An Obama in Hand is Worth Two Republicans in the Bush

Expectations are so high for Obama that a local radio station is already conducting a poll:

“How long will it take Obama to turn the economy around?”

Oh, come on.

I’m thinking that he - or anyone - may never be able to turn the economy completely around.  Not in my lifetime, anyway.  We’ve buried ourselves deep.  We owe so much money to foreign countries, that if we could go bankrupt, we would.

The next thing I’m thinking is:

“Would we want to go back to being the way we were, anyway?”

Let’s think about it.

• The rest of the world hates us. They didn’t just hate us, they hate us. But people around the world are starting to like Americans now.
• The global economy is completely trashed.
• The rich got richer and the middle class and poor got poorer.
• Public Education Policy, Health Care Policy, Environmental Policy, and everyone’s 401k are totally mucked up.
• Religion got even more powerful, and continues to infiltrate civic rights positions such as freedom of choice and gay marriage.

Who would want to go back to that?

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I’m Proud to be an American

Today is the first day after Barak Obama won the presidential election.  Once again I can travel outside the country without being embarrassed to be an American.

When Bush won his second term in 2004, for a brief moment I contemplated moving to Canada.  Canada is not perfect, but at least they periodically make some common sense decisions.  For example, trans-fats are illegal in Canada, and gay marriage is legal.  Common Sense.

Luckily I’m from Massachusetts.  That’s like another country, anyway.  Except for the Romney faux pas, we generally elect politicians who represent all the people, not just the “chosen” ones.

Nobody says “you got your religion in my politics,” in Massachusetts or “you got your politics in my religion.”

And now, nobody will accuse America’s leaders of that.

America is back.

Or perhaps not back.  America is at long last moving forward again.

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Your Two Cents

Here’s a few websites I think are totally cool.  Why?

• I love being able to add my two cents to any discussion, and
• As partisan as I am, I like that these are non-partisan sites.

Rate Your Political Leaders -Make politicians more accountable for their actions by speaking out.

“Rate & Review Your Political Leaders in this Permanent Public Record. Help other voters and history decide! Is your President or Senator doing a good job? How has their decisions effected you? “

Polling Point - Earn points towards free prizes while letting others know what you think.

“The purpose of PollingPoint is to give people a chance to share their opinions about important topics and to learn what others think.”….”PollingPoint carried out over three million interviews during 2007.”….”strictly non-partisan.”

Do you know of any other sites like this?

Who Would You Want Handling Your Money?

Check out this chart published in a recent New York Times article “Bulls, Bears, Donkeys and Elephants.”  It shows the annualized return of a $10,000 investment over 40 years of Republican administration, and 40 years of Democratic administration.

From the article:

  “As of Friday, a $10,000 investment in the S.& P. stock market index* would have grown to $11,733 if invested under Republican presidents only, although that would be $51,211 if we exclude Herbert Hoover’s presidency during the Great Depression. Invested under Democratic presidents only, $10,000 would have grown to $300,671 at a compound rate of 8.9 percent over nearly 40 years.”

“

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Getting Rich on the Backs of Others - the Middle Class Squeeze

I want to be rich.  But I want to be rich without making someone else poor, and without trashing the planet.  I’m convinced that this is possible, though I can’t think of any examples at the moment.  If you have any I’d love to hear about them.

The Vultures of Wall Street and Subprime World didn’t think of anyone else when they were raking in the big bucks.  Do the rich think that the middle class owe them something?

And now, we’re left to mop up.  It’s become “every man for himself.”

I wonder what these free wheeling opportunists of the business world will think up next?  I hope there’s some good regulations in place soon, or else we’re all in trouble.  They may have taken the entire global economy down with them this time, but you can count on the fact that they won’t think twice about doing it again.

And I’d like to retire someday.

I guess the republicans don’t need to retire.  They love this deregulation idea. The republicans want to make the rich richer, while squeezing every last dime they can out of the middle class.

If you’re a republican and you’re not rich, evangelical, straight, and white, I’d be thinking about voting for Obama on this go around.

The Sarah Palin Show

Sarah Palin may not be a great Vice Presidential candidate, but she’d make a great talk show host.

Here’s why:

Women love her as much as men. 

• When Palin first came into the picture, women big on Hillary Clinton were swayed Republican.  What’s that all about?! Other than the obvious, what on earth does Sarah Palin have in common with Hillary Clinton?

She’s a trend setter.

• Not only has she revitalized a long gone hair style, now mothers across the country want to hunt deer and be a hockey moms.  Golly.

She’s complex.

• Somehow she’s managed to be a down home Mom with six kids and run the state of Alaska at the same time.

 Her husband is a hunk.

• No healthy happy American home should be without one. Why hasn’t she been a guest host on The View yet?

Did John McCain really think that choosing a great talk show host would get him elected?

This is just one of many short-sighted histrionic campaign ploys McCain has pulled that make me wonder if he really thinks much of the independent American voters he’s so much trying to win.

So after the election is over, and Obama is safely in the white house, watch your TV Listings.

And move over Oprah.  Here’sssss Sarah.

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Palin Passes the Test, but Biden Steals the Limelight

The fear that Palin would crash and burn proved unjustified.  She certainly held her own, sidestepping, jabbing, and avoiding any knockout punch Biden threw.

But Biden finally got some attention, and his passion and connection to the middle class shined.

It was clear from the start he was targeting McCain, not Palin.  He referenced McCain 62 times - Palin mentioned Obama only 18 times.

And each time Biden referenced McCain, he put another nail in his coffin, highlighting McCain’s obvious ties to Bush policy, and reiterating McCain’s positions on the economy (”two weeks ago McCain said the economy was fundamentally sound”) and  military (”McCain chooses not to sit down to the table with certain leaders of the world.”)

Palin did a good job defending McCain, but conversely, was less convincing in her attacks on Obama.

Her too frequent mention of her connection to the middle class, to the hockey moms and Joe Six Pack, are starting to annoy, and that the members of her family have a variety of opinions, often contrasting her own, did nothing to pursuade me of her support for the diversity this country prides itself on.

I give it to Biden.  How about you?

The New Best Sports Listings: Anything Politics

Raise your hand if you’re going to watch the Palin-Biden Debate tonight.  Now raise your hand if your going to a party to watch it. If you’ll be playing political drinking games at that party, lower your hands, hand over your keys and call a cab.   And know that you’re not alone.

Politics has become the newest National Sport of the United States.  Record numbers of people - especially in their early twenties - have registered to vote for the first time.  70 million people packed a football stadium to hear Obama’s nomination speech.  Sarah Palin look-alike contests are rampant.

Mitt Romney once said that he loved politics because it was like a sport.  This irritated me. I want my politicians to say what they believe in, not whatever will get them elected. This, in fact, is Romney’s downfall.  In Massachusetts he’s for abortion, in Ohio he’s against it.  etc etc.  He plays politics a little too much like a game.

But his statement highlighted the often times fierce competition between parties that spawns especially when things aren’t going so well.  The worse things are (and could the economy get any worse?), the more involved people become.

And the more involved people become, the less chance that rhetoric and bull$%$% will stand up when we call it a day on November 4th.

So, get those nachos made, and the beer cold, place your bets, and get ready for what looks to be a good fight tonight.  Oh, did I say fight?  I meant debate.

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Election 2008 - Obama and McCain Spar in the First Presidential Debate

There was no guise of being above negative campaign rhetoric in this debate.  It was a mud slinging night.  Each knew their opponent’s record better than their own - or perhaps their fairy tale version of it - and mercilessly took aim at each other, right between the eyes.

I’m impressed with their ability to “spin” the facts, but I’m using my decoder ring to determine fact from fiction.

As the N.Y. Times reports:

“There were no obvious game-changing moments — big mistakes, or the kind of sound bites that dominate the news for days — in the course of the 90-minute debate, held at the University of Mississippi in Oxford. Still, the debate served as a reminder of just how different these two men would be as president…”

No mistake about it, John McCain and the Republican Party are flailing miserably in this campaign.  McCain is pulling out all the stops, grasping at sound bites and tactics in an attempt to pull the wool over undecided voters’ eyes just long enough to get him elected.

I’m not sure he realizes that these transparent manipulative moves are ultimately distancing him further from the American people.  Suspending his campaign and canceling the debate to head to Washington and lead the republicans in “saving the economy” is more comical than impressive.  Choosing the photogenic, but unqualified, Sarah Palin, as his running mate, more sexist than impressive.

If i were an undecided voter, I’d be feeling pretty insulted by John McCain right now.  He’s reminding me of Mr. “Say anything to get elected” Mitt Romney.

We’re not that stupid, Mr. McCain.

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Try Your Hand at Solving the National Debt Crisis

When I played Budget Hero, by the year 2070 I had reduced the national deficit by 28 percent.

I withdrew U.S. troops from Iraq, and that gave me lots of money!  I used it to create a National Health Care Plan, save Social Security, and increase spending in education.

Could it be this simple?

From American Public Media, I give you, Budget Hero.

Click Here

↓

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Election 2008: Obama or McCain? You Decide.

A friend sent me this.

You’re The Boss… which team would you hire?

With America facing historic debt, 2 wars, stumbling health care, a weakened dollar, all-time high prison population, mortgage crises, bank foreclosures, etc.

Educational Background:

Obama:

• Columbia University - B.A. Political Science with a Specialization in International Relations.
• Harvard - Juris Doctor (J.D.) Magna Cum Laude

& Biden:

• University of Delaware - B.A. in history and B.A. in political science.
• Syracuse University College of Law - Juris Doctor (J.D.)

vs.

McCain:

• United States Naval Academy - Class rank 894 of 899

& Palin:

• Hawaii Pacific University - 1 semester
• North Idaho College - 2 semesters - general study
• University of Idaho - 2 semesters - journalism
• Matanuska-Susitna College - 1 semester
• University of Idaho - 3 semesters - B.A. in journalism

Now, which team would you hire ?

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Rep. Marcy Kaptur from Toledo, Ohio Explains the Bailouts

This youtube was sent to me by a friend.  It says it all.

The Deregulation Blues

Deregulation is a bust.  The Stock market says so.  My 401K says so.  Financial institutions and businesses around the world say so.  They’re all in debt up to their eyeballs, and sinking fast.  Without government bail outs, funded with monopoly money, they’ll drown, and suck us all down with them.

The U.S. government doesn’t have the money to bail anyone out.  They need a bail out themselves. The National Debt is at Mt Everest heights and climbing.  How far will the monopoly money go, with bail out after bail out, before the USA, too, goes under?  Did they forget that money doesn’t grow on trees?

The Bush/Republican philosophy of deregulation is to blame for this.  The benefits of deregulation were built with mirrors and smoke.  Life was grand - for awhile.  Our homes values and 401ks sky-rocketed.   We all drove big gas guzzling SUVS.  Big Business and the markets flourished.

But now the smoke has cleared.  It began with the housing market crash, and continues to snow ball . Reality has hit us all hard.  We’re being pummeled by Hurricane George.  And Hurricane John is close behind.

It’s time to bring regulations back and keep those blood sucking leaches in line.  Regulations will protect the little guys from what they don’t know, and protect the big guys from eating themselves alive.

And the republicans are not going to be the ones to get us out of this big stinking deregulation mess.

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Six Decoder Rings for Wading Through Presidential Campaign Rhetoric

I’ve already chosen my next President.  But many of you are still on the fence.  And as each presidential candidate vies for your vote, how will you ever wade through the half truths and distortions to get to the facts?

It won’t be easy.

Before you run the gauntlet to election day this November, you’ll need some deciphering tools.  Here’s some of my favorite places to get untainted election information.

News websites -

• FactCheck.  This is an independent website sponsored by the Annunberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania. It picks specific political ads and statements and outlines the bull in them for you.

You’ve heard of the rest, I’m sure:

• Slate Campaign Junkie.
• Google 2008 US Election Coverage.
• Yahoo Election 2008.

A favorite blog -

• Instapundit.

And finally, a book -

• Unspun:  Finding Facts in a World of Disinformation. by Brooks Jackson and Kathleen Hall Jamieson.  This book describes itself as “the secret decoder ring for the twenty-first century world of disinformation.”

If you’d like to pick your own sources for information, here’s PC Magazines hot off the press “Top 20 Best Political Websites” for 2008.

Man your secret decoder rings.  And let the games begin.

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Hillary Triumphs in Late Night Comedy Jokes Race Against McCain and Obama

If late night comedy jokes were any indicator of who would become our next president, Hillary Clinton would win hands down.

She was the target of 382 jokes to McCain’s 329.  Obama pulled up the rear at 169.

A decisive victory.

Between January 1st and July 31st, the Center for Media and Public Affairs monitored the monologues of Jay Leno, David Letterman, and Conan O’Brien for joke content.  The results are not surprising.

Here are some examples of the jokes:

John McCain

McCain was asked how he’s going to conserve energy. He said by taking three naps a day. – Leno

McCain said Iraq and Afghanistan have a common border. No wonder they can’t find Osama bin Laden. We’ve been searching an imaginary border. - Letterman

The only way McCain could get less coverage is if he got a primetime show on NBC. – Leno

Barack Obama

Obama said he’ll visit Iraq and Afghanistan because he wants to see an area overrun by violent extremists. So it sounds like he already misses his old church. — Leno

“Barack Obama is campaigning very hard, going everywhere these days to get the vote out. Barack Obama’s staff recently announced that Barack is planning to hold a campaign event at a NASCAR race. Yeah. The event will be called ‘Meet your first black guy.’” –Conan O’Brien

Hillary Clinton

Brett Favre says he has reconsidered his decision to retire and he wants to get back in the game. Today Hillary Clinton said, “You can do that?” – Letterman

It’s not looking good for Hillary. Today even Yogi Berra said, “It’s over.” – Leno

I don’t have thick enough skin to be in politics.

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