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.

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.

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.

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!

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.