This is not uncommon. This is how the current administration is treating the troops, and how Senator McCain will continue to treat them if he is elected. He’s already contended that giving education benefits to soldiers who serve the country for only two years would hurt the military by decreasing retention. This is already more disgusting than the Vietnam War. Coming from Iraq, 60% of soldiers return with clinical depression or post-traumatic stress disorder. People I know, people you know, four thousand of them — gone. But still worse is that those who return are not the same as well. A depressed generation, guilty of doing nothing but serving their country.
The fascinating thing that always struck me about the Cold War was how ill-defined it was. It was hot, but it was a series of proxy wars. And when you look at the puppeteering, and the arming of militants to combat Soviet-backed militants in places like Afghanistan, you understand that Jeremy Glick is both directly affected by 9/11 and informed about the entire history of the situation.
See also: Iran Contra, Iraq-Iran War, Taliban history Technorati Tags: war, iraq, education, mccain
A recent AP article describing the mutual fund sale of $2 million in oil-related companies operating in Sudan by Cindy McCain. The information actually came from a McCain campaign spokesperson, which I take to mean it is relevant for public consumption of the entire picture of all three candidates. We can discuss acquaintances, pastors, spouses and certainly investments in order to find out what kind of character will lead our nation. This sale led me to some digging, where this Reuters article on a possible cure for the genocide going down in the Darfur region of Sudan offered a chance to split my perspective.
Cindy McCain sells funds, ceasing her investment in a company doing business in Sudan. Was she funding the genocide, or is she now helping to stop it? Or both? Possibly, the answer is that her investment was in fact helping to fund militant groups responsible for murder, rape and torture at alarming rates and that pulling support does remove her influence from the conflict. Her husband, however, would have a larger responsibility in this region if he were to be confirmed by the people this November 4th.
This video is awesome, the duo is progress personified and everything they becomes a roadmap to distant lands. If you don’t love them, you should find out why.
Any who needs what they want and doesn’t want what they need, I want nothing to do with.
Honestly this video keeps on consuming me. It gives me chills. The song is great, but the video adds such a real dimension that it gives the song power. At least for me.
It makes me recall experiences from this week and fifteen years ago, all at once. I think about a rich prick who doesn’t tip the valet, who insults everyone trying to assist them, who believes money buys respect and prestige. Then I remember an old friend who lived in a 9′ x 9′ hotel-turned-apartment, who once stole a bag of dog biscuits from my neighbor to have as a snack when his mom didn’t have enough money for groceries. What shocks me most about these two experiences is only how common they have proven to be over the years.
John McCain is speaking in Phoenix today (05/05/08), fielding typical questions along with a few ‘Cinco de Mayo’ immigration questions. It’s laughable that reporters say things like “since it’s Cinco de Mayo, I wanted to ask you about immigration.” McCain has been one of the more rational Republicans on the issue. He was asked a few questions about Sheriff Joe Arpaio and his relationship(if any) with the controversial sheriff. Sheriff Joe boasts great results, and makes people feel safe. That is, unless you are darker than a paper bag, which is probably why McCain made no close association with Arpaio.
Four minutes after talking about suspending the gas tax for the summer and “taking it out of general revenues”, Senator McCain begins talking about deteriorating bridges and roads. First of all, we’re not “taking it out” of anything, it’s money not coming in to the federal government. Secondly, that money would normally be coming in and going straight to the highway trust fund, or the fund that repairs and improves our transportation infrastructure.
At least Senator Clinton proposes to make Big Oil pay a windfall profits tax after their record-breaking year. This would indeed lead to different behavior, costing us more anyway, but at least it isn’t robbing Peter to pay Paul. There’s no sense in making Americans less safe on the road while provoking more people to drive when the ultimate goal in this time is to have less oil consumed. It is simply a political game to make candidates look good, but in reality, even this will cost us.
We cannot allow games to be played with legislation in order to pander and get more votes. That’s not the purpose or role of government, and every counter-productive action we take is like taking two steps away from the concept of a more perfect Union. Don’t fall for these gas tax holiday tricks, demand real action from your government. Start by using the rooftop of any government building for solar cells, which would generate a hell of a lot more energy than the hot air coming out of Washington generates.
Jason Linkins at the Huffington Post as an excellent account of one man’s quest to save $100 from the gas tax holiday. 200 economists and a few Nobel prize winners also disagree with this proposed gas tax holiday. I’d simply implore everyone to read these and/or do their own math with their own vehicles. I hope you have a gas guzzler, because you need to consume 556 gallons of gasoline in order to save $100 (saving 18 cents/gallon).
556 x $0.18 = $100.08
12 gallon tank filled 46 times
20 gallon tank filled 28 times
Is that worth us paying Congress to even consider?
Lately this stupid “anti-American” tag is getting thrown around more and more. Partly because of the Reverend Wright debacle and a super patriot named Nash McCabe, partly because it’s political season and those with no substance sling mud. I’m getting tired of hearing things labeled un-American or anti-American as if there is some sort of board of Americanism certifying certain ideas. If you understand anything about this country, you should understand the 1st Amendment and our freedom of speech.
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people to peaceably assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
The 1st Amendment gives us much more than the freedom to shout, it gives us the freedom to shout against the status quo. The right to assemble isn’t for Sunday gatherings in the park, it’s for protest and speaking against the actions of the government, or whatever the issue deems. The point of the 1st Amendment to our Constitution was to give people the power of a voice and the freedom to associate and collaborate on ideas. The intention of the 1st Amendment is to make every American a critic of public policy, to keep the government in check.
What ignorant simpletons take for granted or even attack is actually quite revolutionary. Not everywhere in the world can a rational discourse take place where people can present diametrically opposed viewpoints and have a peaceful ending. Take for example the recent protests-turned-assaults over the freedom of Tibet. It’s absolutely American to disagree, to say what’s on our minds even if it’s the most ridiculous thing in the world. It’s anti-American to suppress that voice.
We won’t lose by accepting the voice, even if we don’t accept the idea or the argument. That’s why it’s stupid when people label everyone who speaks out against the war, exposes corruption in government or brings a devastating negative market externality to our attention an America-hating liberal. It’s not an act of hatred to speak out against a corrupt government but of a patriot.
“… God forbid we should ever be twenty years without such a rebellion. The people cannot be all, and always, well informed. The part which is wrong will be discontented, in proportion to the importance of the facts they misconceive. If they remain quiet under such misconceptions, it is lethargy, the forerunner of death to the public liberty…. And what country can preserve its liberties, if it’s rulers are not warned from time to time, that this people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to the facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time, with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure.”
Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334 (C.J. Boyd, Ed., 1950)
The people who built this country would be ashamed of such a rejection of their ideas. The people give power to the government and not the other way around. Free speech, press, petition, assembly go along with our right to the free exercise and the protection from the establishment of religion. This entire American experiment began with much more than the simple minds that think anything they disagree with is anti-American. We exist to pass more freedom on to the next generation, not less. It is only through a free press and everyone speaking do we really see what is “American”.
America includes people from the “far-left blogosphere” and the “vast right-wing conspiracy” and everyone in between. From the apathetic to the uninformed; or the college professors and high school teachers. People of all stripes inhabit this country, and only the people make it what it is today. I’m a firm believer in the history of this country — from the first strokes for the Declaration of Independence to the Federalist Papers and Constitution — and a humble and honest critic of its mistakes. That doesn’t make me, my ideas or me saying them anti-American. I’m just anti-mistakes and extremely proud of my country.
On the Tim Russert Show this Sunday (05/04/08), Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia actually discusses the idea of things being “un-American”. I’ve found Justice Scalia and I don’t often agree, but here we have consensus. He mentions that he can’t imagine in the course of French politics or [insert country] politics, the idea of saying something is un-French. Americans truly do identify with flag more than with blood or specific birth location, and that’s not a bad thing. It just creates more demand for things (his example was the House un-American Activities Committee) that are inherently more un-American than the behaviors we’re trying to prevent.
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If you have an apple and I have an apple and we exchange apples then you and I will still each have one apple. But if you have an idea and I have an idea and we exchange these ideas, then each of us will have two ideas. -G. Bernard Shaw
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The sum of human wisdom is not contained in any one language, and no single language is capable of expressing all forms and degrees of human comprehension. -Ezra Pound
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The mark of a well educated person is not necessarily in knowing all the answers, but in knowing where to find them. -Douglas Everett
Judy from Dodge City writes:
Jack, what’s changed is my perception of the Republican party. I was raised by staunch Republicans and have never voted any other way … until this year. I’m through. Finished. The situation has become untenable. Forgive me if I sound harsh, but there isn’t a snowball’s chance that I’d vote for John McCain. And Hillary gets on my last nerve. Barack Obama represents hope for the future, and I could very easily listen to him talk for the next eight years.
I’m from very near here, and a good friend of mine has a mess of relatives in Dodge City (home of Boot Hill, but never the hatchet). The thing that stuck with me about this comment is just how generic it sounds. Not saying Judy’s comments were generic, but I’ve heard things like this a lot coming from that area (SW Kansas) over the last month or two. It’s the lack of accountability. The handling of the war and economy are equal disasters, impossible for most Americans to ignore.
A caller to a radio show on my way home wondered how these polls were somehow showing a close contest between John McCain and either Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton. He worked in a large business where politics is a frequent topic of water-cooler chatter. At this point in the election, he says the people who were gung-ho for George W. Bush are not interested in the McCain campaign.
My point is that the people seem to see this election as the old Republican vs. the old Democrat with a true third candidate is available. Obama just seems to be less interested in politics and more interested in problem-solving. People recognize he’s not slinging mud and engaging in the annoying side of politics and it’s turning people on to voting.
My friends, I will have an energy policy that we will be talking about, which will eliminate our dependence on oil from the Middle East that will - that will then prevent us - that will prevent us from having ever to send our young men and women into conflict again in the Middle East.
After drawing meaning from bowling scores, Reverend Wright and the manufactured distraction of the “bitter” remarks, this crap better blow up the same way. If it doesn’t get the same kind of media analysis and speculation as those situations, there’s something disgustingly wrong with our media. They already spin things to no end, but at least the truth can be found. Not nit-picking this comment to death for a month or two would be the most hypocritical thing imaginable. This isn’t something people can stretch into sounding elitist, this comment is a revelation about Senator Clinton’s true feelings of privilege.
Tell me, Senator Clinton, what do poor people deserve? Could you build us some nice, shiny new prisons? And by that I mean, can you use our tax dollars (from the 90% of us who cannot claim we’re rich) to build them for us?
So now Hillary Clinton is a confirmed liar — having lied on a job application — and a true elitist believing those who are rich are also all deserving as a result. If the average poor man lied on their resume or job application, they’d be fired and could be forced to pay back earnings. If a deserving rich, white woman running for president repeatedly lies on her application they call it a “gaffe” and move on. I’m sorry, lying was something I learned to avoid when I was incredibly young. This is on par with forgetting how to spell your own name.
I’ll keep an eye on the coverage over the next few days. I’m shocked that a day later I’ve hardly heard a peep about this, even from mainstream sources accused of being “far-left”. If anyone sees coverage or has a link, please share in the comments.
DailyKos has a good blog with the video and a bit about Howard Wolfson’s response. He tries to cover it up by saying she said “God blessed us.” Oh, that makes it all better. God loves rich people, and thus, must not love poor people. Right? If that’s her campaign’s damage control, it only digs the hole deeper.
And I almost forgot to link back to the original article at TheZoo, where I first heard about this story and watched the video. After watching the context, it’s not hard to see what she was trying to do. She was trying to assuage wealthy people, as her campaign is seen as “populist” because talking heads like Rush and Hannity label it that way.
“Sixteen military wives. Thirty-two softly focused, brightly colored eyes. Staring at the natural tan of thirty-two gently clenching, wrinkled little hands.” When people talk about attacks on the modern family, here’s an unnecessary one.
Two generations can virtually sing the same the anthem in unison. It’s not a happy anthem. It’s still one of hope. But it takes votes to turn hope into reality.
We’ve never, ever been cool with it…
This song would get labeled populist or socialist if played today. Sean Hannity would tear it apart. He’d say this land is made for the smart, strong and wealthy.
It feels like “we” make these mistakes, but “we” also hate it all. People wonder why I’m pessimistic and I ask them if they took a history class.
One of the timeless questions. A sad one, as well.
A song about fighting for good causes, like never having to fight again.
One of the most offensively anti-war songs out there. It’s not sugar-coating anything. Even 30 years after it was new, it can still turn a head for daring.
A poem about the things you’ll see in a war-filled world, by the American poet himself.
One generation may decide not to fight it’s parents wars. Or we will have war in perpetuity.
It was a time of great and exalting excitement. The country was up in arms, the war was on, in every breast burned the holy fire of patriotism; the drums were beating, the bands playing, the toy pistols popping, the bunched firecrackers hissing and spluttering; on every hand and far down the receding and fading spread of roofs and balconies a fulttering wilderness of flags flashed in the sun; daily the young volunteers marched down the wide avenue gay and fine in their new uniforms, the proud fathers and mothers and sisters and sweethearts cheering them with voices choked with happy emotion as they swung by; nightly the packed mass meetings listened, panting, to patriot oratory with stirred the deepest deeps of their hearts, and which they interrupted at briefest intervals with cyclones of applause, the tears running down their cheeks the while; in the churches the pastors preached devotion to flag and country, and invoked the God of Battles beseeching His aid in our good cause in outpourings of fervid eloquence which moved every listener.
It was indeed a glad and gracious time, and the half dozen rash spirits that ventured to disapprove of the war and cast a doubt upon its righteousness straightway got such a stern and angry warning that for their personal safety’s sake they quickly shrank out of sight and offended no more in that way.
Sunday morning came — next day the battalions would leave for the front; the church was filled; the volunteers were there, their young faces alight with martial dreams — visions of the stern advance, the gathering momentum, the rushing charge, the flashing sabers, the flight of the foe, the tumult, the enveloping smoke, the fierce pursuit, the surrender!
Then home from the war, bronzed heroes, welcomed, adored, submerged in golden seas of glory! With the volunteers sat their dear ones, proud, happy, and envied by the neighbors and friends who had no sons and brothers to send forth to the field of honor, there to win for the flag, or, failing, die the noblest of noble deaths. The service proceeded; a war chapter from the Old Testament was read; the first prayer was said; it was followed by an organ burst that shook the building, and with one impulse the house rose, with glowing eyes and beating hearts, and poured out that tremendous invocation:
God the all-terrible! Thou who ordainest,
Thunder thy clarion and lightning thy sword!
Then came the “long” prayer. None could remember the like of it for passionate pleading and moving and beautiful language. The burden of its supplication was, that an ever-merciful and benignant Father of us all would watch over our noble young soldiers, and aid, comfort, and encourage them in their patriotic work; bless them, shield them in the day of battle and the hour of peril, bear them in His mighty hand, make them strong and confident, invincible in the bloody onset; help them crush the foe, grant to them and to their flag and country imperishable honor and glory –
An aged stranger entered and moved with slow and noiseless step up the main aisle, his eyes fixed upon the minister, his long body clothed in a robe that reached to his feet, his head bare, his white hair descending in a frothy cataract to his shoulders, his seamy face unnaturally pale, pale even to ghastliness. With all eyes following him and wondering, he made his silent way; without pausing, he ascended to the preacher’s side and stood there waiting. With shut lids the preacher, unconscious of his presence, continued his moving prayer, and at last finished it with the words, uttered in fervent appeal, “Bless our arms, grant us the victory, O Lord and God, Father and Protector of our land and flag!”
The stranger touched his arm, motioned him to step aside — which the startled minister did — and took his place. During some moments he surveyed the spellbound audience with solemn eyes, in which burned an uncanny light; then in a deep voice he said:
“I come from the Throne — bearing a message from Almighty God!” The words smote the house with a shock; if the stranger perceived it he gave no attention. “He has heard the prayer of His servant your shepherd, and will grant it if such be your desire after I, His messenger, shall have explained to you its import — that is to say, its full import. For it is like unto many of the prayers of men, in that it asks for more than he who utters it is aware of — excpet he pause and think. “God’s servant and yours has prayed his prayer. Has he paused and taken thought? Is it one prayer? No, it is two — one uttered, and the other not. Both have reached the ear of Him who heareth all supplications, the spoken and the unspoken. Ponder this — keep it in mind. If you would beseech a blessing upon yourself, beware! lest without intent you invoke a curse upon your neighbor at the same time. If you pray for the blessing of rain on your crop which needs it, by that act you are possibly praying for a curse on some neighbor’s crop which may not need rain and can be injured by it.
“You have heard your servant’s prayer — the uttered part of it. I am commissioned by God to put into words the other part of it — that part which the pastor — and also you in your hearts — fervently prayed silently. And ignorantly and unthinkingly? God grant that it was so! You heard the words ‘Grant us the victory, O Lord our God!’ That is sufficient. The whole of the uttered prayer is compact into those pregnant words. Elaborations were not necessary. When you have prayed for victory you have prayed for many unmentioned results which follow victory — must follow it, cannot help but follow it. Upon the listening spirit of God fell also the unspoken part of the prayer. He commandeth me to put it into words. Listen!
Lord our Father, our young patriots, idols of our hearts, go forth into battle — be Thou near them! With them — in spirit — we also go forth from the sweet peace of our beloved firesides to smite the foe. O Lord our God, help us tear their soldiers to bloody shreds with our shells; help us to cover their smiling fields with the pale forms of their patriot dead; help us to drown the thunder of the guns with the shrieks of their wounded, writhing in pain; help us to lay waste their humble homes with a hurricane of fire; help us to wring the hearts of their unoffending widows with unavailing grief; help us to turn them out roofless with their little children to wander unfriended in the wastes of their desolated land in rags and hunger and thirst, sports of the sun flames in summer and the icy winds of winter, broken in spirit, worn with travail, imploring thee for the refuge of the grave and denied it –
For our sakes who adore Thee, Lord, blast their hopes, blight their lives, protract their bitter pilgrimmage, make heavy their steps, water their way with their tears, stain the white snow with the blood of their wounded feet!
We ask it, in the spirit of love, of Him Who is the Source of Love, and Who is the ever-faithful refuge and friend of all that are sore beset and seek His aid with humble and contrite hearts. Amen.
(After a pause.) “Ye have prayed it; if ye still desire it, speak! The messenger of the Most High waits.”
…
It was believed afterward that the man was a lunatic, because there was no sense in what he said.
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Source: warprayer.org, I just believe everyone should read it.
I have a theory. After seeing Chuck Todd say that another super-delegate has jumped ship from the Clinton to Obama campaign, citing the tone of the campaign. A lot of things are happening, and the candidates are each reacting to literally everything. Partly because they’re asked a ton of questions every day. This is a consequence of making themselves available.
I believe the super-delegates are something the media has never gotten right all along, much like a lot of things (Iraq War/WMDs, the impact of rhetoric). They were never going to stroll out of some closed-door meeting and steal the election from the deserving African-American candidate, as many in the media have speculated. They simply are acting as insurance to what the people want, and many of them (seemingly) have wanted the Obama message to catch on with the people, and are all too eager to jump ship when they see polls staying put through “controversy.” The media is known for spin, the people know this, and the super-delegates know it is the positions on issues (ethics reform, the war, the economy and health care) that matter most to people. When people hear change, we’re not politicos, we think of changing the BS in government that has put us in the current predicament.
Tonight on MSNBC’s Verdict with Dan Abrams, Tony Blankley, a former speechwriter for the Reagan administration concluded the media is addressing the Reverend Wright circus properly. He feels that because we’re on the cusp of potentially electing the first black president — and since we don’t know much about him — we must consider things like Reverend Wright before we cast a vote for Obama.
Earlier in the show John Kerry is asked a question about Wright, his answer was clear and in direct opposition to the spin Blankley gives. Kerry says “let this go” and that the media is focused on the past instead of the future of major issues concerning Americans. As a concerned American, I agree. It’s been frequently discussed in this blog as I feel the media is reporting it through such a narrow, pre-spun way it is necessary to at least make sure more of the information is out there.
[On the same episode of Verdict, the 'Why America Hates Washington' segment was about the military contracts inadvertantly funding the recently-raided polygamist sect near El Dorado, TX. Sexual abuse has now been revealed among boys as well as the still underage girls who are pregnant with their third or forth child. I had reported on this earlier in April, and I probably found it on Digg.]
Tony Blankley, and many others in the media need to understand the “we don’t know much about this man” charade is all bullshit and many Americans have already called you on this.
Personal Memoirs
Each candidate has written a book or two. Barack Obama has written two books about his life, his upbringing, his beliefs, race and ambitions. John McCain has written six-plus books, primarily on his family memoirs of his Admiral father and grandfather. He’s also written about Middle East politics, Afghanistan, courage and air bag safety. Hillary Clinton has written memoirs and children’s books.
Landmark Legislation
Barack Obama is responsible for the same number of pieces of passed landmark legislation (2) in his two years as Senator Clinton during her four years in the Senate. The only current bill any of the three remaining candidates were actually co-sponsoring was the earmark moratorium, which all three have co-sponsored.
Committee Work
Hillary Clinton serves on these committees:
Armed Services
Environment and Public Works
Health, Education, Labor and Pensions
Special Committee on Aging
Barack Obama also serves on four committees:
Foreign Relations
Health, Education, Labor and Pensions
Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
Veterans’ Affairs
Commander-in-Chief/Executive Experience
People claim Senator Obama isn’t experienced enough to be Commander-in Chief, where I’d say Sen. McCain’s record looks the most personal, but his experience wasn’t in leadership — like his father and grandfather, both admirals. When compared to Senator Clinton, Obama has served on both the Foreign Relations and Homeland Security committees, while Hillary Clinton serves on the Armed Services committee.
Committee work is not true executive experience, but it is a political arena in which speaking requires you have a good question for whomever is being deposed, a recommendation on a piece of legislation, or just a generally good idea. As far as previous experience is concerned, none of the candidates have actually served as leadership executives. If that were the primary factor in voter’s minds, we’d have polls indicating Mitt Romney is leading at this point. We might have already elected Ret. General Wesley Clark in 2004.
Voting on Issues
Each candidate has voted on a spectrum of issues, and even Senator Obama has voted on all of the issues currently facing our nation having been in the Senate (even if only for two years). Sen. McCain has weighed in on having a federal holiday in memory of Martin Luther King, Jr. He evidently got it wrong the first time, so he had to spend time apologizing this year on the campaign trail. I’d really rather not use that as a reason to vote against McCain, but rather see why voting over a long period of time doesn’t mean much, other than the fact that one current issue has one candidate standing alone.
War in Iraq/Distraction from Afghanistan
Only Senator Barack Obama was against the war from the beginning. We were lied to by the Bush administration and a news media eager to do the government’s dirty work disseminating propaganda. There were no weapons of mass destruction. There were not operating extremist cells in Iraq, because Saddam was never liked by radical and fundamental Islamists like bin Laden. Iraq and Iran balanced each other and kept each other in check for years.
Interventionism vs. Non-interventionism
Anyone who felt what President Reagan did made you safer, or the policy of not invading Iraq of the first Bush administration actually was better international use of military force as a protective measure only should feel swindled by this war. I know it’s too late to bring back those lost, it’s too late to undo everything we’ve done, but we have rid the world of one dictator, who had an established rule in a time where information traveled more slowly.
Today we have faster flow of information, and a better network of international peacekeeping forces who could actually intervene if there were a legitimate threat coming from the region. This is why the concept of a nation policing the globe should be obsolete. This is why we must not stay. Let them find their own Founding Fathers, let them express the Iraqi Dream.
Unwrapping Media Spin
When pundits say “we don’t know much about him” they are just lying and getting away with it. Nobody points out that these people are living their lives every day in the public eye. Everything they have done in the past is available through Google, and anything they’ve said has probably hit YouTube. Each candidate has written books, given votes and taken stances. The question is, which direction do you choose for the nation?
Do we go with the veteran ex-maverick who has turned to pandering to his base, or aligning with them on issues on which he has no familiarity? He is either getting bad advise or losing his grip to some degree. A lot of my final impression of John McCain’s candidacy rides on who he chooses for a running mate. I’m not fond of the values of his wife — like stealing prescription medication from her non-profit charity — and the fact that they claim to be for the working man having never been in that position since the two have been married (she’s a Budweiser heiress). I also recognize these are only fringe issues, and some shady people in personal life were extraordinarily great leaders in public life.
I just know Sen. McCain will have to rely on people for anything economy related, which just so happens to be the most pressing issue to Americans today. I we had instituted the draft (which we would probably have to do if we somehow picked a fight with Iran) then the war would actually be the most pressing issue to the most Americans. Sen. McCain knows about the military, but he has also aligned to the actions of the Bush administration, which is reprehensible considering the quagmire we needlessly created.
Do we go with the more socially-rooted candidate in Hillary Clinton, whose prime causes include universal health care and the war, having voted to authorize the war in the first place. On the issue of health care I think requires a private-public solution, removing employers from the decision-making process of which plan to buy. If employers aren’t required to cover employees, they can pay them more, which allows employees to take the money previously paid for the same services out on to the open market. Do this with 150 million workers at once and you will create something beautiful within the market — equilibrium. Everyone shopping, looking for the best deal. Multiple providers, looking to be the best business. Let American ingenuity solve the problem if Congress can’t.
That inadequacy in Congress should end after a President who sends recommendations to Congress then vetos the bills they finally send him, saying they didn’t sent him something he could work with (after 535 people found a way to decide). We should learn our lesson that the president shouldn’t be “the Decider” but “the Listener”. Someone who speaks for the people. If we were truffula trees, we’d want a Lorax.
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Government is not the solution to the problem, government is the problem. -former President Ronald Reagan
WRIGHT: We took this country by terror, away from the Sioux, the Apache, the Arowak, the Comanche, the Arapahoe, the Navajo. Terrorism. We took Africans from their country to build our way of ease and kept them enslaved and living in fear. Terrorism. We bombed Granada and killed innocent civilians, babies, non-military personnel. We bombed the black civilian community of Panama with stealth bombers and killed unarmed teenagers and toddlers, pregnant mothers, and hardworking fathers. We bombed Qaddafi’s home and killed his child. Blessed are they who bash your children’s head against a rock. We bombed Iraq. We killed unarmed civilians trying to make a living. We bombed a plant in Sudan to payback for the attack on our embassy, killed hundreds of hardworking people, mothers and fathers who left home to go that day not knowing that they would never get back home. We bombed Hiroshima, we bombed Nagasaki, and we nuked far more than the thousands in New York and the Pentagon and we never batted an eye. Kids playing in the playground, mothers picking up children from school, civilians, not soldiers, people just trying to make it day by day.
We have supported state terrorism against the Palestinians and Black South Africans and now we are indignant because the stuff we have done overseas is now brought right back to our own front yards. America’s chickens are coming home to roost.
WRIGHT: The government lied about inventing the HIV virus as a means of genocide against people of color. The government lied. (more credible source needed)
Reverend Jeremiah Wright baselessly accuses the American government of introducing the HIV virus to black communities and cites some loose and some true examples of those trampled under the tread of America’s progress. Wright is not allowed near the Obama campaign, he’s actually been distanced for some time as having the same ideas. Recently Obama has admitted Wright’s comments about speaking only as a politician at the National Press Club will strain even his relationship with a longtime family friend.
HAGEE: All hurricanes are acts of God, because God controls the heavens. I believe that New Orleans had a level of sin that was offensive to God, and they are — were recipients of the judgment of God for that. The newspaper carried the story in our local area that was not carried nationally that there was to be a homosexual parade there on the Monday that the Katrina came. And the promise of that parade was that it was going to reach a level of sexuality never demonstrated before in any of the other Gay Pride parades. So I believe that the judgment of God is a very real thing. I know that there are people who demur from that, but I believe that the Bible teaches that when you violate the law of God, that God brings punishment sometimes before the day of judgment. And I believe that the Hurricane Katrina was, in fact, the judgment of God against the city of New Orleans. Media Matters for America
Pastor John Hagee (among others) blamed 9/11 on the City of New Orleans planning a gay pride parade, and allowing for sinful alternative lifestyles. John McCain has said he’s not wise to have sought his endorsement, but he happily accepts it in the same sentence.
STEPHANOPOULOS: So was it a mistake to solicit and accept his endorsement?
MCCAIN: Oh, probably, sure. […]
STEPHANOPOULOS: So you no longer want his endorsement?
MCCAIN: I’m glad to have his endorsement. I condemn remarks that are, in any way, viewed as anti-anything. And thanks for asking. ThinkProgress
Someone remind me, do we still have the freedom to speak our minds? Even if we’re stupid? Does the First Amendment have any accuracy requirements?
And again, do we have any laws protecting certain groups from discrimination? Now I realize it wasn’t “the Gays” applying for a job from Hagee, where anti-discrimination laws would apply, but which statement seems more baseless to you?
Note: Wright has said more than this, but everything in context and he’s nothing more than any other fringe element. Having said that, Reverend Wright needs to shut up. He is grandstanding, but he’s not saying anything at all that would draw criticism from the same people if he were associated with no political candidate. It might garner some news, but commentators (thanks for the definition Bill O’Reilly, see below), are just stretching the crap out of this to either smear (Hannity, Stephanopoulos) or bring balance to their coverage of the Obama campaign.
When the byproducts of well intended efforts to help those suffering and bring security to the world are orphaned children and seeing a daily patrol of soldiers they only identify by a flag and a funny language, some may have ill will toward that flag and nation. That’s not to say it’s deserved, it is to anticipate. This is what people are burying heads in sand about now, and have been for quite some time. Tell me, couldn’t some better anticipation and intelligence collection have been the difference between preventing and merely reacting to 9/11? If not, what?
Good foreign policy can keep us safe, not to mention having our soldiers at home, happier and working and securing our homeland. We don’t need a Department of Homeland Security, that’s the military’s job when unjust war is not being waged.
…just not the 110th United States Congress. When President Bush passes the buck on the housing crisis, he sends a solar wave of hypocrisy through the nation strong enough to power every home in America for the year. Maybe that’s a bit idealistic, but we truly have a revisionist in the White House. This current housing crisis couldn’t possibly have been created by bank deregulation and bankruptcy reform of the 109th Congress.
Banks knowing Americans couldn’t get out of trouble when they employed predatory lending practices didn’t spur a wave of high-risk, adjustable-rate mortgages. That couldn’t be how it happened. It must be, as President Bush said today, the fault of a slow-as-molasses Congress divided by the fringe elements of both sides. That makes perfect sense.
Scapegoating
The 110th Congress has failed America in many key ways. Inactivity in government can mean the difference of survival and “falling through the cracks”. It doesn’t come close to the devastation that counteractive policy and reform causes the American public. We work harder for less money, but the banks make far more. The average American swaps out name brands for generics as luxury jets, high-ticket jewelry and $10M apartments in Manhattan sell like hot-cakes.
Cronyism
When you sell office supplies and your boss is underqualified and only became manager because of personal connections, work can be a source of frustration. When your personal connections begin causing entire populations to be ignored in the aftermath of a devastating hurricane, it becomes a much larger issue. Mike Brown, Michael Chertoff, Alberto Gonzales are only a few of the more well-known examples of Bush administration cronies, but they provide enough of an example of how ill-served the American public can be when cronies are appointed. This angers me no matter who is doing it, but by far the most gross example of overstretched qualifications are those appointments by the current faux-Republican, neo-Conservative administration. With recent comments exposing his lack of respect for humanity, one could put Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia in that grouping as well.
Economic factors are always difficult to directly correllate and I have a feeling I may have overstretched this link. The 109th did deregulate banks and make it much harder for hard working families to file for bankruptcy. In some way this surely has affected the housing crisis, in lender’s attitude and consumer’s vulnerability. I’m just not convinced it’s a direct cause -> effect relationship, so don’t get the impression I’m blaming the entire housing crisis on the 109th or one piece of legislation.
Elizabeth Edwards has written a beautiful op-ed piece for the Sunday New York Times (4/27/08) imploring the media to do its job. It seems like it should go without saying, but the media has failed the American people and democracy in general for the better part of the last decade. The media is often referred to as the 4th branch of government, because a free press acts as a check on political power. If the truth is available, it’s much harder to be hoodwinked.
The internet has been the saving grace for many Americans, who know the “truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth” is out there somewhere, just not in the mainstream media. Mrs. Edwards, wife of former Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards, uses the phrase “strobe-light journalism” to describe the outline-only perspective presented by the mainstream media.
…every analysis that is shortened, every corner that is cut, moves us further away from the truth until what is left is the Cliffs Notes of the news, or what I call strobe-light journalism, in which the outlines are accurate enough but we cannot really see the whole picture.
She frames the situation far better than I could, and offers a stronger voice. Although a politician’s wife is no more an expert than any blogger, this truth will receive much more airplay because of her higher profile. I don’t believe the media will actually correct this issue, mostly because “the media” is no more a homogeneous group than “the American people”. A few of the pundits and talking heads are beginning to report more on the real issues, even if they fail to point out basic inaccuracies in the positions of each candidate.
For example, John McCain is able to freely attack Barack Obama over his proposal to raise the capital gains tax. I have yet to hear any journalist correct the statements of McCain, although they frequently play the statement and ponder “will this hurt Obama?” It will if nobody speaks the truth. First take a look at Sen. McCain’s attack on Obama.
Senator Obama says that he doesn’t want to raise taxes on anybody over — making over $200,000 a year, yet he wants to nearly double the capital gains tax. Nearly double it, which 100 million Americans have investments in — mutual funds, 401(k)s — policemen, firemen, nurses. He wants to increase their taxes.
Millions of Americans have investments, most have jobs. The problem is that someone making a living from investments alone end up paying half the taxes of the working people. Low capital gains taxes make investments available to more Americans, but most Americans aren’t making more money to invest. Lower capital gains taxes do benefit average Americans to some degree, but the wealthy to a far greater degree. A post at the DailyKos points out just how fundamentally wrong McCain is on this issue.
Investments contained in 401-K’s (Or in the case of ‘policemen, firemen’ usually a 403-B), pensions, IRAs, tax deferred variable annuities, and similar retirement vehicles aren’t subject to capital gains tax — they’re not taxed at all. Changing the capital gains tax rate will have zero effect on them. Withdrawals from tax deferred accounts by retirees are generally taxed at whatever the income tax rate is for that person at the time of withdrawal (Which, incidentally, is usually a hell of a lot more than the current long term capital gains tax rate, yet another way to rip off the middle class).
Many may dismiss anything from the DailyKos, but anyone with an understanding of our tax code and economy can confirm. Of course, people in the mainstream media discredit “far-left” bloggers at the DailyKos and other sites. The problem is, someone isn’t coming clean, and any deeper research reveals it’s the media. Many bloggers can be wrong about their facts, but they can also hyperlink ’til their heart’s content, allowing anyone reading the story to see the sources. Unfortunately, there exists no such option for the mainstream media. They quote and cite themselves as the expert, and we’re asked to accept it as fact.
I’ve always considered myself a moderate, although I’m sure many would call shenanigans. It’s just harder and harder to maintain any moderate views when our democracy has been so hijacked by ideologues who give most conservatives a bad reputation. A recent poll shows that 53% of Americans have an unfavorable view of the Republican Party, which I consider a shame, even though I admit I would like to see a Democrat win in November. A two-party system is divisive in some ways, but it can be divisive to the point of stalemate when the media decides to pick sides and report as a two-party media.
Jonathan Capehart of The Washington Post and Ryan Lizza of The New Yorker both deserve some serious credit for putting recent comments by Reverend Wright into real context, as I try to point out any time I see the truth told on TV. On today’s Hardball with Chris Matthews, both attempted to point out that Barack Obama has never aligned himself with the views of Reverend Wright. If he ever had, he’d already be out of this race. We know his pastor and his bowling score, now if only we didn’t have to look so hard for his positions on the issues.
Did you, for example, ever know a single fact about Joe Biden’s health care plan? Anything at all? But let me guess, you know Barack Obama’s bowling score. We are choosing a president, the next leader of the free world. We are not buying soap, and we are not choosing a court clerk with primarily administrative duties. - Elizabeth Edwards
I’m really not even capable of talking much about this, but if you’re not aware of Sean Bell’s tragic death, you should certainly read this article. Many may find it easy to overlook the tragedy and injustice in the entire situation because they will see protests in Harlem and Reverend Al Sharpton on the microphone and think there is something “the same” about this situation. It’s not. What this family has endured has been more than anyone should ever be subject to, and to be let down by the justice system is further insult to their injury.
This is the problem I have with the Reverend Wright controversy. It’s completely being spun by the media. If you ever see a 20- or 30-second clip, you should already know someone is presenting one side of an issue. It’s interesting how John McCain skates accepting the endorsement of John Hagee who flat-out, in-context said Hurricane Katrina was God’s punishment for New Orleans planning a gay pride parade and a complete circus be made of the comments of Barack Obama’s pastor.
I understand why it’s not compared to Reverend Wright’s comments like “