John McCain has earned another nickname to go along with Pinocchio and McSame. He is now the amazing Chameleon! All of a sudden, McCain behaves as though his buddy President Bush, whose major policies he has ardently supported for two terms, has now suddenly revealed himself to McCain as having been“wrong" on many policy issues.
Where was McCain when these “wrong policies” passed congress? Oh, yes, he was VOTING FOR THEM! Now, parroting Obama, he claims to be an agent of change, and presents himself as a maverick. But a hard look at three major-policy areas quickly reveals that rather than a maverick, McCain is more of a sidekick. I suggest we re-christen the good senator with a more fitting moniker: THE AMAZING CHAMELEON!
Do not forger the War on Iraq, costing us at least $10 billion a month. Senator Obama opposed the war right from the beginning, when to even hint it was wrong left one open to charges of being unpatriotic. McCain continues to cheer on this unlawful invasion—a war that costs U.S. taxpayers $10 billion a month--wrapped in the Bush-Cheney mentality that bombs and bullets are the perfect way to spread peace.
Hasn’t he learned the lessons of Vietnam? Obviously not. McCain would have the U.S. bogged down in the Middle East for God knows how long. Sure, the surge has tamped down levels of violence, but that’s rather like saying that, instead of being in the Emergency Room, the patient is now in the Intensive Care Unit—a patient who should never have been one, in the first place. McCain has also talked about bombing Iran and annihilating North Korea—as though two wars were not enough.
And where are Bin Laden, al Qaeda, and the Taliban? Alive and well in Pakistan, right across from Afghanistan, whence they escaped when U.S. forces, having surrounded them, took their eyes off the prize in order to invade Iraq. The Republicans have made enough bad decisions to fill a large, sad book.
Do not forget the Economy. Who said the economy was fundamentally sound the same week the credit markets froze, a huge investment bank collapsed, the world’s largest insurer had to be bailed out, and the whole house of cards that was Wall Street threatened to collapse? More-of-the-same McCain.
McCain has been a leading voice in calling for deregulation of the finance industry, not just the past eight years but going back to the savings and loan scandals of the late 1980s, so the bulls could have their fun? (A scandal in which the senator from Arizona was implicated and chastised by his Senate peers.) More-of-the-same McCain.
Suddenly, McCain has discovered the religion of populism. This, from a man whose main financial adviser for years was his buddy, ex-Senator Phil Gramm, Republican and former chairman of the Senate Banking Committee and fierce advocate of deregulation, who once sneered at the country as a “nation of whiners.”
McCain accuses Obama of class warfare and planning to raise taxes to “spread the wealth,” citing the now famous Joe-the-Plumber Wurzelbacher, who worriedly told Obama at a rally in Toledo, Ohio, that the latter’s financial plans would raise his taxes. But this will be true only if Joe’s business makes more than $250,000 in net income a year. More than 90 percent of U.S. small businesses make less than that. The vast majority would thus get a tax cut rather than a raise.
By the way, newshounds checking on Joe have found out that he is an unlicensed plumber who never even served an apprenticeship, voted Republican in the last primary (though he presented himself originally as non-partisan), and has an outstanding tax lien of $1,000. So he was a fake plumber of questionable reputation.
But did that stop McCain-Palin? Well, surely not. They have never seen a lie they did not like. So they launched the inane Joe the plumber, Betty the dietitian, Sarah the demagogue part of their campaign. Now Joe the fake plumber is part of their campaign of lies – a “special” guest! How very dumb.
But their ostrich-lemming supporters seem to love it! (Their rallies are like Jonestown before the Kool-aid. I almost expect cheers of “ Drink, baby, drink!”
But what about the McCain-Palin policies? More-of-the-Same McCain will extend the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy and such huge corporations as Exxon and Mobil (to the tune of $200 billion), perpetuating a highly inequitable system where the rest of us subsidize the rich. Now that is class warfare. That is Socialism for the rich!
The Republicans traditionally favor the so-called “free market” but a study done by a former editor at Money magazine shows that if a person had invested $10,000 solely with Republican or Democratic administrations since 1929, the result would be dramatically different. With the Republicans, that $10,000 would now be $51,211, excluding the Herbert Hoover years of the Great Depression. (Were we to include his term, the figure would be a paltry $11,733.) In contrast, with the Democrats, the sum today would have appreciated to $300,671.
Under Boy George, that $10,000 would have lost 5.1 percent annually, and one would wind up with less than $7,000.
McCain’s belief that the last eight years the economy has been fundamentally sound is clearly wishful and dangerously self-deluding.
Do not forget about Health Care. McCain intends to go the Bush administration one better with a plan that deregulates the health care industry by, for the first time ever, taxing job-related, health-care benefits 160 million citizens now get. He would force a great number of businesses to stop providing health care altogether, forcing the suddenly uninsured to purchase health insurance in the marketplace, with those needing it the most being the ones most likely to be denied.
This will exacerbate an already terrible situation, with 20 million added to the 47 million citizens now without health insurance. McCain’s proposed tax credit of $5,000 per family is supposed to pay for the cost, but this amount will hardly be enough to pay for a full year’s health insurance premiums. A free-marketeer, McCain believes health care is a commodity, not a right.
Meanwhile, the Barracuda Palin is working her best to distract voters from the abysmal state of the economy. Why such a person -- who makes a virtue of ignorance, flaunts her parochialism who stoops to rampant demagoguery, and shows absolutely no grasp of complex issues– is considered qualified to hold national office, a heartbeat away from the presidency, is a mystery to me. Her fans are more frightening than she is, and she is the worst of Halloween every day. And John McCain showed his poor judgment for all to see -- he picked her!!
There are a lot of ill-informed, under educated people out there. And so the Internet is ripe with rumors aimed at character assassination, not only of Barack but of his wife Michelle. But these reveal more about those who spawn and/or spread these scurrilous allegations than they do about their intended targets.
Sadly, many people believe this kind of trash – the character assassination emails and gutter level gossip, aided by the Robo-calls and the whisper campaigns that the Republigandists have perfected over their long term of election stealing successes. Pray it does not happen again.
It would be nice to live in a real democracy once again.
Friday, October 31, 2008
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Obama Makes His Case, and President Clinton Agrees, America Needs Change of Direction!
President Bill Clinton was a good president. He made a terrible mistake in personal judgment, and the hypocritical Republican hate machine made him pay dearly for it. But in his job as commander in chief and chief executive officer, his judgment for the American people was very good, and we had a time of wonderful prosperity because of the economic policies of his administration.
Which is why people need to listen when he says: "Barack Obama represents America's future, and you've got to be there for him next Tuesday," Clinton, with Obama at his side, said to the cheers of a huge crowd in Florida last night. Because he dearly wanted his wife to win the Democratic nomination, Clinton has been critical of Obama in the past, which makes his words now all the more a strong endorsement. He has come to see greatness in the man who beat out his wife in such a hard fought primary campaign.
Heaping praise on President Clinton, Obama said of Clinton: "In case all of you forgot, this is what it's like to have a great president."
President Clinton clasped Obama's hand and held it high when the men came on stage. Clinton made a methodical case for Obama, describing him as a strong thinker with smart policies. In one of his testimonials, he praised Obama for seeking the advice of experts — including him and his wife — on how to handle the country's financial crisis before acting. "Folks, we can't fool with this," Clinton said. "Our country is hanging in the balance. And we have so much promise and so much peril. This man should be our president."
Obama said of the two Clintons: "I am proud to call them my friends." Through the day, in two states, Obama unleashed a bleak portrayal of a McCain presidency, which promises to be four more years of the last eight years, and told a national TV audience that "the time for change has come."
Obama's rare, prime-time infomercial, shades of the great Ross Perot, (and very well done in making Obama's case for a change in direction from the Republicans) cut live to him appearing at a rally in Sunrise, Fla., where 20,000 packed a hockey arena all the way to the nosebleed seats. Obama continues to have wonderful crowds -- if they can just translate into votes to save this country!
The infomercial movie was an attempt to fight back at all the negative, false portrayals of Obama by the McCain campaign and the numerous right wing attack groups. It was an attempt to fight evil with good, instead of going personal and character assassination like McCain. The reason millions of small donars like myself have given to him ( I have given $190, but never over $30 at a time) is because we knew how the Republicans have stolen the last two elections, and we are trying to ward off the swiftboating of Obama. So I helped pay for this infomerial and I was pleased with how my money was spent.
The movie sewed together the best footage of Obama's campaign travels around the country -- hugging the ladies in the kitchen in hairnets, shaking hands on the assembly line, and delivering his best lines at speeches and debates with special family footage of him playing with his photogenic daughters.
Obama reminded viewers of his grandfather's service in World War II; that he only spent a month with his Kenyan father when Obama was 10 and that his mother was fighting HMOs as she died of cancer. He is no radical -- his and Michelle's background is far more solid American middle class than John and Cindy McCain. The ad focused on moving examples of middle-class or falling-from-middle-class families from the swing states that will decide this election.
Americans like you and me are hurting, and Obama has policies that will help them -- and us. McCain does not. He has the same right wing rhetoric that got us into this mess -- it got Bush and the Republicans elected, but look how poorly they have governed! America, do not be hooked and crooked by them again!
"In six days, we can come together as one nation, and one people," Obama said. From your voice, Senator Obama, and from many prayers, to God's ears!
Which is why people need to listen when he says: "Barack Obama represents America's future, and you've got to be there for him next Tuesday," Clinton, with Obama at his side, said to the cheers of a huge crowd in Florida last night. Because he dearly wanted his wife to win the Democratic nomination, Clinton has been critical of Obama in the past, which makes his words now all the more a strong endorsement. He has come to see greatness in the man who beat out his wife in such a hard fought primary campaign.
Heaping praise on President Clinton, Obama said of Clinton: "In case all of you forgot, this is what it's like to have a great president."
President Clinton clasped Obama's hand and held it high when the men came on stage. Clinton made a methodical case for Obama, describing him as a strong thinker with smart policies. In one of his testimonials, he praised Obama for seeking the advice of experts — including him and his wife — on how to handle the country's financial crisis before acting. "Folks, we can't fool with this," Clinton said. "Our country is hanging in the balance. And we have so much promise and so much peril. This man should be our president."
Obama said of the two Clintons: "I am proud to call them my friends." Through the day, in two states, Obama unleashed a bleak portrayal of a McCain presidency, which promises to be four more years of the last eight years, and told a national TV audience that "the time for change has come."
Obama's rare, prime-time infomercial, shades of the great Ross Perot, (and very well done in making Obama's case for a change in direction from the Republicans) cut live to him appearing at a rally in Sunrise, Fla., where 20,000 packed a hockey arena all the way to the nosebleed seats. Obama continues to have wonderful crowds -- if they can just translate into votes to save this country!
The infomercial movie was an attempt to fight back at all the negative, false portrayals of Obama by the McCain campaign and the numerous right wing attack groups. It was an attempt to fight evil with good, instead of going personal and character assassination like McCain. The reason millions of small donars like myself have given to him ( I have given $190, but never over $30 at a time) is because we knew how the Republicans have stolen the last two elections, and we are trying to ward off the swiftboating of Obama. So I helped pay for this infomerial and I was pleased with how my money was spent.
The movie sewed together the best footage of Obama's campaign travels around the country -- hugging the ladies in the kitchen in hairnets, shaking hands on the assembly line, and delivering his best lines at speeches and debates with special family footage of him playing with his photogenic daughters.
Obama reminded viewers of his grandfather's service in World War II; that he only spent a month with his Kenyan father when Obama was 10 and that his mother was fighting HMOs as she died of cancer. He is no radical -- his and Michelle's background is far more solid American middle class than John and Cindy McCain. The ad focused on moving examples of middle-class or falling-from-middle-class families from the swing states that will decide this election.
Americans like you and me are hurting, and Obama has policies that will help them -- and us. McCain does not. He has the same right wing rhetoric that got us into this mess -- it got Bush and the Republicans elected, but look how poorly they have governed! America, do not be hooked and crooked by them again!
"In six days, we can come together as one nation, and one people," Obama said. From your voice, Senator Obama, and from many prayers, to God's ears!
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Christians Need to Represent Jesus --Vote for Party That Will Change the Indifference
Christians need to think about issues that matter, not the distractions that certain politicians and their party serve up so easily, when , in truth, they have been indifferent to so many human needs over the past eight years. Issues like Peace. Security. Racial equity. Economic well-being. Adequate nutrition and health care. A healthy environment. Human dignity. These are basic needs of every human being and of the earth. How can our electoral decisions ensure that these fundamentals are met?
The Gospel of Jesus Christ contains examples and commands to help the poor and the needy, as well as to treat others with respect and compassion. Luke 10:27 proclaims: “And love your neighbor as yourself.” For Christians, the life and teachings of Jesus are at the core of moral living. In an era of great change and challenge we are called to bring the Gospel message into our relationships with all people and all creation. Voting American Christians need to vote with social justice issues in mind.
The Republicans do not deserve to stay in charge of the White House. Think of the travesties of the last eight years, of which McCain supported and the Republican Party was in charge. The country is in the ditch and they have been driving the bus. It is time to fire the drivers.
The list of reasons for change is a long one. Think of the high cost of the unnecessary war in Iraq, in lives and money; of the torture and Guantanamo injustices; of the Wall Street mess; of Enron; of the botched response to Katrina; of increased unemployment and increased poverty; of runaway health care costs and 47 million uninsured: of poor governance and all the lies and spin and lies again; of the imperial presidency of Cheney-Bush; of the secretiveness of government; -- I could go on and on, but you get the picture. They do not deserve to be re-elected to power.
There are millions of Americans who have great needs that our society can and should help them with, since this is still the world's richest nation, well able to help the “least of these" in our midst. (Matthew 25). We still have 47 million Americans without health insurance – a travesty in a country as rich as ours. Our education system needs more financing and less unfunded mandates (as Bush did).
We have a rising number of unemployed folks, and jobs still are moving across our borders and corporations seek to find cheap, un-benefited workers (where is the ethics in that?) Global warning continues to be a problem after the Republicans denied it was happening for mush of the last eight years. Poverty is still a big problem, especially among minorities.
Plus, our American global footprint continues to squash others. Our arrogant foreign and corporate policies have ruined our reputation. I have missionary friends abroad who witness daily the global impact of U.S. political and economic decisions encourage voters in the 2008 elections to scrutinize candidates’ policy proposals through the lens of those who, both in the United States and overseas, lack basic necessities, endure the scourge of racism, live with gender-based discrimination or feel the immediate impact of climate change.
The growing influence of mega-corporations on political processes encourages economic decision-making that focuses on wealth and prosperity while forgetting more vulnerable people in the U.S. and abroad. Many of these decisions profit larger businesses at the expense of smaller ones and encourage unsustainable levels of consumption. Our government must enforce a separation of large corporations and state, strengthen and enforce anti-trust laws and promote enforceable mechanisms for corporate accountability.
The knee jerk reactions to immigration, led by demagogues like CNN blabbermouth Lou Dobbs, must be overcome with common sense and compassion. The Congress must implement just and compassionate national immigration policies that counter punitive and isola¬tionist tendencies, that recognize the importance of global solidarity in an intensely polarized world and that respect the inherent dignity and human rights of all migrants and asylum seekers, documented and undocumented alike. We must end the use of workplace raids, and stop the practice of deporting parents of under-age U.S.-born children. We must give urgent attention to the root causes of in¬voluntary migration, especially war and economic injustice. Building a giant wall along the border is a total waste of time and money.
A check of the policies and plans of the two major Presidential candidates gives a stark contrast. The compassionate Christian candidates are Senator Barack Obama and Senator Joe Bide, Visit the Matthew25 Network for more documentation of this fact, or view their policies of compassionate change at www.barackobama.com.
Please, please, please, vote in this election and convince your family and friends to vote for Obama-Biden. The Republicans, by hook and crook will make it very close. Every single vote is crucial! The future of our children and grandchildren depends upon it.
The Gospel of Jesus Christ contains examples and commands to help the poor and the needy, as well as to treat others with respect and compassion. Luke 10:27 proclaims: “And love your neighbor as yourself.” For Christians, the life and teachings of Jesus are at the core of moral living. In an era of great change and challenge we are called to bring the Gospel message into our relationships with all people and all creation. Voting American Christians need to vote with social justice issues in mind.
The Republicans do not deserve to stay in charge of the White House. Think of the travesties of the last eight years, of which McCain supported and the Republican Party was in charge. The country is in the ditch and they have been driving the bus. It is time to fire the drivers.
The list of reasons for change is a long one. Think of the high cost of the unnecessary war in Iraq, in lives and money; of the torture and Guantanamo injustices; of the Wall Street mess; of Enron; of the botched response to Katrina; of increased unemployment and increased poverty; of runaway health care costs and 47 million uninsured: of poor governance and all the lies and spin and lies again; of the imperial presidency of Cheney-Bush; of the secretiveness of government; -- I could go on and on, but you get the picture. They do not deserve to be re-elected to power.
There are millions of Americans who have great needs that our society can and should help them with, since this is still the world's richest nation, well able to help the “least of these" in our midst. (Matthew 25). We still have 47 million Americans without health insurance – a travesty in a country as rich as ours. Our education system needs more financing and less unfunded mandates (as Bush did).
We have a rising number of unemployed folks, and jobs still are moving across our borders and corporations seek to find cheap, un-benefited workers (where is the ethics in that?) Global warning continues to be a problem after the Republicans denied it was happening for mush of the last eight years. Poverty is still a big problem, especially among minorities.
Plus, our American global footprint continues to squash others. Our arrogant foreign and corporate policies have ruined our reputation. I have missionary friends abroad who witness daily the global impact of U.S. political and economic decisions encourage voters in the 2008 elections to scrutinize candidates’ policy proposals through the lens of those who, both in the United States and overseas, lack basic necessities, endure the scourge of racism, live with gender-based discrimination or feel the immediate impact of climate change.
The growing influence of mega-corporations on political processes encourages economic decision-making that focuses on wealth and prosperity while forgetting more vulnerable people in the U.S. and abroad. Many of these decisions profit larger businesses at the expense of smaller ones and encourage unsustainable levels of consumption. Our government must enforce a separation of large corporations and state, strengthen and enforce anti-trust laws and promote enforceable mechanisms for corporate accountability.
The knee jerk reactions to immigration, led by demagogues like CNN blabbermouth Lou Dobbs, must be overcome with common sense and compassion. The Congress must implement just and compassionate national immigration policies that counter punitive and isola¬tionist tendencies, that recognize the importance of global solidarity in an intensely polarized world and that respect the inherent dignity and human rights of all migrants and asylum seekers, documented and undocumented alike. We must end the use of workplace raids, and stop the practice of deporting parents of under-age U.S.-born children. We must give urgent attention to the root causes of in¬voluntary migration, especially war and economic injustice. Building a giant wall along the border is a total waste of time and money.
A check of the policies and plans of the two major Presidential candidates gives a stark contrast. The compassionate Christian candidates are Senator Barack Obama and Senator Joe Bide, Visit the Matthew25 Network for more documentation of this fact, or view their policies of compassionate change at www.barackobama.com.
Please, please, please, vote in this election and convince your family and friends to vote for Obama-Biden. The Republicans, by hook and crook will make it very close. Every single vote is crucial! The future of our children and grandchildren depends upon it.
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Being for Programs that Help Other People Make Someone a Christian, Not a Marxist!
Florida television anchor Barbara West is getting national attention after an interview with Barack Obama's running mate, Joe Biden. She kicked off the interview by asking Biden whether he was embarrassed by "blatant attempts to register phony voters by groups like ACORN".
She then asked:"How is Barack Obama not being a Marxist if he intends to spread the wealth around?"
Biden asked, "Are you joking?"
The Obama campaign responded to the interview:"This campaign has now spanned 21 months and Barack Obama, Michelle Obama and Joe and Jill Biden have done countless tough interviews and they've answered every single question. Let's be clear: This station's interview with Joe Biden wasn't tough -- it was just absurd!"
Of course, Right wing pubahs Lou Dobbs and Glenn Beck, CNN's water carriers for the Republicans, thought she was just wonderful. (I wish CNN would fire them like they fired their brother Tucker Carlson).
I think she was offensive and out of line! Tax cuts do not equal Marxism, Mrs. West! When tax cuts are for the rich they are good for the country, according to your Republican dogma, but what is wrong with helping the working people for a change? Mrs. West, are you implying that FDR, LBJ, Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, JFK, Ronald Reagan, Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter, George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton were also Marxists, because they all backed either tax cuts or social programs or both. Of course, you may not be much of student of history. Few neo-cons are. Which is why we got into the quagmire that is Iraq.
West was just another blonde, pretty talking points attack dog. West is married to a GOP media consultant, and her bio, in which she delights in covering Clinton's impeachment and seems to brag about scuttling Hillary's Heath Care program tells you everything you need to know about her objectivity.
The truth is that social programs, which some call socialist, have really helped this country -- such as social security, medicare, job corps, Comprehensive Education and Training Act (CETA), WPA, Head Start, Legal Aid, and many more. Social programs make it possible to balance the predatory nature of capitalism, so that it can work for the whole country, not just a chosen few wealthy capitalists.
She then asked:"How is Barack Obama not being a Marxist if he intends to spread the wealth around?"
Biden asked, "Are you joking?"
The Obama campaign responded to the interview:"This campaign has now spanned 21 months and Barack Obama, Michelle Obama and Joe and Jill Biden have done countless tough interviews and they've answered every single question. Let's be clear: This station's interview with Joe Biden wasn't tough -- it was just absurd!"
Of course, Right wing pubahs Lou Dobbs and Glenn Beck, CNN's water carriers for the Republicans, thought she was just wonderful. (I wish CNN would fire them like they fired their brother Tucker Carlson).
I think she was offensive and out of line! Tax cuts do not equal Marxism, Mrs. West! When tax cuts are for the rich they are good for the country, according to your Republican dogma, but what is wrong with helping the working people for a change? Mrs. West, are you implying that FDR, LBJ, Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, JFK, Ronald Reagan, Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter, George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton were also Marxists, because they all backed either tax cuts or social programs or both. Of course, you may not be much of student of history. Few neo-cons are. Which is why we got into the quagmire that is Iraq.
West was just another blonde, pretty talking points attack dog. West is married to a GOP media consultant, and her bio, in which she delights in covering Clinton's impeachment and seems to brag about scuttling Hillary's Heath Care program tells you everything you need to know about her objectivity.
The truth is that social programs, which some call socialist, have really helped this country -- such as social security, medicare, job corps, Comprehensive Education and Training Act (CETA), WPA, Head Start, Legal Aid, and many more. Social programs make it possible to balance the predatory nature of capitalism, so that it can work for the whole country, not just a chosen few wealthy capitalists.
Palin and "Socialist" Alaska: Another Case of Deceitful Hypocrisy from the Lipstick Pitbull
Now the Republigandists in McCain’s campaign are calling Barack Obama a socialist because he proposes middle class tax cuts while allowing the top money-makers $250,000 or more to pay taxes at a level commensurate with what they were before the Bush “give it to the rich” tax cuts. This is extremely hypocritical.
Sarah Palin is governor of the most "socialist" state in the union, and she knows it, but she criticizes Senator Obama about need middle class tax relief. Give me a break! I once lived in Alaska, home of Barracuda Palin, and it has a wonderful plan of sharing the wealth called the permanent fund. I wonder if Sarah or Todd Plain have ever given back their peramanent fund checks that come each fall?
Not that anything about the current “socialism” rhetoric should be taken seriously, it is just another one of the McCainanites distractive lies. But the closest thing to socialism on the American policy agenda is in Sarah Palin’s Alaska? You have collective ownership of valuable natural resources that generates lots of revenue for the state, and then the government makes “spreading the wealth around” through the Permanent Fund, etc. its main priority. It’s actually, for all the flaws of Alaska politics and public policy, a pretty good system. But I think the best way to think about it is that it’s an example of a somewhat special case in which socialism is a good idea.
Of course another time where you need a dose of socialism is if, for example, there’s a financial system emergency and the government needs to partially nationalize large banks in order to recapitalize them. But that’s been brought to us by George W. Bush with the support of John McCain.
Back in the day, as Sarah Palin likes to say, shortly after the oil from Alaska’s North Slope began flowing to market through the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System, the [Alaska] Permanent Fund was created by an amendment to the constitution of the U.S. state of Alaska to be an investment for at least 25% of proceeds from some minerals [such as oil and gas] sale or royalties...The Alaska Permanent Fund sets aside a certain share of oil revenues to continue benefiting current and all future generations of Alaskans.
So while Gov. Palin continues to criticize Sen. Obama for saying that "spreading the wealth around" helps everyone, the annual oil check paid to every Alaskan appears to do just that. I do not see anything wrong with the Permanent Fund. Indeed, I loved to get the checks while I was an Alaskan citizen. But I see Palin's cricism of Obama as high level hypocrisy. And McCain, after voting for a $700 billion bailout of Wall Street, now he wants to criticize Obama's tax cuts for 95 percent of the people as "spreading the wealth" and "socialism"?
The PFD payout, which comes in or near October of each year, is acknowledged to have a substantial effect on Alaska's economy, both in total and especially in rural Alaska where unemployment can reach 60% and where cash is scarce.
While I am not against the Alaskan model of natural resource management, I do believe that as she runs around the country disparaging Sen. Obama's economic plan as socialism, Gov. Palin should be challenged to articulate why Alaskan socialism is not a problem for her. Why is spreading the wealth around good for Alaska but not good for the rest of America?
This year's disbursement to every eligible Alasakan is $3,269 each for every man, woman and child. At times like this I wish I still lived in Alaska.
Sarah Palin is governor of the most "socialist" state in the union, and she knows it, but she criticizes Senator Obama about need middle class tax relief. Give me a break! I once lived in Alaska, home of Barracuda Palin, and it has a wonderful plan of sharing the wealth called the permanent fund. I wonder if Sarah or Todd Plain have ever given back their peramanent fund checks that come each fall?
Not that anything about the current “socialism” rhetoric should be taken seriously, it is just another one of the McCainanites distractive lies. But the closest thing to socialism on the American policy agenda is in Sarah Palin’s Alaska? You have collective ownership of valuable natural resources that generates lots of revenue for the state, and then the government makes “spreading the wealth around” through the Permanent Fund, etc. its main priority. It’s actually, for all the flaws of Alaska politics and public policy, a pretty good system. But I think the best way to think about it is that it’s an example of a somewhat special case in which socialism is a good idea.
Of course another time where you need a dose of socialism is if, for example, there’s a financial system emergency and the government needs to partially nationalize large banks in order to recapitalize them. But that’s been brought to us by George W. Bush with the support of John McCain.
Back in the day, as Sarah Palin likes to say, shortly after the oil from Alaska’s North Slope began flowing to market through the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System, the [Alaska] Permanent Fund was created by an amendment to the constitution of the U.S. state of Alaska to be an investment for at least 25% of proceeds from some minerals [such as oil and gas] sale or royalties...The Alaska Permanent Fund sets aside a certain share of oil revenues to continue benefiting current and all future generations of Alaskans.
So while Gov. Palin continues to criticize Sen. Obama for saying that "spreading the wealth around" helps everyone, the annual oil check paid to every Alaskan appears to do just that. I do not see anything wrong with the Permanent Fund. Indeed, I loved to get the checks while I was an Alaskan citizen. But I see Palin's cricism of Obama as high level hypocrisy. And McCain, after voting for a $700 billion bailout of Wall Street, now he wants to criticize Obama's tax cuts for 95 percent of the people as "spreading the wealth" and "socialism"?
The PFD payout, which comes in or near October of each year, is acknowledged to have a substantial effect on Alaska's economy, both in total and especially in rural Alaska where unemployment can reach 60% and where cash is scarce.
While I am not against the Alaskan model of natural resource management, I do believe that as she runs around the country disparaging Sen. Obama's economic plan as socialism, Gov. Palin should be challenged to articulate why Alaskan socialism is not a problem for her. Why is spreading the wealth around good for Alaska but not good for the rest of America?
This year's disbursement to every eligible Alasakan is $3,269 each for every man, woman and child. At times like this I wish I still lived in Alaska.
Monday, October 27, 2008
With Talking Points Hasselbeck, Palin Keeps Showing Unreadiness! Amen, General Powell!
Vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin likes to portray herself as an average American working mother. But how many typical moms get $150,000 worth of merchandise from stylish stores and have strangers pay for it? Of course, now that the truth is out, the Republigandists say that all the clothes were always going to be donated to charity. Yeah, right!
And Palin, campaigning with another mind zombie zero, the wonderful extreme right wing stooge, Talkin Point Harpy Elizabeth Hasselbeck of View infamy, (when is Barbara Walters going to can Her Barbie Dollness?)continued the seemingly fabricated defense. Palin now says she shops only at a consignment store in Alaska for her own clothes. Really? Not even Costco or Walmart or Kmart?
Well, then, why are you wearing $150,000 of Neiman Marcus, Sister Sarah? What is real and what is false in your campaign? Oh, yes, the campaign is mostly false, but you are Joe Six-pack, Joe the Plumber, real America. Right!
Which led me reflect back on the last week, especially back to last weekend. To be fair, Sarah Palin did okay on Saturday Night Live, just as John McCain did fine on David Letterman, but if we were electing a “comedian in chief” I would be for Leno or Letterman, or maybe Steve Martin. I mean, Obama is by far the best speaker in American politics, but it is his great mind and calm demeanor, and the compassionate policies he backs, that make him ready to be president, not his performing abilities on television.
I still say that Palin is not ready to be a heartbeat away from the presidency, and some very good people agree with me. General Colin Powell, in his powerful, thoughtful endorsement of Senator Barack Obama, said, “Now that we have had a chance to watch her for some seven weeks, I don't believe she's ready to be president of the United States, which is the job of the vice president. And so that raised some question in my mind as to the judgment that Senator McCain made..."
Powell is one of America’s most respected public figures. He is a highly decorated military man. He has served in a distinguished manner in several Republican administrations — as a national security adviser in the Reagan White House, as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under the first President Bush during the Gulf War. After leaving government in 2004, Powell and his wife, Alma, formed America's Promise, an organization dedicated to helping children from all socioeconomic groups. So his opinion is an one of the most informed opinions you will find.
Some of the most stinging comments about Palin came from well-known columnist and former Ronald Reagan speechwriter Peggy Noonan, who wrote in The Wall Street Journal that Joe the Plumber was more thoughtful and persuasive than Palin."No news conferences? Interviews now only with friendly journalists? You can't be president or vice-president and govern in that style, as a sequestered figure," Noonan wrote of Palin."In the end the Palin candidacy is a symptom and expression of a new vulgarization in American politics. It's no good, not for conservatism and not for the country. And yes, it is a mark against John McCain, against his judgment and idealism."
In a tough interview on the Fox News Channel last weekend, (yes, Faux News does have one real journalist) Chris Wallace allowed McCain to say Palin did "a great job" on SNL, but then challenged him on his choice of her as running mate. "As a cold political calculation, hasn't Governor Palin become a drag on your ticket?" Wallace asked.
"As a cold political calculation, I could not be more pleased," McCain said. Which again makes me question the judgment of John McCain. It seems, on the basis of judgment, he is not ready to be president.
Let me leave you with one more thing Colin Powell agrees with me on – the lies and despicable tactics of the Republican campaign that John McCain approves are out of line.
Powell said, according to the L. A. Times,: “I'm also troubled by, not what Sen. McCain says, but what members of the party say. And it is permitted to be said, such things as, 'Well, you that know Mr. Obama is a Muslim.' Well, the correct answer is, he is not a Muslim, he's a Christian. He's always been a Christian. But the really right answer is: What if he is? Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? The answer's no, that's not America. Is there something wrong with some 7-year-old Muslim American kid believing that he or she could be president? Yet I have heard senior members of my own party drop the suggestion, 'He's a Muslim and he might be associated with terrorists.' This is not the way we should be doing it in America.”
Amen, brother Powell, Amen!
And Palin, campaigning with another mind zombie zero, the wonderful extreme right wing stooge, Talkin Point Harpy Elizabeth Hasselbeck of View infamy, (when is Barbara Walters going to can Her Barbie Dollness?)continued the seemingly fabricated defense. Palin now says she shops only at a consignment store in Alaska for her own clothes. Really? Not even Costco or Walmart or Kmart?
Well, then, why are you wearing $150,000 of Neiman Marcus, Sister Sarah? What is real and what is false in your campaign? Oh, yes, the campaign is mostly false, but you are Joe Six-pack, Joe the Plumber, real America. Right!
Which led me reflect back on the last week, especially back to last weekend. To be fair, Sarah Palin did okay on Saturday Night Live, just as John McCain did fine on David Letterman, but if we were electing a “comedian in chief” I would be for Leno or Letterman, or maybe Steve Martin. I mean, Obama is by far the best speaker in American politics, but it is his great mind and calm demeanor, and the compassionate policies he backs, that make him ready to be president, not his performing abilities on television.
I still say that Palin is not ready to be a heartbeat away from the presidency, and some very good people agree with me. General Colin Powell, in his powerful, thoughtful endorsement of Senator Barack Obama, said, “Now that we have had a chance to watch her for some seven weeks, I don't believe she's ready to be president of the United States, which is the job of the vice president. And so that raised some question in my mind as to the judgment that Senator McCain made..."
Powell is one of America’s most respected public figures. He is a highly decorated military man. He has served in a distinguished manner in several Republican administrations — as a national security adviser in the Reagan White House, as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under the first President Bush during the Gulf War. After leaving government in 2004, Powell and his wife, Alma, formed America's Promise, an organization dedicated to helping children from all socioeconomic groups. So his opinion is an one of the most informed opinions you will find.
Some of the most stinging comments about Palin came from well-known columnist and former Ronald Reagan speechwriter Peggy Noonan, who wrote in The Wall Street Journal that Joe the Plumber was more thoughtful and persuasive than Palin."No news conferences? Interviews now only with friendly journalists? You can't be president or vice-president and govern in that style, as a sequestered figure," Noonan wrote of Palin."In the end the Palin candidacy is a symptom and expression of a new vulgarization in American politics. It's no good, not for conservatism and not for the country. And yes, it is a mark against John McCain, against his judgment and idealism."
In a tough interview on the Fox News Channel last weekend, (yes, Faux News does have one real journalist) Chris Wallace allowed McCain to say Palin did "a great job" on SNL, but then challenged him on his choice of her as running mate. "As a cold political calculation, hasn't Governor Palin become a drag on your ticket?" Wallace asked.
"As a cold political calculation, I could not be more pleased," McCain said. Which again makes me question the judgment of John McCain. It seems, on the basis of judgment, he is not ready to be president.
Let me leave you with one more thing Colin Powell agrees with me on – the lies and despicable tactics of the Republican campaign that John McCain approves are out of line.
Powell said, according to the L. A. Times,: “I'm also troubled by, not what Sen. McCain says, but what members of the party say. And it is permitted to be said, such things as, 'Well, you that know Mr. Obama is a Muslim.' Well, the correct answer is, he is not a Muslim, he's a Christian. He's always been a Christian. But the really right answer is: What if he is? Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? The answer's no, that's not America. Is there something wrong with some 7-year-old Muslim American kid believing that he or she could be president? Yet I have heard senior members of my own party drop the suggestion, 'He's a Muslim and he might be associated with terrorists.' This is not the way we should be doing it in America.”
Amen, brother Powell, Amen!
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Republiganda Cries About Biden Comments Much Ado About Nothing! Obama Wise Leader!
The Republiganda machine is latching on to comments made by Joe Biden about the Obama administration being likely to be tested. Well, sure, all new administrations are tested. If McCain is elected, his administration is sure to be tested -- with a green vice-president and an aging president, and the weight of his party's last eight years in the While House, they are sure to be tested.
But I believe Senator Barack Obama is up to the task. And so do a number of experienced White House veterans and foreign policy experts who have endorsed Senator Obama, such as General and Secretary of State Colin Powell, Secretary of State Madeline Albright, U.N. Ambassaador Richard Holbrook, President Bill Clinton, President Jimmy Carter, Vice-President Al Gore, Senator Hillary Clinton, Secretary of State Zbignew Brzinski, Senator John Kerry, General Wesley Clark and Governor Bill Richardson, amomg many. Certainly Obama will need help -- Presidents have never operated in a vacuum.
But who will that help be? Obama is a wise leader has surrounded himself with high quality people, such as former Navy Secreatary Richard Danzig, former Air Force Chief of Staff Tony McPeak, Former National Security Adviser Samuel Berger, former National Security Council member Susan Rice, and Senate foreign relations leader Biden himself. He has shown a calm, steady temperament. Erratic McCain has the dregs of the Bush administration, high powered lobbyists like his campaign manager Rick Davis, and Sarah Palin. And what have the Republicans given us for the last eight years? Enough said.
But I believe Senator Barack Obama is up to the task. And so do a number of experienced White House veterans and foreign policy experts who have endorsed Senator Obama, such as General and Secretary of State Colin Powell, Secretary of State Madeline Albright, U.N. Ambassaador Richard Holbrook, President Bill Clinton, President Jimmy Carter, Vice-President Al Gore, Senator Hillary Clinton, Secretary of State Zbignew Brzinski, Senator John Kerry, General Wesley Clark and Governor Bill Richardson, amomg many. Certainly Obama will need help -- Presidents have never operated in a vacuum.
But who will that help be? Obama is a wise leader has surrounded himself with high quality people, such as former Navy Secreatary Richard Danzig, former Air Force Chief of Staff Tony McPeak, Former National Security Adviser Samuel Berger, former National Security Council member Susan Rice, and Senate foreign relations leader Biden himself. He has shown a calm, steady temperament. Erratic McCain has the dregs of the Bush administration, high powered lobbyists like his campaign manager Rick Davis, and Sarah Palin. And what have the Republicans given us for the last eight years? Enough said.
General Wesley Clark Works to Secure America!
Not only are the Republicans using their lies, distortions and misrepresentations to smear and impugn Senator Barack Obama, but it is a common tactic by Republican candidates on all levels. The Lee Atwater-Karl Rove school of gutter politics has been fully embraced by the Republicans. The party is rotten to its putrid core. I am still a registered Republican, out of respect for Dwight David Eisenhower. But my party of Lincoln and Eisenhower is long gone. All that remains is the name, and that name is being sullied everyday by Bush, McCain, Palin and the Untruth gang that runs things now.
On a recent five hour auto trip I heard attack ad after attack ad on the radio – all Republican, all with the same misleading spin of the half-facts, all using character assassination lines on their Democratic opponents. Simplistic, vile, outright false, Yes! But apparently it works with half the population, which is a great sadness and proof that our education system has gone to hell. Clear thinking seems to be extinct among the red state crowd! Hence, the only Republicans who will get my vote are local candidates that I know are not part of this sellout to dishonesty that is a cancer on our democracy.
I have good company in this disdain for this politics of evil. General Wesley Clark, one of the most honorable men to ever wear the uniform, supreme commander in a war WE WON, finds the campaign tactics dishonorable. And he warns that if we do not elect Democrats to help Obama, we will have the same non-action in Congress the Republicans caused over the past two years. There have been 94 filibusters and numerous other delay tactics by the party of Bush-McCain.
A responsible plan of withdrawal from Iraq? Filibuster. Reform the health care system? Filibuster. Investment in energy renewables, bringing us a new energy economy? Filibuster. 94 such filibusters and roadblocks in Washington, caused by the Republicans in the Senate. Add to that a Republican president who is veto proof because of their numbers, and that is why the Democrats elected in 2006 have been unable to do what they were elected to do! We need more Democratic senators if we want real change by the Potomac River.
General Clark, campaigning across the country for Democrats, warns that is what we can expect to happen to Barack Obama's agenda if we don't elect enough Democrats to the Senate on November 4. Republicans have filibustered a record-breaking 94 times in the last two years! Imagine what they will do when faced with Barack Obama's agenda for change.
General Clark is asking for help in two Senate races that few believed we could win just months ago: Jim Martin in Georgia and Kay Hagan in North Carolina. Contribute to Jim and Kay today.
Click www.actblue to donate to the campaign in the final push.
Jim Martin served our nation honorably as a member of the Armed Forces in Vietnam, in the Georgia House of Representatives, and at the Georgia Department of Human Resources. He has led his state on health care issues, helped provide quality and affordable health care for thousands of children, and put foster children in loving homes.
His opponent, Saxby Chambliss, ran one of the most despicable TV ads I've ever seen in 2002. The ad compared war hero Senator Max Cleland to Osama bin Laden. And now, Chambliss has launched two new attack ads against Jim, even brazenly using the same background music from the attack ad on Max.
The race is neck-and-neck, and General Clark needs you to make sure Jim has the resources to fight back against Chambliss' distortions and lies by making a contribution today.
As a five-term State Senator, Kay Hagan helped strengthen North Carolina's economy, increased the salaries of teachers, and broadened early childhood education. I'm also standing with Kay because she will stand up for our nation's military and veterans. It is not just because she comes from a strong military family -- she has a deep respect for the men and women who serve our country and fight for the freedom we often take for granted.
Kay has a real chance to oust Elizabeth Dole. Dole has been a rubberstamp for George Bush and has voted with him 92% of the time, even more than Bush lapdog John McCain (ninety percent). We cannot let George Bush's failed policies continue under Dole and McCain.
Kay holds a slim lead. So now the right wing attack machine is throwing millions of dollars into this race over the final two weeks, hoping negative, false advertisements will make the difference. Elizabeth Dole has loaned herself $3 million dollars this week to buy her seat back. It must be nice to have that kind of change lying around.
Kay needs our help to fight back. Please help carry Kay to victory by making a contribution today!
Click www.actblueto donate to the campaign for the final push.
We have 10 days to make a difference in these races. Jim and Kay need your help now. Check out General Wesley Clark’s views and schedule at Securing America.com Help General Clark, Senator Obama and Senator Biden change our country for the better.
On a recent five hour auto trip I heard attack ad after attack ad on the radio – all Republican, all with the same misleading spin of the half-facts, all using character assassination lines on their Democratic opponents. Simplistic, vile, outright false, Yes! But apparently it works with half the population, which is a great sadness and proof that our education system has gone to hell. Clear thinking seems to be extinct among the red state crowd! Hence, the only Republicans who will get my vote are local candidates that I know are not part of this sellout to dishonesty that is a cancer on our democracy.
I have good company in this disdain for this politics of evil. General Wesley Clark, one of the most honorable men to ever wear the uniform, supreme commander in a war WE WON, finds the campaign tactics dishonorable. And he warns that if we do not elect Democrats to help Obama, we will have the same non-action in Congress the Republicans caused over the past two years. There have been 94 filibusters and numerous other delay tactics by the party of Bush-McCain.
A responsible plan of withdrawal from Iraq? Filibuster. Reform the health care system? Filibuster. Investment in energy renewables, bringing us a new energy economy? Filibuster. 94 such filibusters and roadblocks in Washington, caused by the Republicans in the Senate. Add to that a Republican president who is veto proof because of their numbers, and that is why the Democrats elected in 2006 have been unable to do what they were elected to do! We need more Democratic senators if we want real change by the Potomac River.
General Clark, campaigning across the country for Democrats, warns that is what we can expect to happen to Barack Obama's agenda if we don't elect enough Democrats to the Senate on November 4. Republicans have filibustered a record-breaking 94 times in the last two years! Imagine what they will do when faced with Barack Obama's agenda for change.
General Clark is asking for help in two Senate races that few believed we could win just months ago: Jim Martin in Georgia and Kay Hagan in North Carolina. Contribute to Jim and Kay today.
Click www.actblue to donate to the campaign in the final push.
Jim Martin served our nation honorably as a member of the Armed Forces in Vietnam, in the Georgia House of Representatives, and at the Georgia Department of Human Resources. He has led his state on health care issues, helped provide quality and affordable health care for thousands of children, and put foster children in loving homes.
His opponent, Saxby Chambliss, ran one of the most despicable TV ads I've ever seen in 2002. The ad compared war hero Senator Max Cleland to Osama bin Laden. And now, Chambliss has launched two new attack ads against Jim, even brazenly using the same background music from the attack ad on Max.
The race is neck-and-neck, and General Clark needs you to make sure Jim has the resources to fight back against Chambliss' distortions and lies by making a contribution today.
As a five-term State Senator, Kay Hagan helped strengthen North Carolina's economy, increased the salaries of teachers, and broadened early childhood education. I'm also standing with Kay because she will stand up for our nation's military and veterans. It is not just because she comes from a strong military family -- she has a deep respect for the men and women who serve our country and fight for the freedom we often take for granted.
Kay has a real chance to oust Elizabeth Dole. Dole has been a rubberstamp for George Bush and has voted with him 92% of the time, even more than Bush lapdog John McCain (ninety percent). We cannot let George Bush's failed policies continue under Dole and McCain.
Kay holds a slim lead. So now the right wing attack machine is throwing millions of dollars into this race over the final two weeks, hoping negative, false advertisements will make the difference. Elizabeth Dole has loaned herself $3 million dollars this week to buy her seat back. It must be nice to have that kind of change lying around.
Kay needs our help to fight back. Please help carry Kay to victory by making a contribution today!
Click www.actblueto donate to the campaign for the final push.
We have 10 days to make a difference in these races. Jim and Kay need your help now. Check out General Wesley Clark’s views and schedule at Securing America.com Help General Clark, Senator Obama and Senator Biden change our country for the better.
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Republicans Stole Elections in '00,'04! Now Try for 2008! Read About BLOCK THE VOTE!
We continue to get emails asking about the real history of the stolen presidential elections of the last eight years. Yes, both President Gore and President Kerry actually would have won the elections if not for Republican deceitful actions. If you want to read about real things that tore at the fabric of democracy, the Republican war on democracy in the United States, then please read in detail about the Stolen Elections of 2000 with well-researched articles and links to powerful books by Alan Dershowitz. Vincent Bugliosi and Jeffrey Toobin, and the Stolen Election of 2004 where Robert F. Kennedy Jr. writes a compelling story about the theft of democracy in America. In the most recent issue of the magazine he wtites about how to guard against it happening again in 2008, in the powerful, complelling article, BLOCK THE VOTE.
McCain's Bus Now Doubletalk Standard, Fueled by Lies: Will America Still Take Bus to Nowhere?
Our economy is in a huge mess. Wages are Stagnant as Prices Rise: While wages remain flat, the costs of basic necessities are increasing. The cost of in-state college tuition has grown 35 percent over the past five years. Health care costs have risen four times faster than wages over the past six years.
And the personal savings rate is now the lowest it's been since the Great Depression. And it was exacerbated bv a "spread it to the wealthy scheme" also known as the Bush tax cuts which gave those who earn over $1 million dollars a tax cut nearly 160 times greater than that received by middle-income Americans. At the same time, this Republican administration has refused to tackle health care, education and housing in a manner that benefits the middle class. And the McCainanite Republicans promise more of the same. Ideological prattle, but no share of the cattle for middle class and poor Americans.
Obama-Biden promise to enact a Windfall Profits Tax to Provide a $1,000 Emergency Energy Rebate to American Families:Barack Obama and Joe Biden will enact a windfall profits tax on excessive oil company profits to give American families an immediate $1,000 emergency energy rebate to help families pay rising bills. This relief would be a down payment on the Obama-Biden long-term plan to provide middle-class families with at least $1,000 per year in permanent tax relief. this is not spread the wealth, it is share the health, helping our entire country become healthy economically.
They also plan to provide $50 billion to jumpstart the Economy and Prevent 1 Million Americans from Losing Their Jobs: This relief would include a $25 billion State Growth Fund to prevent state and local cuts in health, education, housing, and heating assistance or counterproductive increases in property taxes, tolls or fees. The Obama-Biden relief plan will also include $25 billion in a Jobs and Growth Fund to prevent cutbacks in road and bridge maintenance and fund school re¬pair - all to save more than 1 million jobs in danger of being cut.
Do not expect John McCain and the Republicans to bring the needed changes. Their policies got us here in the first place.
“The failed economic policies and the same corrupt culture that led us into this mess will not help get us out of it. We need to get to work immediately on reforming the broken government -- and the broken politics -- that allowed this crisis to happen in the first place.” Senator Barack Obama wrote me and other supporters recently, standing up for principles he has been calling for over the last eighteen months, and decrying the Republican presidential administration economic policies that drove this nation into the very deep financial and economic ditch.
Obama has repeatedly said for months that what was happening in the subprime lending market was inappropriate, that nobody was looking at whether or not these loans made sense, that in many cases they were pushed into communities in which workers and homebuyers couldn't support the underlying mortgages, and the fact that we just did not do anything is reminiscent of what happened during the savings and loans crisis. (Which John McCain, of Keating Five and “poor judgment” fame, should know something about). Obama was spot on right in his warnings – while McCain was missing in action, as has been the case for much of the last eight years of his embrace of Bush and Bush’s brainless policies.
In his letter to supporters, Senator Obama stated the core truth of the financial mess Bush and his merry men and women cooked up for us: “The era of greed and irresponsibility on Wall Street and in Washington has created a financial crisis as profound as any we have faced since the Great Depression. “
And, make no doubt about, John McCain and his Republican Party are guilty of being co-conspirators in cooking up this financial mess with a purposeful lack of regulation and safeguards. In response, Obama and Joe Biden promise that they will be “guided by core principles of fairness, balance, and responsibility to one another,” in their economic policies.
Obama stated:“Joe Biden and I have a plan that will guarantee our long-term prosperity -- including tax cuts for 95 percent of families, an economic stimulus package that creates millions of new jobs and leads us towards energy independence, and health care that is affordable to every American. It won't be easy. The kind of change we're looking for never is., but if we work together and stand by these principles, we can get through this crisis and emerge a stronger nation.”
This is the kind of real Straight Talk America needs. McCain’s straight talk ended in South Carolina n 2000, the victim of the same Rove-Bush gutter politics he now embraces. His campaign bus no longer is the Straight Talk Express -- it is now the Doubletalk Standard, powered by lies not gas, on a perpetual route from Spinville to Propaganda City. And yet almost half of America is still on board this bus to nowhere.
It is a sad commentary on where our nation is, educationally, morally, and in the important areas of clarity of thinking and careful discernment.
And the personal savings rate is now the lowest it's been since the Great Depression. And it was exacerbated bv a "spread it to the wealthy scheme" also known as the Bush tax cuts which gave those who earn over $1 million dollars a tax cut nearly 160 times greater than that received by middle-income Americans. At the same time, this Republican administration has refused to tackle health care, education and housing in a manner that benefits the middle class. And the McCainanite Republicans promise more of the same. Ideological prattle, but no share of the cattle for middle class and poor Americans.
Obama-Biden promise to enact a Windfall Profits Tax to Provide a $1,000 Emergency Energy Rebate to American Families:Barack Obama and Joe Biden will enact a windfall profits tax on excessive oil company profits to give American families an immediate $1,000 emergency energy rebate to help families pay rising bills. This relief would be a down payment on the Obama-Biden long-term plan to provide middle-class families with at least $1,000 per year in permanent tax relief. this is not spread the wealth, it is share the health, helping our entire country become healthy economically.
They also plan to provide $50 billion to jumpstart the Economy and Prevent 1 Million Americans from Losing Their Jobs: This relief would include a $25 billion State Growth Fund to prevent state and local cuts in health, education, housing, and heating assistance or counterproductive increases in property taxes, tolls or fees. The Obama-Biden relief plan will also include $25 billion in a Jobs and Growth Fund to prevent cutbacks in road and bridge maintenance and fund school re¬pair - all to save more than 1 million jobs in danger of being cut.
Do not expect John McCain and the Republicans to bring the needed changes. Their policies got us here in the first place.
“The failed economic policies and the same corrupt culture that led us into this mess will not help get us out of it. We need to get to work immediately on reforming the broken government -- and the broken politics -- that allowed this crisis to happen in the first place.” Senator Barack Obama wrote me and other supporters recently, standing up for principles he has been calling for over the last eighteen months, and decrying the Republican presidential administration economic policies that drove this nation into the very deep financial and economic ditch.
Obama has repeatedly said for months that what was happening in the subprime lending market was inappropriate, that nobody was looking at whether or not these loans made sense, that in many cases they were pushed into communities in which workers and homebuyers couldn't support the underlying mortgages, and the fact that we just did not do anything is reminiscent of what happened during the savings and loans crisis. (Which John McCain, of Keating Five and “poor judgment” fame, should know something about). Obama was spot on right in his warnings – while McCain was missing in action, as has been the case for much of the last eight years of his embrace of Bush and Bush’s brainless policies.
In his letter to supporters, Senator Obama stated the core truth of the financial mess Bush and his merry men and women cooked up for us: “The era of greed and irresponsibility on Wall Street and in Washington has created a financial crisis as profound as any we have faced since the Great Depression. “
And, make no doubt about, John McCain and his Republican Party are guilty of being co-conspirators in cooking up this financial mess with a purposeful lack of regulation and safeguards. In response, Obama and Joe Biden promise that they will be “guided by core principles of fairness, balance, and responsibility to one another,” in their economic policies.
Obama stated:“Joe Biden and I have a plan that will guarantee our long-term prosperity -- including tax cuts for 95 percent of families, an economic stimulus package that creates millions of new jobs and leads us towards energy independence, and health care that is affordable to every American. It won't be easy. The kind of change we're looking for never is., but if we work together and stand by these principles, we can get through this crisis and emerge a stronger nation.”
This is the kind of real Straight Talk America needs. McCain’s straight talk ended in South Carolina n 2000, the victim of the same Rove-Bush gutter politics he now embraces. His campaign bus no longer is the Straight Talk Express -- it is now the Doubletalk Standard, powered by lies not gas, on a perpetual route from Spinville to Propaganda City. And yet almost half of America is still on board this bus to nowhere.
It is a sad commentary on where our nation is, educationally, morally, and in the important areas of clarity of thinking and careful discernment.
Friday, October 24, 2008
Vile McCain Mailer Crawls Out of the Sewer!
The Republican National Committee is distributing a mail piece that says "Terrorists" on the front and opens to a big picture of Senotor Obama saying "Not Who You Think He Is."
John McCain -- who promised to run a respectful campaign -- said that he was "absolutely" proud of it. How schizophrenic!
If you are sick of this kind of campaigning, call people for Obama, make a donation, go door to door. We must overturn this evil Republican campaign tactic and their flood of smears. The McCain campaign is a cancer on democracy. www.barackobama.com
Obama is Pro-family -- His Policies Will Aid American Families Much More than Republicans!
I am praying for Barack Obama and his grandmother. The fact that the white woman who raised him, his grandmother on his mother’s side, is sick, and he is putting aside the most important campaign of his life to be with her, well, this shows he is a candidate with deeply held family values. His plans and policies reflect this high regard for families.
The reason he is a great leader is that he has good values and good work habits, learned at his grandmother’s knee. Obama has demonstrated that he is a committed Christian with strong Christian values at the heart of his vision of America, and the world, as well as his vision of the society and the support for the neediest ones among us. Even his opponent, John McCain, recently told a crowd that Obama is “a decent family man.. who loves America” If I were the Obama campaign I would run this as an ad and a robo-call to kill the lies against Senator Obama.
It is amazing what some people will believe in the character assassination ads and emails. I found it interesting that Obama’s lack of lapel flag pin was so “disrespectful” in the primaries, but when he wears one in each of the presidential debates, and McCain wears none, and no one says a word. Sarah Palin attacks Obama as anti-family, and yet which candidate has policies that will actually help families? It is Obama, by far. just check his website for detail after detail. www.barackobama.com
You can also check out your coming tax cut under Obama if you are one of the 95 percent of Americans who will get one. And if you are wealthy, you will still only be paying what you were paying before the Bush tax cuts, which were originally meant to be temporary. And, if you are wealthy, you are getting more out of the American dream than anyone else, so you should pay a little more to help the rest of society. It is not spread the wealth, it is keep the health -- of the country that is buttering your bread with more butter than ninety-five percent of your fellow countrymen and women!
Anyone who has seen Senator Obama interact with his wonderful wife Michelle and his two young girls knows there is a lot of love in this little family. And both he and Michelle grew up in basic American families with strong values and work ethics that we can all admire. What is more, Obama is a good family man and represents families in his beliefs and policies! He loves his kids, his wife and he also cares for the families struggling all over the country, including the veterans and current military. He is concerned about the future we are handing our children and grandchildren. We all should be concerned about it!
In Obama’s remarkable acceptance speech in late August, he brought up an issue that we must keep at the forefront of this election: paid family leave and paid sick days. He laid out a compelling vision of what a strong America looks like when he said:
“We measure the strength of our economy not by the number of billionaires we have or the profits of the Fortune 500, but by whether someone with a good idea can take a risk and start a new business, or whether the waitress who lives on tips can take a day off to look after a sick kid without losing her job - an economy that honors the dignity of work.”
After eight years of Republican rule, our country looks nothing like this. When families find themselves in crisis and ask, “How can I keep my paycheck and care for my family in the face of this emergency?”…the answer for most people is “you can’t.” Working moms and dads have to make painful decisions about whether they take time off to care for a new baby or have enough money to buy diapers. The leadership of the supposed “family friendly” party has done very little to make life easier for American families.
Here are some facts to consider:
• The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) has given more than 50 million Americans the ability to support their families. However, because leave is unpaid, many families that have taken leave face economic hardship. Of the people who do not take FMLA, 78 percent say they could not afford to take leave.
• In the United States, only 51 percent of people get paid leave through their work to care for families.
• Almost half - 48 percent - of workers in the private sector get no paid sick days.
• Among low-wage workers the number with out paid sick days are even more dramatic: nearly 80 percent do not get any paid sick days.
We can do better for working Americans. We must do better for working Americans. We must do better for families. We need a real pro-family administration, not one that just gives lip service to the phrase and then actually attacks the families with pro-business plans and nothing for the workers.
Now is the time to help families with paid sick days and better family leave, because nobody in America should have to choose between keeping their jobs and caring for a sick child or ailing spouse or parent. We must elect Barack Obama and Joe Biden because they are really pro-family!
The reason he is a great leader is that he has good values and good work habits, learned at his grandmother’s knee. Obama has demonstrated that he is a committed Christian with strong Christian values at the heart of his vision of America, and the world, as well as his vision of the society and the support for the neediest ones among us. Even his opponent, John McCain, recently told a crowd that Obama is “a decent family man.. who loves America” If I were the Obama campaign I would run this as an ad and a robo-call to kill the lies against Senator Obama.
It is amazing what some people will believe in the character assassination ads and emails. I found it interesting that Obama’s lack of lapel flag pin was so “disrespectful” in the primaries, but when he wears one in each of the presidential debates, and McCain wears none, and no one says a word. Sarah Palin attacks Obama as anti-family, and yet which candidate has policies that will actually help families? It is Obama, by far. just check his website for detail after detail. www.barackobama.com
You can also check out your coming tax cut under Obama if you are one of the 95 percent of Americans who will get one. And if you are wealthy, you will still only be paying what you were paying before the Bush tax cuts, which were originally meant to be temporary. And, if you are wealthy, you are getting more out of the American dream than anyone else, so you should pay a little more to help the rest of society. It is not spread the wealth, it is keep the health -- of the country that is buttering your bread with more butter than ninety-five percent of your fellow countrymen and women!
Anyone who has seen Senator Obama interact with his wonderful wife Michelle and his two young girls knows there is a lot of love in this little family. And both he and Michelle grew up in basic American families with strong values and work ethics that we can all admire. What is more, Obama is a good family man and represents families in his beliefs and policies! He loves his kids, his wife and he also cares for the families struggling all over the country, including the veterans and current military. He is concerned about the future we are handing our children and grandchildren. We all should be concerned about it!
In Obama’s remarkable acceptance speech in late August, he brought up an issue that we must keep at the forefront of this election: paid family leave and paid sick days. He laid out a compelling vision of what a strong America looks like when he said:
“We measure the strength of our economy not by the number of billionaires we have or the profits of the Fortune 500, but by whether someone with a good idea can take a risk and start a new business, or whether the waitress who lives on tips can take a day off to look after a sick kid without losing her job - an economy that honors the dignity of work.”
After eight years of Republican rule, our country looks nothing like this. When families find themselves in crisis and ask, “How can I keep my paycheck and care for my family in the face of this emergency?”…the answer for most people is “you can’t.” Working moms and dads have to make painful decisions about whether they take time off to care for a new baby or have enough money to buy diapers. The leadership of the supposed “family friendly” party has done very little to make life easier for American families.
Here are some facts to consider:
• The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) has given more than 50 million Americans the ability to support their families. However, because leave is unpaid, many families that have taken leave face economic hardship. Of the people who do not take FMLA, 78 percent say they could not afford to take leave.
• In the United States, only 51 percent of people get paid leave through their work to care for families.
• Almost half - 48 percent - of workers in the private sector get no paid sick days.
• Among low-wage workers the number with out paid sick days are even more dramatic: nearly 80 percent do not get any paid sick days.
We can do better for working Americans. We must do better for working Americans. We must do better for families. We need a real pro-family administration, not one that just gives lip service to the phrase and then actually attacks the families with pro-business plans and nothing for the workers.
Now is the time to help families with paid sick days and better family leave, because nobody in America should have to choose between keeping their jobs and caring for a sick child or ailing spouse or parent. We must elect Barack Obama and Joe Biden because they are really pro-family!
Thursday, October 23, 2008
How Can People Believe Republican Lies, Even When They Have No Plans to Help Most People?
When I see the blatant character attacks of the Republican machine upon Obama, and the dirty campaign tactics of Robo-calls and whisper campaigns, I cannot help bur remember that Rick Davis, manager of the McCain campaign, stated in August, "This campaign is not about issues. This election is about a composite view of what people take away from these candidates."
Davis's statement reduces the campaign to a personality contest, and then they are not dealing with truth about personality. They lie to tear down Obama. During an election season when war, the economy and health care are such pressing issues, the Republicans naturally want to shift the focus to personality–especially when they've presided over eight years of disaster and all they offer is more of the same.
Think back to the first week in September. We could see this gutter campaign coming, because the convention was prelude to the brutal rap act that has followed. Given this Davis strategy, the speeches at the Republican National Convention were short on plans for the economy, as well as on Iraq, energy and health care. Energy is more drilling for oil companies, health care is destroy the employer health insurance benefit, and education is more unfunded rhetoric.
In his acceptance speech, John McCain stated in reference to American workers, "We will prepare them for the jobs of today. We will use our community colleges to help train people for new opportunities in their communities"–surely a reprise of George Bush's empty promises during his debates with John Kerry. Like Bush, McCain knows that he has no such program in mind. Let him state instead that he'll put an end to tax cuts for corporations that ship American jobs overseas. That is a strategy that will really help workers. It is one that Obama promises.
All you have to do is think back to the Republican convention to see that social justice issues were not on the Republican agenda, at least not in real policy efforts. In fact, no issues were on their agenda, except keeping the Bush tax cuts for the rich, staying in Iraq for a long time, and "drill, baby, drill!"
Following the strategy as defined by Davis, who is a highly paid corporate lobbyist when he is not controlling McCain, the convention became a nasty succession of crafted lies and character attacks, with the target being Barack Obama. During the convention, a new dirty word entered the Republican lexicon: "community organizer." As Sarah Palin stated, "I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a "community organizer," except that you have actual responsibilities."
The Republicans are clearly contradicting theeir won history when they disparage this valuable role. George H. W. Bush stated at his inaugural address of January 2, 1989, "I have spoken of a thousand points of light, of all the community organizations that are spread like stars throughout the nation, doing good." And McCain himself, in his acceptance speech, asked listeners to "Fight for our children's future. Fight for justice and opportunity for all." Yes, Papa Bush seemed to care, but the Neo-Cons seem to have stolen his son's soul, and the soul of the Republican Party that he has led for the past eight years. This is the party of John McCain and Sarah Palin.
I have always been suspicious when Republicans extol the virtue of voluntarism. Between the lines I hear, "Don't expect us to properly fund education, health care and other social needs. How can we do that and afford tax cuts for the wealthy and a repeal of the estate tax? Let volunteers and charity handle it."
Regardless of my suspicions, the fact is that Barack Obama is entitled to high praise for his work as a community organizer. As recounted by U.S News & World Report, "After graduating from Columbia University in 1983 with a major in political science, Obama worked as a financial consultant in New York City. But he was bored—and drawn to public service."
So instead of staying on Wall Street and raking in dough, Obama took a tremendous salary cut in order to help people. His annual salary was $10,000. I realize that the work of CEOs and hedge fund managers command more respect according to the Republican value system. But how can anyone, except those operating on the most cynical of motives, deny Obama's idealism and patriotism?
So what did Obama do as a community organizer? According to U.S. News, "In 1985, he moved to Chicago to work with local churches organizing job training and other programs for poor and working-class residents of Altgeld Gardens, a public housing project where 5,300 African-Americans tried to survive amid shuttered steel mills, a nearby landfill, a putrid sewage treatment plant, and a pervasive feeling that the white establishment of Chicago would never give them a fair shake."
This is what we should hope would happen in our neighborhoods!
Note that Obama worked with "local churches"–a point conveniently forgotten by Palin, the new rock star of the religious right. And a party that preaches self-help ought to praise Obama for the values he sought to instill in others: "...whether it was getting the city to fill potholes, provide summer jobs, or remove asbestos from the apartments or persuading the apartment managers to repair toilets, pipes, and ceilings, Obama encouraged residents to come up with their own priorities with the gentle admonition: "It's your community."
The attempt to mock Obama for his praiseworthy work as a community organizer was a clear sign as one more diversion by a Republican campaign that is bankrupt of ideas and offers the nation an extension of the failed Bush presidency. And they have kept up these incessant attacks, trying to paint him as a terrorist by association with a man who has not been anything near being a terrorist for nearly 40 years.
They have misrepresented his tax cuts for 95 percent of the people, calling it socialism when they know it is not! They have purposely lied about other policy issues. And so many people believe them! Pray for America. We are being run by liars and thieves and enemies of workers an the poor, yet half the people like it and have no compassion. Even for themselves. The American Way for them is lies, fables and veiled hate and racism.
Davis's statement reduces the campaign to a personality contest, and then they are not dealing with truth about personality. They lie to tear down Obama. During an election season when war, the economy and health care are such pressing issues, the Republicans naturally want to shift the focus to personality–especially when they've presided over eight years of disaster and all they offer is more of the same.
Think back to the first week in September. We could see this gutter campaign coming, because the convention was prelude to the brutal rap act that has followed. Given this Davis strategy, the speeches at the Republican National Convention were short on plans for the economy, as well as on Iraq, energy and health care. Energy is more drilling for oil companies, health care is destroy the employer health insurance benefit, and education is more unfunded rhetoric.
In his acceptance speech, John McCain stated in reference to American workers, "We will prepare them for the jobs of today. We will use our community colleges to help train people for new opportunities in their communities"–surely a reprise of George Bush's empty promises during his debates with John Kerry. Like Bush, McCain knows that he has no such program in mind. Let him state instead that he'll put an end to tax cuts for corporations that ship American jobs overseas. That is a strategy that will really help workers. It is one that Obama promises.
All you have to do is think back to the Republican convention to see that social justice issues were not on the Republican agenda, at least not in real policy efforts. In fact, no issues were on their agenda, except keeping the Bush tax cuts for the rich, staying in Iraq for a long time, and "drill, baby, drill!"
Following the strategy as defined by Davis, who is a highly paid corporate lobbyist when he is not controlling McCain, the convention became a nasty succession of crafted lies and character attacks, with the target being Barack Obama. During the convention, a new dirty word entered the Republican lexicon: "community organizer." As Sarah Palin stated, "I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a "community organizer," except that you have actual responsibilities."
The Republicans are clearly contradicting theeir won history when they disparage this valuable role. George H. W. Bush stated at his inaugural address of January 2, 1989, "I have spoken of a thousand points of light, of all the community organizations that are spread like stars throughout the nation, doing good." And McCain himself, in his acceptance speech, asked listeners to "Fight for our children's future. Fight for justice and opportunity for all." Yes, Papa Bush seemed to care, but the Neo-Cons seem to have stolen his son's soul, and the soul of the Republican Party that he has led for the past eight years. This is the party of John McCain and Sarah Palin.
I have always been suspicious when Republicans extol the virtue of voluntarism. Between the lines I hear, "Don't expect us to properly fund education, health care and other social needs. How can we do that and afford tax cuts for the wealthy and a repeal of the estate tax? Let volunteers and charity handle it."
Regardless of my suspicions, the fact is that Barack Obama is entitled to high praise for his work as a community organizer. As recounted by U.S News & World Report, "After graduating from Columbia University in 1983 with a major in political science, Obama worked as a financial consultant in New York City. But he was bored—and drawn to public service."
So instead of staying on Wall Street and raking in dough, Obama took a tremendous salary cut in order to help people. His annual salary was $10,000. I realize that the work of CEOs and hedge fund managers command more respect according to the Republican value system. But how can anyone, except those operating on the most cynical of motives, deny Obama's idealism and patriotism?
So what did Obama do as a community organizer? According to U.S. News, "In 1985, he moved to Chicago to work with local churches organizing job training and other programs for poor and working-class residents of Altgeld Gardens, a public housing project where 5,300 African-Americans tried to survive amid shuttered steel mills, a nearby landfill, a putrid sewage treatment plant, and a pervasive feeling that the white establishment of Chicago would never give them a fair shake."
This is what we should hope would happen in our neighborhoods!
Note that Obama worked with "local churches"–a point conveniently forgotten by Palin, the new rock star of the religious right. And a party that preaches self-help ought to praise Obama for the values he sought to instill in others: "...whether it was getting the city to fill potholes, provide summer jobs, or remove asbestos from the apartments or persuading the apartment managers to repair toilets, pipes, and ceilings, Obama encouraged residents to come up with their own priorities with the gentle admonition: "It's your community."
The attempt to mock Obama for his praiseworthy work as a community organizer was a clear sign as one more diversion by a Republican campaign that is bankrupt of ideas and offers the nation an extension of the failed Bush presidency. And they have kept up these incessant attacks, trying to paint him as a terrorist by association with a man who has not been anything near being a terrorist for nearly 40 years.
They have misrepresented his tax cuts for 95 percent of the people, calling it socialism when they know it is not! They have purposely lied about other policy issues. And so many people believe them! Pray for America. We are being run by liars and thieves and enemies of workers an the poor, yet half the people like it and have no compassion. Even for themselves. The American Way for them is lies, fables and veiled hate and racism.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
It is time for Compassionate Christians to Stand Up and Be Counted! Work for Social Justice!
For nearly 2000 years, followers of Christ have sought to live out their faith in the real world – under a variety of political systems: empires, feudal systems, tribal systems, monarchies, oligarchies, totalitarian regimes, anarchy, corporatetocracy, or democracy.
Rev. Brian McClaren, insightful author of a number of cutting edge Christian books, puts it well: "In our American democracy, we have struggled, stumbled, fallen, and gotten up again, over and over, learning each time as we moved forward. We have grappled with how our faith related to declaring independence, opposing slavery, fighting for the rights of women, confronting child labor, aiding farm workers, and overcoming economic depression. We have embraced the dream of overcoming racism, we have fought for openness in government, and the right of every one to vote, and so much more."
However, McClaren warns that over the last years we’ve watched large sectors of our Christian community in the U.S. engage in several decades of divisive, ineffective, and downright counterproductive political engagement. At best, many attempts at engagement have been superficial, simplistic, and subject to binary thinking where one or two wedge issues easily distinguish the “good guys” from the bad. It is happening again in this election, led by such divisive Evangelicals as James Dobson and Pat Robertson, and vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin.
At worst, we’ve watched too many of our fellow Christians slip into a “culture war” mindset where neighbors became enemies to be defeated and silenced, not loved as we love ourselves. In addition, we’ve watched too many members of our faith communities be manipulated by cynical politicians who knew what tune to play to get people of faith marching obediently in their parade. It has been very sad and counter-productive to the full Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Zekariah Smith has been writing about this for years. The powerful parables of Mathew 25, the prophetic book of Amos, and many other compassion-laden scriptures have been forgotten in order to develop wedge issues based on fear. While the wedge issues of the past and of today may have some basis in the Bible, much larger issues of ethics and social justice have been virtually ignored. Dishonesty and deceitfulness in political campaigning has been lauded and rewarded. We must all remember that Jesus said that Satan is the father of lies. We must not reward the liars and charlatans with electoral success when their overall policies bring about injustice, not justice.
Now we face unprecedented global crises: caring for our fragile and wounded planet, building a just peace in situations of conflict and fear, and eliminating extreme poverty and health care inequalities, while working for economic fairness and stability the world over. Electing the wrong president will set us back even farther in these crises – something we cannot afford to do. Electing the better president will not solve everything; it will only be a first step in the next chapter of our history, but it is an important step.
We invite you, as a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, to step off the sidelines as an observer or critic. Put your beliefs into action in the election that we believe is for the soul of America. We hope you’ll join us, as Matthew 25 Network member Rev. McClaren proclaims … "Praying for God’s will to be done on earth as it is in heaven and seeking to be humble makers of peace, joyful workers for the common good, and dedicated servants of 'the least of these.'”
Please consider Barack Obama and Joe Biden for a new administration in Washington and a clean break with the last eight years. For reasons to make such a choice, read the other articles and columns in this “Battling for Truth” blog.
For more information about social justice activism and the politics of hope, not fear, see the Matthew 25 Network. Watch their wonderful video on families and share it with all you know.
And read Columnist Zekariah Smith each day, joining in the battle for truth, justice, and the American way.
Rev. Brian McClaren, insightful author of a number of cutting edge Christian books, puts it well: "In our American democracy, we have struggled, stumbled, fallen, and gotten up again, over and over, learning each time as we moved forward. We have grappled with how our faith related to declaring independence, opposing slavery, fighting for the rights of women, confronting child labor, aiding farm workers, and overcoming economic depression. We have embraced the dream of overcoming racism, we have fought for openness in government, and the right of every one to vote, and so much more."
However, McClaren warns that over the last years we’ve watched large sectors of our Christian community in the U.S. engage in several decades of divisive, ineffective, and downright counterproductive political engagement. At best, many attempts at engagement have been superficial, simplistic, and subject to binary thinking where one or two wedge issues easily distinguish the “good guys” from the bad. It is happening again in this election, led by such divisive Evangelicals as James Dobson and Pat Robertson, and vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin.
At worst, we’ve watched too many of our fellow Christians slip into a “culture war” mindset where neighbors became enemies to be defeated and silenced, not loved as we love ourselves. In addition, we’ve watched too many members of our faith communities be manipulated by cynical politicians who knew what tune to play to get people of faith marching obediently in their parade. It has been very sad and counter-productive to the full Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Zekariah Smith has been writing about this for years. The powerful parables of Mathew 25, the prophetic book of Amos, and many other compassion-laden scriptures have been forgotten in order to develop wedge issues based on fear. While the wedge issues of the past and of today may have some basis in the Bible, much larger issues of ethics and social justice have been virtually ignored. Dishonesty and deceitfulness in political campaigning has been lauded and rewarded. We must all remember that Jesus said that Satan is the father of lies. We must not reward the liars and charlatans with electoral success when their overall policies bring about injustice, not justice.
Now we face unprecedented global crises: caring for our fragile and wounded planet, building a just peace in situations of conflict and fear, and eliminating extreme poverty and health care inequalities, while working for economic fairness and stability the world over. Electing the wrong president will set us back even farther in these crises – something we cannot afford to do. Electing the better president will not solve everything; it will only be a first step in the next chapter of our history, but it is an important step.
We invite you, as a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, to step off the sidelines as an observer or critic. Put your beliefs into action in the election that we believe is for the soul of America. We hope you’ll join us, as Matthew 25 Network member Rev. McClaren proclaims … "Praying for God’s will to be done on earth as it is in heaven and seeking to be humble makers of peace, joyful workers for the common good, and dedicated servants of 'the least of these.'”
Please consider Barack Obama and Joe Biden for a new administration in Washington and a clean break with the last eight years. For reasons to make such a choice, read the other articles and columns in this “Battling for Truth” blog.
For more information about social justice activism and the politics of hope, not fear, see the Matthew 25 Network. Watch their wonderful video on families and share it with all you know.
And read Columnist Zekariah Smith each day, joining in the battle for truth, justice, and the American way.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
America Cannot Stand Four More years of Republiganda Rule -- Obama Will Bring Hope
As I have written here before, I liked the John McCain of the 2000 campaign, and we sometimes see glimpses of that old maverick every now and then this year.But for the most part he is Bush warmed over, and his policies and the people around him will just give us four more years of the last eight years.Plus, he is running the same dishonest style campaign as Bush, with some of the same people manufacturing the lies, half-truths and assorted distortions -- the Repbliganda (Republican propaganda and spin).
America, it is time for a real change. That is why I am voting for Barack Obama. As the respected General Colin Powell said, in endorsing Obama Sunday, “he is a transformational figure.”
We need a president who can inspire Americans across all divides, whether republican or democrat, black, brown, or white, woman or man. We do not need one who appeals to our fears and fuels mutual distrust. We need a president who can ask all Americans to make the sacrifices necessary to change the course of this country. We do not need one who asks us to go shopping while we send our young soldiers off to make those sacrifices for us. We need a president who understands that the government is not about politicians, corporations, or lobbyists; it is about we the people. We need a president who requires us to think, inspires us to dream, and challenges us to take action. Do not underestimate the power of hope, of words that inspire. We are at a pivotal crossroads in this country.
We can choose to continue down a path that will leave a legacy for our children of insurmountable debt, perpetual wars, and environmental collapse, as will happened with John “McSame” McCain, or we can create real change, not the hollow promises of the ones that messed America in the first place. Only one candidate seems to get that it is not about him, it is about us. “We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.”
For these reasons, the choice for the next president of our United States of America is clear. Senator Barack Obama is the thinking person’s candidate. He is committed to social justice and helping the underprivileged in our society. His dynamic plans and policies will revitalize the large, critically squeezed middle class.
Senator Barack Obama can bring new politics that are grounded, but yet progressive, for our changing times in America.. Old politics no longer work and no longer are fit in our ever changing world. He speaks a language of truth with the courage and faith to bring about change in government that meets the needs of a wider range of Americans so we can regain our status in the educational world.
I support Senator Obama’s investment plan in early childhood education as it is truly a head start in education. We are behind other countries and Senator Obama will help us overhaul the whole educational system that is failing our young, including the blatant unfunded mandates of the "no child left behind" law. We are failing our children and we need to clean this area of concern up, for the future of our country. Obama and Biden have real ideas for the public schools,not vouchers for the private ones that will take funding away from the public schools, which is at the heart of McCain's education plan.
I support Senator Barack Obama in believing the time has come to start bringing our troops home as well. I am concerned as to what has really entered the systems of our troops who have served our country. When we hear of head pain, suicides, and their thinking process to be so not themselves, we must ask what really has happened. Has the war within them come home to be fought here? VA needs to give Americans some fast answers before we bring all our troops home. Thank you, Senator Barack Obama for the support of job protection for family members caring for these soldiers. And a defense department with leaders like Powell and General Wesley Clark will be so much better for our troops.
Another reason to support Senator Obama is that Senator Obama plans to eliminate taxes for senior citizens with incomes of less than $50,000 a year. Life for seniors is hard enough here in Maine with the high cost of heating oil just to stay warm. Haven’t we put our seniors through enough? Please consider voting for Senator Barack Obama and Senator Joe Biden to fix a creaky system that no longer works, to stop the ideologically driven rule by spin and deception, and to give us a government of truthfulness and transparency.
There are other reasons to support Obama. Take a look at his website www.barackobama.com for many other insightful policy positions that will bring the change we need.
America, it is time for a real change. That is why I am voting for Barack Obama. As the respected General Colin Powell said, in endorsing Obama Sunday, “he is a transformational figure.”
We need a president who can inspire Americans across all divides, whether republican or democrat, black, brown, or white, woman or man. We do not need one who appeals to our fears and fuels mutual distrust. We need a president who can ask all Americans to make the sacrifices necessary to change the course of this country. We do not need one who asks us to go shopping while we send our young soldiers off to make those sacrifices for us. We need a president who understands that the government is not about politicians, corporations, or lobbyists; it is about we the people. We need a president who requires us to think, inspires us to dream, and challenges us to take action. Do not underestimate the power of hope, of words that inspire. We are at a pivotal crossroads in this country.
We can choose to continue down a path that will leave a legacy for our children of insurmountable debt, perpetual wars, and environmental collapse, as will happened with John “McSame” McCain, or we can create real change, not the hollow promises of the ones that messed America in the first place. Only one candidate seems to get that it is not about him, it is about us. “We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.”
For these reasons, the choice for the next president of our United States of America is clear. Senator Barack Obama is the thinking person’s candidate. He is committed to social justice and helping the underprivileged in our society. His dynamic plans and policies will revitalize the large, critically squeezed middle class.
Senator Barack Obama can bring new politics that are grounded, but yet progressive, for our changing times in America.. Old politics no longer work and no longer are fit in our ever changing world. He speaks a language of truth with the courage and faith to bring about change in government that meets the needs of a wider range of Americans so we can regain our status in the educational world.
I support Senator Obama’s investment plan in early childhood education as it is truly a head start in education. We are behind other countries and Senator Obama will help us overhaul the whole educational system that is failing our young, including the blatant unfunded mandates of the "no child left behind" law. We are failing our children and we need to clean this area of concern up, for the future of our country. Obama and Biden have real ideas for the public schools,not vouchers for the private ones that will take funding away from the public schools, which is at the heart of McCain's education plan.
I support Senator Barack Obama in believing the time has come to start bringing our troops home as well. I am concerned as to what has really entered the systems of our troops who have served our country. When we hear of head pain, suicides, and their thinking process to be so not themselves, we must ask what really has happened. Has the war within them come home to be fought here? VA needs to give Americans some fast answers before we bring all our troops home. Thank you, Senator Barack Obama for the support of job protection for family members caring for these soldiers. And a defense department with leaders like Powell and General Wesley Clark will be so much better for our troops.
Another reason to support Senator Obama is that Senator Obama plans to eliminate taxes for senior citizens with incomes of less than $50,000 a year. Life for seniors is hard enough here in Maine with the high cost of heating oil just to stay warm. Haven’t we put our seniors through enough? Please consider voting for Senator Barack Obama and Senator Joe Biden to fix a creaky system that no longer works, to stop the ideologically driven rule by spin and deception, and to give us a government of truthfulness and transparency.
There are other reasons to support Obama. Take a look at his website www.barackobama.com for many other insightful policy positions that will bring the change we need.
Monday, October 20, 2008
Read All About It -- How Bush Was Installed As President and Elections Were Stolen in '00,'04
We have had a number of emails asking about the real history of the stolen presidential elections of the last eight years. Yes, both Gore and Kerry actually would have won the elections if not for Republican deceitful actions. If you want to read about real things that tore at the fabric of democracy, the Republican war on democracy in the United States, then please read in detail about the stolen elections of 2000 with well-researched articles and links to powerful books by Alan Dershowitz. Vincent Bugliosi and Jeffrey Toobin, and the stolen election of 2004 where Robert F. Kennedy Jr. writes a compelling story about the theft of democracy in America.
The Current Republican Party is Deadly to America -- It Has Almost Killed Her Already
Do not be fooled by John McCain’s new soft, friendly ad and his admission that things have been bad the last eight years. He and his Republican Party are not the ones to bring us change! REMEMBER – it was McCain’s party, and McCain’s votes for his Republican party’s policies, that made things bad. They do not deserve another four years. Do not give it to them!
What we must do is stop them from stealing this election, too. All thinking, compassionate Americans must fight for fair elections and be ever vigilant that everyone is able to cast his or her vote and that every vote counts and is counted. This right to vote really is the fabric of democracy. Yet the Republicans are at war with our democracy. They gave it grievous wounds in 2000 and 2004. Now here they go again!
They do not want anyone but their people, the ostrich-lemmings, to vote. If every one else were to vote, the Republicans would lose. However, in a democracy, it is crucial that we allow and encourage every adult to vote. Voting rights are important civil rights that we must fight to uphold for the poor and politically weak.
The history of voter suppression in this country goes back to its beginning. The U.S. Constitution (yes, the original document had its flaws, too), when ratified in 1787, it did not define a citizen. Any citizen of a state was deemed a citizen of the nation. At the time, most states only granted the right to vote to white male property owners. By 1850, most landowner requirements were eliminated. Throughout America's history, certain groups of citizens were disenfranchised. Poll taxes, literacy requirements and physical barriers effectively removed these individuals from the voting pool. Court decisions, local legislation and Constitutional amendments overturned many of these conditions for voting, but it has taken a huge effort for blacks and women to get to vote in America.
Yet some still do not like it that blacks and browns have the right to vote, and they work to keep people from voting. In our day, that group is the Republican Party. Lincoln must hate his name associated with such a bunch of conspirators against the right to vote.
It was the Voting Rights Act of 1965, pushed by President Lyndon B. Johnson, that made the big difference. The history of oppression of blacks is a sorry one for this country. After blacks were freed from slavery in the Civil War, and granted the right to vote in 1871, literacy requirements, physical violence, property destruction, hiding the polls and economic pressures still kept many blacks from voting, particularly in the South.
Republicans of our day still fight against black (and brown) voting, and they have a particular venom for the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN, who valiantly attempt to register the poor and underprivileged, hopefully giving them a say in our democracy. That is why the Republicans are crying against them in their latest smokescreen. It is a familiar tactic of the Rove-Bush machine. Republican have repeatedly attempted to exclude legal voters and reduce Democratic turnout. There are many shocking stories from the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections of such purposeful suppression of voters.
The Republicans are the ones who are always crying wolf and voter fraud while, in reality, they are the ones doing it, stealing elections and engaging in massive campaigns of voter suppression.
Now, they are attempting to disqualify hundreds of thousands of voters. What does that say about a political party? Their strategy is not to persuade voters that their positions are best for the country, but to disenfranchise them in as many places as they can. Right now, Republicans are doing all they can to prevent as many people as possible from voting in swing states like Colorado, Virginia, New Mexico, and, of course, Ohio.
They won't give up. Cheating is all they have left and the power they desire so madly at stake. They will do anything to stay in power. Lie, cheat, steal? Sure!
They will fight to destroy the larger vote, and then they will smile and lie and maybe even wink at you. Since the snake was in the garden with Eve, there has never been a more deceitful creature on God’s green earth than this current version of the Republican Party.
We must defeat these inveterate liars so soundly on November 4 that the party will have to take a different direction. We need another kind of choice than the evil, neo-con/closet racist choice they give Americans now. The current Republican Party is deadly to America. It has almost killed her already.
What we must do is stop them from stealing this election, too. All thinking, compassionate Americans must fight for fair elections and be ever vigilant that everyone is able to cast his or her vote and that every vote counts and is counted. This right to vote really is the fabric of democracy. Yet the Republicans are at war with our democracy. They gave it grievous wounds in 2000 and 2004. Now here they go again!
They do not want anyone but their people, the ostrich-lemmings, to vote. If every one else were to vote, the Republicans would lose. However, in a democracy, it is crucial that we allow and encourage every adult to vote. Voting rights are important civil rights that we must fight to uphold for the poor and politically weak.
The history of voter suppression in this country goes back to its beginning. The U.S. Constitution (yes, the original document had its flaws, too), when ratified in 1787, it did not define a citizen. Any citizen of a state was deemed a citizen of the nation. At the time, most states only granted the right to vote to white male property owners. By 1850, most landowner requirements were eliminated. Throughout America's history, certain groups of citizens were disenfranchised. Poll taxes, literacy requirements and physical barriers effectively removed these individuals from the voting pool. Court decisions, local legislation and Constitutional amendments overturned many of these conditions for voting, but it has taken a huge effort for blacks and women to get to vote in America.
Yet some still do not like it that blacks and browns have the right to vote, and they work to keep people from voting. In our day, that group is the Republican Party. Lincoln must hate his name associated with such a bunch of conspirators against the right to vote.
It was the Voting Rights Act of 1965, pushed by President Lyndon B. Johnson, that made the big difference. The history of oppression of blacks is a sorry one for this country. After blacks were freed from slavery in the Civil War, and granted the right to vote in 1871, literacy requirements, physical violence, property destruction, hiding the polls and economic pressures still kept many blacks from voting, particularly in the South.
Republicans of our day still fight against black (and brown) voting, and they have a particular venom for the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN, who valiantly attempt to register the poor and underprivileged, hopefully giving them a say in our democracy. That is why the Republicans are crying against them in their latest smokescreen. It is a familiar tactic of the Rove-Bush machine. Republican have repeatedly attempted to exclude legal voters and reduce Democratic turnout. There are many shocking stories from the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections of such purposeful suppression of voters.
The Republicans are the ones who are always crying wolf and voter fraud while, in reality, they are the ones doing it, stealing elections and engaging in massive campaigns of voter suppression.
Now, they are attempting to disqualify hundreds of thousands of voters. What does that say about a political party? Their strategy is not to persuade voters that their positions are best for the country, but to disenfranchise them in as many places as they can. Right now, Republicans are doing all they can to prevent as many people as possible from voting in swing states like Colorado, Virginia, New Mexico, and, of course, Ohio.
They won't give up. Cheating is all they have left and the power they desire so madly at stake. They will do anything to stay in power. Lie, cheat, steal? Sure!
They will fight to destroy the larger vote, and then they will smile and lie and maybe even wink at you. Since the snake was in the garden with Eve, there has never been a more deceitful creature on God’s green earth than this current version of the Republican Party.
We must defeat these inveterate liars so soundly on November 4 that the party will have to take a different direction. We need another kind of choice than the evil, neo-con/closet racist choice they give Americans now. The current Republican Party is deadly to America. It has almost killed her already.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Republican War on Democracy Continues: Do Not Let The Cheaters Steal Another Election!
I am incensed about the newest McCain-Palin lie attack – the alleged vote fraud for Obama. John McCain, who can be so charming on late night TV, is at the heart of this big lie. Yes, it is not true! Despite the screaming wall-to-wall coverage of "Democratic voter fraud in 11 swing states" as seen on Fox News and even the once-respectable CNN, none of it's true. None of it.
In just the last week, we've had a phony stunt raid in swing state Nevada (where Acorn had been cooperating with officials for months, concerning problem canvassers they'd long ago fired); a Republican election official in swing state Missouri tell Fox News that she's being besieged with fraudulent registration forms from Acorn (in a county where they've not done any registration work since August); a Republican sheriff in swing state Ohio, who, the very next day, suddenly requested the names and addresses of hundreds of early voters (with evidence of exactly zero wrong doing, but lots of Democratic-leaning college student in the particular county, and John McCain's state campaign chair as a partner in the investigation); and a screaming front page headline in Rupert Murdoch's New York Post about a guy who claims he was somehow tricked by Acorn into registering 72 times (but read the article closely to note he says he registered at the same address each time, which, even if true, would allow him - you guessed it - precisely one legal vote.)
It's an old Republican scam, but it's never been carried out with more zeal than this year. The Republicans have been putting so much time, money and resources into the propaganda leading up to this over the last four years, we should have expected no less. Now we have a department of justice, under George Bush's corrupt command, that has plotted to keep low-income voters from voting, and were even willing to fire their own US attorneys for failing to bring phony charges of voter fraud in key swing states like Nevada and Missouri.
So what are the crimes that have caused all the bombastic language by Republicans on television and talk radio, and in several otherwise respectable newspapers and by the McCain campaign self? The only actual crime here is that Acorn managed to register some 1.3m low-income (read: Democratic-leaning) voters over the past two years. The rest is, pretty much, just made up.
But in the bloody and desperate trenches of the Republican war on democracy, that's more than enough to kick in a last minute surge of lies that may - with the help of a compliant and lazy corporate US media - wreak enough havoc, scare enough voters, confuse enough people and plant enough seeds to call an Obama victory into doubt on November 4.
As Bruce Friedman of London’s Guardian Newspaper, a keen observer of U.S. politics, writes: “If you can't win it, steal it. If you can't steal it, claim the other guy stole it. If you can't claim the other guy stole it (yet), say they're about to and then kick up smoke that maybe someone will believe you. (Heckuva job, CNN.)”
Friedman sums it up: Here are the facts. Acorn verifies the legitimacy of every registration its canvassers collect. If they can't authenticate the registration, or it's incomplete or questionable in other ways, they flag that form as problematic ("fraudulent", "incomplete", et cetera). They then hand in all registration forms, even the problematic ones, to elections officials, as they are required to do by law. In almost every case where you've heard about fraud by Acorn, it's because Acorn itself notified officials about the fraud that's been perpetrated on them by rogue canvassers. Most officials who run to the media screaming "Acorn is committing fraud" know all of the above but don't bother to share those facts with the media they've run to. None of this is about voter fraud. None of it. Where any fraud has occurred, it's voter registration fraud and has resulted in exactly zero fraudulent votes.
Friedman adds “You'll hear that Donald Duck, Mary Poppins, Dick Tracy, Mickey Mouse and (new this year) the starting lineup of the Dallas Cowboys football team have all had fraudulent registrations submitted in their names. That's true. And we know this, why? Because Acorn told officials about it when they followed the law and turned in those registrations, flagged as fraudulent.”
What you won't hear is that federal law requires anybody who does not register to vote in person at the county office to show an ID when they go to vote the first time. So, unless Donald Duck shows up with his ID, he won't be voting this November. You needn't worry, no matter how much even John McCain himself cynically and dishonourably tries to mislead you.
Freidman puts it plain for his British readers: “If it quacks like a duck, in this case, it's likely another Republican Acorn voter fraud lie. They haul it out every two years. Just days before the 2004 presidential election, rightwing whack job Michelle Malkin claimed that Acorn was registering terrorists to vote in swing state Ohio. Problem was, that was proved to be a lie.”
Friedman continues: In 2006, again just days before the election, the new US attorney in swing state Missouri (recently appointed, since the one before him refused to bring such charges), filed voter fraud indictments against Acorn workers in the state. Problem was, bringing election-related indictments that close to an election was a violation of the department of justice's own written policy. And Acorn had nothing to do with it, other than turning in the employees to officials.
The sad thing is that this dastardly tactic has been an effective one, as it's served to distract from very real concerns about tens of thousands of voters who have been illegally purged from the voting rolls in dozens of states, as the New York Times reported in a remarkable front page investigative story. That story followed a report the week before from CBS News detailing still more wholesale purges of voting rolls in some 20 states.
That will be the November surprise, when thousands, if not millions show up to vote only to find they are no longer welcome to do so and are forced to vote on a "provisional ballot" which may or may not be counted.
Mr. Freidman warns: “These real concerns of election fraud, such as voting roll purges, electronic voting machines that don't work and so much more that actually matters, have been obscured by the smoke and mirrors and sleight of hand of the Republican party's phony Acorn voter fraud charade.”
If you want to read about real things that tore at the fabric of democracy, the Republican war on democracy in the United States, then please read in detail about the stolen elections of 2000 and the stolen election of 2004
In just the last week, we've had a phony stunt raid in swing state Nevada (where Acorn had been cooperating with officials for months, concerning problem canvassers they'd long ago fired); a Republican election official in swing state Missouri tell Fox News that she's being besieged with fraudulent registration forms from Acorn (in a county where they've not done any registration work since August); a Republican sheriff in swing state Ohio, who, the very next day, suddenly requested the names and addresses of hundreds of early voters (with evidence of exactly zero wrong doing, but lots of Democratic-leaning college student in the particular county, and John McCain's state campaign chair as a partner in the investigation); and a screaming front page headline in Rupert Murdoch's New York Post about a guy who claims he was somehow tricked by Acorn into registering 72 times (but read the article closely to note he says he registered at the same address each time, which, even if true, would allow him - you guessed it - precisely one legal vote.)
It's an old Republican scam, but it's never been carried out with more zeal than this year. The Republicans have been putting so much time, money and resources into the propaganda leading up to this over the last four years, we should have expected no less. Now we have a department of justice, under George Bush's corrupt command, that has plotted to keep low-income voters from voting, and were even willing to fire their own US attorneys for failing to bring phony charges of voter fraud in key swing states like Nevada and Missouri.
So what are the crimes that have caused all the bombastic language by Republicans on television and talk radio, and in several otherwise respectable newspapers and by the McCain campaign self? The only actual crime here is that Acorn managed to register some 1.3m low-income (read: Democratic-leaning) voters over the past two years. The rest is, pretty much, just made up.
But in the bloody and desperate trenches of the Republican war on democracy, that's more than enough to kick in a last minute surge of lies that may - with the help of a compliant and lazy corporate US media - wreak enough havoc, scare enough voters, confuse enough people and plant enough seeds to call an Obama victory into doubt on November 4.
As Bruce Friedman of London’s Guardian Newspaper, a keen observer of U.S. politics, writes: “If you can't win it, steal it. If you can't steal it, claim the other guy stole it. If you can't claim the other guy stole it (yet), say they're about to and then kick up smoke that maybe someone will believe you. (Heckuva job, CNN.)”
Friedman sums it up: Here are the facts. Acorn verifies the legitimacy of every registration its canvassers collect. If they can't authenticate the registration, or it's incomplete or questionable in other ways, they flag that form as problematic ("fraudulent", "incomplete", et cetera). They then hand in all registration forms, even the problematic ones, to elections officials, as they are required to do by law. In almost every case where you've heard about fraud by Acorn, it's because Acorn itself notified officials about the fraud that's been perpetrated on them by rogue canvassers. Most officials who run to the media screaming "Acorn is committing fraud" know all of the above but don't bother to share those facts with the media they've run to. None of this is about voter fraud. None of it. Where any fraud has occurred, it's voter registration fraud and has resulted in exactly zero fraudulent votes.
Friedman adds “You'll hear that Donald Duck, Mary Poppins, Dick Tracy, Mickey Mouse and (new this year) the starting lineup of the Dallas Cowboys football team have all had fraudulent registrations submitted in their names. That's true. And we know this, why? Because Acorn told officials about it when they followed the law and turned in those registrations, flagged as fraudulent.”
What you won't hear is that federal law requires anybody who does not register to vote in person at the county office to show an ID when they go to vote the first time. So, unless Donald Duck shows up with his ID, he won't be voting this November. You needn't worry, no matter how much even John McCain himself cynically and dishonourably tries to mislead you.
Freidman puts it plain for his British readers: “If it quacks like a duck, in this case, it's likely another Republican Acorn voter fraud lie. They haul it out every two years. Just days before the 2004 presidential election, rightwing whack job Michelle Malkin claimed that Acorn was registering terrorists to vote in swing state Ohio. Problem was, that was proved to be a lie.”
Friedman continues: In 2006, again just days before the election, the new US attorney in swing state Missouri (recently appointed, since the one before him refused to bring such charges), filed voter fraud indictments against Acorn workers in the state. Problem was, bringing election-related indictments that close to an election was a violation of the department of justice's own written policy. And Acorn had nothing to do with it, other than turning in the employees to officials.
The sad thing is that this dastardly tactic has been an effective one, as it's served to distract from very real concerns about tens of thousands of voters who have been illegally purged from the voting rolls in dozens of states, as the New York Times reported in a remarkable front page investigative story. That story followed a report the week before from CBS News detailing still more wholesale purges of voting rolls in some 20 states.
That will be the November surprise, when thousands, if not millions show up to vote only to find they are no longer welcome to do so and are forced to vote on a "provisional ballot" which may or may not be counted.
Mr. Freidman warns: “These real concerns of election fraud, such as voting roll purges, electronic voting machines that don't work and so much more that actually matters, have been obscured by the smoke and mirrors and sleight of hand of the Republican party's phony Acorn voter fraud charade.”
If you want to read about real things that tore at the fabric of democracy, the Republican war on democracy in the United States, then please read in detail about the stolen elections of 2000 and the stolen election of 2004
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Voter Fraud? The Very Dirty Pot Republicans Cry Wolf as They Eat the Sheep ! Past is Prelude!
Now the Republicans, who stile the elections of 2000 and 2004, are crying voter fraud over two weeks ahead of election day. It is yet another distraction, an effort to mask their own efforts at voter suppression that they have done so well in the recent past. Once again, it is the truth be damned, and how can we use words and accusations to our advantage, whether they are factually accurate or not.
McCain accused the not-for profit group ACORN of tearing at the “fabric of our democracy,” during the third debate. Yet his party has emulsified that very fabric of democracy for years. It is typical Republican doublespeak. Do one thing, say another. Distract, divide, demean, and conquer.
It worked before, so the McCainanites, many of who worked for Bush, are using their tried and true terrible, despicable tactics. And do not tell me all is fair in politics. We in America should be better than that. If we cannot do democracy right, how can we assume others can? Already we have a totally outdated system of electing a president – the shamefully non-democratic electoral college system – and now we have a party, and its current administration, conspiring to suppress the vote with trumped up charges of voter fraud.
I am thankful that Barack Obama's campaign asked the U.S. Justice Department to expand a special prosecutor's investigation to include possible improprieties surrounding reports the FBI is looking into voter fraud in the presidential race. Obama's campaign attorney said the investigation should look into a leak to the news media that the FBI is probing allegations of voter registration fraud by a grassroots organization called ACORN. The group's activities were denounced by Republican nominee John McCain in the Oct. 15 presidential debate.
Respected lawyer Robert Bauer, general counsel to the Obama campaign, wrote to Attorney General Michael Mukasey a day after the Associated Press, citing unidentified law enforcement officials, reported that the Federal Bureau of Investigation was investigating ACORN. The name is short for Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now.
A special prosecutor appointed by Mukasey already is looking into whether improper political considerations influenced the firings of nine U.S. attorneys. At least one prosecutor was fired following Republican complaints that he didn't aggressively pursue allegations of voter fraud against ACORN.
Bauer said the news leaks are part of a coordinated effort by McCain's presidential campaign and Republicans. They are ``fomenting specious vote-fraud allegations and there are disturbing indications of official involvement or collusion,'' Bauer said.
``It is apparent,'' he wrote, that law enforcement officials are serving ``improper political objectives'' that could inhibit voter participation in the Nov. 4 election. The aim is to ``suppress the vote and to unduly influence investigations and prosecutions,'' Bauer wrote.
The truth is that unless someone with a false registration actually shows up to vote, there is a problem. Otherwise, it is just another Republican propaganda distraction. If Mickey Mouse shows up at the polls in a couple of weeks, John McCain might have cause for the alarm he showed over alleged voter fraud during Wednesday’s debate. If Minnie and Goofy also turn up with state-sponsored photo ID, then the Justice Department and the FBI will need to turn their attention away from terrorism, bank robberies and billion-dollar financial scams to investigate fake voters.
But it’s quite unlikely that Mickey or Minnie or Goofy will be among the voters lined up on Nov. 4. So McCain’s hysterical outburst over a group of activists — ACORN, he said, “may be destroying the fabric of democracy” — needs to be understood for what it is: a distraction. The Republican nominee is once again using fear as a tactic to try to win votes. ACORN, reaching out to register the poor, is under Republican attack, as in past years.
During this election season, ACORN has conducted a registration campaign, hiring workers to sign up new voters. Some workers have decided to fake it, filling in names such as “Mickey Mouse” instead of those of eligible voters. (According to ACORN’s leaders, they discovered the fake names and notified authorities. They’ve also fired workers caught engaged in illegal activities.)
Fake voters are a myth, a convenient cover for those who really don’t believe in the universal franchise. (ACORN has been accused of fraudulent registrations; for actual voter fraud to occur, persons with those fake names would have to show up to cast ballots.) There is no evidence of people coming to the polls using false names and fraudulent IDs.
Atlanta Journal Constitution writer Cynthia Tucker states that ever since the civil rights movement inspired large numbers of black and brown Americans to exercise their right to vote, Republicans have been engaged in efforts to keep them away from the ballot box. Way back in the 1960s, Arizona Republican William Rehnquist — then a GOP activist, later the chief justice of the United States — was accused of intimidating Latinos to try to keep them away from the polls. Many Republicans fought the “motor voter” laws, passed during the ’90s, that allowed state driver’s license bureaus to also register voters. Ease of access encourages less affluent Americans to vote, and Republicans fear that too many Democratic-leaning voters are in that demographic group.
Don’t be fooled. Neither McCain or his hench-people are not concerned about democracy. They’re worried about Democrats. They really do not want a big turnout. If more poor people actually vote, they will lose.
McCain accused the not-for profit group ACORN of tearing at the “fabric of our democracy,” during the third debate. Yet his party has emulsified that very fabric of democracy for years. It is typical Republican doublespeak. Do one thing, say another. Distract, divide, demean, and conquer.
It worked before, so the McCainanites, many of who worked for Bush, are using their tried and true terrible, despicable tactics. And do not tell me all is fair in politics. We in America should be better than that. If we cannot do democracy right, how can we assume others can? Already we have a totally outdated system of electing a president – the shamefully non-democratic electoral college system – and now we have a party, and its current administration, conspiring to suppress the vote with trumped up charges of voter fraud.
I am thankful that Barack Obama's campaign asked the U.S. Justice Department to expand a special prosecutor's investigation to include possible improprieties surrounding reports the FBI is looking into voter fraud in the presidential race. Obama's campaign attorney said the investigation should look into a leak to the news media that the FBI is probing allegations of voter registration fraud by a grassroots organization called ACORN. The group's activities were denounced by Republican nominee John McCain in the Oct. 15 presidential debate.
Respected lawyer Robert Bauer, general counsel to the Obama campaign, wrote to Attorney General Michael Mukasey a day after the Associated Press, citing unidentified law enforcement officials, reported that the Federal Bureau of Investigation was investigating ACORN. The name is short for Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now.
A special prosecutor appointed by Mukasey already is looking into whether improper political considerations influenced the firings of nine U.S. attorneys. At least one prosecutor was fired following Republican complaints that he didn't aggressively pursue allegations of voter fraud against ACORN.
Bauer said the news leaks are part of a coordinated effort by McCain's presidential campaign and Republicans. They are ``fomenting specious vote-fraud allegations and there are disturbing indications of official involvement or collusion,'' Bauer said.
``It is apparent,'' he wrote, that law enforcement officials are serving ``improper political objectives'' that could inhibit voter participation in the Nov. 4 election. The aim is to ``suppress the vote and to unduly influence investigations and prosecutions,'' Bauer wrote.
The truth is that unless someone with a false registration actually shows up to vote, there is a problem. Otherwise, it is just another Republican propaganda distraction. If Mickey Mouse shows up at the polls in a couple of weeks, John McCain might have cause for the alarm he showed over alleged voter fraud during Wednesday’s debate. If Minnie and Goofy also turn up with state-sponsored photo ID, then the Justice Department and the FBI will need to turn their attention away from terrorism, bank robberies and billion-dollar financial scams to investigate fake voters.
But it’s quite unlikely that Mickey or Minnie or Goofy will be among the voters lined up on Nov. 4. So McCain’s hysterical outburst over a group of activists — ACORN, he said, “may be destroying the fabric of democracy” — needs to be understood for what it is: a distraction. The Republican nominee is once again using fear as a tactic to try to win votes. ACORN, reaching out to register the poor, is under Republican attack, as in past years.
During this election season, ACORN has conducted a registration campaign, hiring workers to sign up new voters. Some workers have decided to fake it, filling in names such as “Mickey Mouse” instead of those of eligible voters. (According to ACORN’s leaders, they discovered the fake names and notified authorities. They’ve also fired workers caught engaged in illegal activities.)
Fake voters are a myth, a convenient cover for those who really don’t believe in the universal franchise. (ACORN has been accused of fraudulent registrations; for actual voter fraud to occur, persons with those fake names would have to show up to cast ballots.) There is no evidence of people coming to the polls using false names and fraudulent IDs.
Atlanta Journal Constitution writer Cynthia Tucker states that ever since the civil rights movement inspired large numbers of black and brown Americans to exercise their right to vote, Republicans have been engaged in efforts to keep them away from the ballot box. Way back in the 1960s, Arizona Republican William Rehnquist — then a GOP activist, later the chief justice of the United States — was accused of intimidating Latinos to try to keep them away from the polls. Many Republicans fought the “motor voter” laws, passed during the ’90s, that allowed state driver’s license bureaus to also register voters. Ease of access encourages less affluent Americans to vote, and Republicans fear that too many Democratic-leaning voters are in that demographic group.
Don’t be fooled. Neither McCain or his hench-people are not concerned about democracy. They’re worried about Democrats. They really do not want a big turnout. If more poor people actually vote, they will lose.
Friday, October 17, 2008
Obama Wins Debates, But So Did Gore, Kerry -- Turnout Counts -- We Must Nurture Education
Obama won the final debate, by my score card, and, therefore, won all three debates. The opinion polls agreed with me on these debates. All of them had the public picking Obama by whopping margins. So Obama won all three and Biden won his on points, although Sarah Palin definitely out-winked him. But let me remind you that Gore won all three in 2000 and Kerry won all three in 2004.
So debates do not always hold sway. It is mainly get-out-the-vote at this juncture, which is why McCain still runs the attack ads -- and his ads attack Obama's character and contain outright falsehoods, which is a far higher level of negativity than the Obama ads which attack McCain's real policies and the Republican record of the last eight years. McCain may claim that he is not "George Bush," but the represents the same party that has been in power in the White House for the past eight years, and six of the last eight years in Congress.
And McCain really is Bush warmed over in so many ways. For one, he picked the SHE-BUSH to be his Vice-President, and then, on issue after issue, he continues to trumpet the Republican ideology of Bush and his failed policies.
John McCain’s fusion to President Bush’s ideological hip couldn't’t be tighter when it comes to education. He is eager to expand taxpayer financed vouchers to aid parents who send their children to parochial schools, to “shake up schools with competition,” as he said Thursday night in his acceptance speech. And he aims to further centralize elements of President Bush’s No Child Left Behind initiative, rather than rethinking how Congress can narrow achievement gaps without micromanaging the daily work of teachers.
I am convinced that a full vouchers system, taking money from public education, will eventually destroy public education, and yet public education has made America great -- a fantastic social justice leveler of the playing fiend, so to speak, helping for fairness and building society stronger.
McCain’s pitch on school reform actually might be better if he talked to Palin a bit. Palin, the daughter of a retired public school teacher, who began her political career leading the local Parent Teachers Association.
But, as University of California professor Bruce Fuller expertly points out, McCain places his faith in vouchers, assuming that market competition among schools will magically deliver a stronger teaching force or counter the denigrating effects of family poverty on children’s early growth. Yet only three publicly financed voucher programs — Cleveland, Milwaukee and Washington — have survived since the early 1990s. We know that many inner-city parents seek an escape from dangerous or ineffective schools. But these experiments with vouchers have failed to yield consistent achievement gains.
Fuller shares that according to a recent Gallup poll, just two in five Americans support school vouchers. On No Child Left Behind, four in five believe the legislation should be revamped by Congress, to de-emphasize standardized tests.
McCain’s push to privatize schooling also surfaces in his pitch to have Washington pick after-school tutoring companies, removing this authority from local school boards. These budding corporations, sniffing out a vast new market, see better prospects if they can directly lobby federal officials, not unlike the inside politics of winning farm subsidies.
Fuller, who monitors public policy closely, states that on early education, Republican leaders have been silent, even though quality preschools pack a strong punch in boosting young children’s learning. Mr. McCain has repeatedly voted against bipartisan proposals to expand and improve Head Start preschools. In contrast, Ms. Palin as the governor of Alaska, has urged expansion of early childhood efforts that focus on poor families. Indeed, she recently asked for legislative options to enrich the training of preschool teachers — priorities right out of Hillary Clinton’s playbook.
So where are McCain's real priorities? He wants to freeze spending on discretionary federal programs, like special education that serves millions of young children. Once again we need to speak for the weakest among us. Special education must be saved and nurtured.
So debates do not always hold sway. It is mainly get-out-the-vote at this juncture, which is why McCain still runs the attack ads -- and his ads attack Obama's character and contain outright falsehoods, which is a far higher level of negativity than the Obama ads which attack McCain's real policies and the Republican record of the last eight years. McCain may claim that he is not "George Bush," but the represents the same party that has been in power in the White House for the past eight years, and six of the last eight years in Congress.
And McCain really is Bush warmed over in so many ways. For one, he picked the SHE-BUSH to be his Vice-President, and then, on issue after issue, he continues to trumpet the Republican ideology of Bush and his failed policies.
John McCain’s fusion to President Bush’s ideological hip couldn't’t be tighter when it comes to education. He is eager to expand taxpayer financed vouchers to aid parents who send their children to parochial schools, to “shake up schools with competition,” as he said Thursday night in his acceptance speech. And he aims to further centralize elements of President Bush’s No Child Left Behind initiative, rather than rethinking how Congress can narrow achievement gaps without micromanaging the daily work of teachers.
I am convinced that a full vouchers system, taking money from public education, will eventually destroy public education, and yet public education has made America great -- a fantastic social justice leveler of the playing fiend, so to speak, helping for fairness and building society stronger.
McCain’s pitch on school reform actually might be better if he talked to Palin a bit. Palin, the daughter of a retired public school teacher, who began her political career leading the local Parent Teachers Association.
But, as University of California professor Bruce Fuller expertly points out, McCain places his faith in vouchers, assuming that market competition among schools will magically deliver a stronger teaching force or counter the denigrating effects of family poverty on children’s early growth. Yet only three publicly financed voucher programs — Cleveland, Milwaukee and Washington — have survived since the early 1990s. We know that many inner-city parents seek an escape from dangerous or ineffective schools. But these experiments with vouchers have failed to yield consistent achievement gains.
Fuller shares that according to a recent Gallup poll, just two in five Americans support school vouchers. On No Child Left Behind, four in five believe the legislation should be revamped by Congress, to de-emphasize standardized tests.
McCain’s push to privatize schooling also surfaces in his pitch to have Washington pick after-school tutoring companies, removing this authority from local school boards. These budding corporations, sniffing out a vast new market, see better prospects if they can directly lobby federal officials, not unlike the inside politics of winning farm subsidies.
Fuller, who monitors public policy closely, states that on early education, Republican leaders have been silent, even though quality preschools pack a strong punch in boosting young children’s learning. Mr. McCain has repeatedly voted against bipartisan proposals to expand and improve Head Start preschools. In contrast, Ms. Palin as the governor of Alaska, has urged expansion of early childhood efforts that focus on poor families. Indeed, she recently asked for legislative options to enrich the training of preschool teachers — priorities right out of Hillary Clinton’s playbook.
So where are McCain's real priorities? He wants to freeze spending on discretionary federal programs, like special education that serves millions of young children. Once again we need to speak for the weakest among us. Special education must be saved and nurtured.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Pro-Life is a Lifetime Stance, Not only in Womb, But also Cradle to the Grave: We Must Stand for Unborn and theBorn: Abortion, War Both Evil
I am a pro-life Christian, because I believe God is pro-life. And I am glad He is! But I am pro for all of life, from womb to the grave, so it influences my views on war and capital punishment and social justice issues. This does not mean I do not have compassion on pro-choice advocates, and though I disagree with Obama and Biden and the Democrats on this issue, (and I pray they might one day see it differently), they are right on so many other key issues that I am going to vote for them in November. More than one issue affects people in this election, and it takes more than being against abortion to be fully pro-life. Pro-life should also be a cradle to the grave life stance.
A little self-disclosure – I am a registered Republican. But the party has left me with its deceitful campaign tactics and apparent aversion to honest governance. I guess you could say I am an Eisenhower Republican, and there are very few of us left these days. But I seek to be fair to all people, and I have many Democratic friends, and I have become convinced that Obama is a more fully pro-life candidate (from the cradle to the grave) than McCain or Palin, and certainly than George W. Bush has been as president.
My friends who are pro-women’s choice have made their case with me. They talk about the idea that having a child is a personal choice that affects a woman's body and personal health. They believe that both parents' and children's lives are better when the government allows women to have abortions, thus preventing women from going to desperate lengths to obtain illegal abortions. ( I am old enough to remember the coat hanger and coke bottle self abortions that killed or maimed many a young girl before 1973.)
More broadly, pro-choice advocates frame their beliefs in terms of "individual liberty," "reproductive freedom," and "reproductive rights." The first of these terms was widely used to describe many of the political movements of the 19th and 20th centuries (such as in the abolition of slavery in Europe and the United States, and in the spread of popular democracy), whereas the latter terms derive from changing perspectives on sexual freedom and bodily integrity.
Many pro-choice individuals often do not consider themselves "pro-abortion" because they consider abortion an issue of bodily autonomy, and find forced abortion (as has been done in China) as legally indefensible as the outlawing of abortion. Indeed, some who are pro-choice consider themselves opposed to some or all abortions on a moral basis, as I do, but believe that abortion bans imperil women's health. Others have a practical acceptance of abortion, arguing that abortions would happen in any case but that legal abortion under medically controlled conditions is preferable to illegal back-alley abortion without proper medical supervision. Others ask what is the difference between qbortion and ANY form of contraception, since all essentially destroy life or its possibility. The debate has many facets. I counter with scriptures about Jeremiah and John the Baptist, adn the fact that thte Bible considers them persons in the womb.
However, remembering the back alley abortions that young women attempted in my childhood and youth, I personally do not think turning back Roe vs. Wade is the answer -- people need a change of heart that a mere change in the law cannot bring. But I think Christians need to proclaim the message that all life as special and sacred, and be fully pro-life in all areas, not just the womb. What about the babies and children and the elderly? And as Rep. Ron Paul says, “How can you really be pro-life and also pro-war?” And I might add, how can you be pro-life and against decent, affordable health care for all children and adults? True pro-life folks should really be like the Prophet Amos, crying for social justice to flow down like rivers.
But Please do not forget the unborn. They are not just so much waste, even though some people treat them that way. Anyone who has ever looked at a sonogram knows they are fully alive human beings! The unborn are innocents who need someone to speak for them.
And if a young girl or woman bravely chooses to keep her child, when the biological father and others desert her, society and the churches need to be there to help and support them. Fertility is a blessing and a gift from God when God created us, as human beings capable of creating life ourselves. The moment where there is existence of life in women, where women can feel another pulse and heartbeat.. is extremely amazing.. how wonderful and powerful women can be here.. bearing a life within themselves.. What an awesome privilege! Yet some feel so overwhelmed and afraid they give up that precious and fragile life. Pray about this issue. It is a very complex situation for those who consider abortion. They need love, support and compassion
But so do the unborn children.
A little self-disclosure – I am a registered Republican. But the party has left me with its deceitful campaign tactics and apparent aversion to honest governance. I guess you could say I am an Eisenhower Republican, and there are very few of us left these days. But I seek to be fair to all people, and I have many Democratic friends, and I have become convinced that Obama is a more fully pro-life candidate (from the cradle to the grave) than McCain or Palin, and certainly than George W. Bush has been as president.
My friends who are pro-women’s choice have made their case with me. They talk about the idea that having a child is a personal choice that affects a woman's body and personal health. They believe that both parents' and children's lives are better when the government allows women to have abortions, thus preventing women from going to desperate lengths to obtain illegal abortions. ( I am old enough to remember the coat hanger and coke bottle self abortions that killed or maimed many a young girl before 1973.)
More broadly, pro-choice advocates frame their beliefs in terms of "individual liberty," "reproductive freedom," and "reproductive rights." The first of these terms was widely used to describe many of the political movements of the 19th and 20th centuries (such as in the abolition of slavery in Europe and the United States, and in the spread of popular democracy), whereas the latter terms derive from changing perspectives on sexual freedom and bodily integrity.
Many pro-choice individuals often do not consider themselves "pro-abortion" because they consider abortion an issue of bodily autonomy, and find forced abortion (as has been done in China) as legally indefensible as the outlawing of abortion. Indeed, some who are pro-choice consider themselves opposed to some or all abortions on a moral basis, as I do, but believe that abortion bans imperil women's health. Others have a practical acceptance of abortion, arguing that abortions would happen in any case but that legal abortion under medically controlled conditions is preferable to illegal back-alley abortion without proper medical supervision. Others ask what is the difference between qbortion and ANY form of contraception, since all essentially destroy life or its possibility. The debate has many facets. I counter with scriptures about Jeremiah and John the Baptist, adn the fact that thte Bible considers them persons in the womb.
However, remembering the back alley abortions that young women attempted in my childhood and youth, I personally do not think turning back Roe vs. Wade is the answer -- people need a change of heart that a mere change in the law cannot bring. But I think Christians need to proclaim the message that all life as special and sacred, and be fully pro-life in all areas, not just the womb. What about the babies and children and the elderly? And as Rep. Ron Paul says, “How can you really be pro-life and also pro-war?” And I might add, how can you be pro-life and against decent, affordable health care for all children and adults? True pro-life folks should really be like the Prophet Amos, crying for social justice to flow down like rivers.
But Please do not forget the unborn. They are not just so much waste, even though some people treat them that way. Anyone who has ever looked at a sonogram knows they are fully alive human beings! The unborn are innocents who need someone to speak for them.
And if a young girl or woman bravely chooses to keep her child, when the biological father and others desert her, society and the churches need to be there to help and support them. Fertility is a blessing and a gift from God when God created us, as human beings capable of creating life ourselves. The moment where there is existence of life in women, where women can feel another pulse and heartbeat.. is extremely amazing.. how wonderful and powerful women can be here.. bearing a life within themselves.. What an awesome privilege! Yet some feel so overwhelmed and afraid they give up that precious and fragile life. Pray about this issue. It is a very complex situation for those who consider abortion. They need love, support and compassion
But so do the unborn children.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Amidst the Lies and Distractions, Do Not Forget the Poor and Needy, the Issues of Justice for All
While I feel the lies and dishonesty of the current White House and the Republican campaigns of the last twenty years, (especially this one), are a huge problem for our American society, (the society that lies to each other destroys itself), And while I am greatly concerned about the state of our economy, let us not forget other key issues facing the American people.
Our commitment to social justice and help for the poor and needy, to build a more equitable country, must remain constant. We must not forget the challenges faced by children and families living in poverty, the inadequacy of our “safety net” of human services, the disproportionate incarceration of men of color, and the challenges experienced by those living with disabilities. We who are Christians must live with Matthew 25 influencing our conduct and our votes. Some would point to gay relationships and women’s choice as the moral cancers, but Jesus singled out uncompassionate ways for special condemnation. He emphasized the importance of acts of compassion.
We need to work for a “kinder, gentler society” to use good words from George H. W. Bush in his 1988 campaign. We need to fight for fairness, equity and help for the powerless.
Social justice means all citizens are entitled to the same rights and services. I am deeply concerned that we in America continue to fail the children who are abused, neglected, and just plain unwanted. Foster children, who depend on society’s largesse for their very existence, go largely unseen. Because these are children, they don’t fund any political campaigns, lobby any elected representatives for an opportunity to be heard, or organize any marches to advocate for better services. They have no voice if we don’t speak for them.
Health care is another area of great concern. Why are 46.6 million people without health insurance ? Why is employee-sponsored health insurance disappearing? (And now McCain’s health care plan wants to kill it off entirely!) Why are the numbers of uninsured African Americans, Hispanics, and immigrants so disproportionate to that of Caucasians? Why is the number of uninsured children—8.3 million—again on the rise, when it had been dropping steadily since 1998? And why aren’t more people as outraged about it, in the still wealthiest nation in the world?
And not only is the Middle Class being squeezed beyond measure, but we also have mounting poverty.In 2005, according to the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Labor, 12.6% of the population (or 37 million people) were poor—up from its all-time low of 11.3% in 2000 and higher than in 1979. Even the higher African American (24.9%) and Latino (21.8%) rates and the lower Caucasian (8.3%) rates rose above their all-time 2000 lows. Meanwhile, the American Dream—the promise that work pays—faded for the working and middle class. In 2004, 7.8 million people aged 16 or older spent at least 27 weeks either working or looking for a job but earned below–poverty-level wages in companies that provided few basic benefits such as healthcare or parental leave. More than 58% of these “working poor” women and men were on the job full-time and 90% worked at some time during the year—twice as many African Americans and Latinos as Caucasians. Thanks to tax cuts and corporate welfare, inequality also reached new highs. In 2005, the top 20% of households accounted for a record 50.4% of the national income, up from 49.8% in 2000 and 43.2% in 1970. In contrast, the bottom fifth’s share fell from 4.4% in 1970 to 3.6% in 2000 to 3.4% in 2005.
Christians must decide what really matters most, and then speak and act appropriately. In the words of Martin Luther King, Jr., “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” For too long thinking Christians have let the loud mouths of the right speak for Jesus. Well, Jesus would like us to speak for Him using His own words.
For eight years the Bush administration (i.e. the Republicans) have turned a deaf ear to these issues and have, instead, served Wall Street and the military-industrial complex that President Eisenhower warned us about. It is now time to change direction. That change comes in Obama and Biden and compassionate Democrats, who have plans and policies to address these social justice issues. Check them out at www.barackobama.com
Our commitment to social justice and help for the poor and needy, to build a more equitable country, must remain constant. We must not forget the challenges faced by children and families living in poverty, the inadequacy of our “safety net” of human services, the disproportionate incarceration of men of color, and the challenges experienced by those living with disabilities. We who are Christians must live with Matthew 25 influencing our conduct and our votes. Some would point to gay relationships and women’s choice as the moral cancers, but Jesus singled out uncompassionate ways for special condemnation. He emphasized the importance of acts of compassion.
We need to work for a “kinder, gentler society” to use good words from George H. W. Bush in his 1988 campaign. We need to fight for fairness, equity and help for the powerless.
Social justice means all citizens are entitled to the same rights and services. I am deeply concerned that we in America continue to fail the children who are abused, neglected, and just plain unwanted. Foster children, who depend on society’s largesse for their very existence, go largely unseen. Because these are children, they don’t fund any political campaigns, lobby any elected representatives for an opportunity to be heard, or organize any marches to advocate for better services. They have no voice if we don’t speak for them.
Health care is another area of great concern. Why are 46.6 million people without health insurance ? Why is employee-sponsored health insurance disappearing? (And now McCain’s health care plan wants to kill it off entirely!) Why are the numbers of uninsured African Americans, Hispanics, and immigrants so disproportionate to that of Caucasians? Why is the number of uninsured children—8.3 million—again on the rise, when it had been dropping steadily since 1998? And why aren’t more people as outraged about it, in the still wealthiest nation in the world?
And not only is the Middle Class being squeezed beyond measure, but we also have mounting poverty.In 2005, according to the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Labor, 12.6% of the population (or 37 million people) were poor—up from its all-time low of 11.3% in 2000 and higher than in 1979. Even the higher African American (24.9%) and Latino (21.8%) rates and the lower Caucasian (8.3%) rates rose above their all-time 2000 lows. Meanwhile, the American Dream—the promise that work pays—faded for the working and middle class. In 2004, 7.8 million people aged 16 or older spent at least 27 weeks either working or looking for a job but earned below–poverty-level wages in companies that provided few basic benefits such as healthcare or parental leave. More than 58% of these “working poor” women and men were on the job full-time and 90% worked at some time during the year—twice as many African Americans and Latinos as Caucasians. Thanks to tax cuts and corporate welfare, inequality also reached new highs. In 2005, the top 20% of households accounted for a record 50.4% of the national income, up from 49.8% in 2000 and 43.2% in 1970. In contrast, the bottom fifth’s share fell from 4.4% in 1970 to 3.6% in 2000 to 3.4% in 2005.
Christians must decide what really matters most, and then speak and act appropriately. In the words of Martin Luther King, Jr., “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” For too long thinking Christians have let the loud mouths of the right speak for Jesus. Well, Jesus would like us to speak for Him using His own words.
For eight years the Bush administration (i.e. the Republicans) have turned a deaf ear to these issues and have, instead, served Wall Street and the military-industrial complex that President Eisenhower warned us about. It is now time to change direction. That change comes in Obama and Biden and compassionate Democrats, who have plans and policies to address these social justice issues. Check them out at www.barackobama.com
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Obama Should Air McCain's Straight Talk About Obama:"He's a Decent family Man, Citizen"
John McCain's ads still contain multiple false and misleading claims about Barack Obama and about Obama's tax proposals.
A TV spot claims Obama once voted for a tax increase "on people making just $42,000 a year." That's true for a single taxpayer, who would have seen a tax increase of $15 for the year – if the measure had been enacted. But the ad shows a woman with two children, and as a single mother, she would not have been affected unless she made more than $62,150. The increase that Obama once supported as part of a Democratic budget bill is not part of his current tax plan anyway.
McCain's moral epiphany of last Friday was short-lived. His high distortion ads still lie about Senator Obama's record and plans. Case in point: A Spanish-language radio ad claims the measure Obama supported would have raised taxes on "families" making $42,000, which is simply false. Even a single mother with one child would have been able to make $58,650 without being affected. A family of four with income up to $90,000 would not have been affected.
The TV ad claims in a graphic that Obama would "raise taxes on middle class." In fact, Obama's plan promises cuts for middle-income taxpayers and would increase rates only for persons with family incomes above $250,000 or with individual incomes above $200,000.
The radio ad claims Obama would increase taxes "on the sale of your home." In fact, home-sale profits of up to $500,000 per couple would continue to be exempt from capital gains taxes. Very few sales would see an increase under Obama's proposal to raise the capital gains rate. The McCain Republican machine is doing this on purpose. Do we want four more years of these people in charge? They apparently do not know how to speak the truth. Obama is not perfect, but I have not caught his campaign is such adroit deception. But such deception has become a Republican art.
Senator Joe Biden talked about the incessant, distorted McCain attacks yesterday, according to ABC News, Biden pointed out that Obama focuses on issues and plans to raise the economy, while "John McCain’s entire speech is gonna be attack, attack, attack, attack. Now look, by contrast, it seems it couldn't be clearer to me. It couldn’t be clearer to me what’s going on here. John McCain wants to attack Barack Obama and Barack Obama wants to attack the problems that face America today.”
“But here’s the bottom line: these attacks don’t hurt Barack Obama, these attacks don’t hurt me," he continued. "Every single false charge, every single baseless accusation that comes forward is an attempt to get you to focus on something other than what’s going on in your family, other than something’s going what’s in your neighborhood, in your state. Beyond the attacks, and I mean this literally, beyond the attacks, what is John McCain really offering?”
“There’s a need for the international community in this global economy to come up with a common approach how to deal with this economic crisis. It’s not just talk, it’s a reality. You see the markets are moving again today, they’re doing better, they’re bouncing back a little bit. Why? Because of international cooperation with the banks in England are doing and what we’re doing. So folks, look, you need international leadership and it can only come from one place. The president of the United States of America. And it can only come quite frankly, in my view, obviously from Barack Obama.”
iden warned that McCain might be "a great soldier", but that does not equip him to deal with the economic downturn.
“People assume because he had been a great soldier that he had certain hands, that John, in a moment of crisis, would know what to do,” Biden said. “Well, ladies and gentlemen, John's hands have been anything but certain in the last year. They've been uncertain. And the McCain administration would be uncertain, clinging to the past, lurching from one bad idea to another.”
Witness that just last Friday McCain lauded Obama and attacked him on the same day. McCain abruptly changed his tone on Friday and told voters at a town-hall-style meeting that Mr. Obama was “a decent person” and a “family man” and suggested that he would be an acceptable president should he win the White House.
But moments later, Mr. McCain, the Republican nominee, renewed his attacks on Mr. Obama for his association with the 1960s radical William Ayers and told the crowd, “Mr. Obama’s political career was launched in Mr. Ayers’ living room.”
If i were the Obama people I would run the laudatory McCain statements in an ad saying "Who is the real Barack Obama? And then show McCain say he is a good family man, as he said on Friday. That would be fair play after all the numerous personal destruction ads aimed at Obama that John McCain has approved.
I am John McCain and I approved this lie could be replaced with some real "straight talk from McCain, something he actually said on Friday: "he’s a decent family man, citizen who I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues... I admire Senator Obama and his accomplishments, I will respect him.”
A TV spot claims Obama once voted for a tax increase "on people making just $42,000 a year." That's true for a single taxpayer, who would have seen a tax increase of $15 for the year – if the measure had been enacted. But the ad shows a woman with two children, and as a single mother, she would not have been affected unless she made more than $62,150. The increase that Obama once supported as part of a Democratic budget bill is not part of his current tax plan anyway.
McCain's moral epiphany of last Friday was short-lived. His high distortion ads still lie about Senator Obama's record and plans. Case in point: A Spanish-language radio ad claims the measure Obama supported would have raised taxes on "families" making $42,000, which is simply false. Even a single mother with one child would have been able to make $58,650 without being affected. A family of four with income up to $90,000 would not have been affected.
The TV ad claims in a graphic that Obama would "raise taxes on middle class." In fact, Obama's plan promises cuts for middle-income taxpayers and would increase rates only for persons with family incomes above $250,000 or with individual incomes above $200,000.
The radio ad claims Obama would increase taxes "on the sale of your home." In fact, home-sale profits of up to $500,000 per couple would continue to be exempt from capital gains taxes. Very few sales would see an increase under Obama's proposal to raise the capital gains rate. The McCain Republican machine is doing this on purpose. Do we want four more years of these people in charge? They apparently do not know how to speak the truth. Obama is not perfect, but I have not caught his campaign is such adroit deception. But such deception has become a Republican art.
Senator Joe Biden talked about the incessant, distorted McCain attacks yesterday, according to ABC News, Biden pointed out that Obama focuses on issues and plans to raise the economy, while "John McCain’s entire speech is gonna be attack, attack, attack, attack. Now look, by contrast, it seems it couldn't be clearer to me. It couldn’t be clearer to me what’s going on here. John McCain wants to attack Barack Obama and Barack Obama wants to attack the problems that face America today.”
“But here’s the bottom line: these attacks don’t hurt Barack Obama, these attacks don’t hurt me," he continued. "Every single false charge, every single baseless accusation that comes forward is an attempt to get you to focus on something other than what’s going on in your family, other than something’s going what’s in your neighborhood, in your state. Beyond the attacks, and I mean this literally, beyond the attacks, what is John McCain really offering?”
“There’s a need for the international community in this global economy to come up with a common approach how to deal with this economic crisis. It’s not just talk, it’s a reality. You see the markets are moving again today, they’re doing better, they’re bouncing back a little bit. Why? Because of international cooperation with the banks in England are doing and what we’re doing. So folks, look, you need international leadership and it can only come from one place. The president of the United States of America. And it can only come quite frankly, in my view, obviously from Barack Obama.”
iden warned that McCain might be "a great soldier", but that does not equip him to deal with the economic downturn.
“People assume because he had been a great soldier that he had certain hands, that John, in a moment of crisis, would know what to do,” Biden said. “Well, ladies and gentlemen, John's hands have been anything but certain in the last year. They've been uncertain. And the McCain administration would be uncertain, clinging to the past, lurching from one bad idea to another.”
Witness that just last Friday McCain lauded Obama and attacked him on the same day. McCain abruptly changed his tone on Friday and told voters at a town-hall-style meeting that Mr. Obama was “a decent person” and a “family man” and suggested that he would be an acceptable president should he win the White House.
But moments later, Mr. McCain, the Republican nominee, renewed his attacks on Mr. Obama for his association with the 1960s radical William Ayers and told the crowd, “Mr. Obama’s political career was launched in Mr. Ayers’ living room.”
If i were the Obama people I would run the laudatory McCain statements in an ad saying "Who is the real Barack Obama? And then show McCain say he is a good family man, as he said on Friday. That would be fair play after all the numerous personal destruction ads aimed at Obama that John McCain has approved.
I am John McCain and I approved this lie could be replaced with some real "straight talk from McCain, something he actually said on Friday: "he’s a decent family man, citizen who I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues... I admire Senator Obama and his accomplishments, I will respect him.”
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