one more time I am going to lose my mind. I can’t imagine a world where this woman can be so close to the presidency of this nation. This isn’t a sexist thing. If I get one more woman ask me what my problem is with a woman vice president, I am going to spazz out. I have already gone down the list of women who he could have chosen that would have contributed positively to not only John McCain’s ticket, but also this nation should he be elected. Sarah Palin is outraged at the “evil leftist media” for asking her all these tough questions like “What newspaper do you read?”
This entire thing with Bill Ayers and Barack Obama is such a stretch of the truth. When Ayers was bombing empty offices Obama was 8 years old. As much as Sarah Palin wants to picture an 8 year old Obama lighting the fuses with Ayers thats not so. And the fact that he “palls around with him” is also not so. Considering that they served together on an anti-poverty group, Woods Fund Of Chicago, from 1999-2002. This hardly makes Obama guilty by association, and only further proves the McCain/Palin campaign is desperate, and slowly realizing that their lack of attention to the economy is causing them to slip in the polls.
I think I know what’s going on here. The Republican party and the Republican constituency are openly supportive of Palin. They cheer, they chant her name, they dig all this hockey mom nonsense. But deep down, they are freaking out. Sarah Palin may be a great lady, but the woman cannot lead this nation. The GOP is trying so hard to mold her, but frankly it’s too little too late. All the coaching and all the advisers in all the world cannot mold Sarah Palin in to an acceptable Vice President.
Recently, the bitter partisanship in Washington, among other factors, caused me to lose the little faith I had in our government and the people that we have appointed to run it, on both sides. However, I did however, keep the faith that this bitter partisanship had not trickled down to the common man.
Sadly, I was wrong.
This weekend I ran in to a Republican who fit the idea the people have about the Republican party so well. This person is one of those people who love to impose their beliefs on you, constantly. I would describe it more as a fanatical, militant loyalty rather than a political party affiliation. If you don’t believe what they believe then, well you’re stupid, you’re wrong and you’re “lost”. For all the partisan bitterness, there was little substance. Fortunately I kept my cool and I refrained from laying my political smack down. Because whenever you encounter one of these “blind followers” of any political party you have to keep in mind that you can never argue with ignorance and expect to win.
But I wanted to let you know that just because there are some complete morons like the one described above, there are others that are quite the opposite. I also spoke to an couple of intelligent Republican this weekend, who are respectful, well spoken, and make great points that as an independent make me think. At the same time they are receptive and open minded, not confrontational at all. I just wanted to share a few thoughts and make a point. There will be some people who follow blindly, for whatever reason, and close their minds to everyone and everything else. Those people are called SHEEP.
Whoever you follow, Democrats, Republicans, Independents… be open minded, and be educated on all the issues, and all the sides. But most importantly, I find that I learn the most from those who disagree with me, more than those who do. I think if we all kept that in mind political discourse in this country would be much more productive.
Oh, and don’t be a douche bag. That too. Peace Out!
I thought the debate went really well, and I was extremely impressed by Sarah Palin. That being said, the reason I was extremely impressed is because I really wasn’t expecting much, but hey it’s something right? Since the beginning, I think Sarah Palin was looking to give off an impression to the viewers. She was definitely going for the impression that she was just a “hockey mom” (sorry I am sick that that too) who just got sucked into the male driven world of Washington politics. The “Hey, can I call you Joe?” and all the similar talk showed that Plain was trying hard to make herself look unpolitical, so to speak. No doubt that it was her goal to dial down her status and try to relate to the average person, but after a while it just seemed like pandering. The idea of this “lady taking on the Washington establishment” is pretty transparent, in my opinion. She seems to hammer that point frequently, and the more she does, the more I don’t care. You were offered the job, and you know what it requires. And frankly, on a side note, the little winks and shrugs, don’t work. That is not something a president does. I keep having this reoccurring dream that she is negotiating a nuclear treaty with Iran and when they start pressuring her she will get all cutesy and wink at Ahmadinejad, “Ohh Mahmūd, say it ain’t so!!” If that doesn’t scare you, you’ve got problems. Sarah Palin did, however meet her goal, which was to repair her image and in a way, earn the viability as a vice-presidential candidate. The CBS interview with Katie Couric was starting to nudge at some Republicans a bit as to whether or not she was fit to step in if something happened to John McCain in office. I definitely think she accomplished that. But whether she won the debate or not is…well, debatable.
The debate winner, is definitely Joe Biden. He debated John McCain and his issues, and not Sarah Palin which is ideal, because in the end that’s what it’s all about. He didn’t ramble, he wasn’t biting either. He won this debate not because of anything having to do with Sarah Palin, like I said she represented John McCain VERY well. He won because he argued the points and showed his vast experience in all areas, especially in Foreign Policy. He connected with the Middle-Class extremely well, even more so than Sarah Palin (sorry Sarah, but darn it I just didn’t care for ya! *wink*). He delivered excellent replies and brought in to question various McCain policies on Foreign Policy, Taxes, and most notably the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. What also helped him out was in the instances where Sarah Palin called him out on how he disagreed with Barack Obama on certain issues. He handled those questions very well and it showed that he wasn’t a yes man, that he wasn’t afraid to give his input which I think is valuable to any president. And lastly, his words about his personal experiences with his family and the experience of loss, showed his human side and I am sure was very effective in relating to the average voter. I think Joe Biden both stated, and defended Barack Obama’s policies well, while calling out John McCain on his. All in all a good debate, with a clear winner, but a close second for Palin.
I did cut this blog down, the length was way too long. I will post the rest of it later, it still needs some tweaking. Stay Tuned!
I was watching the news and caught John McCain’s address at a rally in Missouri today. Aside from the usual comments about the dire situation of our economy and what he is going to do, he started making points about unity and bipartisanship. I was a bit surprised considering that this part of his speech was normally used to blame Obama for the failing economy, the bickering congress, and his back pain. But not today apparently. He actually…didn’t sound like the partisan d-bag he normally comes off as. I definitely think that parachuting in the Bailout situation and then seeing it not get passed, by his own party, has sort of humbled his approach a bit. I guess we will see if this lasts or not.
I want to make somethings clear, especially now that I have gotten a chance to cool down from my patriotic, panic driven, stock tumbling meltdown I had this afternoon. When I said that I would not vote Republican, I sincerely meant it. Do the Democrats have some blame in this? Absolutely. I think both sides are to blame in the big picture of this economic crisis. But in regards to today, the Republicans have dropped the ball for no good reason what-so-ever. At a time when President Bush, Democrat, and Republican leadership were UNITED under the idea that this plan is nasty and dirty but EXTREMELY necessary to ensure that people keep their money and stay in there homes. I mean thats the point of this. This Bailout Bill is more of a rescue bill. Rescuing us from a second Great Depression.
I promise you, what has happened today is inexcusable. Politicians in this country have given in to this partisanship hatred. Because thats what it is, it’s hatred. You can see it too, you can see it in their faces, in their eyes. You can see it in John McCain’s face when he was debating Barack Obama the other night. This hatred only causes problems, not solutions. The reason the DOW fell 777 points today is because Republican Party voted with partisanship in mind. Check this video out for a second, and see what I mean:
I think this speaks for itself. So I will move on…
I was writing a blog this morning, preparing to endorse a candidate for President, somthing that I have been putting off for a while, because I think it’s around times like these where politicians show their true colors a bit. Usually closer to election time, candidates have debated a few times, and I can more or less feel them out. Well I am done deciding. I am an Independent voter supporting Barack Obama for President. By no means am I endorsing or registering as a Democrat, I like being an Independent, it gives me leeway to slam both parties. But I strongly believe Barack Obama is the lesser of two evils. I believe that the partisan hate is weak in him, I believe in the man, and I agree with most of his positions on the issues (minus of course his stance on Abortion for reasons of my faith). In a time like this we need to raise taxes to the rich and corporations, we need to enter a “take in more, spend less” mind set when it comes to government funding and spending. So there you have it. Peace Out.
Well, there we go. The House has turned down the Bailout Bill, and the partisan blame game has just begun. I am officially scared, and frankly, I am rarely scared about things like this. We are in for some seriously rough times. Ok, my calm tone will now end, and my angry tone will now take over.
God Damn It. I cannot believe that this did not pass. I CANNOT fathom that these people, these “adults” are in charge of our government. You guys shoot this plan down and then start bickering and pointing fingers. I cannot stress enough how badly we need this bill to pass. This is not even close to the perfect solution but this is a step in the right direction. Our economy is slowly falling, banks, financial institutions that have been around for close to 100 years are crashing all around our feet and all you can do is sit around and bicker.
I love this country so damn much that to see this scares me to the core. It scares me that Congress cannot sit down and say to themselves “Lets cut the crap and do what is best for this nation.” People are losing their money. Companies are cutting jobs and banks are closing doors. The DOW dropped 777.68 points. Congress has let us down. The Democrats yielded 140 Yea, 95 Nay, successfully rallying the majority of their party behind this bill. The Republicans voted 65 Yea, 133 Nay. The Republicans have voted against this because Nancy Pelosi made comments about how Bush destroyed Clinton’s established surplus. See the full article here.
Pelosi said “$700 billion [is a] a staggering number, but only a part of the cost of the failed Bush economic policies – policies that were built on budget recklessness … combined with an anything goes economic policy, [that] have taken us to where we are today.”
I want to make this clear. You can’t argue this, there is no doubt, the Republicans have said this themselves. There is no conjecture, there is no speculation or anything to take out of context. The REPUBLICAN PARTY has taken comments made by Nancy Pelosi personally and is punishing this nation for it. They have voted against their own President, their own presidential candidate, and their own party leaders. The reason this bill failed because of Republican House Members.
I am SO OUTRAGED that I am almost to tears frankly, something that is very unlike me. The Republican Party has shafted this nation out of stupidity. A REPUBLICAN WILL NEVER GET MY VOTE AGAIN. I am forced to do this because of the ineptitude and unprofessionalism of this party, it is irrefutable! The DOW is down 777 points because of them. If tomorrow morning there are bank runs and economic panics it will be BECAUSE OF THEM. If more banks fall tomorrow, it will be because of the handful of Republicans that let this happen. This is beyond presidential elections, beyond Sarah Palin, and beyond anything else. This is the Republican Party acting contrary to the best interests of this nation because they are offended. Country First? No. Country Last.
I’ve taken a bit of a break from politics lately. The constant media coverage, the back and forth gets a bit tiring. But after the 500 point drop in our stock market, the collapse of Lehman Brothers, and the bailout of AIG, Inc. makes me remember an article I read not too long ago about John McCain’s economic advisor, Former Senator Phil Gramm, who is not vice chairman of UBS. He said some pretty interesting stuff back in a July interview with the Washington Post. He described the job loss and economic problems then, which we can assume were the precursor to this and things to come, as “being a mental recession”, and we had become a “nation of whiners”.
Is that still the case Phil? Is it still all in our heads? The nationalization of Freddie and Fanny, the collapse of Lehman Brothers and the $85 Billion Bailout of AIG, that is all mental. It’s comments like these that show how out of touch Republicans are with the economy. Take Phil Gramm for example. He is a former Senator, Vice Chairman of UBS, one of a larger Swiss Banks. You think he is in a position to tell us why we shouldn’t be whining? Unemployment is SHOCKINGlY high, the Stock Market rides like The Hulk Roller-coaster at Islands of Adventure, and if that weren’t enough mortgage lenders are crashing down around us and the housing market is flattening out. Phil Gramm doesn’t know what the American people are going through. And when he says things like this, it makes John McCain look like he doesn’t know either. If John McCain wants to win this election, he needs to relate to the average person. Right now, people see him as elitist and out of touch with the common man. And I honestly can’t say thats not true. I think in an economic climate such as this, where the average, middle class consumer is feeling the brunt of the s*** storm that is our economy, the Republicans are already at a handicap. That coupled with the fact that, like a new toy four days after christmas, the intrigue people had for potential vice-president (*gulp*) Sarah Palin has worn out, which is giving the Dems a bit of surge. We are only a month and a half or so away from “The Day” so lets see how this turns out.
Personally, I can’t wait till it’s over. Peace Out.
It seems to me that Barack Obama is loosing the boost he had. Ever since his fiery, historic Denver DNC speech, Barack Obama has seemed a bit boring. He used to have these really swift, well delivered responses to everything. But now, when he isn’t going on and on about something, he gets that look on his face like the Republicans are getting to him. The Democrats are epically well known for loosing elections. Barack Obama needs to do what Bill Clinton did and start going to the mattresses. Go out there and win it, the stage for a Democratic victory in this election is set. The country is reeling from the disaster of the Bush Administration and the “Bush Congress”.
I am not saying that McCain is getting a boost where Barack is faltering. John McCain is seemingly doing well because most of the Republican party drank the Sarah Palin Kool-Aid and are now making her look like the next best thing since The Beatles. There is a perfect reason why John McCain is not campaigning without her for very long. She brings crowds, she riles up the base. Something that he can’t do by himself. Let me not talk about Sarah Palin anymore, I don’t want to be accused of sexism and then forced to apologize by John McCain.
Barack Obama needs to seize this election once more. Hopefully he will find his second wind quickly, other wise, this will be a red election once again.
As I was doing my morning blog sweep, I noticed a few stories where it seems all the McCain campaign is doing is just, as Stephen Colbert puts it, wagging the finger at the Democrats. First off, here is Barack Obama addressing the Republicans new “campaign for change” from the CNN article:
Obama made the remarks at a Virginia campaign stop late Tuesday afternoon. “John McCain says he’s about change too, and so I guess his whole angle is, ‘Watch out George Bush – except for economic policy, health care policy, tax policy, education policy, foreign policy and Karl Rove-style politics – we’re really gonna shake things up in Washington,’” Obama said.
“That’s not change. That’s just calling something the same thing something different. You know you can put lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a pig. You know you can wrap an old fish in a piece of paper called change, it’s still going to stink after eight years. We’ve had enough of the same old thing.”
Apparently John McCain didn’t like this, saying it was an attack against Sarah Palin, who said in her acceptance speech that:
“You know the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull? Lipstick.”
Oh boo friggin’ hoo. If you want to strech Obama’s remarks completely out of context and say that it was an attack against Sarah Palin, then she deserved it. Cause that’s a stupid Sarah Palin quote and I am sick of hearing it. It’s up there with the Bridge to Nowhere quote and her dumb crack at community organizers. But alas, his comment is merely referring to the fact that the Republicans can call their policies whatever they want, but in the end it’s the same. It’s a pretty popular phrase… you know put lipstick on a pig but it’s still a pig. It’s pretty obvious that when the Republicans dish out the attacks, that’s fine. But if you retaliate…you better watch out, cause they’ll run crying to the media calling foul.
Now, here comes Joe Biden, his argument is that if you support helping children with disabilities then, logically, you should support Stem Cell research. I mean, it’s a fair argument, seeing as not only do the Democrats support Stem Cell research, so does John McCain. Joe Biden said:
”I hear all this talk about how the Republicans are going to work in dealing with parents who have both the joy … and the difficulty of raising a child who has a developmental disability, who were born with a birth defect.” He went on to say: ”Well, guess what, folks? If you care about it, why don’t you support stem cell research?”
Uh Oh. He is just arguing the issues right? Apparently McCain/Palin doesn’t agree. His campaign said Joe Biden “sunk to a new low”. David Wade, a spokesman for Joe Biden put it this way…
“This is a clash of policies, not a clash of personalities,” Wade said. “We’ve heard not a dime’s worth of difference between the McCain-Palin ticket and the Bush administration on medical breakthroughs that millions of parents and doctors believe could save lives and transform the quality of life for countless Americans.”
The McCain/Palin ticket is being the whiny kid on the playground who punches you in the face when the teacher is not looking. You are fighting the political battle for the highest position in the United States government. Strap on a helmet, and grow a shell. Speak about the issues, and stop making up controversy.
We are now about to begin the final day of the Republican National Convention. Last night, Sarah Palin delivered a very well received speech, heavy with attacks against Obama. Post-speech, The GOP is singing this woman’s praises. This falls in line with that shiny new Republican message of bipartisanship and hugs & kisses. “We are the Republican Party, we care…want a hug?” The RNC has done a pretty good job so far at uniting the base, and the Palin speech was by far the most poignant. Here is a sort of highlight reel, I can’t find the full version in one video. If anyone else has it, post it as a comment below and I’ll update it.
I have been taking a few shots at Governor Palin lately so I am going to go ahead and say some nice things, take notice it may not happen again. I think she speaks very well and did a fantastic job getting a large group of her voters in the mood for some votin’. Her speech, though heavy on the attacks against Obama and Biden, was still nicely delivered. Though I do think it lacked on key issues and focused more on her being a “hockey mom”, trying to relate to the people on their level. I think Joe Biden made a great point in his response.
“…I was also impressed by what I didn’t hear in the speech. I didn’t hear the word-the phrase-”middle class” mentioned. I didn’t hear about health care. I didn’t hear a single word about what we’re going to do about the housing crisis-college education-all the things that the middle class is being burdened with right now.”
Another thing I am not hearing from the RNC speeches as a whole is “Bush”. The RNC is doing the right thing in setting Bush out as an island unto himself. There is no doubt that George Bush will go down in history as a very disliked president. And if John McCain, who has a 90% voting record in favor of Bush policies, wants to win this election, he is going to need to make clear that what he wants to do, and what he stands for is contrary to the last 8 years. Who knows, it may be too little too late. The damage the Bush Administration caused to the GOP’s favor and reputation may be irreparable. McCain maybe swimming up stream in a hurricane on this one and with Sarah Palin, a woman who some think is unfit for the position, who is surrounded in controversy, is just an additional weight holding him down. The Republican party I think was a bit blind sided by this choice. The Republicans are uniting together under this woman, as if they keep telling themselves that she is qualified over and over again, it might actually come true. ”What she advocates abstinence an no sex education and her daughter got pregnant at 17? No, No, No, she’s qualified!” Sarah Palin can do no wrong. No matter what she does or says the Republicans will spin it as a plus. All I know is if Obama or Biden had a 17 year old daughter who was pregnant out of wedlock, the GOP would have skewered them. Obama showed class for not coming down on Sarah Palin for all of this, knowing full well he would have never been extended the same courtesy. The new Republican message is more a double standard than everything else. So far the message at RNC has been littered with partisan bickering and insults. The Dems are holding back, but I don’t know how much longer Biden can go without fighting back in his own way. It will be an interesting election, lets see how this goes.
Sorry, but I think I had to eventually. Plus it’s slow around the office so I have time to do write it all out. Before I go on, I want to make a couple of things clear about how I feel, that way you can get a better idea from where I am coming from. I am not affiliated with any party. I believe that political parties skew the fact that one should be voting for a candidate and for the good of the nation and not for the good of the Party. George Washington made a great point in his 1796 Farewell Address. Among other things, he warned against bitter partisanship, and urged men to turn away from division and serve the common good together. That being said, seeing as political parties have become a integral engine in our politcal system, and the fact the politcal candidates align themsleves to these parties based on what they believe, it can be hard to overlook them. Also, my personal and political beliefs are influenced by my faith in God. So when I choose a candidate, I keep my faith in the front of my mind. I completely ignore party affiliations. I look instead at each of the candidates themselves. Issue by issue, what do I agree with, what do I disagree with. Making that informed decision in line with what I feel and believe is important to me. Doing this helps me not only to know the beliefs of the candidate I decide to support, but also on those I don’t support. It all comes back to that informed decision. Cause instead of knowing where one candidate stands, I know where they all stand. And like I learned watching G.I. Joe, knowing is half the battle.
I think in this country, it’s particularly difficult to be a political candidate. Poltics have evolved in so many ways. The way it was done in the 1980’s and the 1990’s is so different than it is today. The Internet 2.0 revolution put a lot of power in everyones hands, not just prospective candidates for office. Look at this very blog for example. I, a lowley business major from Miami can reach anyone around the world basically when ever I want. I joke sometimes and say this is my little corner on the Internet but it’s true! So many YouTube videos and news stories go viral everyday and are seen by millions of people. With things like YouTube ushering in a “Video On Demand” era, everything is front of us for the taking. We have no excuse not to be informed. I can literally go from watching CNN on my TV, then get the streaming news feed on my laptop, and text and video updates on my iPhone. This carries over to campaigns as well, allowing candidates to reach people with the same effect the media can. The YouTube and MySpace debates were the first of their kind, full internet debates. This jump in technology has broadened the media’s reach.
However, the media particularly mainstream outlets, like CNN, MSNBC, etc., are not judging each candidate for their policies or beliefs. Instead these candidates are literally placed under a magnifying glass for their actions and past. Every thing that can be spun in a negative light is, and everything that can be taken out of context will be. A perfect example of this is the situation in which Barack Obama was criticized for not wearing the signature American Flag lapel pin. It seems as though this pin comes in the politician orientation kit (along with a coaster, a free t-shirt and a coupon for a medium, one topping pizza from Pizza Hut). The media billed him as unpatriotic for not clipping on the infamous pin that has adorned the lapel of every political figure since the invention of the camera. I, as a voter, and a person who loves this country, really couldn’t care less. I don’t think a man has to wear a pin to be considered a patriot or a good candidate. But the media, in its need to make nothing in to something, really leaned on the issue. So what happened? Next time we see the Senator, he is proudly wearing his lapel pin. I am sure he sleeps with it now too. Or how about when he called that reporter sweetheart? Come on really? In the context that he used it how is that sexual harassment? The nice elderly lady who I see on cash register #6 at Publix every week calls me sweetheart. Should I be offended? That’s the media again, taking nothing, and turning it into something to throw out there. What a great story it would be if a presidential candidate made a sexist comment? (I wish there was a font for sarcasm…)
Another thing is that I feel pretty bad for John McCain. He is without a doubt my favorite Republican. The man was a Navy pilot, who was shot down in combat, survived as a P.O.W., fought cancer and won 3 times, and is an accomplished Senator and family man. But I think McCain is being over shadowed and under appreciated for a few reasons. First, being more or less the official nominee for the Republican party, John McCain can now start campaigning against his Democratic competition. But sadly, he doesn’t know who that competition might be. And again, back to the media coverage. The battle between Obama and Clinton is taking up the media’s attention span. Even FOX News, a news channel that I would venture to say leans to the conservative end, put Obama and Hillary battles before anything McCain has to say. Secondly, when they do talk about McCain, it’s usually about how old he is. Ok, he is old. Big deal, obviously the man takes care of himself. He is in perfect health and willing and able to lead this nation. Get off it. There have been other old presidents too. Finally, I think that John McCain is campaigning for a party who has been the recipient of its fair share of controversy. Having voted Republican since I was able to vote, I am willing to admit, that the Bush Administration has made its fair share of mistakes, some larger than others. John McCain has to work hard to win over those people within his own party who have lost faith in the leadership. Which will be difficult.
Hillary Clinton scares me. Now, let me make something clear. The reason I don’t like Hillary Clinton is not because she is a woman. I am all for a woman president or an African American president. Either would definitely be a major step forward in our growth as a nation, it really would. But she comes off as calculated, it’s pretty obvious. Every time another candidate says or does something that makes the media go ballistic, there’s Hillary, five minutes later with her response, that is just dripping with this holier than thou smugness. I feel like she lacks sincerity, come on, at least fake it or something. Actually, she does fake it, and you can tell which is the worst part. Of course I know she is just playing the political game like everyone else, but she does it with this sick enjoyment. Great example of that here. Besides, if I were her, I would have stepped down with dignity a long time ago. Give it your all sure, but now what she is doing is diverting the country’s attention from the main event, a politcal debate from both sides of the aisle. She went from the determined candidate to the last person who just won’t leave after a party.
Anyway, I have been working on this for way to long, so I am going to wrap it up. Vote. Vote for someone YOU want. Don’t vote because you are loyal to any particular party, or because your mom told you who to vote for. Make that informed decision and I promise you, you will feel great about it. Your vote is the greatest right you have as an American, don’t just give it to anybody. Peace out.
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According to both the New York Times and Politico.com President Obama is set to announce new mileage standards tomorrow. The new Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards are going to incorperate California’s strict standards for fuel mileage and emissions. The ultimate goal is to achieve 34 mpg by 2016. 
Now that the election is over, regardless if your candidate won or lost, just take a deep breath and relax. 
Last night on Meet the Press (R.I.P Tim Russert) Colin Powell endorsed Barack Obama. If you sit quietly, you can still hear McCain cursing. Colin Powell is without a doubt one of my favorite, if not my most favorite Republicans. The man is one of the most effective and intelligent generals that has ever served this nation, he is a statesman, and in my opinion a true patriot, and someday even a great president. I even did my first book report in the sixth grade on his biography. However, what struck me the most is why he endorsed Barack Obama. 
With the third presidential debate drawing near, I have been noticing the media has been hinting that John McCain is going to be addressing Barack Obama’s link with 
I have been saying this until I was blue in the face, and it has finally come true. I caught 
I can’t watch this woman on TV anymore, she irritates me so much. Her voice, her empty baseless attacks that I am almost positive someone told her to say cause she doesn’t know a DAMN thing. I can’t take this hockey mom, joe six pack, “you betcha!” nonsense anymore. If she winks at the camera one more time I am going to lose my mind. I can’t imagine a world where this woman can be so close to the presidency of this nation. This isn’t a sexist thing. If I get one more woman ask me what my problem is with a woman vice president, I am going to spazz out. I have already gone down the list of women who he could have chosen that would have contributed positively to not only John McCain’s ticket, but also this nation should he be elected. Sarah Palin is outraged at the “evil leftist media” for asking her all these tough questions like “What newspaper do you read?” 
Recently, the bitter partisanship in Washington, among other factors, caused me to lose the little faith I had in our government and the people that we have appointed to run it, on both sides. However, I did however, keep the faith that this bitter partisanship had not trickled down to the common man. 
It seems to me that Barack Obama is loosing the boost he had. Ever since his fiery, historic Denver DNC speech, Barack Obama has seemed a bit boring. He used to have these really swift, well delivered responses to everything. But now, when he isn’t going on and on about something, he gets that look on his face like the Republicans are getting to him. The Democrats are epically well known for loosing elections. Barack Obama needs to do what Bill Clinton did and start going to the mattresses. Go out there and win it, the stage for a Democratic victory in this election is set. The country is reeling from the disaster of the Bush Administration and the “Bush Congress”.
We are now about to begin the final day of the Republican National Convention. Last night, Sarah Palin delivered a very well received speech, heavy with attacks against Obama. Post-speech, The GOP is singing this woman’s praises. This falls in line with that shiny new Republican message of bipartisanship and hugs & kisses. “We are the Republican Party, we care…want a hug?” The RNC has done a pretty good job so far at uniting the base, and the Palin speech was by far the most poignant. Here is a sort of highlight reel, I can’t find the full version in one video. If anyone else has it, post it as a comment below and I’ll update it. 
