Republicans exposed highlights political issues, deals with John McCain, Bush, Cheney, Sarah Palin politics, judgment, decision-making and failure to communicate direct plans for unemployment, housing foreclosures, health care, especially teenage pregnancy, HIV-AIDS, community organizers like Barack Obama, inner cities, troop withdraw, sex education, schools, middle-class as well as 16-29 year old college and non-college educated in America.
Now that the elections have been won, in just one month, President, Barack Obama is on to the business of fixing our economy, dealing with home foreclosures, getting everyone affordable health care coverage and fixing the public education system. Charles Barkley thinks that our main problem lies in the lack of a good public education system. He expressed his sentiments in an interview with Campbell Brown at CNN just before the elections on October 27, 2008.
Rappers as well as rap and hip hop labels alike need to do their part by accepting their social responsibilities to the youth among us and seek to promote music that can be used as motivation or can inspire positive vibes. Rappers like Nas, Common, Jair Dynast can use new rap songs not only to influence but to convey hope and mobilize the local communities in our inner cities to organize for change.
President-elect Obama has been assembling an impressive team of rivals and power brokers to assist him with the gargantuan tasks that he's set to assume on January 20, 2009.
Congratulations to President elect, Barack Obama and his dear wife, Michelle as well as their two beautiful daughters and extended families. Yes we can, we did it and we have overcome.
The day after one of the most memorable and historic days in the history of our nation, it has suddenly materialized that we have been able to rise to the call of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s to judge a man by the content of his character and not by the color of his skin. We have a President for the people, by the people and from the people - this is the true meaning of government.
As Americans, it's good to see the overwhelming reaction to this momentous occasion and the pride that one's feels from being a witness to the reactions from people around the globe. Isn't this what we want to achieve as Americans, the admiration and respect of the world? Imagine that President elect, Obama has not yet assumed office but his election has already been able to bring many, many people together.
To draw from one of the many lines in his victory speech, if there is anyone who still doubts that anything is possible in America - you now have your answer. Everyone around the world has been watching us to see if we would have risen to the occasion. America can be the one to watch still and the one to lead the world by example. Perhaps, we can now look forward to the elevation of rappers with rap music that's thought-provoking as a balance to thug music.
All of us should now look to that unity of spirit that was created for the elections by using the same organizing strategy to mobilize in our local communities to implement some of the changes that are so desperately needed at the grassroots level. This is proof positive that the power to change lies amongst us and in each of us - yes we can so believe in yourself.
As a friend like to say, today is decision day in America. McCain-Palin is still at it and they have solicited some help from like-minded people who have resurrected Rev. Jeremiah Wright and other supposed skeletons from Barack's closet to try to distract us, the voters.
We have been treated by McCain like battered women - mistreated constantly each time showing some fake remorse while re-offending often times with even more abuse than before. Take this issue of clean coal that's being misrepresented in the coal-mining communities and the states that Republicans need to claw back in order to win the elections.
Obama's position is clear: set out high standards for the coal mining companies with incentives to accelerate private sector investment in commercial scale zero‐carbon coal facilities.
To maximize the speed at which this critical technology is advanced an Obama administration will instruct the Dept of Energy to enter into joint partnerships with coal mining companies to develop five first-of-a-kind commercial scale coal-fired plants with carbon capture and sequestration.
Ensure that this goal would be met by setting annual demand reduction targets that utilities would need to meet. Unlike McCain-Bush, having a measure of accountability in order to have serious commitment from the companies involved. As we've learned the hard way, no regulation or accountability equals no results and everyone suffers.
Are you getting stressed by these elections proceedings? It is one thing to be competitive and to want to win but it's another to be so dishonest as to start throwing all kinds of labels on your opponent. McCain-Palin is trying to make taxes the political football and they are playing on people's ignorance (lack of knowledge) to score political points.
McCain-Palin tried the paling around with terrorists but that didn't seem to have the desired effect. There is talk about everything except the problems we now face - record unemployment (750,000 lost jobs since January 2008), foreclosures, sub-prime mortgage crisis, public education, medicare, insurance premiums, college tuition and lack of leadership.
Now Obama is a Marxist, socialist because supposedly he wants to spread the wealth around. Wasn't it Ronald Reagan that implemented a tax policy that gave the working poor money back on their taxes? Wasn't this money taken from higher income earning Americans so that those at a lower income bracket could be given a piece of the American pie?
This was Reagan's trickle down economics, the Earned Income Tax Credit. Under Reagan and now Bush, the wealth has been re-distributed upwards towards the top 1% of the population. Does Palin-McCain have a label for this too? Here's one Robin Hood economic strategy or Cops and Robbers.
The Income Tax Act was enacted in 1862 and saw the establishment of the office of Commissioner of Internal Revenue. Now known as the IRS, it was the body that administered the collection of taxes, power to assess, levy and enforce the tax laws through prosecution and property and income seizures.
The Income Tax Act was established to support the Civil War and was based on the basic principles of graduated or progressive taxation and withholding income tax at source. At the time of the Civil War, a person whose income was between $600 to $10,000 per year paid an income tax rate of 3%. Those with incomes higher than $10,000 paid a larger rate.
As far back as 1913, the 16th Amendment to the Constitution made income tax a permanent feature of the U.S. tax system. This amendment gave Congress full legal authority to tax incomes of both individuals and corporations. What's more socialist than the State bailout of Wall Street to the tune of $750B, except that it is necessary to avoid a complete collapse of the entire banking system around the world?
With this legislation in place, there was a huge rise in annual internal revenue collections in the fiscal year 1918 which reached the billion-dollar threshold. By 1920, tax revenues had risen to well over $5.4 billion and by World War II with increased employment tax collections continued to rise even higher.
For McCain to grandstand on political platforms talking about spreading the wealth around is dishonest, deceitful or disingenuous because his tax plan is structured similar to Obama's Tax Plan, except who gets the tax breaks - examine the two proposals for yourself here.
Colin Powell, soldier and statesman has condemned McCain's use of robo-calls as a means to divide the country by inference along racial lines. America is a land of opportunity, inclusion and we used to be proud of our status in the world. This is the main reason so many people from all walks of life flock to our shores.
Powell was born in Harlem, New York to two Jamaican immigrants said that Obama is a transformational figure that has earned his support over several months. Whereas McCain demonstrated poor judgment in his pick of Sarah Palin as Vice-President.
On MSNBC today, a Former National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski says among other things that McCain is unpredictable, veers, we waited for the British to act and we followed, and we waited for the French to suggest a summit and we're following so we are in deep crisis with no real leadership.
If we as a people are going to ignore some of the best brains in the country and act contrary to good judgment, we would be perpetrating an inexcusable injustice to our young children, the ones that now have no say in this process and we have to act on their behalf.
McCain may be erratic but his most dangerous quality is the one that Former National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski identified - he's unpredictable - this is one that we cannot afford or play roulette with at this point in our history.
McCain is now brandishing around Joe the Plumber and other small business people as examples to demonstrate how Obama's Tax Plans would hurt small businesses. So here's some factual research from Internal Revenue Service (IRS) starting out with self-employed:
Self-employment tax rate is 15.3%. The rate consists of two parts: 12.4% for social security (old-age, survivors, and disability insurance) and 2.9% for Medicare (hospital insurance). McCain is now also misleading self-employed Joe the Plumbers but he's decided to drop Joe Six Packs.
Maximum earnings subject to SE tax. Only the first $94,200 of your combined wages, tips, and net earnings in 2006 is subject to any combination of the 12.4% social security part of SE tax, social security tax.
There are other forms of small businesses such as a partnership or S Corporation. According to the IRS, a partnership generally is not a taxable entity and an S Corporation does not pay tax on its income.
Therefore, it seems that if Joe the Plumber has $250,000 to buy a plumbing business he needs to speak to an Accountant, get the Profit & Loss Statement, client list for the business entity and decide what type of business he would set up in order to determine what taxes he would pay. The real Joe the Plumber, with a license #, runs his business in Amarillo, Texas - does he make $250,000 and if he does, he probably has an Accountant or at least a bookkeeper?
To run on the campaign trail and talk in these general terms as if he would be taxed as an individual on $250,000 while operating a business is not only ludicrous but misleading because no one in his right mind would approach something this important in this fashion.
McCain not everyone is erratic, quick to judge, lack the ability to conduct research on issues, cannot comprehend simple bookkeeping and lacks common sense. Whenever in doubt, seek the advice of an expert on small business such as the IRS and an Accountant not McCain-Palin or Obama.
As we prepare to vote on November 4th, we live in America (the greatest nation in the world) and there are 47 million people amongst us that are uninsured. This is a shame and don't say that you don't want another parent, the government, because you already have a pair.
How could McCain-Palin defend the unborn and the inherent rights of the unborn but ignore the rights of the living - these are real people with real stories? Who amongst us is willing to have these voices heard and who will speak for them? If the republicans and the right wing is so religious, do they believe what God has told us - that we are our brothers' keeper?
Are we so selfish that we can only care about ourselves? Are we not concerned about the under-privilege amongst us? Do you believe that 47 million people is just a statistic or are you like some of us and feel that this is a tragedy?
Some very special people amongst us, doctors of the American Medical Association (AMA) who have taken a Hippocratic Oath to care are forced to so with pre-conditions, insured patients come first. These good doctors have highlighted the plight of these desperate people:
They have limited access to health plans and benefits.
Regardless, these people live sicker and die younger.
The AMA has put forward the broad solutions to this health care crisis as follows:
To provide all Americans with a means to purchase health care coverage.
To give individuals choices to select the appropriate coverage for themselves and their families especially, their children.
To promote market reforms that enable this new approach.
If you are one of the 47 million people that are becoming this faceless statistic, come forward, get involved, learn more, stay connected to your plight by contacting Voice for the Uninsured and finally, get out and VOTE.
After watching an excerpt of Sarah Palin's speech today (October 12th) in St. Clairsville, Ohio, it prompted this straight talk to show that Palin-McCain are definitely not country first but politics first.
Sarah Palin said that her opponent wants to change things and go forward but Obama spends an awful lot of time looking at the past Bush-McCain last eight years because this is where you find blame.
Here's a relevant question for Sarah Palin - why is she looking back on abortion? Haven't we closed that chapter in women's lives? Is she looking back on abortion so that she too can find blame? Or is that she's looking to take our nation of progressive women backwards?
She said that McCain-Palin will balance the budget in their first term in office. In her own words, this is how they will do this:
Impose a spending freeze in all but the most vital functions except military spending, they wouldn't stop spending on our troops because they have to come home with a victory.
McCain-Palin will only spend on job training because they have to put America back to work. Does she know that there are about 756,000 of us currently unemployed? Or does she see this like some who say that 94% of us have jobs?
Palin-McCain will bring tax relief to every American.
This sounds very good as a stump speech but let's examine the reality of this so-called team of straight talk express mavericks that are traveling on the Double Talk Express.
How are you going to balance a budget by giving tax relief to every American? Tax relief to every American means that as government, you are reducing the amount of money you are collecting. Literally, can you balance your budget if you are earning less money? Does she think that you are stupid? What is this double talk?
This is obviously in response to Obama's Tax Cuts for everyone, EXCEPT those that earn over $250,000 so McCain-Palin jumps to their defense by trying to fool us the middle-class folks that earn $40,000 and up to $250,000.
They will freeze all spending except for the soldiers in the war because they have to come home with victory. We are spending $10B each month on the war in Araq. When does Palin-McCain expect this victory? When do they plan to come home with this victory?
This is a stubborn and bone-headed attitude. Let the Iraqis spend their $80B surplus looking after themselves. Prepare a responsible way to withdraw our troops and rather than a spending freeze in these hard times, invest the money we are currently spending in Iraq here at home on ourselves.
It took Bush-McCain eight years to rack up the current debt but Palin-McCain will (bring down) balance the debt in their first term i.e. four years. What a team of mavericks? Do you see how much more hardship this will create? This is like if you bought a home for $250,000 with a fixed mortgage term of 20-years at 5% interest and a manageable monthly payment. Then you receive notice that there's been an adjustment, your mortgage has to be paid back in 10-years so your payment has now quadrupled. What would this do to your life and budget?
In simple terms, this is what Palin-McCain is suggesting about balancing the government budget and reducing the debt. More ludicrous is that Palin-McCain said they will impose a spending freeze but yet they plan to buy back all the bad mortgages at their old values 2-3 years ago, not even the current values. Who are they buying these mortgages back from - the banks?
Who are they helpingonce again - the rich and privilege? Do you not get it, the mavericks for the rich? Did the $700B bailout not have a plan for these failed mortgages added to it already? I guess McCain doesn't like who that buy-back plan is helping. These mavericks take from the poor and give to the rich so you decide.
As Governor, Palin eliminated property taxes - true but what she has not told you is that she raised the sales taxes at the same time that she did that. Give in one hand and take more in the other hand. Let's examine Sarah Palin's maverick for the people at work. A property tax is an annual tax (once per year). You could set up a tax jar and drop all your loose change and plan to accumulate that tax.
A sales tax you pay every time you make a purchase all year round for all time, no way to avoid it so in the end you continually pay much more than you would have paid in property tax. Do you get it? Don't be fooled again - it's the old bait and switch game - these are no mavericks.
I agree that we should support our troops and give them all the resources not only in war but when they return home and need assistance re-assimilating into society.
My daddy too was a soldier and served his country heroically and with honor but being a good soldier is not necessarily a quality to be President. As I read the Rolling Stone 10-page article that Tim Dickinson wrote and I thought that he reported facts of McCain's record as a soldier and a person.
The McCain that we saw abruptly suspend his campaign and asked to cancel the first debate, is the same McCain that Dickinson's article portrayed very accurately. When you get to be McCain's age, it is very hard to re-wire yourself - your character is already formed and no one can re-mold you. If you visit this youtube video, you will see evidence of McCain flip flops in his own words, not yours, not that one or mine but his.
Palin is married to Todd Palin someone who was a member of the Secessionists Alaska Party and since Sarah Palin has addressed their convention on more than one occasion; would you consider palling around with Secessionists grounds for treason? This is not someone accusing her, this is Sarah Palin in her own words as recently as 2008.
This Olbermann's video on political jackass is clear evidence that Sarah Palin does not read much otherwise she would realize that Bill Ayers is now a PhD professor at a College. Are all his students palling around with a domestic terrorist? Has the college hired a domestic terrorist? Are all his fellow colleagues at the College palling around with a domestic terrorist?
Do you see Palin how you suffer from a severe case of foot in mouth disease? Talk about what's really hurting us - mortgage meltdown, sub-prime loans, foreclosures, unemployment, health care, social security and our kids public education - give us your plan to help us with these multitude of issues that are affecting us right now, today. Please don't blow us off as you did with Gwen Ifill in the VP debate because we will cut you down to size on November 4th.
John McCain isn't a maverick and Rolling Stone contributing editor, Tim Dickinson separates the facts from the fiction on the Republican presidential candidate.
The John McCain that Tim Dickinson revealed in his article in Rolling Stone gives a closer look at a life and career of recklessness and dishonesty. The real elitist, McCain attended Episcopal High School, an all-white, all-boys boarding school across the Potomac in Virginia, where tuition today tops $40,000 a year.
In March 2008 McCain told The Wall Street Journal that he is "always for less regulation" but by September with the Bush government forced to bail out the nation's biggest insurance firm and brokerage house, McCain said that he would regulate the financial industry and end the "casino culture on Wall Street".
McCain's flip-flopping is the commitment he's taking to advance his own career by whatever means necessary and always reach for attention and glory by stretching the truth or outright deception.
Smith one of McCain's GOP colleagues has gone on record of saying that he's temperamentally unsuited to be commander-in-chief. The former senator from New Hampshire said that McCain's "temper would place this country at risk in international affairs and the world perhaps in danger. In my mind, it should disqualify him". Senator, Thad Cochran of Mississippi said that "the thought of his being President sends a cold chill down my spine. He is erratic and he's hotheaded".
You can read Tim Dickinson's ten page article at Rolling Stone for yourself and see why McCain's 11th-hour theatrics in September to abruptly suspend his campaign and run to Pennsylvania Avenue to help with the bailout debate at the last minute is no coincidence. It is so much like the reckless character that he's so famously known by his GOP colleagues.
This week as the discussions began about Bush-McCain $700B bailout plan for Wall Street banks, several commentators have been highlighting that a credit squeeze would mean that it would become difficult to borrow money and get student loans for college tuition.
If you have very young children and want to ensure that their college education is paid for without difficulty, here are a few tips that will help you accomplish your goal:
1. Plan your pregnancy so that you are mentally and financially prepared to cope with the responsibility of having a child.
2. Start to save for your child's education from the day he/she is born. Both parents and grandparents can set aside $25-$50/month in a trust fund to mature when the child celebrates its 18th birthday or is accepted to college.
3. Research various savings plans, annuities or scholarship funds, such as a 529 plan.
4. Follow your child's progress as he/she starts school and get tutors or support to keep him confident and motivated.
5. Extra-curricular activities are important to help kids stay focus and challenged because they have to balance school with the other activities thus developing skills for life's many challenges.
6. There are certain tax benefits as the plan participant.
7. Each state now has at least one 529 plan available but it's each state's decision to offer plans and the structure so it's important to research the features and benefits in depth before investing.
McCain ran up to Pennsylvania Avenue Friday supposedly to help negotiate the $700B bailout and skip the debate. To McCain's judgment or lack thereof, when he got a lot of heat for erratic behavior he changes his position and sets out for Oxford, Mississippi. He clearly demonstrated his inability to handle several tasks at once or he was cleverly seeking to score political points but it back-fired.
Where's McCain's leadership or experience? He's so conjoined at the hip to Bush's foreign policy that he wants to win the war in Iraq before he can bring our troops home. Does he realize that we are losing everyday that we stay in Iraq? It is a humble man that can admit to making a mistake and seek to correct it. Obama said that we took our eyes off the ball, Afghanistan and Al Qaida the people responsible for 9/11. We had no justification for going into Iraq and wasting our military resources in that country.
Banks are closing at home, people are losing their homes, living in cars in "secured parking lots", public high school education is in crisis, 47M are without health insurance, 600,000 Americans have lost their jobs since January 2008 but we are spending $1B/month on two wars. Our soldiers are brave and loyal, it's a pity that we are not so loyal to them at the end of their tour of duty.
Hurricane, Katrina victims are still suffering. Hurricane, Gustav has inflected more pain on yet another segment of our population. Americans are worried not about security as much as about the conditions at home. Charity begins at home. If we cannot take care of each other, are we in any shape to take care of someone else?
We desperately want a President that is in tune with our concerns, that can address our needs in a humane fashion and that can transcend that empathy to the people of the world so that we admired again and not hated by everyone.
We have to lead by example not employ bully tactics to advance our position in the world. If we are going to be critical of Russia and others that seek to impose their will on others, we have to act responsibility.
In a hostile environment, Obama prefers to sit down with the feuding factions and employ diplomacy rather than rush to fight, fight and run the risk of stretching our military to a point of not being able to defend ourselves in a real crisis.
The Democrats are going to be eaten not by the Barracuda but the Great White Sharks, the House Republicans. Great political move by Bush-McCain-Palin team - why is it so you may ask? The Senate became Democratic only 2-years ago. Prior to this, Senate Republicans were in charge for 6-years.
In the eyes of the Republicans and anyone who's knows how to play the game of politics, it would be unwise to allow the people to re-elect a majority Democratic Senate or Congress.This would theoretically be advantageous for an Obama Administration in light of all his talk about changing the way things are done in Washington D.C.
McCain-Bush have somehow managed to inject enough politics into the $700B bailout negotiations to have it spun that the Democrats are the ones that are siding with Bush in handing over the people's money to Wall Street.It is hoped that the ordinary people would miss the politics and focus on the antics of McCain-Bush-Palin.
There are now those who are trying to spin this whole mortgage meltdown to as far back as the Clinton-administration in '90s. There's a New York article that’s been floating around saying that Clinton was putting pressure on Fanny Mae to lend money to poorer and middle-classed Americans so they could own houses.
Everybody in the press rushed to help perpetuate this without asking why did George Bush not steer the ship in another direction if he could see the iceberg ahead?Why did he ram his ship straight into it and start taking on water before he accepted that he was negligent in not avoiding the danger ahead?
To say that somehow Clinton started this is preposterous.Clinton left George Bush a huge surplus, prosperity in high employment and a thriving business environment.What happened in the last 8-years?Are you better off today than you were 8-years ago?That's the bottom line and under whose watch.The Bush-McCain republicans are in charge now and even after injecting $400B into the economy, it is still on a free-fall.
Where's the proof that injecting $700B bailout without specific instructions as to who, where, what, why and when will stem this free-fall, curtail the bankruptcies and not just create inflationary pressure on the economy?
McCain is a maverick politician who knows how to spin his Wheel of Fortune for the prize he yearns each time. For some strange reason, it is hoped that Obama's strategists have some tactical move in play, Obama reached out to McCain and offered him a chance to cut bait. Obama called McCain and suggested that they make a joint-statement about the $700B bailout.
Before Obama could hang up the phone, McCain is seen on TV announcing that he is suspending his campaign, postponing the debate and heading back to Washington, D.C. This was obviously intended to fool Obama into suspending his campaign ads, campaigning, etc. but Obama declined McCain's offer to go to Washington, D.C. because rightly so it would inject presidential politics into a very delicate set of negotiations.
McCain-Bush then realize that if President, Bush extended an offer Obama would have no choice but to show up. Meanwhile, McCain goes to a meeting with the President and makes no public meaningful contribution but it seems that he did make a contribution behind the scene. Suddenly, the house Republicans have a completely new proposal that was never discussed or seen before.
Now John McCain is holding the organizers of the debate to ransom - no bailout deal, no debate. Is anyone home? Can McCain really play this cat and mouse game with all these intelligent members of the press? Why is no one asking the obvious question, Mr. McCain why did you come to Washington, D.C. if you were going to sit in silence at the table?
As McCain adviser Alex Castellanos says on Anderson 360 CNN that clearly McCain is the underdog and he has to take risks to win. Well said, it's all about winning and politics - not "country first" so don't be fooled by McCain's slogans - watch his actions carefully.
If McCain can't multi-task, is he capable of being the United States President in this century? If he can't make a 90-minute speech in Mississippi, continue campaigning and stay in touch with the bailout talks at the same time, why is he in this election campaign? America, do you now see why you cannot elect this McCain-Bush-Palin ticket?
Bush appeared on TV last night trying to scare us about the impending dooms day scenario and in less than 24-hours John McCain is acting like the four-year old that takes his marbles and goes home - isn't he supposed to be an experienced maverick? What happened - is he having a senior moment? It is clear that age does not make you experienced or mature.
If McCain were a boxer the referee would caution him about "holding". Is he coming back to debate Obama like a mature adult? Can someone talk to him and tell him he looking really stupid? McCain you can cancel Larry King and David Letterman but not the people's business. Can someone tell McCain that he's not up for Class President?
For McCain it's politics as usual. The political maverick has ceased the opportunity to cut bait and run because he's been fishing all day and can't seem to catch anything. So Bush throws him a free pass - the worse political man-made economic crisis since the great depression. Where's the evidence to support this catastrophe? Give us all the files, all the details no exception, no bull - please don't spear us from ourselves?
McCain goes further - let's postpone the debate. In other words, postpone the people's business of getting any sense of who's most qualified to handle many crises at once. Now, he's saying that if a deal is not reached by Friday on Bush's $700B bailout of Wall Street, he's not going to the debate. More Bush tactics by McCain, it's my way or the highway. Is this the change that McCain talks about?
We have only 40-days left of George Bush's term in office so there is plenty of time to work out clear, decisive options for the Wall Street crisis. This is Bush's last ditch attempt to save his friends, give them money to run to Switzerland or some such place to avoid FBI prosecution. Remember, Martha Stewart she went to jail for less - where's the justice?
We, the people, will have the power in 40-days. Don't let them diminish your power by frightening you into doing what Bush tells you. Use the power of your vote wisely. This is the one time that you get to decide to end the killing of your innocent children in unnecessary wars. Tell Bush that you postpone action on his crisis until you vote for the person that can fix it.
Let the financial markets deal with the crisis. Warren Buffet just invested $9B in Goldman Sachs and others like him will buy the profitable entities on Wall Street and the unprofitable ones will go bankrupt - that's what happens in Capitalism.
Tell your Congressman that if he supports this $700B bailout for Wall Street, you will not vote for them. Let them know also that they are people dispossessed by hurricane, Gustav and it will take months, if not years to get them the help they need to re-build their lives but somehow Wall Street has to get help in 7-days. Let them know that you can see clearly who's important to the Republicans and it's not ordinary people.
Today, George W. Bush holds the shot gun to our heads and mocks: “There will be ample opportunity to debate the origins of this problem" as he demands that Congress acts fast as he rewards the banks that implemented the dynamics of his "Ownership Society”.
Watch this video on youtube and pay special attention to the "Bush 2004 Campaign Ad - Ownership" and see how we got to this point. While you are watching look at "McCain has flip flopped on every issue" and "McCain's Contradictions and..." to see why he's no different to George W. Bush but a carbon copy.
Email, write, phone your Congressman and tell them that "You do not Approve George Bush Pork Barrel Action plan" to use your money to give his cronies a hefty handshake. Don't let these people read and spell for you, think America, this is serious. If a C-average student and another one that was 894 out of 899 in his class can understand it, so can you - use your common sense.
This CNN investigative video clearly shows how the sub-prime mortgage meltdown played out in the real world and impacted on real people lives.
People's lives are in distress and their homes are auctioned on the court house steps of Atlanta. Sub-prime loans were given to people to buy homes without full disclosure that these adjustable-rate mortgages would reset at much higher interest rates.
These sub-prime loans start out with very affordable fixed-rate terms for two or three years. At the renewable dates, rates suddenly jumped by 3-percentage points or more and then re-adjusted in six months to a year at even higher rates. For example, a $200,000 mortgage would reset and add nearly $400 to these poor people's mortgage payment.
These people were doomed from the start but where is their bail-out package? If these are the people responsible for sinking homeowners into despair, why are we now helping them so they can start over?
Can you imagine that Bush now thinks we are stupid? Have you ever tried to get a loan from a bank to do ANYTHING? These people ask for everything except a DNA test to prove your ability to pay back and to hold as security in case you were to default.
But get this, Bush plans to buy out troubled financial institutions with $700 billion of our money (yours and mine) on enormous faith in his administration's stewardship. The only requirement is a semi-annual report to Congress that grants the Treasury Secretary unprecedented power to buy and resell mortgage debt and hire "outside firms", more pork barrel earmarks, to help manage its purchases with no oversight mechanism.
Can you imagine that Congress is supposed to sign off on this massive bail out with ONLY 3-PAGES of vague supporting documentation? This Act of Congress would be non-reviewable, including by any court of law, by any administrative agency and committed to agency discretion.
No oversight, no oversight mechanism - haven't we suffered enough at the hands of this administration, now this political, man-made economic crisis that needs $700B of our money? To elect McCain-Palin is now adding insult to injury after billions of dollars have already been squandered on Iraq Reconstruction. Here are just a few:
$142 million wasted on projects canceled or terminated - July 28, 2008 (Special Inspector General for Iraq).
$180 million paid to Bechtel for projects that were never completed - July 25, 2007 (Federal Audit).
$5.1 billion for reconstruction charged without documentation - March 19, 2007 (Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction report).
There's more waste on Katrina in 2006 and 2007 and up to this date, 75% of evacuees want to come home but they don't have a place to call home. When will these victims have access to the money that the Federal government doled out to FEMA?
Earmarks, pork barrel spending, call them what you will but can we trust Bush-McCain to do what's in our interest when they never have? How much evidence do you want to the contrary?
George W. Bush could go down in history as the President of Pork.
It seems that John McCainwill say and do whatever he thinks will get him elected as President of the United States of America. In his defense, this his final bid for the office having been beaten by George W. Bush in 2000. At age 72, this might be his only chance. He told Pastor Warren at Saddleback church that after 9/11 rather than telling people to go out and shop, we should have told them to join the Marine Corps, Peace Corps, volunteer with the Red Cross, etc. Mr. McCain, what is this type of activity called? Aren’t these community organizers working in the community to help those less fortunate than themselves?
We are told by McCain just after the Democratic convention that he would not announce his VP selection because this is Obama's time to shine - being the first African-American to gain nomination of a major political party. The win-at-all-cost McCain knows that after the speeches by Michelle Obama, Hillary Clinton, Chelsea Clinton, Joe Biden's acceptance speech, Bill Clinton support of the Democratic ticket and Barack Obama's magnificent speech to conclude, he would have to pull something out of his arsenal to top what had just occurred.
Republican, John McCain, the consummate politician - 24 years as a Senator (so-called maverick), he went on TV with a paid advertisement to congratulate Obama with what was another one of his silly smirks. Days later, he announces that Sarah Palin is his choice after only 2-meetings and only four people in his selection camp knowing his choice but he's adamant that she was fully vetted. However, no FBI profile has been completed and she comes already with her own rap sheet, an investigation into allegations of trying to get her brother-in-law, a state trooper, fired - apparently in defense of a bitter divorce battle in which her sister is embroiled.
The first line of attack now is no longer the experience issue of which Sarah Palin has none but Barack Obama is a community organizer. Suddenly, what he told Pastor Warren in August at Saddleback is now unimportant because the moment dictates that he should go in another direction for political reasons. John McCain has no strong conviction about anything. McCain turns on a dime and is like the character, two-face, Aaron Eckhart in Black Night that was creating his own luck with a two-headed coin.
America, we have to demand from these politicians seeking office that we want integrity in the Oval Office. Change means no more lies, mistakes, misinformation or whatever you choose to call it. A relationship requires an honest commitment to serve - no cheating is allowed because our kids lose their lives in foreign lands and we look like bumbling idiots to the rest of the world.
If you are independent like me, ask someone you know in another state that you aware are tuned into the issues to help you decide in the interest of our country. On November 4, 2008, go to the polls and vote as that person's surrogate. We cannot slip back to the 1950s or heaven forbid the 1930s - America wake up and as McCain himself said fight, fight for American values of equality and justice for all. Don’t be fooled into repeating the same mistakes we made in 2004 and 2006.
Do you believe that economic crises can be man-made for political as well as economic gains?
Once again, we are acting because George W. Bush has put a gun to our heads. One year ago all this whole mortgage meltdown started after George W. Bush had demanded in 2004 that he wanted to see every American owning a home.
There was a CNN documentary that highlighted how his cronies rushed to target low-income, poor people that they knew could not carry a mortgage. They misled them into taking adjustable-rate mortgages knowing that when the mortgages reset at huge interest rates, the homeowners would be defaulting and they would benefit when these houses were foreclosed.
Then these technicians went a step further. They got AIG Insurance to insure these failed mortgages but didn't predict that the rate of foreclosures would be so rapid. These mortgages were bundled and sold as securities to investors around the world via stock market activities.
This all happened without any regulation or very little teeth in the system to stem the flow of this illegal activity. That is why I agree that we should not panic or act out of fear. George W. Bush has been able to push his agenda by fear each time.
9/11 is one of those times when he used our vulnerability and our fear to push his hidden agenda of war with Iraq. America wake up and if George Bush tells you to run, walk and if he tells you to walk, run like hell.
Palin's brain seems to be as old as McCain's because she can't remember what foreign countries she has visited, even though the record shows that she got a passport for the first time in 2007. How long is that? Apparently, her trip to Ireland was a re-fueling stop and the National Guard has now confirmed that she never entered Iraq.
Are you not tired of all this deception and outright lies? With all of these economic issues in the form of foreclosures, Lehman Bros. Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing, Fredie Mac and Fannie Mae you would think that there's more than enough fodder to go around.
People need to start protesting her selection as a running mate for the Republicans. McCain has shown very poor judgment in picking this lady. His decision-making is questionable. He's obviously not taking the job of President very serious because he thinks that any person that lives close to Russia is a foreign relations expert.
How about the statement that she made that Alaska produces 20% of America's oil when in actual fact it is only 3%? By picking Sarah Palin, John McCain has shown that he is not competent to serve as President of our great country so let's put them out of their misery on November 4th.
Politics is indeed a sport, a blood sport and it is not for the faint at heart. Why do some politicians insist on saying things that they know they either don't believe or have no intention of ever implementing? Take John McCain, he loves to say the line that the first pork barrel earmark spending bill that comes across his desk, he will hall out his pen, veto it, make them famous and we will know their names.
If you take McCain at his word, he has now made the first earmark spender famous, Sarah Palin. As major and now governor of her state, Alaska she has received more earmarks per capita than any other state in the union. Alaska still do even today under its new major.
It would be more honest to say that small jurisdictions cannot support their infrastructure without money from the Federal government. So rather than saying that you will cut the earmarks cart-blanche, it would be in everyone's interest to work at reducing the amounts given and demand more fiscal responsibility.
Senator, McCain even highlighted some of Sarah Palin's earmarks but it seems he has another position on earmarks now. Perhaps, we can get him to tell us about his current position when he allows the next "scripted interview" with the press, hopefully before November 4th.
In spite of Bush Slogan "No Child Left Behind", each year about one-third of public high school students fail to graduate from high school. Eight is enough, under 8-years of George W. Bush, we have been inundated with a mantra of sound bites and slogans but nothing concrete to address the public high school drop out rate.
While Republican, Patrick J. Buchanan is busy writing A Brief for Whitey on his favorite anti-Obama website, we have 7,000 public high school students dropping out of school each day. This alarming statistic is routed in the many socio-economic evils in the communities that are most impacted i.e. mainly poor families, so-called "Walmart Moms" and their kids.
A list of the cities across America that have the highest drop out rates was published without drawing parallels to statistics that also list the highest murder rates, single parent rates, unemployment rates and rate of students that receive free and reduced lunches. An excellent examination of the problem is provided by Maggie Monrad, National High School Center.
America's public education is in crisis and we will fail to hold our position among the super powers, if we allow this downward spiral to continue. America ranks 17th in high school graduation rates and 14th in college graduation rates amongst developed nations. The fastest growing jobs in the 21st century economy require some measure of post-secondary education.
The Bush-McCain-Palin administration believes that "greater accountability" in these schools with high drop out rates will address the problems. They fail to realize that the long-term solution lies in the answer as to why these schools exist. There is no band-aid solution - if the community is broken, this must spill over to the schools in communities.
In many cases, where there have been an improvement in low performing schools, it was accomplished by the use of "community organizers" - groups of teachers, parents and members of the communities working together. No real impact has been achieved without examining the social influences in a school's success.
It is imperative to oppose government vouchers and tax credits that facilitate sending kids to private schools because this would undermine any efforts to improve upon the public school system. In order to provide poor folks' children with an adequate education, the integrity and survival of the public institution is critical.
As we move to an increasingly global economy, higher levels of education and knowledge of a foreign language are crucial qualifications not only to the individual's own but his nation's ability to compete and thrive.
I am a disillusioned American who spent a lot of time across the pond watching mainstream media's poor attempt at keeping the Republicans honest. I have taken up this job as a freelance assignment to expose republicans tomfoolery as Michael Moore so eloquently puts it on Larry King Live.
