I know they’re cold, but there’s nothing I can do, the power’s been off for 4 days now. Maybe another blanket on them and one on the windows will help. It’s still November, it doesn’t get cold enough to freeze to death this early.

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Oh, if only I could have made something other than cold potted meat sandwiches for dinner, maybe they could sleep easier. Atleast there were 2 cookies left, one for each of them. Milk would have made the cookies better, but that’s too much of a luxury to think about. Ha, even Spam is a luxury these days.

shhh…..shhh, I know baby, I know. Here, lay next to your sister, the two of you laying together will help keep you both warm. Yes, I’ll make something better than potted meat for breakfast. How does peanut butter and bananas on crackers sound? I know bread would be better but we ate the last piece at dinner… I know the store is open early, I’ll try and get some in the morning then. No, that’s your school lunch money, you keep it and eat a good hot lunch, really I don’t need it, I’ve got a couple dollars in change, I’ll get some bread. Don’t worry, just get some sleep.

I really don’t know what happened to us. We’ve never been rich or even well-off but we’ve always gotten by. What happened? Where did it go wrong. I try and think of a specific moment, a moment where I can say “AHA! Right There! Right There is where it went bad” But try as I might, I just can’t find that moment.

DAMN! The mortgage! It’s 3 months late today. 2 months is ok, but 3? What am I going to tell them this time? How many times can I beg for more time. Where will we go if they throw us out? The kids can probably stay with my in-laws. They can barely take care of themselves, but it’s better than the camp grounds, I don’t like it out there and there is no way I’m going to let my kids stay out there. I can live with whatever happens, but not them.

That woman today, why did she look at me like she was better than I was? I don’t understand that. I work! I work harder than she does. All she does is sit there and check off the names of who’s next. I went to college damnit, I work 5-6 days a week and another 3 nights a week. I am not asking for a free-handout! Does she think I enjoy coming into the office and asking for help? Does she think that this is somehow fun? That it’s not the most embarrassing thing I’ve ever done in my life? I am not a drag on society, I work! I pay my taxes, I save part of my check each week, I send my kids to school and make sure they keep their grades up! Yes, I am 3 months behind on my mortgage, my power is turned off and my other utilities are extended well beyond their grace periods, but I didn’t do anything on purpose! I couldn’t stop the price of gas from going up, the price of eggs from doubling, and the price of milk,bread,juice from tripling. Fresh fruits & vegetables? Those are exotic expenditures for us now. I didn’t do anything wrong! I worked harder than I ever had, I had to spend more money because everything cost more, I couldn’t help that the money I was making went down drastically. You can adjust when there’s a gradual incline but the prices tripled in a matter of weeks… my paydays didn’t.

At first it was just a trickle, nothing big. I managed the $20 loss here and the $15 loss there. That was ok because that was our weekly extra spending money and savings. A cheap dinner at Steak ‘n Shake and movie. Maybe a fancy dinner a Carrabba’s and a DVD rental. A little bit in the savings account. Sure, it was nice, but those things could wait. But then one week we lost another $50. That hurt, not much, really just a little but it wasn’t going to be a permanent thing it was going to come back and gas isn’t going to go much higher than $3.50.

Another 2 weeks, gas is up to almost $4 a gallon, total lost wages are now at $225 a week. I wish I could

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pick up more than 2 nights at Burger King, but I’m lucky to have gotten that as a second job,  since this is the 1st summer they haven’t hired high school kids. It’s going to get better soon I know it.

How did I go from being comfortable to paying one bill a month and hoping and praying that I can get enough money to pay the others before they shut them off? I didn’t loose my job, in fact I have 2? So where is all the money going?

$7 for a box of tampons. $3.50 for a box of maxipads, $4 a bottle for midol and 3 girls living in the home.

$7 for instant coffee. $3.75 for the generic coffee creamer, $2.07 for a loaf of bread…. all luxuries, but also necessities. Atleast the coffee can be my breakfast and lunch and the girls can have some kind of sandwichs. The Salvation Army always gives us something that can go on bread.

Atleast gas is down to $1.95. I just wish the prices of everything else were going down also, but they are still rising.

I guess that’s where all it went. I was too accustomed to the luxury if having things like tampons,soft toilet paper, fresh apples,fresh broccoli. It’s healthier to eat turkey sandwiches for after school snacks or weekend lunches, but Ramon noodles are 5 for a $1 and a hungry stomach doesn’t care if it’s filled with junk or healthy food, as long as it’s filled.

I know that I should have paid the cable bill when it was 1 month old, but they let me go to 2 months, now I have to pay both and that’s just a fantansy. Same with water and power. I was doing so good too. I had it down to a science, pay water short by $10. Use that $10 to pay for school lunches. Let cable get to 75 days and then pay one month and get a pay arrangement for the rest and then use what’s left to pay power. I can turn the meter back on if they come out, so that gives me an extra week or two to pay that bill, that way if I have to, I can pay only the unregulated charges on the phone to keep it on. Cable and the house phone are not luxuries. How do I work without a phone? How do the kids do their homework without the computer? How do any of us find some kind of stress relief without a break that only a phone call from a friend or a comedy show at night can give?

It was all going smooth. It was even kinda fun, it was all small victories in a losing battle. I knew I would be getting a check at the end of the month and that would pay 90% of the mortgage, so everything was fine.

Unfortunately when you bounce on air like that, eventually you crash. Only I kept expecting everything to even out before it crashed. It’s my fault, I know it is. But hasn’t everyone made a mistake in their lives? Am I the only one who has ever made a bad call?

I never expected the little one to get sick and need medication. I’m not worried about the ER bill, what are they going to do? Hurt my credit? HA!HA! But I didn’t expect her to get sick the same time the baby sitter did. I didn’t expect to have to take off 3 days from work. Once that domino started to fall…they all fell. Tomorrow is going to be even colder, there is no money and there is no food and soon there will be no house. I didn’t do anything wrong damnit! Why did I lose everything? Why do people look at me like I am a lazy-good-for-nothing? Like I am trash! 10 months ago I WAS THE SAME AS THEY ARE! Don’t they get that through no fault of their own or very little fault … 10 months from now THEY COULD BE ME!

Why do we need to help the people below us? Because we don’t leave people behind in this country. We don’t leave a man or a woman down. We run back through the bullets and we get them. If they are injured and can’t get up by themselves, we carry them. We don’t leave our people behind.

There are a 1001 reasons why someone is in need. Some are lazy, some are unlucky and some are just as innonecent in their poverty as the guy with the great job,stable job, great benefits is as lucky in his. The unlucky ones worked just as hard, went to school just as long… but shit happens.

We don’t leave people behind. We’ve forgotten this. Along the way “poor” became synonymous with ‘minority’ and ‘uneducated’ and ‘lazy’. It became easier to get angry over our Social Policies. It became easier to say, “This is my money, why am I forced to give it to those people who refuse to help themselves”

It’s your money, yes. You didn’t cause these people to fall, I know. Yes, you did everything right. You pulled yourself up and so can they. I know, I’ve heard them all. But what happens when everything out there is working against you and you just can’t pull yourself up? What happens when you are begging to work, begging to make enough money to pay just a couple bills and feed your kids, not one or the other, but there is nothing out there. This isn’t a problem for certain demographics anymore. This isn’t being seen only in poorest,laziest and least educated of our community. This is being seen in every section of our society. I don’t know the answer. I’m not smart enough to figure out a plan that helps everyone and makes everyone happy. I only know one thing….

We don’t leave our people behind.

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Coming off a huge political map changing election, the first thing President Obama should do is walk into Nancy Pelosi’s office and demand that she, as the Speaker of the House, have a press conference and take blame for the mortgage failures that lead to the financial meltdown. No, he shouldn’t have Pelosi summoned to the Oval Office, he should walk himself into her lair. After he is finished making it clear to her who the democrat in charge really is, they both need to walk over to John Boehner office and demand the same thing.

In the spirit of true bi-partisanship it’s time for both sides to stop pointing the finger and just admit that they both screwed up. The Democrats wanted anyone and everyone to own a home so they helped to make the rules to buy homes a little bit weaker. The Republicans wanted less regulation and more money and saw an opportunity with the increased mortgages and opened the deregulated door to abuse. The only people that really care who opened which door are the guilty ones. The rest of us just want someone to stand up and fix the problem.

President Obama, coming to these 2 leaders instead of making them come to him sends a message. Coming off a massive election, he is the most powerful man in the world right now. With his massive wins not only with the popular vote, but the electoral college vote as well, he can get anything done at this moment. For him to walk over to Pelosi and Boehner puts the onus on them. His demands will either be met, or he will leave their office, hold a press conference explaining what he was doing and make sure that they are not elected when their terms are up.

Right now, in this country we don’t need to spend the time,money or effort on a bipartsian investigation that will conclude both parties are equally responsible. Let’s cut to the chase and get past the blame and onto fixing the damn problem.

With this new bipartisan love fest, all three can get together and find out just where in the hell $2 trillion went…

Nov. 10 (Bloomberg) — The Federal Reserve is refusing to identify the recipients of almost $2 trillion of emergency loans from American taxpayers or the troubled assets the central bank is accepting as collateral

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Back when the country was deciding on that $700 billion bailout, there was another bailout going on that wasn’t really talked about. For the $700 billion one, the Troubled Asset Relief Program,TARP, Treasury Secretary Paulson and The Fed, Ben Bernanke, were screaming for transparency, oversight, and protection.

`We Need Transparency’

“We need oversight,” Paulson told lawmakers. “We need protection. We need transparency. I want it. We all want it.”

They wanted it, they begged for it, they were asked who they loaned $2 Trillion dollars to and told the person asking …. no comment.

Wait…what?

The idea behind not telling anyone who received the money from the bailout we don’t know about is if people and other buisness’ knew, it will hurt the person or entity getting the loan. I guess government welfare isn’t just embarrassing to the poor.

The lack of transparency is also to keep corporate banking secrets within the corporation and not in the public where anyone can see it. I can understand that part. I guess we, John Q. Public, don’t really need to know who we’re loaning trillions of dollars to or what we can expect from them in the form of collateral and a return of the loan. But I would hope that someone would know.

Turns out, someone does so we don’t need to question it any longer.

In an interview Nov. 6, House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank said the Fed’s disclosure is sufficient and that the risk the central bank is taking on is appropriate in the current economic climate. Frank said he has discussed the program with Timothy F. Geithner, president and chief executive officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and a possible candidate to succeed Paulson as Treasury secretary.

“I talk to Geithner and he was pretty sure that they’re OK,” said Frank, a Massachusetts Democrat. “If the risk is that the Fed takes a little bit of a haircut, well that’s regrettable.” Such losses would be acceptable, he said, if the program helps revive the economy.

See, Barney Frank says that it’s all probably OK. He’s pretty sure The Fed priced the assets for the collateral accordingly, he’s pretty sure The Fed is giving it to worthy banks, and he’s pretty sure The Fed isn’t giving it to any ‘golden parachutes‘. Well, Ok he isn’t really sure about any of that because The Fed has refused to answer any questions on the $2 trillion subject, but if Barney says it’s probably safe, why do we need to question anything? Especially when there are more pressing question like what President Elect Obama’s policy for the missile shield will be, or who his chief of staff will be. Priorities man, Priorities. Shrouded in total secrecy is what the current administration has cultured and continues to grow, and it’s worked out swimmingly so far.

Besides, what’s there to worry about…Barney Frank said he’s pretty sure it’s ok.

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UPDATE

It’s getting worse.

The original idea behind the bi-partsian $700 Billion bailout plan was for the Governement to step in and buy up some of the troubled assets that were hurting banks,thus damaging the market. That was the plan as we and Congree were told.

But that’s not what has been going on, even with the full transparancy. What I don’t understand, is why is noone saying anything about it?

This morning Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson addressed a skeptical press about the latest plans for those 700 billion dollars that were appropriated for the “TARP” — or Troubled Asset Recovery Program. Now Paulson says Treasury won’t buy those “Trouble Assets” — one of the many metamorphoses this program has had in its young life.

Wait..What? You asked for a blank check for $700 Billion. Said that it would be used to buy up troubled assets, even called the program the “TROUBLED ASSET RECOVERY PROGRAM”..but a few weeks later you decide you aren”t going to buy ‘troubled assets’ anymore.

They are buying bank stock, not troubled assets. We probably shouldn’t call it the TARP anymore. Instead, they are focused on a capital purchase plan (CPP) which is the widely reported $250 billion plan to use taxpayer money to purchase a stake in banks

If you’re sitting there reading this, you might be thinking exactly what I’m thinking and that’s
“What the Fuck?”

When did this happen? Who decided this?

The original CPP participants were told about the program at a closed-door meeting at Treasury and no minutes have been released on what was said during the meeting.

So, a secret,behind closed door meeting with no record of it every taking place. Now I know you are asking yourself the same thing I am.. “Is Dick Cheney a shape shifter?”

Is it a coincidence that there is all the secrecy with The Fed and the Treasury Secretary when over the last 8 years, we have seen the most secretive and powerful Vice President in history? I don’t think so.

All shape-shifter joking aside, this is getting pretty damn serious. We’re buying banks.

There is roughly $125 Billion left out of the $700 Bailout, that’s not being used for what it was named after and what it was promised for. There is another ‘open-door’ program going on behind the backs of everyone that has a tab of over $2 Trillion so far that we know. Both programs seem to working on the idea of ‘out of sight, out of mind’. Neither the ‘out in the open’ TARP program nor the other ’secret-key-holders only’ program seems to have any oversight whatsoever.

The Big 3 auto companies are withering and dying and begging for a hand and are being told ‘Yeah, sorry guys but we’re not socialist, and you’re not a bank so it’s sink or swim for you.”

Folks, while we were all worrying about whether or not Barack was a socialist because he wanted to help poor kids have healthcare, while we were distracted by some ridiculous campaign rhetoric, the biggest ‘bait and switch’ in American history has been playing out.

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Well that didn’t work out very well. 

At least if you are a Republican.  McCain took a lickin’ and Republicans took a lickin’ across the country.  How soiled is your brand when John Murtha, who called his own constituents rednecks and racists, gets re-elected?

Doubtless there will be millions of words expended on what McCain did wrong and what the Republicans did wrong, but I think the Indecision 08 coverage summed it up for me.  Former Presidential Candidate and flat tax fanatic Steve Forbes, who for some reason was wedged between Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart, broke down what he saw as the collapse of the McCain campaign:

 McCain was doing fine, up in the polls, until the financial crisis struck in mid-September.  McCain made a few key mistakes after that.  He declared the economy as essentially sound for one. Instead of taking charge of the congressional Republicans who were opposed to the bailout and trying to offer a less “give away the store” alternative, he glumly signed on to the Bush-Paulson proposal.  Of course, Obama did the same thing, but he was positioned to run against the administration, whereas McCain just looked like he was joining the Democrats and Bush.

McCain still potentially had a few good advantages for all of that.  He could have linked Obama to Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae based on being the number two recipient of campaign funds from those failed mortgage buyers.  McCain could also have touted his own attempted reform of Freddie and Fannie in 2005.  Instead, he decided to condemn “Wall Street greed”, which was part of Obama’s and the Democrat’s position on the financial crisis.  Hearing him saying that during the debate, I figured the election was pretty much lost. If, as a Republican, you are just going to “me too” whatever the Democrat position is, why would the voters bother to vote for the “me too” Republican?  Why not vote for the Democrat and get the real thing?

McCain also ignored his own proposals.  His health care plan was far superior to Obama’s, particularly if you are self employed or have a small business, but McCain seldom talked about it,  even when he was given the perfect opportunity by “Joe the Plumber.”

Beyond the financial crisis McCain had several other disadvantages.

            A media that was in love with Obama, and did nothing but fall down in worship of him, tingly legs and all.  How many points in the polls is that worth?

Bush’s popularity, or lack thereof, and a Republican Party that had decided that power was better than principle.

But McCain blew it.  In his concession speech, he accepted responsibility for his campaign and in the final analysis, that’s where the blame has to lie.

So now what?

Well if you’re a Democrat, you expect to attain a higher state of consciousness when President-elect Obama descends from heaven to be sworn in at the capital in January.  And if every Republican Congressman would get caught having sex in a public restroom; well that would be icing on the cake.

If you are Republican though, it’s a bit tougher.

Still, I’m fairly sanguine about the future.  In spite of a Republican drubbing at the polls, and all of the previously mentioned forces that were allied against the GOP this year, I still think this is basically a center right country.  Actually, I should say because of all those forces, the media, Hollywood, and a major financial crisis, this country came very close to putting another Republican back in office, after following eight years of one of the most unpopular Presidents in modern times.  That’s quite a trick.

Obama mania won’t last forever.  True, it could last for a while though.  Obama will have a subservient press corps that George Bush could never dream of.  Chris Matthews has defined his job, “To make the Obama Presidency a success.”  Can you imagine Matthews, or any mainstream journalist saying something similar about the Bush Presidency?

Still, facts are facts.  When Republicans say that tax hikes damage the economy and slow growth, they are not just stating an opinion or conservative talking points, it’s an objective fact which has been demonstrated multiple times in “the real world.”  President Obama will discover that liberal orthodoxy and redistributionist policies have consequences that can only be spun so far, even with the MSM at his beck and call.

So what is my recommendation to the few remaining Republicans in Congress dealing with Democratic bills to raise taxes and squeeze “big business” with more regulations?

Let ‘em.

If President Obama thinks the path to economic recovery is covered in high taxes and regulations, he deserves the opportunity to demonstrate it.  It shouldn’t be the Republicans standing in his way.  Let him get the credit, or the blame for the consequences of his own policies.  The tax revolt of the 1970’s, beginning with California’s Proposition 13, set the stage for national Republican domination for nearly two decades.  If Obama wants to recast the Democratic Party once again as the party of choking taxes and stifling regulations, why expend effort and energy to try to stop him?

Who knows, maybe Obama is actually right, and raising tax rates on the productive classes and increasing capital gains rates will set off an economic boom.  I say let’s find out.  The people have spoken after all.  And we will let the people speak again in 2010 and 2012.

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History will be made tonight and it doesn’t matter which party wins. Tomorrow morning we will all wake up to either the 1st black president, or the 1st woman vice president. Those two things alone make this an interesting race. If only those were the only two things of interest.

For the first time in history we have had a sitting president with such a horrible approval rating that we are going to either elect a black man with a foreign name, a name that resembles two of America’s arch enemies, or we are going to elect a woman who doesn’t have a clue as to what her job or the 1st ammendment is and who her own campaign calls a ‘Whack job’.

Thank you George Bush.

I’m going to miss George. I really am. I could always count on him to do or say the wrong thing.

So I will miss him.

I don’t have any clue what to expect from what we are about to get. Sure, I believe that Barack will be statesman that we all hope that his is, or McCain will be the maverick we should all be afraid of. But that doesn’t help to prepare me for what they will actually do when they are in the Oval Office. In 2000, George Bush ran and won on the idea that he would restore honor to the office. Well, that didn’t turn out as planned. Now one party is running on the idea that we are all one and we are all United, while the other seeks to divide us into ‘real’ America and Anti-America.

No matter who wins, over the next few months I hope that we can all find it in ourselves to lay down our partisanship and come together as a whole country. My fear though is that one side will never be able to do this.

If Barack loses this race, millions of voters will never vote again. Why would they when they have witnessed everything that was the beacon of American crumble because of one party, only to have that party win another election. I know I could never muster enough ‘ummph’ to vote again. This is not a threat or a

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promise or anything of the sort, it is just the truth of it. Why rally around someone who brings as much hope and inspiration as Barack Obama has done, only to see him lose to an inferior ticket due to lying or exaggerated rhetoric. What would be the point in ever getting excited,inspired and hopeful again?

I don’t believe there is a pundit or voter out there who has looked at this race and said “John McCain ran a brilliant race that should be the mold for all other races” and yet, if he wins, that bad judgment to run such a horrible race will no doubt float over into bad judgment when running a country.

I do not know where this country is headed tonight. All I know is that I am a part of history this time, instead of a student of it. It’s an excitable and yet, sad time.

Book cover via Amazon

Yes, I am sad to see George go and I hope that no matter who gets elected, they follow somewhat in his footsteps and give Jon Stewart 4 more years of comedy and Bill Maher 4 more years of New Rules

The only thing to look forward to if McCain is elected is watching to see if more than 57% of the population can continue to think Sarah Palin is wrong for the Vice President’s job.

Let that sit for a minute……

If 57% of the population thinks you are the wrong person for the job, that you aren’t qualified enough, wouldn’t it stand to reason that you shouldn’t win anything in a democratic election?

I have one final thought to leave you with….On Boston Legal last night the British girl said “it’s a democracy, shouldn’t the one who gets the most votes win?”… the reply “That, would be too easy”

So get up! Go out! Vote early! Vote often.. and don’t make it easy for them.

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Ben Stein told Larry King the other night his version of a republican and that pretty much sums of my idea of them also…

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STEIN: I want to see a return to the republicans like Dwight Eisenhower, balance the budget,small government, civil rights, no foreign adventures, keep the corporate people under control, watch them like hawks and that’s the Dwight Eisenhower Republicans and we’ve drifted far away. If we lose this election, it’s a chance for the party to return to its basics.

If they would just add in some social programs, I think I could be this kind of republican. But it’s the yearning for social programs that kicks me out of that party and into the literal/Democratic party.

Stein’s idea of a republican is also not what the GOP is practicing these days. Today they are all about super-sized spending and super-sized intrusive government. But that is for another blog…I want to talk about a couple of comments I’ve received.

Obama’s plans don’t actually help you. They provide a short-term benefit, but in the long term, even from a welfare point of view, are detrimental, as those who create jobs and wealth will slowly withdraw from the system.

Reading your message, it seems that you are saying that you feel entitled to take the fruit of my labor and utilize it for your own needs. I had always thought that you were a liberal, not a communist. Punishing those of us who work hard, and pair that hard work with a great deal of risk, will destroy our desire to achieve. When that happens, there will be no one left to steal from, I mean over-tax.

Another thing that Obama will ruin is charity. I have given around $15k to the food pantry at my church this year. When I close the doors at my business, or even if I stay open, who is going to fullfill the void I leave? Are you going to give a portion of the money, stolen from me by Obama’s big government, to this food pantry? Doubtful. And because these folks won’t be serviced by the pantry, Obama gets his wish - greater dependance on government help. This will snowball out of control…

There is so much wrong with this and other comments I’ve seen, such as

There is nothing in the constitution that provides for social programs from the federal government. If you want food stamps or free health care, get if from your State. but I am clearly for a far less big and intrusive Federal government that you are. I’m not sure if you recognize limits on Federal power. Is there anything that you think the federal government should not provide? Food (stamps), Housing, job training, daycare, health care, dental care? subsidized mortgages, subsidized anything?

There seems to be this misconception that the only who people would benefit from Obama’s tax breaks are the poorest of poor, or when Obama comes into office it will be food stamps and free healthcare for everyone. There is also this misconception that Obama is talking about implementing this new idea of a progressive tax system and a rebate via a new concept called the earned income child tax credit. Since both of the these programs were not only invented by High-adored Conservative Republicans, but were also strengthen by what I have been told is the “Obama version of the Republican party”, Ronald Regan, I am completely baffled by the outrage.

What both persons commenting don’t understand is that there will always be the poorest of the poor who get food stamps and free-healthcare. It doesn’t matter what president in office so that argument should be out to rest.

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Just because a Democrat is in the oval doesn’t mean the poor will get more free-stuff, just look at the biggest welfare reformer of all times, Bill Clinton, if you doubt that. Even that is not the issue though, the issue is … so what? So what if more people get more in food stamps and some kind of healthcare? Is it a drain on our economy? Yes, but so was that bridge to nowhere that Palin said no thanks to, when she really didn’t and even after she said she did, she kept the damn money. So is the billions that have been mismanaged in the Iraq war. But those are Republican-made spending so they are not evil and despotic, it’s only evil and despotic when the money will go to help a newborn get their polio vaccination or an 4.0 A student pay for their college.

Do I want my friends money taken from him and given to me so I can go out and party like it’s 1999? No. Do I want the same kind of tax-break that Donald Trump has been given over the last 8 years? Yes! Why does he deserve it more than me? Because he is wealthy and he employs thousands of people? Because if he doesn’t get it, then he will pack up and leave the country?

Bullshit on both accounts. First and foremost, under Obama he’ll have to fire his employees,close his doors and move to Ireland. Ya know what? Good, get the fuck out, we don’t want your unpatriotic, extorting ass here anyway and I don’t care how many people you employ! Because guess what? This is America and we still have the best of the best of anything, health professionals,retail stores,entertainment and while you may

Image via Wikipedia

decide to move out, you’ll damn sure be back every chance you get to patronize us in some way.

I want to see all walks of life in this country get some kind of fair taxation, I want to see everyone in this country come together and help one another and I am the unpatriotic one? But when a business owner threatens to send his employees into the financial ruin, leave the country and give another country his buisness and employ their citizens, he’s the patriot? Bullshit!

“I’ll give less to charity” is another reason why we shouldn’t vote for Obama. Again, Bullshit! You cannot hold a gun to a poor person head and threaten them with death if a certain president is elected and call that patriotism. I know Tony Soprano would, but come on! You are extorting churches and charities now to prove your point?

NO, what you are doing is taking your ball and going home because you are pissed that you didn’t win the game. It’s a temper tantrum plain and simple.

This is a great analogy for those against the current progressive tax system

If you went to dinner with 10 people from your company, and you made more than everyone else, and everyone ordered the same exact meal, how do you divide the check?

The bill comes to 100 dollars. (I like round numbers.)

Because you make more than everyone else… you are now required to pay $50 for the meal.

Three of the people make middle income, so they have to pay $15 each.

Three more people make a modicum of income. They pay $5 dollars a piece.

The other three get their meal and the receive $3.33 to go home with.

Is that fair?

To some, it is. To others, it is not.

Is that fair? Of course in a perfect world it is not. Just because some people are more wealthy than others they shouldn’t be forced to pay more. But this is not a perfect or even fair world. For the last 8 years, using the ‘dinner tab’ analogy, the middle income guy has shouldered not only his share, but the share of the bottom guy and the top guy because the poor guy will never have the money no matter who is president and under the current administration and the McCain administration, the top guy isn’t paying his share either. Obama wants to change this, he wants to make the top guy pays his full share so it gives the middle guy a little bit of a break.

This is not socialism. This is not me taking money from my rich friends. This is me telling my rich friends that I can no longer pay my share and their share of the costs to live in the country.

Even Warren Buffet’s blasted the current tax system

Buffett cited himself, the third-richest person in the world, as an example. Last year, Buffett said, he was taxed at 17.7 percent on his taxable income of more than $46 million. His receptionist was taxed at about 30 percent.

No, the richest 1% shouldn’t have to have their money taken from them to pay for the people who will always look for the handout, but neither should I.

No, the richest 1% shouldn’t be the only ones to pay for our schools,roads, military and law enforcement, but I shouldn’t be the one to shoulder my burden of the cost and their burden of the cost.

Will Warren Buffet benefit less than his secretary will benefit more is the question. As long as he is paying his share and not making her pay hers and his portion, both will benefit. More money in her pocket gives her more money to spend on his products.

I understand why someone would take their business and their money to another country if their taxes were outrageously high. Rolling back George Bush’s tax credit does not constitute ‘outrageously high’ though.

I understand that noone wants to pay more taxes but don’t ever tell me that you should not have carry your burden of the cost to live in this country because you make more money than me. We all pay to live in this society and if we want to be safe and have a strong military we will have to pay for them, so stop demanding that you should get to pay less because you make so much more.

I love my wealthy friend to death and will miss him when he moves. And while he won’t be able to count on the same things in his new country that I can count on here, what he can count on is that under John McCain, I will still here paying my share and his share ensuring that this country will be here for him when decides to come home and shop. I only hope I will be able to bear this burden and not give up on my country and become one of the poor who is forced to live off the system or else he won’t have a motherland to come back to.

The wealthy can give up and move to another country if they are taxed, but the middle class, when they finally give up or just break will have nowhere to go except to the food stamp office.

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Who, may you ask, is my favorite Vice Presidential Candidate?

No it’s not Sarah Palin.  Palin is exciting the Republican Party base, and although she has made a few gaffes to the press, they have not been particularly hilarious ones, nor have they been particularly numerous, but let me tell you about this guy, he’s just a regular Joe:  Joe Biden.

How much of a regular Joe is he?  Well unlike most politicians, he’s not afraid of ethnic humor.  Or racism as it’s usually called by the politically correct class.  Jewish jokes?  He’s got a million of them! 

The Yeshiva crew team, he said, sent a spy to Cambridge to find out why the Harvard rowers always beat them. The informant called his coach from alongside the river. “He said, ‘They’ve got eight guys rowing and only one yelling!’ “

Oy that’s funny!

Indians?  He’s got that market covered too!

“You cannot go to a 7-Eleven or a Dunkin’ Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent.”

“I’m not joking!”

Come on, give yourself some credit!

Black jokes?  Decide for yourself.  When speaking about Senator Obama, he said:

“The first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy.”

Well take that Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton.  Better start bathing more often.

OK that’s not the funniest line I’ve ever heard, but it did dish out a lot of cringing.  Still, amazingly, Biden emerged from these brushes relatively unscathed.  Of course some of his gaffes are just misstatements and slips of the tongue.  No one seriously worries that he referred to Barack Obama as Barack America, or constantly confusing Battalions and Brigades.

But some are just bizarre, such as when he seemed to be threatening his running mate if Obama tried to take his guns.

“…he tries to fool with my Beretta, he’s got a problem.”

“I guarantee you Barack Obama ain’t taking my shotguns, so don’t buy that malarkey,”

Although Beretta does make shotguns, something tells me that Biden doesn’t have a Beretta made shotgun.  I’m unsure that he even has shotguns; at least not now.  I suspect the Secret Service probably went into his home and confiscated them.

But really there are so many gaffes, I couldn’t even begin to cover them all:  attacking his own attack ads, his helicopter forced down in Afghanistan, Roosevelt’s 1929 TV appearance to the country, claiming Bush sent the Undersecretary of State to Tehran to meet with Iranian officials, claiming the Joint Chief said that we were losing in Iraq… whew!  It just goes on and on!

Biden had one debate with Gov. Palin.  Oh to have had a few more of those!  Be still my heart!  Now the McCain campaign counts 14 lies; as they call them.  But I’m only interested in a few.

“When we kicked — along with France, we kicked Hezbollah out of Lebanon, I said and Barack said, ‘Move NATO forces in there. Fill the vacuum, because if you don’t know — if you don’t, Hezbollah will control it.’ Now what’s happened? Hezbollah is a legitimate part of the government in the country immediately to the north of Israel.”

Huh?

You could almost swear Biden was on drugs when he said that.  It made no sense, and even Biden fans had to stretch the bounds of credulity to try to make Biden’s statement sound not insane.

Or how about this on the role of the Vice President:

Vice President Cheney has been the most dangerous vice president we’ve had probably in American history. The idea he doesn’t realize that Article I of the Constitution defines the role of the vice president of the United States, that’s the Executive Branch. He works in the Executive Branch. He should understand that. Everyone should understand that.

And the primary role of the vice president of the United States of America is to support the president of the United States of America, give that president his or her best judgment when sought, and as vice president, to preside over the Senate, only in a time when in fact there’s a tie vote. The Constitution is explicit.

The only authority the vice president has from the legislative standpoint is the vote, only when there is a tie vote. He has no authority relative to the Congress. The idea he’s part of the Legislative Branch is a bizarre notion invented by Cheney to aggrandize the power of a unitary executive, and look where it has gotten us. It has been very dangerous.

Article One does mention the Vice President in section two:

Clause 4: The Vice President of the United States shall be President of the Senate, but shall have no Vote, unless they be equally divided.

Clause 5: The Senate shall chuse their other Officers, and also a President pro tempore, in the Absence of the Vice President, or when he shall exercise the Office of President of the United States.

But article one describes the role of the legislative branch, not the executive branch.  In fact, the only specific duties of the Vice President are those mentioned in Article One.   I guess the constitution was not explicit enough for Biden, since he got so much wrong.  This would have been an OK answer coming from Palin, but Palin was actually more correct on the duties of the Vice President than Biden was.  The Vice President can preside over the Senate at any time, not just to break a tie vote.  The question is more, what Vice President would want to?

Biden’s extraordinarily dumb answer is made all the more amazing by the fact that he is an attorney by training, and has sat on the Senate Judiciary Committee for over 16 years.  If there has ever been a Vice Presidential candidate more prepared to elaborate on the duties of the Vice President, it should have been Biden.

Naturally the media declared Biden the winner of the debate.

But his biggest boner (to date) was his promise that Obama would be tested within 6 months of being in office:

“Mark my words, it will not be six months before the world tests Barack Obama like they did John Kennedy. The world is looking. We’re about to elect a brilliant 47-year-old senator president of the United States of America. Remember I said it standing here if you don’t remember anything else I said. Watch, we’re gonna have an international crisis, a generated crisis, to test the mettle of this guy.”

“I can give you at least four or five scenarios from where it might originate and he’s gonna need help. And the kind of help he’s gonna need is, he’s gonna need you - not financially to help him - we’re gonna need you to use your influence, your influence within the community, to stand with him. Because it’s not gonna be apparent initially, it’s not gonna be apparent that we’re right.”

“Gird your loins.”

Once again: Huh?

Trying to figure out what Biden was trying to say has been great sport over the weekend, but the Obama Biden campaign has decided to dismiss it as “rhetorical flourish.”

If Biden were a Republican the talking heads would still be chattering about his crazy statements.  The word erratic would be used towards him rather than John McCain.  There would probably be a few other words used to: crazy. madman, nuts, damaged… I could go on but you get the point.

These words won’t be used about Biden though, and in fact, the media hasn’t paid much attention to him at all.  Palin has been the far more interesting Vice Presidential candidate.  Given Biden’s ego, that must be driving him nuts.  Of course, that could be the reason for all of Biden’s crazy statements.  Maybe they are not gaffes after all.  Maybe he is trying to say … LOOK AT MEEEEEEEE!

Because he knows that we are all Americans and it doesn’t matter if we live in small towns or big cities…”We All Love This Country”

You can either search congress for the ‘anti-americans’.Travel only in the ‘real’ America while dividing yourself from the rest of America..You can keep throwing every attack you can find, whether that be visiting his dying grandmother on a campaign plane, or because he said in down times people hold on to their religion.

Or, you can unite and believe “in the future we can build together..”

Why Obama?

…if one voice can change a room, then it can change a city, and if it can change a city it can change a state, and if it can change a state it can change a nation, and if it can change the nation it can change the world...

If you can listen to end of that and not feel hope. Not feel inspiration, not feel that “Yes, we can…” Yes, we can be better, we can do better, we can do anything if we stand together…. then Vote for McCain because there is nothing more I or anyone else can do to help you decide.

If you would rather listen to the same old attacks that lost McCain the Republican nomination in 2000? Tune into Fox news or watch any McCain ad, because he has hired the same attack dogs that George Bush used against him.

But if you want change, If you want unity, if you want an end to the last 8 years of division. Vote Obama.

Why Obama?

Sure, it’s easy to be cynical and say it can’t be done… One voice can’t do anything. One man can’t change anything. Why should we hope for anything?

There has never been anything false about hope…. When we have faced down impossible odds, we we’ve been told we’re not ready or we shouldn’t try, or that we can’t.. Generations of Americans have responded……. Yes we can!

Why Obama?

Because… with him we can be the America that is prosperous, caring, respected, feared and envied.

Don’t roll your eyes… Yes, we can.

Image by davefishernc via Flickr

Do you ever wonder if they understand what it is exactly that this guy is doing?

Wouldn’t you think that somewhere along the way, someone would have taken them aside and said “Hey, you see that guy with the funny looking doo-hickey on his shoulder? Yeah, him. Well, he’s not playing a mutated trombone, he’s actually recording you..you know, on tape.” Someone along the way should have clued these guys in.

In 2000, John McCain was running for president. He lost the nomination but while he was running he made some great comments, such as this one.

Girl asking question…”Isn’t it like socialism and stuff….that’s their money not the governments, How is that fair?”

John McCain’s answer…”When you reach a certain level of comfort, there is nothing wrong with paying somewhat more”

huh…

Well, I guess he can just claim ‘mad cow’ and keep calling Barack a socialist for following his general tax plan from 2000,2003,2004. The plan that called for getting rid of the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy and letting the people who are a little more comfortable, pay a little more.

Or, someone could explain to him how a video camera works.

I would think it would be embarrassing to have your running mate promise to support and if elected, enact these polar opposite policies. But then again….She told congress “Thanks, but no thanks for that bridge to nowhere” when she really didn’t tell them that.

Of course neither McCain nor Palin want to spend excessive amounts of money for fruu-fruu things, stuff they like to call ‘pork’. They don’t want to waste tax-payers money. But she isn’t above wasting tax-payers donations.

It’s funny, because when John Edwards billed his campaign for 2 $400 haircuts, the entire atmosphere went insane. When Palin does it..ehh not so much. Maybe it’s because she really needed the swag she bought, being a hockey mom from a small town ain’t cheap ya know.

• $75,000 at Neiman Marcus
• $50,000 at Saks Fifth Avenue.
• $789.72 at Barneys New York

It’s takes alot of money to dress,shoe, and coif a family of 7 plus one boyfriend.

It’s really telling of a persons

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character and judgment, that while Joe the plummer was watching his retirement shrink every day during the economic meltdown, the Governor was out shopping in the Big city. Those small towns might be where the “real” America lives, but New York City is where the “real” Governor of Alaska shops. It’s a shame she couldn’t find a “mom and pop” store, or a start-up clothes bouitque in some of those small towns she’s been visiting lately. Because I’m sure that with the way this ecomony has been lately, they could have used the $150,000 more than Neiman Marcus. Not saying that Neiman didn’t need the money, I’m sure they are suffering also. It’s just that I find it a bit hypocritical to run a campaign on the backs of small towns,small businesses,UN-elitistism, and Anti-excessiveness and then go on a shopping spree with donation from tax-payers in the biggest city on earth.

Speaking of wasteful pork, and extreme excess.

In separate filings, the state was billed about $25,000 for Palin’s daughters’ expenses and $19,000 for her husband’s.

Flights topped the list for the most expensive items, and the daughter whose bill was the highest was Piper, 7, whose flights cost nearly $11,000, while Willow, 14, claimed about $6,000 and Bristol, 17, accounted for about $3,400.

One event was in New York City in October 2007, when Bristol accompanied the governor to Newsweek’s third annual Women and Leadership Conference, toured the New York Stock Exchange and met local officials and business executives. The state paid for three nights in a $707-a-day hotel room. Garnero said the governor’s office has the authority to approve hotel stays above $300.

Asked Monday about the official policy on charging for children’s travel expenses, Garnero said: “We cover the expenses of anyone who’s conducting state business. I can’t imagine kids could be doing that.”

I guess $11,000 for airplane tickets for a 7 year old is fiscally responsible and I also guess that when Joe the plumber visits the Big Apple he stays in a $700 a day hotel. … I really guess I should have been a plumber.

OH and if you think people are only talking about this because the MSM is so slanted and so biased against Sarah Palin? I have a haircut for you.

so please, spare me the ‘woe is me’.

Let’s break this $150,000 down and see if maybe it’s explainable. The average American spent about $1800 on clothes in 2006, that means it would take Joe the plumbers 83 years to spend what Palin did in a matter of hours. It’s not just the amount that was spent, but the timing of it also. The down-to-earth, mother of 5, small-town Governor was out having her day of shopping and coiffing in the early weeks of September. Also going on in early September, John McCain was saying that “The economy is fundamentally sound”, and I guess if I was watching my running mate spend that kind of dough, I would think everything was rainbows and unicorns also. But those of us in ‘real’ America, the America that doesn’t have $5,000 for make-up, we were watching the collapse of Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac, the bankrupty of Lehman Brothers and JP Morgan and the sale of Merrill Lynch. The 1st weeks of September, while Governor Palin was out shopping for extreme high end clothes, our financial world was collapsing.

But Joe, is “scared for America” if Barack gets elected?

No, it’s not explainable. Not even the explanation from the McCain camp of “They’ll be donated to charity,” is good enough. I can understand her need for clothes, I cannot understand her need of $150,000 worth of clothes for her, her husband,her daughters, her daughters boy friend, and her baby. I cannot understand that at all. I further cannot comprehend how this is proof of ‘fiscal responsibility’ or how anyone can keep campaigning that they will change Washington, they will make famous anyone who tries to spend too much,and they are the conservative party that doesn’t want to spread your wealth around. My only thought is that maybe this is what the members of the Republican party meant for their donation to go to. Maybe while they were sitting the kitchen of their home that was about to be foreclosed on, hoping they could get a few more miles on the balding tires, hoping that gas would go down just a few more cents so that they could start buying just a little more food for their children,believing that John McCain and Sarah Palin were the mavericks who were going to shake up the Government and stop all the wasteful spending,maybe while they were shorting their power bill by $25 so they could send in any kind of donation to help McCain and Palin get into the White House, maybe they knew that their money would go to her shoe fund. I’m sure they are proud that their children didn’t have new shoes to start school with this September, because they understand that Sarah Palin, her family, and her daughters boy friend needed new clothes from Sak’s Fifth Ave instead of, Target,Ross, or even the substandard white trashy stores like Belks or Dillards. Little Joe can be proud of his faded out tee-shirts and last year’s school back-pack he had to re-use, because really, they do look like a million dollars in front of the cameras…

and that is what’s important and what matters today. Because in today’s world, Michelle Obama’s off-the-rack $148 dress is the ‘real’ definition of elitism.

Wake up people! Wake up and look at your fiscally irresponsible ticket! They aren’t taking your money and giving to seniors who have lost everything in the meltdown, they aren’t taking your money to give healthcare to all the children in the United States. They aren’t spreading the wealth to the other 95% of the population,they are taking your money while your retirement portfolio is losing 50% of it’s value and they are shopping with it.

Let them eat cake?…you betcha!

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Like many people, many of my bad habits were introduced to me by older cousins. It was older cousins who introduced my teenaged self to the illicit joy of a warm beer. What could be cooler than that? I learned a lot from older cousins; many of those things I’ve spent years trying to unlearn. But not everything learned from older cousins was an illicit evil though. One of the more benign habits I was introduced to by an older cousin was Saturday Night Live.

Live from New York…

When SNL premiered in 1975, there was nothing like it on television. It looked like a bunch of drugged out hippies had taken over the studios after the adults went home for the night. I don’t know if that was the purposeful intent or carefully crafted image, but it gave the impression that if you were watching the show, you were in on an illicit inside joke.

That was the SNL of the 1970’s. Saturday Night Live now, and for many years, has been part of the mainstream. Of course to me, mainstream means the same drugged out hippies took a bath, switched to wine and cocaine, and started collecting six figure salaries. In media terms, mainstream means liberal, as three decades of Weekend Updates will attest. But this year, things s