Thursday, October 30, 2008

Obama's Tax Plan

For those of you who are curious about Obama's Tax Plan, here it is in all of its details.

Simply put, this plan is far from the big bad old Marx. It gives 95% of American workers (none of those pesky "welfare queens" here) a tax cut of $500 per worker.

In addition, seniors making less than $50,000 will pay no taxes.

The big bad tax burden that supposedly is Obama's sinister plan to destroy the landed gentry? He will let the Bush tax cuts expire, moving the wealthy back up to a 39% instead of 36% tax bracket. In addition, the wealthy (to an extent) will have to pay a bit more into Social Security.

What about small business owners, like the hypothetical situation tied to Joe the fake Plumber? Remember that $250,000 figure is on net income, not gross revenue. If you take home $150,000 from your business, even though it has $2,000,000 in revenue, you still fall in to the tax bracket that will benefit. In addition, your startup or small business will not have to worry about capital gains taxes, and can benefit from tax credits for keeping employment here in the United States.

Obama's plan is sound, its equitable, and it will work. The rich will still be rich, and the rest of us might be able to find it just a little bit easier to succeed. The Obama administration would be best positioned to keep the American dream alive for all Americans, and not just those with money or connections.

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

On Sarah Palin

With election day just one doggone week away, you betcha I've got something to say about Joe...er...Sarah Palin. Now while I admit that I'm a fan of her accent, there are several things that, for a lack of more appropriate word, disturb me. First of all is her complete opposition against abortion. I understand that this is not anything new, but to not even consider the effect on a woman's rights to her body is a slap in the face to everyone who saw Roe v. Wade as a victory. Now, I don't mind people being pro-choice. I understand their reasoning. However, the idea that outlawing an abortion, even for extreme situations, is going to STOP abortion is just outright insane. When you oppose the legality of abortion, effectively you are opposing the opportunity for a woman to be in a safe, hygenic environment instead of a dark back alley with a coat hanger. On a different note; don't even get me started on the irony of advocating abstinence only education in schools. I was hoping her teenage daughter's pregnancy would be enough to show that knowledge is more important than dogma, and yet somehow she spinned it into trying to back up her logic. No doubt she's tought young Bristol well.
Should I go into "Dude" Palin? No? The moose hunting from a helicopter? Well, let me just say...I think the Beverly Hillbillies is a classic show but I wouldn't want the Clampetts in the White House. Swimmin' pools and politicans indeed. Now that I think of it, Palin's similarities to Jethro Bodine is just astounding.
Let's talk about the VP debate. While I grant that she did well, she didn't do well on her own. She was rehearsed, trained, and sounded more like she was reciting than truly speaking. I may sound like an elite liberal when I say this, but I also preferred Biden's "kitchen table" analogy over "Joe Six-pack" to represent the average American lifestyle.
As an environmental biology major, her "drill, baby, drill!" logic just makes me cringe completely. The only saving grace is that she wants to do it offshore...but ultimately whats next is going for the payload situated right under National Parks. Lobbyists have been trying to get resources out of parks before and this is nothing new, but I can see it escalating with having such a drilling gung-ho in office. Let me take a time out here to say something else: The thing that gets me is that this election I've noticed how oh-so cleverly "independence from foreign oil" has been played around by all sides. What REALLY should be focused on is independence from oil PERIOD. However, thats simply an ideal of my own and I can't realistically expect any politician to take that stance and still win an election.
Palin's readiness to joke about Obama's lack of experience is just frustrating, simply because she usually then throws in "as mayor of Wasilla.." which to me speaks no more than saying "oh I was President of the Student Body in college!" She also touts Alaska as the biggest state in the Union without mentioning that it has one of the smallest populations. I read somewhere the hypocrisy of a white woman attending 5 schools and not being called on it while if a black man did the same it would do nothing more than perpetuate a stereotype.
On a final note before I get rambling too much (more)...the insane logic behind those bitter die-hard Hillary supporters who turned to McCain-Palin...excuse me....Palin-McCain because of the idea that a uterus would be in the White House. Never mind what Palin stands for is a stark contrast from Clinton or that their hero Clinton has now enthusiastically endorsed Obama. I have no doubt in my mind that the minds behind the McCain campaign picked Palin largely because of her gender. The joke may be on them though; she's such a MAVERICK she's starting to piss them off too.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Scary Story from Rolling Stone

This story from Rolling Stone is very troublesome. I hope that the crap doesn't hit the fan, and cause the wrong candidate to win.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

A request for Ms. Pfotenhauer and Gov. Palin

Dear Ms. Pfotenhauer and Gov. Palin,

I have to ask that you repeat your recent comments. You see, I missed them as I drove through the dimensional barrier between Mahomet, IL (Real America) and Champaign, FIL (Fake America) on my way to work today.


What's that? I can't hear you, it must be my fake American ears.

Jon Stewart said it best, and much more succinctly than a 2000 word rambling mess from me could.

On the Economy

After a discussion with a friend of mine yesterday, I got to thinking about economic politics. He was hesitant about Obama's economic plan, and I was trying to convince him of its soundness. After a while we agreed that the matter was complicated, and that something needed to be done. But before we came to that, he offered up some of the GOP's tried and true talking points.

Look, I'm a fan of the free market. For the most part it does its job well, rewarding good business activity, and punishing poor business activity. Although it has some glaring weaknesses (health care, education, environment, workers rights), it is much better than state run disasters such as the U.S.S.R.

The people of the United States like thinking this is a nation built on meritocracy, that it matters more what you do than what your father did. We have been raised to believe that with some hard  work, common sense, and a little luck and ingenuity we could succeed. 

But it is becoming harder and harder to achieve the American Dream. The discrepancy between the rich and poor has been growing steadily since the Reagan/Bush era, with only a temporary respite during the 90s. In fact, of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development nations, only Mexico and Turkey have a worse rich/poor discrepancy during this decade. The poor get poorer and the rich get richer, while the ever shrinking middle class struggles to hang on to what they have.

We have many issues facing our country, many problems to solve. But we will never solve them unless we move past the outmoded arguments of the past. 

Barack Obama's tax plan is a fair one. In exchange for a little higher taxes for the wealthy, 95% of the country will see their tax burden become lower. This total includes all but about 1% of small business owners, who will also see some other significant tax breaks. Joe the Plumber (who has been revealed as nothing more than a GOP shill) and his $40,000 salary would benefit significantly under Obama's plan. As the $250,000 would be net income from a small business, not revenue, it is very likely that he could still benefit once he bought his business.

In response to this, the GOP has brought out their old line of attack that has been around since at least 1980. Namely, that the poor are lazy welfare queens driving gold Cadillacs over the backs of the hard-working and earnest rich folk. This seems to play well with the low information working class voters, who have much more in common with the poor than the rich. 

The idea that there is an epidemic of women gaming the system to live high on the hog off of welfare is nothing but a urban myth. Using the obvious shortcomings of the welfare program, Reagan was able to turn people against the poor, and make them weary of any program meant to help those who live at the bottom of the economic ladder.

While there are certainly some poor people who do try to game the system (as if there aren't wealthy people who do the same thing), the vast majority of poor people are hard workers. They have to be, as the national welfare system was essentially scrapped by President Clinton and the GOP Congress in 1996. Many work two or three jobs, trying to keep up with their bills and give their children the best job possible. Despite the fact that they don't pay taxes, the extra money they will earn as a tax credit from Obama's plan could go far in feeding or clothing their children. 

So what is the solution? Clearly, the "trickle-down" philosophy of the Reagan/Bush/McCain Republicans is not working out for those on the bottom, even if it has helped those on top. Just as undesirable is a return to the bureaucratic mess that was the welfare state in the 1970s. Somehow there has to be a way we can combine the best of the free market with the best of pro-active government action. 

Whatever the solution, it is certain that Republicans and Democrats, young and old, rich and poor, should be involved. No matter our political leanings or wealth, this is our country, and it is about damn time we started taking responsibility for it.  Barack Obama has shown more promise in regards to bringing us together to solve these issues. This is one of many reasons why I am supporting him in his bid for the President of the United States.

Monday, October 20, 2008

Obama to visit his sick grandmother

Our thoughts and prayers are with Senator Obama and his family. May his grandmother recover and see her grandson be inaugurated as our 44th President.

Sunday, October 19, 2008

Words of Wisdom

This post from Al Giordano over at the field is something that everyone should read. I must admit that too often I have reacted with too much anger at the words of the ignorant. However, engaging them peacefully can certainly be a good way to defuse the situation, and make them remember, if only for a while, their manners and rules of civility.

In other news, today was a pretty good day for Obama. His campaign announced a massive $150 million haul during September, and Colin Powell endorsed him for the presidency. Despite his infamous appearance before the UN that helped lead us to the mess in Iraq, Powell is still a very respected figure in American politics. The right wing attack machine has already geared up, screeching that Powell made this endorsement entirely on race (despite Powell's words that clearly showed otherwise).

We're down to 15 days folks. The end of this chapter of the American story is in sight. 

Game on!

Friday, October 17, 2008

The Return of McCarthyism?



So it has come to this. The wingnut faction of the Republican party (a faction that is entirely too large in that once great party), desperate to take down Senator Obama, has started implying Senator Obama is un-American.

I know Michelle Bachmann isn't exactly a model of sane statesmanship, but she isn't alone. Republicans as high up as Vice-Presidential nominee Sarah Palin have certainly implied how "dangerous" Obama and his associates are.

The facts to dispute their claims are too numerous and too easy to locate to repeat here. After all, this is a blog, not a 1000 page scholarly work.

Instead, I'll focus on the worrisome nature of her comments. This kind of hateful and undemocratic language hasn't been so prevalent since the days of Joe McCarthy. When did being a "liberal" become synonymous with being Anti-American? Without liberal concepts such as liberty, representative government, and basic and inalienable rights, our great experiment in democracy might not have lasted long enough for nutjobs like Bachmann to have the right to spout their gibberish on TV. I'm sure that has never crossed her addled mind.

But things aren't all lost. After that mess of an appearance on Hardball, concerned citizens have spoken with their pocketbook against the hate of Rep. Bachmann. Her opponent, Elwyn Tinklenberg, has collected about $60,000 just in the few hours since her tired rant. Us "Anti-American" associates of Barack Obama are doing what we can to make sure she has a bad election night.

In other news, the LA Times, the Chicago Tribune, and the Denver Post have all given Senator Obama their endorsement. The Trib endorsement is especially of note, as its history and the history of the Republican party are intertwined. This is the first time that the paper has ever endorsed a Democrat. My how the Republican party has fallen.

Click Here to support Elwyn Tinklenberg

Click Here to support Barack Obama

A fun, if pointless, diversion

This is nothing more than a fun diversion, but it is interesting nonetheless.

Cheer up, Senator McCain. At Least Burkina Faso and the former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia is pulling for you.

Sadly, expect too many Americans to revel in the fact that they support the candidate that the rest of the world isn't too keen on.

More on that Republican Nuttiness about ACORN




My fellow readers, here is some more defense against the dark arts of Karl Rove and his Fox minions. Please use this, as well the link in my earlier post to defend against any Fox News bs that friends, co-workers, or relatives might blather.

They come at you with ACORN? Use the facts.
They come at you with Ayers? Use the facts (including mentioning G. Gordon Liddy).
They come at you with racist or OBUMMA IS A MUSLIN !!!1! crap? Do your best to keep from insulting them, and use the facts.

It is one thing if McCain was right on the issues. But he is not, and he knows it. The only way he can take this election is by spreading falsities about Senator Obama, by trying to rile up the low information Republicans and tamp down the enthusiasm of the Democratic supporters.

Don't let him and those who support him get away with this.

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Thoughts on the Last Debate

Overall, the debate was a good one for Obama, and not nearly enough for McCain to start any sort of rally. Senator McCain got a good line about Bush off, but Obama pivoted pretty well off of it. The William Ayers farce was handled well by Obama, and he just wailed on McCain on the health care and education topics.

Independent voters appear to agree with this, giving Obama a comfortable margin over McCain after the debate. CBS had Obama 53% to McCain 22%, and CNN had Obama over McCain 58-31.

Thus begins the last chapter of this election cycle, the last stretch to that high holy day of democracy, election day. I hope to see you along the way, adding my own thoughts as we head there.

Siggghhhhhhh



The title says it all. I pity these close minded people, I really do. They won't accept common sense, and they are filled with cowardly hate and ignorance.

When the hell did the party of Abraham Lincoln and Robert M. LaFollette, the party of Teddy Roosevelt and Dwight Eisenhower become little more than a Klan rally? It is a dark time for the Grand Old Party, a dark time indeed.

Republicans: Just Frigging Nuts

This picture is of a Republican in a stupid squirrel suit attacking Harry Smith. Apparently it is part of the Republican strategy to take down Obama. Not by offering solutions or fielding reasonable candidates, but by bitching about ACORN. What is ACORN, you ask?


Yes folks, apparently the Republicans, the party who pretty much stole the election in 2000, and likely stole some votes in Ohio in 2004, are complaining about Mickey Mouse being registered to vote. I'm sure that a few errant registrations, many of which were marked as fraudulent by ACORN, explains why Obama has a sizable lead on John McCain.

Why, On a day where the Dow dropped another 700+ points, do the Republicans just want to talk about ACORN and Ayers? Because they have no other strategies to play. The Democrats consistently beat them on issues, so its up to Silly Season to take the opponent down. They figure if they stomp their feet hard enough about NOBAMA the TERRURIST, maybe they can reach the magic number of 270.

Hopefully people aren't buying it, are finally getting wise to the stupidity of the GOP's game. Hopefully people realize that the Republicans have lost touch with reality, and that it is time for real change.

My idealistic side hopes that this is correct. But my side that sat through 2004 and watched Karl Rove and his minions tear down John Kerry still makes me worried. Fortunately, Barack Obama is a much better candidate than Senator Kerry.

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

The List: 10 States to Watch on Nov. 4

Every Tuesday between now and November 4, we'll be putting out a list of 10 states to watch on Election Day.

10. West Virginia

Why it might be important

This state was one of the worst for Obama in the primary, but recent polls have shown a potential for victory here. The very fact Joe Biden is talking about a surprise in the state shows how far McCain has fallen since his post-convention bounce. If this isn't called quickly for McCain (or called early for Obama), expect a wonderful night for the junior senator from Illinois.

Why it might not be so important

Despite some promising polls, the road is probably still far too daunting for Obama to take this state. Although it might not be called immediately at 7:30, it probably will still be called fairly early for Senator McCain.

Direction: Rising

9. Wisconsin

Why it might be important
Despite polls showing the Badger State solidifying for Obama, McCain appears to still feel he has chance in this state. Although its middle of the pack closing time doesn't make it an early indicator, it could still point to the direction in which the night will conclude.

Why it might not be so important
If the polls slide more to Obama's favor, this state will probably move to the likely Obama list, instead of the lean Obama list. With so many indicator states closing before Wisconsin, it very likely will not be a key indicator to the night.

Direction: Falling

8. Missouri

Why it might be important
Missouri is a historical bellwether state. With only 1956 as the exception, Missouri has gone for the winner every year for a long time. For a while this appeared to be a safe McCain state, but Obama has made a push.

Why it might not be so important
McCain is still likely to take the Show-Me State, although excellent GOTV efforts in Kansas City and St. Louis might negate that effect. Like Wisconsin, Missouri is too late to be an early indicator.

Direction: Rising

7. Florida

Why it might be important
Its Florida, and its close. McCain can only win if he takes Florida and Ohio (plus other swing states), and the Sunshine State could be a prime indicator for the election.

Why it might not be so important
Unlike Gore in 2000 and Kerry in 2004, Obama has a path to victory that doesn't require this state (or Ohio). Getting it would be nice, but losing it wouldn't ruin his night (although it would not be good if Florida was called immediately.

Direction: Stagnant

6. Nevada

Why it might be important
Barring a major surprise in Oregon or Washington, Nevada is the farthest west swing state on the map. Whoever wins this state might find themselves the winner of the whole election. Polls are close here, and it is very possible all eyes will be on the Silver State come election night.

Why it might not be so important
Its late poll closing time will mean that it is very possible the election picture will already be cleared up by the time the results start rolling into Carson City.

Direction: Rising

5. Ohio

Why it might be important
Like Florida, this state is crucial for McCain if he wishes to move into 1600 Pennsylvania. If 2004 was any indicator, expect it to be very early in the morning Wednesday before results come in.

Why it might not be so important
If results don't come in until early on November 5, it is very possible the election could be decided before we know the result. As mentioned with Florida, Obama doesn't necessarily need Ohio to win this year, although we are sure he would love to take home the Buckeye State.

Direction: Stagnant


4. Colorado

Why it might be important
Along with the three states above it, Colorado was a state comfortably won by Bush in 2004. However, shifting demographics, changing circumstances, and a much better Democratic ground game have put this state in play. If Obama plays well here, this might be the state that puts him over 270.

Why it might not be so important
Like Nevada, Colorado's polls close much later than several of the other potential swing states. Thus, the election might be decided before Colorado can give its results.

Direction: Rising

3. North Carolina

Why it might be important
Who would have thought four years ago that the Democrats might have a shot in the Tarheel State? North Carolina closes earlier than many states, and could certainly be a major indicator for the night. Whatever the result, the very fact it is in play has to be a victory for Obama.

Why it might not be so important
The polls in Virginia will be closed sooner than the polls here. Thus, it might be Virginia's (or our #1 state) role to play as the early indicator state.

Direction: Rising

2. Virginia

Why it might be important
Virginia (along with Maryland and DC) gave Obama a commanding lead in the Democratic primary, and he is doing his best to make sure the Old Dominion goes blue on November 4. If this is called early for McCain, it might be the first ray of sunlight for his campaign. If it is called late (or called early for Obama), expect it to be a long night for the Republicans.

Why it might not be so important
McCain decides to concede the election, making the point moot. Otherwise, the only way Virginia becomes irrelevant is if the results take too long that other states put Obama over the top.

Direction: Stagnant

1. Indiana

Why it might be important
Although it is likely McCain will come out with a victory in the Hoosier State, it won't be without a fight. Obama has narrowed the gap here, and it could be an interesting night. Indiana is one of the first states to close, so what happens here could be a prime indicator.

Why it might not be so important
If it takes as long on November 4 to call this state as it did the Democratic primary, Indiana could be irrelevant.

Direction: Rising

Thursday, October 9, 2008

Dear President Bush



Dear Mr. President,

Your Administration has been an abject failure. Your unnecessary wars, embarrassing cowboy diplomacy, and general dumbassery has secured your place at the bottom of our Presidential honor list. Hope you like it down there with Warren, Franklin P., James B. and Richard. Please enjoy the last few months of your tenure as this nation dips deeper and deeper into the financial muck. It is oh so bad you didn't get your wish to privatize social security.

Sincerely,

Andrew C. Tate