Wow... if you've been watching the news lately I guess one of the big stories are the "angry people" who are attending townhall meetings hosted by Members of Congress. Most of the meetings shown have been those in areas that are represented by Democrats. Even C-Span showed some of the circus act yesterday.
I watched a Maryland Senator try his best to explain what Healcare/ Insurance Reform actually is. I never realized that so many people have such closed ears and minds. Don't get me wrong, some of the questions they asked were legit. Things like cost, eligibility, coverage etc- all good topics to discuss.
If an actual discussion was part of the agenda. The people who did nothing but yell, scream, and declare they don't want "government" where just so pitiful. Not necessarily for doing the above, but for trying to drown out the discussion. They where hell bent on not letting anyone hear any information. Most of the people were aiming for the tv cameras and egging each other on as if they were in a talent competition.
I guess they really have great healthcare coverage. Or maybe they had nothing else to do other than bring out the can of hate.
I feel for some of these elderly congress folks (ie. Sen. Specter (PA) and Rep. Dingel (MI) ). These folks are in their 80s (or darn close) and they have to deal with all of this evil.
Thank God there is a provision for mental health services in the bills circulating in Congress...
Take a look at this article from Bloomberg.com. In my opinon one of the more interesting priovisions included in the America Recovery and Reinvestmnet Act was the idea of "Buying American". The theory behind it that as our nation recovers from the worst recession in decades, businesses and the like should be using products that are actually made in America.
In theory the idea makes a lot of sense.
In practice, it unfortunately exposes just how much manufacturing the United States does not do. The projects that are ready to roll have to be slowed down because of waiver requests. The waivers are necessary because in certain instances the peice of equipment or part needed is only made in a country outside of the United States.
This of course creates a backlog (temporary as it might be) and of course frustration with our government. I cannot blame folks if they get upset because of these types of delays, for they are ridiculous.
Patience is a true virtue...
Today, NBC News revealed just how angry they were over their inability to scoop the story of former President Bill Clinton's trip to North Korea. The trip of course lead to the release of US journalists Una Lee and Laura Ling.
Andrea Mitchell, who is traveling with Secretary of State Hilary Clinton filed her segment. In it, she decided to play up the "story" of former political rivals. She even managed to find 2008 footage of Bill Clinton critcizing then candidate Barack Obama. Remember the "fairytale" soundbyte? Well if you forgot, good ole' Andrea Mitchell made you remember it again. She of course didn't show Bill Clinton's speech at the DNC Covention in Colorado. Way too much unity and niceness in that segment. The focus must be kept on the "bitter" rivalry.
Was that snippet actually necessary? Have we not moved PAST Campaign 2008? I mean really. It is 2009 and Barack Obama is President. It seems like NBC wants a cage fight between these two men. Yeah. Okay.
Hell hath no fury...
So, I was watching The Rachel Maddow show on MSNBC and she had an interesting story going on. Apparently, the insurance lobby is orchestrating folks to go around and disrupt townhall meetings held in districts controlled by Democrats. These people are doing things such as yelling and screaming. Of course nothing is wrong with yelling and screaming, but when you deny folks who want to legitimately attend a townhall- that's a problem.
The insurance lobby is really pulling out all the stops in order to stop true healthcare reform. I wonder if the group of people who have volunteered to "rowdy up" the townhalls have good healthcare. Maybe they even work for an insurance company. Who knows. I can only hope Democrats in these targeted distrcits remain strong and do not get intimidated.
Evil cannot win.
Well well well, did anyone see how quickly the House of Representatives moved to throw more money into the "Cash for Clunkers" program? As stated before in my previous entry, the government incentive program which allows folks to trade in gas guzzling, CO2 emitting hoopties for newer eco friendly models, has proven to be too successful. The National Dealers Association revealed that the pace of the car sales would far exceed the original $1billion that was allocated to the program.
I wonder if the Senate will approve this additional $2billion. Democratic Senator Clair McCaskill from Missouri is not too fond of using this money for the program. She believes that subsidizing auto purchases for a long period of time is not necessarily a good thing. I understand her point, but I also remember that us taxpayers had to subsidize AIG and the rest of that ilk because the companies were so greedy and lazy as to let crappy toxic assets clog their portfolios.
Shouldn't the average American get a little jolt too? Besides, the more cars purchased maybe the more ordered from plants. The more ordered from plants, the more part suppliers utilized, which in theory could lead to job creation. Maybe I am getting ahead of myself, but who knows.
Bring on the Clunkers!
Now that was fast! Just a mere six days after the program was rolled out, 'Cash for Clunkers' may have to be rolled back in. Evidently the program has been way too successful.
Here is the Washington Post's take on the issue:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/30/AR2009073004122.html
I think this is a great thing the program has almost run out of money. It proves that there is a market out there and given a generous incentive (in this case up to $4,500), folks will buy new cars.
I wonder if the Obama Administration will allow more money to be diverted to the program. While I want to see the US auto industry bounce back, I don't want a big program that may become wasteful. Besides, after all the vouchers are gone, will people stop buying cars?
Let's hope not.
Vroom vroom!
From whitehouse.gov: http://www.whitehouse.gov/health-insurance-consumer-protections/
Insurance companies will be prohibited from refusing you coverage because of your medical history.
Insurance companies will have to abide by yearly caps on how much they can charge for out-of-pocket expenses.
Insurance companies must fully cover, without charge, regular checkups and tests that help you prevent illness, such as mammograms or eye and foot exams for diabetics.
Insurance companies will be prohibited from dropping or watering down insurance coverage for those who become seriously ill.
Insurance companies will be prohibited from charging you more because of your gender.
Insurance companies will be prevented from placing annual or lifetime caps on the coverage you receive.
Children would continue to be eligible for family coverage through the age of 26.
Insurance companies will be required to renew any policy as long as the policyholder pays their premium in full. Insurance companies won't be allowed to refuse renewal because someone became sick.
Boy, did I get some of those facts wrong. In my original post, I had stated the concerned neighbor called the police because they had seen two black men trying to force their way into a house. I was happy to cling to that belief until I heard the 911 tape on television. The concerned neighbor actually said there were two men who were trying to break in. When asked what they looked like, she stated one was Hispanic (although she could not be sure).
On Thursday (07/30/2009), the President, the Police Officer, and the Professor will actually sit down and have beer together at the White House. We don’t know if it will actually be a beer, but the parties involved will meet nonetheless. I don’t expect a monumental shift in race relations to occur. I do hope an open dialogue will take place. Perhaps both sides acted a little stupidly during the initial incident.
So I have been listening to the many voices that have emerged in this healthcare debate. I have heard the folks on the left that really want a single payer system. I like the idea, but the logistics of scraping everyone’s healthcare (including those of us who may be satisfied) to replace it with something run by our government is an overwhelming task. The folks on the right have cried that trying to insure the currently uninsured (which now stands at nearly 46 million) is a form of socialism. I’m not sure how they arrive at that argument. So here I am stuck in the middle.
There is absolutely no doubt in my mind and the minds of millions of Americans that our healthcare system is broken. It is seriously flawed. Families have claimed bankruptcy because they could not pay for the services that insurance decided not to cover. People have been denied coverage because of so-called “pre-existing conditions”. It seems the insurance companies are only willing to cover the young and healthy (or at least the ones who never bother going to a doctor).
Many of us have health insurance only because we have a job, and an employer who can actually afford to pay for coverage. Right now I pay about $30 a week for healthcare coverage, which is about $1,600 a year. If I were to buy my insurance directly from a carrier my cost would be about $2,400 a year- and I would not have the same type of coverage that I had with my employer. That alone is strong signal that something is really wrong with the system.
From what I understand from President Obama, he wants healthcare reform that focuses on reducing costs, increasing choice, and improved services. I noticed one thing that has really made some people uptight is the idea of a “Public Option”. Basically, the federal government would compete with the insurance companies. This competition in theory would force the insurance companies to actually play the game a little more fairly. I like this idea and I think it could work as long as the government doesn’t price itself into being the carrier of choice for folks.
Right now people in Congress (all who have very good healthcare) are battling over the details of the reform. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is very confident that if a bill is voted on in the House, it will pass. Over in the Senate, Majority Leader Harry Reid says his folks need more time. Although 60 of the 100 senate seats are held by Democrats, there is a little group called the “Blue Dogs” (mostly Democrats) that are really concerned with the cost of the plan. I understand this, but I still think some of these “Blue Dogs” are trying to make a name for themselves.
What I do not like, is the idea that healthcare reform needs to be delayed. Reform has been talked about for at least 30 years, how much time do folks need? Certain members of Congress quite frankly could care less about our nation’s uninsured. I say this because a Senator from South Carolina was heard saying that defeating this would be President Obama’s “Waterloo” (a reference to Napoleon and his defeat at Waterloo, which led to Napoleon’s downfall). French history aside, this is not about President Obama. He has great healthcare, as does the South Carolina Senator. The petty politics needs to stop.
Real healthcare reform is long overdue.
Obstructionists should cease and desist.
That last question. That last darned question. President Obama did open up a can of worms when he weighed in on the arrest of Harvard Professor Henry Louis “Skip” Gates. Not that he intended to, for his entire press conference that Wednesday (07/23/09) was supposed to be about Health Care Reform. He spoke with passion and determination about the necessity to have quality Health Care Reform. He also spoke to the idiocy of being politics into the mix.
But there are cops out there that have been trained to focus on the Blacks and Latinos when looking for suspects. They have been taught that if a Black or Latino is walking in a white neighborhood at night, something must be wrong. It is no wonder that South Carolina child killer Susan Smith first said a Black Main in a flannel shirt stole her babies. Or Bostonian Charles Stewart- he shot his pregnant wife in cold blood in a car. He then nicked himself on the side and proclaimed that they had been robbed by Black men. Recently a white woman from Philadelphia claimed that she and her 9 year old daughter had been carjacked and kidnapped by a Black man. She too was a liar. She had stolen money and boarded a plane to Florida with her daughter.
Our society is way too willing to believe the worst of our ills reside in the hearts and minds of its people of color. That way of thinking was used as an excuse to practice slavery, promote Jim Crow, and mandate Racial Profiling. This type of thinking is hard to change. I would like to believe that if nothing else, a true dialogue on Racial Profiling will emerge. Its causes, its effects, and what can be done (if anything) to eliminate it.
That is my hope.
If anyone questions why the insurance industry is so deadset against health care reform, please check out this link.
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/07102009/profile.html
The PBS show Bill Moyers Journal interviewed Wendell Potter, a Cigna whistleblower. Mr. Potter reveals just how greedy the insurance industry is.
People pass this on. Information is key. If we sit on our asses and do nothing- then we deserve what we get.
Dear Democrats (House and Senate)
As a taxpaying citizen of these United States I humbly ask you to stop being afraid. That’s right- you heard me. Stop being afraid. Right now, some members of your party act as if they are still in the minority. This is not 1994 or even 2001. There is no more “Contract with America”- that pitiful false promise was broken a long time ago. There is no Newt Gingrich or Tom Delay. You have a voice now. You hold the majority- stand up and act like it. Your party touts itself as the party of the people. The people have spoken. They elected Barack Hussein Obama as President of the United States (with a large majority I might add).
Our country is in a terrible state right now. The policies of the past 8 years have decimated our economic, ecologic, educational, and healthcare systems. The problems are vast. They are deep, and they will be with us for quite some time.
It is your job to work WITH President Obama. Of course nobody expects you to roll over and do everything he asks. That would be a dictatorship. However what I expect is that the party leaders stop governing as if they are afraid to make mistakes. Here’s a newsflash: You will make mistakes!
Democrats, right now there is a bloody battle going on concerning serious health care reform. The insurance lobby is trying their damndest to bully you into ditching the idea of real reform. They hate the idea of a public option because its very presence would force actual competition. They are trying to twist your arms. They threaten to withhold campaign contributions. Let them threaten. You do not work for them. You work for me and all the folks who voted for (or against) you. We are the voices that you should have ringing in your ears. Our healthcare horror stories should keep you up at night. Think about us. We are depending on you.
Stand Up and Stop Being Afraid!
Sincerely
Andrea,
Fearless Citizen of these United States of America
Dear President Obama,
Let me begin by saying- I’ve got your back. I know that change does not come easily- especially to places like Washington DC. If it were so very easy it would have been done already. I will not lose faith in your ability to make a difference in this country; just like I will not lose faith in my ability. I understand that your job is hard. It is a balancing act. You must show yourself as a leader while at the same time deal with some of your former windbag colleagues. It must be a challenge to have to contend with people who are so angry that you beat them at their own game that they would rather hijack this country than work with you to make it better.
I was touched when you said that the increasing numbers of unemployed people are what keep you up at night. It seems that you actually care about this country and its people. It seems that you realize that this is not a game. This is not a time for petty politics. This is not an extension of November 4, 2008. That day is over- you won and we the people of the United States won as well.
I will continue to pray for you and your administrations because the forces of evil are ready to pounce upon it. Evil cannot stand a threat to its nature and you Mr. President are just that- a threat to the status quo. You have challenged us to think outside of the box and because of that many more of us are watching what is going on in Washington with a vested interest. We will not sit by as Armchair Admirals yelling that the TV set. We have the power of the pen, the blog, and yes the ballot box.
Thank you Mr. President for being the thoughtful, decent, and sincere human being that you are. Keep God first and you can NEVER go wrong. It will all work out.
For several days now, I have listened to the accounts of the goings on in the Senate. The grandstanding, complaining and fake campaigning all done by Senators that quite frankly could care less about what is going on to the millions of people in this country right now. Some of these Senators (yes I am talking about the Republican variety), have been listening too much to Rush Limbaugh or whatever over stimulated right wing windbag that exists in la la land.
These Senators are trying to hide behind the idea that the people they represent don't want big government spending. They are trying to sell us a bill of goods that these people only want lower taxes. Well let me say this: If there are people out there that seriously think that a lower tax bracket is going to solve their problems- then I see how we landed in the economic death spiral we are currently in.
The Republican Senators have decided to do a de facto filibuster. Proposing needless and pointless amendments that have absolutely nothing to do with this Recovery Plan that is before them. I blink in disbelief when John "The Fundamentals of the Economy are Strong" McCain has the nerve to stick out his chest and act as if he is doing Americans a favor. I never knew these Republicans cared so much about spending- Fmr President Bush was allowed to run up the bill for 8 long devastating years, not one peep out of them.
Enough is enough. It is time to put these people out to pasture. They do not represent me nor my ideas and beliefs. The Republicans would rather hijack this country to soothe their wounds than work together to pass a bill that would get our country back on track. Country First? Yeah Right!
January 20, 2009- A day that will forever live in my heart as the day the United States of America decided to reclaim its rightful place as the leader of the free world. When I looked at my television and saw the mass of people waiting eagerly to see Barack Hussein Obama be sworn in as the 44th President- I could not help but think how blessedly ironic that moment was.
There they were at the Capitol- a place that was built by enslaved Africans watching a decendent of those same Africans swear before God that he would faithfully fulfill the duties of the office of the president of the United States.
There they were watching the man look out over the reflecting pool;the same pool that inspired a mass of people to come out in 1963 to hear the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr give his eloquent and timeless "I Have a Dream" speech.
There they were looking at people like Rep. John Lewis- a man who literally was beaten within an inch of his life just because he had the audacity to want Black people to have the same civil rights as White people.
It is a new day people! We have been give all the encouragement and inpiration we need. We cannot stop, we cannot rest. Our task is too great, our target too large. We must continue what was started with generations before us that decided that enough was enough. We must be the change that we seek!
We now get word that the Mavericky one- John McCain decided to upgrade his VP pick.
I'm curious...
How does a campaign who doesn't hesitate to call Sen. Obama an elitist get away with such pricey items?
Was Gov. Palin's Alaskan chic not chic enough for the RNC?
Who paid for this new and improved wardrobe? It seems like the taxpayers (except Joe the Plumber, since he owes OH about $1,100 in back taxes).
Here is the biggest question of all... How is the average person supposed to feel, when they look around and see their refrigerator a little less full, or peek at the gas tank and see that needle never reaching the "F" because getting to the "F" costs too darn much, see their 401K drop like a lead balloon-
How are we supposed to feel when we are experiencing these very difficult economic times and then... word comes out that Sen. Maverick is rolling in so much of taxpayer dough that he has plunked down $150,000 to make his VP look "hot"?
How are we supposed to fee?
We should feel like voting for Sen. Barack Obama.
See you at the polls!
Senator Barack Obama just wrapped up the final debate and put the next to final nail in Senator John McCain’s coffin. Senator Obama was calm, cool, and collected. Senator McCain was angry, jumpy, and odd.
So it would seem that the work is done right? I mean seriously Sen. Obama did his part, so it doesn’t matter. He’s so ahead in the polls that we can just sit back and wait out these last 19 days. Right?
HELL NO!
This is a message to the folks out there who may be lulled into a false sense of security. Senator Obama said today that we need to remember New Hampshire. I remember New Hampshire. The media had declared him the next king of the world and pimped out the polls that showed the senator with a 15% edge over Hilary Clinton. We all know what happened. The campaign pulled back and did not get out the vote and they lost by 2 points.
After New Hampshire there was another primary. After November 4th , there is … nothing.
We as Obama supporters have to take the instructions from Senators Obama and Biden. We must work hard. We must push through the tape. We cannot stop and smell the roses. We must make phone calls. We must canvass. We must encourage those who can vote early to do so. We must arm ourselves with the Obama-Biden plan and tell every undecided voter just why this ticket is better. It is the Economy stupid! It is Education stupid! It is Energy Stupid! It is Health Care stupid! It is Fundamental Change Stupid!
We have been stuck on Stupid for the past eight years. In the words of Michelle Obama- we have been lied to for so long that we don’t know what the truth looks like. We have been lulled into a catatonic state. We have been deceived and mislead. We have been berated for speaking out. We have forgotten what America is supposed to represent. Freedom. Humanity. Justice. Equality.
We must remember what we are fighting for. We are fighting for jobs and the re-emergence of the Middle Class. We are fighting for the revitalization of our cities which have been decimated over these last 8 years. We are fighting to bring good health care to everyone. We are fighting so that we are NEVER led to a war based on lies and false information. We are fighting for every teacher, doctor, janitor, machinist, and yes every plumber who has been voiceless and left out.
We cannot stop. We should not stop. We must not stop.
This is the last mile of the marathon. We must dig deep and use every last bit of strength we have and push Senators Obama and Biden to victory on November 4th.
Anything less is simply UNACCEPTABLE!
When she did find out about the pay disparity, she filed a lawsuit and was initially victorious. Goodyear, not wanting to admit disparity and defeat, appealed the case all the way to the Supreme Court. The court ruled 5-4 that Ms. Ledbetter’s suit had no merit. She had waited too long to file the complaint. The court stated that she should have filed her grievance within 180 days after the first payroll discrepancy appeared. Kind of hard to do when you find out 20 years later that you had been discriminated against.
Nevertheless, the Democratic-controlled Congress introduced into legislation The Fair Pay Act of 2007. This bill sought to close the loophole that resulted in the ruling against Ms. Ledbetter. The bill passed the House and was sent to the Senate. On April 22, 2008, Senate Democrats fell 4 votes shy of stopping a Republican filibuster against the bill. Thus The Fair Pay Act of 2007 never got a fair debate on the Senate floor.
Senator Barack Obama took a break from the campaign trail to vote against the filibuster along with other Senators, including Democrat Hilary Clinton (NY) and Republican Arlen Specter (PA). Senator John McCain never made it to the Senate floor. He chose to stump in Louisiana.
When asked why he did not support the legislation, John McCain is quoted as saying the following: “I am all in favor of pay equity for women, but this kind of legislation, as is typical of what's being proposed by my friends on the other side of the aisle, opens us up to lawsuits for all kinds of problems.... .This is government playing a much, much greater role in the business of a private enterprise system.”
He continued by saying women need "education and training, particularly since more and more women are heads of their households.…"
It appears that Senator McCain believes that women only need education and the 23% pay gap will magically disappear. Never mind the fact that women still face sexual harassment and discrimination in the workplace as they make their way through the good ‘ole boys’ network. Forget the fact many top female CEOs (with advanced degrees) are still making noticeably less than their male counterparts do. There are many educated and trained women out there who are simply being thrown under the bus when it comes to compensation parity.
It makes me wonder, if Senator McCain is elected as our next president, would he be okay with having his running mate, Governor Sarah Palin, make $0.77 for every $1.00 Dick Cheney made during his eight years as vice president?
Below is the campaign memo detailing the lies of Sen. John McCain and Gov. Sarah Palin.
It's a LONG read- but there are a lot of LIES to debunk!
Folks, we need to work as if our lives depended on it, because in essence that's true. If we elect Sens. Obama and Biden, we can begin to reclaim the American dream that has been snatched from so many of us.
OBAMA CAMPAIGN MEMO: Unraveling the myth of the Straight Talk Express
To: Press Corps
From: Obama Campaign
Re: Unraveling the myth of the Straight Talk Express
Since naming Governor Palin as their Vice Presidential nominee, the McCain campaign has distorted, distracted, and outright lied to the American people about her record in a desperate attempt to hide the fact that a McCain/Palin Administration would be nothing more than a continuation of the failed Bush policies of the last eight years.
Indeed, today alone we learned that the McCain campaign’s claim that Governor Palin traveled to Iraq is a lie. In fact, she didn’t cross the Kuwait border. We learned that the McCain campaign is desperate enough to tell the press phony crowd numbers, which they falsely attributed to local elected officials and the United States Secret Service. And we learned that despite Senator McCain’s claim that Governor Palin is a fiscal conservative, spending actually increased during her brief tenure as Governor.
Here are the facts. Governor Palin supported the Bridge to Nowhere, requested hundreds of millions of dollars in earmarks, never visited Iraq, increased spending as governor, increased taxes as governor, and was about as successful selling that luxury jet on eBay as the McCain campaign has been selling her reputation as a reformer. Oh yeah, and the gas pipeline she touts won’t be usable for at least a decade, if it’s completed at all.
While the media is slowly starting to call the McCain campaign on their dishonest tactics, McCain’s staff boasts that they don’t care. As a McCain spokesman told the Politico, “We’re running a campaign to win. And we’re not too concerned about what the media filter tries to say about it.”
To help you cut through their lies and spin, below are the facts you need to set the record straight.
McCain Myth: Palin Visited Troops In Iraq
FACT: Palin Did Not Venture Further Into Iraq Than It’s Border With Kuwait
“In The Second Official Revision Of Her Only Trip Outside North America,” Palin Aides Concede That Her 2007 Visit To Iraq “Consisted Of A Brief Stop At A Border Crossing.” “Sarah Palin’s visit to Iraq in 2007 consisted of a brief stop at a border crossing between Iraq and Kuwait, the vice presidential candidate’s campaign said yesterday, in the second official revision of her only trip outside North America. Following her selection last month as John McCain’s running mate, aides said Palin had traveled to Ireland, Germany, Kuwait, and Iraq to meet with members of the Alaska National Guard. During that trip she was said to have visited a ‘military outpost’ inside Iraq. The campaign has since repeated that Palin’s foreign travel included an excursion into the Iraq battle zone. But in response to queries about the details of her trip, campaign aides and National Guard officials in Alaska said by telephone yesterday that she did not venture beyond the Kuwait-Iraq border when she visited Khabari Alawazem Crossing, also known as ‘K-Crossing,’ on July 25, 2007.It was the second such clarification in as many weeks of the itinerary of what Palin has called ‘the trip of a lifetime.’ Earlier, the campaign acknowledged that Palin made only a refueling stop in Ireland.” [Boston Globe, 9/13/08 <http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/09/13/palin_camp_clarifies_extent_of_iraq_trip?mode=PF> ]
McCain Myth: McCain’s Appearance Drew Crowd of 23,000 to Event
FACT: Crowd-Size Estimates Provided By Campaign Aides Not Backed By Officials.
Bloomberg: “McCain-Plain Crowd-Size Estimates Not Backed By Officials.” “Senator John McCain has drawn some of the biggest crowds of his presidential campaign since adding Alaska Governor Sarah Palin to his ticket on Aug. 29. Now officials say they can’t substantiate the figures McCain’s aides are claiming. McCain aide Kimmie Lipscomb told reporters on Sept. 10 that an outdoor rally in Fairfax City, Virginia, drew 23,000 people, attributing the crowd estimate to a fire marshal. Fairfax City Fire Marshal Andrew Wilson said his office did not supply that number to the campaign and could not confirm it. Wilson, in an interview, said the fire department does not monitor attendance at outdoor events. . The McCain campaign said 10,000 people showed up at the Consol Energy Arena in Washington, Pennsylvania, home of the Washington Wild Things baseball team. The campaign attributed that estimate, and several that followed, to U.S. Secret Service figures, based on the number of people who passed through magnetometers. ‘We didn’t provide any numbers to the campaign,’ said Malcolm Wiley, a spokesman for the U.S. Secret Service. Wiley said he would not ‘confirm or dispute’ the numbers the McCain campaign has given to reporters.” [Bloomberg, 9/13/08 <http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601070=a1J0tfV3XJYs=politics <http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601070&sid=a1J0tfV3XJYs&refer=politics> > ]
Time to turn the page... As a supporter of Sen. Barack Obama, I have grown weary of the fake campagin being run by Sen. John "No Shame" McCain. Many months ago, Sen. McCain declared that this race would be one of integrity.
Well... Sen. Obama has kept his end of the deal, while Sen. McCain has hired Karl Rove and his band of merry minions.
Sen. McCain has managed to yell "flame on" to his rabid base by selecting the unproven Alaskan Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate. Because she has not been allow to speak her own mind, she has been given a list of talking points and speeches that she repeats like a broken record. Meanwhile, Sen. McCain has chosen to hide behind Gov. Palin. Putting her out front while he stands back, perhaps in an attempt to lure either Sens. Obama or Biden to say something absolutley stupid. When that trap didn't work. Sen. McCain decided to make up some controversy involving a pig, lipstick and sexism.
The media soiled itself with glee in reporting this latest diversion. They seem to be doing a lot of that lately. Reporting on the stupid and totally unimportant issues in order to drag this campaign out. If the media actually did its job and talked about the soaring defecit, the occupation in Iraq, the massive job losses, the failing banks, the horrible health care system, then Sen. McCain and Gov. Palin would have absolutley nothing to do except set themselves on fire and scream "look at me dammit".
So the ball's back in our court folks. The Obama campaign has begun its pusback. Taking McCain to task on the issues and not allowing itself to be swiftboated. We also have to step it up. We must register voters. We must fundraise. We must spread the word on why the Obama plan is what this country needs. We have to be the change that we seek. Sens. Obama and Biden cannot do it alone. They need us and we sure as heck need them.
Get out there people and DO something!
