This is Obama's TV ad from last night. Truly inspiring!!
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Barack Obama: Closing Argument (Full Speech)
This is a powerful speech given Oct. 27, 2008. This comes from his soul. Barack Obama loves America and its people and is a true patriot. We need Barack Obama as President of the United States of America!
Charles Barkley with Campbell Brown
I really enjoyed what Sir Charles had to say about a number of issues surrounding this election year, particularly about the gap between the rich and poor in this country.
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Who's the Elitist and Who's the Socialist??
Just a quick post to discuss my thoughts about two of the most absurd claims made by McCain about Obama. First, Obama is an "elitist." Now, work with me here. Barack Obama came from a single parent home and was raised largely by his grandparents. He did not come from a wealthy background. He moved to Chicago and worked hard for very low pay as a community organizer, helping the unemployed to find work. Wanting to have power to do more for those people, he worked his way through Harvard, became the first black president of the Harvard Law Review, and obtained his law degree. Obama married, has two children, one home and one vehicle between him and his wife. He has only recently paid back his student loans. John McCain, on the other hand, was born into a life of privilege as the son and grandson of four-star navy admirals. That fact alone was the reason he got into the naval academy. He barely graduated (fifth from the bottom in his class), and until he was captured by the Vietnamese, enjoyed a pretty luxurious life in the navy. Anyone who wrecks one plane is stripped of his right to fly again in the navy, unless you're the son of a four-star general, then you can wreck five planes without punishment. Then all of a sudden he is a war hero, comes home and dumps his crippled wife for a much richer woman, and has more houses than he can count on one hand (seven to be precise). Between him and his wife, they have thirteen vehicles. Now you tell me who is the elitist. I haven't seen John's income tax filing, but Cindy's was recently released. In 2007, she cleared $4.2 million.
Which leads me to my next issue: Who's calling who a socialist? According to Cindy McCain's tax return, she paid $1.1 million in taxes in 2007. I think I've got this all figured out. If McCain becomes president, he is planning on giving his wife and himself an additional $300,000 in tax cuts. Before Reagan and the Bushes, those who made the amount of money the McCains make paid a much higher percentage in taxes than the middle class. But since, the Republicans have created more tax cuts and loopholes for the wealthy to jump through, while the middle class have found stagnant wages and higher taxes. Seems to me that since the 1980s we have had a wealth redistribution - from the poor and middle class to the ultra rich. The richer you are, the more of your money you get to keep. Oh, and according to his plan, I, as a nurse, would only get about a $300 tax cut. This is according to the Tax Policy Center's estimation based on the plans provided by the candidates. Perhaps I'm just naive, but it seems to me that there are only so many really wealthy people, but there are a whole lot more in the middle class. Wealthy people can buy whatever they want when they want, and once they've bought so much, they're not going to buy anymore. On the other hand, there are a lot of middle class who don't have things they might want to buy.
Let me explain it this way, a wealthy person walks into a Best Buy, picks out the largest, most expensive HD TV he can find and buys it. Chances are, he has what he needs and will buy no more. If his taxes go up, so what? He can still afford his TV, and he'll buy it anyway. On the other hand, twenty middle class people walk into Best Buy and want to buy an HD TV. A couple of them have saved for a while, and now have enough to buy a modest HD TV. A few more have room on their credit cards to splurge, and the rest are "just browsing" because there is absolutely no way they can afford that TV. Now the rich guy is going to buy his TV if he wants to regardless of his tax rate. He's ok. But wouldn't be better for our economy if all twenty of the middle class people had a tax cut and could have bought a TV as well? Best Buy gets more business and income, the TV manufacturers make more money from selling twenty one TVs rather than four or five, and can now afford to hire more employees or give higher wages or give better benefits.
I know I'm oversimplifying with this example, but the principle - I think - is accurate. The economy is stronger when the middle class has more money to spend. The Republican theory of giving more tax breaks to the top 5% and wealth trickling down to the rest of us has proven disastrous. It has only proven that those at the top are greedy and engage in practices that have caused our economy to spiral out of control downward. And now Johnny boy wants to give those wealthiest of Americans $86 billion in tax cuts while giving the middle class peanuts. Yeah, that sounds like a brilliant idea.
In summary, who's the elitist? I say it's the guy with so many houses he can't remember how many he has (seven) and thirteen cars and a beer heiress wife who makes $4.2 million a year in addition to his own income. I absolutely love what Chris Rock said to Larry King in the third minute of this interview regarding how many houses McCain has versus Obama:
Is this not true? Obama has one house to lose and then he's homeless, while McCain can lose several homes and still sleep well. Who really cares about the economy more? Barack Obama. Who's the elitist? By far, John McCain.
Who's the socialist? Republican policies have robbed from the poor and middle class and rained cash down on the wealthiest 5% of Americans. This is what I like to call reverse socialism. Obama's plan will require those in the top 5% to pay taxes at the rate they did under Clinton (and they remained quite wealthy during those years) and give relief to the middle class, who desperately needs it. Is this socialism? No more than it is to give the wealthiest Americans tax breaks while largely ignoring the middle class. So who's the socialist? In my book, it is John McCain and his Republican policies.
Let me explain it this way, a wealthy person walks into a Best Buy, picks out the largest, most expensive HD TV he can find and buys it. Chances are, he has what he needs and will buy no more. If his taxes go up, so what? He can still afford his TV, and he'll buy it anyway. On the other hand, twenty middle class people walk into Best Buy and want to buy an HD TV. A couple of them have saved for a while, and now have enough to buy a modest HD TV. A few more have room on their credit cards to splurge, and the rest are "just browsing" because there is absolutely no way they can afford that TV. Now the rich guy is going to buy his TV if he wants to regardless of his tax rate. He's ok. But wouldn't be better for our economy if all twenty of the middle class people had a tax cut and could have bought a TV as well? Best Buy gets more business and income, the TV manufacturers make more money from selling twenty one TVs rather than four or five, and can now afford to hire more employees or give higher wages or give better benefits.
I know I'm oversimplifying with this example, but the principle - I think - is accurate. The economy is stronger when the middle class has more money to spend. The Republican theory of giving more tax breaks to the top 5% and wealth trickling down to the rest of us has proven disastrous. It has only proven that those at the top are greedy and engage in practices that have caused our economy to spiral out of control downward. And now Johnny boy wants to give those wealthiest of Americans $86 billion in tax cuts while giving the middle class peanuts. Yeah, that sounds like a brilliant idea.
In summary, who's the elitist? I say it's the guy with so many houses he can't remember how many he has (seven) and thirteen cars and a beer heiress wife who makes $4.2 million a year in addition to his own income. I absolutely love what Chris Rock said to Larry King in the third minute of this interview regarding how many houses McCain has versus Obama:
Is this not true? Obama has one house to lose and then he's homeless, while McCain can lose several homes and still sleep well. Who really cares about the economy more? Barack Obama. Who's the elitist? By far, John McCain.
Who's the socialist? Republican policies have robbed from the poor and middle class and rained cash down on the wealthiest 5% of Americans. This is what I like to call reverse socialism. Obama's plan will require those in the top 5% to pay taxes at the rate they did under Clinton (and they remained quite wealthy during those years) and give relief to the middle class, who desperately needs it. Is this socialism? No more than it is to give the wealthiest Americans tax breaks while largely ignoring the middle class. So who's the socialist? In my book, it is John McCain and his Republican policies.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Friday, October 10, 2008
Busy Day on the Trail
Well, there's been a couple of developments on the old campaign trail today. A McCain supporter at a McCain rally said she was scared of Obama because she's read that he's an Arab. Which goes to prove my point that uneducated people reading uneducated, hateful, and/or ignorant radical right wing blogs that promulgate lies and spread fear is rampant and far-reaching. See an interview with the same woman after the rally here. Another man at the rally said he was scared of an Obama presidency. My guess is he has been reading the same extreme right wing blogs. WAKE UP PEOPLE!!! Look at the erratic and unpredictable behavior of your candidate. See my previous post for a few examples. It has been said that the way a candidate runs his campaign is indicative of the way he will run his presidency. If you think the economy is bad now, wait till you have a McCain presidency, whose flailing and floundering ideas and policies will cause our economic problems to be magnified to no end. His latest bright idea is for taxpayers to buy up all the bad mortgages out there, which will reward the banks who have caused all these problems in the housing market, cause all the taxpayers to lose, and will not solve the problem. Even the best fiscal conservatives are scratching their heads and denouncing this plan. Well, nevertheless, John McCain actually did right today, after all his nasty, negative ads, his allegations in his stump speeches this week, Palin's attacks on Obama, and the despicable behavior and outbursts of his supporters at those speeches. McCain actually did defend Obama today. I guess the polls have shown that all his negativity has proven detrimental and now his conscience is catching up with him. Oh, but of course, that was only after he released an ad earlier in the day saying Obama lied about his relationship with Bill Ayers. Still negative with the ads and trying to be positive in front of the people.
The other thing today, was of course, the bipartisan legislative council released a report in Alaska that Sarah Palin did indeed abuse the power of her office and broke ethics laws by trying to have her ex-brother-in-law fired. But she did not break any state laws because it was within her right to fire Walt Monegan for any or no reason. The McCain campaign responded by saying, in effect, "See, we told you she didn't break any laws and this whole thing was Obama supporters stirring up trouble." Wo, hold on here. As I recall, the council consisted of 10 Republicans and only 4 Democrats. This investigation was in the works well before Sarah Palin was announced as McCain's running mate, and the council voted UNANIMOUSLY to release the results of their investigation. It seems like the only ones pushing their weight around were Sarah and Todd Palin and not Barack Obama's supporters. It's funny that Palin and McCain continue to say Obama is a liar. Looks like Palin and McCain haven't been exactly forthcoming, have they??
The other thing today, was of course, the bipartisan legislative council released a report in Alaska that Sarah Palin did indeed abuse the power of her office and broke ethics laws by trying to have her ex-brother-in-law fired. But she did not break any state laws because it was within her right to fire Walt Monegan for any or no reason. The McCain campaign responded by saying, in effect, "See, we told you she didn't break any laws and this whole thing was Obama supporters stirring up trouble." Wo, hold on here. As I recall, the council consisted of 10 Republicans and only 4 Democrats. This investigation was in the works well before Sarah Palin was announced as McCain's running mate, and the council voted UNANIMOUSLY to release the results of their investigation. It seems like the only ones pushing their weight around were Sarah and Todd Palin and not Barack Obama's supporters. It's funny that Palin and McCain continue to say Obama is a liar. Looks like Palin and McCain haven't been exactly forthcoming, have they??
McCain is a Joke
I wonder how anyone with a working brain could vote for this guy. Let's make a fun little list of his irrational behavior in the last month...shall we??
1. He picked Sarah Palin to be his running mate, having met her only once. (Yeah I know that was more than a month ago, but very relevant.) See my previous post (video) for a demonstration on how great of a choice she has been.
2. After a huge drop in the stock market, McCain says, "...the fundamentals of the economy are strong."
3. Later rephrases this to say the fundamentals of the American worker are strong. (I for one think he said what he meant.)
4. Admits the economy is in trouble and pseudo-suspends his campaign to go to Washington to fix the problem.
5. Cancels David Letterman because he has to go to Washington to fix the economy, but immediately goes to do an interview with Katie Couric. David Letterman was not happy. He didn't go to Washington until the next day.
6. McCain says he will not attend the first presidential debate until he had helped finalize a bailout.
7. He went in and disrupted the bailout negotiations and caused a delay.
8. When it was apparent he could not fix the economy, and under a great deal of pressure, he went to the debate. (So nice of you to join us, Senator.)
9. He was for the bailout, then he was against it, then he was for it, then...
10. A top McCain spokesman predicts that if the campaign keeps talking about the economy, they will lose, and so they are trying to "turn the page" on the economy.
11. McCain announces his new strategy against Obama - link him to terrorist Bill Ayers, which has been disproven as far as any meaningful friendship/relationship is concerned. (Does the McCain campaign need to be reminded that Hillary Clinton tried that and failed already?)
12. A nice video came out of John McCain, in an earlier run at the white house, speaking on the trouble with running a very negative campaign.
13. Since announcing Sarah Palin as his running mate, McCain has kept a tight leash on her, only allowing her a few interviews, oh and even going so far as to attempt to postpone the Vice Presidential debate during his psuedo-campaign suspension.
14. Has come up with a plan to use hundreds of billions in tax payer money to bail out banks and mortgage companies who have caused our current economic crisis. Here's Obama's reaction.
Well, that's just a few examples of the more recent erratic behavior. Well, some people I know think I'm just wrong for voting for Obama. But I'm voting against John McCain. Can we afford such irresponsible and erratic behavior?? Honestly, I fear for our freedoms as Amercians under a McCain-Palin administration. Admittedly, I do like Obama's policies on the economy, taxes, and Iraq. I appreciate that Obama is steady and thoughtful. It is encouraging that we might have a President who is much more educated than our last one (not to mention McCain who was fifth from the bottom in his naval academy class of 900). So I guess I really am voting for Barack Obama.
1. He picked Sarah Palin to be his running mate, having met her only once. (Yeah I know that was more than a month ago, but very relevant.) See my previous post (video) for a demonstration on how great of a choice she has been.
2. After a huge drop in the stock market, McCain says, "...the fundamentals of the economy are strong."
3. Later rephrases this to say the fundamentals of the American worker are strong. (I for one think he said what he meant.)
4. Admits the economy is in trouble and pseudo-suspends his campaign to go to Washington to fix the problem.
5. Cancels David Letterman because he has to go to Washington to fix the economy, but immediately goes to do an interview with Katie Couric. David Letterman was not happy. He didn't go to Washington until the next day.
6. McCain says he will not attend the first presidential debate until he had helped finalize a bailout.
7. He went in and disrupted the bailout negotiations and caused a delay.
8. When it was apparent he could not fix the economy, and under a great deal of pressure, he went to the debate. (So nice of you to join us, Senator.)
9. He was for the bailout, then he was against it, then he was for it, then...
10. A top McCain spokesman predicts that if the campaign keeps talking about the economy, they will lose, and so they are trying to "turn the page" on the economy.
11. McCain announces his new strategy against Obama - link him to terrorist Bill Ayers, which has been disproven as far as any meaningful friendship/relationship is concerned. (Does the McCain campaign need to be reminded that Hillary Clinton tried that and failed already?)
12. A nice video came out of John McCain, in an earlier run at the white house, speaking on the trouble with running a very negative campaign.
13. Since announcing Sarah Palin as his running mate, McCain has kept a tight leash on her, only allowing her a few interviews, oh and even going so far as to attempt to postpone the Vice Presidential debate during his psuedo-campaign suspension.
14. Has come up with a plan to use hundreds of billions in tax payer money to bail out banks and mortgage companies who have caused our current economic crisis. Here's Obama's reaction.
Well, that's just a few examples of the more recent erratic behavior. Well, some people I know think I'm just wrong for voting for Obama. But I'm voting against John McCain. Can we afford such irresponsible and erratic behavior?? Honestly, I fear for our freedoms as Amercians under a McCain-Palin administration. Admittedly, I do like Obama's policies on the economy, taxes, and Iraq. I appreciate that Obama is steady and thoughtful. It is encouraging that we might have a President who is much more educated than our last one (not to mention McCain who was fifth from the bottom in his naval academy class of 900). So I guess I really am voting for Barack Obama.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
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